The Holey Garden — Digging Through Time

in writing •  8 years ago  (edited)

I love digging into the past, it’s kinda my thing.

Recently I was able to get my hands on a metal detector. Seems an obvious hobby for somebody like me, since I’ve always been in love with the romantic notion of finding buried treasure.

Let’s set the scene: the grounds around the Plantation House — the Master’s house. Now an idyllic old-time colonial property, covered in climbing ivy, with pool and tennis courts and manicured flower gardens. In times gone by there was a factory, and a mill, and slaves to work them, and overseers to oversee them. Sugar and Rum by the barrel to be exported throughout the Great Empire.

This was my first place to search.

Unlikely place to find treasures, you might think… but one man’s trash, as they saying goes.

Clawing away layers of time with the dirt, sticking under fingernails, at last exposing that meaningless and mundane object sitting there for God knows how long. An old rusty nail! How splendid. Undisturbed and forgotten.

It’s not really about the thing.

What was the world like when you were deposited here in the soil? Now among the flowers, what little children's garden playtime pitter-patter footsteps above shuffled you in your shallow abode? What cruelties soaked your soil with sweat, and tears, and salty blood.

In a way, these discarded items are like little seeds sprouting connections to the past that I can hold in the palm of my hand.

The closest I’ll ever be to 1723.


I know that many of my followers have done so because of my photography posts, well I also do some writing occasionally!
If you like sometimes disjointed sappy dramatic prose and personal essays you may like some of my other ramblings:

Thoughts On Death & Time Travel

Krishna at the Farmer's Market — A Lesson in Non-Attachment

On The Timeliness Of Books

"Poo-Poo" The Kitten, and the Pain of Little Tragedies

The Grandfathers: David of St. Matthias

How I Gave Up 'Truth', And Lowered My Expectations

On Inspiration: Writing from Life Experiences

On The Benefits of Journaling: 7 Reasons To Start

Image used is a commercially licensed stock photo


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Yes metal detecting is great fun. Like any hobby, you get better with practice. It takes time to learn the machine. FYI there is a huge and friendly metal detecting community on YouTube. You can quickly get some good tips!
I will have to share a post on my first hunt of 2017, it was awesome!. I did a video and shared it on my other social media, but I am new here and hadn't thought of sharing it. Thanks for the reminder. As we say in the hobby, Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

Great! I love this series and I'm hoping you continue to do this!

thrift will look beautiful if packed properly :)