Lazy Girl: Episode 4

In the Garden of the Magnolias

There's an 18th century barn-turned-house on Village Lane in Orient, New York. It's a modest house mostly hidden by high hedges.  But beyond the hedges lies a lush, secret garden tended by Charles Dean.

On a warm afternoon in July, my sister, Jeanne, her husband, Chris, and I attended a vernissage consisting of one painting in the pristine studio next to the garden. There we saw the work of Charles' partner, Sinan Karabas.  His large, abstract painting evokes different feelings in everyone, as Sinan said, but in it I saw a large heart perhaps encompassing the foliage in the garden next to the studio. 

Sinan Karabas with his painting.

Charles in his garden pointing to a rare specimen.

Charles first came to Orient when he met his then-partner Skip Wachsberger, who was a watercolor artist and trompe d'oeil painter. The garden was started and nurtured by Skip, and gradually Charles came to know about the plants too. When Skip died in 2011, Charles took over tending the garden.

A rare Silver Parasol Magnolia, one of two in the garden.

There are only 12 in the world because they are hard to propagate.

The garden holds other exotic specimens from far-flung parts of the globe.

Jeanne with Daylilies

Lilies provide vibrant color.

Skip was fortunate to choose a parcel of land in Orient

that was fertile and devoid of rocks and well protected from the

salt spray and winds of Long Island Sound.

Verdant greens of mature trees and shrubs

underplanted with perennials.

Carol in the garden.

I got a new phone and started playing with mark up in edit.

After the garden we went to Latham's Farm Stand.

The have unusual flowers for sale.

À Bientôt!

Lazy Girl: Episode 3

 Sunset, Cocktails and Seals

It was perhaps four-ish when we set off for the nets near the end of Orient State Beach. The waters of Peconic Bay were smooth and smiling and the cooler was well stocked with the fixings for delicious cocktails.

Chris was at the helm of the Wild Goose, a 25-foot Surfhunter motor boat. Jack was First Mate with simple duties like hoisting the anchor which he did with aplomb, occasionally breaking into a Buster Keaton routine as he pranced about the bow in bare feet. Jeanne was the Mistress of the Cooler which contained not only libations, but also small nibbles of cheese and other savories. I was the lucky passenger with no duties but to enjoy the surf and sky.

Boarding the Wild Goose at the Orient Yacht Club, we motored out of the slip and rounded Chris' 39-foot Concordia Yawl, the KeeNeeNoh. Jack snapped a picture of a tern resting on the bow.

Our destination was the Long Beach Bar "Bug" Lighthouse and the "nets" where we hoped to see the Harbor Seals.

Jeanne Markel sips a cocktail in a chic and sea-worthy Martini glass.

The "Bug" Lighthouse, so-called because it looks like a water bug when the rocks are covered at high tide. It helps mariners navigate around the hazardous sandbar between Orient Harbor and Gardiner's Bay. It was destroyed by arsonists in 1963 and rebuilt in 1990 with contributions from locals under the auspices of the East End Seaport Museum and Marine Foundation. The U. S. Coast Guard maintains the 10-inch solar-powered light which is 63 feet above the water.

The day's heat melted away. As the sun touched the horizon and its pink and orange hues debuted, we were lucky to catch a glimpse of a Harbor Seal. He nudged his nose from beneath the sea and snorted in his peculiar way, staying only for a few seconds before sinking back under the water in search of a fish or crab which might have wandered unawares in to the fishermen's nets.

Thank you to Jack Wedge for the photographs.

A Bientot!