Traveling - Our World is a Garden!

During my latest stay on the Island of St Croix with extended family, I created two small sand gardens on the back balcony of our condo...

Family reunions can be fun, enriching, multi-generational, unforgettable life events; they can also, at times, leave you feeling overstimulated and a little socially depleted. Sand gardening, between our outings and meal gatherings, was my own way of including some alone time (or some one-on-one time with my niece!) to recharge my batteries!

I used some simple cooking trays borrowed from the kitchen drawers, filled them with sand from the beach and added a couple of utensils and figurines thrift-ed locally. Then came a few shells and corals we would borrow from nature during our walks on the beach...

My niece and I enjoyed playing in these gardens outdoors, on the beautiful veranda, with the sea breeze and the sound of the waves nearby... She especially liked making use of my mini toy microscope (I had brought from Montreal as a gift to her) to observe nature in all it's enrapturing detail. I was simply dreamy!

On the day of our departure, I offered the owners of the condo the option to keep these gardens in place, along with the following care instructions, for the upcoming guests to enjoy:

"We invite you to make use of these gardens, - inspired by Japanese Zen Gardens - to explore your own connection with the beauty of the island while practising a little mindfulness.

These gardens were created by previous guests, using some of the treasures they discovered during their stay here, on this very beach. As you make use of these gardens, we encourage you to follow the same philosophy as they did: to explore the beach, admire its shells, coral, stones, and sand, and then allow them to remain where they belong so others may discover them too.

When you leave, please return these sand gardens to the balcony as you found them (or even more beautifully setup!) and kindly and thoughtfully bring back to the beach any treasures you may have borrowed from it to use in these gardens. (see USVI Indigenous Species Protection Act https://www.gotostcroix.com/st-croix-blog/leave-paradise-in-its-place/) Make it a point or even a game to place each of your treasures as close as possible to their original location, so that it be ready to offer the same quiet pleasure of discovery and rediscovery to the next guests.

We hope this small touch adds an extra moment of calm and connection to your stay on this beautiful remote island."