Sharing my passion for handcrafted jewelry, paper making, and living a creative life.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

A Tribute to my Creative Mother


My mom was one of the most creative women I have ever known.  She spent much of her life making do but she managed to do it with beautiful style.
Airi Sirkka Annele Huhtala Kuntzemann
June 5, 1926 - November 30, 2007

Mom loved flowers and wherever she lived she created incredible gardens.  Her most spectacular creation was a rock garden that she built rock by rock by herself on a hillside.  Always mindful of her limited budget she collected seeds each fall to plant in the spring and she collected perennials wherever she could.  Old homesteads, ghost towns, roadsides and even from the gardens of the recently departed.  Mom especially loved pansies, her own mother's favourite flower.
Sadly, last fall my sister and I returned to our old home, 46 years later, and only a few remnants of the rock gardens remain.  The Highways Department had purchased the place years ago to house road crews and had brought in loads of fill to extend the yard, burying the rock gardens.

The current  owners kindly allowed us to take a few of the remaining stones and this year we will honour our mom's memory with a special little rock garden and lots of pansies.

10 comments:

  1. Your Mom was beautiful, no wonder she loved beautiful flowers! It's so sad her garden was destroyed, and sad you saw it that way, but these photos are wonderful memories. My gosh the work that must have gone into building that wall and garden, look at how each stone was so perfectly placed! And it's awesome you and your sister are going to build a new rock garden.

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  2. The story of your Mom is inspirational...brought me to tears,
    Thank-you....Wonderful photos.

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  3. I'm so sorry. I can't imagine what it is to lose your mom. This is a wonderful entry in her honor. I should do one about my mom, too.

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  4. This is such a beautiful tribute to your mother. What a beautiful photo.
    Debby

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  5. a very touching tribute to another wonderful Mom, thank you for sharing. ♥

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  6. What a lovely tribute to your mother! Gardeners are special people :)

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  7. Thank you for all your sweet comments.

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  8. Lovely moving story ! love the photos ! I also spent many years in central BC the Cariboo on a lake and dearly miss it your images bring back wonderful memories

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