I have one little hobby that relaxes me and makes me spread my wings: that is my garden. I love planting, sowing, weeding, and maintaining it in every other way possible. Watching tomatoes ripen, cucumbers and dill grow green, watching trees and shrubs bloom and later grow berries and fruit. I love all of this and that is why I do not live in the big city – I just would not know what to do in that concrete jungle.

And today was the day when all went haywire.. my little naughty kids did some “weeding” of tomato seedlings that I grew from seed, transplanted, loved, was happy and proud with. Before this the same thing happened to my pepper, a few times… And today I gave up… got tired… of explaining that it is not only their mother’s joy, but it is also food for our family, a double benefit… I just got tired…

A crazy anger boiled inside of me, compared to which the Etna volcano would seem just like a little drop in the sea. A real tornado, a hurricane, an explosion of a new universe. I got angry. I wanted something to break me into little pieces. And then I thought that this might be a power that I could use! I have been thinking that I should start writing for a long time. Writing a blog about Rūkė. About everything that is important to me and to us. So today I am starting one more journey. A Blog. Rūkė and everything related.

Hence, who really is Rūkė? Where did she come from? Why? Or maybe… what for?

Rūkė is my life. It is the life of me and my family. This is our life in the countryside, with all the animals we raise and with all the food we produce. This is what we experience when we get up every morning: morning coffee, a huge pile of pancakes, our children’s voices, dogs, goats, chickens… This is art. A process. These are the things that are so needed. It is free falling. This is a puzzle game from the millions of small pieces that have their own faults and weaknesses, where each is important. Rūkė could not exist without the countryside, her fashion designer diploma, without her husband and her children. Everything is important. Everything makes an influence. Even those tomatoes that have been pulled out of the soil ahead of time.

This journey started when I was a little girl. In kindergarten, I drew a picture that depicted the countryside: a house and a well with trees towering over, a forest filled with mushrooms and berries, a mother, a father, children, the sun and the sky.  I already knew then that I will live surrounded by nature. And that was exactly what happened. Time simply fled: kindergarten,  school,  Giedrė Fledzinskienė studies, work in advertising, television, film.. But I still could not start enjoying my life… Until one day, HE came into my life. Just only a half of a year later, we took our children, a few belongings and we went out into the countryside – the place where I found my space on this earth. Today, I can only thank fate, God, my husband for this wonderful gift, an opportunity to live here, out in the countryside.

As for my specialty – the story is similar. I knew that I wanted to be a clothing designer since I was little. I never wanted anything else. I remember my father trying to talk me out of this idea: in the twelfth grade he offered me to study accounting, law and other similar studies. He told be that he would not be able to help me because he does not understand art. That I will only have what I will be able to achieve and so on. However, this idea was not scary to me. I knew that this is exactly what I wanted and nothing could ever change my mind. I was so stubborn and I joined the Giedrė Fledžinskienė Higher School of Arts, specialty of clothing design. That is what it was called, at the time. I remember intensively listening to every single word that was said by my lecturers. And I still wanted even more. Every time I got back home nothing was even remotely as interesting as the lectures and the material that was presented. My whole room was filled with papers, notes, fabrics, trimmings, collages and everything else you could think of.. I could never fit into the format, the paper was always too small… I would draw, sketch, sew, disassemble, erase, re-draw and sew again.. The hours seemed too short, the days seemed not enough. I wanted more and more. Everything was interesting, I wanted to learn everything… Until one day, the lecturer of painting started making me separate displays.

I remember coming in to the lecture one day and seeing two different displays. How interesting – I thought. One of them was traditional and the other one – completely black. The lecture starts and the lecturer says: this display is for everyone, but this one, the black one, is only for Neringa. Moreover, he comes to my table and removes the black color from my palette. He also instructs me to work hard. I remember my colleagues wishing me good luck and sighing… A similar situation would happen at the lecture of special drawing, when the lecturer would only give assignments to me. And so on, and so forth.

It was the first thing in my life that gave me so much joy and inner satisfaction. For all of this to fully thrive I only had to move out into the countryside. As of today, that is how it is. Nowadays, I live and create. That is my/our life. Rūkė is the life of our family, our journey, the lessons learned, sleepless nights, a grown tomato.

I do not know what tomorrow will bring. I have no idea how often I will write, however, I truly know that this is something incredibly new and exciting and that attracts me so much…

Source: Ruke.lt EN