Sunday Opinion: Gifted, Feted, and Otherwise Entertained

As much as I may be breathing a sigh of relief that the holidays have come to a close, I do so enjoy them.  They are such an opportunity to gift, fete and entertain those with whom one feels close. They make for a winter landscape that is warm. Though I am readily absorbed by the process of dressing my home and garden for the winter, sharing that outcome with others is the best part by far.  Buck and I did host a fete for friends in late December.  If “a fete for friends” sounds like a charity function to you-it was.  We were all in need of some good natured hubbub, lots of laughter and fun, in each other’s company. Some friends brought appetizers; others brought cookies or wine. Everyone brought some holiday cheer.  As I was the only person who knew everyone, there were people meeting for the first time-and sharing interests. I learned that the C’s knew the B’s long ago from a mutual vacation spot.  That Cantoros Italian grocery store has this or that you cannot find elsewhere. That this friend was sure to become a friend of that one.  At one point Buck was firing up the Harley in the basement for an equally enamoured friend; later he was showing super eight movies from the 20’s on one of his vintage projectors.  One friend’s favorite moment?  As Buck is showing his movies and talking about his projector collection, the 20-something daughter of another friend standing behind him is filming the entire scene-on her i-phone.  The generation gap documented start to finish-in some 30 seconds. Put friends together-what shakes out is sure to paste a smile on my heart for days.

A colleague and friend has a gift for giving.  He pays attention to who people are; were you ever to get a gift from him, you would understand how seriously he pays attention.  My Christmas gift from him is invariably a shopping bag chock full of what must have taken him the entire year to amass.  Every single thing speaks to what he has observed and remembered about me. There’s nothing big, or hugely expensive, with the exception of his lavish hand with great cheese-just clear evidence of respect and affection for me, the person. I do not get this from him only at Christmas.  Valentine’s Day last year came midway through my effort to paint 100 little watercolors of auricula primroses;  nine little auricula hybrid plants came by post on the 14th.  I treasure his ability to put another ahead of himself; I am not nearly this thoughtful.

We have had friends over a lot this holiday season. Some bring treats and toys for the dogs. They fill the house with unmistakeable signs of life.  They invite us back by return phone call; we have been to their studios for tour dinners.  We planned a spaghetti cookoff with new friends-of course both dinners were the best.  We had New Year’s brunch at a friend whose menu was as elegant as her salon style manner of entertaining.  New Year’s dinner with neighbor friends featured the pub food they served at their pub in England many years ago.  Their entire family treats us like we belong to them.  Still other friends set their table and entertained us as if we were visiting heads of state.  This treatment from friends feels good.    

Friends took us to Sunday brunch today at a favorite restaurant of theirs in Detroit. The uniformly green building has no sign in front, just the initials LdV on the gate. Around back, in the alley, they park your car for you.  This small Italian restaurant/bar has superlative food; my eggs benedict and prosecco was perfect. I could not keep my fork out of Buck’s pasta.  A small band filled the place with music-jazz, calypso-everyone was laughing, talking, dancing and having fun. Add to this the spirited conversation with friends-a perfect afternoon.  So many things got said that I was afraid I would forget-I took notes.  I hear tell the second Sunday of the month is their pajama brunch.  Yes, you are welcome in your pajamas.  Some come in outlandish constume-and if you are still there at 2 or 3 in the afternoon, a group picture gets taken.  I can’t wait.  Who knew a Sunday could be so much fun?

Our friends independently came to the decision that they were done griping, whining, and fearing.  As hard as it is to navigate in a gloomy fog, getting lost is a choice, not a given.  They talked a lot about how as Americans, they grew up knowing about imagination, ingenuity, hard work, and goodwill-this comes with our culture. It is still part of the culture. Of note, a recent program to recruit volunteers to teach kids in Detroit to read had 2000 people sign up-incredible, and incredibly good for our city, said our friends. Something good for our city-within our grasp.  Watching this very diverse group of Sunday brunchers fill a room with laughter, music and fun, I believed them.  Why shouldn’t I?  It occurred to me that but for these friends, none of this would be on my mind.

For 2010, I could take all the energy with which I have been gifted, feted, and otherwise entertained by my friends, and pass it along in some way. The simple science?  From Newtonian physics, we know that anything in motion tends to stay in motion-unless acted upon by an outside force. Outside forces I can keep outside, should I determine they might stop me in my tracks.  Inside forces keep the fire burning. Keeping the fire burning-a good goal for the new year.

At A Glance: Blue Moon

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New Year’s Eve

DSC06066But for staying out until 3am at a rocking great affair at my brother’s New Years Eve in 2000, I am not a New Year’s Eve party aficianado. The weather can be both challenging and boorish; the after midnight drivers even more so.  Some years I would head home at 11:30, and listen to the festivities on the radio in the driveway. But in 2005, nature put on an unforgettable New Years party.

DSC06054We had hung big gold stars and red modern sputnik ornaments in the lindens on the drive in November-it was a good look.  I think ornaments look much better on deciduous trees than evergreens-they can swing free and be easily seen. Rob has a way of casually dressing the trees with lights that at first glance looks like his blood pressure is too low-but a second good look says otherwise.  So far, so good. Branches, red and gold-what could be better?

DSC06053Better was on the way; December 29 we got snow.  Not a snow storm-a blanket of snow.  It fell softly and steadily all day, and all night, and on into the 30th. Snow souffle-everywhere. All that white fluff changed the landscape completely.  I had placed hickory fence poles in each corner of the front pots and wedged a giant grapevine sphere in between them-all in an effort to figure out what to do with some 25 lengths of hickory wood and bark strips Rob had brought over from Belgium.  Do you see those curving strips?  Truth be known, they were nothing much until the snow came. The snow was beginning to make something substantial of something gestural.

DSC06057The thicket of linden branches overhead caught a lot of this snow-it stuck and kept on sticking to every branch, top to bottom.  Never have I seen branches so dressed up. The hot garland lights shed the snow, and kept on glowing.  What was to come had nothing to do with me, and everything to do with  the weather. Timing is everything-is it not?

DSC06062The snow kept coming, amiable and relentless.  Slogging through it during those two days was a workout, but late that New Year’s Eve stands out in my mind as the most breathtaking collaboration of electricity, frozen water and landscape that has been my privilege to witness.  Happy New Year to you, best regards, Nature.  

DSC06063A nine inch frosting of snow on this concrete table and matching chairs brings their design to the fore in a way a sunny July day would never do.  All that white snow ramps up and multiplies the effect of those diminuitive lights-never mind that garland lights eliminate all that useless cord and concentrate the light. Fine, some good holiday lighting technology – the entire shop was in a very special state of reflective illumination beyond my efforts.  

DSC06055The boxwood eventually succumbed, and splayed out from the weight of the snow.  I know not to fuss with frozen evergreen branches, but I was wringing my hands seeing this. The older I get, the better I am in not intervening in situations beyond my control. The bugs, the rabbits, the fungus-they get the run of my place. The snow-I have no plans to intervene, only some plans to watch. 

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Shovelling ten times in three days made it possible to get to the front door. But should this picture not convince you that a landscape, and all that goes with it, would not delight your eye every month of the year, call me. If you cannot believe this is my most exciting New Years ever, you just don’t know me that well yet.

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Should you live in a part of the world that has clear skies this New Year’s Eve-lucky you.  This picture of the shop at New Year’s in 2006 has the blue moon look-but not the blue moon.   This holiday blue moon-so rare.  I am sure I will be waking up regularly all night, though my forecast calls for clouds all night long. Hope-that’s the big idea behind the new year, yes?  Happy blue moon.

2009 Garden Moments

DSC_0006The year’s end always invites reflection on what worked and didn’t work, what I liked and didn’t like-what I might want to do differently next year. There’s time for that, over the winter.  But other things come more immediately to mind, at year’s end.  As I rarely see a plant or a garden that I don’t like, what sticks out in my mind are those great garden moments. I have had years when my March crocus are so blasted by below freezing temperatures they barely bloom.  This year, they were glorious-and glorious for quite a while.  The night temperatures were perfect; every day for 2 weeks they were an event well worth the price of the ticket.

DSC_0029My hellebores were similarly spectacular this year.  The evenly cool temperatures they liked.  I was even so inspired to send away for more from Knott Hill Farms.  The sweet woodriff coming on is a good companion for them.  I have both of these planted in full sun, not far from the road. They not only perform better in this location than my shadier places, they take fewer years to make dreamboat sized clumps.   

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Spring flowers are like no others.  Their fresh color I will not see again until the following spring. The oakleaf lettuce in this box-just as fresh and juicy looking as any spring flower. This is my idea of planting vegetables, by the way. This season was very cool for Michigan; the spring plantings flourished until fairly late in July.  I do plant ornamental cabbage in the spring, though it will bolt at the first sign of hot weather.  I got lucky this year.  This is partly why I favor mixed plantings-you never know what nature might have in store.  My roses this year-nothing to talk about. 

DSC_0010The blooming of the Venus dogwoods however was spectacular.  They were in full bloom, loaded with these giant 7 inch diameter flowers, for over a month.  I could not recommend this tree too highly.  It is happy in full sun, and very hardy. It grows fast, but stays small.  It is the first tree I have planted in my yard in a good many years.  If I had the space, I would plant great drifts of them, and let the grass grow rough underneath them. 

July19 001The morning of  July 19 dawned cool and sunny, perfect weather for the garden tour we sponsored to benefit the Greening of Detroit. We had 325 people attend the tour, and 125 for bites and cocktails afterwards at the shop.  In addition to all that fun, we raised a good amount for the Greening. It was a perfect garden day.

DGW  26My favorite time at the farmer’s market begins with sunflower season. Everything is big about them-big size, big color, big heart-big delicious seeds, so loved by the goldfinches. Sunflowers-the name says it all. The summer harvest is well underway.

Aug 28 017My summer annuals provide much pleasure to me.  I like the planning, the planting, the caring for, the looking at, the deadheading, the watering-I like every aspect of this part of my garden.  I do not have the luxury of lots of time to spend in my garden; I work a lot elsewhere. This part I have the time, energy and heart for, every day.  Other parts of my landscape have their moments, but the annual flowers provide every day good moments. 

Aug 13 022I always have one container that’s all green-I particularly enjoy matching and contrasting shapes, textures and volumes of green.  Green-who could live without it?  

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Nicotiana mutabilis is probably my favorite annual flower. Once staked, it flowers its heart out way long into the fall. They are known to send out giant new spikes-in October. Those fluttering flowers-white, pink and rose on the same plant-are a meadow unto themselves- perfect for a small space.  This pot is my favorite of 2009. 

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Like my striped crocus this spring, my white Japanese anemone “Honorine Jobert” had a stellar year. Standing every bit of five feet tall, they were loaded with flowers for weeks. This is a very carefree perennial for me.  I do nothing to them, except look, and on occasion, water.  I weed the offshoots out of the Carefree roses in the spring-that’s about it.  Why they were so robust and heavy flowering this year-I could not say.  I can say this was one of my favorite things in my garden this year.

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We do not have that many foggy days in Michigan; perhaps this is why I enjoy them so much.  This late September morning had just a hint of fall about it. All the vibrant summer color begins to fade. It’s a favorite of mine-living where the seasons change.  All in all, it was a very good garden season, 2009.