Category Archives: Spring gardening

Strings detached

Spring brought a rich uninterrupted carpet of garden thyme to my doorstep, but what caused the vaguely rectangular hole? Well, I know, but I’d rather muse about some mysterious occurrence an unexplained core sampling of the herb bed by unseen mischievous “doers.”
I pondered this off and on over the summer and now it’s October. All that pondering is beginning to produce results.
Here is the first.

Location:Muse Scenic Studio

Spring Shock

This spring is bringing with it a host of new activities, many spawned by the departure of an artist and the reflections on making and connecting that have happened the the wake of the memorial service.

We decided to make our home a more inviting place. There are many tasks to be accomplished toward that end. The first: stem the flow of water around the foundation wall into our basement. The second: establish a garden that gives us reason to be in the yard and spend time cooking together this summer.

The result is a kitchen garden with raised beds and corrected drainage on the southeast side of the house right off the kitchen. The water flow has been redirected into the yard, and it is truly a pleasure to behold.


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Location:Liberty St,Winston-Salem,United States

May Daze

I woke this morning to an email informing me that the “call” I was on this afternoon was cancelled. That is theatre speak for, “You thought you had paid work today, but turns out you don’t.” This resulted in a number of overlapping responses; can I sleep in? What am I forgetting? What would I have been planning had I not been expecting to work this afternoon? Does this mean I could paint this afternoon?

Then, the next wave; Will I need to recoup the income? Will this effect my art budget? I really wanted to buy that strange sculpture this month at Gallery Hop and the 4 hours of work was going to put me 4.00 closer to buying it.


I know, you are thinking, “Art budget? You have an art budget?!”

To that I say, “Don’t you?”

Several years ago, we bought a house. Not long after, we went to breakfast. It was a special occurrence in those days of “just bought a house and we have uncertain income as freelancers”. It was at breakfast that we saw it. The first painting we would purchase as a couple. It was a big decision the sale price was equal to 15% of our monthly budget. Spread over the course of a year, however, it would be less than we were spending on coffee.

So, over breakfast, it was decided. Art should be in our budget. It has been ever since.

That painting, by Liz Simmons, hangs in our den. Liz is still painting, and still works at a restaurant, like so many artists.

Oh, and she recently bought the house we rented while I was in grad school at UNCSA.

To see her painting, you’ll need to read my next post.

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Location:Marshall St N,Winston-Salem,United States