Current Obsession

My current obsession with Downton Abbey has influenced my reading choices lately.

Lady Almina and The Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle was penned by the current Countess of Carnavon and is generally a favorable account of her predecessors upon whom the TV show is very loosely based. The "above stairs" scenes are filmed at Highclere.

Almina was the acknowledged (illegimate) daughter of fabulously wealthy Alfred de Rothschild. Her future husband Lord Carnavon had title, property, royal friends, but no cash.  At least they seemed to genuinely like each other when they married and appeared to have had a relatively happy life together. When Almina opened their home as a hospital for returning WWI vets, she paid for everything with her father's money--being a child of my times, I just assumed the government paid the expenses.  While dry at times, this book fed my obsession with all things Downton!

This beautiful book is billed as "the official companion to series 1 and 2".  Chockful of photos, tidbits of history, and behind-the-scenes stories, The World of Downton Abbey is perfect for any Downton afficionado.

I couldn't put down Dead End Gene Pool: A Memoir by a great-great-great-great granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt, Wendy Burden, who is a contemporary of mine.  In many respects this memoir is a coming-of-age tale to which anyone of my generation can relate.  Wendy is funny and irreverent, and she definitely doesn't wallow in self-pity.  This book has plenty of sad times and family tragedies too.  F. Scott Fitzgerald said the rich "are different from you and me", to which Hemingway famously replied, "Yes, they have more money".  By Wendy's account, that is the only difference.



March Reading

So far this month I've read a few books in addition to my book group's March selection.  Some were good, some were lacking. I'll start with my least favorite and work my way up!

When I read Elliot Perlman's book Seven Types of Ambiguity a few years ago I really enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to reading his new book, The Street Sweeper.  I didn't finish it--got about 1/3 into it and realized I just wasn't interested anymore.  I feel the author was trying to tie too many separate storylines together, and the book felt preachy in parts too. Maybe someone with more patience would enjoy this book.

The Violets of March by Sarah Jio would be a great beach or plane book--quick to read, a little bit of mystery, young and old characters, some romance--no deep thinking but entertaining.

Lots of books are described as original, but Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman truly is. To say that its narrator, Rory Hendrix, comes from a dysfunctional family is a huge understatement.  Rory is definitely resilient--this story is often sad and even shocking, but there is always hope. In my line of work I meet girls just like Rory.  Worth reading!

I bought this month's book group selection in ebook format so the photo is courtesy of Amazon.  I really, really loved The Snow Child by Alaskan author Eowyn Ivey. It's so rare to find a book where everything is just right--enough detail, enough action, good characterizations, lovely prose, realism and magic, the story unfolding without feeling too slow or too rushed, and not wanting the book to end.  I highly recommend this book--it's the best of the bunch in March!

Orchids A-Bloomin'

There's a lot happening in the greenhouse right now.  Many photos to share  but I'm too lazy to look at the plant tags for the names of these beauties. 

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Friday Adventures

I worked at Hill-Stead this morning and gave two tours:  one to a group of 4 women and one to a man from California with his mother.  The man was probably 70 and his mom could be 90--both were delightful!  He mentioned he had last visited Hill-Stead in 1981 and his mother had never been. Hint to my son: please take me on excursions when I am old! 

I like small groups because you can give more of a personalized tour rather than managing crowd control with a large group. 

I took some photos of the sunken garden when I first arrived.  It was designed for Mrs. Pope by the famous landscape architect Beatrix Farrand. With a week of highs in the 80s, the grass has started to green up and magnolias are exploding with blooms.

This afternoon I had to go back to Litchfield to be fingerprinted for my sub job.  The resident state trooper will do it, but he wasn't available when I was there last week to shadow the school counselor.  This time I went to a regional office called Education Connection and I'm glad I did--it's located on one of the prettiest streets I have ever seen!  The homes are old and absolutely gorgeous. I tried to find some information about Litchfield at my local library but didn't have any luck.  Must investigate more!

The Education Connection building looked like an old school that had been completely and tastefully renovated into offices.  Daffodils lined the path from the parking lot to the entrance.  Someday I'd love to go back to that area and just walk around with my camera.  Hmmm, I sense a road trip coming up!  Next time I have visitors, perhaps?

Note to self:  Do not wear light-colored pants when getting fingerprinted!  I came home and noticed two smears of oily black ink on my tan pants. 

It's Finished!

The animal sculpture on the grounds of Miss Porter's School is finished!

I get a little unsettled looking at it because the squirrel is actually the smallest animal of the three in real life.  Guess that's called artistic license!

Look how cute this is!



The opossum is adorable too.  The river otter on the top is too high for me to get a good closeup.

Hmmm, Mark likes to use a chainsaw...I wonder if he would like to experiment with carving?

Rose's Kitchen

Over the weekend Mark asked if we had any ravioli from Rose's Kitchen left in our freezer.  I think he was disappointed with the refrigerated Buitoni cheese tortellini I had bought at our local supermarket.

This morning I loaded Kita into the car along with one of our large foam coolers and a few freezer paks and we headed off to the picturesque village of Riverton to stock up at Rose's Kitchen. Several years ago this building housed The Village Sweet Shoppe and we would often stop here for an ice cream on our way home from Otis.

Rose's Kitchen used to be located right down the road from where we lived when the kids were little. The business was originally started by Inez's Aunt Rose but we've only known Inez. Eventually Inez decided to relocate closer to her home so I try to make the 35-minute trip once or twice a year to stock up on her homemade pasta specialties.

She still asks me how our daughter and son are doing, even remembering their haircolor! She sends a big "Hello" to them today!

Riverton is a charming place with a lot of history.  Like many old New England towns, it grew up around a factory located on a river:  The Hitchcock Chair Company, which was known for its hand-stenciled furniture. The factory closed a few years ago but someone is trying to get some small-scale production of Hitchcock furniture going in Riverton again. I hope he succeeds!

More Fashion

Today I'll wrap up the photos I took of pages in Malima's Vogue magazine.

I had never heard of Loewe before but I'm hardly a fashion insider!  Apparently this Spanish firm is known for its luxury leather products--in fact, the white jacket with the cutouts in the first photo is leather. I like the dresses because they seem wearable but with a bit of pizazz from the patterns.  The one on the upper right would be great for summer!

I am loving the combination of black, rust, and white in this maxi from Hermes.

The same colors show up in this very flattering swimsuit from Donna Karan--I would wear it!  Without the feather necklace--I wouldn't want to get it wet!

Armani always seems to design clothing that is simple, elegant, and beautifully tailored.  I didn't take photos of the collections by Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Roberto Cavalli, or Elie Saab but they were all lovely and ready for the red carpet!

Well, this was one of the most unusual collections.  As soon as I saw it, I couldn't help thinking which comes first, the chicken or the egg! I really can't imagine anyone wanting to wear these clothes--if the models look frumpy and weird, how will regular people look?  Do the invited guests laugh out loud when stuff like this gets strutted on the runway?  Get up and walk out? Or pretend to be super sophisticated and oooh and ahh?  To me it's a case of the emperor's new clothes. But hey, what do I know--no one's inviting me to design a collection for Paris, Milan, or London!

Hope you have fun creating your own special look this Spring!

The First Day of Spring

Yesterday, the last day of winter, our temperature reached 81F. Today is supposed to be in the upper seventies, with daytime temperatures falling to more seasonal highs in the sixties by the weekend.  It's been wonderful to have this taste of May weather so early!

In keeping with the first day of Spring, I'll share more of the fashion photos from French Vogue:

Watanabe designed a simple overdress to show off this exquisite floral lace.

In this blouse, Fendi switched from vertical stripes in the bodice to horizontal stripes in the peplum.  Hmmm, sewing inspiration...I have to get working on my sewing room! I'd forget the striped skirt though.

The front of this light blue dress by Marni has a center seam with two pleats on either side at waist level, adding a nice softness above and below.  I know I've seen similar sewing patterns and this look could be very wearable for me as a knee length dress.

In the second photo, I love the way the single black stripe looks on this skirt (or is it culottes?)--an easy treatment for the home sewer to duplicate.

Wishing you fair skies and warm weather on this first day of Spring!

Fashion Fun

Malima and Ross visited this weekend, and Malima brought along her copy of French Vogue's issue showcasing the new Spring/Summer fashion collections.

It's a gorgeous magazine chockful of photos showing the latest runway fashions--some very wearable, some very shocking, and some very beautiful.

I think the ones from Valentino were my favorites. It was fun to see how some designers had clothing that was similar across the collection, while others had a variety of designs or themes within a collection.

For example, Gucci had a very graphic 1920s flapper theme. The fabrics are lovely and I wish I could touch them!  Just look at this gold material:

One of the fun things for me was to see photos of the designers.  Most of the men who design those 5" stilettos for women wear sneakers! Yes, I realize these designers are run ragged right up to the end of their runway shows, but really--sneakers?  The kind that are a big no-no for American tourists in Europe...you know, really comfy Adidas or New Balance kind of sneakers. And in a lot of the photos you can see the models' toes hanging over the edges of their high-heeled sandals--ouch! One of the models had six toes, just like my Dziadzi, but she wasn't the only one with shoe problems.

Did you know that Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen (who designed Kate Middleton's famous wedding dress) looks like she could be my neighbor?  An ordinary woman. (Actually, she really looks like my neighbor Carol.) And Donna Karan? Ditto. Miuccia Prada? Ditto. I feel like I could sit down and have a cup of tea with any of them! Donatella Versace or Vivienne Westwood, not so much, but I respect that they have a unique vision that carries over into what they wear.

It was just wonderful to spend time with Malima and Ross this weekend.

My New School!

Today I shadowed the counselor I'll be subbing for when she goes on leave.

Although I'll be working with high schoolers, this school has grades 7-12 and a total student population of just under 600.  It's the smallest high school I've ever worked at by far. 

Here's the main entrance.  I'll have a reserved parking spot just to the left of the flag pole.  When you enter the building, the gym is on the left and the main office is on the right, with a hallway and the counseling offices just beyond.  Best of all, the office I'll be using has two big windows overlooking a grassy courtyard.

These classrooms are the first thing you see as you drive up to the school. I stopped at town hall to see if the resident trooper was in his office to fingerprint me (but he wasn't), and then I stopped at a little local candy shoppe on my way home.  So far everyone I've met in Litchfield has been very nice and friendly, and I think it will be a great place to work.

Today is March 12?

It's pretty warm and dry today, especially for March 12th!  Definitely rare for this time of year, but I'm enjoying it. Kita's at Petco being groomed so hopefully a lot of her undercoat will be gone--less shedding!

Saturday Wanderings

Today we caught up on our errands. While driving down Main Street, I saw a man using a chainsaw to carve the trunk of a tree that had been topped by the October snowstorm.  There was an article about him in our local paper a few weeks ago which told how Miss Porter's School decided to have the tree trunk turned into a sculpture. I asked Mark to stop the car so I could take a photo.

Isn't it cute?  I can't wait to see the finished sculpture!  He stopped carving momentarily to pull the extension cord closer.

One of our stops was the main library to return some books and DVDs.  My new pet peeve is people who don't return library books on time!  I have two on reserve that were due in the past week and they haven't been returned yet. The library requires a special trip from our location but I am trying to save money by taking advantage of all it has to loan.

This cozy area with a fireplace and gas log is in the main entrance area. Mark decided to check it out with a little urging from me.

Then we went into the children's area to see if the dog we donated last summer was still there. Yup, it's in the padded toddler area and certainly looks well-loved.  Thank you, Dawn, for deciding we should give it to them. Mark and I could lay down in that space with the dog and still have plenty of room left over!