We’re told from childhood that patience is a virtue. I’m pretty sure that many activities, including the art of gardening, and the creation of art in general, are about learning that lesson.
Modern Lily
Creating a new scarf design has been a bit grueling. We’re introducing different fabric, potentially a different printing method because cottons take color differently than polyester chiffon and the size will be new. This one has been fun though. My husband told me he thought it looked modern. Interesting thought. I’m going with it.
Cold weather is on its way which means that I get to move plants around in the garden as the sun quiets down to early Autumn. The damaged Alberta Spruce (on the left) is one of a pair that greets visitors to the garden. I FINALLY dug it out and spun it to reduce the visibility of its broken side. It was tricky as I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t setting up a situation where those of us in the house would be confronted daily with a less than perfect view every morning. It looks great! Shaping it back will be a late winter, very early Spring job for this tree. Patience!
When to fertilize the Alberta Spruce? The two front spruce are of similar height. Replanting the damaged tree meant matching that height even as I put in some new organic soil to replace some of the old soil compromised by invasive worms that have taken over the garden. It’s true, and they’re ugly. Yikes!
This fall clean-up will include the physical removal of as many of these worms as possible. Thus far, there IS no known remediation for these worms (invasives from Wisconsin). It just makes sense to remove them where possible and introduce new sterile mulch and topsoil that isn’t inundated with the bad worms. Patience. My dear gardener friend sent me this article. It was there I recognized what I had suspected. No question. Notice the distinctive white band on the right.
Remember Brimfield MA next time you’re planning a day trip north!
Last week we made our annual pilgrimage to Brimfield and had the usual blast poking around a never-ending collection of old and some distinctive household goods. It was a beautiful sunny day that became as usual, exhausting.
An extraordinary collection of hand painted and lettered posters. The artist was drawing and painting as we walked by. Fascinating. Notice the detail to the lower left and the image as it grows less and less detailed to the right side.
This lamp looked French to me -and in fact they called it “Fabrique.” The lighting itself wasn’t very impressive but the glass was quite romantic.
At home, I went searching online and voila! French indeed and costly. Mid-Century. The extravagance of the glass was not matched by function however. The lighting itself was not impressive.
Gas stoves never looked so good!
This is the fun of Brimfield-you never know what you’ll find. Made at a place called The Union Stove Works. An antique gas radiator replete with yellow button lights. We recently replaced a wood stove with a gas one. Today, we think we’ve come a long way in mimicking the visuals a wood burning stove offers on a cold winter night. But this ancient one was JEWELED! The yellow glass faceted buttons GLOW when the heat is on.
The Force was with us this year..we found four metal brackets for the new entrance feature that will replace the existing driveway opening.
This man walked the entire fair with his dog on his shoulders. I saw him all day in different places, I think he’s a regular…
The new gates will be paired with low maintenance grasses and maybe a spruce or two. The two sets of thin steel gates come from Amish country, PA. They need work. The question remains as to what color they’ll become. Black or…red??? Any thoughts?
I felt inspired on the return from Brimfield.This infinity scarf design is still in progress- not yet named. I have one more to do which will be a late fall motif. Probably milkweed. Stay tuned!
Mandolin Orange is a husband and wife duo out of Chapel Hill North Carolina that incorporates a honey of a violin in its music. Is it just me or is the little woman the BEST! Beautiful music.
Love reading your blog!!
Thank you Sharon!!!