With a Heavy Heart…

Tags

animals, bleeding heart, cancer, cemetary, death, dog, Garden, grieving, how to bury a pet, Jack Russell, loss, nature, pet, rainbow bridge, statuary, statues

It has taken me so long to even touch on this subject – and even so, I have to gloss over it as it just breaks my heart. My sweet little Jack Russell, Lucy, died a few months ago and I still am in such a state of anguish and grief.

She was diagnosed 2 years ago with cancer and given just a few months to live. I told the vet I was desperate for any treatment, so he said we could operate to remove the baseball-sized tumor and extend her life by a month or two.

Traditional English Garden Design

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A Detailed House, Charles Lewis Bowman, England, English garden, Formal gardens, Garden, Garden maze, Greenwich, Hedge maze, Limestone, London, maze, Mel Gibson, Mel Gibson's house, Old Mill Farm, Staddle stones, Stone cottage, Stone wall, Tudor architecture

In Greenwich, Connecticut, there is a private Tudor estate, Old Mill Farm, designed by architect Charles Lewis Bowman in 1926, that has timeless landscaping complete with secret gardens, a hedge maze, old stone walls and iron gates.

Wild for Wisteria

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Flower arches, Garden, Ivy, Landscape design, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Tree arch, Vine, Virginia, Virginia creeper, White wisteria, Wisteria, Wood Thrush

Having a stone house, Virginia creeper love throwing their tendrils up the side of my house. My mother said it’s not good for the house and will weaken the mortar and thus the stonework, but the mourning doves love nesting on the window sills with the leaves as cover, so I let the vines run up to a certain point. Plus, they turn a spectacular red in the fall.

The only thing that is lacking is flowers, so I decided a few years ago to plant wisteria in the back of of house to crawl up our balcony.

My youngest is the bane of my green thumb as she likes to pluck the blooms, although I can see why; they are gorgeous!

Art Installation in Georgetown

Tags

Andy Cao, Cambridge MA, Chicken wire, Dumbarton Oaks, Garden, Georgetown, Harvard, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Installation art, Massachusetts, Stephen Jerrome, Swarovski, Xavier Perrot

In Georgetown, far away from Cambridge, Massachusetts, there is an institute of Harvard University called Dumbarton Oaks that is dedicated to promoting Byzantine, Garden and Landscape, and Pre-Columbian studies through fellowships, internships, meetings, and exhibitions.

When one thinks of Harvard, chicken wire and Swarovski crystals are the last things that comes to  mind. Enter Andy Cao (Loeb Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2010-11) and Xavier Perrot and their incredible creativity. They set up an art installation that is simple in execution, but nothing short of pure genius.

See for yourself:

Like a low storm cloud about to burst…