Landscape & Gardening

Here We Go Again!

If you click on it you’ll get a much larger version of Michael Parkey’s construction document.
If you click on it you’ll get a much larger version of Michael Parkey’s construction document.

The front garden is about to get a makeover. Today I’m showing you the planned changes and additions to the existing layout, and tomorrow, I’ll show you what plants have been specified.

It’s been ten years since the initial design was implemented, and because of the increasing shade from tree canopies and the recent years of weather extremes, a lot of the original perennials have fizzled. For some time now, the basic structure has been looking sparse and rather dilapidated, and I was increasingly having to rely on seasonal annuals in greater quantities to make up for the loss of the original plantings. This became way too labor intensive for me, and I wanted my life back.

Both of the major planting beds will be expanded. This additional depth will now allow us to introduce larger plants that can provide a fun mix of varied heights, colors, moundings, and textures, while at the same time reducing the amount of grass lawn.

Note: When I say “us”, I mean my landscape architect Michael Parkey and me.

Architecture

Some History on My Little House

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Architectural history that is. The one essential book for anyone interested in the history and architectural fashions of American domestic architecture is A Field Guide to American Houses by Virginia and Lee McAlester. Through this book and Virginia McAlester’s website, I have learned that my home’s style is neither “distinctive” nor is it noteworthy. Nevertheless, it is an unadulterated example of what was the norm for the homes built in my neighborhood back in 1938. Ms. McAlester refers to my home’s style as “minimal traditional”. Sounds pretty boring, doesn’t it? She even gives it another term on her website, “bankers’ modern”. So what is minimal traditional?

Film: Design & Architecture

Trouble in Paradise

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This gem of a film, a 1932 pre-Code romantic comedy, was selected in 1991 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. Just the set décor alone makes this film a must see. The director, Ernst Lubitsch, felt this was one of his best, and the critics agreed. Because the film contains adult themes and sexual innuendo, after the Code went into effective enforcement, it was not approved for reissue and was not seen again until 1968. The film stars Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, and Herbert Marshall, and the wonderful Art Deco sets were designed by the head of Paramount’s art department, Hans Dreier. Hans would later win an Academy Award for Best Art Direction for Sunset Boulevard (1950). Click on the link below to view the wonderful sets.

Contemporary Art

Peekaboo (part 6)

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An alternate title could be “what’s hanging (part three)”. This little marble shelf and bracket were installed today. Their purpose was to be a drop-off for my purse and sunglasses, but I’m now unsure about this. They’re just too precious to spoil with my scruffy everyday stuff. You can’t tell from this photo, but the marble top curves out in the front. In order to add depth—the antique bracket was too shallow to be useful as is—Charley McKenney, my architect, designed a way to push the bracket further out by mounting it to a thick wall-mounted board. Because the entrance to my bedroom is through that doorway on the right and the return vent is under the shelf, placing a piece of furniture larger than this shelf would not have worked. I’m thinking that this shelf needs a small sculpture. All in good time.

The two works of art above are by Lorraine Tady purchased through Barry Whistler Gallery back in 1995. They are both drypoint monotypes. The one on the left is Untitled, No. 117, and the one on the right is Untitled, No. 133. Hopefully someday I can get a better photo of these two. There’s just too much reflective glare during the afternoon, and the morning light would not have provided enough to show off this corner.

I forgot to mention that the table lamp on the right is one of a pair that were once my maternal grandmother’s. I love their art deco vibe.

Landscape & Gardening

The Current State of Things

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Let’s play a little game. How long do you think it will take Oncor to return and clean up their spew? They are suppose to return next week (maybe) to move the transformer to the new pole, then the phone and cable companies will need to transfer their lines and connections. And we all know how responsive these various corporations are. I’m pretty sure the grass won’t survive and the weeds won’t be phased.

Landscape & Gardening

There Goes the View. Not Happy.

Click on the photo for a much larger version of this mess.
Click on the photo for a much larger version of this mess.

Why pick on me and my garden? Oncor is replacing most of the electrical poles here in University Park, and this new pole is located two and a half feet further in than the old pole, destroying the view of my garden from my house. I know there are going to be some smarty pants out there who will snicker and tell me that I should have installed one of those ugly stockade fences instead of the lace chain link, and that way, I wouldn’t have to look at the bottom portion of this pole. Don’t.

They couldn’t put this new pole on the other side away from my property, because that side of the old pole has a giant 800 pound transformer. This new transformer is so heavy (in order to serve the mcmansions in the hood) that it has bent the top of the old pole considerably. Refer to photo after the link. So the new pole will be larger in diameter, and supposedly we will have less outages. I’m not buying that. I think they’re deliberately going out of their way to mess up my aesthetics and me. They must hate me very much.

Film: Design & Architecture

Vatel (2000)

Louis XIV portrayed by Julian Sands
Louis XIV portrayed by Julian Sands

Impressive sets for the Sun King as only Hollywood could imagine it. Repeat viewing of the film Vatel is one of my guilty pleasures. I’ve referred to it once before on my blog, but this time I would like to focus on the elaborate sets designed, as imagined by Hollywood, to entertain Louis XIV and win his favor during an historical event in 1671. I feel confident that nothing as elaborate as these sets in the film were ever created for those three days of revelry, but they are still fun to look at. The historical genius behind the festivities was François Vatel, who was the Master of Festivities and Pleasures in Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé’s household. You see, it was the Prince who desperately needed to win over the sun king, hoping for a commission as a general and an end to his financial struggles. Vatel was already renowned for having served Louis XIV’s superintendent Nicolas Fouquet in the splendid inauguration fête at the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte ten years earlier, but that occasion lead to the unfortunate Fouquet’s downfall.