Japanese Lantern

There are some sculptures tastefully placed around the garden, and the owner Guillaume has chosen them all himself. Most of them fit just perfectly, but there was one small pillar that really seemed to stick out to me. Shortly after I thought about it, it was gone! Today, we replaced it with a taller Japanese Lantern that fits the space much better. Mostly I carried the tools while those with stronger arms (despite all that ninja training at Acquigny) heaved around the stone.

What was there before... smaller than you think it is.

Fills the space much better, I think.

Another of the statues is a Buddha head, and Guillaume was very perturbed that it wasn’t exactly straight. So we found some small pieces of wood to prop under one side to even it out until he can get the stone sorted out.

Guillaume is an architect that often travels to Paris for work, but also designs a lot of gardens. When I first asked him what he did, I asked if he was a landscape designer, which in French is “Paysagiste” (paysage being the countryside). He was very firmly of the opinion that he was a gardener, and that most people who called themselves paysagistes very rarely had anything to do with the countryside and that he strongly disliked the term. It was an interesting first conversation. Guillaume has full charge of the plants and what happens in the garden, with 2 permanent gardeners to assist him. His wife, Cleophee, keeps the place running with all the business details. She used to have a well-known shop in Paris, but now only keeps a small boutique at the garden entry. She has great taste, if I do say so myself.

He's not afraid of getting in there and working the crepes, either!