Monthly Archives:

May 2016

A Ritual of Rings

It’s our wedding anniversary, so Andy and I will be celebrating in Boston with one of our simplest rituals: the cleaning of the rings, in which we stop by Shreve, Crump & Low’s and hand over our wedding rings for their yearly steam-clean. There will be other rituals as well, and a few fine dinners, but I’ll save those for another day. For now, our annual look back at what happened six years ago:

Part 1: The Arrival & Accommodations

Part 2: The Rehearsal Dinner

Part 3: The Last Call of a Bachelor

Part 4: The Dawn of the Wedding Day

Part 5: The Ceremony

Part 6: The Perfect Day in the Park

Part 7: The Wedding Lunch

Part 8: The Wedding Dinner

Bonus Post: The Residual Glow of Marriage

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Additional Washington Blooms

There is more than pink, yellow, and chartreuse to a Washington spring, and this is a respite of additional prettiness, kicked off by this beautiful Lenten rose, here nodding its flower heads in pretty agreement. Though these plants take a few years to get established (and young ones will indeed take a while before they bloom) they are astoundingly long-lived and reliable. (I’ve had one that has faithfully returned for fourteen years.)

As for the rest, it’s a wonderfully mixed bag – an orchid, some Virginia bluebells, and an American dogwood. Enjoy this pastel entry to the weekend.

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Sawdust & Screw

Something is in the works.

Something is always in the works.

Seek. Find. Conjure. Create. Fulfill.

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Broadway Men Baring Their Bodies

Broadway is gearing up for the most wonderful time of the year. Not the Tony nominations, but the Broadway Bares benefit. That’s when all the spectacularly-fit specimens doff their clothes for an evening of racy fun to benefit Broadway Cares. In joyful anticipation of this, we should have a few Broadway Hunks coming up in the next few weeks, but first, a look back at some memorable triple-threats who have been named Hunk of the Day. (I won’t rule out a repeat either, especially if you ask nicely.)

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Olives & Nuts

Another mid-afternoon snack idea to kick-start the salivation, here’s a perfect pairing for an early cocktail: olives and nuts. I love the olive bowl, a one-piece work of art that neatly provides a place for the pits. An elegant presentation for the inelegant conundrum of the pit(i)ful olive.

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The Missing Jewel

If you think that bargain bin basement shopping is at odds with the hoighty-toighty label-whoring that goes on in these parts, you don’t know me very well. I’m more likely to be found prowling the clearance racks at Marshall’s or Nordstrom Rack than perusing the full (over) priced items at Barneys or Neiman Marcus. (There’s only one area in which I insist on going high-end: fragrance. You just can’t go the bargain fragrance route or you’ll end up smelling like a college disaster. Cool Water? Fool Water. Curve? Swerve. One? Done.) As for the rest, all of it is up for grabs, including – and especially – jewelry. I can’t justify investing any serious money into something I’ll wear once or twice to a party or special occasion. And so we end up with a missing jewel.

When seen from afar, it may not be seen at all. And for specific tattered looks of bohemian ruggedness, such incidentals might as well be intentional. Besides, I like the idea of something flashy being somewhat tarnished. We could all use a little polish on the crown now and then, and there are worse things than missing jewels.

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Octopus & Duck

Most of my casual food and hotel reviews end up on Tripadvisor, so I don’t really repost them here. Such is the case with these food photos from Rural Society – a restaurant whose delicious food is slightly marred by stunted service. We’ll leave it at that. The dishes certainly look and taste good, however, so don’t be too put off. Worth it if you have a lot of time on hand.

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Wacky Wednesday: Jockstrap Hump

The Delusional Grandeur Tour got over the hump with its recent spattering of Tour Book entries, chronicling the Warrior Retribution portion of the proceedings. Non-fans of the darker images can relax and rest easy now – from here on out it’s going to be beauty and fashion and flowers and shit – and something a little bit deeper, but that’s for you to discover on your own.

For this Hump Day, here’s a jockstrap shot that never made the final Tour Book, taken as noted from the Warrior section. {You may revisit that lengthy chapter at these links: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight.}

And if you like jockstraps, you can visit these posts: Jockstrap One, Jockstrap Two, Jockstrap Three, Jockstrap Four, Jockstrap Five, Jockstrap Six, Jockstrap Seven, Jockstrap Eight. What can I say? We like to get linky here.

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Washington in Chartreuse

The final entry of this day of Washington blooms is not actually a bloom, but the opening leaves of the ginkgo tree. With their ruffled edges and early spring hue, they are just as vibrant and beautiful as a flower. This is another tree I have admired from a distance, fascinated by its form and ancient history. (The ginkgo is one of the oldest trees known to humanity.)

The leaves are works of art in their own right, and tellingly inspire artistic works from jewelry to scarf prints and everything in-between. Like some frilly ankle-length skirt billowing in a summer breeze, the leaves shimmer with the slightest wind, exposing their silvery backs to enchanting effect. That’s only part of the show: in fall, they turn the brightest yellow, which brings us back to our previous post. Life is but a circle, and we go round and round and round…

 

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Washington in Yellow

We continue our Washington-in-bloom series right where we left off: with the tulip. With their bold color and spicy fragrance, it’s no wonder these magical bulbs fostered such a hysteria in Holland all those years ago. Today, they are mass-bred and quite common, but no less beautiful for it. With such a short season of bloom, and generally such a short life, the tulip is always gone too soon. For that reason, I rarely grow them, but I very much enjoy it when others do.

The only other entry for this brief yellow post is the Trout lily (also commonly known as the dog tooth violet). I’ve pined for this plant since I was a child, captivated by its delicate floating blossoms, yet for some reason I’ve not yet tried my hand with them in the garden. As you can see, they are exquisite beauties, perfect for a woodland garden. It may be time to cast that spell and plant some of my own.

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Washington in Pink

Having been to Washington, DC numerous times, and posting about it in equal measure, there isn’t much more to be said about our Nation’s Capitol that hasn’t been said before. Instead, I’ll focus on the bits of beauty that were on display this time around, starting with a pink motif that ran gorgeously through this recent visit.

It began in the last of the cherry blossoms – the late-blooming Kwanzan. The traditional single-flowered trees were long past their prime, but these still hung their frilly carriage against the bright blue sky.

The redbuds were in spectacular effect, their vibrant shade perhaps the strongest of the flowering trees, and their pea-like blooms have the unique trait of blooming directly from the tree bark.

Also called the Judas tree (in part because they will bloom wherever the tree is nicked or cut) this is a pretty specimen for planting because its leaves are some of the most handsome around, and retain their beauty throughout the season, never getting ragged or worn no matter how strong the wind may gust.

Their limbs have a reputation for being on the weak side, prone to snapping in strong storms, but in a slightly sheltered spot they should be fine, and my lone tree has never (knock on weak wood) faltered.

You can better see the bloom-from-the-bark phenomenon below.

Finally, tulips provided their own rosy accompaniment to the pink theme, nodding in the cool breeze and sunlight. Washington in bloom is a beautiful sight.

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Madonna: Tits & Ass at the Met Gala

I’ll be honest: at first, I absolutely hated it. Not as much as I hated Lady Gaga’s sad visage, or Taylor Swift’s mis-step in Vuitton, but for Madonna – my queen – I hated it. But as with most things that have to do with Madonna, I soon saw the error of my ways, and realized the genius of this ensemble in the ‘Manus x Machina’ theme that this year’s Met Gala celebrated.

Everyone else is scoffing at the audacity of this fifty-something woman to put her body so flagrantly on display, but for this year’s theme, Madonna melds humanity and technology in striking fashion, embodying the human form in bionic bands and peek-a-boo lace. Haters are most definitely going to hate on this one, and that only makes me love it – and Madonna – more.

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Bric-à-Brac

This is a clean-up post, wherein a random assortment of photos that didn’t quite find their place in previous posts get dumped so I can clear out some flash drives and you can see some almost-rans. It’s a glimpse behind the curtain, and I have no issue stepping aside for yapping dogs. Originally, I was going to go into their respective backgrounds and offer a background for why they didn’t make the cut, but it’s more fun (and way more easy) to let them speak for themselves. Choose your own adventure.

 

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The 1st May Recap, on the 2nd

The lovely and lusty month of May is at hand, but before we indulge let’s recap the last week of April, because good stuff happens then too. It began with a collection of keys. Outside, more lessons revealed themselves. Some stories longed to be told, but I wasn’t going to whisper them. There were parties to plan, and friends to gather. In the air, a hawk swooped through the middle of the day.

A lackluster Madonna Timeline proved that I don’t love everything she does.

Waiting for the day’s eye.

Mae West knows best.

The Delusional Grandeur Tour got all bloody.

Jewels & fruit.

The ‘Warrior Retribution‘ section began its jock-strap-shrouded descent, before concluding in superhero fashion.

A bevy of beautiful men bellied up to the Hunk bar: Ryan Serhant, Nathan McCallum, Ashley McKenzie, and Guilherme Rufino.

The beginning of May.

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Apple & Beads

A Pink Lady apple.

A rope of beads.

A quiet afternoon.

Trinkets and trifles to make the way of this world a little easier.

Prettier and happier, too, because we need more of that.

Metals and glass and fabricated facets.

A silvery, sinewy thread to tie it all together.

Something to adorn the fruits of every labor.

There is beauty and danger here.

No matter how beautiful, it’s still just a rope around your neck.

No matter how delicious, it can still be a vessel for poison.

I do not care.

I would risk it all to be a little prettier, to taste the temptation that befell Eve.

We are human. Hear us roar.

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