Too Darn Hot!

I just got back from taking Connor for his late night walk, and it’s still about 90*F at midnight! Of course, in the dead of winter, we whinge about the cold, but you can always put more clothes on!With the heat, there’s only so much you can take off!Connor does all he can to stay chill!

Gardenias

I have two gardenia plants. Unremarkable until you learn that one is about 15 years old, and the other is about five years old. Both are cuttings from a gardenia which was given to my mother more than 45 years ago. That plant has been carried outside at Easter and inside at Thanksgiving to keep it alive and growing. I continue to do the same with mine because these plants won’t tolerate our cold Maryland winters, even though we kept the original one in an unheated but sunny room for several winters.

Mine have suffered over the past year due to a botched pruning job and a winter outbreak of aphids. Many of the leaves fell off and those that remained were not the deep green associated with gardenias. I had very few blossoms on either plant, although one was at my former office, and one was at the house. As soon as the weather looked like we were past any hard freezes, in early April, I lugged both plants outside and let the sun and the rain work on revitalizing them. Clearly this has worked better than I even anticipated, since both plants are covered in buds. I found the first open blossom when I let Connor into the back garden, and could smell the its gorgeous peppery scent in the morning air. I picked it, put it in a little silver pitcher and took it into the office.

When I got home from work, several more buds had bloomed into beautiful white blossoms, and I picked those as well, and brought them in to bask in their scent and their beauty. I love gardenias for the same reason I love magnolias – the amazingly white flowers against the glossy dark green leaves. I love these plants for their long history and for the unbroken chain of life that they represent.

Halcyon House Antiques: New Jewelry

I am always on the look out for interesting jewelry, ever since all of my real jewelry was stolen several years ago. I literally had two pairs of earrings, two rings and a necklace for several years, because I was reluctant to spend any money at all on new jewelry. But in the last several months, I’ve been interested in looking at jewelry again, but I am going solely for interesting pieces that don’t cost the earth.

My friends at Halcyon House Antiques, who have the most marvelous taste, have really gotten me to take another look at jewelry. I wrote about their terrific collection from Angela Caputi a few months ago.

I just love Halcyon House’s collection of intaglio and relief jewelry. It’s such a classic look, and it will never go out of style.I seriously love this bracelet with its combination of the tortoise-shell resin links, combined with the gold links, plus the round relief and the small faceted stone charm.

Really, though, I love anything tortoise-shell!  I wore tortoise-shell glasses for ages, and still think that tortoise shell is just beautiful.

Even though this is technically not tortoise-shell, it still conveys the look.

The intaglio and relief pieces at Halcyon House are a riff on the classic cameo face on a chain. They are mixed with chains, links, faceted stones, and other ornaments.

Some of the most fun pieces came into the shop over the past few days, and it’s a knock-out! I love a good quatrefoil and this necklace in lapis and mother-of-pearl is just brilliant, as are the coordinating earrings.

The necklace also comes in the opposite composition, with lapis beads.

It’s back to the intaglio and relief again, but this time, in earrings with a pearl drop.

If you live in Baltimore, you’re obligated to wear purple on Fridays during football season, so I think that these earrings would qualify.

For summer, this button pearl and silver link bracelet would be perfect with a linen tunic.

And so would this bone and wood necklace.

I love the detail in the piece.

Of course, this fresh-water pearl and glass bead piece just says sea-glass at the beach to me.

And just in time for steeplechase racing season in Maryland, here’s a sweet little bracelet with a sly fox on it. I’ve got a little guy like this wandering around my neighbourhood.

On a contemporary note, Halcyon House has a great leather and silver bracelet, in either brown,

or black leather.

For more information about any of the pieces here, please contact Eric at Halcyon House Antiques.

Christmas Cards

It’s getting perilously close to the time when I should send all of my Christmas cards, but I’ve been undecided as to what to send and how to do it.

Last year, I sent electronic cards via Paperless Post, which worked very well.

I could see who opened the card, and they could leave comments back to me. But at the same time, it seemed a bit impersonal.

It’s always great to receive cards from friends and their families. Watching the children grow and change from year to year, and then realizing how old they and we are getting, is fun.

Since I don’t have children, and I sent a picture of the new house last year, I thought I’d send a picture of my dog. When I found a pair of antlers that were the same colour as Connor, I knew I had the perfect picture. Or did I? Connor hates to have his picture taken, mainly because an old camera of mine made a high-pitched noise which bothered him, so he’s not very co-operative.

Walk. Walk. Walk.

I am closing my eyes!

I am not looking at you.

Bark. Bark. Bark.

I am doing my Elvis-curled-lip-look.

Finally, we got a good shot!

He’s sitting down, he’s looking at me, and you can see the antlers. Perfect. It’s a wrap… or actually, it’s a card!

Christmas Parade

First, were you naughty or nice this weekend? I had mini cupcakes with “naughty” and “nice” on them, and it seems that more people chose naughty, so I guess I know what kinds of friends I have!

Although Sunday started out very foggy,

luckily, it burnt off by the time the Mayor’s Christmas Parade started later in the afternoon.

Since the parade route goes within a few hundred yards of my house, it’s becoming a tradition to have friends over to watch it with me. Say what you will about Baltimore, we embrace the strange, and this parade had plenty of that!

From the usual suspects like the Shriners in their crazy magic carpet go-carts, to the opposite end of the spectrum with the VW club, and from the local “step & drum” corps, representing a number of Baltimore’s neighbourhoods, to the newly arrived Central and South American communities, there was something for everyone.

I must admit that I was completely intrigued with the shoes these Bolivians were wearing – wooden thongs, with a spur sort of contraption at the back, which was really like cymbals which rattled and clashed at each step.

It’s really such fun to see each of these diverse groups doing their own traditional dance routines, some in native costume,

and others not.

From the littlest steppers,

to the oldest white guys, everyone seemed to be having a great time.

I hope your weekend was as much fun!

I {Heart} Cashmere!

Right before I left for college, a friend of my mother’s gave me some hand-me-down cashmere sweaters, and I’ve been in love ever since. It’s gotten to the point where I can no longer wear wool sweaters – except an old one someone’s gran in Ireland made that I bought at a carboot sale in Wales for about 50p. I have two big cashmere throws that I wrap up in when I take an afternoon nap. One’s cream and one’s French blue. Last summer, when I moved into my 110-year old farm house, I neglected to re-pack my sweater collection which I had accumulated over several years. The moths got into the sweaters and I was furious that I’d let that happen. But, ever the optimist, I decided to take the sweaters and remake them into something useful. I’ve been cutting them up and remaking them into patchwork scarves.

As you might have gathered, one of my favourite ways to spend an afternoon is to “poke around”.  During my travels, I always check the sweater section and look for cashmere sweaters. And it’s quite amazing how often I pick up one or two… or more. I make a habit of never paying more than about $5.00 for one, although I have gotten them for as little as $.79! Most have a hole or two, which doesn’t bother me, because I can cut around them. And most of them are “name brand” sweaters, some even of great Scottish cashmere. I wash them in special cashmere wash from The Laundress in New York. And then I chuck them in the dryer, because I don’t care if they shrink, which they don’t, because cashmere doesn’t felt like wool.

My favourite part of the process is putting together the colours to make each scarf. The scarf on the left was built around a blue sweater with a grey Fair Isle pattern, so I used a white cable knit sweater, and two grey ones. The scarf on the right was built around the pink paisley and so I used moss green, celadon green, pink and white sweaters.

For this scarf, I used a hot pink and pale tan striped scarf as the base and then added more hot pink and tan, as well as some baby pink. I pin everything together and then sew it. Then I press the edges to block the scarf into the shape I want. The scarves are usually about six inches by six feet. Except for this one, which I made in navy blue and white for my cousin Chris whose school colours at Oxford are navy and white, and is about eight feet long.

I am selling the scarves through With Gratitude in Baltimore, and will eventually put some on my Etsy Shop. Look for them on the right sidebar. ---> Over that way.