Hill-Stead Guides visit The Glass House

On Monday, September 24, a group of Hill-Stead guides and staff met at The Glass House Visitor Center in the center of New Canaan, Connecticut to ride the van to the property for our 11am tour.

The van stopped just past the entrance gate so we could walk to The Glass House.

To our left we could see Philip Johnson's studio/library as we walked down the drive.

Some of the sculptures in the Sculpture Gallery had previously been displayed outdoors but were moved inside after exhibiting signs of weather-related damage.

The Sculpture Gallery ceiling is all skylights which cast interesting shadows on sunny days.  I am glad we visited on a cloudy day without the distraction of shadow patterns all over the space.

This view shows The rear of The Brick House on the left, The Glass House in the background, and the pool on the right.

Here's our group looking down at the pond.

Here's the bedroom from the outside, looking in.  There are several other buildings on the property where Philip Johnson and his partner David Whitney slept. While an interesting concept, I suspect The Glass House proved impractical for daily living.

 A good view of the Pavilion on the pond and the towering Lincoln Kerstein Tower looking west from  The Glass House.

This round “silo” in The Glass House has a fireplace on one side and the bathroom on the other.

 The kitchen is small and not good for serious cooking.

The bathroom is functional with a toilet, sink, and a shower

The dining room faces east.

The Nicolas Poussin painting is displayed in the seating area.  Philip was originally a History and Classics scholar before he became an architect.

 This is the iconic view of The Glass House but there is so much more to see on the property.  I am glad our group visited here. Philip Johnson's mother was a first cousin of Theodate Pope Riddle so this a connection to Hill-Stead.  Philip named one the buildings on the property “Popestead”!

Ellen and I even had some time to look around the charming center of New Canaan and our group had lunch together at La Pain Quotidien before heading home.  All in all it was a very enjoyable day,

New York City

On Wednesday, my Hill-Stead friend Ellen and I took the Simsbury Continuing Education coach bus trip to NYC. Ellen lived there while in grad school and really knows her way around so she was the perfect traveling companion. The bus dropped us off in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art but we had other plans for our day. As we turned a corner onto Madison Ave, there was a Sugarfina store full of wonderful gummies and candies where I promptly bought some souvenirs. 

We stopped in several places along our way to visit The Frick Collection, wonderful small stores full of home furnishings and accessories both new and vintage. One marvelous place named  Creel and Gow was like a cabinet of curiosities with taxidermied swans in the front window, minerals, small sculptures, and many other treasures on its shelves.

 

As we continued walking, we went right by The Asia Society which Ellen mentioned has a nice little gift shop.  I found an interesting silk scarf from Vietnam with "my" colors that I couldn't resist. It's a good souvenir!

 

 

 

This was my first visit to  The Frick Collection and I highly recommend it. The art is fabulous and it's a surprisingly quiet place. As Guides at Hill-Stead, we did not have to pay the $22 admission and it was so nice to talk about the paintings with another art lover.

 

By one o'clock we were tired and ready for lunch.  Ellen had made reservations at Vaucluse where we both ordered a salad with grilled chicken breast. The chicken was pounded very flat and it was quite large so the meal was very filling. We were able to relax and regroup before continuing our travels to The Kips Bay Decorator Show House. Of course some of the rooms were quite outlandish but others were very livable. The dining room has gotten a lot of press with its whimsical design and creative back story. The hand painted wallpaper was amazing!

 

We had to meet the bus at 5:45 pm, so once we were finished at the show house we set out for the pickup spot.  We had time to stop and browse in Scully and Scully.  Ellen has a few small Herend animals and we were amazed by all the choices available in this store.  They also have a catalog business.  The store is large and well-staffed but we were the only potential customers.

While in NYC, Ellen says she usually stops to use the public restrooms at:

 

 

I've seen the 2013 documentary "Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's" about this famous store so it was a real treat for me to go inside. The restrooms are in the basement with all the makeup areas, and then we took the elevator to the home furnishings floor. When I put down all my bags to take off my jacket, the saleswoman promptly asked if I would like a large bag to put them all in, so now I have a Bergdorf's shopping bag! Perhaps I will be like a Parisienne and carry it like a tote bag wherever I go.

The bus left promptly at 5:45 and we were back in Farmington by 8:30--quite good timing considering how awful the traffic was trying to leave NYC.  It was a wonderful day and now Ellen and I are already looking forward to another trip together in the future!

 

 

 



The Scarf Diaries Part 7

Dawn bought me this beautiful hand-painted scarf for Mother's Day several years ago and I was convinced that I had loaned it to her this past Fall...but then I found it amongst my other oblong scarves!  I was thrilled to wear it again. There actually is a lot of teal in the scarf that doesn't show in the photo.

Worn with teal J. Crew V-neck cashmere sweater and black Kohl's pants

Whoa, the color of this turtleneck is much brighter in the photo than it is in reality! I wear this green sweater around Christmas and then I pull it out again for St. Patrick's Day. I wore a scarf that Dawn had knit when she was in her Master's degree program. Some water had made the colors run and she was tempted to throw it out, but I gladly took it home with me.

Green cashmere sweater from Macy's several years ago, egg-shaped pendant on necklace that my dad bought in The Museum Shop that used to be in Westfarms, worn with black Kohl's pants

Here's a silk square that we bought in the Smithsonian gift shop--it has a copyright on it dated 1997, which is approximately the year we took a family trip to Washington DC.  I wore it with a red sweater on March 19th, which is St. Joseph's Day. Just as green is associated with St. Patrick, red is associated with St. Joseph. I only know this because I attended St. Joseph Grammar School.

Worn with red cashmere turtleneck from Orvis and cotton plaid flannel skirt from Land's End which is easily 20 years old--I recently hemmed it to knee-length to make it look a little more modern

When Dawn was going to London last summer, I asked her to bring back this scarf from Liberty of London that I had seen online.  I love the design and the colors, and Mark got it for me as a birthday present.

Worn with purple J. Crew V-neck cashmere sweater and black pencil skirt with black tights

I just had to get another wearing of this lovely Missoni scarf before the weather gets too warm!

Worn with tan Van Heusen turtleneck that Adria gave me many years ago (machine washable and never pills!) and black Kohl's pants

Part 6 Scarves Up Close

The jewel tones of this scarf were perfect with the deep teal of the sweater!  Maybe one of the reasons these silk scarves didn't sell was their solid/semisheer striped weave which is also found in very cheap polyester scarves sold at craft stores like A. C. Moore.

Just lovely quality and design in this Italian scarf!

Maybe it was the ambient lighting this morning, but this scarf's colors look much darker than they actually are. I love designs by William Morris!

The Scarf Diaries, Part 6

Just to clarify how I post my scarf diaries: while I try to post 5 photos in the order I've worn these clothes, that doesn't always happen. I am now trying to be more careful about transferring photos from my phone more consistently. Also, when three photos in a row mention I've worn the same color pants, I never wear the same pants two days in a row. There is most likely an outfit (either pants or a skirt) between each photo where I didn't wear a scarf, or the weekend happened.

 

 

Here's one of the silk scarves from the Hill-Stead Museum shop. This collection was made using designs from items in the house, and this scarf is based upon the carpeting in the Parlor Bedroom. Unfortunately for the museum, these were not big sellers. Fortunately for me, they went on half-price sale and I also got my guide's discount.

Worn with teal J. Crew cashmere V-neck sweater and black Kohl's pants

 

 

This is a lightweight voile scarf from H & M in Westfarms that I bought for our Africa trip. A bargain for  $7, I wore it a lot in Africa with several different outfits. Again, I didn't care if this one got lost or stolen--but I'm glad it came back home with me!

 

Worn with black and white marl open cardigan from J. Jill, white Adea layering top, and black Kohl's pants.

 

Another souvenir scarf--this one from the Italian brand Gattinoni that we bought at their store in Milan when we visited Malima with Ross for a vacation in October 2012. It's a beautiful quality silk with a hand-rolled hem. The design and colors are quite sophisticated--very Italian!

Worn with aqua Talbot's merino open cardigan and black Kohl's pants

This scarf was sold by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC in its holiday catalog many years ago. Using a design by William Morris, it came in a few different colorways.  The pinks and greys work well with this jacket. I also have the scarf in tan/olive with a black background, and the museum still sells items with that colorway.

Worn with pink boiled wool jacket from J. C. Penney and gray Kohl's pants

Another wearing of my scarf from Venice, but this time I made sure to accentuate the silver parts.

Worn with light gray J. Crew cashmere V-neck sweater and gray Kohl's pants

 



 

Part 5 Scarves Up Close

Here are the lightweight silk scarves, both from Nordstrom's.

Just look at the beautiful woven designs on these pashminas! 

One thing I've learned from this experiment of documenting the scarves I wear is that I actually have lots of clothes and lots of scarves!  Sometimes I get the feeling that I have nothing to wear and want to buy something new, but this year I am determined to keep wearing what I already own. For the first three months of 2015 I have not bought one new thing...except for...footwear!  I bought one pair of tall black boots from Clarks that were on sale--very plain and very comfortable. Then the short suede Blondo wedge boots that I love because they are also very comfortable became available in my size again so I bought those (the pair I've had for the past 3 years are getting a little worn and bedraggled now but I do wear them most). And then I saw a pair of Fly London shoes on the Nordstrom site that were also in my size so I bought those but I may have to return them--they might be a little too narrow--I'm still deciding!

The Scarf Diaries, Part 5

Here's a scarf I bought specifically because it matched the soft blue of this Talbot's sweater which I found several years ago at an end-of-the-season sale. While the sweater was a real steal, the scarf was full price--I like to think I've since learned my lesson about when a bargain is not really a bargain!

Worn with ivory cotton Kohl's turtleneck and gray Kohl's pants

 

Dawn brought this pashmina back from London for me, from one of her very first trips there while she was still an undergrad. I love the sheen of the silvery threads combined with navy and golden-colored threads.

Worn with my old Nordstrom gray cashmere cardigan and gray Kohl's pants

This scarf was an impulse purchase at Nordstrom's several years ago because I fell in love with its ombre shades of teal and blue along with its unusual pleated texture. I've had it dry cleaned several times and the pleats stay in!

Worn with paisley-print cashmere crewneck on sale from Macy's Charter Club several years ago and gray pants from Kohl's

Another wearing of this scarf from South Africa because it's so soft and warm, and I like the way it looks with this shirt.

Worn with J. Jill washable velvet blouse that is probably 10 years old and washed many times, and dark navy jeans for a dress-down day

Here's a damask blue and black faux pashmina that I found for $5 at Wal-Mart this past Fall!  It drapes nicely and feels soft despite the bargain price.

Worn with old J. Crew cashmere boyfriend cardigan, black Adea layering top, and black Kohl's pants