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My House

Serenity, nature make this house a home

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published November 10, 2005

	[Times photos: Brendan Fitterer]
	Dr. James Lin, left, and his wife, Elaine, sit with their dog J.J. by a backyard serenity garden they built by hand at their Port Richey home. The garden features a pond with goldfish, bamboo fencing and plants including water hyacinth, ferns, willows and banana trees as well as herbs and spices.
	Fog comes from the base of a statue of Kuan Yin, goddess of mercy, in Dr. James and Elaine Lin's home in Port Richey. The couple me at a hotel in Singapore where Elaine was manager and James, who is a corporate wellness instructor, was giving a seminar.

PORT RICHEY - James Lin and his wife, Elaine, know just how to plant the perfect serenity garden.

Quickly, enthusiastically and with an eye toward their respective cultures.

The Lins, who moved to Pasco County four months ago from Singapore, wanted a back yard where they could relax so completely that worries would drift away like the occasional cloud puff in a winter Florida sky.

The result is a bamboo-fenced retreat with a fountain, walking path and a plethora of plants and herbs that make them feel at home. The elegant, flowing garden - much of it shaded with greenhouse nylon screen - blooms with the pungent lemon grass, curry, ginger and chili Elaine uses in her traditional Chinese/Malaysian cooking.

"We took out all the lawn and sod - it was a big job," says James, who completed the bulk of the job in the hot summer months, rising daily before dawn to garden three hours. They built a pond with a soothing waterfall and stocked it with pretty goldfish. At night, blue twinkle lights and pillar candles at the water's edge add to the soothing effect. Hawaiian pineapple, banana trees and hibiscus abound. So does something else: relaxation.

"Gardening is therapeutic, it's about getting in touch with the earth. I've been gardening my whole life," says James, a Pacific Islander, who is a corporate wellness instructor. He has a doctorate from the University of Oklahoma and a master's degree from Boston University and frequently lectures on good health. His most recent lecture - to a group of senior citizens at the University of South Florida - focused on Happiness by Design: Eight Things You Can Do to Design Happiness.

No doubt he practices what he preaches.

James, who doesn't like to discuss his age - other than to say he's most definitely well into his senior years - fools even the most trained eye.

Trim, energetic, funny and upbeat, he looks half his age.

(Okay. He's 71, but you didn't hear it here.) He's still on the lecture circuit and recently launched a memorial art business, where he paints portraits of the deceased using cremation ashes.

He also has plans to write a book.

"It's all about having a positive attitude. I've suffered like everyone else, but remain optimistic. I haven't lost my mind, body or faith," says James, who also thinks exercise, diet, pets and digging around in the garden two hours a day make for longevity.

Eating a lot of vegetables and black, red, and brown rice and shunning processed foods definitely helps.

So does not caring about material things and living in a place that makes you happy, he says.

For James, that would be Pasco County, a place he lived 30 years ago and where he couldn't wait to return.

Elaine, who is 31 and works as a Clinique beauty adviser at Macy's at the Gulf View Square, says she never notices their profound age difference. A devout Buddhist, she believes they are true soul mates.

"I think we were married to each other in a previous life," she explains. "We just kind of click, without trying."

Says James: "When you're looking for a mate, you can't try too hard - it's like chasing after a rainbow."

The Lins have been together eight years, married four. They met at a hotel in Singapore, where Elaine worked in management and where James was giving a wellness seminar to doctors. They met accidentally when she was sent to resolve a complaint about the hotel. They don't have children, but do have a beloved dog, a year-old Bijon named J.J. "For James Jr.," Elaine quips.

She also notes that "we have plants all over the house - inside and out."

The two-bedroom, two-bath house with its big kitchen and roomy yard was built in the 1980s. It sits in a quiet, well-tended Port Richey neighborhood - Redcliff Estates. Inside it's filled with small fountains, paintings from Bali and Indonesia, as well as a room for orchids and James' easel and watercolors. The garden continues in front, wrapping serenely around the entrance to the stucco-and-block Florida ranch house that, until four months ago, looked as manicured as the rest of the homes on the street. Now it's lush with jasmine, night-angel ferns and bromeliads. A cactus garden in front sprouts with sago palms, cactus and desert rose, adding a balancing touch. Though the Lins have traveled all over the world and recently completed a scenic driving trip out West in Elaine's little hatchback car, they feel like putting down roots in Pasco.

Literally.

The garden is a symbol of both peace and restful focus, in a place they plan to stay awhile.

"When we decided to come back to Florida I chose Pasco both because I loved it and because I had read it was one of the fastest growing counties in the country," says James, who still travels to Asia twice a year. "What used to be just country 30 years ago now offers some of the best investment opportunities."

It also offers peace, a garden and happiness by design.

"Now, we can sit outside and enjoy the beautiful Florida weather," he says. "This is our retreat."

[Last modified November 10, 2005, 01:21:17]