right?

friends: coming and going

missing friends and neighbors in the 'hood tonight. one left for china today. i got home in time to say goodbye to another off to kabul. we have a friend in south carolina prepping for a year of defense contracting in iraq and another in costa rica on vaca. BUT, and this is a big one, the boys from new york are on their way! for this sunday is the equality march in dc, and people are pouring in from all over the country. our friend , larry, of Fischbach Gallery in ny, last seen lounging poolside at his fabulous house in fire island , along with that ubiquitous lab, will be here wining and dining us at restaurant nora, dc's only recognized organic restaurant. then on sunday, we'll march with him, his boys and local friends. hopefully, i'll get a few good pics both of the food and the march. hopefully, we'll make a difference.

i'm just a walking the dog

when you have a dog your time is no longer your own, at least if you live in a city. here, the alarm is set for 6:25 am, one of us gets up and makes espresso, that one is not the dog. i turn mine into an iced latte, we (the humans) both throw on a motley assortment of clothes. i grab my coffee, she grabs the dog. we're off! the lab sniffs, and points (sometimes nele points too), runs to keep up with groups of jogging soldiers ( we live by a marine base) ,and stops short to hunt for MICE or maybe tears off after a RABBIT, sometimes there are SQ'S (squirrels to the uninitiated). we say good morning to people hurrying off to work, watch the sun come up and occasionally i snap a pic. this happens again as soon as i get home from work and again after dinner. no wonder i ordered thai food tonight. here are a few pictures of what we see when we are walking. now i've got to run; time to walk the dog.
p.s. the cat, who sleeps in the laundry basket in the closet, asks me to tell you she finds all this fuss about the dog really annoying

more moments from eden

did i forget to mention the magnolia grove, the fruit trees, the dahlia bed? the steamed edamame from the garden, the tomato and mozzarella salad with the greek basil? the pot roast with a 1/2 jar of horseradish in the sauce? how about the strawberry rhubarb pie? the vases of freshly cut flowers all over the house? i haven't forgotten. nor has my heart or my stomach.

down on the farm

i should be in my usual monday morning cleaning frenzy, but i'm sipping iced latte and looking at pictures from yesterdays' visit to our friend's farm in maryland. sad i'm such a sorry photographer, i would love to be able to capture the scope of all 5 acres of beauty: the orchard, the nuttery, the long beds, the vegetable beds, the pond full of open water lilies and the peacocks perched on every railing, the roof and wandering in and out of flower beds. the woods are full of blooming cyclamen ,the viburnum rich in orange and red berries and iris are reblooming everywhere. since i can't capture all this on my little sony camera, i'll content myself with eating a soft boiled egg from their chickens, eating a piece of toast spread with honey from their hives and posting a few shots of our garden walk. more later.

the crop is in!

i am trying to make salmon cakes for dinner, still eating from the pantry and garden this week. went out to pick a pepper and realized the gourds wanted to come in! so i picked as many as were on our side of the fence, rushed in, arranged in bowl and took pic. i'm so proud of our crop! lab wants to go for walk, gotta run.

october- inside and out

in the home ,in the shop, in the garden, both the richness of autumn color and the decaying grandeur of october is so appealing to me. while the shop is filled with the reddest of rosehips, the brightest of berries and the newest of roses, the garden is full of fading glamour. in the house, a small vase with a new (to us) rose, "latina". in the shop. a beautiful fall arrangement created by betty, one of my co-designers. in the garden, october disarray. nice not to feel i have to keep it looking perfect anymore, nature is having her own way and doing it beautifully.