Full Circle

Six weeks ago I moved, as my father likes to say, from behind the cotton curtain to rural New Jersey. How I went from being a successful event designer in Alabama to living on a seven-acre farm in Chesterfield, New Jersey is a story which will be told in the course of my musings about this new life.

As a young boy in Mississippi, I had a keen interest in nature and was, by all accounts, a creative genius. I spent time with my grandparents on their farms gardening, shucking corn, canning vegetables, planting flowers, crocheting, sewing, birthing calves, feeding cows, hunting squirrels, fishing, cooking, and, not that this has anything to do with nature, watching The Lawrence Welk Show. And I loved all of it. Especially the gardening and watching Bobby and Cissy twirl around the sound stage in a diaphanous mist of chiffon and plastered smiles.




I left all that when I became a man. I graduated from college with a degree in Science Education and spent ten years teaching biology, chemistry and physics in Mississippi public and private schools. Then, fate took me down a different path. I met my friend Sybil Sylvester in 1997 and was curious about her line of work: floral and event design. I packed up my bags and moved to Birmingham, Alabama to work with her full time learning all there is to know about design and production of floral arrangements and, eventually, event design and planning. I learned about designing menus, selecting wines and working with idealistic brides and cantankerous fathers. I memorized antique silver patterns, collected china, and visited museums in every city I visited. I continued to learn and to develop my sense of style.

In 2003 I left to start my own business and quickly found a loyal following. Clients summoned me to New York, Palm Springs, Sundance, St. Barths, New Orleans and many other cities to design and produce their weddings and parties. Each one was new and exciting with its own set of challenges and rewards. I styled photo shoots for Southern Accents and Coastal Living magazines. I was lucky to be able to get my hands in all kinds of projects.

The economy continues to be a struggle for everyone. My business, like many others, had to be closed. And my creativity went into hibernation. I've always heard that when something in your life goes sour, it's because you are being readied for the next great adventure. It's so true.


Today is a warm, muggy, dreary late-October day in New Jersey. I rose before the dawn, drank coffee, stitched on one of my Alabama Chanin projects and then hit the fields. Ted is banished to the basement to clear space for our new pantry. I gathered all the green tomatoes in the field to make pickles and chutney. I picked all the remaining peppers to make my favorite Commander's Palace hot sauce. I pruned the Annabelle hydrangeas, cut away all the dead phlox stalks, and harvested the remaining hydrangeas, amaranth and zinnias from the flower field. I, with the help of Ranger the Shepherd, Sonoma the Basset and Marcello the Mini Dachshund, continued waging war with the groundhog who threatens to disrupt the irrigation of the Pinky Winky hydrangeas I planted yesterday. I am on my next great adventure.

I have been transplanted and, in turn, have come full circle.