Anne as an indomitable decorator: A feisty artist whom brain cancer can impede but never defeat
Everybody who knows Anne knows that she’s a decorator; she calls herself the “Decorating Turkey.”
Our sons have dubbed her “couth”; even the house in which we raised our rowdy boys in suburban Quebec City was “couth” and was decorated with items from all over the planet.
Throughout our years of travel, Anne would not put up with scrubby Airbnbs. For example, during a 2013 visit to Geneva, she redecorated this one dude’s entire apartment, which he had left in a dirty and grubby state, strewn with grotty personal items.
In his review, he thanked Anne for her ”decoration suggestions,” some of which he deigned to keep.
This back-handed approbation galvanized Anne. She volunteered to clean friends’ offices and organize their closets. She began to call herself the “Organizing Turkey”.
She redecorated two different apartments for one set of friends. A veritable decorating circus freak, she would enter a disaster zone at 8 a.m. and leave a magazine-worthy staged showcase unit by 5 p.m.
When we lived in Montreal, we used to frequent an Indian restaurant near Atwater Market.
Anne had an eye on the women’s washroom at this establishment. (There were still only two acknowledged genders in those days.) The facility had potential, she felt, but required a makeover.
One evening, after devouring some particularly pungent curry, Anne disappeared for what seemed like an eternity. Our friends began to panic; she had a broken wrist at the time.
But she was simply putting the finishing touches on a washroom makeover for a restaurant which soon bit the dust.
The refurbished and redesigned facility was truly divine.
From that day forward she has decorated and refurbished a number of apartments in which we lived in Quebec and abroad and even redecorated the lobby of our apartment building here in beautiful Ottawa. (The tenants have stolen all the items she donated to the commonweal and resident dogs have pissed on the gifted rug.)
Anne’s decoration is minimalist, based on dry flower arrangements akin to Ikebana, a Japanese art form which she had never heard of until a friend pointed out the similarities.
Anne has always been the true artist in our home, and her artistic legacy will live on, long after she has departed this Vale of Tears, the victim of implacable cancer, which can undermine but never defeat a woman – an artist – of such indomitable spirit.
Your friend,
https://robertmcbrydeauthor.com/
Anne Is The True Artist In Our Home: Song Version – Robert McBryde
