We were lucky this year. By dint of sawing a hole in the roof and slipping in a clear plastic sheet, the rickety allotment shed metamorphosed into a (still admittedly lopsided) greenhouse of sorts. And on Sunday we proudly picked these. Now, those of you with gardening nouse will quickly spot that our tomatoes would not win any prizes: our erratic visits and ill-judged estimates of the amount of water required inbetween has left them with pockmarked spirals on their skin. As tomatoes go, they were nicely wabi sabi (see 17th June): humble, earthy, and full of their own loveliness.
Although wabi sabi has been around for thousands of years, imperfection is becoming a hot topic these days: there are books on it, posts about it, and whole blogs dedicated to it. I can't help mischeviously wondering, given that 'perfection' is a value judgement and an idea in our heads, where that leaves 'imperfection'. Is that just an idea, rather than a reality, too? Is my blurry photo imperfect, or is it just, well ... blurry?
The one in the layout to the right (some of you may remember this page) nearly didn't make it through the photo-pruning process - the desire for perfection nearly consigned it to the trash can. Yet it seems ungracious to label it 'imperfect': it took me somewhere I would not otherwise have gone. So I'm not sure I'm going to be able to pursue perfection, or embrace the gifts of imperfection either, whether in scrapbooking or in life! Perhaps it's time to forget about both those words and just welcome and appreciate what is...
Does this mean that the half-hours with Herma, endlessly repositioning photos to get them 'just right', are no more? Or that it will be possible to settle for the first patterned paper which suits the photos, and not spend another twenty minutes covering the floor with others, only to go back to the original choice? I'll keep you posted!
Mmm... where you are in the perfection versus imperfection debate? I'd love to hear ...
.
