Thank You, Ladies

Reggie and Pompey are beside themselves with pleasure to be the subjects of two posts currently gracing the blogosphere, one by the inestimable Little Augury and the other by Ulla of Model's Own.

Little Augury is a blog that I follow daily, and she is one of the most fascinating and thought-provoking bloggers covering the worlds of design, fashion, art, and beauty that I am aware of.   To be anointed by Little Augury as one of her "Favorite Posts" of 2010 is an honor indeed.

Ulla, of Model's Own, is a delightful presence in the blogosphere, where she shares with her lucky readers a window into her world of high fashion and supreme elegance.  I look forward to opening her posts whenever she graces us with a new one.  Pompey is absolutely thrilled that she adores him, and he looks forward to giving her a kiss when he is lucky enough to meet her one day.

I urge you, Dear Reader, to click on the links to each of their blogs, above.  For, if you haven't come across these ladies yet, Reggie is sure that you will immediately add them to your list of daily "must reads," joining Reggie and their many other fortunate followers.

Thank you, Little Augury and Ulla of Model's Own.

Photograph by Boy Fenwick

Reggie's Favorite Christmas Music Around the House

Like most people, Reggie enjoys listening to and playing Christmas music this time of year.  He is known to sing along to it—sometimes quite loudly and much to the annoyance of those around him—in the car, while out shopping, and around the house.  Even though he would like to, Reggie is not allowed to start playing Christmas music before the morning of the first Saturday after Thanksgiving, and he is required to stop playing it at midnight on Boxing Day.  He didn't make this rule, but he good naturedly agreed to it and follows along with it in the interest of maintaining matrimonial harmony.

Reggie spent much of his boyhood and adolescence singing in church choirs and secular choruses, and he knows—or at least thinks he can recall—the bass/baritone part to many carols of the season.  He happily sings along at church, at least when he finds himself there, and he is overjoyed to attend parties where carols are sung, where he joins in enthusiastically.  Most of the time this is met with bemused tolerance by those around him, but sometimes not.  Only last week Reggie attended a party where a quartet of caroling singers dressed in period garb out of A Christmas Carol had been engaged to stroll throughout the rooms, entertaining the guests.  They were distinctly not pleased when Reggie tried to join in on their fun by adding his own harmonies at one point.  Ah well, he thought while reaching for another glass of egg nog, at least he wasn't the one walking around in pseudo-Victorian clothing that night.

In any event, today's post is not supposed to be about Reggie, but rather about the music that he plays (some claim endlessly) around the house during the Christmas season.  I've divided it into three categories: contemporary, popular classics, and traditional.  They are all favorites of mine, and are given a lot of airplay at Darlington House this time of year.

The first and newest recording on this list, Let it Snow!, is a short and swell offering from today's King of Swing, Michael Bublé, that is sure to please even the most jaded member of your household.  Man, this guy can sing!

I first learned of the Blenders, an extremely talented a cappella quartet that has been singing together since their college days, from my dear brother Frecky, who sent me Nog, their first Christmas album CD, five or so years ago.  I cannot get enough of the Blenders' gorgeous close harmony singing of carols and standards on this and their other Christmas albums CDs.

I reach for Diana Krall's Christmas Songs when I'm in the mood for something sultry, which she delivers in jazzy spades on this recording.  I usually play it after sundown, as it is best listened to accompanied by a scotch on the rocks.  I mean, look at her!

Moving on from contemporary and into the popular classics, the first on my list is the Carpenters' Christmas Portrait, featuring Karen Carpenter's mellifluous renditions of popular Christmas songs.  I can't help myself—I love this recording!  I play it so often this time of year that if it were an album I'd have worn out the grooves by now.  I'm not surprised the Carpenters were the only "rock band" invited to perform at the Nixon White House, given their wholesome appeal.

If I want to play classic Christmas standards during a party or while decorating the house for the holiday, I put on Croon and Swoon, a compilation of timeless classics by some of the most popular, pre-rock-'n'-roll vocalists of the mid-twentieth century.  You know the ones I mean.  There are two song-packed CDs in this series, and I have both of them.  There's just nothing quite like the velvety sound of Mel Torme singing "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" to get me into the Christmas spirit.

Go ahead and laugh at me, but I love this album.  Recorded before he became a parody of himself, Andy Williams is fabulous here.  Did you know that he got his start singing backup in a night club act for Kay Thompson of Eloise at the Plaza fame?  Yes, he did, which attests to his vocal creds, given that Miss Thompson coached some of the best singers of her day, including Judy Garland and Lena Horne.  His rendition of Miss T's "Jingle Bells" arrangement is a knockout.

Now, I know I'm pushing it here with this one, but I play this recording at least a couple of times every Christmas season.  And that's because Miss Doris Day is at her absolute whipped-creamiest on this, her Christmas Album.  But be forewarned: in order to avoid an onset of hyperglycemia do not attempt to listen to this album CD while consuming anything sweet, such as cocoa or cookies.

Moving on from the popular classics and into traditional Christmas music, the first on my list is Pops Christmas Party by the Boston Pops Orchestra, under the direction of Arthur Fiedler.  In addition to orchestrations of holiday standards, it includes beloved music from The Nutcracker and the Pops' iconic rendition of "Sleigh Ride."  What's not to love?

She may have multiple personality disorders, but Miss Kathleen Battle has the voice of an angel from Heaven, and on A Christmas Celebration she sings traditional carols with stunning lyric beauty.  The first time I heard her rendition of "I Wonder as I Wander" it stopped me in my tracks.

Moving on to England and back in time more than a century, A Victorian Christmas is a collection of traditional English carols and music from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Many of the works on this disc are from Sir John Stainer's Carols New and Old, first published in London in 1871.  This is the perfect album CD to play while opening presents on Christmas morning.

Closing out my Christmas-music favorites is a recent recording that I received for supporting the local public radio station I listen to in the country.  A Christmas Festival features the Cambridge Singers and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, accompanied by the organ of the Royal Albert Hall, under the direction of John Rutter.  It is full of traditional English carols, hymns, and music, and is perfect to play on a wintry December afternoon spent wrapping presents.  It's also a good warm-up for the annual Christmas Eve radio broadcast of "The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols" service held at King's College, Cambridge, that Reggie makes sure he listens to every year.

So, here you have Reggie's favorite Christmas recordings, and the ones that you would be sure to hear should you find yourself at Darlington House between now and Boxing Day.  I encourage you to add any of these albums CDs recordings downloads to your own collection of Christmas music, as I think you, too, will enjoy listening to them.

Tell me, what are some of your Christmas music favorites?

Photograph of boy choristers courtesy of Getty Images; all album CD covers scanned by Reggie Darling

Decorating for Christmas: Rules Are Made To Be Broken

Reggie has a bit of a confession to make.  He doesn't always follow his own rules.  At least not to the absolute letter.

Why, in fact, he even allows a bit of red to creep in to his Christmas decorations at Darlington House.

He has a number of German painted wooden Christmas decorations that he puts out some years.

They have bits of painted red decoration on them.

But he draws the line when it comes to ornaments and bows.  He simply will not tolerate any of those in red at Darlington House.  That is a rule that must never be broken.

Hey, wait a second—how did that get in there!

All photographs by Boy Fenwick

Reggie Recommends: Rural Residence

There's a store in the town of Hudson, New York, that Reggie would like to introduce you to, Dear Reader.  It's called Rural Residence, and it is really rather special.

Reggie has been a delighted customer of Rural Residence since it opened in 1999.  It is the type of store that Reggie seeks to frequent when he patronizes retail establishments.  And that is because it is an independent, locally owned business, where the contents reflect the creative mercantile flair of its owner, rather than the focus-group-affirmed offerings found in national retail chains.

Rural Residence is the brainchild and creative offspring of its founder and owner, Tim Dunleavy.  Tim, who worked in the fashion industry before opening Rural Residence, can be found at the store most days of the week manning the counter and greeting his customers.  That is when he isn't sourcing Rural Residence's marvelous offerings from myriad suppliers or pursuing his other great love, historic preservation.

Rural Residence is an old-fashioned emporium, full of wonderful and eclectic offerings for the well-appointed country house.  It is a delight to go there because one never knows what one will find amongst its treasures.

It's really a very romantic place.  And by romantic, I mean in the spirit of the Hudson River painters of the mid-nineteenth century.  Rural Residence is a store that celebrates natural beauty and features products that have integrity and authenticity.  It rings true.

Rural Residence stocks an interesting array of reproduction tablewares made by artisans whose work is inspired by nineteenth century examples, including creamware made by Don Carpentier.  The store stocks more modern decorative objects, too, including John Derian's whimsical decoupage ware.

Rural Residence carries interesting and attractive textiles, both for the bed and the table.  It also stocks useful household products that are beautifully utilitarian, including cleaning products from Caldrea, interesting hooks and soap dishes, scissors, handmade brushes, beeswax candles, and more.  In addition, Tim carries paint by Farrow & Ball and reps historical wallpaper from Adelphi Paper Hangings.

Tim displays his wares on antique tables and in antique display cases, and the store has a wonderful feeling of another time.  It is almost as if one steps back in to the nineteenth century when one crosses Rural Residence's threshold.  In addition to selling newly made products, Tim also sells antiques, which he artfully displays throughout the store.  He recently acquired a crystal chandelier that once belonged to the actress Barbara Bel Geddes' mother, who lived in Hudson.  The chandelier hangs in the store, and it is very prettily fitted with deep pink candles for the holidays.  It can be yours, if you like.

Rural Residence stocks an always changing and expertly chosen selection of books on architecture, gardens, decoration, fashion, and the like.  It is also, to the best of my knowledge, the only place to buy World of Interiors in Hudson.  And Tim regularly features book signings by noteworthy authors.  He recently had one for Duane Hampton, who came to sign copies of her recently published book on her husband, the decorator Mark Hampton.  In addition to book signings, Rural Residence occasionally features other interesting presenters.  Back in 2001 Tim hosted a trunk show of his friend, Thom Browne, which was a great success.

Rural Residence is beautifully decorated for Christmas this year.  Tim has worked with Wenonah Webster, a floral designer, for the last half a dozen years in decorating the store for the holidays.  This year she did a particularly marvelous job, using dried vines and leaves, little artificial owls, and live blush-pink poinsettias.  It really is quite magical.  In fact, it was the Christmas decorations at Rural Residence that prompted Reggie to write this post.  He wanted to share them with you, Dear Reader, as an example of what is possible in the hands of a creative, inspired, independent retailer—in stark contrast to what one sees in the shopping malls.  That is if one, unlike Reggie, were to venture in such places at this time of year.

But Rural Residence is a worthy destination throughout the year, and not just at Christmastime.  We make a point of stopping in whenever we visit Hudson, as the store's inventories are constantly evolving.  We know that we can always find something that strikes our fancy there or that we will find useful to have at Darlington House.  We buy our soaps and towels and grooming supplies there, as Tim has several attractive lines in stock to select from.
  

Rural Residence always carries a marvelous selection of seasonal cards, gift tags, wrapping papers, and labels.  It is difficult to choose among them, they are so attractive.

In years past Tim has published a small catalogue of Rural Residence's offerings at Christmastime.  The catalogues are really quite delightful, and Reggie has saved each of them.  Tim has worked with a number of talented artists and photographers on his catalogues, including Robert Clyde Anderson one year and the Messers McDermott & McGough another.  The texts are charmingly written in a quaint, old-fashioned manner by James Corbett.

Rural Residence stocks offerings covering a broad range of price points, and there is always something to be had there that one can come away with without doing too much damage to one's pocket book.

Rural Residence is a magical shopping experience, made all the more marvelous by actually visiting and seeing it in person.  The website isn't yet featuring the store's offerings, but it is expected to be fully up and running sometime this spring.  If the store's catalogues are any indication, then Rural Residence's website is sure to be a pleasing and creative means of shopping its wares on-line.

For those of you who haven't been to Hudson, New York, yet, it is well worth the trip.  In addition to Rural Residence—which is worth the trip alone—Hudson has lots of other interesting stores to visit, a number of excellent restaurants, and a thriving arts and music scene.  It is a convenient two-hour train ride from New York City, and the journey along the banks of the mighty Hudson River is one of the most scenic train rides in the country.  Be sure to sit on the western side of the train car, as that is where you'll get the best view of the passing scenery.

I encourage you, Dear Reader, to make a trip to Hudson, New York, and to stop in at Rural Residence.  I am confident that you will be as delighted by shopping there as I am.

And please tell them that Reggie sent you.

Rural Residence
316 Warren Street
Hudson, New York 12534
(518) 822-1061
www.ruralresidence.com
Timothy Dunleavy, Proprietor

Please note that Reggie has received nothing in return for this review, nor does he expect to.  He has written it solely for the pleasure of introducing Rural Residence to his readers and for the satisfaction he takes in promoting a small, independently owned business of taste and discrimination.


All photographs by Boy Fenwick

Decorating for Christmas: Anything But "Retail Red"

At Darlington House we have a plaster bust of Thomas Jefferson that sits on a column in our drawing room.  It is a modern-day copy of the bust done from life in Paris in 1789 by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828), and it is life-sized.

This year when decorating our house for Christmas, Boy tied a wide, dark brown grosgrain ribbon around the bust's neck.  As is seen in the above photograph, it really looks quite marvelous, particularly when contrasted with the white of the bust's plaster and the room's gray walls.

At Darlington House we eschew the use of the color red when decorating for Christmas, at least the bright and rather ugly red seen ubiquitously these days in every mass merchandiser here in the U.S.  I call it "Retail Red."  You will not see any decorations inside our house that are red, or even that have red details to them.  Instead of imposing red in our rooms when decorating for the holidays, we prefer to take our cues from the colors already in the room, and have our decorations be a seamless addition to the spaces.  Not only are such colors less expected than Retail Red, but they are more attractive, contextual, and pleasing to the eye.  They look right.

Even though it's rather late in the game and most of you have likely already finished decorating for Christmas, Reggie suggests that those of you who haven't dispense with the color red in your holiday decorations.  And for those of you who are already decorated to the nines, well, Reggie urges you to take a break from using red decorations next year when it comes time to decorate for Christmas.  Take your color inspiration instead from those already in the room's decor.  He believes that you will enjoy the creative energy it prompts, and that you will find living in a house decorated thusly—without any red decorations—a welcome relief from what is seen everywhere else during the holidays.

Now, imagine our bust of Thomas Jefferson with a bright red bow instead of the brown one shown.  It doesn't look as good, does it?

Paperwhite Narcissi—Locally Grown and Sourced

This past weekend we attended a holiday Farmers' Market in the village where we live in the Hudson River Valley.  It was held in the parish hall of the local Dutch Reformed church and included many of the vendors that appear at the Farmers' Market we attend in the nearby town on Saturday mornings from April through November.  I am pleased to report that the holiday market looked to be a great success and was thronged with customers actively buying when we visited it shortly after it opened on Saturday morning.

We were happy to see that one of our favorite vendors, Cedar Farm, was at the market.  Cedar Farm is a wholesale supplier of locally grown, unusual cut flowers that they grow on their property in Ghent, New York, and sell to independent florists in the region.  In addition to their wholesale business, Cedar Farm also sells cut flowers, cut branches, floral arrangements, potted flowers, and other floral ephemera at farmers' markets in the area.  Cedar Farm's flowers are lovely and old-fashioned, and a far cry from the over-hybridized and rather pedestrian offerings found in supermarkets and from catalogue-based chain florists.

At the market we bought a large clay pot of paperwhite narcissi from Cedar Farm that was artfully decorated with black privet berries, bay leaves, yellow twig dogwood and pussy willow branches, eucalyptus berries, and a pine cone.  It looks like a fantasy of a natural woodland outcropping of narcissi, ready to burst into flower.  However, one could never find such a combination in nature in real life—it is only through the artistry of a sophisticated plants person that such an arrangement appears to be so natural.  We photographed it in our dining room at Darlington House, where we have placed it on a large, early ninteenth-century Wedgwood creamware charger.  I feel fortunate to have such a lovely pot of paperwhite narcissi, and I look forward to seeing it blossom in the coming days.

We are regular customers of Cedar Farm and usually buy something from them whenever we attend the Farmers' Market when it runs in the nearby town.  We bought the twig wreath that we have hanging on our barn from them when we attended the season's closing market at the end of November.

At the holiday market I spoke with Marilyn Cederoth, who was manning the Cedar Farm booth.  I learned that she co-owns the farm with her sister, Kate Swift, and that both of them have been in the flower business for their entire working lives.  Marilyn started out as a floral designer in Chicago, followed by a lengthy stint in the wholesale business there, and then moved to Ghent, New York, ten years ago, where she joined her sister growing wholesale cut flowers.

Cedar Farm's informational post card

I bring the potted paperwhite narcissi we bought from Cedar Farm to your attention, Dear Reader, as an example of what you, too, can find at knowledgeable, dedicated, and sophisticated independent local florists if you look for them.  What such plants people offer is a treasured, and increasingly rare, alternative to what is available in supermarkets and from members of the national and internet-based floral sales organizations that we are all too familiar with.

If you aspire to live a life of aesthetic integrity, as we do at Darlington House, I urge you to eschew the degraded and hybridized offerings that blanket mass-market florists and retail chains this time of year.  Instead, I recommend that you seek out and patronize the independent local flower shops where you live.  Not only will you be supporting locally owned businesses that are the backbones of our communities, but you will be assured of surrounding yourself with beautiful flora that you won't see everywhere else you go this holiday season.

And please tell them that Reggie sent you.

You can learn more about Cedar Farm by visiting their interesting, information-packed website: www.cedarfarmwholesale.com.


Please note that Reggie has received nothing in return for this post, nor does he expect to.  He is posting it solely for the pleasure of his readers.

All photographs, except where noted, by Boy Fenwick

The Wreaths of Darlington, Part II

When I was a boy growing up, my mother, MD, would buy a Christmas wreath every year to place on the grille of her car, a Volkswagon bus.  Yes, it was the 1960s.  MD, who always thought of herself as something of a rebel when compared with the other ex-debutantes of her generation and circle, was rather proud of the fact that she drove a VW bus, and not the expected country club station wagon that the other mothers drove at the time in our neighborhood in Washington, D.C.

Our Rover at Darlington, decorated for Christmas

It was a pleasant ritual each Christmas for the young Reggie to accompany MD to the garden center near our house to choose the perfect, diminutive wreath for the front of her car.  MD, who was ordinarily a no-nonsense, down-to-business gal, would get surprisingly girly with the guys who worked at the garden center, who were charmed—and sometimes exasperated—by her insistence on choosing the perfect wreath for the front of her car.  It had to be just so.

MD took Christmas very seriously.  It was the only holiday when she truly rallied and followed through on the rituals of her Episcopalian tribe.  She could have cared less about the other holidays of the year, such as Easter, when she was far more likely to toss out a disparaging wisecrack than toe the line of expected behavior.  But Christmas was another matter.  And I'm grateful that she took it seriously (unlike a lot of other things), since she imbued in me and my siblings a reverence for the rituals of Christmas that pleasantly stay with me still, to this day.

Ever since I have had my own cars, I have bought wreaths to decorate their grilles during the Christmas season—at least the grilles of the cars that I drive that can carry off sporting a wreath without looking completely ridiculous.  Not only do I like the way they look, but it is a sentimental connection that I have with MD, long after she is dead, at the time of year that she loved the most.

Here's to you, MD.

The Best of Reggie: Year One

As one does (or at least one should) at an important milestone in one's life—such as an anniversary—Reggie has spent some time reflecting on the past year of his blog and reviewing his output.

Just as Reggie believes it is appropriate to thank those who have made the journey interesting and rewarding for him in his first year, so he believes it is permissable for him to blow his horn a bit, and gather together in one place the twelve posts (one for every month) that have excited the most responses from you, Dear Reader, or that he has most enjoyed writing.  And he has done so.  They are, so to speak, my greatest hits (pun intended) of the last year.

Starting from the beginning and working my way up to the present, here goes:

My Slim Keith Story was one of my earliest posts, and was the first where I received more than a handful of comments.  In it I relate meeting the legendary society swan shortly after I first moved to New York, and how I then found myself, much to my surprise, sitting in her living room the very next day, having a cocktail and reflecting on what a lucky boy was I.

My First College Mixer, Or How Reggie Got Slapped is one of my favorite posts.  In it I recollect spending a weekend visiting my dear brother Frecky at Yale when I was fourteen, which included Reggie receiving a well-deserved slap to his face by a furious Mount Holyoke girl.

Reggie's Rules for Popular Party Guests was the first post that I wrote in which I outlined my basic rules for acceptable social comportment (a recurring theme here on Reggie Darling), in this case of guests at a party.  In it I explain what I believe a host should reasonably expect of his guests—at least those that he would care to entertain more than once . . .

How Reggie Got His Name relates how it was that my parents came to name me after a woman they employed as caregiver to their children, and how I came to treasure that honor.

Maids Should Wear Uniforms was a post that elicited a firestorm of comments, and more than any other post I have written.  In it I explain why it is that I have come over time to require our housekeepers to wear uniforms as a condition of their employment.  Some people took Reggie to task for this, in some cases quite vehemently, but the majority agreed with him.

The Pompey Chronicles, Part I, II, III, and IV is a series (I know, I'm stretching a bit here—this really is four separate posts) that many of my readers particularly enjoyed.  In it I relate finding, naming, and loving my most adored (and published) pet dog, a pug named Pompey (who is, incidentally sitting in my lap as I write this).

A Peale, a Plant, And a Pot relates how I came to be the unexpected owner of a cutting of a geranium (or is it a pelargonium?) that once belonged to Thomas Jefferson, and which is the subject of a painting by Rembrandt Peale in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

A Cary Grant Story is a great favorite of mine, and also of many of my readers.  In it I relate a story that was told by the mother of a dear friend of ours about her three chance encounters with Cary Grant in elevators in New York City, and the brief conversations that ensued.

Reggie, Lilly, Lilly Boy, is a post in which I ponder the sociological iconography of Lilly Pulitzer clothing, and discuss why it is that Reggie has somewhat mixed feelings about the brand.

The Blossoming of Romance Under the Fascist Sky was one of the more challenging and rewarding posts that I have written in the last year.  In it I discuss how my parents met on a bicycle trip in Europe only weeks before the outbreak of WWII, and what became of their marriage over time.  It moved many of my readers in a way that none of my other posts have.

Why I Will Never Eat at Per Se was much fun to write.  In it I relate a particularly Kafka-esque experience I had in unsuccessfully attempting to make a reservation at one of New York's most sought-after restaurants.

Drapes Is a Verb was also great fun to write, and continued a theme I first explored in "When Is a Vase a Vahz?"  In the post I discuss why it is that one should never refer to curtains as anything but, well, curtains—at least if one aspires to moving in the circles in which Reggie finds himself.

And there you have it: the greatest hits of my first year of blogging, give or take a few . . .

Dear Reader, my goal in writing this blog—as I outlined in my inaugural post one year ago—is to provide you with a diversion from your daily cares.  To the extent that I engage you, amuse you, teach you something, or develop a dialogue with you, I believe I have succeeded in my mission.  And for that I am most grateful to you for giving me the opportunity to do so.  Thank you.

And now, I really must get back to work!

Image courtesy of Slim Aarons' Once Upon a Time, with apologies to Mr. Philip van Rensselaer