I recently completed a three-month artist residency in the lovely Chicago neighborhood of Pullman. After considering a number of ideas of what I planned to do during my stay, I landed on contemplating the idea of leisure in area known for labor. This was not …
Onion Dip for Breakfast turns two and the journey just gets better every day. We’ve explored the nooks and crannies of life, clinked our glasses, tasted everything, and taken off for parts unknown. Happy anniversary, ODB!
This statue, which has adorned our deck for over a decade now, has brought me joy season after season. I call her… My Lady. I remember the day that we bought her at an estate sale and us hauling her up the steps to our deck. I thought that she was beautiful and couldn’t imagine her being mine. Every season, as the leaves fall or when they reappear and when the annuals previously placed around fade, she gets a makeover and becomes so fresh and so new.
My Lady Over the Years
June closed with an explosion of fruit and flowers in the Black Garden. July promises even more.
Recently, I had the opportunity to meet the 2023 James Beard Award Best Chef Southeast winner, Terry Koval. Just a few days before connecting with him at his Decatur, Georgia restaurant, The Deer and the Dove, I had been sitting in the Lyric Opera of …
We were celebrating my parents’ marriage the last time we saw “Sweet Life” with a garden cake, sparkling flutes, joy, and a flashback to their wedding day. We’ve returned to the theme in all of its goodness.
I find that as much as I’m present right there and then, it’s impossible to absorb all of the ways that a moment is fantastic. Is it the sublime that’s indescribable? One moment, we’re sitting in the Black Garden chatting and laughing over coffee and pastries and enjoying the fruit on the platter and the plants. The next, we’re imbibing sugary bubbles and steam!
I didn’t think I’d be that person showing images of the family dog to the nice staff person at the garden center. But here I am! I think that I’m one of those folks who can bring back every phrase in a conversation to our sweet, furry girl. All roads lead back to her.
This time, we were talking about the merits of various fruit trees to decide which ones would join our gardens. Having had success with numerous berries in the Black Garden, I was now exploring more exotic fruits I’d never grown. My one condition: did they have any plants that might produce enough for us to share with our pup?! We had long given up on keeping her at bay. The staff and I giggled and giggled. I left the nursery with delights for the whole family.
Our girl, after all, shares so much with me. When we walk around our neighborhood, she sets the pace, encouraging me to stop here and there to to see the tulips, lilacs, blossoming trees, and of course the great stick ready to come home with us.
I suspect that she’s drawn to these plants like she is to certain humans. They welcome her, they smell nice, and they are beautiful.
As she roots under clover, pressing her paws in a dew-covered field, or pokes her long snout everywhere, she reminds me to stay curious and seek beauty, too.
“Trees and plants always look like the people they live with, somehow.” — Zora Neale Hurston
Our family way of life is usually quite spontaneous. Our plans will have edges that keep us together but everything in between stays loose. Who knows what you’ll see, smell, hear or taste if everything isn’t charted out? Those who accompany us either love it …
