"I have simple tastes, I am always satisfied with the very best."

Jonny Valiant

375 Ocean Road

Come with me on a tour of Melrose, a 1916 Tudor style home in Narragansett.  It's always been one that catches my eye when I whisk by. Last summer when the gang from New York were visiting we snuck in to  take pictures and explore the abandoned grounds.  As soon as we were done I researched it extensively, so you can imagine my surprise when today I drove by today and saw a "For Sale" sign up front!  Thank God for my pacemaker, whew!

(disclaimer: sorry for the incredibly heinous photos...thank you remax!)

Above is the view from the front door, I know this from the time I snuck a peak in the windows seen in picture.  This room will be great for those making dramatic entrances to my parties.  I'll have to hire live entertainment of some sort.

Not sure what this room is below, but I'm envisioning quiet nights with friends by the fire, talking and smelling the wafting jasmine come in from the garden.

This must be the master suite?

The listing price is $579,900.  A "steal" especially since all the houses in this neck of Ocean Rd. start at 5 million.  

Did I mention four bedrooms, four baths, a guest cottage, three car garage, koi pond (top photo, under the plywood), spitting distance away from my favorite tidal pool for swimming and basically a dream come true.  I daren't imagine where to start the work, but if I was a millionaire or in another phase of my life I'd buy this in an instant and start the dream life. 

Here's the picture Micah took of Katie and I in the garden last May:  (I'm the ecru blob rolling about in the grass, wearing Katie's poncho in a bucolic fit.)

I hope this isn't "the one that got away!"

Weeping Willow Blues

I simply cahn't remember where I found the above illustration but I love it altogether!

This summer I think I'm going to plant a weeping willow (at a safe distance from the well) and wait for it to grow to a height were I can sit under it for hours and hours...

A Reticent Realist

I read a review on Fairfield Porter this weekend and I'm instantly enamored!

There was a show exhibiting his work at the Tibor de Nagy gallery which I missed, per usual.

'Anne in a Striped Dress,' 1967

'Katie in an Armchair,' 1954

"Quiet, Bud"

I'm sure your sick to death of all this Alice in Wonderland stuff going around.  I'm with you, but I've had this song stuck in my head for the past few weeks and am hoping this will break the curse.

What this weekend will look like, fingers crossed!

The Gardener's Cottage at Lanhydrock

Maybe it's the weather.

Or that I just got a new Beverley Nichols book. 

 Or that we are working for gentlemen who have a 1791 farmhouse and barn in the woods with chickens, raised gardens, etc etc. 

But I want to include all of the above in some sort of life potion. 

NOW!

Call me in three years and see how I did.

Lafayette Park

Adam Moore's photograph looks straight out of any Spanish magical-realist novel. Garcia Marquez visualizing Cartagena or Allende bringing Caracas to life. Nobody does it better. It's actually just San Francisco, magical in it's own way! (Never been)