Besides work being done on the barn as described in my last post the main house is also scheduled for some major renovation. The kitchen has always been disproportionately cramped, given the size of the rest of the house, which has always been a problem with the size of the family and the fact that its a major activity center. So finally the day has also come (in the new year ) for it to be renovated, but a few other things are getting a revamp at the same time- one of them being the porch.
Its a beautiful space, with a pleasing view of the back garden, on one side and the side garden- where the hostas and phlox are, on the other with an octagon thats covered with climbing hydrangea. Its a quiet place to sit and read and there's also a small dining table there where like most things out here is mainly used in the summer months. With the renovation, the porch will be properly winterized, which was a subject of discussion with Heidi the last time I was up. What's she going to do with that space? We had a good look at book called An Affair with a House by the interior decorator Bunny Williams - which had wonderful photos of many transitionary spaces like this, that are both about being inside and outside.
I've paired one of the images from the book- the one on the left of some old metal flowers on a windowsill with a view out of the porch that day- a wintry one because they both sort of visualize something else that's on my mind - what do you do in the wintertime when the garden is unavailable and more to the point when you have a gardening related blog to maintain. I'm going to muse and expand about this probably over a few posts but I'm definitely processing this whole idea of winterizing. I guess the images immediately suggest two solutions to me- you look out the window, enjoy whats there but more probably you imagine, plot or dream things up that you did or intend to do in the garden, how you'll improve on something-and additonally you recreate the garden with potted metal flowers or in my case drawings or painting or designs as I intend to.
I guess this also helps to explain how I perceive 'gardening' which to me is essentially about keeping a connection with the outside, which is most probably why you'll never read a decent gardening tip ever on this blog-I'm just not that enamored with the technicalities of it- I'm more interested in the experience of keeping that connection going- cutting flowers and branches to bring inside, tending a pot on the windowsill, cooking a vegetable I grew. As the winter encroaches on all those activities, I'll have to resort to my imagination and creativity to find ways to keep that same interior/exterior dialogue alive, not dormant waiting for spring. So do come visit, I intend to keep this blog like Heidi's soon to be porch, winterized.
