Blooming spider

Did you know that spider plants had flowers?

I didn't.

Sigh

Just came back from the vet's and the ulcer on Lola's eye is still there, if it doesn't get better by next Friday then the next step is surgery.

Your Weekly Dose of Lola

Lola's eye is on the mend and the vet needs to see her one more time before she gets a clean bill of health.  She's still hiding behind a pillow though.

ohmigosh bunny!

Below are way too many bad photos (most taken through the window screen) of a little bunny that hopped right up to the side of the house. There have been four baby bunnies hopping around my yard all spring and I luf them!

June's blooms

Summer Solstice

Yesterday the sun was all:
"hiyee"

Today it's all:

"Welcome to summer, bitches"

100 in the shade

Stepping down

After 6 years as president of the museum auxiliary my mother held her last meeting. This is a job she worked very hard at and was intimately involved in all aspects of the fundraising events and the insane amount of work that goes with each one. 

At the annual luncheon she performed her final duties of instating the new president and the new board. This is the first time I am officially part of the board as second vice-president and it was an amazing moment to stand in front of everyone and have my mother swear me in.

The president of the museum presented my mother 

with a beautiful crystal bowl in thanks for all her work.

I was hoping she would finally take a well deserved break, kick back and relax for a bit but she seems as busy as ever. 

Squash, plums and lilies

The back of my car was stuffed full of fruit, veggies and plants from Produce Junction yesterday. It smelled like I was driving home in a farmers market. Delicious.

NY Botanical Gardens

I just realized I never posted anything about the NY Botanical Garden trip we took at the end of May, what's up with that?

The NYBG recreated part of Monet's gardens, or a tribute inspired by his gardens. I gasped when I got my first glimpse, the amount of flowers and the array of colors they were able to mush into such a small space made me giddy.

Quick! To the photos!

These photos do not do justice and show only one teeny tiny portion of all the flowers. Unfortunately the photos were taken with my cell phone because I FORGOT my camera. What a dork.

Thankfully a very clever person remembered her camera and let me have some of the beautiful photos she took of the lily ponds.

The lily ponds were huge and had massive koi swimming about. Sadly no photos of the white koi who looked like an ancient sea monster and seemed to follow me as I walked around the perimeter. He was either hoping for a snack or was trying to blink out a message with his big fishy eyes.

There was a privately owned painting on loan for the exhibit which I don't think had been displayed publicly before. It was painted later in Monet's life and they say his cataracts effected his color choice as it was a much darker color pallet than he usually used. It was beautiful, I think the most beautiful of all his iris paintings.

OK one more photo and then I'll stop. 

This was in the rock garden, again terrible phone photo. This waterfall was beautiful. The rock garden, well you know... rocked. Sorry, like I said I'm a dork.

It rained almost the entire time which is no surprise as all outdoor tours I take seem to be shrouded in heavy clouds, fog or downpours. Regardless we had a fantastic time.

Your Weekly Does of Lola

Lola hurt her right eye and has been hiding behind the sofa pillow this past week. The vet has her on antibiotic eye drops and we go back on Friday for a check-up.

She will come out though if you say "treat"

ETSY shop now open!

I finally have my etsy shop up and running! It only has a few items at the moment, I'm still trying to figure out how to do it but every day I am hoping to add more and more.

Please stop by and tell me what you think!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/quirkygoods

Your Weekly Dose of Lola

Weekend Update

I did not mow the back yard.

19

We celebrated my oldest niece's 19th birthday this week. 

Nineteen. I can't believe it.

This is my lovely niece at her birthday dinner.

This is how I will always think of her.

At nineteen my mother was engaged to be married. At nineteen I left college and moved to NYC. At nineteen my niece is smart, funny, well spoken, poised, filled with common sense and older than her years with an extremely promising future. And tall.

Happy birthday and I can't wait to see what you do next!

People who live in glass houses...

influence American architecture and are basically awesome.

I went to the Philip Johnson Glass House on Wednesday in New Canaan, CT. It was a fantastic day which started off with a beautiful drive, I really miss the lovely towns in Connecticut. We wrenched our necks looking from side to side at beautiful houses and stone walls on the way up. We were insanely lucky with the weather, sunny and blue sky right up to the second we finished the tour and climbed in the shuttle, rain started as I sat down. 

The Glass House is   a  m  a  z  i  n  g

Why don't I show you in these lovely photos I was able to take because 
it did not rain:

The approach to the house from the long driveway.

The exterior is made completely of glass, the long off-white panel 

is a movable cloth curtain.

The kitchen area includes storage, sink, stove, oven and fridge all in that unit. There are also wooden panels that fold over the top of everything to make a giant flat counter.

Dinning area.

The living room area. 

The fireplace is opposite the bathroom and built into the only 

nonglass wall (albeit round) in the entire house.

The living room area consisting of all Mies van der Rohe furniture 

who was his creative mentor.

The bedroom area.

The house is actually very large, over 1,700 sq feet. 

The amazing view from the bedroom.

The desk overlooks the swimming pool in front of the house.

Looking out the front door.

The backyard overlooking the valley (over 47 acres), pond and pavilion.

Looking back at the house from the path that leads to the underground gallery.

View from past the eyebrow bridge.

On the way back to the main house. Here you can see the brick building 

which is sort of a guest house and is opposite the Glass House.

Da Monsta

One of the many other buildings on the grounds. We were able to tour the main house, the underground gallery, the sculpture gallery and Da Monsta. The ghost house, his studio, pond pavilion and brick house were not open to the public.