Category Archives: General

What a wild week it has been – with the Super Flower Blood Moon and Mercury shifting into retrograde motion, all the drama should have been expected, and luckily it was. Fortifying myself against such winds is the best form of protection in which to engage, and preventative measures are always easier than reparative ones. I can honestly say I did my best, even when the weather tried its best to bring us all down. On with the recap, and the unofficial start to summer that today’s holiday heralds. 

Hints of our upcoming BroSox Adventure – and a big splashy return to Beantown – were kept largely low-key and under-hyped so as not to get ahead of ourselves. 

The Korean lilac in all its splendor and sweet perfume. 

An infamous Super Flower Blood Moon spread its power and might over the night. 

Basic floral vibrance. 

All roads lead to summer. 

A lane of Lindens in downtown Albany. 

Rhody rendezvous.

Telling stories at bedtime.

Season of the Chinese dogwood.

A trippy return of the Madonna Timeline with ‘Bedtime Story’.

Sunset calla.

Boston misadventures: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.

Dazzlers of the Day included Troye Sivan, P!nk, John Cho, Benita Zahn, and Ben Cohen.

Somewhat unfortunately named ‘Kiernan Way’, this little walkway lost an opportunity to be more fittingly christened ‘Linden Lane’ so that’s what I’m calling it in my fantastical head. One of my favorite trees, the Linden is one of the most silently emblematic of the start of summer thanks to its divine perfume issued forth from some of the most inconspicuous blooms to grace the earth.

For many years I would search the area whenever this tree bloomed, looking out for some extravagant profusion of hot pink blossoms or flaming yellow petals. And every year I would miss the trees that were all about me, their sweet perfume drifting down from their branches, all the while obscuring themselves in a cloak of unremarkable foliage and form. Hiding in plain sight, even while their scent announced the presence of something sweet and spectacular. A neat hat trick. 

A dip in temperatures has stalled spring again, as the nights descend back into the 40’s. It’s quite disheartening, though I won’t waste any more time lamenting such a predicament. With the moon exerting its full pull, and Mercury in retrograde right around the corner, one does better by not getting bogged down in the things we can’t control. Like the weather. Or the slow walk of spring. 

The road to summer isn’t always as pretty as what I managed to capture here, but it’s full of hope, even when it’s cold and rainy. Sometimes that works to make summer sweeter. Spring holds back and hesitates, with its moody moons and raucous retrograde, and we tread carefully, with mindfulness and meticulous motion. 

Something called the Super Flower Blood Moon rose early this morning, coming just in time to greet a new period of Mercury in Retrograde, so I need to simply hide away from the world until June 22. Slightly problematic for all that must be done in that time, but such is the pull of the universe. God help us one and all. 

Today’s full moon – super and floral and bloody – will likely wreak havoc with plans and non-plans alike, throwing wrenches in the rigid thought-process of any proper Virgo. I hate this sort of thing but I’m much better at dealing with the snafus now than I was in previous times. We’ve had over a year of said snafus and I don’t see them ending any time soon. Besides, this is life. Full moons and Mercury in retrograde are just the chaotic portions of it. Sometimes they angle to imbue the moment with import, something exciting and inspiring. The question is how we channel that frantic energy and put it to use instead of allowing it to muck everything up. Make peace with the chaos. Embrace the unpredictable and varying nature of life. Things run much soother that way, even when they don’t. 

I’m the first to admit to being a delicate fucking flower, and dainty as shit to boot, which is why the Korean lilac is one of my favorite shrubs. It’s in full bloom in the garden right now, and I’ve established three decent-sized specimens, scattered strategically to offer three separate sections a delicious pool of perfume. The blooms, despite all the macro-work here, are tinier and daintier than the native American lilac, and arrive after that better-known shrub finishes its bloom. The effect is a more summer-like plant, that will also throw out the occasional re-bloom if you’re lucky. The leaves are also of smaller stature than the common American counterpart, lending the whole plant a more delicate and elegant visage. 

There is a little more red in the bloom color, lending it more a pink shade than true lilac, another way it separates itself from the more bombastic flower which most of us recall from childhood memories. I like the way it extends the lilac season, and the way it stays on the summer side of spring, nudging the season into the sunnier path of heat and warmth. 

This colorful homage to Nipper is one of several scattered throughout downtown Albany, and thanks to its artistic bark, this may be my favorite. As we barrel into the end of May, good things are in the works – let’s get on with the recap so we can move forward. There’s a full Flower Moon this Wednesday, so I’ll be laying low…Be careful and watch yourselves…

The Pesky & the Pretty.

Palette of spring.

Lavender light.

Unidentified freshness.

The dawn of pool season.

An Ajuga carpet.

Night time is the right time. 

The speckled glove of a fox.

Taking naked pictures.

A floral portal to the past.

Dazzlers of the Day included: Kirk Acevedo, Leslie Jones, Andy Cohen, Letitia James, Brian Tyler Cohen,  and Ken Jeong.

It’s been a while since we’ve had some male nudity on this blog, not for any other reasons than the regular evolution of taste and style, cultural tone, and the gradual trajectory of such an ancient website. Moving deeper into my forties I find myself spending less time on the superficial and frivolous – two founding aspects of this site – and more on items that defy egotistical self-examination or silly frills. Not that I would begrudge anyone, including myself, the indulgence a pursuit in such frills might produce. But that’s getting a little deep for a Sunday post, so I turn your attention to the brilliant Moira Rose, always one with a striking assembly of words and wisdom. 

“Take a thousand naked pictures of yourself now.” ~ ‘Schitt’s Creek’

“In the night time (Night tiiiiimmme) oh baby that’s the right time…”

Try as I might, I cannot figure out which 80’s relic that catchy little bit originates from, and so I’m left leaving it out of this post. Instead, feast your eyes upon the pool at night, where and when so much summer magic and splendor occurs. We are lucky to have it open already, to make up for last year’s sucky season. Jump in and join the party… 

One of the best ground-covers if you want a touch of blue/purple majesty at this time of the year is Ajuga, commonly known as bugleweed. The weed part is apt for its aggressive tendency, something typically valued in a ground-cover. I appreciate it best up-close and contained, so I allow other gardeners to grow it, then admire it away from my limited yard, which doesn’t have the space for such rampant behavior. 

A little post for a little plant with a lot of spreading power. Saturdays that show promise should be that way. 

Andy opened the pool this past week and quickly brought the temperature up to the 80’s. It turns out that I need it there, despite my best intentions. On the first day, it rose to 74 degrees, and that sounded doable. I’d been working in the garden and the sun – and it was basically he first day I’ve had such sun exposure this year. In the excitement and work of trying to wrestle an unruly clump of Fountain grass into submission, rather unsuccessfully at that, I felt dizzy and shaky and overheated, so I thought a quick dip in 74 degree water would be ideal, just like I used to do as a kid. 

I made it to my waist, and then realized that my tolerance as an adult apparently begins at about 80 degrees. I got out, dried my lower half off, and waited until it got into the 80’s, at which point I jumped in and enjoyed the first swim of the season. 

JoAnn has scheduled her first visit with us since COVID began for this July, and this is the start of the coming summer season. It felt good to give in to some hope, and to indulge in some planning for the future. That’s been the saddest part of this pandemic – not being able to plan for the future. We are taking tentative steps to finding that joy again, and that begins simply with a dip in the pool. 

These buds were just opening in the Boston Public Garden when we were last there, but they hadn’t advanced to the point where I could recognize the tree. It didn’t matter – it wasn’t the name or variety that so enchanted and inspired me – it was the sense of freshness that signifies spring at its best moments. It was that essence of being new, of starting all over again, that felt magical. This year, more than most, I feel the tug of such a moment, when so many of us just want a fresh beginning. If 2020 taught me anything, it was that nothing stays the same forever, no matter how good or bad it might have been. There was something very scary and powerful about that realization, and I’ve carried it with me with a certain weary resignation, couple with a certain fortitude. The rose and the thorn – and without one the other is missing something. 

In honor of this evening’s premiere of ‘The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ the Dazzler of the Day is Andy Cohen. Anyone who can herd a breed like the Real Housewives is nothing short of a hero in my eyes, and anyone who has carved such a consistently-stellar career in the entertainment business is practically miracle worker. Cohen has also written a few indelible books that are as entertaining as his on-screen persona – ‘Most Talkative‘ and ‘The Andy Cohen Diaries‘. During the pandemic, he successfully transferred ‘Watch What Happens Live’ to his own home and it proved just as enduring and laugh-inducing, becoming the must-see night-time appointment when others floundered and struggled to find their way. His endearing friendship with Anderson Cooper has also proven to be something genuine and dear in an industry where that is all too infrequent and rare. 

From Tom Ford’s ‘Lavender Palm’ to the Beekman Boys latest whipped body cream, lavender has been a favorite scent in these parts, particularly when summer comes streaming in through the sun-filled days. This year I planted a number of new lavender plants near the pool, where the heat stays close to the concrete, and the silvery foliage soaks it all in. The bonus is the scent that arises when one brushes past the leaves and flowers. 

That scent finds its way into just about everything these days, and not all of it is done well. Like my friend JoAnn, I’m very particular about the lavender products that find their way into our home. Only the true lavender scent – simple, not too sweet or cloying, with just a hint of the medicinal – is what we seek. Far too often products contain vanilla or some other addition that mars the rustic essence of true lavender. When done right, however, it is a fragrance that signifies peace and relaxation – and is usually used to bring about better sleep. 

In these photos, a lavender candle burns in our attic loft in the midst of a minor make-over for the space, lending positive vibrations for a summer on the distant horizon. 

These perky pansy faces cheered me up on a recent spring day.

May they do the same for you.