In memoriam

The Bird House

One of our favorite houses in Lawrenceville!

Many of us put out a bird feeder or a bird bath, but this house is a veritable urban wildlife sanctuary.


Although the homeowner has rescued many different kinds of birds, you will recognize her house by the humble pigeons who gather there.

Welcome to Lawrenceville! Hope you enjoy your stay-cation!

You don't need to go far to have fun
this weekend. Here's 36 hours in L'Ville:

Friday evening
8 p.m. What better way to start off a weekend in tribute to great Americans than at Queersburgh, an exploration of queerness at Espresso a Mano. I don't know whether Walt Whitman or Henry James or Langston Hughes or Tennessee Williams or Alice Walker will be discussed, but I hear America singing. You don't have to be a card-carrying member of the LGBT community to enjoy the smoothest espresso in town and thought-provoking poetry. Besides, aren't we all queer as folk?

11 p.m. Continue your discussion over cocktails on the patio at Tamari. Who can resist their filo-wrapped tiger shrimp?

Fair is fowl, and fowl is fair

Here's the scoop on Dozen's new coop.

One of Dozen's bakers is raising chickens at her Butler home. She has nine birds, some named after Dozen staff members.

The hens aren't producing yet, but Dozen is counting its chicken eggs before they're laid.

The bakery and cafe uses hundreds of eggs every week, said James Gray, Dozen's owner and L'Ville's unofficial ambassador. James expects to get only a small amount of eggs from these hens to use for select items. "All of our eggs do come from local sources, but that source is a larger producer," he said.

Will we see one of these cuties on the menu for, say, chicken pot pie? "NO!" James said. "Eggs only."

Whew!

Photo courtesy of James Gray

A note to readers

People have been asking me lately: What's the purpose of this blog?

The simple answer: It doesn't have a purpose.

This blog reflects my whims, my wanderings about Lawrenceville, my interests: I like to drink latte, and eat pastry and walk my dog and sometimes I do all three at once. I like to shop. I like to eat out. I love vintage anything. I love can't live without art or music or gardening or the latest news. I vote.

I am not affiliated with any official organization like Lawrenceville Corp. I am not buddies with any shop or restaurant owners. I'm not being paid by anybody to write this blog, and I'm not expecting to make any money from this blog. I'm a resident, and a fairly new resident at that, who has been trying to describe my new neighborhood to friends back in California. What started as emails to L.A. with photos of the River Walk has ended up as a blog.

It's as simple as that.

Tie me up! Tie me down!

You can tie me into any silky knot you want with one of these. The patterns recall the 1940s, or something you saw in an Almodóvar movie.

Found at Ambiance, 4735 Butler St. The ties here, located at the front of the store, run about $20 to $35. Ambiance, however, is a "shop with a purpose" -- proceeds benefit homeless women. In order to constantly make room for more merchandise, the prices go down week after week (and the clothes in the front move toward the rear of the store). Que bueno!

By the way, if you didn't catch Almodóvar's latest, Broken Embraces is now showing On Demand. Best movie I've seen in months.

Do you ask, or do you guess?

The theory runs that we are raised in one of two cultures. In Ask culture, people grow up believing they can ask for anything – a favour, a pay rise– fully realising the answer may be no. In Guess culture, by contrast, you avoid "putting a request into words unless you're pretty sure the answer will be yes… A key skill is putting out delicate feelers. If you do this with enough subtlety, you won't have to make the request directly; you'll get an offer. Even then, the offer may be genuine or pro forma; it takes yet more skill and delicacy to discern whether you should accept."

This Guardian columnist presumes that unpleasantness will occur when an Asker runs headlong into a Guesser. I don't believe that's true.

Just because an Asker wants to stay at the Guesser's house for a week, or wants a raise from the Guesser boss doesn't mean the Guesser has a problem turning him down. The Guesser may find the Asker's ask-iness amusing -- or even admire the Asker for his chutzpah.   

Sunday morning, praise the dawning

I've got a restless feeling. Looking for Elements? Your favorite vintage furnishings store has moved uptown, taking Butler Street's best-kept secret with it.

There's nothing like Sundays. Brunch at Coca, then browsing at Elements. But did you take a last sip of your latte this morning and leave Coca only to find that Elements was gone? Don't worry, it's not gone. It's just up Butler Street.

All day it has rained

All day it has rained, and we on the edge of the moors
Have sprawled in our bell-tents, moody and dull as boors,

Oh, what a world ...

. . . it seems we live in. 

 

Prints from the 1940s/50s. In original frames.

Makes any boy feel like picking up roses.

Found at Dandelions. About $17.99 each or $50 for all three.

Stay behind the line ...

Check out the winner of the 2010 Catlin Art Prize, which promotes emerging artists in the UK.

The judges felt the video/performance work, by 29-year-old Reynir Hutber, was "especially promising for its coherency and for placing the viewer within the piece itself."

Hutber's piece uses "looped video footage to make it appear that the viewer is within touching distance of the artist when in fact the installation space is empty. The impact of this strange encounter is a powerful one, and asks a loaded question for our televisual society: 'Are we responsible for what we watch?' "

The artist said his work was "broadly concerned with the devices through which social behaviour is coerced, monitored and evaluated. Rather than focus on the production of objects, I stage open-ended scenarios whose implications are ultimately determined by the audience’s response and interaction."

h/t The Independent 

What's smart and fashionable?

Voting.

The shop around the corner

Ever get the munchies late on Saturday night, say after midnight, and decide to make cookies or (cough) brownies? You've creamed the sugar with the butter and beaten the eggs when you discover you're out of flour? Will Shursave or Giant Eagle even be open?
Never fear! Lamont Gilmore is here! 

Awww! The family that plays together ...

Stays together. A polar bear cub and his mother frolic on the frozen water off the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. / Photograph by Steven J. Kazlowski via the Daily Telegraph
Want to see the baby elephants dance?

Forget Venice

What makes a city the most livable?
Forbes used five criteria: unemployment, crime, income growth, the cost of living, and artistic and cultural opportunities. But the magazine left out the most important reason to call someplace home: It’s how it makes you feel. It’s a city’s vibe.

An F for privacy

Facebook now requires "users to opt out if they wish to keep information private, making most of that information public by default. Some personal data is now being shared with third-party Web sites." (Italics mine.) Read more at NYT. (I learned about this the hard way. My activities and interests are still all screwed up.)

Je t'adore The Door House!

One of our favorite houses in Lawrenceville! The house that turns the saying "you make a better door than a window" inside out. What great colors! Remind you of San Francisco's Painted Ladies?

If you have a favorite house in L'Ville, tell us about it! Post pix! (But do the homeowner a favor and keep the exact address to yourself. 'Kay?)

It's almost Mother's Day. Let's go shopping!

You're looking for something a little bit different. It has to be something special. Something vintage! No matter your budget, you can find the perfect gift only a few blocks away.