This is my garden. It is a place to share what I've learned about life. It is a place to talk about history and progress. It is a place to share vision and values- wisdom, strength and hope. It may be a place where you find some inspiration or where you meet a friend. Soon I'll include a list of my favorite links to other sites. There will be links to recovery, links to wellness, links to a bright and promising future.
This is also a rosestory. My friend Steve has suggested that I call the site a herstory, modifying the defintion of history to reflect that I am a 'her'. But I am not just a her, I'm a person, a person who is like a rose growing in a garden. And for that reason, I've modified his definition to how I've defined the site.
Main Entry: rose·sto·ry
Pronunciation: 'rOs-st(&-)rE
Function: noun
1 : Tale, Story
2 a : a rose's record of significant events, often including an explanation of their causes from her perspective b : a treatise presenting systematically related natural phenomena c : an account of a patient's medical background d : an established record
3 : a branch of knowledge that records and explains past events
4 a : events that form the subject matter of a rosestory b : previous treatment, handling, or experience (as of a metal like gold)
Since 1995, I've been writing a book that I want to call "The Discipline of Self-Esteem". The discipline of self-esteem is a term I use to describe the growth that naturally occurs when we treat ourselves with dignity and self-respect. For some people, that may come naturally, but I grew up with family violence, with an alcoholic parent- with a father who always told me that I was nothing- despite all evidence to the contrary. And for me and people like me, it is something that we need to learn from scratch. Over the years, the more that I learn, the more that I need to learn. And what I've learned so far is this: you can't love anyone else until you love yourself. Loving yourself has so many layers. You love yourself by forgiving yourself for your mistakes. You love yourself by treating your person with dignity and respect. You love yourself by eating healthy and nutritious foods- and the variety of opinions on what is healthy has staggered my imagination. You love yourself by giving yourself an allowance, by budgeting, by planning for the future. You love yourself by paying attention to your appearance, by fighting for yourself at work, by telling others what you need. You love yourself by keeping a clean and functional home. All of this and more- I've had to learn and am still learning. Here I will tell you what I am doing and what is working and what is not working and maybe we'll learn something- and maybe all that we will learn about is friendship and love- and that is something beyond price.
Here are the new plants waiting to go into my plot. I have purple cabbage, collards, and broccoli, Roma tomatoes, yellow bell and cubanelle peppers, marigolds, and of course- lots of herbs.
This is what's left of my original plot. Oregano on the left, garlic chives on the right, and a big healthy African blue basil in the back. Jalapeño pepper next to the basil- the one that was in my nursery almost all summer!
This is the border between my new and old plot. The new plot was overgrown with mint which is pretty much a weed in Plot 2, but I use a lot so stuck it in a pot.
And here's all that is left of the new plot. Còuldn't bear to deliberately kill the long beans, so put them on a trellis. 
