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For my first journal entry I would like to dedicate this to a friend who has been along the journey of self-discovery of flowers and all that is beautiful and creative. Jeffery Archer and I met in the South of France the summer of 2004. Surrounded by fields of Lavender, the sound of cicadas, and warms summer nights filled with rose wine. Unbenounced to me this was the beginning of my love affair with blooms. During our extensive travels throughout France, Switzerland, and the Italian Coast I saw beauty no picture or word could possibly capture. One such experience was visiting the Gardens of Lake Como Italy. The beautifully maintained and manicured gardens filled with rare and exotic plants versus the wild natural fields of Provence, such subtle differences from the Italian gardens to those of the French! Our eyes became trained to the beauty and facilitated through watercolor painting, writing, and reading.
We brought these jewels of information back to Savannah, Georgia where I looked upon the landscape with a more astute eye. Jeffery and I continued our journeys throughout the deep south, one filled with spanish moss, magnolias, and dogwoods in bloom. We roamed through the squares on bikes gazing at plantation mansions and spent afternoons lying in beautifully haunted Bonaventure Cemetery.
Since we both studied Historic Preservation and Architectural History we took getaways to gather information for school papers. Up and down the southeastern coast we traveled to Jekyll Island, Beaufort South Carolina, and to the Cherry Blossom festival in Macon. We discovered French Creole homes, Fort Frederica; we even found one of the old Dupont family summerhouses!
This being just a sampling of the places we traveled. Jeffery and I will be reunited after three years this October. I hope to visit where he lives in Palm Beach, Florida. There Jeff and I will visit the Flager Museum, world-renowned R.F. Orchids, and maybe even see the Coral Castle, among other great places of beauty.