EARTH DAY

Today is Earth Day, a day many people get involved in Earth activities or it gets swept under the carpet. I have always loved the day. It's a day to celebrate annually, though we should be caring for Mother Earth daily It's a day to highlight environmental protection and promote sustainability. The day can feature many things to get involved with, or we can just change our ways to protect and serve, like neighborhood tree plantings, creating a bird or bee habitat, liter pickups, or just unplugging things not in use frequently or turning off lights and things when not in a room, using grocery reuseable bags or a market basket INSTEAD of those dreaded damn plastic bags! I never go to the farmers market without my trusty basket to put everything in. Or it could be as simple as donating to so many various animal and environmental charities and agencies. I got a small group of us at work to go today to a park in Mechanicsburg to do a litter pick up, and once home, it's a day to make an extra contribution to several of the charities I belong to. Since I was in Philly for the weekend, another great way to have a fun day and do something to make a difference is look into your local parks!!!

I'm amazed at the parks in Philadelphia, which has almost over 63 park spaces in and around the city...Fairmount Park being one of the largest urban landscaped park systems in the US. So, this year I decided my new charity to give to this year is Friends of Rittenhouse Square, since I can't be there in person. I saw a booth this weekend and signed up. Rittenhouse Square, which is the fourth oldest park in the US, is like many other parks in the county. They need care and help, maintaining and improving to keep them around for our respite. Friends of Rittenhouse work tirelessly to help transform the Square into a place of peace and inspiration like litter removal, cleaning graffiti, planting flowers, weeding, and tending to gardens, clearing leaves, mowing lawns...or just donating or volunteering time, to a fund or group if they have one, and some parks even have benches you can buy and have placed in memory of someone. Our parks are more important than ever, what with urban crawl and development, or funds being cut off completely to maintain them. All these photos are fine example of parks in Philly I have taken over the years.

So many ways to give, or donate money or time too this Earth Day. Time to protect the environments and our animal and insect world before it's too late. Here are my primary groups I usually give too on Earth Day.

 

The Sheldrick Trust

The Nature Conservancy

National Audubon Society

World Wildlife Fund

And if interested in parks, check out your Parks and Recreations section of your local or city's website to see if they have a donations section or have a volunteer program.

And Happy Earth Day!

🌳🌼🌳🌼🌳🌼🌳

MANSIONS IN FAIRMOUNT

I sure hope everyone had a good weekend. It was yet another busy one for moi. But I must say, it has been more enjoyable then years past. With work décor finished and up, and the four homes I do decorating for all in the books with exception to one...it's been fun having extra time exploring the area to take in the seasonal delights. Summer will always be my favorite season, but I must admit that the holidays get me feeling nostalgic of the years past with family and friends. My favorite part of the holidays is the decorations and lights, and the spending time with family and friends. Since we stopped gift giving in the family, it's certainly no pressure at all.So this weekend I found myself in Fairmount Park. Fairmount Park is a gorgeous place for anyone to admire no matter what time of year it is. However, this December the mansions of Fairmount Park are going to be the to-see destination for the Philly in the Park .

The historic houses of Lemon Hill Mansion, Laurel Hill, Woodford Mansion, Cedar Grove, and the Historic Strawberry Mansion have all been transformed into a winter wonderland, offering a variety of activities as well as enjoying the holiday décor.

I was able to walk through the several of the mansions and experience some of the exquisite Christmas décor for ourselves. I couldn’t help but linger in each room as the opulence of the historic home was carefully and creatively adorned by talented local garden clubs. And seeing is believing because I’m sure that every kid ,and kid at heart, will adore the floor-to-ceiling Christmas trees or the quintessential holiday trains.

If you need a break from the tours of Christmas decors, you are in luck! For the first time ever, the Historic Houses of Philadelphia will delight guests with a cool new experience on its 47th year: Lemon Hill Mansion will debut a ice bar.

For 6 days only, Ice Bar will serve beers and cider from Evil Genius and Original XIII Ciderworks, along with rotating line-up of food trucks, comfy Adirondack seating, and firepits. So, if you need to get into the spirt, I suggest seeing what's out there in your area to see. Such a sparkling season.

WEEKEND ROAM

Well, the weekend started out with very beautiful weather wise, and you know the Mistress can't sit still to long. After having a half day at work Friday, and the staff at the Casa having everything under control for once, I decided to take a fall walk about in Philly for the day. After a huge breakfast, I was afraid to leave the Casa in fear my jeans might split from the waffles and bacon I swallowed whole, but I left anyway in hope the zipper and snap would hold. I met up with a friend of mine I hadn't seen in some time....and we potted around the Art Museum and Fairmount Park section, as I wanted to take a few snaps.

Looking toward the beautiful Boathouse Row......

You may be wondering what are all the Roman looking pillared buildings from above and below.The Fairmount Water Works was Philadelphia's second municipal waterworks. Designed in 1812 by Frederick Graff and built between 1812 and 1872, it operated until 1909, winning praise for its design and becoming a popular tourist attraction. It now houses a restaurant and an interpretive center that explains the waterworks' purpose and local watershed history. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 for its architecture and its engineering innovations. It was also the nation's first water supply to use paddle wheels to move water. 

After a nice walk in the air all afternoon, I mentioned wanting to go to Barbuzzo for some drinks, but of course... and to try out the menu. Philadelphia right now is exploding with many new eateries and restaurants.....a diners paradise. Laurel was on the radar, owned by a winner of Top Chef, but impossible to get into without reservations, So Barbuzzo it was. I great choice.

Since opening, crowds have been packing the tables for the affordable small plates and creative pizzas featuring toppings like braised bacon and truffled farm eggs. We both had pasta dishes, but the appetizer was delicious as hell. Sheep's Milk Ricotta!

Along with their excellently made cock-a-tails!!!!!

Be sure to save room for dessert. Enjoying Barbuzzo’s salted caramel budino could be described as a life-changing experience. The creamy dessert, topped with a dark chocolate crust, vanilla bean caramel and sea salt, has proved so popular,  that our waiter said it is often offered for sale separately during the holidays. Barbuzzo’s small space offers an intimate dining experience and it was safe to say we made pigs of ourselves.

It was a painful ride home on the train,since I apparently have no self control when it came to eating this weekend, filled with to much earthly delights. Today was spent relaxing. But it was worth a weekend for the senses I think.

IN FULL BLOOM

It was the perfect weekend to get out about. I planned to lounge all weekend, but once I see the sun, I just can't stay put. I love the outdoors, so I and my friend decided to head into Philly to see the cherry blossoms and some of the Sakura Festival taking place. It was quite interesting, a gay man ,and a straight man, going to this event, but my neighbor is way cool to do things with, so I knew being a tree trimmer/ tree expert he may enjoy the event. 

Whether it’s admiring the fragile pink blossoms of 1,000 cherry trees, participating in origami-making  or enjoying martial arts performances, the Cherry Blossom Festival in Philadelphia is the time to celebrate all things Japanese while enjoying the delights of spring. The centuries-old tradition of Sakura Matsuri, or Cherry Blossom Festival, takes place throughout Philadelphia with events that include ceremonial drumming, a traditional tea ceremony, dancing, live music, a fashion show and more. The best part is  admission to most events are free. “Sakura Sunday” concludes the festival today, a day-long celebration of Japanese culture and cherry blossoms held in West Fairmount Park.  And boy was it gorgeous.

 The Festival continues a legacy established in 1926 when the Japanese government donated cherry trees to Philadelphia in honor of the Sesquicentennial of American Independence. While there yesterday we saw a plethora of Japanese eats that's were served up, including curry bowls, takoyaki and gourmet chocolates, so be sure to show up hungry. It was interesting to read the history that Cherry blossoms have, deep significance in Japanese culture and are a traditional motif in art, literature and cuisine. As Japan’s national flower it is sometimes offered as a symbol of friendship to other nations. In traditional Japan, the time of ohanami, or viewing of the ephemeral cherry blossoms, was said to remind one of the fleeting yet enduring nature of life. I have some white ones currently at the Casa my good friend the Dame gave me. They really make spring.

 We later toured the  Shofuso Japanese House and Garden.

All the yaers I lived here I have never been to it. Shofuso is a traditional 17th century-style Japanese house and garden now located in Philadelphia's West Fairmount Park on the site of the Centennial Exposition of 1876. Shofuso was built in 1953 as a gift from Japan to American citizens, to symbolize post-war peace and friendship between the two countries.The building was constructed using traditional Japanese techniques and materials imported from Japan, and was originally exhibited in the courtyard of Museum of Modern Art in New York. After two years, it was relocated to Philadelphia. And I think we got a great treasure there. Had I known how accurate the place was, I may have donned my best Madame Butterfly ensemble for the day.

The koi pond was pretty cool and I was there 3/4 hour watching them.

They seemed very frisky, I have never seen them so active before. Do they usually jump like this???

Far as I know, no one was throwing in feed. I thought one was going to flop out of the pond for a minute.

The Cheery blossoms were very beautiful all day...and alas, will be done putting on their show soon before my other favorite blooms...the Magnolia. We walked around Old City some before going to dinner.

 The day ended at Rouge in Rittenhouse Square for a light bite , cock-a-tails and coffee.

It was a nice relaxing day. We certainly have a lot of treasures to be proud of here.