Cool is Cool

I am an interior designer, an artist, and a sometimes, frustrated writer....
It has been so hot here in Texas (in fact, from what I am hearing, it's hot just about everywhere in the States-my friends in Australia, not so much, for they are experiencing winter..hard to fathom), that I as I sat here, wondering what to write about, it occured to me that, as an interior designer, I probably should limit my blog to interior design....but, I won't. Why? Because life is about more than interior design...it is about designing our lives in all fashions..whether interiors of our homes, exteriors of our homes, our physical exterior, our physical interiors.....you get the picture, don't you?
Lately, my life has been thrown into chaos...and I have been seeking peace. My home has a cool, calm interior, but my soul needs to become cool and calm, as well.
I am part Cherokee, and the Cherokee revere water...as a spiritual thing...in fact, they have ceremonies wherein they, "go to water"..to purify themselves..inside and out. In ancient rituals, Cherokee babies were immersed in water every day for the first two weeks of their lives....


So, instead of going on-and-on about it all...here are some places I have been, want to be, designed, and enjoyed...all of which have a cool, calming effect..... This is Hamilton Pool, not far outside of Austin, near where I live....It is a haven for Texans...
Four thousand years ago, Native Americans lived here...when I am there, I can hear the echos of thier presence.
One word of advice; go early, before the folks appear, armed with diaper bags, radios, and frisbees. It is quite calming and magical, when you have it to yourself.

This is the Riverwalk, in San Antonio...winding it's way through the city, yet, quiet, calming, beautiful. There are shops and restaurants, and you can take the boats, which are fine, but I didn't want to be crammed into one, along with several people, so we walked the length of it, and back, just the two of us....

Even when you come out of the shadows of the bridges, all the greenery, and the calm waters sooth your body and soul.

If I were to have a swimming pool, this would be the one...but, where I live, our land is practically solid stone...so, I resort to gazing at this now-and-then.

When I designed this home theatre, it didn't occur to me how appropriate it would be that an underwater scene (well, every scene in the film was underwater -almost)...from "Finding Nemo", would be so appropriate. I love the feeling of being in a cool theatre, wether at home, or a public one, when the sun is beating down outside. I designed this home for a professional hockey player. He and his wife wanted cool, simplicity, with a touch of movement. To some, this foyer may seem stark...to me, cool and calm.

On sweltering July days, my Raisenette Funicello knows where to hide out on our back porch. He thinks he's a panther, and as Ogden Nash once wrote; "when called by a panther, don't anther"....He isn't God's brightest cat, but, he knows how to keep cool.

I don't miss the bitterly cold, long, dreary winters of Wisconsin, but I miss the cool (mostly) summer's, sitting on our screened in porch, drinking a mint julip, and as dusk approaches, watching the fireflies float over the fields.

So, just looking at these images has cooled and calmed me...I hope the do the same for you.