Conservatory: A New Way To Cook

Greek salad with shrimp, vegetable soup with Gruyere cheese, last week's luncheon in the Conservatory.Sitting down to lunch,
desert waiting on the sideboard,
is when I put the
kettle on top of the stove. Boiling water for the French press coffee pot.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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NEVER, ever saw myself cooking on a wood stove. Can't wait to make a real meal on it. College Boy cooked this menu upon my request; inside the house. A request including when I wanted it ready and when he needed to "disappear". He performed each task beautifully. More about the cookies & biscotti, above, soon. You have no idea how special they are.

No Date In The Garden

My garden pics tell me the season. They date themselves.
At this angle, below, it doesn't matter the flowers are in plastic pots. They aren't visible.
At terrace level, below, there was a pond. I moved it.
Dwarf mondo will be planted between the stones, matching the rest of the terrace.
Duck Foot ivy will be planted on the riser to the greenhouse, hiding the timber & adding lushness. (Lushosity?)

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Soon, French doors will be painted BM-HC- 77. Didn't realize I was building a space for the pot cluster with the Conservatory. Adore happy surprises.

Lunch In The Conservatory

Choosing: menu, dishes, silver, linens, making a fire. Anticipating guests arrival. We walk in the garden, lunch, conversation, laughter, & hard truths too. Life is welcomed in my Conservatory.
Preparing to carry desert & decaf to the Conservatory, above.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic taken in my kitchen. Ancient soup tureen bought in Augusta, GA ages ago when I lectured there; been filled with fresh apples ever since.

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You should see the floor, counters, sink, each a disaster.

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Wise women know, build the Conservatory first. Priorities, priorities, priorities.

How To Make Tulips Last Longer

From a distance, white tulips are most visible.These are getting rattier by the day.
Doesn't matter, from the house they look fabulous, their rattiness doesn't show.
Tulips last longer when you keep them in your conservatory.

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Another bundle of tulips, bought the same day, placed inside my home are long gone.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken this week. List of reasons you NEED a Conservatory has today's factoid at #6.

Chandelier: Before & After

From Lowe's, below, chandelier in my new Conservatory.SHIPMAN called from Buenos Aires last month, "Found you the perfect chandelier, want it?"
SHIPMAN dismantled the chandelier & packed it in a fruit crate for its trip home.
SHIPMAN brought a bottle of wine & 2 crystal glasses for the hanging & gossip fest.
SHIPMAN & I decided it must have summer shades & winter shades.
I'm on the prowl for those shades.

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SHIPMAN & I decided the chandelier is only about 80 years old, we pouted a moment about its youth but decided its great backstory, into my Conservatory, adds patina. At least to us.

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Life is good.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Voicemail from SHIPMAN this morning, "You must come for lunch in my conservatory this week." Yes, life is good. Now, how to get the time...........

Chandeliers In The Kitchen

Diminutive, my pair of chandeliers hang, as inspired by a blog years ago, over a harvest table. Many mornings I'm here, in my wicker chair,
reading & looking out 3 walls of windows, starting my day.A view out 1 of those walls, from my wicker chair this morning.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Did you notice my ceiling is not white? It's a faded blue/green, depending upon the lighting. Below the chair rail is a terra cotta type color. Both colors are within the wall paper. Susanne Hudson was hired to choose the colors. 25 years in this house & I still love the wallpaper.

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Pics taken this morning.

Steps

The change in elevation was deceptively 'not there' without my new Conservatory.

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Alas, My Dear Ladies both use canes. You know they will be in my Conservatory sharing wine/canapes before dinner.

Stone steps are dry stack, above. And, ta da, rescued from jobsites.
Serendipitously, I put in a side door to my conservatory. That door has a meandering woodland path, no steps. SAFE, for My Dear Ladies.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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No pics yet of the meandering woodland path leading to the side door. My guys put the steps in, wish I could say I did !!

Enfilades Increase Drama

Enfilade, a view thru to a view. In gardens or homes, I adore an Enfilade.
Standing outside the conservatory this week (in gown/robe/bedroom slippers) in the snow
I discovered a new Enfilade.
Oh yes, sublime.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Good accidents, without waiting 3-7 years for discovery, in the garden are verification you've done it RIGHT. Mostly, gardens take time.

Nassim Taleb: 3 Views

From, The Bed of Procrustes, a new book by Nassim Taleb."Education makes the wise slightly wiser, but it makes the fool vastly more dangerous."
"You are only secure if you can lose your fortune without the additional insult of having to become humble."
"You are rich if and only if money you refuse tastes better than money you accept."

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Wesley Yang wrote about Taleb, "He made what he has called his "fuck you" money when his bets against the market made him millions on Black Monday in 1987." "...the content of his next book, Anti-Fragility, ...will be about how we can create systems that mimic the resiliency of nature."

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Taleb also wrote, The Black Swan, and, Fooled by Randomness. Both bestsellers. Both about Wall Street.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken this week, of my month old Conservatory, from my bedroom window. Poppets, you should see my VINTAGE 25 year old linoleum kitchen floor, with battle scars.

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Conservatories are for the soul, kitchen floors a necessity. Younger, I would have done the 'right' thing, the floor. This age is exquisite, bringing me the Conservatory.

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No doubt, fate will bring a new kitchen floor, including, of course, new countertops, backsplash, sink, faucet, stove, refrigerator. Last year in the kitchen was: ceiling reconfiguring, painting, 4 new chandeliers & cabinets. In the interim, I don't look down.

Hiding Necessities: Before & After

1st cup of tea in my Conservatory, below. Already hiding, via camera angle, an important necessity.Switch plate to the chandelier, below. A necessity, but look at it? Not.
Old ironstone, below, with a lovely pattern named, Summertime.
Oh my, another book idea. Before/after pics of hiding necessities around home/garden.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Did you notice the gravel floor, top pic, under the table? I know, the lamps need shades. Found the lamps, $20 for the pair at my local thrift store. Love the giant Spode tea cups/saucers: tea, broth, soups, cereal....

Good Surprises In Your Landscape

At year 6 in the garden my eyes were overwhelmed, finally, by something tried from inception. A VISION OF BEAUTY. ( Laskett, below, in the Conservatory with me last nite.) College for horticulture was a joke for my Landscape Design skills. Creating Landscapes (making mistakes) & myriad trips across Europe studying historic Landscapes were my teachers.
Hewing to historical Landscape Design principles began my journey to success. Ridiculously stupid to wait 6 years for beauty or lower the bar and aim for: organic, rainwater, native, low-maintenance, green & etc...
Those facets are in Historical Landscape Design Principles. Of course I want all of that, more, I want life changing beauty. And I want it daily, it's important to know when to be selfish. To walk amongst, and, see from every window. Vanishing Threshold. A Landscape filling me with energy, joy & grace.
A dream for years my conservatory, 1 week old today, gave me the surprise of Laskett. He adores being carried to the conservatory in the evenings, a nice fire & cuddling at my side. A simple life pleasure; not anticipated. A good surprise indeed.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Want good surprises in your Landscape? Hew to historic landscapes. In addition to all of the above historic landscapes raise property value & reduce HVAC costs. As byproducts not effort.

Focus

Looking in, below, my new conservatory.(Hope you've seen, I Capture The Castle, from the book below.)
Knowing I wanted the Conservatory was easy. Clear focus was not.
A pond had to be removed, my property is tiny, to site the Conservatory.

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Mr. Beloved Bullfrog lived in this pond, his pond was on perfect axis from each window at the back of my house. I lost focus; emotions were involved.

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After contacting a bullfrog expert (it's important to know the right people) a plan was devised. My guys dug a trench draining water slowly. We captured Mr. Beloved Bullfrog in a large bucket. He was trotted to his new home in my other pond.

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Siting the conservatory & creating a landscape design were easy, once the focus was clear.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Clear focus. But tough choices. Love my Conservatory, no regrets about the pond.

Strange Tree

Time running out, I finally asked, "What would make you happy on the tree?"
Using bare branches pruned from the contorted filbert I decided to use the many pairs of figures I've collected. Their theme is always nature. He, below, is holding a bird's nest.
Pleased with the theme, alas, the Christmas tree needs more attention to detail, but it's not going to get it . This year the Conservatory, below, lovingly received all my time, creativity, & playing Barbie with a new house.Age, 2 days, the conservatory is already bigger than my dream.
In my garden, above, the conservatory's 1st nite being furnished. Fire was toasty as I sat inside absorbing a decade of waiting for this.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

Jewelry

2 single doors, below, brought together as French doors. Fiddling with the knobs? Never. They are jewelry. Yesterday my carpenter fashioned latching for these doors.
Though the string has had its charms during the construction of my conservatory.
More magic was putting a door on the side of my conservatory. A chandelier, oodles of electrical outlets & multiple doors.

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Playing house as a grown-up girl is DELIGHTFUL.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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A grand morning. Must get out of my gown & into work clothes, pronto. At this very moment one of my men is on his way to help me bring antiques (aka junk) into my conservatory. Pity, no time for a fire. Have to head out for Christmas shopping when he leaves.

Last Night in the Conservatory

Power, below, arrived yesterday in my conservatory. Lights inside my home, above, seen thru the French doors
Honoring, above, talented hands/minds/hearts building the conservatory. My guys (3 lead men with several more on the team) leverage every idea I have. Humbling & exciting.
Last nite, above, 1st nite with a fire in the stove. Yes, I was given a little lesson in how to use it.
Conservatory is a bit 'CABINESQUE' inside. Tongue/groove walls rescued from a Lake Burton 1908 cottage. Unfinished, above, soon tongue/groove will go to the rafters & to the gravel.
Last night, after taking these pics, I brought a basket to the conservatory with wine, cheese, apples, summer sausage. Fire in the stove kept me toasty. Spent a happy hour calling girlfriends. Susanne Hudson, of course, was 1st she inspired the conservatory.

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Already, joy & laughter in the conservatory. And it's not finished. Exciting to anticipate: lamps, tables, chests & etc.... field gathered & awaiting their new life in the conservatory.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Had thought I would paint the interior of the conservatory. NOT. The sweetly aged tongue/groove is too fabulous. Will paint the windows. Yes, the chairs above look rather dreadful but were closest to the conservatory & I did need to sit. Cannot wait to hang the huge chinoiserie mirror I snagged at my local thrift store for $10. In theory, it will have a table under it made from the ancient iron radiator I rescued.