A Rome Walk.....Via Margutta

It is official, here in New England we are in a heat wave. We have had three consecutive days of 90 degree temperatures. And as people say," it's not the heat it's the humidity", we have plenty of humidity as well.

As I often do, I checked the New York Times to see what the weather is in Rome today.

It is hotter in New England than it is in Rome........unbelievable. Even coastal Maine is hot.

All of this got me thinking about a cool walk James and I love in Rome, a walk on the Via Margutta.

  

Rome is beautiful.....the colors of the buildings glow with warmth. The colors must fill the Roman people, because they too are very warm and lovely.... well most anyways!!
The Via Margutta is a small  and quiet street, just off the Via Babuino, not far from Piazza Popolo in the heart of Rome. It is not far from the Northern Gate of Rome, where in ancient times Roman Emperors would enter through to the city. It is in a neighborhood that James and I really find irresistible, but then we could say that about almost every neighborhood in Rome. It is fair to say that we adore Rome.

The narrow street provides welcome after shade on a hot day, and a respite from the Rome traffic.
Pots of tress and vines cover building  that makes us think of hanging gardens.

Via Margutta is now home to restaurants, small hotels, galleries and upscale shops. It is also home to artists and artisans continuing a long tradition dating back to the Renaissance.

Here are a couple of trivia facts..........
In the Fellini film, Roman Holiday, the character played by Gregory Peck had a flat on
the Via Margutta, and Federico Fellini actually lived on this street.

A delivery of flowers to a restaurant. Once again it's impossible not to feel good surrounded by all of these warm ochres, pinks, reds and yellows of Rome......not to mention all the fragrant vines and flowers.. Italians respond to the aesthetic in life.

This is a neighborhood that has always housed artisans. There were also stables here, and saddle makers. This was an enclave of  marble cutters, wood workers, frame makers, leatherworkers, and artists. Many remain, but with rising costs, many have given way to pricer shops and galleries, which often happens to artist quarters!
I read that Picasso spent time painting somewhere on this street. I don't know, but perhaps.

Rome and water just go together.
The fountains of Rome have been immortalized in movies, art and music.
The grand fountains, like the Four Rivers, or Trevi, are icons.
But, there are many small fountains all around Rome that you can actually drink from, and believe us that after walking for miles on a hot day it is a blessing to come upon one of these water fountains!
Rome water is very good water, and always has been.

Above this fountain are the letters SPQR.
SPQR means  Senatus Populusque Romanus, or The Senate and People of Rome.

The bucket of brushes on the top are to represent the artists and artistans. The two masks adorn the fountain, one with frown the other with a smile are said to represent the two moods of artists......... or so the story was told to us.

It is easy to see why artists have always been drawn to this narrow intimate place with it's vine covered buildings and dark cobble stone street. With the Pincio, a grand park, just behind and the bustle of the city only a street away, it seems a perfect place to be at an easel.

Now it's on to Piazza Popolo !


(In the meantime the heat wave continues here in New England)

The Sun Makes An Appearance !

Saturated, drenched, soaked, completely soggy would define the past several days here in New Hampshire. Peony flowers bent with the weight of their water filled petals too heavy to hold proud.

Tree limbs lower, begonias look very unhappy, and the agapanthus is begging to bloom. 

LOOK! look there out the window, the window that has been shut tight for days.

The sun has reappeared...............at last. Flowers are perking up, dappled sunlight enlivens the garden.

Birds are chirping and there is a butterfly fluttering over the dianthus.

A tree peony. One of the wonderful surprises of this new garden.

Maybe now the agapanthus will have it's opportunity to show off.

This moss covered corner with the dappled sun is one of my favorite spots in this walled garden. 

The clematis is flowering and the birds are singing all giving a sense of well being in this place.

White clematis brightens this quiet corner.

A garden must have a place to sit.

 Now that the rain has stopped and the day is taking a turn for the better  these chairs will serve us well. Seeing that it is Friday night,  James and I will bring our cocktails out here to sit and enjoy the garden, at least until the mosquitos send us in!

A white iris basking in the sun. Sadly, several iris were knocked to the ground by the rain. We will stake them up or cut them and bring them in for a vase. This one is a beauty with the sun setting it aglow.

A snow storm in June?

James brought me out to see all these white petals coving the ground, like a snow fall.

Could it be, no, the rain was certainly enough weather.

Another surprise here at our new house and garden is this monumental tree

. What is it?

We could not identify it until we saw the flower, this white flower with the petals that created a 'snow storm in June'.

The mystery tree is an American Yellow Wood.

This is a grand tree. The flowers remind me of wisteria.

The garden continues to surprise us. 

We continue to add new things, slowly, slowly.

"Piano, piano"

Slowly, slowly as it is said in Italian!

Discovering Spring

I have always admired quince in the spring. Driving along country roads in early May I love seeing the wonderfully overgrown quince, in it's own hue of red, growing next to a weathered barn.

When we moved to our new home I discovered a quince in the garden, so of course I was anxious to see it in bloom. Needless to say, as one can see from the photo, it was not red, but the most beautiful apple blossom pink.

In our courtyard there is a weeping cherry. Truthfully, I do not believe this is a tree either James or I would select, but  we have already grown fond of it. It's trunk is sturdy with interesting branching giving it good winter form.

And  the cascading branches with the umbrella like flowers are completely graceful.
It brings to mind ballerinas dancing across an elegant stage in pink tutus.

James and I have always designed and created our gardens, so this time, at our new house, it is different. It is first about discovery and watching to see what the existing garden reveals.

Hostas are emerging from the shaded ground, as are astilbe, ferns and bleeding heart. The first flower that we saw once the snow melted was a lenten rose......a very nice surprise! New things appear daily now as days grow longer and warmer.

A crab apple grows over the outer edge of the courtyard, filling it's corner of the garden with pink blossoms, and creating shade for the astilbe beneath, as they await their time to flower. A week ago
I cut a few long budded branches for a vase that brings this dynamic spring color into our living room. Must savour as much spring has to offer as possible!

This beech, with it's massive smooth trunk makes a big statement and it dominates the landscape giving it the feel of a park. It is pure magnificence.

The walled garden is also revealing itself to us. The boxwood create structure as well as punctuation in the garden. Some things will remain, other things will change......that is just a fact in gardening.
Two roses must be removed since they are non-performing and  are in too much shade. It is likely that when they were planted back when the overhanging branches of the oak were not creating the amount of shade that they now are. 
This is a relatively small garden ( that translates into manageable, thank goodness!),
making every space counts.
So here are a few of the plants we are finding day by day;
3 peonies, a tree peony, nepeta ( James' nemesis),
echinacea, daylilies, columbine... loads of columbine, bleeding heart, cimicifuga, ornamental grasses, dianthus, and clematis.
We will be adding to the garden some of our old favorites as well. That will be fun. Happily, James and I are more enthusiastic about gardening than we have been in sometime. In part I think it is due to the fact that for the first time in our lives we have some help with the garden.

Now, if the black flies would just go away we could get outside and put a few new plants in the ground!

A New View

We suddenly find ourselves looking out to a new view. Life, as it can, swept us up and we landed in a new place and although we feel as if this could be Tuscany or Umbria we are still in New England, not terribly far from where we were before, but strangely it feels world's away.

As we continue to unpack boxes and reorganize our daily lives we also take time to watch spring slowly, and I do mean slowly, arrive here. We are curious to what will be emerging from the ground as the snow melts. We know there are boxwood, a buddleia, daffodils and a few roses in the walled garden. But, what else lies beneath the snow cover?

At each  of the four corners of the house is an oak tree, and there is also a majestic Copper Beech on the grounds. James and I were completely delighted to see it here on the grounds and  cannot wait to see it fully in leaf in the coming months. 

One of the four oaks framed by a window.....good planning by someone about 60 years ago!

 The evening sky still blue as the sun sets across the field as dusk envelopes our new view. Our old house had a wonderful view across the garden and fields to distant mountains, which we loved. Now, I will tell you,we are growing very fond of this view through these  stunning Italian windows.

A bottle of Brunello  di Montalcino, a gift, was opened to drink to life, the new house, the sunset and the rising moon.

March is the month of the Full Worm Moon. On one of our first nights here it came up over the trees like an enormous lantern 

 creating magical light. It not only lit up the night sky but it's brilliant light brought a glow that lit up the snowy field.

This is a romantic place.

We could have not wished for a warmer greeting to our new house and our new view.

THE PINK AMARYLLIS and how it brightens our winter's day................

A photo taken about two weeks ago of beautiful pink Amaryllis, a gift to James and I from  our friends Debbie and Robbie on New Year's Eve. It has been on view in our kitchen, where we watch it's progress daily as it unfolds to reveal it's blossoms.

 The color of the flowers and the green of the stems are vibrant. 

Now it's February, the same Amaryllis yet with a new bud continues to brighten our  home as the snow of winter begins to accumulate .

Paperwhites......... I try to keep some of these beauties flowering in our sunroom until it is time for tulips and pansies to take their place.

Today brings snow, but I will dream of spring and the flowers it brings.....and of course, continue to dream of Italy.
 As darkness begins to set in James will light the fire that is ready in the fireplace. This evening we will dine on a  warm short rib ragu over creamy polenta with a salad and a glass of wine. The music might be Bach or Vivaldi or perhaps Miles Davis or Sinatra, who knows? The romantic side of winter.

That is our way to get through the long cold  and stormy days and nights
 of a New England winter !
James tells me, " we must embrace winter."

I say, "time to get out the boots and shovels and hope that we do not loose our power...

and always enjoy the beautiful. "

Roman Flowers......a movable garden

OK........so James and I are not in Rome right at the moment, but we can dream can't we?

It is just about at this time of year, February, with a huge storm about to drop about 2 feet of snow on us here in New England, that we think about Spring in Italy. 

 In April and May, red poppies color the fields that line roadsides of Umbria and the scent of Broom and Chestnut blossoms fills the air.  In Rome, bright Bougainvillea  and sweet smelling Wisteria surround doorways, nearly hiding them at times.

On an April morning in Rome this 'moveable garden' stopped outside a door on the quiet Via Margutta to make a delivery. A lovely moment and now a good memory.....and since I doubt that I will see an open air flower laden utility truck on our dirt road any time soon,
 I am delighted to see the flowers  of Amaryllis and Paperwhites that are blooming, or getting prepared to bloom, in our warm New England home as we wait for an Old Fashioned Blizzard..............

Metropolis..... a new painting

Metropolis

Elizabeth Johansson

Oil on canvas, 40" x 32", 2012-13

With the holidays weeks behind us and the cold of January settling in, the studio is a good place to be.

Day light is precious when painting by natural light so during these winter months work time gets compressed into fewer hours, but, on the other hand, there is no lawn to mow or gardens in need of attention which means paintings get all the attention......at least until dusk. 

At dusk we head into the kitchen, the other place James and I like to be, especially in the winter, with soups, stews, and roasts cooking, filling the room with pleasing aromas and warmth.

But back to the studio, Metropolis is a painting I recently completed.  It is one of at least three paintings in the "ribbon series" that I am currently working on.

I will post them as I complete them during the next few months.

Back to the easel..............