Perfection

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A Little Bit of This…

And a little bit of that…

I did a pop-up Tour de Baltimore on Friday, and we had a great time. There were about eight people on the tour, and it was such fun to meet everyone.  We started at Housewerks, and then headed to DeBois Textiles. Then uptown to the neighbourhood just south of where I live, called Hampden, where we wandered around and in and out of many of the small, independent shops.

I love this chalk “painting” someone did of a fireplace. It’s so detailed.We saw lots of old-fashioned Christmas decorations. This was Christmas in a box, filled with balls and trimmings.One of my sisters wages a never-ending battle with the squirrels in her yard. This would be PERFECT for her! Ha!Love these chocolate pots!

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On Saturday, I’d been given a heads-up about a tag sale in a gorgeous old townhouse where the owners were de-accessioning some of their things. They kindly allowed us to wander around the house and so I took pictures. I just loved the guest room in the house, with all of the windows, and the great linen curtains. Love the brass bed and the white down-filled duvet. And the fireplace and mirror! These houses have some interesting details in the plasterwork, including this Moorish arch, which appears several times in the house.  This is an original Tiffany lantern in the front hall. Tiffany installed a major work at a church around the corner from this house.

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My pal, Julie, asked if she could borrow the great folding chairs I’d gotten a few months ago, and of course, I said yes. Then I realized that I’d only managed to paint and re-seat one of the chairs. So I spent Sunday afternoon out in the balmy weather painting the chairs. Now I am filling in all of the details and spots that I missed. Naturally, Connor’s keeping an eye on the process (and my pink flower slippers!).

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A few months ago, I mentioned finding an unusual flower on my walk with Connor, and yesterday, I picked some of the passionflower fruits that were still hanging from the vine. When I cut one open, it was full of seeds. I am not brave enough to try one, even though I’ve been assured that they’re not poisonous! Someone said that if the flowers don’t have a scent, the fruit won’t have much of a taste. Would you have tasted it?

The Shops: Halcyon House Antiques

Anyone who has been reading Pigtown*Design for more than five minutes, knows how truly, madly and deeply in love I am with Halcyon House Antiques.  I am a city mouse, but I could become a country mouse and move into this amazing shop in an instant!  The owners of Halcyon House, Stiles and Jonathan, along with Eric, who manages the shop, excel at choosing the merchandise for the shop. They have a good mix of housewares, including dishes and cutlery,food items which make great gifts, (and let me just tell you how AMAZING this salted caramel is!)and books. (I should get this for my mum, whose nickname is Cookie!)

Another area where the guys have it spot on, is with their women’s accessories. I freely admit to one and all, that I LOVE GLOVES! Like these,

and these,

and these,

They just make me happy!

And then there are the scarves and bags, both of which I also am crazy about… you don’t even need to know how many scarves I have!

Personally, I see NOTHING wrong with the image above. Bags? Check. Jewelry? Check. Great rug? Check!

So, if you’re in Baltimore, and you need a unique and extraordinary gift for someone you love, including yourself, get out to Halcyon House and see what they’ve got. You will find something to love, even if it’s just some Christmas tree baubles!

Halcyon House Antiques
11219 Greenspring Avenue - Lutherville, Maryland 21093 - (410) 828-8889

More, More, More!

Now that I’ve spotted some old wooden tennis racquets, they seem to be popping up everywhere. Some commenters have told me that they’ve seen wooden racquets in their local thrift shops!

I stopped by a thrift shop, affectionately known as “Saks North Avenue” this morning, en route to a tag sale. I just checked the huge hamper that houses discarded sporting equipment and found a whole trove of old wooden racquets.I found Chris Evert and JC Higgins (1908-1964)and Björn Borg. And you can see the price on this lovely 1900’s vintage wooden racquet… a whopping $2.90!

The Hobo Winner Is…

The Hobo Winner Is… Jo @ Let’s Face the Music!  She and her husband are renovating an old house. Go over there and take a look.Jo, e-mail here with your full details and there will be a coupon waiting for you at Hobo.  Thanks to Hobo Bags for offering this discount.

Caerphilly Castle

A friend asked me about the picture on my header, so I put together this post of some pictures I’d taken of Caerphilly Castle in Wales during the summer of 2005. Caerphilly is the second largest castle in the UK after Windsor Castle and it dates from the late 1200s.

Caerphilly at dusk. July 5, 2005

One of the outer walls

Castle ruins - inner walls

Ruins with the inner moat just at the bottom and the outer lake and moat above. Looking over the Caerphilly Valley.

Looking over the moat bridge into the inner aspect of the castle.

Part of the defensive walls with the arrow slots.

Inside the main fortifications

Some restoration/conservation work

There’s some work on the tower on the right. It leans about 15*, more than the Tower of Pisa, and is 3 meters off center.

You can see the angle of the tower from this view.

Looking in from the outer ring to the inner ring.

Castle with the moat surrounding it, and the town of Caerphilly in the background.

My friend Teresa standing inside one of the many fireplaces.

Caerphilly  Castle was about a 15 minute drive from my house in Wales. I used to go over after work and walk around the perimeter, which was about two miles.

I found this aerial shot, which gives you a good indication of how massive the place is, and how it’s fortified by moats and lakes.

Here I am with my nephew who came to stay with me.

Some Reminders!

A couple of reminders for upcoming events:

1. Friday, November 18th – Tour de Baltimore. There’s still room to come along and we’d love to have you.
2. November 19th - If you’d like to be entered into the drawing for the 25% discount at the Hobo Bags sale, make sure you leave a comment on the original post.
3. November 20th - There’s still room on the Baltimore Architectural Foundation’s tour of an amazing newly built townhouse on Baltimore’s Inner Harbour. Click here to make a reservation. The cost is a nominal $10.
4. Don’t forget to check out my Esty shop. While I was out tennis racquet shopping, I stumbled across a lot of great red and white transferware. Someone must have just dropped it off. Funnily, two of the plates have the same castle as I’ve got in my header here.

Hope to see you at one of the events!