Take the Red Pill

I have to admit, Alice in Wonderland isn't one of my favorite movies but the quote that starts this post is.  I pulled the metaphor from another more manly film, The Matrix, where the lead character is faced with a similar decision of seeing how far the rabbit hole really goes. Its more science fiction with awesome special effects than fairy tale, plus a little better to admit watching than Alice!

So what does Red Pills and Rabbit holes have to do with a post on a gardening blog?  Well, simply put I was recently faced with a similar life changing decision, and my rabbit hole took me 1736 miles from home on a new adventure.

Three weeks ago I excepted an opportunity of a lifetime to become a horticultural manager on an estate in the Caribbean and handed in my notice at work.  Though it sounds like the transition was quick, it had been in the making since mid February!  But all good things comes to those that wait and now I'm on the island the dream has become a reality.

Of course moving and living in paradise doesn't come without a cost.  Our house of six years is on the market, which includes a garden I spent many hours painstakingly planning, planting and adjusting to make it perfect.  Not to mention all the things we have upgraded on the inside to make it ours.  All are belongings have been or are in the process of being sold off with a few being packed for shipping.  It really is amazing how much you can accumulate over 14 years of living in a country.

Of course we leave behind good friends.  I was taken back just how much of an impact our decision to move had on those that I have developed a friendship with though my work.  Although everyone was happy for our news it became apparent just how much I meant to my hardcore group of gardening customers as well as the people I worked with.  Hopefully this blog will fill a void and make it seem that I never left.

My view at sunset

In some ways I feel the islands have called me back after 14 years absence.  My previous experiences had taken me to Tortola, British Virgin Islands to work in a botanic garden for two years. I even interviewed for a job on Nevis at there botanic garden before leaving the islands for mainland America.  To be able to return to the island culture is an opportunity to good to pass up.

Hopefully, those of you who seeked out my blog out for horticultural inspiration in a less than tropical situation will still keep coming back to see what gardening is like on an island.  But, as I reinvent myself on a new career path it only seems natural to reinvent the blog.  So from this point forward, I present the new 'British Gardener - The Caribbean Memoirs', or should it be 'Life amongst the Coconuts', I don't know now.

Well better get back to liming and I don't mean being British!