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God or gardening?

21st April 2007 by Helena 1 Comment  

They say that women of a certain age discover either God or gardening. What a choice. Why not fast cars or even faster men? Diamonds or sexy underwear? Lying around reading Elle eating chocolates all day and/or telephone sex with Colin Firth?

For me I think God is out of the question. I grew up exposed to the hypocrisies of Catholicism on one side and a lovely protestant vicar on the other; neither of them really inspired me. In terms of my character I think I am more Jewish than anything else, but we have no Jewish blood in the family. My sun salutes take me closer to Budda.

I once had a pleasant experience gardening. I was heavily pregnant and couldn’t sleep due to the heat. I went out into the garden and started pulling up weeds under a full moon, it was very satisfying. I also thought it would make a good book title: Gardening by Moonlight.

Budding vinesYesterday I went to water our oleander, wisteria and new vines at the Mazet. The new vines are just showing their first tiny baby leaves, which is actually quite an exciting sight. I was surprised by how happy it made me. I suppose it’s the new life that make is so fascinating, rather like growing a baby, but less cumbersome and better for your figure.

But there is a big difference between gazing at a few vines and really getting into gardening. I can’t see myself getting the bug, at least not yet. But maybe I haven’t yet reached that certain age.

Talking of age, my parents-in-law came for dinner last night and at one stage Leonardo looked at my mother-in-law (a very elegant seventy-year-old lady who looks at least 10 years younger) and said: “You’re old.” Instinctively I told him not to be nasty to granny. But here’s the question; why is old nasty? If he’d said “you’re young” everyone would have loved it.

What’s wrong with being old? Is it because we drift into God or gardening people hate it so much?

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2007


Filed Under: Family, Life, blog --> Tagged With: gardening

One thought on God or gardening?

  • Barbara says:
    21st April 2007 at 9:19 am

    Arrghh – I’ve just got in from checking the seedlings … off now to torch the greenhouse!

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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