Saturday, August 12, 2006
An Ode: Upstate at the House....
....and it has never been more beautiful. One of those perfect weekends of fair weather and breezes, sunlight glittering through sumptuous greenery, freshness in every breath.....The Sally Garden (the one I started right after Momma's demise) is deeply green and full, with the blue budeleia (Butterfly bush) giving just the right amount of deep color to the whole...darling Steve C. took extremely good care of the entire garden while I was away at Barter, and in fact, he brought it to its present state of fullness and beauty with his knowledge of how to nourish the soil and care for each and every plant....his meticulous hard work has made the yards and meadows what they now are: gorgeous.
The baby pear trees my Momma bought for Paul and me are now tall and graceful, bearing small green pears...the ten forsythia bushes I bought and planted to thank Paul for caring for me during my injured arm period are now really full and in the Spring are yellower and more beautiful than I ever imagined they could be...and together, the two tall pears and the long row of forsythia form a natural gate and fence into the back part of the Star Meadow (thus dubbed by Jackie Y. one summer when she lay there and looked up at the vast spread of stars above us)...this pear and forsythia wall and gateway form an entrance into our Secret Garden area, with the Sally Garden and the fish pond...very lovely now. The Sally Garden is a blue garden, in which I have tried to capture the color of my Momma's eyes: a deep, true blue...and the hydrangea bushes , bearing fat blue blooms, are so large now.
I went through a period of raiding every nursery for all the blue plants I could find. I did not care what they were, only that they bloom blue, at some time or other, and that they be perennial! Then, each year that I have been here, I would border the Sally Garden in all the blue annuals I could buy..ageratum,lobelia,etc. It's sweet curvilinear shape is now mirrored by the landscaping Steve has put in for the small fish pond... perfect....
I have much work to do this weekend on my NYU classes. But, knowing how busy the Fall will be getting, I am intent upon staying up here at this House as much as possible over the next several...the last few...weeks of this dear summer.
True, this wonderful House has been on the market for a year now...but since no one seems to be interested in buying it yet, we are taking it as a sign to live in it, love it and enjoy it more than we ever have before. As I look back over the years we've had to love this place, I am amazed at how much life we have lived here..how many adventures in life and love we have all had....and how tall the pear trees have grown. If there was ever a metaphor for life, it is those trees! These gardens!
Even at times of darkest fear and mistrust, those pear trees and those garden patches were laying down roots, establishing their future joys ...their future rich beauty..( much as we all have, by being here). Each and every one of us have had our seasons of sun and rain here...snows, seeming to smother, instead , lovingly protected us all, for the coming of our various Springtimes. This has been a rare and perfect home to us all.
Today is especially beautiful.
The local Chuang Yen Monastery, a Taiwanese Buddhist refuge, is nearby and we are all driving over there in a while to meditate. It's a very quiet , beautiful place, and by "quiet" I mean profoundly so. The sort of quiet you can practically hear, it's so penetrating. The sort of quiet that heals.
The baby pear trees my Momma bought for Paul and me are now tall and graceful, bearing small green pears...the ten forsythia bushes I bought and planted to thank Paul for caring for me during my injured arm period are now really full and in the Spring are yellower and more beautiful than I ever imagined they could be...and together, the two tall pears and the long row of forsythia form a natural gate and fence into the back part of the Star Meadow (thus dubbed by Jackie Y. one summer when she lay there and looked up at the vast spread of stars above us)...this pear and forsythia wall and gateway form an entrance into our Secret Garden area, with the Sally Garden and the fish pond...very lovely now. The Sally Garden is a blue garden, in which I have tried to capture the color of my Momma's eyes: a deep, true blue...and the hydrangea bushes , bearing fat blue blooms, are so large now.
I went through a period of raiding every nursery for all the blue plants I could find. I did not care what they were, only that they bloom blue, at some time or other, and that they be perennial! Then, each year that I have been here, I would border the Sally Garden in all the blue annuals I could buy..ageratum,lobelia,etc. It's sweet curvilinear shape is now mirrored by the landscaping Steve has put in for the small fish pond... perfect....
I have much work to do this weekend on my NYU classes. But, knowing how busy the Fall will be getting, I am intent upon staying up here at this House as much as possible over the next several...the last few...weeks of this dear summer.
True, this wonderful House has been on the market for a year now...but since no one seems to be interested in buying it yet, we are taking it as a sign to live in it, love it and enjoy it more than we ever have before. As I look back over the years we've had to love this place, I am amazed at how much life we have lived here..how many adventures in life and love we have all had....and how tall the pear trees have grown. If there was ever a metaphor for life, it is those trees! These gardens!
Even at times of darkest fear and mistrust, those pear trees and those garden patches were laying down roots, establishing their future joys ...their future rich beauty..( much as we all have, by being here). Each and every one of us have had our seasons of sun and rain here...snows, seeming to smother, instead , lovingly protected us all, for the coming of our various Springtimes. This has been a rare and perfect home to us all.
Today is especially beautiful.
The local Chuang Yen Monastery, a Taiwanese Buddhist refuge, is nearby and we are all driving over there in a while to meditate. It's a very quiet , beautiful place, and by "quiet" I mean profoundly so. The sort of quiet you can practically hear, it's so penetrating. The sort of quiet that heals.
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