No Long-stem Red Roses For This Dame!

Well, Darlings, while most of you were being feted on Valentine’s Day, the rest of us singletons did what single folks do…we get through it!  I, who love to cook, steamed up a bunch of organic carrots, tossed in a brussel sprout or two, and baked a sweet potato, which I served with a pound and a half of butter.  I downed the whole ugly meal with the better part of a bottle of Malbec.  I will say that some dear Cupid scattered small glittery hearts on my door mat and left at my front door a sweet little nest of chocolate truffles.  They were beyond delicious!  Thank you, Cupid!

Dino borrowed the red Aston Martin I keep for special jaunts.  That willful pug took our little Miss Rita Rose out to the local Dine And Dance.  Guess they had quite a time.  Rita Rose dropped layers of her frock (a fine red satin ball gown with little cap sleeves and a red tulle shawl edged in gold charms of dog biscuit shape), as she headed upstairs to bed.  Dino wore the tux that I know you have all seen him in.  Miss Rita will need a new pair of dancing slippers, judging from what I gathered off the floor.

It is just lovely that two out of three of us had a proper Valentine’s Day, and I do hope you did too!

Provincetown... Race Point Beach... January 2, 2012

Is there anything a gal loves more than handsome company for New Years Eve?  We headed off to P.Town (we being Rita Rose, Dino and I) for a few days with John in his remarkable house.  The two pugs loved the beach.  I loved the white sofa that sits just under the big side window at the far end of John’s dining room.  I loved the bed on the second floor with its blue Kantha cover and I didn’t find the beach half bad either!  We dined exceedingly well for three days.   On New Years Eve, John and I went to three (count them!) parties.  Each one a delicious experience and I don’t “do” parties easily.   I looked at a small cottage for sale that would require deep pockets of bucks  for its restoration.  I toy always with a move to just such a cottage (totally restored, of course) with the dunes at my back and a small sliver of that blue water at my front.  Dino insists that I buy the two of them a little “something,” but he doesn’t seem to be coming up with the down-payment!

This wonderful old block of ancient wood has been the support of many a fine meal at John’s.  One hot summer evening, John’s friend Bill prepared a salmon for grilling and then like magic he fried up a black skillet of capers to toss over the salmon.  I have watched John do wonders with the prep of an organic chicken on this fine block of a table.  There have been glasses of wine poured while we all stand around and eat cheese and olives from dishes placed on its worn surface.  I love this table!  If I bought that cottage in P.Town,  this table and I could become quite bonded!

The Ninth and Final Pajama Party!

This is it my darlings… our final pajama party.  We have had a long and wonderful run with this event, and it is time to find another adventure.  I have a plan that will treat all of you who have supported my little shop throughout the year.  It is a doozie of a plan (no, I am not taking you all on a cruise nor are we heading off to Venice, and it isn’t even a fine meal out at some fancy dive).  I will keep it secret while working out the pesky details.  Trust that you shan’t wear your pajamas for the next caper!

Maizey, First in Line!

Last Thursday evening the whole store went to the dogs!  We had Jessie, Rudy, Duncan, Biff, Maizey and let’s not forget Rita Rose all lined up for a sample treat of Mosscuits.  The treats were a sell-out!   We just received a second delivery of these handmade, good- for-dog or master treats…stop in before they are scooped up by dogs carrying shopping bags and wee little leather wallets filled with dog-treat money.

Tonight we will host Elaine and Catharine, the creators of EHChocolatier.  Now, I can tell you for certain this is the BEST bit of sweet you might get this season.  We are honored to carry their chocolates and to have them visit the store.  If you live anywhere near 6 Birch Street…you would be a durn fool not to pop in for a sample.  If you don’t, maybe it’s time to consider moving!

Perfect Pink For an August Month!

That could be me up there in the front passenger seat.  I might be wearing that little floral sundress with the nipped-in waist and the sweetheart  bodice with the narrow little spaghetti straps that slide off my tender young shoulders.  My hair might be piled high into one of those French twists.  For certain, I will be on the road to somewhere completely outrageous.  I will have my sleep-over clothes, my pancake makeup, and my dancing heels in a Sansonite piece in the backseat.

August is the month for such adventures while the Senate and the President check-mate one another, and the country waits and wonders where it will all end…if it ever does!  The open road is my idea of August.

Now, were I to stay out of the Caddie entirely (note the rear bumper seems to be showing its age) and roost instead on that purple chaise lounge in the Florida room…which is most likely the case.  I will be reading another endless stack of books…”Tunnel Vision” by Gary Braver and two books about the folks who attempted Donner Summit during a dreadful winter…”Impatient With Desire” and “Searching for Tamsen Donner” both by Gabrielle Burton.  Seems to me August is the perfect time to read of a trek over the summit in a dreadful winter.  Sadly, the Donner Party did not fare so well.

Years ago, in a mustard-colored Volvo wagon, we drove the Donner frequently.  There were four of us…a bearded Republican husband (#2), two daughters, and one chocolate brown Burmese cat named Mugger.  We would take this route to visit my parents in Sparks, Nevada.  As the kids bickered in the back seat and the two adults (one with a beard and the other wearing the afore-mentioned sundress) bickered in the front seat over the Vietnam war and equal rights for women.  The only happy traveler was Mugger who dozed in the “way-back” of the mustard-colored Volvo.

Stay safe and stay tuned…more adventures from the open road to follow!

Eureka, Nevada Has a July 4th!

Somewhere in America, a girl wearing a pink tutu marched her pet goat down Maine Street in the 4th of July parade.  I am told there were fire engines and dignitaries and dogs dressed for the occasion in this parade.  Folks lined the main street of Eureka (a small town of no more than 600 residents) for the annual event.

What More Can Be Said?

In my neighborhood, on the 4th, the folks who live two houses down and behind me, the ones with the above ground pool and the barking beagle started their annual celebration. When I considered buying this house, I stood out on the second floor balcony and I looked over at the above ground pool and a small voice inside me said “Think about this.”  It was the same small voice that said exactly the same thing just before my second marriage.  Both times I ignored that sage little whisper.  Just as on every other 4th, the shouting and belly-flops began with the addition of the barking beagle and lasted well into the night.

At about the same time, my back-fence neighbor’s guests arrived for their annual barbeque.  Moments later the Karaoke machine was plugged in, the volume turned up to the highest frequency and the singing began!  All Latin ballads with a little of Bruce Springstein here and there.  What I can tell you is this…on a hot 4th of July evening, don’t attempt to serenade the woman who lives at #20.  She is thinking evil thoughts!

The Girl in a Christmas Window

Would you look at that…it is already a week into the December adventure!  A few years ago, when I started this whole blog thing, I was convinced that I would be blogging each and every day.  In fact, I was pretty convinced that I would find blogging much more fun than shopkeeping!  Silly me!  So since last entry, lets imagine I have been sitting at a fine little bistro table sipping delicate white wines in Paris, France, and when I wasn’t in Paris, I might have been in Venice, Italy standing on the Bridge of Sighs watching the tight little buns of the gondoliers who passed by, or maybe I was walking the crowed aisles of the Souk in Marrakech surrounded by darkly handsome men and women, the air filled with the scent of a hookah mixed with ground cinnamon and cumin from the spice seller just across the way.  Or heck, I could have been right there at 6 Birch Street holding court with fellow shoppers.  Given the amazing goods in the store, I had best stay grounded until just after 3 PM on December 24th!  Pop in for a visit.

We had a remarkable Holiday Wander last Thursday…three more to go.  American Express gave small business a huge boost with their November 27th launch of supporting the small local shops.  Thank you, American Express!

Beyond giving all of you the urge to shop, I want to suggest each of us practice large and small acts of kindness.  There are many folks who are hurting for one reason or another, and the holidays do little to soften the pain.  At this time of year, we might look back at those who have passed on, and some of us struggle now with serious challenges of health and work.  This isn’t much of a jolly holiday message…it is though intended to remind all of us to be kind and were I able to give away lovely wrapped packages of kindness this year, I would gladly work overtime to do just that for the month of December and beyond.

Glitter Time!

Yep!  It is that time of year again…where boxes arrive with goods I swear I don’t remember ordering.  I wonder also if I might have been on drugs when I did the Gift Show at the Javits!  So many decisions made last August, so much merchandise arriving this month, did I really order all of this in a totally sane state?!   There is glitter from one end of the store to the other; product is screaming for position.  I leave the store each night with armloads of empty boxes, and once the alarm is set and the door locked, those goods take on a mind of their own moving themselves into precious store space.  The books, always a pushy lot, muscle the soaps out of the way, and I can’t even tell you what happens to the tubes of French hand-cream! Those wonderful French will have no part of taking a back row.  What I am telling you is this…we have wonderful treasures in the store right now…drugs or no drugs this is the best season ever!

Now there is some chatter about shopping locally, which I know you all do, so maybe I am preaching to the choir here.  There is a movement afoot for Small Business Saturday, and God knows the best stores ever are privately owned by small madly insane folks like yours truly.  We are talking here about the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but any small business would love any old Saturday traffic…not just Saturday after Thanksgiving!

A Clever Book!

My dear friend Janette came for a wee visit from San Francisco a week or two back…she brought me this book that I hope to sell in the store.  After all, where else can a girl of any age find such urgent information as “How to Ride an Ostrich,” found on page 135.  Or “How to Make a Macrame Bikini,” page 187. Or “Eighteen Uses for a Spare Fishnet Stocking” on page 26. Or “How to Look Glamorous in a Sidecar” (something Rita Rose has already mastered) on page 241.  Perhaps my all-time favorite is found on page 213…”How to Give Yourself a Brazilian Wax!”  This is a must have on any bedside table (the book, not the Brazilian wax!).

Shoes that Could Tell a Story

Well…this is it!  No more Rowley for the season.  I can’t tell you how sad this makes me. I had such fun every Sunday morning covering those big tick-infested open fields.  Guess it will be church for me on Sundays!  These steppers were on a table of other delicious goods a month or so ago.  They reminded me of  how it felt to navigate in heels.  It might have been my second marriage when I wore such heels.  That was a while back…and with the heels, I wore a charming little handknit suit…a skirt and top sort of thing.  The skirt would barely fit now as a cufflet on one thigh, and the top, as I recall, was deeply scooped…perfect to reveal the tiniest bit of cleveage.  The headgear for such an outfit was a mantilla lace shawl dyed by my amazing, soon-to-be, mother-in-law in a cup of her hot black tea.  It might still have been damp when I strutted down the isle of Christ Episcopal Church in Sausalito California in June so many years ago.  What a day it  was!  The first marriage was a far more serious event…complete with white Chantilly lace gown, tea length with a million small covered buttons up the back, and the white pois de soie heels whose tips had traces of grass and slight bits of mud caught up from my parents front lawn, as I made my way to the waiting ’58 ivory colored Buick Royale.  That was a day too, and one I wouldn’t want to repeat with or without the nice pointy-toed shoes!

Day One, Twenty Ten

This is just about as good as it gets!  Two dear friends, Don and John, for a New Years Eve dinner and slumber party….I can’t imagine a better way to see out the old and celebrate the new!  We were, three (unwashed) adults, four dogs (three of which were Pugs!), great food, Apricot Egg Nog, and twenty two years of back issues of The World of Interiors! Now, first I must tell you, these issues have traveled from attic to attic with me, all tapped up in their own boxes…just waiting for a snowy night and enough Egg Nog to see us all through the stacks.  Here is the deal…we have become critical and maybe a tiny bit jaded…the old issues are not all we had dreamed them to be…not that they will be placed curb side, for next weeks trash pickup, any time soon….they were savored, with a somewhat clear eye, then placed back into their boxes, carried into the attic, put way over in the far corner, under the eves.  These boxes will be shifted around for, most likely, another 22 years!

Apricot Egg Nog

10 eggs separated

3/4 cup sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 cup milk

1 cup heavy cream (which you will whip)

46 ounces of Apricot nector

1 cup Rum (you could use Brandy)

1/4 cup Cointreau

fresh grated Nutmeg

In double boiler, mix egg yokes with 1/2 cup of sugar, salt and the milk…cook, over gently boiling water, until thickened…about 15 minutes.  Cool

Beat egg whites until frothy, add the balance of sugar then beat until stiff…pour cooled custard over the beaten egg whites…fold in gently…add whipped cream…fold in gently.  Add nectar, Rum and Cointreau.  Mix to blend, cover and chill over night…Stir with wire whip, when about to serve, sprinkle each serving with fresh grated Nutmeg.  Enjoy!  I cut this recipe in half, for the three of us, and could easily have treated the whole neighborhood…were we willing to share!

Christmas Eve by Candlelight

What a night!  I had so hoped to capture this evening but all photos were pathetic!  You must believe me when I tell you that, for a bit over an hour, I was surrounded by magic in this truly amazing sanctuary on Bedford Road in Lincoln, MA.  In this exquisite little church, lit only by candlelight, with its twelve over twelve windows, its creamy white walls, graceful altar, and pews which had small gates at each end, no center isle, and side ‘boxes’ with seats and these too had wee gates…the snow covering all but the walkways, the sky pitch black with the half wedge of a moon and the night filled with stars!  For a non church goer, this alone could convert me!  Add to that a choir and grand music and some readings that were relevant to the madness of this world…this was a perfect Christmas Eve!

The store ended its Holiday season nearly nude of goods and for that I am grateful!  For each of you who stopped by for the Port or some chocolates or a cookie or to visit or, lastly, to shop…to you I am grateful!  These weeks of December are long and delicious with visits and wrapping and chatter…I won’t even mention the pounds of cookies or bottles of Port we went through.  Tonight’s Candle Light service had a line in one of the opening hymns….’joy’s a gift you cannot buy.’  What I sell to you is the product.  What you give back to me is joy.  Thank you!

May you have a happy, healthy 2010

Splendid Advice

Well darlings…last I checked, it is still December, colder than one could imagine, the store is getting raided…gone is the candy (well, mostly gone) gone are the books (many of them anyway), those Lisa B socks are walking out the door (so to speak)…we are gift wrapping, pouring Port for ourselves and others, laughing some, and having a reasonably good time as shop keepers do at this time of year!  With all that, there are still so many wonderful things left, so hurry on in before the store closes for our annual winter break – December 25th until January 7th.

Waiting for me, in my Florida Room/Sun Room is a delicious stack of unread books…I swear the week between Christmas and New Year I won’t move from the chaise lounge, until I have read every last book…I might have a cup or two of sweet black tea with milk  and once the light goes South, I might sip a glass of red wine.  I will wear some dreadful, but warm, frock…some of my own Lisa B socks and there will be no makeup and no hair products on this weary shopkeeper!  Yipee!

The books I am about to read…

“The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls….”Bittersweet” by Matt McAllester…”Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” by Dai Sijie….”The Canal Bridge” by Tom Phelan…and, if the week and the wine and the hot tea holds out, I will read, once again, “The Power of One” by Bryce Courtenay this is an all time favorite and a must read for anyone!