Classic Cars

The Baltimore Architecture Foundation, where I am VP of the Board, has an annual golf outing and classic car “concours d’elegance”. The members and friends of BAF bring their classic cars for display on the club’s gorgeous green lawns, and everyone stops to admire them – from the club’s chef to the little boys and girls learning to play tennis.

Here are some of this year’s beauties. For more classic cars, click here and here.

This is a 1938 Packard, with the most incredible green shades, original to a car of that vintage.

I love how the wing-mirrors are attached to the spare tire! This car even has a special storage compartment for golf clubs.

This is another Packard. It was the most beautiful shade of navy blue and had the most stunningly elegant lines. The hood ornament on the blue Packard was a cormorant, the symbol of the car. The detailing and pin-striping on the spare tire was amazing. The owner told me that this steering wheel is made of Bakelite, and is called the banjo because of the style of the three spokes. Here it is driving off into the early evening for its trip home. When I first saw this car arrive, it struck a note of familiarity with me… and not just because it’s a Volvo! It is because the original owner of the car lived in the house behind ours for many years, and he kept the car in his garage, which was across the lane from ours. His son now owns it. This car just says mid-century, mid-America to me. This is just plain sweet. Beautiful shade of blue. Perfect condition and formerly owned by the artist Norman Rockwell… but not exactly what I’d have thought he’d drive! If the keys had been in the ignition of this Mercedes, I’d have driven it right out of the place!

A couple of great old Porches. Mid to late 1960’s.

This is a serious American land-yacht! The car measures almost 20 feet long.

Thanks so much to everyone who brought their cars out today! It made the event so much fun and added an aire d’elegance!

Happy Father’s Day

Although my father died several years ago, I spent a lot of time thinking of him today. So much of who I am is directly because I was part of him. I read all of the time, as Dad did. He had a library of several thousand books, which my mother catalogued! Although I don’t have as many books as he did, I realized when I moved that I had hundreds of books.  We had the coziest library in the house where I grew up. (I think that this picture was taken at his office, because I KNOW it’s not at our house!) When we bought the house, the room was literally filled with guns, but they were all removed, and bookcases were added. Just to the left of this picture, you can see part of Dad’s collection of Baedeker Guides, of which I now have several. I am a collector like my father. He collected a range of things, including books, cigarette cards, trains, little lead soldiers amongst others. He loved going to auctions and sales, and we had pieces like a grape press in our garage for the grape arbour we had in our yard. He was lucky enough to have a large house that he and my mother could fill with the pieces that they found.Dad also collected people. It was not unusual to find some visiting scholar at the dinner table, or a member of a choir touring the States. We always had friends, or friends of friends, or even strangers staying with us. I have continued that tradition, sometimes with great success, like the Man of Mode who was here last week and could not have been more charming, and sometimes with dire results, like the guest who stayed for three weeks, and refused to even walk the dog or tip the wait-staff when we ate out! I love to poke around and explore, just like my father. He came to Baltimore when he was a young man, and got to know the city while working for the Baltimore Sun. When we were children, he used to take us with him to his job as the PR Director at the Walters Art Museum. We were able to get up-close-and-personal with art treasures at a young age and learn to appreciate them. Dad always told us to look up! He showed us neighbourhoods we might not have seen. He talked to us constantly about what was going on around us, and what was happening in the news. He read several newspapers each day, a hold over from his days as a newspaperman.

I think that I got my travel bug from my father. As part of his job at the Walters, he would arrange annual trips abroad for the members of the Gallery. This is a sketch he did of the Rialto Bridge in Venice, which was subsequently made into cards. Luckily, I still have a stash. I have no qualms about travelling by myself and going off on adventures, either in the USA or a foreign country. My father was a writer starting when he was in his early 20’s. He had the good fortune of meeting a family in South Africa who ran the Star newspapers, and thought that was something he’d like to do. The two families are still friends. I write every day, both on this blog, and in my work as a fund-raiser and grant-writer. I think that my good education, and the influence of my father helped me become the writer that I am. Finally, we both adore my mother, his wife. They were married for about 54 years, and although it was an improbably match – him an English Protestant, and her an American Catholic, it was a strong marriage, and they loved each other tremendously. Happy Father’s Day!

A Clothesline, at Last!

Before I moved to Wales, I had a tiny (10x15) back yard, that was part garden and part cement. But there was just enough room for a clothesline, which I loved! At my house in Pigtown, with its 12x12 back yard of 100% cement, and no sunlight, I wasn’t able to put up a clothesline because there was no place to anchor it on either end. When I wrote about clotheslines here, the post elicited a lot of responses. When I was looking at my new house, I noticed that there were the old iron T-bars at either end of the back garden for a clothesline. I was so excited to see that, and couldn’t wait to start using it.  I even bought some great wooden clothes pegs in anticipation. Today, a partly cloudy day, was the day I started with the clothesline. I washed some 100% cotton sheets and hung them out to dry. After about an hour, I checked to see whether they were dry, and they were. It would have taken about the same amount of time in the tumble drier, but it only used the sun and the breeze for drying. I don’t think it’s appropriate, especially where I live surrounded by neighbours, to hang everything out to dry. But sheets, towels, and linens are perfect.

I also have a little hanger with clothespins that I got at Muji in NYC last year. It’s very handy for hanging linen napkins. Click the image for the link.Do you have a clothesline?

Billy Baldwin’s Autobiography

As much as a criticize some of the One King’s Lane Tag Sales, I have purchased a number of things from them, and have always been very pleased with my purchases. A few weeks ago, during David Duncan’s Tag Sale on OKL, I spotted a book I’ve been searching for – the autobiography of Billy Baldwin!  I have a signed copy of BB Remembers and BB Decorates, but this is one that I’d been missing from my collection. I also have Adam Lewis’s beautiful book on Billy Baldwin that was published last year.I had some credits at OKL, so I took the plunge and bought Billy Baldwin – An Autobiography. Instead of working on the house, I’ve been reading it every second I have a chance. The most fun thing about this book is that it talks at length about his early life in Baltimore, and many of the names and places and even some of the events are familiar to me. The house that I just bought is about three or four blocks from the house where Billy Baldwin spent his early years. I will have to walk Connor over there as a pilgrimage.

I can’t wait to finish the book, as it’s been excellent thus far.

I’ll Take This… Beach Hut

In the UK, there is not the tradition of massive tacky beach houses like we have here in the US. Instead, there are tiny beach huts, cheek by jowl, along some beaches. These little houses, which I wrote about here, reflect the creativity of their owners.

I found this sweet little beach house for sale in Devon. It’s a new build, and it seems to have been fitted together by a boat-builder, as there is a lot in this little space. This wee house manages to have room for a seating area, a tiny kitchen, a bath with a shower and a sleeping loft.

In addition, it’s got an outdoor seating areas looking over the quay, and lots of gorgeous light. However, you do have to use a ladder to get from the terrace to the beach! But it can be yours for £200,000. Details here.

Trash-tastic!

When I moved, I left my disgusting old trashcan behind. So when I saw this one, I thought that it’s exactly the type of garbage can I should have at the new house.What do you think?

Unfortunately, it’s £110 and is found through Rockett St. George, a British company, so it doesn’t look like I’ll be chucking my trash in it any time soon.

However… I am a clever gal and with some fypon architectural details and a slap of paint, I could whip one up on my own!

The Misadventures of Mr. Tissue

My little guy, Robbie, has made a wee film about staying out of the sun! He’s actually not “my” guy, but one of the two sons of Andy, my housemate in Wales.

Andy is an artist and obviously, Robbie’s inherited some of him dad’s (and his mum’s) talents. His older brother, Johnny is equally talented, but with more of a scientific mind.

I hope that you will take a minute to watch this talented 10-year old’s message about staying out of the sun. He’d be thrilled if you left a comment, too!

Weekend Update

On Friday, in preparation for David, the Man of Mode’s arrival, I worked all day to get the house in some semblance of order. I knew I couldn’t unpack and put everything away, so I chose the strategy of putting all of the boxes in the basement and bringing them up, one by one, to unpack and place.

While David was arriving in the midst of a sudden monsoon rain, unbeknownst to me, evil things were happening at Hickory Heights! Connor was going insane because of the storm, and pulling down and shredding the mini-blind in the bathroom from which he’d escaped a week earlier. A mini-blind in shreds and chips covered in blood was not the welcome I’d anticipated Connor would give David.

However, the earlier part of the evening made up for it. We’d had a great dinner out, and then purely by chance, run into my friend David Wiesand and his group. They very graciously invited us in for a tour of the studio and the house, all of which greatly impressed the other David. For some amazing pictures of Chez Wiesand, click here. On Saturday, we started out at the local farmers’ market and then headed to  Trinacria, the fabulous Italian deli for some goodies, including their amazing assortment of olives, and some fresh Parmigiano Reggiano. From there, we headed over to Housewerks to check in with Ben and Tracey and to see what was new – a lot! As usual, there was a ton to see and check out, and we entertained ourselves for a while looking at everything and chatting with Ben and Tracey.

After we dropped off the groceries at the house, we headed up to Green Spring Valley, in search of the elusive Mr. Lee’s Southside Mix. And by elusive, you can’t buy this stuff in stores. You have to know someone or have Mr. Lee’s personal phone number and he’ll deliver it. Since I hadn’t had the foresight to think that far ahead, I was going to have to compromise, or find a secret source of this elixir.

Our first stop was Yoicks!, a combination antique store, country clothing - and by that I don’t mean overalls -  and gifts. It’s a fun little shop (no website, makes me want to smack’em!) that feels like a combination of someone’s study, a great place to pick up something unique and a men’s club. We had a great time chatting with the owner, and explaining our predicament. He was not about to let me introduce friends to Southsides using an inferior brand of mix, so after disappearing for a few moments, he returned with a chilled bottle for us.

Both David and I lamented that our friend Maxminimus was not with us, because we felt that he’d have found a kindred spirit in Michael Finney, the shop’s owner. They share a love of British sporting art, and wild accessories.  We even found a top hat that David modeled for me. He’s headed to Ascot next week (look for some pictures) and I was dying to find out how tall he is when he’s wearing a topper! Suffice to say, almost two feet taller than me!  Here are some more images from Yoicks!

Nothing says klassy like a koozie for your Veuve Clicquot!

Love the great Emma Bridgewater mugs and pitcher!

An eclectic selection of books, both new and old!

 

A few friends came round for drinks on Saturday evening. David had met most of them on his last trip to Baltimore and so it was like old home week, but at a new house. We polished off the entire batch of Southsides and made some new converts to the religion of great summer drinks. One of the chefs thinks that the secret ingredient might be a touch of ginger. YUM!  Chef John whipped up a delicious appetizer – watermelon cubes, a balsamic vinegar reduction and little shreds of basil. Fantastic!

I got the most amazing housewarming present and it even has a funny story behind it. I was at an auction a few months ago and was bidding on the most fascinating chair – sort of Chinoiserie Gothic! I’d bid and then an absentee bidder would raise it. This went on for a bit and finally, I dropped out. Fast forward a week and I’m in David Wiesand’s atelier and what do I spot, but the chair! David had been the absentee bidder and had won it. But being the incredible friend and all-round great guy that he is, it’s now gracing my new house and will be a happy reminder of our friendship for many years to come!

All in all, a wonderful weekend with David and all of the other friends I saw!