It’s graduation week, and now we have our first high school graduate!  Marshall is graduating from high school tomorrow, so Jeff’s parents have come up from Raleigh, my parents are driving over, and we’ll be celebrating this milestone.  In case you need a point of reference, this is the toddler who used to streak through my blog photos in diapers!  I love this stage of parenthood, though.  I love that he can now drive himself around, is earning his own money in a job he enjoys, and has such a wonderful sense of humor.  He’s also oddly good at calculus, and I have no idea where that came from!  It’s enjoyable watching him discover his gifts and fill the shoes of a young adult.

Between family visiting and putting together a huge trifold board of photos for Marshall’s senior display, I did manage to put together this week’s four things.

Classic southern interiors, a tour through Europe, the dance between what’s imagined and what’s taking shape, and listening to experienced voices…

what I’m reading

I’m still reading through Rembrandt is in the Wind on my walks, but I’ve been reading through Embracing Southern Homes by Eric Ross this week to get some visual inspiration.  I have followed Eric Ross on Instagram for years and have always loved his classic Southern style.

As you would expect from a Gibbs Smith decorating book, it’s a feast for the eyes.  I’ve enjoyed studying the vignettes on tables, the play of patterns, and the art used in some of the rooms featured.

what I’m watching

Long Way Home is available to watch on Apple TV+ now, so Jeff and I have been watching the available episodes as they come out.  We watched the other three motorbike trips by Ewan and Charlie, and so far, we agree that this one isn’t quite as compelling as the others.  I think it’s moving to watch the struggle of traveling in remote places on difficult roads and seeing things most people never see.  You don’t quite get that when they are traveling through Europe!  What you do get, though, is beautiful scenery, and I have enjoyed following the people they meet and the places they decide to visit.

I’ve also liked the fact that they are traveling on vintage bikes.  Ewan described his bike as something that looks like it was pulled out of a lake.  Not only did that make me laugh, but I get it.  I like things like that, too.  Things that have story, character, soul, and the perfect amount of wear and patina.  I appreciate the love and celebration of old things that are still useful.

what I’m loving

“The parts and the whole, a process pursued, to realize a dream of art and simplicity.  In anything creative – and in life itself – there is a subtle dance between what’s imagined and what’s slowly taking shape before you.” – Maryfrances Carter, artist & ceramicist

You can follow Maryfrances on Instagram HERE.

what I’m working on

Well, according to my blog readers who know a thing or two about planting bushes too close to their house, I planted my boxwood hedge too close to the house.  For a few days, I looked at if from my studio window, wondering if I should just roll with it or go through the effort of moving them.  Wisdom prevailed, and I gratefully took the advice from those who are more experienced than I am in such things, and I moved the hedge away from the house and porch.  I also used a measuring tape to space out the bushes so they grow together in a uniform hedge.  I don’t have an after picture yet, but this is how it looked before.

I moved the bushes 40″ away from the house and spaced them 18″ on center.  It’s slow going in this bed because I need to remove the plastic, add new soil, plant (and replant in the case of the hedge), and then mulch.  I’m making some good progress, though, and hope to have it done by this weekend.

I also worked on cleaning up the back patio, which I’ll share in another post, and started cleaning out the bed on the left side of the house.  This side might end up being the most dramatic exterior transformation when we’re done in a few weeks, and I’m so excited to see it done.  Right now, it’s slow-going, though.  I’m raking out all of the debris, and hand-pulling weeds, and ivy.  Once I get an area clear, I’m going to put down black plastic and mulch to try to kill off the ivy.  I did that along the back of the house, pulling new sprouts as they came up around the edges of the plastic, and I haven’t seen any new sprouts this year.

The good news is, the abelia bushes loved being trimmed earlier this year and are coming in nicely.  I still need to work on their shape and removing branches that are crossing, etc., but I’ll focus on that next year when there isn’t so much clean-up to do!

We watched a British farming show a few months ago, and I remember one of the farmers talking about a field they were bringing back to life.  It was full of weeds that didn’t offer very much benefit to grazing animals, and they were reviving it with nutritionally dense grasses.  He said, it’s like turning around a big ship with a small rudder.  It just takes time to turn it around.  When I get discouraged at all of the work that still needs to be done, I think about that field and the farmer’s wisdom.  It takes a few years to get overgrown landscaping turned around, and we’ll get there…