Much better pictures of the new abode. There are a few glimpses of the house. It is buried into a hillside and camouflaged in greenery.

We inherited a peach tree that is awesome so we planted a fruit trees all around it to make a small orchard. Peaches, cherries, pears, blueberries, and fig.

Refugees from the old beach road. They are all planted now.

So I guess it’s obvious why I haven’t been around.

So I have moved from a garden by the sea to a garden in the woods not far from the sea. It’s another hobbit-like house built into a hill with a half acre of cleared land for gardens and about 2 acres of forest and brambles. There are wild berries and herbs hiding in there somewhere and I’ll find them eventually. C.P. and I have made a small dent in setting up new gardens just in time to put them to bed. Freya loves it here. I’ve never seen her so relaxed. Nemo is still pouting. I think he misses his ocean view. I don’t. When I look out of any window, all I see are trees. It’s so peaceful and much warmer. The ocean is a 20 minute walk instead of a 20 second walk. This beach has more rocks which also means that there are fewer people. Not bad at all.

The old shed has electricity and running water so with a little patience and labor I’ll have a new studio by next summer.

Needs work.

There are water pipes everywhere and a well.

The view from the front and Freya’s favorite new spot.

My flying carpet. Mine!

The entire contents of my studio and library, old book pages, works in progress, and art supplies, are still in boxes and bins waiting to be moved and reorganized. I’ll have to content myself with garden photographs, beginning with the ridiculous amount of allotment pictures from a recent trip to Boston. The light, the sky, the weather, and the scarcity of other wandering bodies made it a perfect day for taking photographs. There are a few more in my previous post and a full set on Flickr.

A collection of well tended allotments is a magical place. Although I would never again wish to live in a city, I have a fascination with small urban gardens and allotments. There is such an abundance of charm in small gardens with their clever use of structures and strategic plantings. The victory gardens on the Fenway create an oasis in the midst of crowds, cars, and chaos.

I love the rusty nails and thorny branches all over the posts and gates. I know they are there to discourage vandals and thieves but I find them so beautiful and sculptural in this context.

I did not rest on my birthday after all but I did take a much needed break from renovations and moving. I wore myself out walking across Boston from one end to the other and back again and was rewarded with inspirations aplenty. C.P. McDill and I made a rare visit to the city for gallery hopping and window shopping. We strolled from the Commons through the Public Garden and down the full length of Newbury Street, stopping to admire the hand carved cabinets of Jenna Goldberg and the incomparable paintings of Goxwa at Axelle. We wandered through the exhaustive maze of allotments at Fenway Victory Gardens working up an appetite for the amazing Thai cuisine we had for dinner. We ended the evening by winding up the main street, returning to the Commons in time for sunset on the pond and a carousel ride. It was a perfectly lovely day capped off by reading many generous blessings and good wishes for which I am thankful.

Photographs, of course, do not do Goxwa’s work justice. There is so much light in these paintings. I recommend that anyone near Boston visit her solo show at Axelle Gallery on Newbury Street. These are just details taken with a digital. The full compositions have more impact.

I have a thing for birdhouses. I like this one made with scrap wood and a nail for a perch.

These are much more expensive birdhouses in a shop display on the main street. Tin roofs! I like these but I prefer the scrappy DIY version.

Sunset and a white rabbit ride.

The fiery flowers of pineapple sage, young radishes in a driftwood bed, one last rose before winter, the sun shed at sunset, and an alchemical androgyne.

The Divine Hermaphrodite

Three favorite photographs of artists’ gardens from a book that I am parting with. I have this long standing practice that for every object I bring into this house, I must part with an equivalent object, usually a book for a book, a clothing item for a similar clothing item, etc.

John Ruskin

Edward Augustus Bowles

Derek Jarman

This is the stone path we are building in the new section of front garden. It was an ugly asphalt drive that we tore up with a pick axe. Hopefully there will be low growing thyme inbetween the stones by next spring and those scrappy looking arborvitae with their little pointy heads chopped off will eventually be an evergreen hedge.

The head mason is my mother who is 70 years old and loves to build walls and paths out of stone. She doesn’t just design and supervise. She does the actual lugging and building. Crazy woman. Now you know where I get half of it. My father was crazy too so there is the other half explained. The stone path leads out to the sandy beach road and we’ve left the entrance open. No gate. There is an enclosed fence around the main garden in the back so I’d like to leave the front open if possible. It’s friendlier. We’ll see how well the neighborhood dogs behave.

I’ve also photographed our medicinal plants since it’s harvest time. I’m about to take most of them out of the garden to dry or otherwise store for the winter. Many will last through the fall a few will live through the winter in cold frames. This is my kind of health insurance. Build your own and grow your own. Self sufficiency and simplicity. I learned this from my parents. Hopefully, if I follow this path, I’ll be lugging big rocks around and planting trees when I am 70. Hmm. That didn’t come out quite right but I think you know what I mean. I’d like to keep that option.

Sage

Mint

Wild Strawberries. They look homely but they are so good.

Echinacea

Dandelion Greens.

Oregeno

Cat Mint!

Raspberry Leaves.

Lavender

Comfrey

Rhubarb

Heavenly Blue Morning Glories. ;)

Purslane

Chamomile

Basil

Jalapenos & Cayenne

Parsley, Rosemary, Chives, Heather, Lavender, Garlic, Dill, Mullein…

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A long awaited orchid blooms on the front porch, explosions of color, heat, rain, crazy big waves, whoopie pies, silliness, drama, pfft, lots and lots of cucumbers, and no further comment…

Take a walk down the stone steps into my garden.

Quietly sneak past the guard and under the driftwood arch.

Hot peppers galore.

Abundance

A field of cosmos 10 feet tall.

A fig tree grew out of the compost. Surprise!

C.P. made these birdhouses out of the mahogany scraps from our new front porch.

ucumbers gone wild.

Another volunteer. This basil planted itself on the brick path outside of the parsley bed.

The garden will be fading soon. The lush late summer and early fall glory is captured here. I think I have a few more months but who can tell? This is the New England coast and the weather has been so unpredictable everywhere else. I had a dream last night that I woke up and looked out the window and it was snowing. When I really did wake up, I thought it would be snowing. I jumped out of the bed and planned to go outside and grab everything I could harvest. C.P. McDill is thinking of building a studio in the garden since that is where I spend most of my time for almost half of the year. I always feel split down the middle as to where I want to be.

I finally made it to Provincetown after three years of living just on the other side of the Cape Cod Bay. Even though I can see it from our landing, it’s a long drive around the tip of the Cape and it would be an even longer swim. I forgot to take pictures until we passed this amazing garden on our way home. The Ganesha caught my eye. I always forget to take pictures. Oh well. It’s a reason to go back. The other reason to go back soon is that I found an entire gallery of antique Indian art with hundreds of miniatures and yantras.

The garden gate.

The front entrance gate.

Long shot and close-up of the wizard sculpture.

An eclectic stone wall surrounds the property so I couldn’t see most of it.

I’ve been out and about more than usual lately. C.P. and I finally made it up to Salem to see the Joseph Cornell exhibition. To put it diplomatically, the choice of lighting and display were interesting. It’s Joseph Cornell though. I had to see it and the sheer size of the show made it worth the trip. There were a number of small paintings and collages from private collections that are rarely seen not that I could actually see them. Note to curator. Please turn on the lights next time. It would also be nice to be able to view all sides of the work since it is actually three-dimensional but I’d have settled for the front view. Lights? Please? I guess the person who designed this show thought showing shadow boxes required low lighting. It wasn’t the best choice.

We also visited the Fogg and Sackler museums. I had sort of forgotten about them. The collections are small, diverse, and selective. The lighting and display are exquisite. I was reprimanded for taking notes in my notebook with a pen instead of a pencil.