ornamental kale

i planted some ornamental kale by the front door last weekend. love them. a plant that can withstand winter and flourish in freezing weather. frilly, stalwart, steadfast, and strangely beautiful. they seem to lend a sort of 16th century flair to the entryway. in any case happy friday and have a brilliant weekend. xo, g,

on rustic spheres

so much depends upon the  iron sphere at the edge of the wood in the long shadows of the afternoon

or whereupon i make a case for and buy a rusting iron wire sphere. now, we can all agree: no one really needs a giant wire sphere in their yard. but you can't carry practicality too far. lest life would be an endless stream of uninteresting tasks and responsibilities injected with no imagination or verve whatsoever. no art, no passion. where would we be then?

no this nonessential sphere is important, nay, essential. a symbolic reminder of the state of cultural decay of world society, or civilized manners, or maybe worn and eroding physical networks, old technology soon to be replaced by newer virtual electronic ones. or maybe it's symbolic of life in the universe on the atomic level, spinning atoms, electrons, protons, or no, perhaps it's all future and sub atomic hypothetical higgs boson particles and hadron super colliders.

or maybe its just totally spherical. and beautiful.

anyway, whatever you do, don't take a lovely drive up to the all-too charming hamlet of kent, connecticut, one brilliant afternoon and have a look around at all the treasures of r.t. facts or you might come home with one too. or maybe you'll have some heady rationalizing to do.

the life of trees in les tuileries

i love to stroll through the grand gardens of paris. who doesn't? the tuileries are particularly grand. the history of this place is fantastic. part of the royal palace design commissioned by catherine de medici in the 1500's, they have been home to queens, kings and emperors, they have been occupied, looted, burned to the ground, designed, redesigned and restored more than once.

today the gardens are restored to a plan set out in the 1600s by the great andre le notre, perhaps france's best known landscape architect. there is talk in france of rebuilding the palais des tuileries to give the louvre more room to display it's vast collections. the garden would of course shrink as the museum expands. tough choice, art vs. gardens.

already the  trees are having a tough time of it. they are among the most visited in the world. this is part of the problem, the visitors, pollution, the climate, even the pale sand kicked up by millions of admiring feet are dehydrating and depleting the trees. they are still remarkably beautiful, but are clearly stressed. losing their leaves early, showing more signs of disease. however lovely in their decline.

summer harvest continues

its been great fun growing parsley, cilantro, peas, cherry tomatoes and radishes in 4 pots on our deck. something wonderful about growing food from seeds. we've enjoyed cooking with super fresh just-picked ingredients. yet, the four pots are not a burden as they are completely manageable to care for. i know my limits, a full vegetable garden would overwhelm me at this point, but someday, hopefully, maybe. of course, our little tomatoes have not ripened yet. delayed by all the cool rainy weather this summer in the east, they really like the heat those tomatoes. in any case, of course, the tomatoes are finally ripening just as we are leaving for a quick trip to europe, as i somehow knew they would. can't complain however, travel trumps tomatoes. will have loads of pictures to share with you upon return. see you soon.

lately, i've been enjoying my teeny tiny garden

tiny pea pods, curly pea tendrils and baby cherry tomatoes. also a small radish harvest. cilantro and parsley and chives. emergence. it seems so miraculous that these grew from seeds in pots on the deck. i know i know it happens all the time. how could i be so charmed by pea tendrils?  i just am. and there is no denying it. so sweet.