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
With Greece having been in the news lately due to all of the fires and evacuations, I’ve reminisced about our time there a few years ago. We traveled throughout the country and found it to be simply beautiful. At this time, I’m hoping that Greece …
I’ve been planning to revisit a particular show for months! The little and big things of life delayed my fuzzy plans. Poking my head back into the Art Institute’s galleries recently, I was struck by the opening text of this lovely show:
“It took millions of years for the creation of the earth and for nature to form beautiful green hills and valleys, bubbling brooks and magnificent tall trees, but even though we have abused it all of late, it has been well worth waiting for.
History tells us it took hundreds of years for the continent of Africa to regain its stolen freedom and independence and [despite] the fact that there are three areas still struggling for liberation, it was well worth waiting for.”
-Kwame Brathwaite
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!
