Showing posts with label vanishing threshold. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vanishing threshold. Show all posts

Monday, August 7, 2017

Table Tableau: In the Garden

When friend-client-mentor Mary Kistner invited me to lunch, most often it was the 2 of us.  Her table, whether inside or on her porch, always had a fresh tableau created along the span reaching our places.  Lovingly, a fresh arrangement from her garden, she had 50 acres, a perfectly chosen textile, a book, opened to exactly the right photo/s, color as important as form, other magic.
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Mary was the 1st female leading Rich's department store interior decorating department,  she created all the store windows & department vignettes during WWII.  Times were dire, there were no men for the job.
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Blessedly, I knew at the time how special every moment of our time together was.

Alors vous aimez ?
Pic, above, here.
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I would send this pic to Mary today, if she were still alive.  Instead, it is sent to you.
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"It's what we do with what we have.", Mary Kistner.
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Garden & Be Well,   XOT

Friday, August 4, 2017

Garden Design Layer: Wonk

Perfect settings are a delight, think Carolyne Roehm, but the every day do for myself must have a touch of wonk.  No, that's too narrow, I put wonk into every Garden Design.  Specializing in creating new historic Garden Designs, wonk is a layer of narrative.  A given.
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What is wonk?  Most often wonk is completely je ne c'est pas.  Wonk arrives to you, a gift.  Once wonk arrives, like love, you'll know.  Become a fertile pasture, wonk arrives as the honey bees do in South Georgia.
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A new wonk, below.
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Love me some new wonk.  Plonk that tree on the table.

Rustic and Reclaimed. Leila Lindholm - Leila Lindholm
Pic, above, here.
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Made my first bonafide roux last nite.  The house is still swimming in its perfect dark dark brown fragrance early this morning.  My hair too.  Heaven.  I can smell the kitchen, above, it's last night's wild caught South Carolina shrimp etouffee made without a recipe.  A meal from my previous life, and apparently I paid attention.  Beloved paid attention, eating speaks louder than words.  Few leftovers, and I cooked enough for all the dishes set on the table, above.  
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This trinity of wonk, above, potted tree/cut wildflowers/nursery herbs, set onto the harvest table, already embedded into my Garden Design DNA.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T  

Friday, July 28, 2017

Pure Science: Introverts vs Extroverts

"I'm not like you, watching chickens, reading books, being in the garden, lunching with your girlfriends in the conservatory is not living.", Beloved said with great 'tone'.
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Classic collision of introvert & extrovert.
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Beloved's extroversion an education.  Retreating to the garden, books, chickens, my tribe, for replenishment.  At a minimum Beloved 'sees' introversion in action, excepting, no depth of field to his lense.  


Chickies!
Pic, above, here.

There is a science to extroversion & introversion.   For decades I've known, Gardening/gardens is/are my drug.  Recently, validation to my drug theory.  It's fact.
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"
  

It’s all about the dopamine, which makes extroverts want to seek additional stimuli

Extroverts’ need to seek additional stimuli, which results in constantly seeking new hobbies and interests and cherishing the unfamiliar, may be the result of their genetic code which controls the dopamine function that forces them to look for new experiences.4 Moreover, extroverts are more likely to seek out situations that will provide them with reward because of their dopamine system.5
On the other hand, introverts prefer acetylcholine, which is another neurotransmitter. Acetylcholine also creates that pleasant feeling, but it’s related to introspection. For that reason, introverts don’t need to seek external stimuli to feel good. That is why extroverts might come off as easily distracted by new things, while introverts seem more focused."  Lifehack, here.


 farm pictures, daily fan favorite
Pic, above, here.

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How are introverts Different From Extroverts?

While Carl Jung was the first to coin the terms “introvert” and “extrovert” and provided theory explaining the main differences between the two types, later research showed the differences in the brain structure of the two types of personalities as well as the different ways in which they react to stimulations and recharge their energy.
Namely, extroverts possess lower levels of arousal, therefore they are always on the lookout for new exciting adventure, while introverts, possessing higher levels of arousal, will look for activities and situations that require lower levels of arousal. 5
Moreover, introverts would always choose a more relaxing activity for recharging, while extroverts are more likely to choose rewards through excitement. This has to do with the fact that brain of extroverts feeds on dopamine, making them feel pleasant only through challenges and excitement, while introverts’ brain prefers acetylcholine, which creates pleasure through introspection and more self-focused activities."  Lifehack, here.

Ideal jobs for thinking introvert

  • Aerospace engineer
  • Industrial engineer
  • Computer programmer
  • Web developer
  • Video game artist
  • Fashion designer
  • Interior designer
  • Graphic designer
Lifehack, here.          
Rather prophetic list, above, I have an engineering degree, and horticulture.  Take the link, above, there are more lists for different types of introverts. 

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If you are in love with an introvert

Introverts are great partners as they can provide genuine love, support and thoughtfulness to their love interest. Since they don’t act before they think things through, their partners can be assured that they are the only center of their attention. If you are in love with an introvert, make sure to respect their need for private time, don’t interrupt them, and don’t force them to make quick decisions about your lives together.   "  Lifehack, here
Priceless, above.  Ask me to make a life decision?  I'll get back with you.  The extrovert thinks I'm crazy not to answer within the conversation, I know he's crazy thinking I should answer that fast.  Now, I have another answer, "Go get your dopamine somewhere else."     
 
Pic, above, here.

 the us wants you to have chickens
Pic, above, here.

 The Duchess of Devonshire with her hens
Pic, above, here.

 Love yourself...it intimidates people...
Pic, above, here.

 Ballet Beautiful | ZsaZsa Bellagio - Like No Other
Pic, above, here.

 Http://msdoreen.co.uk
Pic, here.

"Some peopple feel the rain others just get wet." ~ Bob Marley
Pic, above, here.

 I the case of not being able to go mainstream in medical care this is me. Funny thing the old and eastern ways are curing me.......as nature intended my "machine to be cared for".
Pic, above, here.

Now I know, quotes above & similar types are  a division, in the macro, between those needing dopamine or acetylcholine.
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Cannot imagine needing dopamine so badly.  On the outside looking in, pure curse.  Hilarious, I'm sure living the life of an introvert would be a curse to the extrovert.
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More, finding the Lifehack article made me realize, majority of my clients are introverts.  Some, more than me.  I find them enriching.  Of course.
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Garden & Be Well,  XO T

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Sighting A Hedge for Screening

Hiding a view, the closer your plantings the faster the hiding.
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Neighbor's house, below, is quite close already, the design/placement of planting close, an automatic.
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If the neighbor's house were 100' away, still site the evergreen hedge where it is.  Not near the property line.  Especially if you want to have early morning coffee on the terrace, in your gown.

Habitually Chic® » Sag Harbor Secret Revealed
Pic, above, here.
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The closer the hedge, the faster the screening.
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Put that in your memory bank.
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You may not need it, but a friend might.
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Garden & Be Well,   XOT
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Placing large evergreens for screening recently, 'husband' wanted them in a certain spot, near the property line.  I mentioned a spot closer to his home, providing much faster privacy for his screened/roofed porch. Which was his focus.  He paused long, "That's where my wife said to put them."  Sweet moment, she loved it when I told her.

Thursday, July 6, 2017

Foundation Planting vs. Eco/Sustainable/Nature

There is a broader horizon for foundations.
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Builders must receive a certificate of occupancy ahead of selling a new construction home.  Most USA jurisdictions have a minimal landscaping requirement for that certificate of occupancy: square footage of lawn, number of bushes, and number of trees.  Builders are doing their job, it's not on them to change standards.
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Beyond that outline the types/placement of bushes/trees is not defined further.  Decades pass, the builder's landscaping remains.  No concern for trees to shade in summer/warm in winter/block winter winds reducing HVAC expense and increasing property value, mature growth that won't break foundations/walks/drives/rot roofs or siding.
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Civic duty is met, a baseline standard, and keep it tidy.  Little relation to eco, sustainable, Nature.  That trinity is ours to define.  One of life's great gifts, if we take it.
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Centuries before American foundation plantings, there were gardens, below.
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A garden design course, below, in a single photo.
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Better, eco/sustainable/Nature.  Increasing lifestyle & property value.
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** Life in the Netherlands.
Pic, above, here.
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This garden, above, feels like it's been let out of the jail of foundation plantings.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Styling: Eddie Ross

Immediately obvious, below, good staging/styling.  Expected in the 80's, rare in the teens.  So rare, I stopped to read the article, and discover who styled it.  Eddie Ross, for Better Homes & Gardens magazine.  Had the good fortune, lecturing in Virginia moons ago, to have dinner with Eddie & his partner Jaithan Kochar.  Total knock out pair of men, many layers of talent.


Pic, above, here.

Had to smile at their caption, above.  No cooking for me at a party, instead, choosing stewardship of guests & self.  Aka, having a great time.  In addition, choosing stewardship of cleaning/dishes after a party, I don't want guests cleaning, am wildly selfish wanting play time with them.  Cleaning after guests leave, using the time to give thanks, enjoying thoughts of party conversations.  Cleaning as a focused form of stewardship.
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Friend, client, mentor, Mary Kistner had the best lunches, often for just the 2 of us.  Always a well thought out menu, plates/glasses, floral arrangement, music, and a neighbor hired to serve, clear, clean.  Time with Mary was always sparking.  Our Muse's in fabulous dance.  


Pic, above. here.

My 80's 'eye' wants to put a rock under the right side of the pot with the gorgeous hydrangea, above.


Pic, above, here.
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Sublime color trinity, above, blues/grays/whites with subsidiary oxblood.  More great advice in a caption, above, but won't be using cut branches from our field, our guys saw a 3" diameter copper head snake last Friday.  
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

Thursday, June 15, 2017

A Long Island House & Garden

Habitually Chic, Heather Clawson, shares a garden every few weeks, sometimes longer, many new & wildly wonderful to me.  Recently, below, Heather hit it out of the ball park.  Again.
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Showing interiors first, it was obvious, this home, all pics here,  must have a garden.  Interior pics flowed, each with an incredible floral arrangement.  Anticipation mounted with myriad interiors, then an aside about finding a previous article about the house and it had garden photos, which she included.  Who is this woman?  Feels like she's working for me, bird dogging good gardens.
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The house/garden, is in Architectural Digest, here.

Habitually Chic® » Out East:

Wish the photo shoot had a video of staging, and arranging all the flowers, followed with a tour of the garden.  A garden designer, I'm fascinated with the skills of floral arrangers, these, below, seem 'not arranged'.  The highest accolade in my lexicon.

Habitually Chic® » Out East:


Habitually Chic® » Out East:

Habitually Chic® » Out East:


Habitually Chic® » Out East:


Habitually Chic® » Out East:

More pics of this home/garden, and charming article, here.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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Heather Clawson's new book, Creativity at Work.

Monday, June 12, 2017

What's Their Next Layer?

This one makes me smile, below, it's so real, it's true.
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Go team, the enfilade, color, function, vanishing threshold, a house/porch/landscape on its way.
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What's your first thing to do as Garden Designer?
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Seems a pot of money has already been spent.  What is the next pot of money for?  A pool, fence, arbor, stone terrace, plantings, conservatory, potager, fire ring, irrigation?
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I love screened in porches (and porches in general). Ironically, I live in the Pacific Northwest where the need for a screened in porch is nil :(:
Pic, above, here.
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Wish there was an immediate pot of money for an evergreen planting, a tapestry hedge, blocking views of the neighbor.  A game changer for this wonderful space.  Aside from privacy, the space will grow 'larger'.  Counterintuitive, and true.
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This porch too wonderful to miss a moment of gown time.
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Here's hoping the pots of money fill fast for this landscape.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T  

Friday, June 9, 2017

It's Your Peculiarities That Matter

Brunching a few years ago with Beloved and mom, at her club, glancing around I noticed something peculiar, inside the dining room, with its views overlooking the golf course, lake, and ubiquitous Texas mansions ringing the far side.  I asked Beloved to, "Look around, I'm the only one of my tribe here."  Poor man, he gave me that 'look', what-oddity-now?  He surveyed the room, looked at me, "You ARE the only one of your tribe."    I wasn't polished.  No botox, little make-up, natural hair, flowing linen dress, comfortable shoes, gardening fingernails & hands, real boobs, not fake, zero concern in showing their form or miles of cleavage.  In that room, that moment, I was peculiar.  I reeked of it.  It emanated in a cloud around me.  Peculiar.  Well done.


Basic Crone Attitude: "...I no longer put things in my stomach to please other people..." "By the time one reaches a certain age, one should be able, as Marianne Moore said, 'to have the courage of one's peculiarities'." in "Against Wind and Tide" - Anne Morrow Lindbergh:
Pic, above, here.
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Hope you've already discovered Anne Morrow Lindbergh, ca. 1982 wasband's grandmother, Miss Louise, slipped me a volume when we met in the garden.  We were living in her garage apartment.  A 3 car garage overlooking 50 acres of woodland built in the teens of the last century.  A newlywed, somehow she sensed I was sinking.  She died soon after, and to this day, amongst many life gifts, hers remains top of the list.
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A bit more about Miss Louise here.  But this isn't about her, it's about you, and your peculiarities.  And, why historic garden design rules are meant to be followed.  Following the rules, liberates your peculiarities.  Counterintuitive, but a truth.
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It's inherent within historic garden design rules, this gift, of showcasing your peculiarities.
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The more you go inward, the more you outwardly connect.

 Oscar de la Renta's Connecticut garden, a copy of the Florentine Boar sits center stage within a horseshoe-shaped double hedge of juniper.:
Pic, above, here.

In the simplicity of following historic garden design rules, the depths of your peculiarities are in the spotlight.

 Afbeeldingsresultaat voor tuin met grind en buxus:
Pic, above, here.
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Trust it.
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You know where to trust it from.  Your gut not your head.
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Garden & Be Well,   XOT

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Andy Warhol: Creating Atmosphere

Worthwhile or a fail.  For better, for worse.  Better than nothing.  Ok, accepted, it is what it is.
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Patio furniture is sold by patio furniture companies.  They arrange, style, stage, shoot, sell.  All good, and normal.
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How is it, patio furniture is purchased, and arranged in lockstep to the advertising?  Rooms To Go, exterior version.
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Buy me, we've done the thinking for you.  I buy a lot of things for that reason alone.
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Patio furniture much better than when I began my career in the 80's when every price point subdivision had the requisite white plastic table/chairs, Weber grill, and a mop on the patio.
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Comfort & function & aesthetics are sold in unison now, below, if you don't have the time to figure out your personal version.  Andy Warhol has a nice quote about atmosphere in NYC restaurants, and that's why people are happy to pay the prices, to get away from their lives, for a little while.   ("New York restaurants now have a new thing — they don’t sell their food, they sell their atmosphere. They say, “How dare you say we don’t have good food, when we never said we had good food. We have good atmosphere.” They caught on that what people really care about is changing their atmosphere for a couple of hours. That’s why they can get away with just selling their atmosphere with a minimum of actual food. Pretty soon when food prices go really up, they’ll be selling only atmosphere. If people are really all that hungry, they can bring food with them when they go out to dinner, but otherwise, instead of “going out to dinner” they’ll just be “going out to atmosphere.”)


 Now, buy atmosphere, plop it on your patio, voila, get away from your life, without leaving home.
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Want the look, below, but can't afford it?  Field gather, with a critical eye, chairs, tables, sofas, paint them all the same color.            


Garden at Restoration Hardware LA:
Pic, above, here.
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Am field gathering yard furnishings now for our ca. 1900 home.  Its atmosphere a delight to work with, quite controlling.
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Choose the aesthetic you want, keep a sure eye, have fun.  Buy classics, you won't have to buy again.  Once & done.
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Garden & Be Well,   XOT

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Goldilocks Method for Your Porch

Goldilocks memos.  Just when I think I've grown beyond new ones arriving.  Pow !  Some old ones, below.
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First spring in Georgia, 35 years ago, I remember well cleaning the yellow pollen off the porch.  More than a little effort involved.  The next morning, this Galveston Bay, Texas girl learned yellow pollen is a season, not a day.  Got the memo.
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A few years later, moved into my starter home, an arbor, much anticipated, was finally built over the back patio.  This was the era of 10" hanging baskets lush with flowers, $3.88.  Bought more than a few.  Thrilled, hammering nails into the arbor, and hanging all those colorful baskets.  Watering.  Didn't anticipate that inconvenience.  Got the memo.
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Had the good fortune. from my 20's, to tour a lot of gardens with pretty porches, and give Garden Club lectures at homes with gorgeous porches.  A quick study, learning to copy beautiful ideas aligning with my amount of time/money.  If the porch was gorgeous because their maid & landscape crew were keeping it clean, fertilized, seasonal flowers replanted, watered, trimmed, blown, cushions washed, that would not transfer to my lifestyle.  Got the memo.


SUCH A STUNNING PLACE TO SIT, READ A BOOK, OR SIMPLY RELAX & ENJOY THE GLORIOUS SURROUNDINGS!! :
Pic, above, here.
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Gorgeous, above, but not for me.  Too much work.  And then the wind blows and the candles fall to the ground shattering, or the neighbor's dog wags his tail into them.  The curtains mildew.  Perfect for another's life, and an example of being fierce with your Goldilocks choices.
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Pretty/classic, below, and maybe for me.  Cushions an issue.  I don't want to 'have to have' cushions.  Much easier without cushions, been there/done that.  And, keeping the wicker 'clean'.  Probably easy enough to keep the patio/furniture blown weekly, hosing it down 1x-2x/year.  Goldilocks interested, below.


Would prefer more of this feel in the back of our lake house.:
Pic, above, here.

Not much work for Goldilocks, below.  Maximum function, little caretaking.  Rockers have cushions, but they don't have-to-have-cushions.  Porch, below, a good ending point, or good starting point, depending upon your Goldilocks story.

Beautiful.... this is one of my happy places I go to when I close my eyes only it's in the middle of about 100 acres. :-):
Pic, above, here.
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Perhaps that's the best point about using the Goldilocks method, it's a lifehack moving you toward your own fabulous choices, working the best for you.  Not taking other's beautiful patio choices, without consideration for consequences.
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Garden & Be Well,   XOT
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In an earlier version of Goldilocks it's an old woman, not a young girl, and she runs away at the end of the story, only to be caught, and impaled on the steeple of St. Paul's Cathedral for her trespass.
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Ironically, working with a client now, her daughter, not a real gardener, but adores cooking, wanting an herb garden.  Mom, said, "I'll give you an herb garden, and have it planted for you."  Daughter said, "No, that's too much work, I want it in pots on the patio."  Daughter choosing the greater maintenance choice, least sustainable, and productive.  Her mom & I, very much considering daughter's age.  Those headstrong, know so much, 20's.  We lived them too!  What did we decide?  Not wanting to discourage a possible new gardener, daughter is getting her herb garden in large pots.  .  It's how we learned, making the wrong choices, while surely knowing they were the right choices.  Gardening is wildly counterintuitive.
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Truly, it is all my wrong garden choices making me an 'expert', not the college degree in horticulture.  More than wrong choices, bold & sure while making them.  Late last year, took my tribe to Susanne Hudson's garden, none had seen it or met her before.  Before leaving, we sat on the front porch, and then the garden stories began.  Laughter, unbelievable laughter.  We were sharing the 'smart' things we had done in our gardens leading up to finally having the garden's of our dreams.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

The Outdoor Dining Table

Storms blew yesterday evening.  Six miles north/east 1" hail pounded.  Clouds circled tightly in a counter-clockwise direction.  Temps fell quickly,  Winds dropped branches from the ca. 1900 pecan trees,  Of course, dinner on the front porch.  
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Sited at its deepest point, the front porch table never gets wet, storms included.  Drama swirls, dinner progresses.  Just the 2 of us, vintage garden boy with 2 baskets, delectably white washed ca. 1941, remained as center piece.  With guests I make more of an effort.  The table holds 8 dear friends in a rectangle of love, 6 with people we don't know as well.  One length of the table seated with a church pew, older than our house.
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The ca. 1900 house remains its original white, much of the porch furniture is white, knowing vintage garden boy was remaining old white ironstone dinner plates were used.  All was good, until remembering recently seeing a table setting, below, by Carolyne Roehm.  Note to self, copy Carolyne.  
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Perfect table quickie, below, a fern.  Kimberley Queen, my choice.  She's not messy, doesn't drop bits/pieces of her fronds easily, and, she takes full baking sun or shade.
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A pair of vintage flower stands are already on the front porch, awaiting their Bunny Mellon green topiaries, and now, a few Kimberely Queens.  Further, Carolyne's centerpiece, below, said to keep a variety of 'urns' for the ferns/topiaries to quickly bring to table, in the antique chest just outside the front door.  Finally, things coming together after living in our home 2 years next month.

By Carolyne Roehm.....I always wondered if it was tacky to put a potted plant on the table, but if Carolyne says do it: then it must be ok.:
Pic, above, here.
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Have several white antique ironstone soup tureens, above.  None more than a few dollars, all with a crack or chip or missing handle of some sort.  With a Kimberely Queen fern, or forcing bulbs, who cares?
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

Friday, May 26, 2017

Front Door: Color & Font

Rarely do I design commercial projects.  When I do commercial, it's most often for the owner of the business who has already hired me for their home, deciding later to strong arm me for their business.  Most of the commercial work has been small businesses, though I've done one the size of a college campus in a small town.  Never have I felt out of my element, curious that I don't seek commercial too.   Oddly, when first asked to do commercial I always say, No.  This type of 'No' is pure catnip to all who've made the request.  A rabbit hole for another day.
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Yesterday Pinterest got into my veins with several pics of commercial front doors.  Pinterest is my go-to quick time filler.  What's the harm of beauty, inspiration and a little sideways learning?
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Banner Pinterest day, yesterday, learned with a commercial storefront, a small business, all you need is Color & Font.  They draw the eye, then through the window/s, a focal point.  If you've read my blog any time at all, you know 'trinities' are magnetic sparkly pixie dust to me.
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Here's the golden nugget I can't translate.  Yet.
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If a small business only needs Color & Font to draw the eye, with delight, what is the equivalent pairing, for a residential front door?  And what is the residential focal point prong, creating a trinity, with the pairing of Color & Font.  At present I think the answer is fluid within a fixed realm.  Dynamic in a static setting.  Further, once deduced, I know there will be several templates within the residential front door design.
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Pure delight, a shiny new discovery to be made.
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About age 6, I remember vividly finding the old 'toy' clock Santa brought me 'years' earlier, in the back of my closet.  Surely, time to throw it away.  Before throwing it away, I HAD to know how the inner mechanism worked, to move the hands.  Went to the kitchen, got a steak knife, went back to my room, hacked into the back of the clock, and saw all its plastic moving parts, and figured out how it worked.  Which was a lot better than merely learning to tell time.  Fate wasn't kind, mom passed by my room, clock & steak knife in hand.  "What have you done?"    Yep, got in trouble.  Can you believe it?  I couldn't either, all I was doing was learning.
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Adore the phase of reaching toward discovery.  As much as discovery.  This time, you're in the mix.  Tell me, How does the pairing of Color & Font translate to you, for your residential front door?

coiffeur:
Pic, above, here.

 one cannot go to Laduree too often, n'est pas?:
Pic, above, here.

 .13 Rue d"Elzevir Paris 3eme:
Pic, above, here.

 Bayeux is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in northwestern France. Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England.:
Pic, above, here.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T
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Yesterday also had another major quirk.  Two appointments attended required standing & saying the Pledge of Allegiance.  Voices & words rang strong & sure in both rooms.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Southern Living Magazine: A Garden

For 20 years of my career, Southern Living magazine was 'the' resource for clients.  Most had pages dog-eared or torn out ready to show the garden of their dreams.  In return, equally, it was gratifying to reproduce those beautiful images.  Aside from reading Southern Living myself, for pleasure, I 'had' to read it because it was an expectation of clients.  
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Then came John Floyd's retirement in 2008, the editor for those glory years my clients adored.
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After John Floyd, Southern Living became a magazine for Southerners written through the prism of those outside the South.  Dropped my subscription after an article that can only be described as snarky & demeaning, lacking in inspiration, choosing the trite & hackneyed, without intellect or stewardship, time enriched became time wasted.  How could they.  Get John back.
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Oddly, another magazine had just been founded a year prior to John Floyd's retirement, Garden & Gun.  What a title.  It sputtered, as all businesses did during the debacle of 2008.  Time passed, about 5 years ago clients would start a sentence, "Did you see the latest Garden & Gun"?  Never was it about a garden, but someplace to eat, travel, or an article richly configured splaying open an epiphany, or two.  Three years ago, after buying a few copies on news stands, knew I had to get a subscription.  Zero disappointment.  However, the 'garden' part of Garden & Gun seems shallowly formulated, still in its infancy.  Don't care.  The rest of the magazine gives more than enough.
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Saw a garden picture, below, recently and love it.  Enough love, had to discover its source.  Well, go team, Southern Living magazine.  Hope this spark turns into a fire and I get 2-3 clients saying, "I saw this in Southern Living...."


Front Porch with Green Rocking Chairs

Just wow, above/below, simple, comfortable, easy to maintain, leveraging life, not sucking the life out of you trying to keep it up, and historically accurate.
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Monteagle, Tennessee Cottage

The story gets better with this garden, above.  The Southern Living article includes the interior.  This is a second home for the owners, and part of their joy in this home is sharing it with others, whether they are there, or not.
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Yeah, Southern Living magazine is back on the radar.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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Oh irony.  Garden & Gun hired a lot of staff from NYCity, relocating them to the South at its founding.

Monday, May 15, 2017

What Fuels Your Life?

"The problem with the world is that we draw our family circle too small."  Mother Teresa. 

At some point the layers of my gardening life, vocation & avocation, became my-life.  Collateral layers included.  For at least 2 decades I've known the joy of birthdays almost daily.  Akebia comes into bloom, its fragrance wafting?  My dear friend Akebia coming into bloom again, letting me know in the best dramatic performance ever, I've survived another year, happy birthday.  Oakleaf hydrangea blowing into full bloom as if snow has fallen in early summer, another birthday, Azalea 'George Tabor' opening his large pink gramophone horn shaped flowers, birthday greetings.  Trees dropping their leaves in fall, ahead of brutal winter, yet growing stronger from the humus of those leaves, what-they-let-go-of, a birthday epiphany each fall.  You get the idea.  Oddly, the date of my arrival on Earth?  Feels insignificant compared to all the other birthdays given.
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Books.  How many books have taught me more than 2 college degrees, and been kind/nurturing in the lessons? The learning & kindnesses alone, mark them as family.
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My dogs & cats.  Sure too many are already gone, but their loving memory still nurtures as family along with those still here.  Those in memory?  Sure, my grandma has been gone since early 1983, yet daily she's apart of my life.
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Nature, the one I work with, play with, even earn my living from.  Another member of my family.
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Finally, getting to my inner circle of friends.  Family.
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Unable to have children, tried-tried-tried, do I feel like I'm missing out on life, or even a full life?  No.  A well meaning 'friend' recently told me his children were his legacy.  My reaction was to feel sorry for him, yet he went on to say he felt sorry for me.  Seeing Mother Teresa's quote, gave me the spiritual science behind why I felt sorry for my friend.  His family circle is too small.
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Smiled seeing picture, below.  Nature wins, always.  Designing landscapes, I know who I am truly designing for, and where my 'work' will eventually be, with Nature.          
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“If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Will the air over the plain quiver with a color that I have had on, or the children invent a game in which my name is, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or will the eagles of the Ngong Hills look out for me?”


― Karen Blixen
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Karen Blixen's quote, above, beautiful.  Yet for so long, a beautiful enigma.  Now, answer to her question, obvious.  Africa was Karen Blixen's family.  She went further, drawing an even larger circle, writing a book about her family, sharing with anyone willing to accept her gift.
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"Science in its beginnings was due to men who were in love with the world. They perceived the beauty of the stars and the sea, of the winds and the mountains. Because they loved them their thoughts dwelt upon them, and they wished to understand them more intimately than a mere outward contemplation made possible. “The world,” said Heraclitus, “is an ever living fire, with measures kindling and measures going out.” Heraclitus and the other Ionian philosophers, from whom came the first impulse to scientific knowledge, felt the strange beauty of the world almost like a madness in the blood. They were men of Titanic passionate intellect, and from the intensity of their intellectual passion the whole movement of the modern world has sprung. But step by step, as science has developed, the impulse of love which gave it birth has been increasingly thwarted, while the impulse of power, which was at first a mere camp-follower, has gradually usurped command in virtue of its unforeseen success. The lover of nature has been baffled, the tyrant over nature has been rewarded."  Bertrand Russell
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"In the conscious desires of the man who seeks power for its own sake there is something dusty: when he has it he wants only more power, and does not find rest in contemplation of what he has. The lover, the poet and the mystic find a fuller satisfaction than the seeker after power can ever know, since they can rest in the object of their love, whereas the seeker after power must be perpetually engaged in some fresh manipulation if he is not to suffer from a sense of emptiness. I think therefore that the satisfactions of the lover, using the word in its broadest sense, exceed the satisfactions of the tyrant, and deserve a higher place among the ends of life." Bertrand Russell
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Old forgotten house taken over by a tree! Micoley's picks for #AbandonedProperties www.Micoley.com:
Pic, above, here.
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Gardening, gardening historically, understanding the myriad birthdays my garden gives, led to an epiphany about time.  It's all I have.  Time.
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At a meeting Lois started, a 12-step meeting, I remember well these sharings, "Yesterday is as old as the pyramids.", "Keep your head where your butt is.", and "What I say and do reflects on me, what another says/does reflects on them."  Of course, "Do the next right thing." stays at the top of the list.
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Much goes thru the funnel, and we are merely left with time, and how we wish to fill it.  Time, a day at a time.  It's obvious where I go for joy, love, meaning, answers.
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"The supply of time is truly a daily miracle. You wake up in the morning and lo! your purse is magically filled with 24 hours of the unmanufactured tissue of the universe of your life! It is yours.


....You cannot draw on the future. Impossible to get into debt! You can only waste the passing moment. You cannot waste tomorrow, it is kept from you.
....You have to live on this 24 hours of time. Out of it you have to spin health, pleasure, money, content, respect and the evolution of your immortal soul. Its right use…is a matter of the highest urgency.  
....We shall never have more time. We have, and have always had, all the time there is."  Arnold Bennett, 1867-1931, How To Live On 24 Hours A Day.
Seeing the pic, above, now you know a few of the reasons it makes me smile.  And some of the types of fuel used in my work/life.  Almost daily, acquiring new fuel, just as Mother Teresa's quote was in a note arriving this morning.  Fuel.  
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Gardening, personally/professionally, never intuited as a few plants here/there.    
Garden & Be Well,   XOT

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Vanishing Threshold: Bunny Mellon

From the garden, below, a view of the terrace.  Exactly the photographic style of the 80's.  Each piece, every layer, in alignment to the Narrative.  This story a trinity between owner, beauty, happiness.
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Vanishing Threshold, inside/outside have no boundary.
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How do I know this?  Before her, below, and a tiny contingent of other 'hers', I was writing the same story at my home/garden.
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Seeing this pic, below, the 1st time, I knew who it belonged to.  Linking backwards, discovering I was not wrong, Bunny Mellon.  Originating in the pages of Architectural Digest, its caption, "Antigua Residence: A terrace features an Henri Rousseau landscape."
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A great laugh, the painting.  My 1st urge, wanting to call my client/friend/mentor Mary Kistner, we needed one of our trademark meandering lunches for me to divulge this rich tidbit.  Mary was creating her Vanishing Threshold trinity decades before I was born.  This, merely another delight we will share once we are in the same place again.  Mary died over a decade ago.

Tour the Exquisite Homes and Gardens of Late Design Legend Bunny Mellon Photos | Architectural Digest:
Pic, above, here.
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Oil paintings I've put on terraces & porches, for decades, for myself/clients have all been from thrift/junk shops.
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Of course Bunny put a Rousseau painting on her terrace.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T
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Mary Kistner was a collage artist in the style of Kurt Schwitters, she installed art shows for other artists at several museums across USA, her memorial service was in a museum, standing room only.  Perhaps you can see those layers in the pic, above.  A few weeks after Mary died I received a call from her estate attorney, Mary left me something & an appointment needed to be made for pick-up.
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In my office, just above my laptop, is her bequest, an already framed piece of her collage art.  Titled, "Feuillage IX", MKistner 2000.  Receiving her bequest, and a few times since, has brought happy & grieving tears.  Mary had, I know, a wicked glint in her eyes & trademark smile, putting "Feuillage IX" into her will to me.  At one of our lunches, it had to be in fall, I shared with her my epiphany about falling leaves, while I was driving along Hugh Howell Road in Tucker, GA.  Decades of seeing falling leaves, I finally got the biblical narrative.  Trees drop their leaves, and are fed by them, every year of their life.          
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More, trees drop their leaves ahead of the brutal season, winter.  Vigorously showing off their lacy branching beauty against the sky, richly taking in strength from what they let go of.  The bible, inspired word of G*d written by man.  Nature, inspired writing of G*d.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Are You a Picnic Person?

My mother-in-law introduced me to 'The Picnic'.  Moth to a flame.  My mom let it be known putting peanut butter/jelly on bread for a small child at home was stupid, odious and a ridiculous waste of time.  A picnic?  Not happening.  So.  The concept of spending days hunting/gathering for a picnic, taking place at an exotic location, the more inconvenient the better, and finding the exact right recipe for vichyssoise soup as a picnic 1st course, which china to pack, the best wines to pair with the food, cloth napkins, and so much more.  Yes, yes, yes, I bought the farm, love a picnic.
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My last proper picnic was too long ago.  Went with 2 lady friends to the Kentucky Derby.  We packed an incredible picnic.  Enjoying ourselves immensely the oddest thing kept happening.  Passerby taking our picture, some even asked if it was ok to get our picture.
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Last year we had plans for a holiday lunch that fell through.  Beloved asked me, What do you want to do now?  I said let's go get some things, pack it up, and have a picnic by the pond, at the back of the property.
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Whoa.  That took the air out of him.  He got that look, Is she crazy !  We had no picnic.  In fact, that's all I remember about it, no picnic.  What we did instead, zero memory.
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Saw this pic, below, a few days ago, and all I could think was the picnic I didn't have at the pond vs. the many picnics taken with my mother-in-law through the decades.
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If you've read, To The Lighthouse, by Virginia Wolfe, know that I refuse to let a picnic by my pond become that trip to the lighthouse.  Too much fun to be had, inviting my local core of lady friends for a picnic by the pond this fall.


Having a picnic near the tulip bulb fields of Aalsmeer, the Netherlands, 1960, via Collectie SPAARNESTAD, Nationaal Archief Commons on flickr. The largest flower auction in the world is in Aalsmeer…:
Pic, above, here.
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Are you a picnic person?
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

A Cure for the Green Meatball

Truly curious.  Did green waves, below, start life as green meatballs?  Hope these green waves sail a thousand ships.
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Fence color.  Perfect, enlarges the space, and the potted tree, again, color enlarges its space too.
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Both artworks sited on axis from the house, with pure museum backdrop.
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Gas grill is pruned into its niche, hiding from view.
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Little maintenance, merely blowing, pruning.  Would like to see same shot with the green waves at their peak of scruffy, before a pruning day.

love the green backdrop to the pieces:
Pic, above, here.
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Bravo to the pruner, foliage to the gravel.  Amazing perfection.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T

Monday, April 17, 2017

Mercy: Man & Dog

A lot of reasons to smile, below.
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If this man does/could have a garden, I know it would be wonderful.  He's got the attitude.  Garden Design is over 11,000 years old, and has a lot of  'rules', each one meant to be intelligently broken with love, simplicity, wit.  Proving, afresh, why the ancient Garden Design rules, rule.
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Laura, it's a small bag! Too bad it can't be a large bag and hold 8 items.:
Pic, above, here.
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"Mercy is the conscious choice to be kind when one can be cruel."  Mercy...."seeded in scripture yet almost biologically encoded into human nature."
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There is an ineffable secularized mercy, above, from man to dog.  Yet that mercy travels in both directions, in giving mercy to his dog, it pours back onto him.  And why the pic reeks of love.
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In my garden, without intention or knowledge aforethought  I found this secularized mercy, mercy profane.  Continuing to garden, decades, hallelujah, epiphany finally arrived and I got the memo, sacred mercy.

"Practicing mercy can be redemptive and rebellious."  Mercy can be used as a shield, toward ourselves, above, and others.  For years I labeled this the-good-selfishness, until realizing it as grace.
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"Mercy only exists because of and as a counterpoint to our capacity for cruelty."  In a garden is the harvest, mercy, against life's cruelty.  Ironic the story of man/woman 1st placed on Earth in a garden, sin entered, poof they were sent into the cruel world.  It's no wonder I love a garden.
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Before moving away from my 30 year garden, 2 years ago, I knew it would be hard.  Deeply hard.  There were no words, trying to articulate to Beloved what I was leaving.  Now, 2 years later, I have the words.  Leaving my 30 year garden I left its unconditional love, and mercy.  Beyond reason, beyond doubt, I know unconditional love & mercy need not come from a person.  G*d has given myriad resources for those gifts.  
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"In denying others mercy, we deny ourselves."  Pure Joseph Campbell territory of follow your bliss.  Within it you will find mercy profane, and sacred.  And, of course the Earth wisdom of Wendell Berry.
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All quotes, above, Anne Lamott.  Wendell Berry & Joseph Campbell, below.
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The old and honorable idea of 'vocation' is simply that we each are called, by God, or by our gifts, or by our preference, to a kind of good work for which we are particularly fitted. Wendell Berry
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/wendellber596505.html
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There are no sacred and unsacred places; there are only sacred and desecrated places. My belief is that the world and our life in it are conditional gifts. Wendell Berry
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/wendellber596494.html
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Urban conservationists may feel entitled to be unconcerned about food production because they are not farmers. But they can't be let off so easily, for they are all farming by proxy. Wendell Berry
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/wendellber461112.html
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The primary motive for good care and good use of the land-community is always going to be affection, which is too often lacking. Wendell Berry
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/wendellber461100.html
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Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy. Joseph Campbell
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/josephcamp390717.html
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"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.
The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.
The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.
Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.
Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.
The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.
A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.
It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure."    Joseph Campbell
Love is a friendship set to music."  Joseph Campbell.
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Love is a friendship set to music.  "  Joseph Campbell.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T

Friday, March 31, 2017

Porch Ceiling Blue

Front porch today.  Still life.  Calm.  Gardenesque.  Faces east.
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Bench hasn't been there long, yet already seen lots of use.  Bench & plant stand moved with me from my previous garden, surviving the great purge of Cottage Garden to historic ca. 1900 farmhouse.
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Ceiling has only been blue since Christmas'ish.  Huge surprise once painted.  It's gorgeous from inside the house, looking into the garden.  A good transition.  No, too small, a happy transition.  I had a narrow consideration ahead of painting, from the street inward, or in photos.  Pea brain.  Adore a good surprise in Garden Design.  This qualifies, big.
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Don't paint a porch ceiling blue for how it looks, paint it blue for how it lives.
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Looks vs. Lives.  A new pair.  Balances a favorite pair, Sacred vs. Profane.

Image may contain: people sitting, table and indoor

Stain, Cabot, Driftwood Gray, solid cover, has already been bought for the floor.
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Time & money getting to simple is a grown-up dry humor.  Friend texted me pic yesterday of her lovely new gravel path, she shoveled into place with her young daughters, signing off with, hvac $12,000.00 just put in.  
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Who sells those T-shirts?  Owner: New Roof $.......   New Insulation $.......     New Car Tires $.........    New Washer/Dryer $.........  New HVAC $.......  New Windows $......  etc.  And, all of that is the normal good stuff in life.  Yep, quite the dry humor.
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More is the victory of a new gravel garden path, or simple still life.
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Filthy lucre.
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A woman said to our historic garden design tour director, in France, what a bother it was to get xyz done in the garden.  Without pausing he said, "Sex is a bother and we don't mind."  She had no follow up comment.
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Garden & Be Well,    XOT