Remembering…

It’s so hard to believe it’s been 14 years since that gorgeous, absolutely perfect September morning when the first hints of fall were in the air and everyone was in great spirits.

There are still stories to be told of the heroes of that dark day.

On September 11, 2001, more than a half a million people were evacuated from the lower end of Manhattan Island in just nine hours. This is the largest boatlift in history. In contrast, during WWII, over 330,000 people were evacuated from Dunkirk, but that was over nine days. Yet few people know the story of the 9/11 boatlift.

I hope that you will take a few minutes and watch this video. Then you will understand that countless unknown people were heroes on that sad day.

If you remember September 11, 2001, you will never forget it.

Long to Reign Over Us: 23,226 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes

On the evening of September 9, 2015, HR Queen Elizabeth, II will have served 23,226 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes. Once she hits 24 minutes, she will have surpassed Queen Victoria’s 63 years and seven months. The date had been thought to happen between the 8th and 12th of September, due to leap years, not knowing the exact timing of Victoria’s uncle’s death in his sleep, and some other pesky details.

However, Buckingham Palace has fixed the date and time as the evening of September 9th. There won’t be the pomp and circumstance that there was for the Jubilee in 2012, but HM will launch a new train in Scotland to mark the occasion.

Naturally, there are those who wish to make a pound or two on this solemn occasion, like Kellogg’s who is promoting Queen Flakes, only available at a cereal bar (!) in Manchester, England.

A little more elegantly, a special series of £20 coins are being produced that show her profile as it has appeared on the currency over the past 60 years.

Royal Crown Derby has a mug which goes for the queenly sum of £115

In conjunction with Johnstons of Elgin, the Queen’s Scholarship Trust is producing cashmere blankets for a cool £495. Elgins holds a royal warrant from Prince Charles.

Mappin & Webb Silversmiths are producing a limited edition silver picture frame (photo not included) for £225.

As for me, I will be sitting at my desk at the appointed hour (12:30 EST), and will rise and sing the British National Anthem:

God save our gracious Queen!
Long live our noble Queen!
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the Queen.

And I am flying my flags to celebrate!

God Save the Queen, indeed!

Long Weekend

I had actually set aside the weekend to bond with my new dog, but alas that didn’t happen. The dog I had picked out was sent to a rescue group and it was no longer available. I was terribly disappointed by this, but then rationalized that it probably happened for a good reason. I am keeping the faith that the right dog is out there and will arrive at the right time.

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It was this weekend in 2011 that I lost Connor for 24 hours. I had zipped out for a coffee and somehow he got out of the house – not a big shock to anyone who knew his history as Houdini. As much trouble as Connor could be, I miss him every day.

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Since I had cleared the calendar, I figured this was a good weekend to “get things done”, which happened more or less. Lots of reading, puttering around, etc. I listed some new pieces of the mother of pearl cutlery on my Etsy Shop, including a spectacular and perfect set of 24 knives and forks,

a dozen wonderful forks,

and some lovely knives from France.

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I had some peaches that went from rock hard to squishy in the blink of an eye, so I whipped up a very small batch of peach and brandy preserves. I have done the same recipe with bourbon, but I was out of bourbon and liquor stores in Baltimore aren’t open on Sundays (whose crazy idea is that??). I told you it was a small batch! You can find the recipe here from a few years ago. Of course, I had to change it a wee bit. Seriously, who in their right mind would use 1/2 teaspoon of bourbon?

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As I was doing laundry, I noticed that I have a few stripey shirts! So I decided to stack them up to see how many I have!

They’re just so easy to wear and you can dress them up or down. I even have a Pinterest board dedicated to Stripey Shirts!

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Historic week coming up and I was glad I remembered the banners that I had picked up in Wales last fall.

You can see that the gardenia is blooming again, as it has for the past month or so, just a few blossoms at a time, but that’s fine with me!

Hope you weekend was great! Tell me about what you did!

I’ll Take This: Studio in London

When I lived in the UK, I initially worked at King’s College in the Strand doing fundraising and at the weekend, I’d go back to Wales. My route took me west along the Talgarth Road, past a row of houses called the St. Paul’s Studios, that I always looked forward to seeing with great anticipation.

One was for sale a few years ago, and I wrote about it here. The house had been completely transformed inside, and not much of the original charm was remaining. Now another one is for sale, and this one has great provenance. It was owned by Dame Margot Fonteyn, the English prima ballerina, and she used it for her practice studio.

This row of houses was designed by Frederick Wheeler in 1891 and each features a huge north-facing window, perfect for the artistic types.

Each house features such amazing detailing but they’re on a major route out of London, and some are looking a bit run-down. This one still has it’s original fireplace, although it looks like the surround has been nicked.

Here’s the other side of this room. Scary kitchen, but fabulous balcony!

This house has four bedrooms, two baths, a south-facing garden, and a servant’s flat in the lower ground level. There’s a tube station close by, but unfortunately, the line runs right behind the garden.

Here’s a great sketch of one of the houses from the blog, Remember the Window, by a resident of one of these special houses. It hasn’t been updated in ages, but there are some great images.

So, there’s a ton of traffic out front, and trains going by in the back, but they’re still charging £1,400,000 for the property.

Remembering

It was just before I went to bed one Saturday night that the news came on that Diana had been in a bad car accident in Paris. There were jumps to Paris, to London and back to NYC. All of this interspersed with bits and pieces of Saturday Night Live. It was hard to understand whether it was real or not. We knew the news way before our friends in the UK, many of whom were devastated by the news.

I always thought that this series of photographs by Mario Testino was among the best of Diana.

She just suspended in time in these images. She’ll never grow old in our minds.

Thursday Night at the Disco

When I was younger, Thursday night was the night everyone got together to go dancing. We’d drive down to Washington, DC sometimes and go to the Chinese Disco, which was a Chinese Restaurant by day and a disco at night. So when I was invited to a huge party earlier this evening, it brought back memories of those days.

This event was given by Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (!)in their 100,000 square-foot space. To say it was amazing would be a vast understatement. When we arrived, there were several gorgeous vignettes to greet us, and one included this amazing orchid – encased in ICE! It was stunning.

The theme of the party was Tassels and Tattoos, and as we entered the massive warehouse, there was a tattoo parlour set up and people were actually getting inked!

We opted for a less permanent alteration and got sparkled!

As we moved from vendor to vendor the scene continually changed. The whole point of the party was to show off to corporate and other event planners what they were capable of doing and what they had in their warehouse to make your party one-in-a-million.

Everywhere you looked, there was someone mixing up custom cocktails.

And the food was amazing! Everything you could think of, from freshly smoked cedar planked salmon,

to a candy bar which was served by gals whose tops were literally painted on!

To white truffles hanging from the ceiling,

to voodoo doll pancakes and DIY jambalaya,

to gnocchi and pulled pork!

And since that was a farm-to-table caterer, they even brought along two baby goats!

In one massive room, there were tables with buckets and buckets of fresh flowers and you could make your own arrangement in a “silver” julep cup!

There were several bands, lots of dancing, some serious schmoozing, a silent disco and much much more!

Such a fun party, and such a fun way to spend a Thursday night! Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, indeed!

#ThisIsBaltimore August Edition

I am prepping for the walk & talk lecture I am giving in October, so I took advantage of today’s low humidity and beautiful weather to go shoot some images of Baltimore. These are some of the shots I put on Instagram along with others from the past two months.

This is the old North Avenue Market. It had been vacant for decades and now it’s being revitalized.

Here is another view of the North Avenue Market. It looks like South America to me. Just waiting for the dictator to come out and say a few words to the assembled masses!

Not many people will see this part of Baltimore – it’s a friend’s front porch and is the most perfect place to sit and talk on a nice summer evening.

They are a little hard to see, but I spotted these gorgeous windows on a townhouse in Baltimore.

This is the spectacular Peabody Library. It’s one of the most beautiful public(ish) spaces in Baltimore.

This building is my reminder to always look up!

Anyone who lives in Baltimore knows these two iconic TV towers. You can see them from almost anywhere in the city.

This is a little 1/8 mile stretch that I drive on my way home. The temperature usually drops two to three degrees between the start and the finish.

I adore this building and a friend and I are plotting a way to see the interiors. If you look at the building on the right, you can see the French doors are open to catch the breezes off the lake which is across the street.

Are you on Instagram? If so, share your feed!