Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Friendship is to Bare Witness


No time for cooking she finessed a curried chicken salad over arugula, added fresh fruit and a poppy seed vinaigrette.
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Beautifully served & delicious it's in her DNA along with interiors & gardens.
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She's the friend you don't speak with for months then conversation picks up mid-sentence.
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The friend warping time, hours are minutes.
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The friend knowing every terrible thing about you & loves you more.


In her new home for a year, I hadn't seen it yet.


Her grown child has a life-threatening illness.  Her choices, hard.  She never chooses the easy road.


For a decade I have watched, listened.  Of course we've done a lot of laughing.  How else to get thru?


 First is was her house she surrendered, then a series of other abodes.  Each smaller.  Every time more antiques sold.



Never has she lived without beauty, love, or laughter.  Nor tightly bound to them, tears, frustration, fear.


This is her smallest home yet.  A masters class in which pieces of furniture, art, books to keep.  What is needed, useful, beautiful.
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We have no less fun, or love, than in that huge 1st home.
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Instead, more.


This time she's landed with a roof top garden.  
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Not a garden of her own.
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She's not had a garden of her own for a long time.
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She's never complained
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Hard choices, hard truths, rich living.
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We grieve together, some.  Mostly, we are enriched & grow love in our friendship.  
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As friend, it has been my job to bare witness.
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In return, she's watched my hard choices, ugly truths.
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We speak plain to each other.  True grit.
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Mostly, we laugh.  And love one another.  No matter what.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics at my friend's home.  Sun was hot on my legs/toes and felt like the best hot steam sauna ever.
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For a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, become my client, local/on-line.
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Books by Tara Dillard, Amazon
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Tara Dillard & Associates Design: farm to city pied-a-terre.
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Construction by Award Winning
Shaefer Heard Construction, licensed home-builder, renovation - new construction.  Heard's Landscaping a unit of SHC.  3 decades of service.

7 comments:

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

What a lovely tribute to your friend, and to friendship.

Love & hugs ~ FlowerLady

Vickie H. said...

Really nice feet for one so hardworking! I love every post you file! What color is that on your toes? Such an enlivening pink! Thank you, always!!!

Unknown said...

Such a lovely post about friendship Tara! x Maria

Unknown said...

Tara, I loved this post and wanted to let you know (and I'm having all kinds of trouble posting this comment) x Maria

Thistle Cove Farm said...

Such a lovely tribute to your friend and friendship.

Tara Dillard said...

Toe nails are usually OPI. All types of showy pink. Salon is shocked when I go off my pink. then it always goes back to a pink.

You will never see my hands. They're proof of my garden obsession since birth. xot

home before dark said...

So much to love here. BTW for years I took my husband to various places in the country where we offered stone for the hauling. One day the 6'5" guy (tall guys always have lower back problems!) pulled his back and had to stop helping me. I didn't have a full load yet. I offered him my hat to shield his eyes, and suggested he lay down on the hot gravel. He rolled his eyes and muttered not nice words. About 45 minutes later I was ready to roll and he, waking up from his nap on the sauna bed gravel was amazed his back didn't hurt. Just saying, a little nap time on that hot roof might be therapeutic!