A purple sunset in the uppermost basin
A sunset sky reflected in the small pond that I dug directly under our living room window.
A frog hunting bumblebees on the lavender
Two more frogs hunting bumblebees as they landed on lavender flowers
A frog rafting on goldenrod
A young raccoon hunting for frogs in broad daylight
The same extraordinary purple sunset
Stone lions from the gateposts of demolished houses and lilies
A garter snake hunting for frogs along the banks of one of the 15 basins that I’ve dug over the years, forming terraces of water and stone. snake
Garter nake hunting for baby frogs on lilypads, Aquinnah pools
There’s a doe by the monolith
The bearded dragon & a deer from the living room
A deer eating red crocosmia blossoms
Deer eating red crocosmia flowers by the stream
A doe on the pation between terraced fish pools
Fawns by the kitchen
Irises
The waterlilies all grew from ones which I dredged from local ponds.
Two deer with crocosmia flowers and fish pools
A doe eating red flowers with a friend browsing nearby
The finback whale skull amid Queen Anne's lace & Russian sage
Finback whale skull & Queen Anne's lace by the upper pools in the Aquinnah watergarden
Flowers & driftwood
Reflections in one of the pools
A young doe deer by an arbor for clematis, trumpet vine, grapes, and porcelain berry.
Fawns & the ponds from the living room
Doe & reflection in Aquinnah pond in winter
Deer by window & Aquinnah ponds
Deer licking each other’s necks
A doe and her fawns by the birdfeeder
A gray autumn sky over the ponds
The terraced ponds and patios under snow & ice
Crosby barking at a stag
Dog frisking in snow by finback whale skull, Aquinnah pond garden
Doe & two fawns by Aquinnah ponds
Lily pads lilies in Aquinnah garden ponds, Winter
Stag between the living room pond & window
Stag looking in the livingroom window over Aquinnah ponds
The water garden during a winter sunset
A pillar of setting suns over the pools
Deer in Aquinnah garden & icy ponds
Deer on dams & bridges, Aquinnah ponds
A deer outside the living room window
A doe looking in the living room
Rocks between two ponds covered in ice & snow
A sparrow on lavender during the winter
A stag on a dam between ponds after Nancy died
A buck passing a monolith amid the Aquinnah ponds
The duck again amid the icy Aquinnah ponds
Aquinnah ponds in snow & ice
Deer outside the living room window
A doe outside the living room window
Our fish pools with ice, snow & sunset
Aquinnah water garden, ponds with reflections in ice
Nancy’s ponds with ice, snow & sunset
Aquinnah ponds & winter sunset
Aquinnah ponds under snow
Stag between a pond & the living room window
Blue ponds in winter
The water garden with reflections in ice
Deer & Aquinnah ponds
Hoofprints on icy Aquinnah ponds
Deer by snowy Aquinnah ponds & bridge
Deer by snowy Aquinnah ponds & bridge
A deer crossing a dam with transparent ice
A doe crossing a dam & a stag browsing
Deer outside the living room window
A herd of deer outside the living room window
Deer outside the living room window
Deer & winter ponds from the living room
Rocks between Aquinnah ponds in ice & snow
Daffodils & Aquinnah ponds in spring,
Aquinnah pond irises
Russian sage and catwalk in Aquinnah garden
Deer on the patio with daffodils
A doe looking up from the pools with daffodils in the spring
Daffodils by Aquinnah ponds
Aquinnah garden, ponds & irises in the spring
Deer beyond daffodils, Aquinnah ponds
A stag by the ponds in summer
A duck on the island amid snow
Ducks on Aquinnah ponds in winter
The deer eating the flowers
Deer on the patio with daffodils in the spring
A doe behind the apple tree beside the kitchen window
The bearded dragon that I found in the middle of a road, and one of our does.
A frog in a cushion grotto on the love seat
5 frogs on lilypads in one of the upper pools
The frogs who were invulnerable to bees
Nancy will always be my garden.
Nancy Caldwell’s refuge
When my wife's doctor asked where she’d like to spend her final days,
Nancy told him she wanted to return to the water garden I’d made for her.
I’m still adding dogwoods and fish pools for her
- and hope to continue doing so as long as I live.
Valerie Sonnenthal's first article about Nancy's refuge in her column "Gardens of Love", which appears in The Martha’s Vineyard Times, was published on Sept. 12, 2018, and can be read here.
Valerie's second article about the garden (and its origins and expansions) appeared in The MV Times on Jan. 3, 2024, and can also be read here.
I hope the following pictures of Nancy’s eden illustrate why it gave her
such pleasure and solace.