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The first day we were on the paper, Trevor showed up looking for us. He is passionate about his garden and wanted to show us his work.
He said that he has been dedicated to it for years and that it is almost finished. We walked to his house. We heard him talk about his parents, his life, his work, and his love for the garden. Want us to share it here to show your family members who are in England and can't see. He doesn't have internet.
His parents were English, they came to live in Aurora in 1930. His father, an organ player in a church, was already passionate about gardens and passed this passion on to Trevor. His mother was a kindergarten teacher. Trevor was born in 1940 and has always lived in Aurora. Except in 1960 when he went to England for two years. He worked all his life in a supermarket, now he has retired but continues to work part-time. He is dedicated to collecting antiques and of course to his garden. He has a brother, who lives in Toronto. His brother is married and has two children. A different life from Trevor's. Less lonely, we imagine.
It's funny to see the houses in Canada, different from those in Portugal, in that there are practically no walls. The fronts are all together, with gardens that delimit each other's houses. At the back, each house has its own small garden with a wooden fence, no high walls that limit conversation or even a cry for help.
But Trevor's house is different from the others, his garden is made not with grass but with stones. We come from Sudbury, we know how much stones are present in the daily life of Canadians. Trevor went to get the stones to build his garden at Parry Sound. He chose them in different colors, shapes and organized them to create something visibly different. Every weekend I went there I would bring five.
Upon entering the back garden, a few more corners worked with stones. For Trevor, the garden is a creative process, and as such it is never finished. Spend 5 hours a week here, outlining every detail, re-adjusting each stone. With the snow, each year, plants die and it is necessary to replant each spring.
We asked Trevor what love is for him: lots of things, waking up in the morning and realizing where you fit in in the world, leaving negativity behind. Be confident and enjoy what life gives you. For him, art is a form of love: music, painting, his garden is an act of love. “Life is what you make of it” Trevor told us.
