Haint Blue

...sting insects — and restless spirits (“haint” derives from “haunt”) — from making themselves at home in our living spaces. Haint blue is not a single shade of blue, but refers rather to a blue used for this purpose. The actual color could run from soft powder blue to true sky blue to bright teal. While the cool, airy white porch with a blue ceiling speaks to elegant Victoriana, I’ll note that the practice probably does originate in the traditions...

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Our Phoebe is gone

...till burned in her eyes, and it killed a part of us to have to put it out. Making the decision to euthanize a pet is one of the most difficult of decisions to make. We’ve never had to do it before, because our previous pets having been lost in other ways. My heart goes out to all of you who are now remembering putting down your own pets, or who are contemplating that future possibility. Ending suffering is the right thing to do, but oh, it is a ha...

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That Sugar Film

...both of which this film has in abundance. Show me don’t tell me is a film making mantra seared into my brain during the brief period I took classes and edited with Jean-Pierre Gorin (Full disclosure: my inner Gorin drives Kelly crazy and makes me a grumpy, no-fun movie going companion.) That said, what won me over to That Sugar Film is that its heart is decidedly in the right place. The strongest scenes were during visits to two disadvantaged com...

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Ian Hamilton Finlay’s Gardening Wisdom

...ap is his castle. Garden centres must become the Jacobin Clubs of the new Revolution. Certain gardens are described as retreats when they are really attacks. Finlay’s garden became a literal battle ground for his disputes with the Scottish Arts Council and with local town council bureaucrats. At various times his art was seized by the police and he became embroiled in a tax dispute with local officials. In the early 1980s his friends, dubbed the “...

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