Lecturing in Greensboro, NC many years ago, I had the privilege of touring a private garden. In the audience, after the lecture, a woman chatted with me and I knew, I must see her garden. Don't know if she invited me to her garden, or I invited myself. With facts this bare, we know, I invited myself.
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High summer in Greensboro, NC is not for the faint of heart, heat/humidity rule. Walking our small group into her home, she casually asked if we'd like lemonade. You know we did, pure drama and story line, We- had- a- tart- glass- of- lemonade- before- walking- her- garden.
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Blessedly we wanted the drama of the lemonade. After bringing out her pitcher/glasses, and pouring a round, she set the pitcher onto a small table in her kitchen.
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Poof. A new element to my personal Garden Mission Statement. Can you guess what it is? Alas, this garden visit was well before cell phones or even the desk top large computers. No photo of this fateful moment.
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My life, inside my home, and in my garden, must look like a still life, not fake, but a life lived, and in the living, the calm of still life views, reign.
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A small moment, below. Still life.
Pic, above,
here.
Vanishing threshold, below, with still life views.
Pic, above,
here.
Antiquing with a friend in Florida last week during vacation, she surprised me with this wire egg holder, below. She knows my chics aren't producing a lot, but this was home 2 days, and 2 eggs, snapped the pic and sent it to her. Table/chairs ready still life props.
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Moving beyond the still life mission statement, is what I've learned, living this way. My surroundings leverage my life. Friends for lunch? More than easy. I can ask, Do you want to eat on the front porch, in the dining room or kitchen, maybe in the garden near the chicken coop? Living here only 14 months, more destinations are on the list. Not just for guests, but still life spaces for everyday, me alone. Lunch arrives with the question, Where do I want to eat? Seasons dictate, work dictates, many lunches in my office, and within my office there are several places to sit with still life views, and eat.
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Keeping boredom at bay with static still life views, I change the details, T R Boote , ca. 1880 'Summer Time' tureen on the table, below, will soon go into the china closet, a fall tureen replacing it. The table topper changes at least 6x/year, so far. Working at my first retail garden center, in the mid-80's, we changed displays seasonally, pure luxury with so many flowering plants plus the seasonal merchandise, and it made me aware, the seasonal displays, each, a gift of thanks. Thank you for being alive another season, another Valentines, another Easter, another Memorial Day, Christmas. Exactly how I feel in the garden when the akebia blooms, the oakleaf hydrangea, the azaleas, tea olive, thank you, alive another year, taking in the scent of daphne....
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Sure, all of this seems small, unimportant, but how can the days of anyone's life be unimportant? After touring the Greensboro, NC garden we came inside to her 'garden room', 3 walls entirely windows, French doors to the garden, her library, desk, and seating area were here. On the desk, a book,
Living A Beautiful Life, by Alexandra Stoddard. Thumbed thru it, and ordered it when I came home. Have since given it as a gift many times.
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To this day, that Greensboro, NC garden is one of the best I've ever walked in. I learned more of its story, later, from a friend of hers. Diagnosed with severe Lupus, she had hired a garden designer, then, before her husband would leave for work, she had him carry her into the garden and set her down in a spot to work. His office not far away he would come home to move her in the garden several times a day. That was the start of her garden.
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I came into her story after she had worked for many years in her garden across good days and painful days. The day we toured her garden, zero sign of Lupus. What a victory for her, deep, soul satisfying.
Pic, above, in our kitchen last nite.
It's amazing the dichotomy of still life spaces. Once filled with your life, alone or with friends, inside or in the garden, you'll long remember the voices, laughter, conversations, how they made you feel. Rich.
Pic, above,
here.
Without knowing, adding still life spaces to my mission statement brought me to, below.
Pic, above,
here.
Receiving the 'more' is both material and metaphorical. Significantly weighted, in deep grace, to metaphorical.
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Designing beautiful gardens for clients is a joy as their plantings mature, better, are the phone calls, notes, or texts, clients letting me know of the metaphorical riches, aka stories from their lives, their gardens are bringing them, their family/friends. So, more than adding still life to my personal mission statement, it seamlessly slipped into my professional mission statement.
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Garden & Be Well, XOT
