It’s true, I have two wonderful sisters. But I also have Sis. So many people have asked, “Why in the world do you have a headless fountain? And why in the world is she holding her head?!” So I need to come clean with the story. Sis has had a rather storied life.

Before I lived here in my house on N. Upton St. in Arlington, I lived in a condo in Fairlington, on the border of Alexandria and South Arlington. I lived in a third-floor condo with a great balcony (you can see it in my web site portfolio, and Sis has her head in that picture.) Sis’s real name is Hebe, a Greek goddess. I don’t remember how Hebe got the nickname “Sis”…maybe some of my friends can enlighten me.

Anyway, Sis lived very happily on my balcony for about nine years with no problems. The summer before I left Fairlington, the DC area went into a cycle where we just had tremendous summer storms. One hit my condo balcony head-on, Sis fell in the wind, and so did her head—off her body and off the balcony. I didn’t even realize it had happened. The next day, I get a knock on my door. It’s my neighbor, Scott, from the ground-floor apartment two floors below mine. He said, “I think this might belong to you.” He holds out his hand and in it was Sis’s head. “Yes, Scott, thank you for rescuing Sis’s head,” I said, and got some cement glue and put her head back on. She looked like she had on a thin, dark necklace—but her head was back in place.

Cut to a week later. Another storm. More wind. You guessed it. Another head down below, another knock on my door, and Sis’s head, once again rescued. More cement glue. Sis has a bigger necklace.

So then I moved into my new house in September. Sis had a wonderful new perch in my back yard. One week later, another powerful storm swept through. Sis went over, and you guessed it. Poor Sis.

At this point, I didn’t have the heart to cement her head back on because I thought I was jinxing her. And we all know: three strikes and you are out! So Sis sat for a time on her pedestal, headless, water pouring from her jug into the bowl below.

One weekend, my friend, David, was visiting from Richmond. Also a designer, he was slowly walking through the yard with me, commenting on this and that, when we came to Sis. “What happened to Sis? She lose her head again?” So I told him the story and why I was afraid to cement her head back on yet another time. So he said, “I think you need to glue her head to her plate.” I don’t think he thought I’d really do it, but I did.

That was eleven years ago, and Sis is still going strong. AND her head has not come off the plate once (knock on wood). I think my friend David knew something I didn’t. My garden has been on countless tours, and Sis is the star of the show every time. Even the garden editor from Southern Living, my friend Steve Bender, laughed and said he’d like to put Sis on the cover of the magazine. Sis would be an instant star! But, then again, there might be those who would not see the humor in a statue’s head glued to her plate. So that remains to be seen. If they only knew the real story…

Come by and see Sis anytime. She’ll be up and running for the season very soon.

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