Staying Centered

What keeps us centered in a shifting world? What are our escapes? And can we still go there?Radio and Newspapers are filled with the bad news, but they are also powerfully comforting resources.

My constant escape, and where I find my extra boost of daily comfort, is WGBH public radio in Boston. Years ago, I began to listen to morning pro musica host Robert J. Lurtsema, the birds! his voice! his long pauses! Now, The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor (weekdays at 8:55am) is my morning pause, for these five minutes, just following the school drop-off, is topped-off with the Poetry Foundation's poem of the day, this 5 minute program is completely blissful.
Sunday afternoons with Sound & Spirit weaves history, myth, and spiritual traditions together with music to take listeners on a journey around the world and through the ages. Great adventures are in store with Marco Werman's THE WORLD program, a joint production of BBC and WGBH.

Finely textured and woven together, GBH is all about outstanding programming that somehow has a power that keeps me centered, no matter what time of day, no matter what is happening.

In print, the Financial Times, is also a great escape, it's pink! The FT offers more than dismal financial news, it offers unique perspectives on lifestyles from Dubai to the great estates of the English countryside. In her article No problem too small by Suzie Boyt , she writes:

--- Some friends of friends who live in a massive, thriving, stately home once confessed to me that because there were so many members of staff – some of whom had been in the employ of the house for more than 50 years – they had no privacy. They had no down time, no sofa suppers, no dressing gown life. They must all emerge from their bedrooms, including the five children, washed, brushed, and dressed for the stage, as it were. Their breakfast is never grabbed in the kitchen but always served in the dining room, yes, from silver-domed dishes. They’re not quite allowed to get their own cups of tea. If they do, there may be mild scolding and hurt feelings, recriminations.-----The thing is, the chefs are so temperamental. They freak if I’m not hungry. If we go out for dinner, they sulk for days. If one of them isn’t happy, the whole household knows about it. You can practically tell from the other end of the street when they’re in bad moods. I dread coming home sometimes. I wish they would just go away. It’s like there’s a mountain of angry food constantly hovering over my head trying to attack me-----

Imagine that. No sofa suppers! Angry chefs!

Do you have an angry chef? Please share, or share you favorite WGHB program!

A detail in the fabric of Newport

George didn't have one when he visited Trinity Church in Newport,

but Elizabeth did.

Needlepoint kneelers.

Every pew has them, and each kneeler is a work of art, lovingly made by the members of the Trinity Church Needlework Guild. The guild is back in session under the artistic direction of one of Newport's most beloved artists, Eveline Roberge .

The most famous kneeler may be the one featuring an intricately rendered ER II, for Elizabeth Regina, Queen of England. The Queen’s kneeler has an English rose embroidered on the side, as well as a crown and laurel leaves on the top surface, framing the initials ER, with the Roman numeral two stitched between the letters.

If you've never been, it's worth a visit to Trinity Church, it's been an active place of worship since the 18th century. Trinity is just one of many treasured sites in Newport.

I could go on about the memorial windows (one, the gift of Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt in memory of her husband) from Tiffany Studios , but they really need to be seen.

Geo Wizdom

Geothermal energy - hot and very cool. Geothermal is heat from within the earth. Geothermal comes from the Greek words geo (earth) and therme (heat).

Unlike conventional systems, Geothermal systems do not burn fossil fuel to generate heat, they simply transfer heat to and from the Earth to provide a more efficient, affordable and environmentally friendly method of heating and cooling. Geothermal systems work with nature. I've been following a geothermal installation in my neighborhood and it is fascinating. Geothermal Basics

Geothermal, also known as Geo Exchange and Ground Source, is well proven, reliable and safe technology. Geothermal systems use the Earth's natural energy storage capability to heat & cool buildings and provide domestic hot water. The Earth is a huge energy storage device that absorbs 47% of the Sun's energy. This is more than 500 times more energy than mankind needs each year, in the form of clean renewable energy. The temperature underground remains at about 55 degrees Fahrenheit, so you are heating or cooling from a base temp of 55 degrees.
A Geothermal system, which typically consists of an indoor geothermal heat pump unit and a buried Earth loop, capitalizes on these constant temperatures to provide a virtually endless supply of "free" energy. The application of geothermal heating/cooling, also known as ground source heat pumps, has been named "the most energy-efficient and environmentally sensitive of all space conditioning systems", by the Environmental Protection Agency. By tapping this steady flow of heat from the earth in the winter, and displacing heat in the earth in the summer, a geothermal heat pump can save homeowners 40 to 70 percent in heating costs and 30 to 50 percent in cooling costs compared to conventional systems, - they save money in the long run but are more expensive to install than the conventional systems.
Geothermal systems work with nature, not against it. Plus! they are said to be so quiet and so inexpensive to operate and maintain, you'll forget they are there. I am comforted by the sound of my furnace kicking in and cranking up the heat on freezing mornings, but I'd probably be more comforted (and comfortable) if I had a geothermal system quietly, efficienty working away .
Links:
Geothermal site for Kids

Ask a question
For news on Tax Credits
International Ground Source Heat Pump Association

The Festive Season

The Challenge of the Holiday Season.... Cooking and Decorating. Starting with Halloween.....Ever wonder about Candy Corn? Invented in 1880 by George Renninger and still so popular that October 30th is National Candy Corn Day. I have another name for candy corn - Scary.

It looks like harmless corn kernels, but when I see candy corn I see fangs. The Horrors of Halloween when a candy corn belly ache sent me to bed early only to suffer through the night with candy corn nightmares...... Vampires with candy corn Fangs!
Bats circling the room with candy corn fangs!

Fall days blow by like the leaves off trees, and suddenly it's November, and Thanksgiving, a great week, full of preparations, cooking and fun. The holiday traditions begin with the battle of the oven timer. A trying time, for there is always the fear that whatever I am cooking is going to burn. At the moment the timer goes off, I'm likely to be searching for something I swore I would never take out again, like a porcelain turkey, in a box somewhere - in the garage? or in the basement? You can get your family used to burnt cookies but that's not really what anyone wants to be remembered for.

Oh Christmas Tree.....freshly cut, a breath of fresh air in the livingroom .....better to use a step ladder, not a chair, to get that angel on the tippy-top of the tree........or you may have more than a fallin' angel.

Someday I may be just as content to simply decorate the bookshelves on either side of a warm fireplace, read a book, enjoy a delicious cookie from a local bakery, but all the excitement that comes with the holidays is too much to pass up. This year, I'll look for the turkey before I turn on the oven. Happy Halloween!

Quiet Island Living

Seclusion, privacy, peaceful surroundings....

are the essence of this private farm house in Middletown.

The 1.5 acre property is unique in scale, elevation and location.

A quarter-mile, stone wall-lined private drive leads you here.

An incredible 15-foot high natural wall of glacial puddingstone provides a dramatic backdrop.

A splendid variety of Heritage Trees graces the property.

There is a stable designed for 3 horses.

Scenic riding and hiking trails lead to spectacular beaches.

A retreat for family, artist or writer.

Available for the first time in 30 years.

This property is described as magical by those who know it.

Leave the outside world behind and enter another.

The Library Comeback

Libraries - dusty and musty no more.

Libraries are back in Style.

Big books, old books, red books, green books, leather or paper, used or rare, it's a fashionable stylistic mash up. A recent article in the The Wall St. Journal reports that people are not reading more books, but the library is staging a huge comeback. Why? A desire for a sanctuary, a picture room, a 'memory room'.

What is the most popular room in new big houses? What d0 63% of home buyers (according to the National Assoc. of Home Builders latest survey) consider essential? - The library. Craftsmen are building elegant libraries in exotic woods, even with secret doors. Sometimes two! His and hers libraries, why not? My favorite books are cherished and my husbands books are what made him smart, he is a veritable walking encyclopedia. His collection fills a room , and the floor.... and I know better than to disturb. Our books do not commingle, I expect to find my books exactly where I place them on my bookshelves, and I marvel that he can find anything at all. We're perfect candidates for his and hers libraries.

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me" - C.S. Lewis, I'll second that.

"A library may suggest a certain level of erudition, but only if the books have actually been read", - my husband. A big room, housing a big library, means a big adventure. Classics, children's books, dictionaries, Gatsby and Ulysses, first editions, cover worn dog-eared paperbacks, rare gems, and poetry. Careful not to touch! Those old leather backs are trouble, not to mention messy, they can disintegrate in your hands.

For those who do not want to reveal titles, some bibliophiles turn the spines to the wall showing only the mysterious ivory pages of the books. Now that is a look, I admit never to have seen, my husband says it was a popluar thing to do at Columbia. You have to know exactly where every book is placed, or just like the rich warm color of paper.
To add a library to a house is to give that house a soul.- Cicero

A perfectly wonderful library is found in Wrentham House. This 1891 Richard Morris Hunt stone mansion on the highest elevation along Ocean Avenue, has a soul and then some.

The Wrentham House mahogany library, with wood carved fireplace, high plastered ceilings, circular tower room with built-in seats, and spectacular ocean views, is ready to be filled with books and memories, why not make them yours?

Thoughts of strange and beautiful things

Thoughts of strange and beautiful things. What makes people love frogs? What makes people collect them?
Do all frog collectors have some sort of fairy tale image of them? I actually kissed a frog yesterday, it was an immediate reaction! Of course, he was being held up to my face by a nine year old who was thrilled to have temporarily captured him. How gorgeous! Strong was he, and steady were his eyes. A handsome frog indeed.

I have a very limited frog collection, I love my frogs, I admit it. There happens to be some pretty dreadful frog art in the world, outstretched frog arms and legs, in silly poses, Frog Buddhas, Santa with frogs. Once a well meaning beau gave me a Christmas of everything frog, the relationship did not last, he did not get the 'it' of good frog collecting... one simple well done frog piece would have been welcomed, instead I was faced with a house and garden full of wierdo frogs dancing and jumping in every room, yikes! It was bad enough to put me off frogs forever, until a true frog collector took the dancing lot at a yard sale, whew! Occassionally there is something that I spot and must have, and sometimes it's even a toad.

As a kid, in a rural village, a big day in summer was when my neighbor Tommy would pull a great big frog out of 1st Pond, 2nd Pond or 3rd Pond and we would all gather round to admire his splendid find, then all the children would enter their own big frogs for a frog jumping contest after dinner. I remember reading Mark Twain's story about a celebrated jumping frog named Daniel Webster and thinking that was a good story. Ours was not a small southern town, but we also took bets, drew lines out of chalk and set our fiesty amphibians off. I can't ever remember winning a frog jumping contest, but clearly remember those long extended graceful legs and transluscent webbed feet hanging in the air as they took off and just kept going, going, going, across the finish line, across the grass and straight back to their ponds. The race course was always set in the direction of the ponds, to motivate our competitors. At night, the sound of a multitude of croaking bullfrogs is a heavenly chorus to go to sleep to, if you are used to it.

Not that Newport resembles my small hometown in any way, except for the fact that here we call our beaches 1st Beach, 2nd Beach and 3rd Beach... is it only in Rhode Island that we name our geological locations by number?.... and the sound of bullfrogs is replaced with the fog horns of spectacular cruise ships as they leave the harbor.

In-Town Sounds

The steady stream of street sounds, vespa beep-beeps, the voices of passers by, laughter, hollers, the vroom of motor cycles as they rev and pass...and in seconds are a distant rumble mixed with the call of seagulls as they soar overhead....and when there is a lull, the void, the quiet, it is noticeable, and in a moment it starts up again, only to trickle down once more.

This is the voice of town and it is great company, especially if you are a passive participant, a silent observer, quietly working inside with a door or window open.

There is an energy and an ebb and flow like the ocean and especially exciting on a holiday weekend.

Add to this the frangrance of town; sunbathers walking to the beach lathered in Coppertone suncreeen, roasting garlic and mixed grills from the restaurants that surround us and you feel like everyone is on their way to a wonderful summer party hosted by the spirit of Labor Day.

Then the town sleeps, and wakes up to another wonderful day for shopping and enjoying the cobblestone wharfs and sites of Newport. Have fun!

Tennis Anyone?

Saturday was off to a beautiful start, with a request from a young boy who never asks for anything.
"May I please get a new tennis racquet today? "
"One that I pick out all by myself?"

This request was enormous because it represented a new level of independence, empowerment and passion for a sport that up until Saturday seemed as though it was just a fun thing to do during the summer.

We stopped by the International Tennis Hall of Fame a few doors away from our Lila Delman Real Estate office and picked out a nice new red racquet and learned that The Champions Cup was about to start.

The next request, "Can we stay and watch the match?" made me realize that my budding young tennis player was really interested not only in his new racquet, but in learning the game by watching the champions of the sport play on center court.

When you live in Newport to experience the unusual is usual.

Being there to witness the stuff dreams are made of is a beautiful thing, and any encouragement along the way stays with you for life.

When John McEnroe stopped and said hello that was a kind gesture, which will leave a lasting impression.

Me and the Ghost of Babe

There’s something very deeply rooted about our sports attachments, it gives us a sense of home and binds us as one nation.

And who can't be rooted to the Boston Red Sox.

They make us happy, even through tough seasons.

My attachment to the Red Sox goes back to my first memories of Brookline, Massachusetts. Sunday lunch stories included Babe Ruth stories, who, decades before I was born, had sat at the same table I was at. He was a favorite guest at the dinner table of my father's great-aunt and uncle. The ghost of Babe Ruth loomed in that big dark dining room on Kent Street.

My father's relatives surrounded themselves with interesting people. They held dinner parties, lively conversations---laughter was loud and hearty. Even though I was very young, and they were very old, I was connected to them, their world, their dining room, their stories, their Babe.
Even though the old aunts and uncles had long since passed, that house and all it represented was a great memorable home, a testament to times past and lives well lived.

The Sleeping Porch

I loved Penny's blog about her boat. I have a boat too, I call her 'Comfort', but that's another story.........

What is the next best thing to sleeping on a boat?
Sleeping on the sleeping porch.
Lounging on a gabled portico.

In summer, I give considerable thought to dragging a bed out on the lawn some night so I can look up at the stars. Hedges of the gloriously fragrant rosa rugosa would surround me and the cool evening breeze would lull me to sleep.

I suppose I could just sleep in 'Comfort', rocked to sleep, but she may roll over and enclose me.

Heat and me have never been agreeable, especially in the evening, and I do not care for air conditioning, what I need is .........A Sleeping Porch.

A wonderful sleeping porch, cool and comfortable, on the second floor where the bugs are fewer than my back yard.

I love to see a home with a sleeping porch, especially all dressed up and ready for summer.

You Can Get There From Here

I love the old Maine expression , "you can't get there from here", however amusing that may be, it is not entirely accurate, a trip to Maine is about getting there.

A promise made when gas prices were lower to get a 3-row SUV for our Maine trip this year, we drove from Southern Rhode Island to the Northern reaches of Maine, Canada is very close by - on only one tank of gas --- I was stunned and thrilled by that, what a bargain!
Usually winding through the quaint villages and towns along the scenic Maine coastline, this time we headed straight up Rt.95 and had another 2 hours on our journey along our favorite coastal stretch until we reached the farm.


Checkers, catching snakes, chasing sheep, milking cows, stunt jumps in sunny hay lofts, gathering eggs for breakfast, having lobsters delivered to the kitchen doe-ah (door), ping pong, long walks through forests of tall pines, great stretches of beaches, making rhubarb apple pies and those fabulously goofy kid talent shows after dinner........

The story of a barn spider named Charlotte and her friendship with a pig named Wilbur....I think I met them this morning.....was written by E. B. White who lived in Maine. We are in the Charlotte's Web of Maine.

Anyone who knows Maine, knows it is a perfect place to vacation with your family, take your time driving up the coast, it is a great New England vacationland, however far up the coast you choose to go. For some presidential history, go across the way to Campobello, it is a time capsule of American history that happens to be in Canada. What is your favorite place to go in Maine?

The Front Door

In a home, a beautiful entrance and front door is a thing of delight. In the ancient art of Feng Shui, the front door and entrance of a home is very important.

The energy of the universe comes to us through the front door.

The Chinese felt that people who lived with "feng shui" were much more likely to be happy and prosperous. Feng Shui literally means wind and water, and is the art of living in harmony with your physical surroundings. These homes with waterviews; ocean, entrance to a bay , cliffs and a bustling harbor are all beautifully sited, in harmony with feng shui principles.

In Feng Shui, the color of the front door should reflect the compass direction it faces according to the Five Elements.


South (Fire) = Reds, pink, burgundy.
Southwest (Earth) = Yellows or browns.
West (Metal) = White, silver, copper or gold.
Northwest (Metal) = White, silver, copper or gold.
North (Water) = Blacks or blues.
Northeast (Earth) = Yellows or browns.
East (Wood) = Greens.
Southeast (Wood) = Greens.




And then there is the color of power, Black, especially good for running a business, or a country.



I am not an expert in this field, this is just what I have gleaned from various sources, your mileage may vary, if these door colors do not work for you there are many books on the topic, this is an art, not an exact science.

We are all made up of a combination of the elements, but we have one main elemental influence in our person. To discover your native element, click here.

Rhode Beauty

Beautiful the time when the Ocean Drive had been hailed at once as a triumph of civilization and as a proof of the possible appeal of Scenery even to the dissipated. It was spoken of as of almost boundless extent--as one of the wonders of the world; as indeed it does turn often, in the gloaming, to purple and gold, and as the small sea-coves then gleam on its edge like barbaric gems on a mantle. Yet if it was a question of waving the wand and of breathing again, till it stirred, on the quaintness of the old manners---it was most touching of all to go back to dimmest days, days, such as now appear antediluvian, when ocean-drives, engineered by landscape artists and literally macadamized all the way, were still in the lap of time;


- Henry James, The American Scene, "The Sense of Newport" 1907

Hanging Rock and Other Marvels

Hanging Rock while it is no Haynesville Shale and we will never find any natural gas here, it is a geographical marvel. And I'm not talking about Marvel Comics, creator of Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and The Fantastic Four....did I leave out the Silver Surfer?.....

that's enough of that, however we do have great surfing at Second Beach, at the foot of St. George's School, one of our great local prep schools, another being Portsmouth Abbey, right next door to Carnegie Abbey Club, where footpaths well worn by the sandals of Benedictine monks wind through historic coastal trails, where, during the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Rhode Island was fought.

Hanging Rock… a vast conglomerate ledge frequented by Bishop Berkeley (the noted eighteenth-century Age of Enlightement philosopher), was formed some 300 million years ago, from glacial erosion. This ridge is an amazing conglomeration of sedimentary rock called puddingstone.This area of outcropping conglomerate rocks with bold rock faces has a series of parallel ridges, which include Paradise Rocks, Hanging Rock, and Purgatory Chasm are among the most interesting and important geological features of Rhode Island. The glaciers also left us with wonderful beaches.

A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Every community has their leaders, people who step up to the plate, even when their own plate is very full. This is a tribute to coaches and a league of extraordinary gentlemen who come to Newport, this City-by-the-Sea, as part of their military career. They arrive here with their families, reunited, sometimes for the first time in years, for a tour of duty at the US Naval War College. Officers in the Marines, Army, Navy and every branch of the military.

Proudly wearing the military uniform of our country, they also wear a uniform to lead our cub scout pack and coach our little league. They patiently teach not only their own kids, but bunch of strangers kids how to run, hit, pitch and catch. Joining in with our community of year round residents with ease, they coach along side the dedicated dads that live here year- round who organize and manage the t-ball, minors and major leagues.


And when these families leave us, we pray for them, our list has gotten long over the years, and we will miss everyone who has served our Fort Adams Cub Scout Pack 2, and 5th Ward Little League. These men are calm, patient, prepared, dependable, they serve with humor and are great role models.


Living in the south end of Newport we are blessed with the natural beauty of a stunningly pictuesque shoreline, the Ocean Drive, beautiful sandy beaches, open farmland fields with grazing sheep, llamas and cows and goats, where every day the drive home is like driving to a favorite vacation spot. We are equally blessed with the military families that enhance our lives.

Tree Weather

When the weather is perfectly heavenly, we walk in clouds and listen to the long deep bellow of the fog horns.

No ocean in sight, no coastal vistas to behold, just the sound of the ocean coming ashore, this is the Newport that I adore.

So many things to do on a gray rainy day, when the sun goes under cover, that's the time to explore!


"I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree", the poet Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918) maintained a summer residence here in Newport. He may have walked under a canopy of magnificent trees similar to these at The Elms and was inspired to write this beautiful poem. Newport is an arborists paradise, a playground for the tree enthusiast, the mature elm, copper beech, weeping beech, tulip trees take on even more romantic form, when silhouetted against a background of white.



Walk, and walk and walk, take any side street in Newport, and see a doorway, a gate, a gable, a stable! Perhaps you will even find a home you did not know you knew, but something has moved you to take a closer look and once inside you'll feel like settling in and reading a book. A gray day has the power to make a house a home.





And when you are ready for a rest from your adventures afoot, take a stroll to the Aquidneck Lobster Company for lobster or the day's catch, unloaded right here at the dock, and take it home, perhaps even, to enjoy in the warmth of your new home.

Luxury Collection

Luxury, luxurious, to live in the lap of luxury. You could be one step away, one step across the threshold and you are there. What are you waiting for? Haven't you worked hard enough and long enough? The comfortable, livable, grand statement of refined elegance is just a step away, and you deserve it.

To live your luxury visit Hopedene, Beechwood, Oakwood, Wrentham House, Roselawn, Beacon Rock and any of our other fabulous definitions of luxury!

Homage to Hearth through selected poems of Emily Dickinson

The baronial hearth in the great room at Wrentham House was glowing over the weekend, after 40 years unlit!

Wrentham House was built in 1891 by Richard Morris Hunt (1827- 1895), a contemporary of Emily Dickinson (1830-1886).

Homage to Wrentham House through selected poems of Emily Dickinson

..As low my fires of drift-wood burn,
I hear that sea's deep sounds increase,
And, fair in sunset light, discern
Its mirage-lifted Isles of Peace.

from 'the chariot' Emily Dickinson

MANSIONS
"Houses" -- so the Wise Men tell me --
"Mansions"! Mansions must be warm!
Mansions cannot let the tears in,
Mansions must exclude the storm!
"Many Mansions," by "his Father,"
I don't know him; snugly built!
Could the Children find the way there --
Some, would even trudge tonight!
Emily Dickinson

In rags mysterious as these
The shining Courtiers go --
Veiling the purple, and the plumes --
Veiling the ermine so.
Smiling, as they request an alms --
At some imposing door!
Smiling when we walk barefoot
Upon their golden floor!
Emily Dickinson



other links
http://oldpoetry.com/column/show/25