I found a secret garden!

All I wanted was to find was a peaceful spot outside to eat breakfast. As it turned out, I found so much more.

My granddaughter Trillian had spent the night at our house and in the morning, I needed to drive her to her preschool in Winter Garden. It’s been quite a few years since a little one has slept over so I’d forgotten how long it takes to get going in the morning. To speed things up, I fed Trillian but abandoned my own morning routine. Rather than rush through breakfast, I packed it up to take along.

After dropping Trillian off at school, my plan was to find a pretty park somewhere nearby where I could eat a slow and peaceful meal. Calm mealtimes gained importance once our children grew up and left home. I’ve come to depend upon them.

Everything worked as planned. I delivered Trillian to school on time and I even managed to unfasten her carseat with minimal fumbling. None of the foods I packed spilled and I found a clean and unpopulated park where I could eat my breakfast calmly while listening to birdsongs and beneath towering shade trees in the town of Oakland.

Even before I carried my bowl of food and cup of tea to the picnic table I knew something was different. The table I picked was sheltered beneath a pavilion. From a distance, I could see three small round protrusions at one end of the picnic table. I couldn’t tell what they were but they were definitely something the other tables lacked. My curiosity was piqued.

When I arrived at the table, I set my food down and took a closer look. Someone had affixed three bowl-shaped, ceramic pots to the end of the table and filled them with an assortment of small succulents.

I had stumbled upon the work of a guerrilla gardener.

Guerrilla gardeners are people who install plants on land that they do not have the legal right to use. It’s a term used to define covert efforts by individuals wishing to beautify space that they do not own such as abandoned lots or public parks.

The park where I chose to eat my breakfast didn’t fit the stereotype. It was by no means rundown. Lawns were freshly mown, concrete walkways were smooth and the infrastructure was relatively new and in good shape. If anything was amiss, it might have been a lack of individuality. Everything might be considered just a bit too uniform and homogeneous.

Maybe that’s what the person who installed the guerrilla garden must have thought. In addition to the three tiny flowerpots attached to the table, the secret gardener installed a fourth succulent-containing planter beneath the metal roof and attached an orchid to the trunk of a large oak next to the table. 

An Oakland town official said the tiny garden was installed and is maintained by a person who lives near the park. 

While Johnny Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed, may have been the first guerrilla gardener, Liz Christy and her Green Guerrilla group coined the term in 1973 when they transformed a neglected private lot in the Bowery section of New York into a garden. In the U.K., Richard Reynolds launched the website, www.GuerrillaGardening.org, in 2004 to blog about his efforts to beautify his neighborhood in London. Word of his work quickly spread, and the site now supports the work of guerrilla gardeners around the world where documented cases of guerrilla gardening span more than 30 countries.

What a nice surprise it was to eat breakfast in such a spot. Not only was I able to enjoy a quiet, peaceful meal in a pretty place but my meal was enhanced by the kindness of an anonymous person’s gesture.

One more surprise awaited me at my picnic spot.  A huge nest was in the top of a large oak next to the pavilion where I ate my breakfast.  I didn't see a bird in the nest but judging by its size, I'd guess it was made by an eagle. Maybe the next time I visit I'll see it!

Eating breakfast out(side)

SIMPLY LIVING
I did something the other morning I don’t ordinarily do.  I ate breakfast out.  

You’re probably thinking I went to a restaurant, but I didn’t.  I ate my bowl of fruit and (hot) oatmeal outside at a park in downtown Clermont. 

Admittedly, it wasn’t my first choice but it turned out surprisingly well. 

As usual, the night before I prepared my next-day breakfast mix of cut-up fresh fruit to eat with the steel-cut oats and ground chia seeds Ralph cooks each morning.  The two of us have enjoyed the same basic breakfast for years varying the fruits with the seasons.  It’s a meal I love and look forward to every morning.

Cut up fruit awaiting the addition of hot oatmeal

    

On that morning, however, I had routine blood work scheduled.  I’d forgotten all about the appointment, remembering only after slicing the last piece of fruit into my bowl the night before.  The test required fasting - no food, tea or even water until after the visit. 

“So, should I make oatmeal for you, anyway?”  Ralph asked.  “You can have it when you come home.”

I told him to go ahead but that instead of eating it afterwards, I’d take it with me.

When morning came, I packed my white ceramic bowl of cut-up fruit and hot oatmeal into an insulated bag together with a small towel, a cloth napkin and my favorite spoon.  I made up two steaming travel mugs of jasmine green tea and took it all out to the car.  I wouldn’t be able to eat breakfast at home but I could still start the day at a pretty table eating food I enjoy.

“I might be a little while,” I told Ralph.  “After the appointment, I’m going to find a quiet place to have breakfast then do a few errands.”

I kissed him goodbye and went on my way, stopping at the mailbox to pick up the newspaper.

At the doctor’s office, the blood work was quick, over before hunger pangs had even begun.  I was soon back in my car driving around downtown Clermont in search of a little park I remembered noticing in an older residential neighborhood along Lakeshore Drive.

It took a while to find, but was worth the effort.  Park of Indian Hills encompasses a narrow stretch of shady ground beneath several ancient oaks along Lake Minnehaha.  The park’s limited amenities include three wooden picnic tables, a lake-facing bench and a few trash receptacles.  A woman walking a dog was just leaving as I pulled in.  No one else was there.

The Park of Indian Hills

 

“Perfect,” I thought.  “Privacy and beauty.” 

I settled in at one of the tables, unpacked my breakfast, tea and napkin and folded the paper to the comic page.  By the time I’d finished eating, I’d perused most of the news, been scolded by a squirrel and searched an oak’s uppermost boughs for a woodpecker that I heard but never found.

Unlike the one in the park, this squirrel is too preoccupied with its treasure to scold me

“How lovely this was,” I mused while repacking my bag.  “A quiet breakfast in a pretty spot, outdoors in the breeze.  Why don’t I do this more often?”

Lake County has well over 100 parks from tiny residential retreats like Park of Indian Hills to rambling state and national parks like Lake Louisa in Clermont, Lake Griffin in Leesburg and Alexander Springs in Altoona.  Although I appreciate the many public spaces (two of my favorites are Sara Maude Mason Nature Preserve in Howey-in-the-Hills and Pear Park in south Leesburg), I seldom take advantage of them. 

A family enjoys Dixie Lake in Lake Louisa State Park

I don’t because I’m lazy when it comes to things like this.  It’s easier to stick with the norm; to not alter routines, even the pleasant ones.  I’d like to think I’d do it again – purposely go “out” to breakfast in a public (albeit minimally populated) venue - but the reality is, I probably won’t.  What I can do, however, is appreciate the moment, inadvertent though it was.

A little imagination turned a pre-breakfast appointment to the medical center into a mini-vacation.  Not a bad way to start the day.

To find a park near you, visit Lake County’s Park Finder Website at http://gis.lakecountyfl.gov/ParkFinder/