Director's Note 6/1/16

June 1, 2016

We have been dropped precipitously into summer. This may be a teaser, a mini-summer to be followed by cooler, darker times, but there has been enough of it--of heat and bright light--to lull the muscles into a post-winter state of relaxation as we peel off layers of clothes and tension. And though it feels like summer, the colors outside my window are still in the higher spring key: lots of yellow in the green, the fruit trees' range of pinks popping out across the view. Tadpoles swarm in the ponds; tiny turtles turn up in the parking lot; a turkey hen mysteriously sits down underneath the magnolia outside my window. The flower parade is easier to enjoy up close now that it's warm outside, and I try to make sure that I wander out each day to bury my nose in the lilacs during their brief season.

Last night, as we listened to author Allison Pataki discuss the colorful, complicated life that the Empress Elisabeth led among the Hapsburgs after her marriage to Franz Joseph I--the subject of her new book, Sisi, Empress on Her Own--a storm rolled in, turning the sky violet and lavender. After the event, and the deluge, you could smell the lilies of the valley in the darkness.

Summer hours have begun--we'll be staying open until 7:30 pm on Wednesdays through September. I know that summer camps are just around the corner because plans for chicken coops and raised garden beds have joined the pile on my desk. June begins with Tai Chi in the Garden: Harmonizing with Nature; Angela Laughingheart returns on Wednesday evenings to augment outdoor practice with readings from the Chinese classics. Early June is also the time for our annual writing workshop with Woodland Pattern, this one entitled Whose Sleeves (Tagasode Byobu) with poet Ed Roberson (June 7-10; there will be a public reading and reception on the evening of the 10th). There are two bonsai workshops this month, one for parents and children, the other for teens (both on June 25). We begin two once-a-month, docent-led tours in June: a 90-minute Sunday tour on June 5, and a somewhat shorter patio tour on June 19. Tuesdays in the Gardens explores many legs on June 7 and June 14 and dogs and their four legs are welcome on June 18. On June 26 we open our new exhibition, Eliza's Peculiar Cabinet of Curiosities. Artist Fo Wilson will be in attendance as we unveil her outdoor installation and P.S. I Love You in the gallery.

And because this is going out early, I can remind you that Lynden will be open from 10 am to 5 pm on Memorial Day, May 30.


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