How Anwar Sadat Taught Me Composure

My mother's 1973 white Cadillac was abruptly stopped by a motorcycle cop, seconds later a foreign (Mercedes, Rolls Royce?) limousine stopped inches from the hood ornament.More police, car & motorcycle, what an inconvenience, stuck in another motorcade.

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Peculiar arrogance was placed on my DNA from childhood. Presidents, potentates, pashas, premiers, poo bahs, & etc all came to see my father's work, ABC, CBS, & NBC too. The last 3, a joke. Listening to the evening news to hear what they got wrong. Hollywood made movies about men dad trained. The New York Times runs obituaries of dad's coworkers; neighbors I grew up with. One neighbor, portrayed by John Wayne, lived a few houses down; he didn't work with dad & we didn't know him, it's not a very good movie. Last year another neighbor (he owned Coco Chanel's yacht, had the channel dredged to dock it behind his house) we didn't know was in the NYTimes obits, ha, gossip we heard in childhood was true, all in the obit.

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Back to the limousine. In the back seat, no more than 6' away, a man & woman, both looking forward, both with Mona Lisa smiles, eyes sparkling, clothes finer than I had ever seen yet not showy, skin radiantly hued & dewy, were spellbinding.

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The air around them a cloud they imbued with their intellect, passions, joys, loves, conquered hurts, spirit, grace & more. I was 15 & had never experienced seeing intuitively.

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Those minutes of 'seeing' were profound. Thankfully, more potent than the peculiar arrogance of the time/place of my upbringing.

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When Anwar Sadat was assassinated several years later, I was in college, mom made an offhand comment about us seeing he & his wife on their way to NASA. I had no clue I had ever seen Anwar Sadat. At 15 I didn't care who the people were in the limousine I cared about how to get what they had, that cloud.

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An introvert, that cloud sustains me designing gardens, doing live TV, lecturing in large auditoriums, accepting the vicissitudes of life while increasing its joys. Anwar Sadat & his wife were my epiphany, they mentored their composure without effort.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Found the pic online, it was probably taken a couple of hours after I saw Anwar Sadat.

Are You Making A Choice With Library Shelves?

Centuries old, below, this style of library shelf caught my eye 2 years ago. All books, no bric-a-brac.
A style matching my landscape aesthetic. Borders with: flowering shrubs/flowering groundcovers/flowering understory trees/bulbs. Brick-a-brac of perennials? Not.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic via Habitually Chic, from Roman and Williams.

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Must take a pic of my library shelves for you & post it with a pic of my garden. A conscious aesthetic.

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Perennials, though pretty, are too much maintenance. Dead-heading, cutting back, downtime and they take very little space for their expense. Give me a flowering shrub.

Why You Shouldn't Decorate With 'Cute'

"On the outskirts of agony sits some observant fellow who points." Virginia Woolf
When I NEED her words I don't need a cute stupid sign or focal point (cheap resin is particularly offensive, ha, expensive resin too) in the garden as I gaze out my windows.
I need beauty, strength & wisdom.
Upon a winter's day Providence laughs. Slowing me. Taking me away, for a few moments, into a realm of grace.
Away from the 'outskirts of agony' .

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Closer to seeing the 'fellow who points'.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pics taken at Pecan Orchard's garden this month. Ugh, straining to see the 'fellow who points'. Knowing I will when I let go.

Choosing Exterior Color

Your front door does not have to be black. Nor does it need to be the color of your shutters. Choose a color threading thru your interior art/wallpaper/couch. I cannot design a landscape without seeing interiors.
Look at color choices in sun & shade, morning, evening, rainy days.
Beware of colors that are too alive. They steal attention. White is the worst offender. No worries, there are plenty of calm whites.
A color looking (for example) grey/green in shade, and at the same time looking green/blue in sun is fabulous.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Colour Me Happy is a dedicated COLOR EXPERT. I love everything written & photographed at Colour Me Happy. I like using Benjamin Moore Historic Colors. There is a reason they are historic !

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Pics taken at a client's last week.

Edwardian Simplicity

Pecan Orchard needs a gate. A simple gate.Visiting an English country house & garden I fell in love with this gate.

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Simple, but not.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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This gate starts a conversation, Pecan Orchard needs a taller/wider gate. The garden, above, typically English, a wildwood beyond a gate luring you away from the formal garden. Wondering, finally, if you'll find Sirens, Nyads, Dryads, Satyres.... The last 2 sentences summing up the best of Landscape Design !

Whence Creativity?

This truck does it for me!! LOVE. Squared front, curving wrapped glass, black/chrome, darts of orange/yellow lighting above the cab. You can feel the power behind the grill. (Instant lust, wanting to take advantage of that power.)Most importantly the cab is asymmetrical for the
SMOKESTACK. This Tonka toy stirs my creativity. It had me hearing Nina Simone, "....POWER...."

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'Seeing' this truck was a 'conversation' with its designers.

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In a Mad-Max-bitchin' way, I love this truck being 1 of many tools in my quiver. Getting rid of things; bringing in the new. Creating art, with art. More than changing a home & garden, changing lives.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic taken at a jobsite last week. Feeding my Creative Muse is more than part of my job, it's part of my life.

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.

A Wall & A Painting

Pecan Orchard's back stairwell.
Yes, she liked the painting but I don't think she realized it sums HER up.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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In your home, what wall/artwork sums you up? When I lecture I always bring a large fabric for the stage, antique wicker roller basket, the books I've written, an easel; creating a still life. Subtle metaphors for who I am. Creating ME in whatever venue I lecture, taking ownership of my little spot. It's not about me, it's asking, "How would YOU own this little bit of stage?"

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That is what creating a landscape is, it's summing up who YOU are. Your choices of what to put in, what to leave out. Landscapes speak volumes.

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Pic taken yesterday at Hedgerow Farm.

Music Is A Drug: Take It

Gardens love music. My garden especially loved Bryan Ferry singing Cole Porter yesterday.
Music is a SECRET WEAPON in creating a fabulous garden (life).
For just as long as I've talked to my garden I've played it music.

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No, I'm not kidding.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Another chance, play this MUSIC for your garden. I had it playing on my iPad yesterday, walking my house & letting the music stream thru windows into my garden. It fell lovingly. You know what my garden did, it nurtured me back.

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Found the bottom pic online eons ago and have no credits to pass along.

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Top pic is my Music Room. It has a baby grand, turn table, & dulcimers. Must get a pic of that angle soon. Walls & ceiling are BM- HC Rockport Grey.

MOASTING: Moaning & Boasting

Lecturing at the international America's Mart, the world's largest collection of product show, last Friday my contractor saw this first, below.
My name & lecture on the elevator doors. Yes, BOASTING.
Already experienced with TV, radio, & etc. a thrill (out of all proportion) seeing my elevator door debut !!
However, you see IMMEDIATELY their mistake, below.
Who are those guys? Where's my picture? MOANING.

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MOASTING: MOANING & BOASTING. A delicious word I discovered last Thursday. Duck to water. Been doing it for years.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Had a little time to wander the vendors. Gathered new resources for statuary, online fountains , torches, brass rain gauges, & met a fascinating French woman with a European Design & Trading Company, a man who does landscape design/owns a nursery in Montana (think he had a business card on him?) .......

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.