Hats By Katrinka

Garden Dreaming

I’m guessing that all gardeners are dreamers. That is, even when we’re not out digging, we’re reading garden catalogs, magazines and checking out other people’s gardens to see what we need next to add to our little bit of Paradise. This extraordinary Salvia was spotted while Gina and I were shopping at the Green Springs Garden Native Plant Sale last weekend. Part of their permanent garden, this is an inspiration! I wonder how old it is?

The hardest thing about these sales is not getting overwhelmed and buying everything in sight. I opted for a Russian Sage and a Chokeberry shrub to replace a junk tree in my backyard. The gardener who sold me the Chokeberry says it’s called that because the red berries are so sour the birds don’t eat them until the end of winter when there’s nothing else to eat. He promised bright red fall leaves and berries all winter through the snowy season. I was seduced. Both are already planted and the first couple of leaves on the Chokeberry are already turning bright red. Yippee! No berries this winter but perhaps next. Meanwhile, it will have all this winter to get acclimated and spread those roots out. I tried to cut off my finger while sawing down the trash tree but managed to save my finger and get rid of the tree. The stump will take some more work but that’s for another day.

Then this week I finally got notice that the Russian Sage and Lily of the Valley I’d ordered online long ago are finally on their way. Well, I have room for two Russian Sage so bring ‘em on. This morning it’s warm and rainy so I dug up my burned up ferns in the backyard bed and moved them to the side of my house where they will have more forgiving shade. Hopefully they will survive. Time will tell.

K Q;-)

Back to Basics

I bought the yarn and I bought the book with the fabulous (to me) knitting pattern that looked like something I'd be seduced by at Anthropologie. I even - later - bought the shawl that would work with the sweater but I was foiled almost before I got out of the gate. After consulting my coach at the sticking point, it turns out my pattern assumes that I have certain techniques under my belt already, techniques not spelled out in the knitting book. Not only that, but my coach impresses upon me the fact that this pattern would look good only on a stick of a figure. Not me. I'm not ready to make adjustments. I'm just learning. WHY don't these patterns tell you what to do just to make the sweater?

So, I'm back to basics. I pulled out my Sweater Workshop book and began - AGAIN - the sampler. Might as well learn the basics and then maybe I can attack the problems of this sweater that I STILL want to knit.

Stay tuned. I am determined.

K Q:-)

Still Blooming!

I am still amazed at the planning involved in my perennial garden. Every month something else comes into its own. Just when I thought the show was probably over the anemones a/k/a Japanese wind flowers, in front went from a few stalks of pink blooms to a mass of blossoms in

pink and wine. There’s even one volunteer behind the shrubs that has a little of both colors in it. With all these pretty buds I expect to have a show for another month at least .

Meanwhile, in the back yard I’d about given up on my Cardinal Climber vine ever blooming (an annual I started from seed this summer) when I looked out my kitchen window one morning and saw the red blossoms climbing into my neighbor’s mulberry tree.

I love the leaves on this climber too. This morning patience was rewarded with hummingbirds buzzing about in the mist for a meal on their migration south. It’s true that if you plant it they WILL come!

K Q:-)

What I've been doing lately...

...is a few hats for Providence Players' production of Harvey which opens Friday night.

Mrs. Ethel Chauvenet shows up at the Wednesday Forum in a mansion in the "Far West" wearing this little chapeau which I made of some of my Swiss lace from Bischoff with an ostrich plume. Keep in mind you are seeing this too closely with stage make-up. It's meant to be seen at an aesthetic distance on stage and let me tell you, Sara, the actress playing this role, really works this number for a lot of laughs!

Susan wears this cocktail number as Betty Chumley, the psychiatrist's wife. This was designed to go with an on-hand costume with beaded lace. I found a piece of cotton damask, just a shade darker than the cocktail suit and beaded it with pearl seed beeds loosely following the design on the cotton damask. Again, aesthetic distance helps so blur your eyes a bit for the true effect.

Here's Beth as Veta Louise Simmons who wears a white spring coat with this hat which we pulled from Providence stock. This hat started out as a beige bowler shape - too small for the actress. I covered the felt with two layers of pearl netting, toning down the color, and smashed down the tip to ease it into a sort of Eugenie shape that matches the coat. The feather butterfly picks up the tone of the blue dress she's also wearing. She can then change out the trim to go with her second act outfit with just a hatpin.

There were several other pieces that I only perked up with some trim but I didn't get to photograph them.

No budget for my work in this show so it's done mostly with my stash, no fittings and making do with what fits in the costume room. That's the game in community theatre and we do have fun with it. If you are local and would like to see the show reserve tickets by emailing providenceplayers@cox.net or go to the website for more information at www.providenceplayers.org .

So what's next? Time to get to my knitting project! Stay tuned.

K Q:-)

P.S. on NYC

As I was dashing down 7th Avenue trying to beat the rain clouds above (I didn't!) I noticed that another innovation since my NY days are these plaques set in the sidewalk to remind visitors of what goes on here on Fashion Avenue.

I admit to feeling a bit sad when I shot this tribute to Lilly Dache who once owned her own building on Madison Avenue and lived above her hat salon. She who reigned supreme was wise enough to know the end was nigh in the '60s when she closed her hat salon and opened a hair salon. Are we better off now with our gels and conditioners?

I know I'm in the minority but I do not believe it (sigh!).

K Q:-)

P.S. I'm back in the saddle again with some 1940s hats for an upcoming production of Harvey. Stay tuned.

Weekend in NYC

I’ve still Got It! My New York walk that is. I wasn’t a half block from my friend Jerry’s apartment on Ninth Avenue when I was accosted by a group of German speaking tourists. They’d seen my bright striped hat and flagged me down for a Fringe Festival show. I was already on my way somewhere else so declined but when one spoke to the others in German and I spoke up in German they jumped in delight to hear a "New Yorker" speaking German. Funny! They were surprised to learn that I too was a visitor. Two of them were from Germany and the girl with the blood red hair was Swiss. It’s good to know I can still speak ein bischen Deutsch after being back in the States for two years.

I was in NY visiting my friend Jerry who had some work to do for some of the weekend so I set out on my own dodging a lot of European tourists on August holiday in my former home town. Times Square was jammed as was Macy’s. Quite a bit has changed since I moved out in 1990. For one thing, Times Square and the parks are beautiful and safe now. So is Hell’s Kitchen where I once worked in this theater. Hmmm! Might have to come back to catch this show by the Ephron sisters.

Cameron McIntosh once lived in this building - wonder how many millions he sold it for? And here is the famous Actors’ Studio just down the street from where my pal Jerry lives. Paul Newman once had a flat just across the street.

Central Park is especially lush after plenty of rain with landscaping and restoration by the Park Conservancy. Here is an old favorite, Bethesda Fountain, with water lilies.

The graffiti is gone from this beautiful old passageway and look at the gorgeous ceiling and walls. Even the restrooms are safe now - not so when I lived here in the late 70's and ‘80s and people thought me brave to walk my dog in the Park.

 I snagged a ticket for Saturday to Next To Normal an amazing Broadway musical which I’d missed at Arena Stage in Washington. This rock musical (and I don’t usually like rock musicals!) won several Tony awards and is probably the best show I’ve seen in years. Difficult material - the effect of mental illness on a family - but brilliantly handled and surprisingly entertaining. Wow! Theater as it should be.

Saturday morning I walked down to what’s left of the millinery district on 38^th Street between Fifth and Sixth and was sad to see that so much is gone now. Even Manny’s Millinery Supply’s store front is open only 11 to 6:00 TWTh and 11-4:00 on Fridays. Hyman Hendler is long gone but So Good Ribbons (cash only) remains. I didn’t buy anything as most were closed on Saturday in this neighborhood. I was glad to see that an old favorite, M&J Trim, was still open for business in the same spot on Sixth Avenue @ 38^th Street. (I once desiged a suede fez around a glitzy Spanish tassel I bought here!) M&J is full of goodies and has added a large section of beading supplies. In fact, many of the old millinery store fronts are now bead shops. The way of the world, I guess (sigh!).

I popped into Lord & Taylor on Fifth at mid-day to find it still expensive but nearly empty of shoppers. That’s not all that was empty either. For the first time in memory I saw apartment buildings advertising apartments for rent. There are many empty storefronts and offices too. Yes, Virginia, there is a recession on but New York is still full of vigor. I was happy to see pedestrian zones on Broadway for us walkers but my pal Jerry says these have made traffic on Ninth Avenue a nightmare. Love the planters too.

The good news is that old favorites like Zabar’s, Fairway Market (which now has a restaurant upstairs) and H&H Bagels are still going strong in my old neighborhood.

 Fiorello’s is still here across from Lincoln Center where, with Jerry, I had my first taste of Pasta Primavera after my performance on Broadway. I went home and tried to recreate the recipe and have been enjoying it ever since. Vivo Fiorello!

My pal Juli and I had dinner at another old favorite, The Cottage Chinese restaurant, where I ordered my "fix" of Szechuan dumplings in hot oil. Juli doesn’t eat pork so I enjoyed all 14 of them - just as good as ever - and still with the free cheap wine. You might want to check it out next time you are near 77^th and Amsterdam. Dinner for two with more food than we could eat and plenty of that wine was $23.00. Tasty!

That’s not all that’s affordable either. I made my way to NYC and back for only $43.50 on the Bolt Bus. It was air conditioned and a straight shot from downtown DC to downtown NYC in just a few hours. The only snag was that I’d forgotten to bring my iPod and was subjected to incessant cell phone conversations - yeesh!

New twin towers at Columbus Circle. Another NY cheap thrill has always been window shopping. Glad to see Coach is adding hats to their collection here at Columbus Circle Galleria. And check out these great striped raffia hats on 44^th Street (store closed for August). Wonder if Judith M carries the striped raffia? Cheery!

It was great to see good friends and my old hometown looking fine! I will definitely be making this trip more often. Poco scolded me something awful when I got home Monday but I happen to know he was plenty spoiled by my housesitter Mary Frances and is just fine!

K Q:-)

Hillwood Gardens

Sunday a few of us hat ladies from the Potomac Craftsmen Guild ventured out to see Marjorie Merriweather Post’s mansion and gardens just off Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. I grew up in the D.C. area but had never seen it and what a treat it was. Mrs. Post bought this place in 1955 and spent two years with decorators and architects crafting it into a home and future museum for her art collections. The art is spectacular but the gardens really won my heart.

Here my sister Gina is capturing the dueling water fountains with her Nikon.

A glimpse of the formal garden with ivy imported from Buckingham Palace.

I think my favorite was the Japanese Garden with bamboo handrails, a waterfall, whimsical statuary and this waterlily pond. I wonder how many gardeners it takes to maintain all this?

Speaking of whimsical I loved the entryway to the Pet Cemetery.

Here my sister Gina and Norma, our faithful leader, pose in front of the Russian Dacha.

The cutting gardens were huge and full of glorious colors and butterflies.

How about this Greenhouse!

Delicious for the orchids.

Finally we took a break in the shade before going to the Café for tea, an experience that was somewhat disappointing from a culinary perspective. We did enjoy the chance to sit and visit though. What a fun way to spend an August Sunday. I’ll be back again as the seasons change.

K Q:-)

What's Blooming This Week?

Columbine in my front yard. These are so pretty and the blooms are just getting started. It’s been so hot lately that I’ve had to battle the mosquitos to water. No rain and still the voracious mosquitos! Even though I have two lemon verbena it’s not nearly enough to fend them off. At least it’s good to see that I also have bees - both bumble and honeybees.

They love my Cleomes and so do I.. The vine in the background is Cardinal Climber and it has taken over my fence from seed. No blooms yet. I love the interesting leaves and the red trumpet shaped flowers (when they come) should be attractive to hummingbirds. Haven’t seen any hummers yet but I bought a special feeder for them today. Gardeners are optimists, you know. I did spot a downy woodpecker early this morning.

My gorgeous squash vine of a couple postings ago (Jungle) croaked. I think the chipmunks or voles ate the roots. It just shriveled up suddenly so I ventured out to pull it up and felt myself sinking deep into the dirt. Sure enough - lots of tunnels in that little plot. Next year I think I’ll head to the local Farmer’s Market for vegetables and give that little square over to more zinnias for color and butterflies. Perhaps I’ll hang long planters on my deck rails for salad greens. I need a birdbath too or better yet a small pond (that was in the original landscape plan) and a purple martin house. With all these mosquitos martins should love this neighborhood! Just found those bird house books I bought for the boys so many years ago.

I have a list of early spring garden projects accumulating. This was my first season to watch what comes up and I have been amazed at the planning for the perennials - something new every month! In Spring 2010 I’ll be editing. My many varieties of hosta are overcrowded so need dividing and planting in barer spots. I’ve already started pulling out some of the violets where they crowd out the beds. May swap out a couple of the scrawny climber roses for bushier ever blooming types. I hope if I thin out my hydrangeas in back they won’t harbor so many mosquitos and my poor ferns have burned up in the summer heat. They need to be moved to a shadier spot.

Think I’ll be busy?

The $300 Solution

I knew when I purchased my little house that I would be making some improvements in the kitchen. All the appliances are 17-20 years old and I plan to replace them with energy efficient ones. The biggest problem for me, however, was the lack of counterspace. I love to cook and often try my hand at Chinese and Indian dishes that require a lot of prep work and lots of little bowls of things to be added speedily while at the stove. By the time I unpacked my kitchen things - and please remember I got rid of LOADS of things including 3/4 of my cookbooks when we emptied our house in Texas - my countertops were full of things with little room left for working.

I went to a home show in the Spring and looked at displays and talked to contractors and even had one out to the house to talk options. Conclusion? I could tear down one of the walls between my cute little dining room and the kitchen and build a counter there (but I love my dining room as is!) or I could add on to the house, moving my kitchen out about 5-6 feet, putting in a garden shed below and opening up the back wall for more windows and a better view of my garden. That would cost about $100,000. Nice, but I don't think so.

What a thrill when I opened a Crate & Barrel catalog and found the answer to the problem! This little shelving unit holds all that stuff that was on my kitchen counter and then some. It's beautiful and the shelves are tempered glass - easy to clean in a kitchen. (Looks like my new appliances will have to be stainless steel to keep up the elegant look.) The five 12 x 24 shelves fit right there on the wall the contractor wanted me to tear down and I can still open the door to the deck outside.

Best of all...look at all my counterspace.

Dinner anyone?

K Q:-)

The Real Thing

Call me a dinosaur but I do find Facebook a big disappointment! It’s nifty all right and I appreciate it’s utility if one lives in an underdeveloped country without a free press. However, having joined up recently, I’m giving notice here that I will likely soon resign. No one there seems to have much to say - probably because it is SO public - and I am not interested in playing games or engaging in cyber food fights. It’s yet another example of communication-in-lieu-of-communication. I’m hardly a Ludite but I’ll stick with the old fashioned telephone, e-mail or perhaps even the occasional letter. Maybe I’m the last to still get a thrill at finding something besides bills and junk mail in my mailbox. Besides, I hear the Post Office needs customers and may not be long for the digital world. Spare me! As for Twittering, well....

Thursday evening Poco and I took a walk with my friend Angela along the WO&D Trail to Sparrow Pond. It was a lovely evening for an hour and a half walk and lots of people were out. We enjoyed it but I couldn’t help noticing how many people are out for exercise plugged into their iPods or cell phones. Don’t get me wrong, my iPod is one of my favorite things and my cell phone is most useful from time to time (if I remember to charge it). However, I think it’s sad that these people don’t seem to enjoy the outdoors as it is without filtering it through their technologies. As for Twittering (sigh) ...

As Angela and I wound up our walk we passed this tree (two trees actually) and mid-conversation I stopped to note all the twittering going on. There must have been a hundred small birds roosting here. I could see them jockeying for position among the branches but as the light was fading it was hard to see them clearly - some kind of warbler perhaps? As I stepped back from the tree a maverick took flight at the top and I spotted it’s bright yellow coloration. Goldfinches! Perhaps a hundred or more. What a treat! Were I plugged into my iPod I’d have completely missed them. On the other hand, I was wishing I had my digital camera with me to catch the cacaphony.

Yesterday Poco and I went back to snap a few pictures and take another look at the pond. We dodged a few grimacing Lance Wannabes (I walk in the left lane as dogs heel to the left AND I prefer to see the bikes speeding towards me rather than surprising me from behind - so lax are they in giving notice or slowing down for pedestrians) and made it along the path toward our destination. No twittering tonight but we were out earlier than the night of the goldfinches.

What we did enjoy was the scent of something blooming - this perhaps - with the distinctive scent of coconut cake! (Note to Jerry: I still daydream of your mother’s homemade coconut cake made with hand grated - not packaged - coconut! How’s that for sense memory?) It’s another grace note I’d have missed if I’d been speeding through like the Wannabes. Ahhhhhhh summer! I’ll take my twittering au naturel and plug in later.

K Q:-)