A visit to Wave Hill (and another epic walk)

Saturday we went out to Wave Hill, a 28-acre estate that has been converted to public gardens, in the extremely un-Bronxlike Riverdale. I'd never really been over there before, and it felt like I was suddenly transported into some random wealthy suburb in Connecticut or Westchester. We're talking $6,000,000 houses with unlikely addresses like West 252nd Street, Bronx, NY.

Despite being surrounded by weird rich people (more on that later), the grounds are lovely, with beautiful views of the Hudson. It's not that large so it didn't take too long to see everything, but we hadn't paid anything to get in (free entry on Saturdays before noon) so that was fine with me.



Here's the aquatic garden, with goldfish and lilypads.

And now, for the "more" I was talking about.

Wait for it...

Bam. Best picture ever. These people were all moving around in slow motion. I guess it's some kind of tai chi class? Sigh...moving along...




The above is actually about a mile away from Wave Hill, closer to central Riverdale. I don't know what the purpose of all those reflectors is, but they look pretty cool.

Right about then my camera died but after lunch at Liebman's Kosher Deli we walked down to the Broadway bridge and into Inwood, drank some coffee at the Indian Road Cafe (on Manhattan's only "road"), wandered around Inwood Hill Park (Manhattan's only primordial forest), and took the subway down to the Lower East Side to see the Styrenes and Pink Reason at the Cake Shop. Which was kind of a mistake, as by the time the show started I was feeling totally obliterated after my 15-hour day and 12 mile walk. I think we have a tendency to overdo it.

Orange cups and saucers

A couple of weeks ago we happened upon an antique store in Westport, CT (on the same trip that I bought the herbs and looked at pictures of midcentury houses), where Dave noticed a fantastic set of plates and cups.

The plates have an indentation where you're supposed to put the cup--more of an oversized saucer, I guess, perfect for coffee and cookies. But they'd also make decent mid-sized plates. We really didn't need any more dishes but I couldn't resist them--I love the orange and the triangles. I have more and more been finding myself drawn to orange things. The color is just so bold and striking.

Dave enjoys his morning coffee out of a new mug.

More herbs for the window

Last weekend we drove up to Westport, CT, and visited Gilbertie's Herb Farm in hopes of buying some basil and cilantro for the window. We were not disappointed.

That entire left side of the aisle is made up of all different varieties of basil. If we actually had a yard we might have left with much more than we'd intended on. But there's only so much window space.

We found this cat sleeping in the shade--sounds like a nice way to spend an afternoon!

Anyway...for the basil we went with "Sal's Italian Choice" (pictured on the right next to the thyme from Sprout Home, which is doing nicely). I figure Sal must know what he's talking about. His name is Sal, after all. We also picked up some cilantro but then learned that it is better to grow them from seeds, as they don't last very long (our plant is already wilting).

But the basil is a different story. Here it is, just one week later, and look how much it's already grown! We need to start making some tomato sauce, stat.

Fresh-squeezed orange juice

We recently were the recipients of a massive fruit basket, which contained seven rather large-sized oranges. So it seemed like the only sensible thing to do was to make fresh-squeezed orange juice using my trusty new juicer. It turns out that seven oranges makes exactly the right amount of juice to fill up two of our Angela Adams glasses--it almost seems like the good people at Stew Leonard's planned it that way.

It made a very nice addition to my usual breakfast.

More window films

After finally finishing the raindrop window films, over the weekend I finished the design on window #2: triangles. I actually managed to more or less make them the same size, though the rows are a little bit crooked when you really examine them. But to the naked eye I think it looks pretty good.

A pile of triangles on the windowsill. I love the triangular shadows cast by the films.

Now I just need to do the huge double window on the adjacent wall. Not sure just yet what sort of pattern it's going to be.

Dreaming of our midcentury home

Saturday we drove up to Westport, CT, to check out an exhibit about the midcentury homes in the area. It mostly consisted of 5 x 7 photos of area homes and buildings (including a house once owned by legendary designer Paul Rand), with a small but very nice display of midcentury furnishings (there were definitely a few things I wanted to reach in and bring home with me). But it definitely made both of us fantasize a little about our future house (not that we have any money to buy one). One can dream!

Get creative with Penguin!

The last few months at work I've been working on—among many other things—a new show for Penguin's online video and radio network. It's called Get Creative with Penguin and focuses on creativity and crafting, which of course is right up my alley. Above you'll see the awesome stop motion style show intro that one of our designers created using hundreds of still photographs. For the rest of the show visit penguin.com/getcreative and learn how to sew some really cute stuffed owls, make a sandwich, and build a worm bin for your garden (much less gross than it sounds).

You won't see me in the videos (thankfully) but I made one of the owls (about 10 times over in various steps) and drew the giant backdrop in the first video. And if you look closely you'll spot my Catherine Holm lotus pot in the background of the cooking segment. Set decorating might be my new calling.