Maharaja: Splendour of India’s Royal Courts @ The V&A

I can’t tell you how much I wish I was in London to see this exhibition! I’ve always loved Indian jewelry and textiles, and had the chance to see some last month in New York.I’ve been getting e-mails the past few weeks from the Victoria & Albert Museum announcing their new exhibition, Marahaja: Splendour of India’s Royal Courts, which looks like it is going to be amazing. The exhibit is open until January 10, 2010. Many of the 250 pieces are on loan to the V&A from India’s royal courts and this is the first time they’ve ever been lent. The pieces date from the 18th through the 20th century. If you have some time, take a look at the V&A’s micro-site specially created for the Maharaja exhibition. It’s very informative, and filled with beautiful images.

I Love This Door

What is it about doors in the UK and around Europe that makes them look so brilliant? I think it’s a combination of the architecture, the rich paint colours and the patina on the hardware.

I saw this door on a house in the Guardian and it reminded me of a few other favourites. I love the robin’s egg blue, the classical columns and the pediment. It’s really perfect in my book.

This one is on a building in Baltimore that I’ve always loved. It’s such a strong door, but it’s very elegant in its lines. I have always been very curious about what this building houses. I saw this door in London’s Chelsea neighbourhood last year and just adored the bright lemony-yellow. Another thing that I love about European doors is that many of them have the doorknob in the center of the door, not below or above the locks. I find that when I travel, I take pictures of doors. If you send me a picture of your favourite door, I will post along with the ones above.

Megan who works for a local preservation organization sent me this door which is perfect for the season. BOO! Mandy from AngloFiles sent this door from a church in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Tour de Baltimore FINAL DETAILS

After months of planning, the big day for the Tour de Baltimore is almost here! On Saturday, October 17th, I will be hosting the first tour and I hope to do this again in the spring of 2010.

The schedule is as follows, and all times are approximate:

• 10:00 – Meet at Housewerks for coffee and a look around this fascinating architectural salvage company. Click here for directions. There is plenty of parking on-site.
• 11:00 – Head up to Gore-Dean Antiques in Mount Washington Mill. I just got an e-mail from Deborah Dean saying that they’re now carrying Dempsey & Carroll stationery.
• 12:30 – Go to the Hampden neighbourhood of Baltimore. Its main street is full of small independent shops and galleries.
• 1:30 – Meet for lunch at Cafe Hon, a funky restaurant with classic Baltimore food on the menu.
• 2:45 – BOOK THING! I know that there will be a mad dash for the decorating section of the books, but hopefully we’ll all find something fun.
• 3:30 – Back downtown to Second Chance, a massive architectural salvage and furniture consignment store, just a few blocks from Housewerks.

Please e-mail me here and let me know if you will be attending. I would like to get a count so I can give everyone that we’re visiting a heads up that a group will be coming, especially Cafe Hon.

We will probably have to carpool or drive separately, so I will have a map with directions, phone numbers, etc. for everyone on Saturday morning or I can e-mail it to you ahead of time so that you can program all stops into your GPS.

I am really looking forward to this tour and can’t wait to meet everyone!

The Hallway: Part IV

I forgot to take pictures of the floor in Tivoli the other day after I discovered the MAGIC of a Magic Eraser by Mr. Clean. I thought I would just try a couple of swipes of the eraser on the marble floor to see if the marble was really white, as I suspected, or if it was the dull grey that I could see.

1.2.3.4.5 swipes with the damp eraser was all it took for the white of the original floor to show through. I knew that the floor had been polished and sealed at some point, but no-one could remember when, so it must have been in the distant past.I am truly delighting at showing off the floor and now I am getting very excited about finding the contractor who can strip the floor of the old wax and dirt, refinish and re-hone the marble and then re-seal it.

Little Augury’s Map of the Blogosphere

** For a download of the Turgot Plan de Paris, click on the Paris map in the right-hand column **

If you’re not reading Little Augury, you should be. She’s smart and funny, with a unique perspective on things.

Today, she talks about where maps have lead her. She found the Turgot Plan de Paris on my blog, but I found it on the Corinthian Column, who writes from Bangkok. He found the map at Conran in London and it’s a map of 18th century Paris. Everyone who has written about this amazing map has received dozens and dozens of comments from every corner of the world.

Little Augury says, and I totally concur, that you never know where a map will take you, both literally and figuratively.

** UPDATE** Here's another blogger who has put up the map... on a curved wall, no less!

I Still Love City Life

Sometimes, I have a circus at the end of my street, other times, I see elephants. There’s always some adventure waiting around the corner and you never know what you will see.

Yesterday, it was the start of the Baltimore Running Festival, which is sponsored by hometown guys, Under Armour. The course wound though many of Baltimore's 250+ neighbourhoods and more than 20,000 people took part. As usual, the Kenyans won. Our Sunday morning Farmers’ Market is always an amalgam of Baltimore life and this morning, one of the chilliest that we’ve had, was no exception. All of the fall fruits and vegetables are now there in full force. As I left breakfast after the Market, I drove by the south side of the harbour and saw one of the huge cruise ships that stop here twice a week, picking up and dropping off passengers for their week long cruises. As I mentioned the other day, it’s the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s death, and his death in 1849 went pretty much un-noticed. In the year of the 200th anniversary of his birth, Baltimore is celebrating his life with not one, but two large funerals. His coffin was taken by horse-drawn carriage from his tiny house on Amity Street to the Westminster Burying Ground where the services were held. I uploaded a short video of the procession, complete with a bagpipe band, lots of spectators and mourners and a horse-drawn carriage.

Poe's Funeral Procession

I stopped by Housewerks to see my friend Flip, who was taking care of the shop for the afternoon. She’s just finished some more work on her spectacular house and promised to send pictures to share. When I was at Housewerks, I saw these gorgeous pieces of trim. Love the colours!

I hope that your weekend was as much fun as mine!

Edith Wharton in Paris

There’s a great article in the New York Times’ travel section about Edith Wharton’s Paris. I’ve written about Edith Wharton several times before (here and here), but mostly in regard to her house in Massachusetts, The Mount.The article details Mrs. Wharton’s life in Paris in the early years of the 20th century, before it was invaded by Americans looking for a cheap and exotic place to live and write.She carried on an affair while living there, but it ended unhappily and she continued living in France until her death. She is buried there and as the Times says, her grave at Versailles is unvisited and untended. Be sure and watch the accompanying slide show, where these images are from. It’s got some great information. And while you’re on the New York Times’ site, check out the 100 great hotels in Europe under $150.

Poe Days

Although Edgar Allan Poe wasn’t born in Baltimore and only spent part of his life here, it is where he died… 160 years ago yesterday. This year marks the 200th anniversary of his birth, so there are celebrations all year long.Yesterday, in honour of the poet and writer, I stopped by his house where his body was lying and a wake was being held. People have come from around the world to participate in events of celebration this year. His death was barely noticed in 1849, with just a simple three-minute ceremony and a few lines in the local paper. However, any past slights will be more than made up for this weekend, when Baltimorean and actor, John Astin (better known to some as the original Gomez Addams) will officiate at the funeral service and introduce scholars who will discuss Poe’s influences which continue today.On Saturday morning, a horse-drawn carriage will take Poe’s body the several blocks from his home on Amity Street to the Westminster Burying Ground (conveniently located just around the corner from the University of Maryland’s 200 year old medical school).

For more information, click here for a list of celebrations and times.

Forget Edgar Allan Poe? Nevermore.

PBS & NPS: A Family Story

Through a rather circuitous route, via another blogger, The Trad, I found out that one of the segments on the Ken Burns documentary, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, features an old friend of mine. When I lived in Baltimore before, I lived on a peninsula, at the end of which sat Fort McHenry National Shrine. It’s the where the Star Spangled Banner was written and the Superintendent of the park (and of Hampton National Historic Site) became a very close friend of mine. She is the fourth generation of her family to work for the National Park Service. Her great-grandfather worked at Grand Canyon, as did her grandfather. He was Superintendent there and is buried there in a grove of ponderosa pines. Her father was head of all of the National Parks west of the Rockies, so she had to work in parks east of the Rockies until he retired. She was raised in National Parks including Denali in Alaska and Hubbell Trading Post in Arizona. It was 10 years ago this month that she moved to Arizona to take over at Glen Canyon National Park, a 1.2 million acre park in Utah and Arizona. We took five days to drive out there, having adventures along the way, including a stop at Graceland, a creepy night spent in Clinton, OK and a rare early fall snowstorm in New Mexico. Lots of laughs and great fun on the way.Stops to visit a few National Parks along the way, including Hubbell, a real working trading post, Navajo restaurants to try traditional frybread and green chili, views and vistas of mesas and buttes all helped me learn about the American West. A birthday spent at the Grand Canyon was a highlight for me. She’s married to an old friend of mine now and has a son who wants to be a ranger. Five generations of one family serving our nation through our National Parks.Congratulations to John Cook and to his daughter, my friend Kayci Cook Collins.  Thank you for a job well done.

A Pig for Connor

Connor already has a stuffed pig, of which he’s quite fond. I found out about these tiny Tea-Cup Pigs today. While they are tea-cup sized when they’re babies, they eventually grow to the size of a small Labrador, weighing in at 40 to 60 pounds. Connor’s 65 lbs.These pigs can live for up to 18-20 years!

Is this just the latest trend? Thoughts?