Saturday, June 10, 2023

Saturday, June 10, 2023

Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2003. Mattie was one year old! That weekend we took him to Great Falls, to look around, get fresh air, and to check out the amazing falls. Mattie's favorite mode of transportation was on Peter's back. We tried every stroller and carrier possible, but at the end of the day it was the backpack that was a hit!

Quote of the day: The best portion of a good man's life is his little nameless, unencumbered acts of kindness and of love. ~ Wordsworth

We moved into our home in August of 2021. Then in December of 2021, I packed up my parent's house in Los Angeles, and moved them in with us. So our home is a combination of homes put together. The photo you see here is of our family room. It is where we spend a good chunk of our days. However, you will notice that above the TV, I have nothing on that big two story wall. Why is a blank?

It is blank because NONE of us can agree on what should be placed there. Then a few months ago, I pitched the idea to everyone of having a local artist (who we have come to know and appreciate), paint some original pieces of art. Specifically creating landscape paintings of our property. I figured that would be serene, unique, and meaningful to all of us. My original idea was to capture the four seasons on our property! That idea did not go over as well as I hoped. Yet we all agreed that impressionist style landscapes of the property would be lovely. So this morning we invited Kim Richards over to discuss the concept.  We met Kim at the Vale School House art show, which is run twice a year and features local talent. To date, I have purchased four of Kim's works. So her style speaks to me. 

We toured Kim around the property and wanted her to get a feeling for all our plantings and pops of color. The design for our family room wall will take time and Kim will be coming over to do some sketching first and this will be one of many more meetings to come. But I feel good about this decision, as I love art and I believe in supporting local talent. 

Outside our family room window is this rose garden! This garden did not exist when we purchased the house. Instead there was a hodge-podge of things planted in this space. Peter ripped it all up and planted roses. 

The pops of color, to me, are very special features in our backyard. 

Around the perimeter of the house are these amazing oak leaf hydrangeas. I absolutely love them and they add a layer of privacy to our space that is noteworthy! This spring we purchased this colorful wind spinner, that I love watching from inside the house. 

When I was looking for houses back in 2021, one of the photos that caught my attention on-line, was this angle of the house. I was so captivated by the greenery that we decided to go to see the open house. The open house was the day before Mother's Day in 2021. By that point I had toured over 60 houses already. Remember I had to find the right house that could accommodate us and my parents. In any case, right after seeing that house, we put in an offer, and it was accepted on Mother's Day of 2021. Rather symbolic I think. 

The beauty of our garden is that something is blooming at various points throughout the spring. I love this crescent shaped bed of day lilies. 

This potted sapling is of an oak tree. We call this Mattie's tree. We collected many acorns from the oak tree outside our townhouse window in Washington, DC. This oak tree was special to us and it also provided many leaves for Mattie's caterpillars to consume each spring. We planted the acorns before leaving the city and have been nurturing the tree ever since!

Peter is growing sunflowers for me! As anyone who knows me understands.... I LOVE them. They will always symbolize our support community, who gave me many sunflowers during Mattie's cancer journey. The sunflower represents community, compassion, and support to me. 

Right near our porch is this charming fountain. I can't tell you how many birds, butterflies, and hummingbirds it attracts. Any case, I thought I would give you a mini tour of our gardens, and it is my hope that you can see why they inspire me to create artwork.