A New England Misadventure: Friendly, Slow Country

Take a walk with me...

I have walked these roads and paths since I was five years old. In those days, I would walk to Hamilton Pond with my family: my brother was smaller than me, and I remember being very aware and scared of alligator snapping turtles that lurked in the rushes at the edge of the pond.

When I began my walk the other day, I was very sad, for a multitude of reasons. Slowly, though, as emotion is apt to do, my mood changed from sadness to awareness to awe to happiness. Happiness at the way the light looked as it shone through the fronds of ferns, awe when the lilypads and grasses turned metallic on the surface of the pond as I walked by, and awareness of others, different from me, as I walked right by a doe asleep in a hayfield.

The light here is so vivid, so full of life-giving, photosynthesis-charged energy, that it is strong enough to look as if it is bleaching the horizon: turning those plants that might have deep green leaves and leaflets yellow, gold, chartreuse. It's as if the sun is here for such a short time that everything bursts with the desire to respond to its influence: the tropisms are intense! Cattails sway, hay changes from green-brown grass to golden straw. The ferns twist and turn in the wind, changing color as they move back and forth.


As I drove up here several weeks ago, it was the light that I noticed most. The light that shone painfully down onto the plants at the side of the highway as I raced by at 85 miles per hour. Everywhere I looked were trees! shrubs! grasses! birds! deer! In Philadelphia, there is a lack of these things and it wasn't until I was in their midst at a rest stop in southern Maine that I realized how much I had missed the nature that, in Austin, I took for granted.


It was on this walk, too, that I realized how interconnected my mood is to my surroundings: how natural beauty effects me. I have a strange jealousy for people who do not experience this, because it must make living in diverse locales easier. It must make the city less tough to take: the cracks in the pavement, the brick, the concrete parks less incongruous.

The surface of the pond was so stupendous! How lucky was I to leave my house in a foul funk, walk down the road that is so familiar to me I hardly notice the steps I take anymore, past the Post Office that will stay open, across the fast-lane that is Route 3 here at the head of the island, and over again, into friendly, slow country.

What is it......

to be in a place that truly makes you feel calm? That truly makes you feel relaxed? More relaxed than you have felt in at least two months?


Tonight it is raining, and the raindrops drip down from the locust trees. The raindrops fall through the sunroof on the drive home, and the feel is it's clean, fresh and wonderful.


Possibilities exist here that don't in other places. Possibilities like: a home in the country where the only sounds are wind blowing through trees and loons calling in the distance. Where ponds are everywhere and people fish in canoes. Where horses snort in stalls in the yard, and jazz music travels in the air. Where you feel both out of place and more than cool in a small town.


How does one live here? How does one make a living in this beautiful place? There must be a way....

Being in the Dark

Orion shines down over the pitch of the roof and the wind blows. There is no sound here save the movement and creak of trees, the breath of wind and the distant echo of cars. The sky is bright, but with stars not incandescent lights. My feet crunch on gravel and whisper through grass. The deer huff and puff at me as I cross the hillside as silently as my human feet will allow. The clock chimes downstairs and the moon hangs, glowing, in the sky, framed by trees. Locust trees sing here at night, and all is quiet.

A Tri-State Area Misadventure - Savage Beauty & The Bolt Bus

Hello faithful readers! Sorry for the radio silence: my life is in a bit of flux right now and I have been without internet service for a few days....tomorrow I head off to Maine for two weeks and it will be glorious to get out of the city and into the most beautiful country....


Anyway. Last week I took the Bolt Bus from 30th Street Station in Philly up to New York City to visit a friend and go to see Savage Beauty, the Alexander McQueen exhibit, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you want an exceptional way to get between Washington D.C. and Boston, go and take the Bolt Bus!!! Between Philly and NYC the ticket is $12 each way, there is WiFi on the bus and plugs at each seat for your laptop. Amazing! (Now I have heard some horror stories about the Bolt Bus, such as drivers having to stop for 15 minutes so that they don't go over there 24-hour maximum driving time, or a/c being broken or WiFi being broken, but this did not happen to me, so I am a very contented customer.) Lastly, the Bolt Bus picks up and drops off in insanely convenient locations in Philly (30th Street Station) and NYC (34th & 8th) so that you can hop on and off the subway in both cities with very little effort....


On to the more interesting part of this misadventure....The Met and Savage Beauty.

  

Walking through the Met to the Savage Beauty gallery line...

Beginning of the line....at this point your wait will be: 1 hour and a half

At this point your wait will be: 1 hour

 

Amazing tiny medallions in gold!

Weiner Dog Deer......

 Amazing silver chasing and repousee!!!

At this point, your wait will be: 45 minutes

Beautiful golden beads....I want to make these

After you have waited in line for a really long time, the statues start to mock you.

 

Like this guy: look at that smirk!

 

Hey baby! Watch those rear claws!

 

I want my house to look like this painting

Before the next set of pictures are put up, a disclaimer. I was not allowed to take these photos, but I did anyway. I took them with the flash off, out of my purse. You will soon discover the angle of the photos is about hip level, looking up. I really hope I do not get in trouble for posting these!!! Let's see....

These photos go in order as if you were walking through the exhibit with me. There were several rooms that documented different sections of McQueen's career. An interesting sidenote: many plaques contained quotes by McQueen and would lead you to believe that he thought he was God's gift to design. I find it interesting that the curators chose these quotes, being that he later killed himself. It would seem that either he did not really feel that way about himself, or the struggle of being expected to be the most important designer on Planet Earth became too much.

Anyway......

 

Amazing. If you can get to the Met before August 7th, go! It is well worth the wait in line. The curators have done an amazing job and created an eerie environment in which you are immersed in the ideas and romanticism of the clothing. It will also make you question why he decided to end his life: his talent, creativity and resources were so massive, how could he give that up? I wonder what he would have done had he stayed with us....

Hans Christian Andersen storytelling area in Central Park: see the sleeping fellow? He is my favorite part....

A Botanical Misadventure - Why You Should Go to Terrain

In the Furniture Gallery at Terrain

Yesterday, my friend Diana made the short trek to Glen Mills, Pennsylvania and went to Terrain, the magical, mystical spot that is a nursery/showhouse/restaurant operated by the Anthropologie company. We were very pleased to discover that they were having a summer and tent sale, and took advantage of lots of amazing deals! 

Example terrarium in the, you guessed it, terrarium section

My love for nurseries, arboretums and botanical gardens is well known by most people who know me, and I had heard about Terrain a few years ago while reading my favorite gardening blog of all time, You Grow Girl, and immediately wanted to visit....but of course, life intervened. However, I made it, only two years later and was absolutely blown away...

Gigantic staghorn fern in the center of the main greenhouse

 The gift of presentation is one that all Terrain designers must possess....I think

 In need of many tiny bottles? 

 Or a design idea for a dream country kitchen?

Or simply, the most beautiful petunia ever created? (Yes...I bought this one)

Yes, Terrain is overwhelming and many items there are very expensive, but the landscape of ideas is amazing! Everywhere you look are stunning yet very simple ways of organizing the everyday items of home and garden in an incredibly beautiful way. We sat for over an hour in the Furniture Gallery and talked: I wanted to move in. After all, don't each and every one of us have a dream-house, whether in the city or in the country, swimming around in our imaginations? Terrain is good for making those imaginary rooms and gardens a bit clearer...

  Sunprints!

Miniature Geraniums!

A little bit of all things beautiful....