Rita Rose on the Persian

Well, I was down to one pug…that being Dino…when one day a couple weeks ago, he headed south to check on his real estate holdings.  Not certain if I ever told you this but Dino is some smooth character.  Not that you would want him at one of your finer dinner parties but the boy has made some unusual investments in the southern part of the country.  He is the sole proprietor of a chain of strip-malls, which houses Poodle Parlors and a series of Pole Dancing clubs for the after-hours set.  Now, he isn’t elegant in the same way other pugs are nor does Dino present well as Wally once did…but the boy can invest, I have to give him that! The story goes that on his last night in Beebe, Arkansas he stopped at a roadside dive for a Bud and something deep fried, and it was there that he spotted Miss Rita.  She had just done her last set, was saying good bye to the boys in the band and about to have a T-bone steak at the bar.  Poor Rita was, quite frankly, all used up…she had traveled the deep South for too many years.  Her heart was always with the blues, but she ended up singing the old Patsy Cline requests.  Just before she dipped into that medium-rare steak, Dino offered her a whole new world of adventure.  I know this all seemed pretty fast to me too…but pugs work a whole lot quicker than human types.  Damned if Rita didn’t take him up on the offer!  She headed back to Roslindale looking quite weary and in need of a bath, but even under all those miles of life, I could tell she had real promise.  I took the both of them in (what else could I do?).  I wondered what Wally and Lulu would have thought of this instant attraction, and then I remembered Wally met Lulu in Paris on one of his many business trips and except for the location (Paris versus Arkansas) that old Wally did much the same thing.  One day, when Rita is settled, she will make a visit to the store, and I’ll just bet you we might be able to get at least one Patsy Cline ballad out of her!

Lulu Wanders the Beach in Provincetown

Dino and Lulu in the Best Possible Late-Day Light

OK so I might cheat just a little bit here…getting you hooked thinking there could be something sage that is about to be said about “dogs.”  I admit I cheat…it is pugs I want to talk about and those of you who own pugs know they are not mere dogs!  And the specific pug in question is that dear Lulu.  I owned her or rather she owned me for ten years.  Her fur was like a bunny rabbit, and when she was young, I thought she looked just like Bette Davis! She wore pearls and a leopard-print pillbox hat with a scarf  to match…for the holiday season from Thanksgiving on, we dropped the leopard in favor of Christmas red…hat and scarf, of course!  For all that Wally was a thug…Lulu was a lady.  It is easy to understand why they became so bonded to one another.  I like to believe Wally needed her for the table manners part, and she needed to realize, as only Wally knew, it was OK for a pug to jump the queue when waiting a cab  in Paris.  The two are off together again: she a healthy sighted pug with all her teeth and Wally has full use of all four legs and no grey muzzle.  I think they must be curled up in some heavenly doughnut bed or maybe they are running free with other pugs, tails out flat, as they chase one another and somewhere in all this are bowls of water and hidden dog treats and grass to lie in and trees to water.  And may it be so for all our dogs (pugs or otherwise) who have shed their lives here and are having the best ever romp in this delicious imagined world.

Lulu the Shop Sleeper

Was this ever a lucky break!  I have found the perfect shopkeeper.  When you’re in the neighborhood, you must pop in to meet her!  I nabbed her off an Air France flight to Paris! Lulu was longing for a silver platter of oysters on the half shell served, as only the French can do, on a delicate bed of shaved ice.  She was headed to Le Petit Zinc on Rue de Buci where once I asked a man to marry me…that was years ago and, for the record, he declined. (Which was a lucky break for both of us!)  But enough about me and more on Lulu.  As you know, Lulu was the constant companion of Wally, whose death last month has made this dear pug deeply sad.  Now, I haven’t a clue why the trip to Paris…she claims it was for the oysters and who am I to argue.  I would head there this minute for those very oysters and the light of the place, and I would wander down the side streets I so love.  Lulu and I are avoiding travel, just now, and continuing with the management of 6 Birch Street…a little oasis of its own…minus the oysters and the wonders of Paris!

Wally's Garden Shrine

Wally loved the garden!  The head stone was mined from the Cortez Mine in Northern Nevada…it is filled with glittery bits of crystal on its cut edge…a fine tribute to a dog who loved nothing more than a little flash for any occasion!

Bae's Monkey After Five

A couple weeks ago, Bae’s (my granddaughter) monkey came to the “House of Couture” for a little fitting of a dress suitable for a monkey and a matching one for Ms. Bae.  Monkey spent the night, and by the afternoon of the second day there was no pleasing her…I tried bananas, peanuts, to no avail….the wine was best suited for such an occasion…after all how often do I have a monkey house guest?

Monkey Fully Dressed!

New Store Merchandise!

Come by and see the new/old footstools and chairs covered in vintage Kantha cloth!  I have been gathering stools and old chairs over the winter months…which have been given a whole new life!  We adore them!

Wally in late September at "The Arb"

The first time I saw Wally, it was November; he was seven weeks old and in the arms of his breeder.  He was wrapped in a turquoise towel, his little face peeking out from the folds.  I was there to think about getting a dog.  Mind you, I say think…up until the moment I laid eyes on him, I was certain I could easily walk away.  He cost what felt like a fortune; I thought this whole thing was a bit excessive, even if it was my idea to buy a pug.  I didn’t have a clue about dogs, no sense of their purchase price, no idea of the time or monies to follow just to keep the old boy upright!  In fact, his purchase price was a bargain given what the next 13 years would bring!  Wally (Wallace when he was wearing more formal attire) was a challenge…he had more trainers than I have had husbands, he couldn’t bear the sounds of air brakes or the color yellow of a school bus.  I like to think this was his worn chino stage, which he wore with a muscle tee shirt with a pack of unfiltered smokes in the rolled-up sleeve!  He was a thug in those days, nearly impossible to train, who slept on sofas and beds and loved the very best to curl up on the coat of some guest…especially if said guest didn’t relate to dogs!  Wally saw me through the death of my partner, my father, my mother, and assorted friends who all left this world way too early.  Wally stuck it out and knew when to be present with grief.  He has aged and is now in his dressing gown stage…I like to imagine it to be one of those silky types with a small print and a lovely silk satin shawl collar and with this he would be wearing a pair of black needlepoint slippers with the image of a fawn pug on each foot.  They would be the sort of slippers that the Duke of Windsor wore when he and the “Dutchie” lounged about with their assorted pugs.  There is no question that Wally is slowing down and that this will be his last winter.  I wonder what will become of Lulu who adores him as much as I do.  She is blind and toothless.  Wally is her seeing eye companion, and he is my long-time beau.  How lucky I have been to have had them both!

Wally & Lulu sleep away the month!

It is true…this is a month that one needs to take a long rest.  It is the month I turn a year older, the month I question all those resolutions made just days before, the month I question owning a store (didn’t I tell you to talk to me in January about all that love of retail!).  January just isn’t pretty, no matter how much you might love the cold!

This bag says it all! Pictures to come.

Don, John from PatchNYC & Maren Rossman at Oleana!

If you haven’t been to Oleana, in Cambridge MA, you must go today…this very minute!  It is one of my favorite places for the best ever food!  Ana Sortun, the chef owner, also owns Sofra. Which is my other favorite for coffee, pastry, a wee treat of exotic luncheon fare.  Ana teaches a few cooking classes a year at Sofra and, on occasion, hosts tours to celebrate the cuisine of other cultures.  Though I have taken the classes, I have yet to do the food tour…not yet anyway!

Diane Hanna at Kiskadee Coffee shop in Plymouth, MA

So here is what I want to tell you about Diane…other than the fact that I am a big fan of her work.  She is a poet, a special and unique teacher and a remarkable talent who wears layers of netting and practical shoes.  She hosts a writers’ workshop each February at the store.  The dates this year are the 21st & 22nd…limit is twelve lucky people per day.  If you’re on my email list, you will be hearing about the event, if not, check out the website for details.  Join us with your blank notebooks and your pens for a day of magic!

Dino, Lulu, and Wally

Darlings, I promise you one thing… this is going to be no ordinary blog!

Whether it’s Tuscon or Marrakesh, you’ll get a front-seat view of my travels to the far-flung corners of the earth.  There will be tall tales of the hunt for fabulous irresistibles.  I’ll be posting pictures and descriptions of new finds wherever they may be.  To spice things up, I’ll be divulging favorite recipes from my kitchen, tidbits of fascinating lives pulled from my obituary collection, and of course the latest from my three pugs: Lulu, Wally and Dino.

So check back often… it’s going to be a fun and fabulous adventure!