While I was arranging and
watering hay bales, my son Richard and his Nonna were conspiring with their own
project.
Richard got the idea after
spending a weekend at the farm, visiting his dad for a Lynch family cookout.
The festivities centered around “Stonehenge,” the fire pit and stone benches we
built near the former shop. Stonehenge
is surrounded by in what many people refer to as “the hobbit village,” the
miniature log cabin, wishing well, lighthouse, etc. built by W.A. Saul in the
1960s after he retired as a schoolteacher.
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| Secret Garden Entrance |
When Richard returned to
State College, he decided his Nonna’s house needed a fire pit—and he knew
exactly where it should go—in Nonno’s Secret Garden. About the time my father
became a grandfather he decided to create a secret garden. He placed an arbor
at the entrance and planted climbing hydrangea to clamber over top. Then he cut
a path, a good 80 yards or so, into the woods that opened into an area with
tall shade trees. Between two of them, he stretched a Pawley’s Island hammock,
thus creating a sanctuary.
Last week was finals week at
Penn State, so Richard didn’t have classes and devoted much of his time to
resurrecting Nonno’s Secret Garden. With a list, lawn mower, machete,
wheelbarrow, shovel and rake, and a property that lives and breathes
fieldstone, my 20-year-old man of muscle created his version of his
grandfather’s hideaway.
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| Richard's Circle of Fire |
The pathway is lined with solar-powered
lights and opens into a clearing. In the center, Richard built a double ring of
stones for his fire pit. Tiki torches line this “room”, which has a stack of
firewood, a small charcoal grill, benches encircling the fire pit, and artwork.
Artwork?
Richard was born on his grandfather Richard’s 70th birthday, and they share more than a
name. When Richard was clearing the secret garden, he found two marble figures that
my dad chiseled during an adult-education sculpture class. They apparently got
lost in the undergrowth of the woods. The two sculptures have the patina of
age, and a good deal of moss growing on them, but Richard could see the
inherent beauty of the female form.
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| Shy... |
“Boob statues,” he calls
them. Nonno’s artistic expression and Richard’s folly. Laurie Lynch
Purses with a Purpose: Shopping is one of my least favorite activities. But
sometimes I’m shamed into it. While I was visiting San Francisco, Trig saw the
fraying innards of my long-loved tapestry purse and said, “You really need a
new bag.”
In the months since I’ve
made half-hearted attempts to look for a new purse, but how many possibilities
are there in plant nurseries and supermarkets? Then I noticed an article in the
local paper about a philanthropic organization selling one-of-a-kind purses at
Seven Mountains Winery over the weekend. Wineries are another shopping haunt.
The bags (which range in
price from $15 for cosmetic totes to $300 travel bags) are handmade by tsunami
victims in Aceh, the Indonesian province that was destroyed by the earthquake
and subsequent tidal waves the day after Christmas, 2004. From that disaster,
Laga Designs International Inc., not a charity but a business with a mission,
was born in California. The company was formed to empower people who lost their
livelihood as a result of the 2004 tsunami.
The bags are intricately
embroidered with Acehnese designs that have been handed down through
generations. One medium-sized bag takes
a full day to complete. You can check them out at www.laga-handbags.com and, if you’d
like to order one, contact Jill Lillie at jlillie@lagahandbags.com, the State
College, PA, Laga consultant.
Written on Slate: “I find television very educational. Every time someone switches it on
I go into another room and read a good book.” –Groucho Marx
