Fig-iversary!

It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since this little girl came into my life! As much as I loved Connor, Figue is like a totally different type of creature. First, she’s portable. I can just pick her up and sling her over my shoulder with no problem. When she’s out back and won’t come in, I just head out, grab her and bring her in. Another huge difference between Figue and Connor is that Figue doesn’t shed! I do have to have her groomed every other month, with a face clip in between. But honestly, I really hate to cut her beautiful golden curls off.

She looks completely different – so much so, that the first time she was groomed, I didn’t even recognize her! Until she started barking.

That’s another funny thing about Figue – she is a barker. And a yeller! She sits on her ottoman in front of the window and watches the world go by. And barks at everything. She also yells – it starts out as sort of a wobbly, gutteral growl and builds into a full shriek by a 70 year old woman who smokes and drinks. It’s pretty freaky. Click here to see and hear what she sounds like.

Figue loves her vintage American quilt and can often be found curled up on or under it.

I have to say that my favourite picture of Figue, and one which encapsulates her energy and boldness, is this one.

Happy Fig-iversary, my little girl! I am so happy that I found you!

#ThisisBaltimore: Spring Edition

We haven’t had a #ThisisBaltimore post for a while, and now that spring has sprung and it’s fully bloomed out, it’s time to show you spring in Baltimore!

In March, I taught my iPhone photography class, and just before I did, I upgraded my phone to a 7+, which I love. It has dual lenses to take some really cool portrait photographs, so I’ve had a great time playing around with it. Also, in the few weeks before the class, I really worked on editing my images with SnapSeed, an amazing (but non-intuitive) photo editing app from Google. Some of the results are shown below!

The wooden chapel at Crimea, Leakin Park, Baltimore

A.T. Jones Costumers, a long-time Baltimore institution.

DLA Piper building, designed by local architect, Charlie Brickbauer

First race of the season – Green Spring Hounds

Brooklyn Park Water Tank – it has more than 20 different shades of brick.

Ingram Manor, a beautiful 1920’s apartment house.

Cloud Computing after the morning gallops at Pimlico

Short & Sweet peony season.

A long-time Baltimore tradition.

Thanks for following along!

Peony Time!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! The peonies are blooming and they are just stunning. I think that peonies are one of my favourite blooms, and I always take advantage of their short season to get as many as I can.

Luckily, I have friends and neighbours who are willing to share their bounty with me, and if that fails, I can usually find them, during the season, at Whole Foods.

This year, my next-door neighbour's peonies are blooming away, but the ones at my friends' farm, just 15 miles to the north, are still mostly in tight bud stage. 

But the few that were out when I was there yesterday were stunning. We are having an event on Thursday, so I only took pictures of the peonies at the farm, and didn't cut any. 

Although the season is short, my appreciation of these stunning flowers is vast. 

And, as I said, I am lucky to have friends and neighbours who are willing and happy to share!

It's a Madcap World...

I was so pleased to attend the grand re-opening of the local Calico (no longer Calico Corners) store, which featured two design friends: Jason Oliver Nixon and John Locke, the gents from Madcap Cottage! I had met the two of them several years ago in High Point, and in a major coincidence, Jason's sister and I live in the same neighbourhood in Baltimore!

Jason and John's trademark style is bright and exuberant.

This was immediately apparent by the blazers they were wearing - made from their own fabrics and piped with bright trim.

John & Jason gave a nice talk about how to layer fabrics so that they don't look like a mish-mash, but a comprehensive whole. 

I fell in love with one of their fabrics, which you can see on the left - the green one. It's called Mocambo and it comes in several lush colourways. All of the fabrics are designed and drawn by John & Jason, and invoke places they've been and things that they love. Many are named after country houses and gardens in England.

As part of the opening festivities, Calico hosted several drawings for pillows made from Madcap's fabrics, two custom designed pillows and a beautiful wing chair with several of the fabrics from their collection. 

I was thrilled to be the winner of two custom-designed pillows and had the fun experience of picking out which of their many fabrics I wanted. As I mentioned, I was drawn to this print called Mocambo. 

I really had a hard time deciding which colourway, and what to pair it with. But after a bit lot of thought, I decided on these two.

I loved the little ginkgo print called Howard's End, and loved how well it paired with the Mocambo both in colour and scale. I am so excited about this and can't wait to get them.

Thanks so much to Calico and Madcap Cottage for a fun evening!

Mint Juleps for Derby Day

These drinking weekends are coming fast and furious, with the Hunt Cup last weekend and the Kentucky Derby this weekend. 

I am going to a birthday party on Saturday and texted the host to remind him that it was also Derby Day, and we've all watched the race together for the past few years. Should I bring my julep cups and some mint? I knew that he had plenty of bourbon on hand (Maker's Mark is the house brand), but lacked cups. Of course, he replied.

So, I hunted up the julep cups that I now have and began the process of polishing them.

Sad story: my silver cups, one of which I received each year, for a number of years, were stolen right after I moved back to the States, so I just have odd ones from Williams-Sonoma and other places. Unfortunately, Williams-Sonoma is no longer selling the ones I liked.

This year, I actually have enough mint that I can cannibalize my mint plants without worrying that I will kill them. So, julep cups and mint. That's my contribution to the party, because the host said no gifts. 

Here's the recipe, in case you'd like to try it at home: 

Make a simple syrup by boiling two cups of sugar and two cups of water together for five minutes. Cool, and place in a covered container with six or so springs of fresh mint and then refrigerate overnight. Put a few mint leaves and a little bit of sugar in the bottom of a julep cup and muddle the mint and sugar, releasing the essential oils. Fill the cup with crushed ice. My feeling is that the ice that comes out of the fridge is too coarse, and needs to be smaller. Add a tablespoon of the simple syrup and bourbon. Stir to frost the outside of the cup and garnish with a sprig of mint.