I noticed that while Mother’s Day was pretty much all over the place in blogs (about perfumes or otherwise), Fatehr’s Day is not as popular a topic… I happen to be spending most of father’s day, surprisingly, with my own father. Which is quite unusual, as he lives all the way in Montreal. Along with my boyfriend, he was patiently dragged along the beautiful VanDusen Gardens, while I was admiring the flowers and even taking some elaborate botanical close-ups for my upcoming new website (which will be featuring images of the individual note for each perfume).

Well, just like mother-child relationship, the relationships between children and their fathers have never been too simple. On the other side, the bond between father and child is not as obvious as the nurturing physical/emotional bond between mother and child. It requires a lot more investment to compensate for those lost 9 months…

Beginning with the metaphoric exile from the Garden of Eden, and followed by modern day stories such as Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant and Nagib Mahfouz’s The Children of Gebelaawi the archetypal Father have been more severe, intellectual, judgmental and emotionally distant than the archetypal Mother, which is the merciful and nurturing - at times to the point of sacrificial.

So, to all fathers who actually have the guts and the courage to put the time and tremendous emotional investment to bridge the 9-months gap and reach out to their children once they are born - despite busy careers, wars, vengeful mothers and spouses, emotional blocks and whatever excuses and unfortunate life circumstances that has often left children fatherless – I dedicate this little virtual stroll along the garden paths, and hope we could all return to the Garden of Eden at least for a few moments in each and every day in our life.

Amongst my favourites, this garden includes a maze, a Mediterranean garden, an herb garden, peony garden, Zen meditation garden, a little bamboo forest, and a soul-refreshing abundance of bodies of water such as streams, lakes, ponds, water fountains and a waterfall.

The VanDusen Gardens are tremendously beautiful, and like most well-designed (and maintained) gardens, they provide their visitors with an interesting insights into one’s life, besides the obvious pleasure of the beautiful sites, fresh air and fragrant plants. Gardens encompass elements such as water, flow, structure and drama that make one connect to their very own inner self as well as ancient archetypes. The most repeated theme in gardens is, I believe, an attempt to create a Paradise on Earth. This is the secret behind Bahai gardens, but reaching tranquility as in the Zen gardens is, at the core, the same concept.

I will be re-visiting VanDusen Gardens again this summer, this time on my own, not only to take more photos and catch up with all the trails and gardens I missed – but also for further meditation on the concept of Paradise on Earth, which is something I believe can be condensed into a bottle and be worn as a perfume.