This is a picture of the memorial labyrinth garden in Lewistown, Montana. I'm not certain who actually designed and constructed it, but I know that it's maintained by volunteers who take sections to weed and nurture. The grass pathway is about three feet wide and is bordered with flowerbeds of the same width; along the edge of the path one walks are memorial stones, with names of friends and family; one can walk slowly, read the names and have a quiet time of memory and prayer. It's one of the most peaceful, happy public places I've ever encountered....the park can be filled with kids running and playing, people sprawled out on blankets, screaming from the nearby pool, and when I enter the labyrinth, it all sort of blurs out.
Do you see the statue? She holds secrets.
Here's a closer look:
When I stay in Lewistown, I try to go for a run in the mornings on the running path from the Yogo that goes to the park. I'm sure there are other great places to run, but this is close to the B & B where I stay and it's more private to me than running the streets. Later in the morning, there are a lot of people who use it, but dark-early in the morning, it's pretty quiet and gorgeously frosty-mistlike. When I get to the labyrinth, I run through it carefully, sometimes twice, then head back...it's a fun place to turn around and the little curves sort of wake me up!
One weekend a couple years ago, I was in Lewistown with Celestia for my birthday...a HUGE treat, because we went to live music at Lola's, stayed in The Calvert Hotel and had Mad Housewife wine before bed to toast the day. The next morning I ran the path and the labyrinth, but on a whim, paused and peeked in the watering can the girl of the statue is holding.
There was a letter!
I didn't take it out, didn't look at the writing on the envelope, but have wondered, wondered ever since who might have left it there and what the story was. (I later emailed a friend who lived in Lewistown and asked him to go down and check, to see if the letter had been picked up, but I don't think he ever did.) Was it a break up letter? An I-want-to-meet-later-xoxoxo-letter? A letter of apology? A birthday wish? I don't know. I've always hoped it was a letter between lovers, something that both of them smile about when they think of it. And I've always hoped that whoever it was intended for got it! I've never looked in the watering can since then...it seems too private, even though it's in a public garden.
I've been thinking of making a prairie labyrinth, here near my house. Nothing complicated or fancy....certainly nothing as breathtaking as the one in Lewistown. Perhaps just mowing the crested wheat grass in the pasture beyond my yard into a place I can pace and contemplate. Here's a pattern that seems completely do-able:
Of course, by the time I'm finished, it will probably be less than calming and more along the lines of confusing, but still...
Would you come walk my labyrinth and have a glass of tea afterward under the pergola? I think I'll leave a watering can at the beginning point, just because it seems right. You can tuck notes, recipes, flowers in it as surprises for the nosy soul that peeks!
