Category Archives: General

“Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.” – Albert Camus

Thus far, it’s been a banner year for the flora and fauna in our yard. The cardinals have made cozy homes in the Steeplechase thuja, while a family of bunnies must be nearby, as judging by the two or three regulars we see, a baby that appeared in the backyard once, and the missing chunks of certain perennials. (They’ve done quite a number to the early spears of hosta, and decimated a loosestrife that never even had a chance to become invasive.) We haven’t yet had the heart to chase them away, especially as they have stayed mostly to the lawns, which could use some cutting anyway. 

For now, we can exist peacefully, and it’s a treat to see these cute creatures munching away at some weed or overgrown stalk of grass. If a groundhog should join their ranks, however, that changes everything. There are some lines that must not be crossed. 

“We’re surrounded by my family,” Andy said as he beckoned me to the garage, where a young cardinal had created a predicament for itself by getting trapped on top of the open garage door. A visit from a cardinal is often seen as a sign that a departed family member is near and saying hello. This year, we think there are two pairs of cardinals taking up residence and raising families in the Steeplechase thuja hedges we have in the front and back yards. On this day, one of the juveniles was hopping to and fro on the garage door, seemingly afraid to jump through the thin opening from which it flew in. Maybe it’s easier to fly up than down, the same way it’s typically simpler to ascend stairs than descend them. Whatever the reason, it stubbornly hopped back and forth, peering over the edge to the driveway below, and listening to the annoyed chirps of its parents in the nearby lilac tree. We watched with amused interest for a while, then Andy made several attempts to shoo it toward freedom, none of which it decided to heed. 

Eventually, it grew tired of its game of hide-and-seek and joined its parents. We’ve seen them grow from the tiny strained necks that reached skyward whenever a parent would arrive with a caterpillar or worm, into the little birds that grew increasingly skilled at flying. They’re much more enjoyable than the annoyingly aggressive robins that will dive-bomb you the moment you get within a certain distance of their nests. The cardinals rise above such tactics.

Having them here for the summer has been a gift. When I was watering the hydrangeas in the front yard, I sat in the hidden shade of a Japanese maple and melted into the surroundings, so much so that the cardinals resumed their playful lessons in flying and catching worms. At first I thought they had lost one of their offspring – the way they hovered around, quite visible and not moving when I shifted made me think something was wrong – then I watched as their young ones fluttered about, and the parents watched from a safe distance. 

A few days later, I was pulling out of the driveway when a flash of scarlet caught my eye. Right at window level, a male was perched on a lower Thuja branch, simply sunning itself in the bright sun, unbothered by the Mini Cooper that moved slowly past. I managed to take a few quick photos, as seen here. He chirped a curt hello, and I left him to his day. 

The name ‘Daisy’ has been said to originate from the term ‘day’s eye’ – a fun factoid that Lee Bailey advised using when there was lull in the cocktail conversation. I’m using it as the featured photo here for this recap post, as it’s a cheery bit of sunshine in a week that looks volatile as far as weather is concerned. Hang onto your hats… and let’s revisit the previous week before the rollercoaster begins again. 

It began with the blessed and very welcome end of another period of Mercury in retrograde, something many people I know felt all too keenly. 

A very happy Father’s Day was spent with Dad and the family in Amsterdam. 

The garden was filled with all sorts of blooms, including this bit of magenta magic. 

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do!

Pride Month continued with this powerful quote.

Injecting some freshness (and some might say fabulousness) into the garden was this caged wild sweet pea. 

Some days simply demand a hot dog for lunch. 

The bee’s… hips?

We need to implement a proper afternoon sunlight siesta this summer – and all summers to follow. 

Memories of my grandmother, conjured by these cheery zinnias. 

Pride & panache & more than a pocketful of peonies.

Dazzlers of the Day included Carl Nassib, Bright Light Bright Light, and Da Brat.

It is not the proverbial Golden Hour that takes pride of place as my favorite time of the day, but rather the quiet and overlooked section of time right before that hour arrives. Around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, when it’s guaranteed to still be light out come summer or winter, that window of time in which the sun starts its slant in the sky, the last high-point of daylight – before it really starts going away. 

In some countries that’s about the time of a proper siesta – the lull in the afternoon when everyone breaks for a rest before resuming and powering through the evening. It gives the recharge necessary for a robust second-wind. A power nap of ten to fifteen minutes at such a time is considered by many to be the ideal way to excise fatigue before the last stretch of activity before bed. 

When I’m in Boston, I try to make a point of returning to the condo at about that time, to enjoy the sun coming in through the back bay window and flooding the bedroom with light. It’s a little moment of peace and unforced meditation in the day – a way to mark a pause of appreciation. 

Befitting its tempestuous nature, Mercury refuses to leave retrograde without a battle, and as I write this the skies overhead have let loose with a torrent of rain, and the air is filled with the rolling rumble of thunder. This spell of Mercury in retrograde was as zany and chaotic as ever, but going into it with the expectation of such disruptiveness made it more manageable and, dare I anger the gods, even exciting. After a year of doldrums and dullsville, we could stand some excitement. 

That said, I’m glad it’s come to a close. As I sit at the desk in our attic loft, I listen to the rain and thunder and feel cozily ensconced away from the riot of the outside world. This space will be a welcome escape when things turn cold and dark again come fall, and imprinting happy memories and peaceful notions into its physical realm will enhance the coziness. On this evening, it is an ideal location for riding out the first summer thunderstorm. 

Being the first recap in summer comes with its own baggage, especially as this is the only post that I’m doing today. The last few entries have taken a lot out of me – time, effort, and the racking of a brain that gets more difficult to jumpstart every day. Besides, I know you didn’t read all of the posts for the past week, so go do that before I put out fresh and fabulous new content. On with the recap, and into the pool!

The fancy financier, or, the Pac-Man Ghost Pastry.

The rugged Rosa rugosa.

A Saratoga lunch and movie date with my niece and nephew. 

Happily ever Andy.

An imitation of orange blossom.

My criminal past finally caught up with me.

Laughing in the face of mistakes and missteps is the only way to make it through a time of Mercury in retrograde. 

Stalling and savoring to retain and embed a weekend of memories. 

The royal purple magnificence of a mailbox or lamp post. 

Our epic-to-us return to Boston and the resuming of our BroSox Adventures – Part One and Part Two.

The exquisite ‘Sanremo’ by Mika provides the first song of the summer.

Dazzlers of the Day included Andrea Jenkins, Quinta Brunson, Opal Lee, and my Dad!

A week ago as of this writing, Skip and I were just embarking upon our BroSox Adventure 2021. I’ve been stalling and putting off writing about it because I didn’t want to break the spell. Once I’ve written about it, it’s well and truly over. In some ways I’ve been extending and enjoying the fun of it all, living off the excitement and laughter we were so starved for over the past two years. Of course I’ll get to summing up this year’s adventures, and misadventures, I just want to hold onto the memory of it before putting it all down for posterity. 

The tricks we play on ourselves, the way we emotionally convince our minds to play along with whatever gets us through the damn day – I don’t begrudge anyone for what they have to do to make it all work. 

As for the eventual repository of the BroSox Adventure 2021 that I will write up here at some point, get ready for an epic return to form. Part of me anticipated a muted and more mature evolution of our Red Sox trip to start off the summer season. That part of me was woefully and wonderfully wrong. Stay tuned… and to give you a hint of things to come, let’s just say I may not legally be allowed to ride in an Uber for the immediate future. 

Eradicating perfectionism one misstep at a time. 

That is my new mantra. 

It’s quite apt for a period of Mercury in retrograde.

So take this Friday afternoon off and relax. 

Laugh the week away. 

It’s almost summer…

The best way to get through a period of Mercury in retrograde motion is to change your attitude and expectations. If you anticipate some set-backs and insanity, when those incidents muck things up it doesn’t feel as bad. Expecting the worst doesn’t sound like the best way to live life, so it’s not quite that – it’s more of rolling with the punches – the expected punches that life doles out. And so we see something like this peony, drooping from a torrential rainstorm that comes along in June, but captured from below to show its face to the world. Expected disappointment turned on its head. On with the weekly recap…

The flower of an untrue maple.

An old friend named Clem.

The birthday of a bestie in a bonnet.

What a difference a branch makes. 

Boston x Pride.

The official unofficial start of summer, and summer starts with a song. 

Finches interrupted.

Trying tomatoes twice.

Creamy summer palette.

Lessons in pink.

Dazzlers of the Day included Eli Lieb, Orville Peck, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez, Simone Biles, and Anthony Ramos.

Skip has decreed that today marks the unofficial opening of the summer season, as we kick things off with a return to our BroSox Adventure tradition, making the quick trek to Boston to see a game at Fenway tomorrow. He always said that our June games were his signal that summer had arrived, and so we follow his lead and mark this as the start to our summer season at ALANILAGAN.com – we deserve an extra-long summer this year after all that 2020 dealt us. In the past I would wait until the scientific start of the summer solstice, and post our opening summer entry accordingly – that gets upended this year as it’s a new era and a new world. We shall make our own rules, and if that means starting summer now, let us then have the damn thing now, and make it as long and luxurious as we can possibly muster! 

As is customary, every summer season must come with a song, and rather than wait until the end of the season to christen it, let’s put it out there now as it’s a classic, and it sets the perfect tone: nostalgic and sweet.

Where the boys are
Someone waits for me
A smiling face
A warm embrace
Two arms to hold me tenderly

Our honorary ‘Aunt’ Elaine visited us with my parents the other day – on an extremely hot and sunny day that felt more like summer than summer itself, and I was reminded that when she mentions us to Suzie she simply calls us ‘the boys’ – a term of affection that tickles my 45-year-old self, and allows me to hold onto the notion of boyhood just a little bit longer. We had several nice pool-side chats, and I’m glad she’s back up north for the summer. Yet another gift of the season.

Where the boys are
My true love will be
He’s walking down some street in town
And I know he’s looking there for me

Our summer scene revolves mostly around the pool and the gardens and the patio – little pockets of atmosphere and oasis that we have created, blending and blurring the outdoors and indoors with a canopy dome and drapes. This year we have also inserted this Scandi attic loft space into one of the summer places to be. It looks down onto a lattice of climbing hydrangea, which reaches up to offer its sweetly-perfumed blooms somewhere between the ground and the loft. 

Mostly, though, our focus will be on the water – the closest we can get to the sea – and a happy-enough approximation of what it’s like to float in heavenly suspension, lulled by little waves, sprinkled by the sparkle of a bright sun. 

We have thus far gotten off to a jerky start, with stretches of cool and rainy days slowing and stunting the usual trajectory of fast-growth and quick-filling-in of foliage. Our potted fig trees are only just putting out their first leaves now, and the hanging sweet potato vines have just started to peep over the edge of their containers – they’d typically have already leapt by now. Still, nature will correct herself, and with a few hot days she will put us back on track and have everything completely caught up. 

In the crowd of a million people
I’ll find my valentine
And then I’ll climb to the highest steeple
And tell the world he’s mine

For now, I’m enjoying the stilted climb – cooler day and nights make for longer flower displays, and the flowers that are appearing now – such as this peony – are some of my favorites. 

Lavender is also in bud, and these tiny spikes of purple pungency remind us that our friend Josie will be visiting in a little over a month. Lavender is one of her favorites, and indicative of the peace and happiness our friendship has brought to each of us over the years. We haven’t seen her since well before COVID hit, which means almost two years, so this summer will mark a long-overdue and much-needed reunion. Another gift. Another item for which we show gratitude. 

This petunia is filled with the kind of pizzazz that personifies the most electric of summer days. Its smiling face and happy vibrance makes me think of my niece and nephew, jumping into the pool and bursting into every scene with their youthful exuberance and joy, the kind of giddiness that can only come when you’re a kid just out of school with the whole summer laid out before you. Summer sprawls, summer unfurls, summer releases its intoxicating magic…

There are more summer songs to come. Aside from fragrance, a song is the best way to conjure a memory, and we will make a few more this season. 

Till he holds me
I’ll wait impatiently
Where the boys are
Where the boys are
Where the boys are
Someone waits for me

Tiny blooms of white have begun to show themselves on the little stalks of lemon thyme that spill onto the pool deck. The hotter the concrete gets, the more they seem to love it. Summer stalwarts, undiminished by her heat and intensity, they are ever-ready to offer a bit of olfactory release in the form of lemony brilliance with a few crushed leaves. Thus our summer season at ALANILAGAN.com begins – quietly, gently, with just the slightest zip of zest. We tentatively embrace the sun… and the water… and it begins again…

Till he holds me
I’ll wait impatiently
Where the boys are
Where the boys are
Where the boys are
Someone waits for me

When you have made a space feel light and airy and somewhat minimalist, the simple addition of a plain vase and a large branch of foliage can make an incredible difference. It’s also a design trick used in almost any catalog you get in the mail these days: the single dramatic branch in a vase, backed by the most naturally beautiful lighting you could imagine, and just enough visual crack to make you buy everything on the page. In the end, all you are looking for is that single stupid branch, so save yourself the time and trouble of trying to recreate every exact element of a show-room and focus on what you can do to the living space you already have.

In the case of our attic loft room, the white walls and clear space left some prime spots for a bit of outdoor natural wonder. A spray of coral bark Japanese maple foliage and a dramatic blooming branch of the Wolf’s Eye Chinese dogwood liven up their respective corners. 

For another corner, I chopped off a trio of oak branches, which was a bit of an experiment as I wasn’t sure they would take well to water. It’s going on day three without showing signs of wilt, so it may be a new happy design element. For all of these ‘bouquets’, I made a long angled cut, then crushed the end of the branch to allow for maximum intake of water. Cut first thing in the morning, they were placed in this cool room with some soft light, and left to put on their show. 

There are so many possibilities with what many of us have right in our own backyards that it’s worth an experiment, especially when you want to bring in a bit of the outdoors into a space with a small (or no) window that would otherwise not support houseplants. 

If they take well to the water treatment, most of these will last far longer than a typical bouquet of flowers, while looking just as elegant. In simplicity there is beauty and peace.

In so many ways, Suzie enjoyed the childhood that I would have liked to enjoy: she had all the Barbie dolls, the Barbie dream house, a four-poster bed with a pink gingham canopy, and a mother who dressed her in hats for all the special occasions. Sometimes, and in the best possible fashion, she got a bonnet for an Olan Mills glamour shot. As this marks Suzie’s birthday, it seems a good time to debut these long-lost photos. 

The second one shows off our summer terry-cloth looks, something I am hell-bent on bringing back. I even have that tummy again, and last time we spoke Suzie was toying with the idea of going back to bangs. Everything old is new again, so happy birthday old friend.

June entered the picture and everything was as if we never said goodbye. One of the happiest months of the year (hello soon-to-be-summer, and perhaps sooner than we usually celebrate here) June has always marked the dramatic start to the season of sun. May proved tricker than usual, with a dip in temps and a steady stream of rain, but June turned things back up with a couple of hot and steamy days. This weekend was spent mostly in and around the pool, so let’s get this recap done and then back in the water…

The month of Pride is upon us. 

Scandi attic loft: the summer place to be. 

Love thy neighbor.

Dreaming of the Itoh peony. 

Back in Boston proper. 

We are not alone. 

Return of the peonies. 

White peonies in a white room. 

June is also for roses. 

Summer hues of calm.

Pride on the Sabbath.

The marvelous words of Bayard Rustin.

Dazzlers of the Day included Ellen DeGeneres, Tim Ferriss, James Falciano, Karine Jean-Pierre and Tom Daley.

Summer whispers sweetly on the warm breeze, hinting at its imminent arrival, teasingly coy and elusive – not quite ready to fully announce itself – and all the more enchanting for it. In aqua and turquoise and yellow – shades of sea and shades of sun – a curated collection of bracelets conjures the spirit of the coming season. 

In the night air, a little piano piece by Grieg comes and goes, momentarily stealing focus from the background drone of a lawnmower somewhere in the distance. Piano lessons and summer go hand-in-hand, and not without some bit of tension for those of us who never quite practiced enough. 

A lavender and coriander scent from Jo Malone, and a bit of ‘Daisy’ by Marc Jacobs round out this little scene, adding elements of summer fragrance both light and fleeting. That’s why summer is so beloved – it never seems to last.