Patty’s garden

By Debra Smith, Herald Writer

Everyone in the small community of Edmonds town homes owned the weedy little rectangle at the end of the building, but no one wanted anything to do with it.

No one except Patty Steele-Smith.

She saw the potential for something peaceful and profound in a neglected, less-than-nothing spot.

She envisioned a garden; not just a retreat, but a piece of living art. She didn’t know much about plants, but creating was familiar ground.

At Cornish, she studied how to create installations, three-dimensional spaces meant to involve all the viewer’s senses.

She learned about plants along the way, and in a few short years, her work of art was winning awards and on garden tours.

You can see it and five other gardens on the Edmonds Rhythm and Blooms Garden Tour, set for 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday.

The garden is small, just a slice of land next to her townhouse. Its design is based on the ancient principles of feng shui, and the garden is as much about the physical features as it is about plants.

“Plants, water, rock – all of these have life,” she said. “They draw you in and make you feel a part of nature.”

Steele-Smith, 44, works as a personal trainer and coach. She shows her artwork at an Edmonds gallery.

The garden includes eye-catching pieces, such as an assortment of containers, and her artwork, including a path of 202 handmade mosaic stepping stones. A Plexiglas spiral hangs above a circle of multi-colored glass pieces.

And then there are the cats. Her kitties love to loll in the garden, and she created two special cat paths with cat mosaic stepping stones just for them.

The garden’s most eye-catching feature is a ceramic black panther bursting through a mirror, its claws streaming water. Steele-Smith made it, saying the panther is a defender against bad spirits.

“When you have a talent, it’s a gift,” she said. “This has allowed me to share my talent with the community.”

Fourth of July 2007 at The Steelhead Diner

Starting with a breathtaking Bloody Mary recipe from New Orleans, revised with pepper vodka from Oregon, accompanied with another traditional food for the Fourth — a plate of corn on the cob, not barbecued but pan fried with ancient, secret Cajun spices. Next came hot platters of sandwiches chicken and pork lightly toasted baguette that was dripping with juices onto French fried potatoes cut very large, served very hot.

Independence Day at The Steelhead Diner, now open for 6 months, is as exhilarating as the rockets’ red glare.

 

“Say, ‘It’s a good time to let it go.’”

A line in the title song Over and Over written by Erin Bode (vocals) and Adam Maness (keyboards) on the recording of the same name. When Garrison Keillor broadcast A Prairie Home Companion from St. Louis he introduced the Erin Bodie Group to a larger audience.