Presidential Gardening Wisdom

Among the vegetable plants and bushes of the White House kitchen garden, this plaque resides featuring a gardening pearl of wisdom from one of our nation's most innovative gardeners and President of the United States -- Thomas Jefferson.

...the failure of one thing repaired by the success of another; and instead of one harvest, a continued one throughout the year.

Here's another presidential garden-related pearl of wisdom from our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln:

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.

Got to keep looking for the roses in the thorn bushes, instead of focusing on the rose's thorns.

A Rose for a Rose

Birthdays are special days in my family. We Bordes are always looking for a reason to celebrate, but birthdays are king. Regardless of what is going on in our lives, it's family tradition to pause for a birthday phone call, birthday visit, birthday dinner and/or even birthday party to celebrate the day we arrived into the world together. Birthdays are moments that help us keep time with one another and acknowledge the blessing and accomplishment of another year of life, another year of life as a family.

Today is my Aunt Kathy's birthday. I won't disclose her age, but I will say that while each birthday is special this one and each birthday after this one is very special for all of us. For the past few months, she has been battling a very aggressive colon cancer. After rounds of surgeries, chemotherapy, and other challenges, my aunt is still fighting on with grace, optimism and peace. It's her peace that I find so inspiring.

We are all rooting for more time with her, for her healing. However, whether or not that is in the cards for our family, she has inspired us by how she embraces each day since her diagnosis with joy, humor and a willingness to be present. She wants to see people and go places, even when it physically exhausts her. There isn't a hug that doesn't linger longer than it did before or an "I love you" that is said with deep meaning.

So in honor of her special day, I wanted to post a photo that reminds me of her. She is like this summer rose -- colorful and bold in spite of the brutal sun. While this photograph makes the rose appear as if it stands alone, it was actually surrounded by other roses and flowers encouraging and supporting its stand. Just like in life, and especially on birthdays, we never stand alone.

Cheers Aunty K. Here's to today and many more birthdays together. I'm so grateful that we have grown together in the same family garden.

Spring Always Follows Winter

On my way home from work today with my iPod in my ear, the perfect song began to play that summarized my mood. I won't bore you with the all of the lyrics, but just highlight my favorite part of the song. Its words remind us to never forget that spring always follows winter.

Excerpt from "The Rose"
Performed by Bette Midler
Lyrics by Amanda McBroom

When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong,
Just remember, in the winter,
Far beneath the bitter snow,
Lies the seed that with the sun's love
In the spring becomes the rose.

Light Purple Pansy

If only the air outside was as light as this purple pansy. For the past few days, the hot humid weather in DC has been miserable and unbearable. It's never a good sign when you can actually "feel" the air due to the heaviness of the humidity. It's like when I lived in California, I was able to "see" the air due to growing air pollution.

With more than 29 states in the United States issuing heat advisories right now, hopefully those climate change naysayers will finally get the clue that "something" is happening to the environment and this change is increasingly making life more difficult for us.

Special thanks to Willis Carrier who invented modern air conditioning in 1902. It is an invention that is making life bearable right now during this heat wave.

Church Garden Walk

This past weekend, the weather in Virginia was perfect -- sunny, but not too hot or humid. But, it wasn't the best photography weather. Clear skies and lots of sun can play tricks on cameras and tends to drown out color and detail of your photo subject.

The sun was definitely not my friend during my photo walk in Middleburg. While this photograph of the flowering plant-lined sidewalk along old Middleburg United Methodist Church is attractive, the sunshine dulled the impact of the bright green foliage and charm of the area in the image. Still learning how to "trick" the camera by adjusting its settings to counter this effect on sunny days. All challenges aside, it is still a pretty composition. Wouldn't you like your backyard or neighborhood to look like this?

Summer Bench

Park benches are one of my favorite locations for summer reading. When I'm reading a book that I can't put down, I seek out park benches, like this one in Clarendon Market Commons, that offers the right combination of sunshine and shade and a welcoming environment for people-watching during my reading breaks.

This month for our First Wednesdays Book Club, we are reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot about true tale of the black woman "whose cells -- taken without her knowledge in 1951 -- became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more," as stated on the book's website. It is an incredible story that is so beautifully written, I cannot put the book down. I am constantly looking for any excuse to continue reading it during the week and then on the weekend, I'm on the lookout for inviting park benches for marathon reading sessions.

Patron Saint of Gardening

Since childhood, I've always been inspired by the lives of patron saints. In several religious traditions, patron saints are people considered to be worthy of higher honor, emulation, or veneration due to the lives they led. Their lives offer life lessons for us all, whether a believer or not.

This statue in a friend's backyard honors Saint Fiacre, the patron saint of gardening. Born in Ireland in the 7th century, Fiacre lived in a hermitage in County Kilkenny and was known for his skill as a herbal healer. His talent drew pilgrims to flock to him and for greater solitude, he left his native land and sought refuge in France. In France, he opened a hospice where he received strangers in need and lived a solitary life of prayer, fasting and manual labor in the garden. Hence, why he was recognized as the saint of growing food and medicinal plants. Now no one is perfect, of course; Fiacre had issues with women and banned them from his monastery. Those blemishes aside, I do admire his dedication to God and serving those in need.

Smiling Face

Recently, a good friend asked me to photograph his backyard which was in full bloom. Behind the pink, purple and white azalea bushes was this hidden jem -- a sculpture of a smiling face on the garden wall. Doesn't he just make you laugh? Luckily, my friend pointed him out and I was able to capture him on film. It was a good reminder that sometimes photographers need to be explorers too, checking out locations from all different angles. While I try not to disturb nature too much, I'm glad that we pulled aside these branches to reveal his jolly visage.

Lily Pond

Botanic gardens (which you can find almost anywhere) are great locations for flower photography, however landscape photographers can find ideal subjects for their work there as well. Botanic or botanical gardens display its flowers and plants in their natural habitats, thus creating multiple unique gardens in one location. Garden visitors can travel from a lily pond scene to a sparse desert landscape in just a few steps.

In my photography course in college, we had to create for our final project a series of images connected by a single theme. Since I loved photographing natural landscapes, I chose landscapes as my theme. However, I didn't have the time to travel to multiple locations to photograph five completely different scenes. My solution? I made one trip to The Huntington Library in Pasadena, California, which features 14 different themed gardens. I was able to complete my entire class assignment in one afternoon and enjoyed the beauty and versatility of botanic gardens.

Translucent Leaves

Have you ever seen the Pixar movie, A Bug's Life? Even though I've loved all of the Pixar movies and short films, A Bug's Life still remains my favorite. It was not as popular as the Toy Story films, Up or Wall-E, but I loved its humor and inventiveness, especially the creativity behind the world designed for these bugs.

To accurately create the ants' environment, Pixar designers developed a very small video camera and ran it along the ground, like an ant, in the grass outside their offices. Their footage showed them that from an ant's vantage point, leaves appear translucent like the ones I photographed in Georgetown this summer. Instead of a leaf appearing as solid, the sunlight from above filters through the leaves and gives them this transparent appearance.

Remembering What's Beyond the Gate

It's been a challenging year so far. Changes, adjustments and crises are appearing at every turn. I'm getting better at applying my 2011 life principles, but it's been a tough start. Today, Billy Joel's song, "Vienna," came on my iPod mix and it was exactly what I needed to hear. Don't you love when that happens?

So instead of me "waxing lyrical" on today's post, I thought I would let his song lyrics do the talking. While Billy Joel has his own back story for the song, "Vienna" reminds me to slow down and not take the hustle and bustle of life so seriously. Because in the end, things that really matter -- family, friends, life, "Vienna" -- await.

By the way, when Billy Joel was asked in 2008 by the New York Times to identify his favorite song from his career, "Vienna" was one of the two he mentioned.

"Vienna" by Billy Joel
From the album, The Stranger (1977)

Slow down you crazy child
You're so ambitious for a juvenile
But then if you're so smart tell me why
You are still so afraid?

Where's the fire, what's the hurry about?
You better cool it off before you burn it out
You got so much to do and only
So many hours in a day

But you know that when the truth is told
That you can get what you want
Or you an just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through
When will you realize
Vienna waits for you

Slow down you're doing fine
You can't be everything you want to be
Before your time
Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight
Too bad but it's the life you lead
You're so ahead of yourself
That you forgot what you need
Though you can see when you're wrong

But you know you can't always see when you're right
You got your passion you got your pride
But don't you know only fools are satisfied?
Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true
When will you realize
Vienna waits for you

Slow down you crazy child
Take the phone off the hook
And disappeaar for a while
It's alright you can afford to lose a day or two
When will you realize
Vienna waits for you.

Rule of Thirds

Whenever someone asks me for photography tips, I always share the same one -- the rule of thirds. It's probably the only photography rule that I follow during photo excursions. Shared by my college photography instructor, the rule of thirds relates to where your subject or focus of your photograph is positioned in your composition.

The rule states that an image theoretically should be divided into nine equal parts by two horizontal lines and two vertical lines. Then, the photographer would place the subject, focus or important elements along these imaginary lines or their intersection. Most people just center their subject in the image. However, like in today's photo of one of the Smithsonian Museum gardens, placing your focus along the rule of thirds' lines or intersections can create energy and action to tell your photo story. Often I take several photos of one subject, placing it on different lines or intersections, to discover the most interesting position and composition for the subject. The rule of thirds can also be applied to other arts, such as painting, film-making and design.

Welcome to the Peaceful Garden

One of the first things you see when you enter my home is a framed version of this photograph on the wall. It was taken at the Enid A. Haupt Moongate Garden near the Smithsonian Castle on the National Mall during my first visit to Washington, DC. It's a close-up of one of the four granite gates that line the garden. At the time, I was drawn to the symmetry of the gate against the backdrop of lush green plants and trees. Years later, I still feel centered and calm when I look at it. When decorating my home with my favorite photographs, I knew this image would be the best photograph to peacefully welcome to guests to my home.

Sunbathing Sunflower

Sunflowers are so well-named, don't you think? If the sun was a flower, it would definitely look as colorful and bright as sunflowers. While we move deeper into autumn, I can't help reminiscing about summer's bright sunny days with blooming sunflowers like this one.

Tudor House Fountain

Ah, the peacefulness of a garden fountain. Wouldn't it be great if your backyard looked like this one? And if you are an apartment dweller like me, don't you wish you even had a backyard?

Ever since Alan, Charlie and Tommy from BBC's Ground Force entered my life, I can only refer to garden fountains by its British and rightful name -- water features. Fountains, like this one at Tudor Place Historic House and Garden in Georgetown, delightfully add sound and movement to outside places. Its sound and motion are symbolic of life, always moving and constant.