Love Notes

Or more specifically, birds, bees, butterflies & Bunny - with a dash of Oscar.  

Lucky me spent this past Saturday at Bunny Mellon's Oak Spring Garden in Upperville, Virginia.     I was there for an embroidery class, but also to drink in all the loveliness that exudes from every nook and cranny of this aesthete's oasis nestled in Virginia's Hunt Country.  Mrs. Mellon was an accomplished and avid collector, and we were treated to a tour of her library, with a special focus on needlework-related books and objects.  In all things Mrs. Mellon touched, she left beauty.  And that's before we even begin to talk about her garden.  READ MORE

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I am rather irked by the parade of brown prints and suede boots high-stepping their way into my Instagram feed this week.  And so begins my annual lament:  let the sultry magic of summer linger a bit longer.   

Hellooooo.  It's still July, people.   

After all, the days are still long and the evenings still warm ... why break the enchantment? 
  
Lounge in the sun with a good book.  
Bite into a peach and let the juice drip down your chin.  
Be still.  Be here.  In this one precious moment.  READ MORE

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I am circling around a query that often arises when my brain feels stuck ... What drives creativity?

I design mostly through color and texture.  So I'm always looking to nature of course, and to gardens naturally.  I also lean into fine art and interior design, to inform my collection with juxtapositions of color and pattern which make my heart sing.  Creativity - whether in writing, designing, or with a paintbrush - is almost like turning on a big engine.  It can be hard to get it started, but once you get it to turn over, it hums along with ease.  READ MORE

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In "Beautiful Swimmers", William Warner's small gem of a treatise on Chesapeake Bay sea life, he writes of blue crabs molting time and again - as many as 18 to 21 times after reaching maturity.  Perhaps we humans are that way too:  growing, renewing, always moving forward alongside our little community of ever evolving friends and family.  Maybe our crab cousins are nature's reminder that significant growth may require vulnerability, as each new era is preceded by a tender, uncertain,   sometimes even scary step.  READ MORE

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It’s July, how could that be?  My mind today is on the fleeting nature of things - flowers unfurling, bees buzziing, champagne bubbles rising and vanishing into the warm summer air.  I watch from my desk as a hummingbird feeds on a coral honeysuckle vine.  My lilies above have just put on the most spectacular fireworks show.  And now, they are mostly gone, petal after petal scattered across the garden like confetti after a parade. 

Last week, I broke a rule and cut some stargazers to bring inside, hoping to coax a few more days out of their riotous celebration*.  As they fade, I try to remind myself that the future holds new surprises in its tightly closed fist.   For evidence, I turn my gaze to the tomatoes ripening on the vine, while my tangerine tree teases with its promise of tiny fruit.   READ MORE

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