Love Notes

Turns out I had so many bits of coral dancing in my head last week, I decided to split them into two notes instead of one.   Let's pick up where we last left off, and step lively into our parade of the prettiest shades of pink into coral into sherbet-y orange. 

Remember me nattering on about the joy of walking into a manicure appointment with my new Rose Baltique nail polish from Hermès (a splurgy gift from a dear friend)?*    Naturally, a hunt soon ensued to find a signature shade to paint my summer toes.  My vision:  the perfect coral-y pink, not too mauve, not too orange, not too neon.  Wouldn't you know that I came up blank, after multiple trips to CVS, Walgreens and even Duane Reade?  Expanding my horizons, I hit the internet, where I found this dream-manifested-into-reality shade from Chanel:  Première Dame.  Well, that wasn't quite the term I was envisioning to describe the look I was going for, so I decided I better check it out in person.  As I was in NYC two weeks ago for garden club meetings, I was determined to squeeze in a quick visit to the Chanel boutique on 57th Street.   And, as I happily trotted up to the signature black doors in my best garden club lady outfit, I was greeted by, "Do you have an appointment?"  Wait, what?    READ MORE

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People think of Bermuda as a honeymoon destination, an island of coral sand populated by men in retro shorts and dark socks, a whirlwind away from the mainland.  It may be all those things, perhaps even with a of touch of the Mad Men era, but it's also a spectacularly easy and fabulously fun weekend getaway.  My friends and I had such a ball there a few short weeks ago, we are already plotting our return.   

Here's the trick: Bermuda is about two hours non stop from many major East Coast gateways.  That's easier than getting to Nantucket or the Vineyard, especially when you factor in fog banks eating into flight schedules, or the crazy advance planning needed to secure a ferry reservation.

June into early July is an ideal time to visit Bermuda, with weather not unlike what you'll find on a summer road trip closer to home.  Daytime temperatures in the mid 80s await, with evenings dipping into the 70s, often enough with a gentle breeze trickling by.  Better still, the warm ocean water hovers around 80, a spa like counterpoint enticing one to take a break from lounging on a chaise beneath a striped umbrella on one of their heavenly coral sand beaches.  READ MORE

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Last week, a wonderful friend invited me to a gala benefitting the Young Concert Artists.  This is a fabulous organization which I knew nothing about - click on the link above, and I know you'll be glad to learn more too.  These outstanding young artists perform regularly in NYC and Washington - make a note to catch the next great virtuoso before the rest of the world catches on.  The season finale of this year's Young Concert Artists series is at Carnegie Hall this Wednesday, May 13, and you can still get tickets here.

The Uber ride into DC for the gala was the setting for a spirited and amusing debate on this pressing topic:  What is a dinner jacket and on what occasions may it be worn?  Let me start things off by saying, I am 85 percent convinced I was wrong.  I thought a dinner jacket had to be white (well, ivory).   Otherwise, it's just a tuxedo jacket, right?  My otherwise astute friend disagreed.  READ MORE

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Each season has its hinge.   It's not a particular date on the calendar, it's more like we become forest creatures and just know.  For me, it's the moment I slip the yard man an extra $20 to drag my tangerine tree from the sunroom out onto the patio.  Literally six inches from where it lives all winter, just the other side of the window pane, but with it comes a completely different social life.  The garden once again becomes my living room.

I read somewhere recently about the dawn of iced coffee season.  (You know I liked that.)  Even though I'm a hot coffee year round kind of gal.  Even when it's a hundred degrees with swamp-like humidity here in Washington.  Then there's my wonderful college roommate Nanny, who lives on the oft frozen north shore of Boston, but is a twelve-months-a-year disciple of Dunkin Donuts iced coffee.   What is it with New Englanders and Dunkin Donuts?   And why is it that the only donut I like, the butternut, is only sold in their New England stores?  Maybe that's actually a good thing for me. 

Where was I ... honoring the hinge.  Which reminds me of my dad.  READ MORE

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The hurrah of Labor Day festivities is always seasoned - for me at least - with a dollop of melancholia, a sense of an ending.  A touch of grey drifts across my last lobster roll of the season, just one of a string of bittersweet "lasts".  Goodbye to Sunday night sunset cocktails on this beach above, so long to riding my 20 year old bike along the golf course to our small summer church, farewell to late afternoons needlepointing with friends on the beach, adieu  to the leisurely la la land that is August in New England.    For me most of all, Labor Day oozes with goodbyes to dear friends and the warm embrace of this small community. 

Yet I know how lucky I am, this melancholia is only the shadow cast by gratitude.  READ MORE HERE

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