Initial Thoughts

Halloween 2024 : Revisiting a Venetian Masquerade Fête

Taking advantage of this Halloween 2024 actually falling on a Thursday (blog day) I’m re-issuing a post from many years back (I’d actually forgotten about it…). In the days before…

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was a well kept Boston secret until 2012, when a multimillion dollar expansion by “starchitect” Renzo Piano shone a light on this singular jewel…which can…

Boston’s Back Bay Townhouses, Part 2

The townhouses of Boston’s Back Bay have never looked better! So many periods, such a divergence in architectural styles, enhanced by tasteful gardens. Some are condominiums within a “row house”…

Boston’s Back Bay Townhouses Part 1

Two weeks ago I had the absolute pleasure of revisiting a city I had lived in and loved in the late 80s and early 90s…Boston. It was a glorious whirlwind…

The Boston Garden

A recent gathering of horticulturally-inclined friends gave me a welcome opportunity to return to a city I once called home…Boston. Our first full day of activities was my idea of…

Attention to Details, Part 2

There is great depth to the topic, “Attention to Details,” warranting a part two that focuses more on the garden than Parterre’s architecture. But what a pleasure it has been…

Attention to Details, Part 1

An Atlanta friend, noted landscape architect/designer, John Howard, came to town recently. Of course, I was in seventh heaven, with so many shared interests, spending an afternoon chattering away from…

Bonniecrest: Celebrating John Russell Pope

Let me say this up front…my heart is in this blog. Before building our home, Parterre, (1999), Jonathan and I resided in a condominium at the Waves, the former residence…

Creating a Floral Love Story

As with many years of my life in Newport, I have met and befriended a host of talented people through the Newport Flower Show. In 2019 I met Sandra Sigman,…

“Flora,” a New Culinary Destination for Newport

There’s always a good story in Newport! And our town’s new boutique waterfront hotel, Gardiner House, is handsomely wrapped in its homage to noted Newport painter Howard Gardiner Cushing and…