Made in the Shade
I am half Slovak and half Italian in origin. Since I was raised by my mother and like to think that I am following more in her footsteps than those of my father, I always feel more Slovak than Italian. That said, I did live in Rome, Italy for three years of high school, a very formative period in anyone’s life and I do more-or-less speak Italian. I am very comfortable in Italy and I am also quite comfortable in Latin countries since I lived for six of my earliest years with my mother in Venezuela and Costa Rica. My oldest sister Kathy is dark-haired like my father and my sister Barbara and I are more fair-haired like my mother’s side. But somewhere along the way, I got the skin pigmentation of my father more than that of my mother. In other words, I take a tan very easily and brown up very nicely when I’m in the sun. These days with all the concern about skin cancer in people my age, one is always asked if one spent a lot of time in the sun as a child. I’m not certain, but on a relative basis, I don’t think I did. I was outside a lot and I certainly remember when I lived in Maine getting a “golfer’s tan” on my forearms, but other than that, I swam in lakes a fair bit as a child in Wisconsin and Maine, but didn’t really do a lot of sun worshiping when I was in high school. In college, I shifted to a “farmer’s tan” which is pretty much like a “golfer’s tan” except that I got it working the summers in the arboretum. When I had a house in the Hamptons for 15 years I definitely got into more of the poolside sunbathing program, but by then my skin was older and less impressionable (if that’s a thing).
I have now Ben out here on this hillside for two summers and I can say with a high degree of certainty that this is the most sun I have ever gotten in my life. I am out and about in the yard every day. I usually wear a straw hat or at least a cap, but with t-shirt and shorts plus Crocs, I have a pretty decent tan overall. I also sit in the spa (which I keep as a cooling plunge pool in the summer) and I know those UV rays come through that Sunbrella umbrella with no difficulty. As I am toddling off to bed at night I pass by our big Living Room mirror and am always struck by how tan i look against my white or grey t-shirt. It’s almost shocking. I get the same comments from friends and family, so I don’t think I’m seeing things. I’m not a regular dermatology goer for reasons I have described before. It all has to do with a former Cornell classmate who is a dermatologist and a “full skin check” episode I had about fifteen years ago. I ask my doctors when I go for my annual check-up and so far no one has spotted anything untoward, so knock on wood.
When we bought this house we were a little surprised at how much sun it got on this hilltop. Even though we have a very mature cactus and succulent garden and the property doesn’t look like a rock-strewn desolate hill like many others you see around here, I have always said that this house has a Tucson look, which is to say that it looks like he high desert with its adobe-like stucco and its simple Southwestern design style. We particularly noted that the deck, which we had resurfaced (we all know how that story ended) was a hot sizzling spot and the slate tiles we put in didn’t make it any less hot. Immediately, we set about designing some sun covering for that spot so we could actually use it in the summer. I started with the concept of a large powered awning like we have in Ithaca. I got a vendor who agreed to a price and then came back after drilling two hole and said it was never going to work due to the curved nature of the structure. Then I had my sister Kathy, the architect, have someone on her staff do a plan. IT was very intricate and exacting in simulating the way the sun moved across the sky every day of the year and the best way to shield us from that movable beast. That proved to be just too nutty to implement since the awnings implied were at strange angles that made the whole back of the house look strange.
I opted for a wooden palapa based on some I saw during a holiday visit to Cabo San Lucas. There were some tricky concepts of how not to ruin the new deck surface (ironic, right?) and then brother-in-law Jeff executed on the plan beautifully and created a lovely palapa that stand out there and shields us wonderfully for 85% of the day right up until sunset over the Ocean. We had a little issue finding the right material, but eventually went with a Sunbrella white and it works great so far.
The next area of focus was the patio. To be honest, I hadn’t thought to do anything there, but Jeff had caught the palapa bug and thought we should. I’m an easy sell on household projects so i agreed. This time, through a combination of Jeff feeling like a master palapa builder and me being too busy at work to argue about anything, Jeff designed and built that palapa from start to finish and all I did was write the check. Everyone who sees the palapa, especially workmen who appreciate fine work marvel at what a great job he did with it. I often joke that when the next species inherits the earth, they will enjoy the shade under that palapa since it is not going anywhere for a long, long time. Now we have two nice places to sit in the shade and this one has a garden and running water (spa) view where the deck has expansive mountain and ocean views.
Once we moved out here full time it was hard not to notice that our parking area in front of the garage got awfully hot in the midday sun. Since Kim leaves her car out there all the time, it seemed like we needed to consider some shade out there. I got to calling that area, with its beige/pink driveway concrete, Tortilla Flats, because it always seemed to sizzle. I recall asking Jeff (that would be master palapa-builder Jeff) what he thought about my getting one of those carport tents. He rightly told me I would be trailer-trashing the place. He suggested a shade sail. I had had several shade sails in my Seaport condo on the large terrace we had, so I immediately saw the wisdom of that idea. I now have a huge caliente red shade sail that covers that entire area in a cantilevered shape and placement that looks very pleasant and adds to the look and feel of our home. THat gives me a third shady spot to hang out and I have two benches there to sit and contemplate the driveway or the front of the house. Believe it or not, I actually do sit out there.
Then, when we built our Cecil memorial garden on the western side of the garage, I knew that my bonsai garden needed more shade than the citrus trees there provided. So I bought an Irish Strawberry tree and had it planted to shade the garden, particularly from the morning sun since the afternoon sun is shielded by the big boulder there. It works great and I have fourth place to sit in the shade now.
Now hat I have been working in the back, there is spreading live oak tree on the Northwest corner of the house. I pruned the lower branches and put a bench under there looking down at the Buffalo. That makes my fifth shady spot to sit and enjoy my expanding property. I now feel i can honestly say that I have it made in the shade on this hilltop.