Shhhh..About Our Naked Lady

Don't tell anyone but....it's true we have a naked lady in our backyard. Jim thinks he's died and gone to heaven it is a lovely garden accent. Some of you may have noticed her a few weeks ago when I posted some night shots of the yard.


I saw this lovely statue of Venus de Milo (Aphrodite if you're Greek) a month or so ago at one of my all time favorite places to shop, A Room With A Past. If you live anywhere in the Bay Area you should go to the once a month sale held here. I wanted to buy her then but I didn't. I was kicking myself over it days later, so you can imagine how delighted I was to find her still there when I returned in May. That just never happens to me, when I see something I want to buy if I don't grab it right then it is always gone! So she was meant to be ours! I guess if her nakedness offends.... we could make some little costumes for her like the Manneken Pis in Brussels. But I cannot imagine there is anyone more conservative than we are??? Art, people..it is art.

I had been looking for some cool outdoor accents and she was perfect. We have placed her exactly where she can be enjoyed most and seen from every room on the back side of our cottage. I love her varied shades of white near the boulders of the pond and all the greenery of the trees. She is a beautiful focal point. Her size and scale is perfect and she stands about three feet tall.

I like Venus, in fact I have a funny memory of her from years ago. I was a member of an exercise place for women called Venus de Milo and this lady and I were laying on this mat doing these horrid crunches and sit-ups and behind us and reflected in the mirror was this statue of Venus. We were huffing and puffing and all of a sudden she says..."No wonder Venus is such a blankity blank light weight....she has no arms!" For some reason that struck us both so funny and we never could finish our work out because we could not stop laughing. Maybe ya had to be there but it was funny and I think about it just about every time I see a Venus.

I even thought of it when we were at the Louvre and actually looking at the real statue. She is beautiful! One of the things our guide told us was you should always take a photo of the back of Venus as you will never see it anywhere else. So here it is for you!

There is a little serendipity that goes with this purchase as well. In the exact place where the naked lady is now resting, we have not been able to keep anything growing as this is the spot where the deer come down from the hills for a little drink and snack...mostly our plants. It is also the exact spot where they have learned over time that it is safe to walk on to the cement thus making all flowers, plants and veggies on the patio fair game for their munching. Arrgh!

They use to be a little timid about that but they have become so tame. The only thing that really scares them off from grazing here are the coyotes that come around occasionally. The naked lady has become a deterrent for the deer...they are a little afraid of her. She is our version of a scarecrow. We could have purchased this online for the exact same price but we found her to be much more lovely. Don't you agree?