Weekend Meanderings No. 107 | Peonies, a Mathematician in the Jungle and a Schumacher House Tour

Peonies, a mathematician in the jungle, RHS Wisley, Chatsworth and retirement advice nobody gives introverts

How can a flower bring so much joy? I have been asking myself that all week.

Before I moved to North Carolina I had never grown peonies. Florida near the ocean was not the right climate, and in Virginia I had the space but not the time. My neighbor had one in her front beds and every spring when it bloomed I would think — maybe this is the year. It never was. To everything there is a season, as they say.

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When we moved here and had the front beds landscaped, Jennifer the landscape architect suggested peonies for my “cottage garden.” I could not contain my excitement. The original six have become fourteen, and as I have mentioned more times than anyone probably needs to hear — I could not love them more. Their color, their soft velvety petals, their short and glorious season. Pure unadulterated joy. I cannot explain it any better than that.

Juliet, Kim and I have lots to share. Let’s meander.

On the Screen This Week

I stumbled upon The Art of Life this week. Michael Behrens was a rising star in abstract mathematics — a prodigy who could see complex patterns where others could not. He gave all of it up. Forty years ago he bought a plot of land in the middle of a thick jungle on Maui and built a house there by hand. He carried everything on his shoulders, twenty minutes walk from the road, no running water inside, no electricity until a small solar panel arrived so he could stay in touch with other mathematicians. He spends his days in meditation, gardening in a plot designed on sacred geometry, and swimming with the dolphins in the waters off the coast. The filmmakers met him on a remote beach in 2016 and followed him home — after he checked that they had good enough shoes.

This one is for those of us who are not retired yet but are introverts thinking ahead. Everyone Says “Get Out There” in Retirement. What If You Don’t Want To? by Monique Rhodes makes the case that most retirement advice is written for extroverts. If the idea of joining every club and staying relentlessly social sounds exhausting rather than energizing, this is the video for you. She talks about why introverts may actually be better suited to retirement than extroverts and offers four practical ways to design a retirement that fits who you actually are.

In the Garden This Week

This week I found 11 Ideas From One of Britain’s Greatest Gardens from The Middle-Sized Garden. She takes us through RHS Wisley, the flagship garden of the Royal Horticultural Society, which has been undergoing a refresh for three years and is now back and better than before. Eleven genuinely practical ideas — lilac making its comeback, wisteria without the problems, bold color combinations that actually work, green roofs on garden sheds. Every idea is sized for real gardens, not fantasy ones. This is the channel for English cottage garden lovers and I cannot recommend it enough.

And Chatsworth Through Time landed in my inbox from PBS this week. It is no secret that I am fascinated by Chatsworth — the history, the architecture, the landscape, the art collection. This is one of the great houses of England and PBS has done it justice. If you have never spent an afternoon at Chatsworth House, this is the place to start.

On Homing and Homeworthy

On Schumacher’s channel this week: Jenny Holladay’s Richmond, Virginia Home. Interior designer Jenny Holladay takes us through her historic colonial home — traditional, cozy, layered with beautiful fabrics, collections and art. The kind of home that has been built slowly and lovingly over years. Everything has a story.

Homeworthy fans, I thought you would enjoy this short video about what it is actually like to have Homeworthy come and film your home. I found it fascinating. Here are a few recent posts where I have shared Homeworthy tours if you would like to catch up: Gardens, Great Women and a New Monty Don and Short Films and a Home Tour.

This Week on the Blog

It was a good week on the blog. On Monday I shared Reinventing Your Morning — How the First Hour Changes Everything — not a generic list, but the habits that have genuinely changed my mornings and why they work. On Tuesday, Scent of a Woman — the story of a lifetime of perfume, from Love’s Baby Soft to Anaïs Anaïs in Paris at fifteen to the bottles on my bathroom counter right now.

On Wednesday, Strawberry Cheesecake Bars — one pan, no water bath, fresh strawberry swirl, and the summer I learned that slugs live in strawberry patches. And on Thursday, Spring Nails — the two colors I wear every year and one drugstore discovery I found recently.. If you missed any of them, they are worth a visit.

Do you grow peonies? And are you an introvert who has thought about what retirement will actually look like for you? Tell me in the comments.

Don’t forget to visit Juliet at Make Mine a Spritzer and Kim at Northern California Style — we always have lots to share.

If you enjoyed this post, I would love it if you shared it. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and X — I would love to have you along.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends.

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