Something strange happened the other day.
I went for a walk with my girlfriend.
I wasn’t going to go because I was wearing platform sandals and she wanted to walk up into the hill to this winery with our dogs.
My dog just happened to be in my car and I had an hour before I was to pick up my kids, so I decided to hike up the hill.
On the way up it started to rain, which was weird in itself.
We kept walking up toward the winery. We made it all the way up and strolled around with the dogs. We looked at the views, at the fountains, the gardens and then we turned and started back. We talked. We asked each other what the weekend held. I told my friend that I wanted to visit the Keeyla Meadows garden in Albany.
Keeyla Meadows is my absolute favorite garden designer/ artist. Keeyla’s gardens incorporate her art, her sculptures, her ceramics and her mosaics. She uses brightly colored plants and flowers. Her designs are always interesting, engaging and amusing.
I have been meaning to visit her gardens for months, but, Keeyla’s garden is in Albany and Albany is at least an hour away and I have two kids, a psycho dog and a skinny husband. Oh yeah—and two acres of my own gardens.
I may never get there.
So my friend and I were walking our dogs through the foothills and I happen to glance down this driveway and who is standing there directing some workers who are placing plants? Keeyla Meadows.
I am not kidding.
I stopped dead in my tracks, giving my dog whiplash. My girlfriend stopped and looked back at me. “What’s wrong?” She says. I look up at her and say, “That’s Keeyla Meadows.” She asks, “Are you going to go say hi?”
Now, you have to understand that Keeyla Meadows is my rock star. She is my Hugh Jackman, my Ewan McGregor, my Meryl Streep.
I was nervous, but I decide to walk down the driveway and say “Hi”. She is walking the driveway toward me.
I say to her in a voice so quiet that after I get up the nerve to say, “I really admire your work,” she says, “What?”
She says, “Oh, what a beautiful dog. I was coming up to see your dog. She’s so pretty.”
I stammer and say, “I think you work is beautiful.”
She says, “What?”
“I really love your work.” I say again as I walk down the driveway to see what she is working on. I felt so uncomfortable and could think of nothing to say except to comment on the beautiful job she was doing on the yard she was working on. I guess I could have blurted out something inappropriate and humiliating like I usually do.
At least I stuck with babbling incoherent compliments. I really don’t think she noticed me that much. She was busy petting my dog.
I wish that I had my camera I would have taken a picture but alas. The good news is I have some pictures from this year's San Francisco Flower and Garden show of Keeyla’s installation.
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