What's Your "Third Place?"

One of my thoughtful, much-missed friends from Minnesota, Carreen,  often speaks about our "third place", the place other than our home or our workplace that we go to regularly.  It may be the place we go to get work done, or meet neighbors, or grab a coffee with friends, or even make new friends.  We may go there to complete a project on our laptops away from the distractions of home or work.   Often, what we're really seeking is to connect with our community, or to be recognized.

One of my "third places" is the little tea house that is in our neighborhood.  Once a week, whoever is around gathers there for an hour or two and we get to know who our neighbors are.  I've gotten to know some wonderful and interesting women that I otherwise would never see.  We share information, but mostly obsess about Downton Abbey!

Another is my husband's and my favorite restaurant.  We have a standing reservation every couple of weeks normally.  It's a small restaurant with an attentive and friendly staff.  It's a distinct kind of comfort to walk into a place where they know your name, they know your dietary restrictions and take care of that without being asked.  We got to know the staff a little better a few weeks ago when they came to our house for dinner.   We'd enjoyed so many amazing meals there, it was time for us to wait on them.  It turned out to be a fun evening, and so interesting to find out more about each one of them.  A little intimidating to find out that most of them were graduates of culinary schools!  One is a published novelist, one an artist.   That night, two of our guest's significant others made me aware of what I think is a great "third place".

The Baker's Table in Lancaster is just such a community gathering place.  It's in the block of buildings that used to be the Lancaster Cork Works in the 19th century but that is now known as Urban Place,  at 480 New Holland Ave, Lancaster.  It's tucked into the corner of two buildings and is actually in Building 6, on the first floor.  It is a large but comfortable and warm space, a mix of old and new.

There's a large communal table in the center, and also smaller tables if you're there to get some work done.  The table is made of old wooden beams that were in the former factory.  Mixed in throughout the room are antique baking tools, old scales, and a great assortment of gift items.  Great cookbooks, accessories for entertaining, greeting cards, wooden cutting boards and rolling pins.  The room is flanked on one side by windows looking into the baking area.

The Baker's Table serves organic Blue Bottle Coffee, from a Brooklyn-based coffee roaster, and 

brews each customer's cup of coffee individually.  They serve croissants, eclairs, tortes, cookies, and the wildly-popular Lancaster favorite, whoopie pies.  All the baked goods are made right there.  The Bakers's Table also serves lunch, and is available for business and/or celebration events.

I'll be meeting friends there for coffee.  If you're looking for a drop-in kind of place with great vibe, grab a seat at the Baker's Table.  Tell Daniela, one of  the pastry chefs, and Janelle in front of the house, that I sent you!  What are some of your "third places"?

To read more about "third places", check out my friend's blog at www.cpheegard.blogspot.com.

Any Day Now!

Spring has been very slow in arriving in our part of the world this year.  Winter hung on just a little too long, and other than one or two days of spring-like temperatures to tease us, the unfolding of all the lushness and green, and the great sigh of relaxing into warmth, has eluded us so far.  The trees are poised but hesitant.

But there are the little harbingers out there if you're willing to look.  Last week my friend and I drove to an Amish farm to buy pansies.  Every year I say I won't plant them because it's soon too hot for them and they need to be replaced.  But, every year I'm charmed by their wonderful yellows and blues and purples and sure enough, I have a tray of them on my front porch.   I love the johnny-jump-ups for their cheerful little faces.  My daughter used to plant them with her dad, when she was a toddler in her denim overalls, needing two pudgy hands to wield her trowel.  In they'd go right next to her dad's vegetable garden.

The Amish children at the farm told me about the little twin goats that had been born this year...they didn't look alike...one brown...one black.  The frisky little black one was entertaining us as he leaped over and over again,  straight up onto the other animals' backs!

Today we are still in our warm jackets, but here in my neighborhood is a trail through woods along a creek that is full of brave little trailblazers heeding no mind to the temperatures and just doing their best to delight us with color and hope for the season to come!

Even the poor, lowly and usually-maligned dandelion looks great this time of the year!

From Cairo to Lancaster

Winter is hanging on and not letting go of its grip here in Lancaster, so it was wonderful to see the visual treat that was Quilt Week last week, with multiple quilt shows scattered throughout Lancaster County. I'm not a quilter but appreciate the workmanship and artistry, and especially this time of year, the vibrant colors and patterns.

At the Lancaster Spring Quilt Show: A Show in Amish Country, at the Host Resort:

Among the highlights for me was the lovely collection of signature quilts, some dating from the 1800's, exhibited by quilt curator Sue Reich.  These historic quilts feature names that are stitched or written onto quilts, representing farewells, welcomes, charitable endeavors, or sentiments of love.

Also at this particular show were joyful quilts based on the artwork of children.  Images can be seen on www.onceinarabbitmoon.com.

At the larger AQS Quilt Show downtown at the Convention Center, there were three floors of traditional quilts and art quilts.  My friends and I are always so inspired that we always leave the show determined to learn how to quilt.  Maybe this will be the year!

I was especially awe-struck this year by the TentMakers of Cairo.  Tent making is an ancient tradition in Egypt whereby large tents are constructed of heavy canvas, then lined on the inside with needle-turned, hand-appliqued, elaborate designs.  When the sun would shine over the tents, the inside gave off the effect of stained glass.  Today, the tent makers in Cairo (there is a street, Charah El Khiamiah, of about 40 shops of tent maker artists) are having to compete with machine-made and printed wall hangings.  Two of these artists, Hosam Hanofy and Tarek Abdelhay, were on hand last week at the AQS Quilt Show to demonstrate their technique, which they learned from their grandfathers and are now teaching to their young children.  More often than not, the panels are now used as wall hangings instead of tents.

To establish a pattern, a square piece of fabric is folded multiple times, then after drawing the design onto the folded paper, the tentmaker pokes holes through the paper with a needle.  The paper is unfolded, placed over the background cloth, and dusted with talc.  The dots are then connected and the design is the basis for the appliqué.  Pieces of colorful cloth are cut and applied, then needle stitched onto the background, creating a beautiful, ornate symmetric designs.  For more free-flowing designs, the tentmakers just improvise as they go.  It could take up to three or four months to complete a wall hanging, in spite of the amazing speed with which they sew.

Hopefully, teaming up with organizations such as AQS will help to revive interest in the tent makers' wall hangings and permit them to continue their rich cultural tradition while supporting their families.
Anyone interested in purchasing Tarek and/or Hosam's wall hangings can go to www.americanquilter.com/books.

Thank you to Bonnie Browning, AQS, for granting permission to publish my images from the show.

A Very Fun Evening, Eh!

A couple of years ago, my husband Isaac and I stumbled on a wonderful little restaurant on Prince Street, Lancaster, called Ma(i)son, and have enjoyed many great meals there.  Leeann and Taylor Mason have created a very gracious neighborhood place where you can enjoy a warm welcome and the best food in town!    The small space is filled with oatmeal-colored barn boards, mounted ceramic animal heads, orange corners, and lovely place settings on rustic tables, creating a very comfortable and warm experience.  Our favorite spot is the two-person bar overlooking the kitchen where Sarah and Matt turn out the likes of comforting Slow-Braised Beef Cheeks and Squid and Barlotti Beans.  Our young server, Christian, is always very knowledgeable and never steers us wrong.  Best of all, he cheerfully endures my husband's advice about his love life!

Lancaster has some of the most fertile farmland in the country and so we enjoy abundant sources of produce, meats and cheeses.  The Masons have forged relationships with local farmers and food artisans in order to create a short, focused menu of simple, fresh, but by no means ordinary, plates.

This week we were lucky enough to snag a reservation at one of their occasional, special-theme dinners.  The Masons and their staff recently ate their way through Montreal, Canada, and created a "Grand Service" Montreal-inspired meal.  Instead of the usual individual tables, they placed everyone at two long tables, where they'd inscribed our names on long paper runners.  It didn't take long for everyone to get comfortable and soon we were all making new friends and enjoying a relaxing evening, lingering for over three hours over multiple courses and being taken care of.

Some of the many highlights:  The "Bloody Caesar",  the freshest, from-scratch (no mix here) Bloody Mary topped off with a fresh oyster, a jumbo shrimp, a cornichon, fresh celery leaf and a thin slice of salami!  Also:

                     Tortiere Quebecoise, a venison and pork meat pie that's ubiquitous in Canada

                     Poutine: Nova Scotia lobster!  Cheese curds!  Tarragon!  Gravy!  Frites!

I was so enamored and in a state while enjoying one of the deserts that I forgot to take a picture.  Cool, creamy, maple and brandy milkshakes!

I can't wait for Leann's and Taylor's next trip!

Right Place at the Right Time?

Late February and early March is an exciting time here for birders.  This is when waterfowl descend upon southeastern Pennsylvania during their Spring migrations.  Swans, snow geese and ducks, literally by the thousands, drop in, especially in an area called Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, located in Kleinfeltersville, right on the very northern edge of Lancaster County.

I'm not a birder, but the images (on the Middle Creek website, www.pgc.state.pa.us.) of thousands upon thousands of snow geese filling the sky made me want to view this spectacle up close.  I'm not what you would call, by any stretch of the imagination, an outdoors girl.  I'm most comfortable in museums looking at images of wildlife nicely contained in a frame where big bears can't eat me.  My son spends much time in Minnesota's Boundary Waters on canoe trips where he can enjoy the silence of being unplugged from his phones, yes plural, that he uses in his job in the political world.  There are many bears in the Boundary Waters.  He didn't get his camping genes from me.

But, I was excited to see this migration of snow geese and so my husband and I headed up to Middle Creek last weekend, armed with my little digital point and shoot camera and binoculars.  When we got there we noticed many groups of birders and photographers, with huge, two-foot-long lenses.  We followed the crowd for a short hike to Willow Point Trail, where the public can observe the geese flying in and out over the 360-acre lake.  There were hundreds of snow geese there that day, but not the 55,000 that the website had estimated on their almost-daily updates.  However, the snow geese did fly over in small formations, and it was a treat to see the sun reflecting off their white wings as they glided into perfect landings.  We also saw many ducks and tundra swans on the lake.  It was hard to get good pictures with my camera, as you're not allowed to get too close.  We decided this wasn't really the peak time yet (first week in March), so we'd come back.

Yesterday morning I called the Visitor's Center at Middle Creek to find out the best time to see the snow geese.  Al, who answered the phone, was very helpful.  He told me the best time to see lots of snow geese (and the estimate yesterday was holding at 55,000), was around 5:30 pm at Willow Point.  Apparently the snow geese leave the lake in the morning to go find feeding grounds, sometimes as far as 20 miles away, and return in the evening to roost on the lake.

So off we went yesterday, excitedly anticipating a sky full of thousands and thousands of snow geese returning to the lake.  This is what we saw when we got there:

That's ok, I told my husband, it's only 5:15.  It was pretty cold, but we persevered.  We did get to see a lot of tundra swans, and even spotted a short-eared owl gliding close to the ground after we'd noticed him perched on a tall, dead tree.

Got to play with Max, the 100-lb Old English Sheepdog that we'd met there last weekend.  Anyone who knows me will know what a treat THAT would be...we've had two Old Englishes and nothing makes me happier than seeing these floppy, playful clowns!

Got to talk to another couple who'd driven a long distance to see the geese, and who finally announced they were giving up and heading to happy hour somewhere.  One woman came with her IPad and was showing people exactly what we were waiting for.  They'd been elsewhere in the 6,254-acre facility at the right time apparently.

We waited a while longer, and when the sun went down, headed home, determined to come back before they make their way back north.

I had been curious about how they actually count the numbers of birds on any given day.  Al from the Visitor's Center told me this.  Just how we can tell what one sheet of paper looks like, and what 50 sheets of paper looks like, their game warden, who lives at Middle Creek, knows what 1,000 geese looks like, and can estimate what 50,000 geese looks like.  Apparently he hears them during the night, and if there's a big change in the noise level, he will go out in the ten-minute window of opportunity at dawn to count them before they fly off.  That's how we get the updates on the website.

I'll be heading up there several times this week, hoping to be at the right place at the right time, but mother nature has her own agenda!  Where did those darn kids go last night, anyway?!

Daytrip: The Barnes Collection in Its New Home

I will be facilitating an informal tour through the Barnes Foundation collection this Spring for my neighbors, so last week I drove to Philadelphia to see the collection in its new home on Franklin Parkway and to start the process of putting together a tour.   I was very excited to be surrounded again by the work of two of my very favorite artists, Matisse and Cezanne.  The Barnes has one of the largest holdings of Cezannes.   The last time I'd seen the collection it was in the Merion gallery that Dr. Alfred Barnes built in 1925 to exhibit his then-avant-garde holdings of post-impressionist and early modern paintings, many of which are priceless, seminal works.

                                              The Card Players, Paul Cezanne, 1890-1892

Over time, Barnes also acquired many African and Native American objects, antiquities, and Asian art, and boldly displayed his collection in "ensembles", arranging them according to his sense of space, color, line, etc.   Barnes felt that by combining works from different eras and cultures, viewers would gain a better understanding of the creative impulses of artists through time.

The move of the Barnes collection to a new building on Franklin Parkway was very controversial and I wasn't sure what to expect.  Much of the excitement and charm of seeing the collection in Merion was the idiosyncratic way in which the art was arranged.  You had a real sense of the collector, as well, of course, as the sheer quality and quantity of works by such artists as Matisse, Cezanne, Picasso, Renoir, etc.  The "ensembles" seemed like works of art themselves, Barnes having painstakingly arranged the paintings and objects according to his personal aesthetic sense.

On this day, as I approached the new building, I noticed, outside of the minimalist building by architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien,  a soaring sculpture, The Barnes Totem, by Ellsworth Kelly, that echoes the simplicity of the entry path and landscape.

Navigating through the building is very comfortable and easy, with areas to sit and take a break, a cafe, restaurant,  several indoor and outdoor courtyard gardens, and a gift shop.  Photography is not allowed.

After navigating through all these zen-like spaces, it's a real shock to enter the actual galleries.  I was so pleasantly pleased to have that same overwhelming feeling of awe in seeing the main gallery, arranged in Dr. Barnes' "ensembles", much like the Merion arrangements.  The architects even replicated tall windows, wall coverings, moldings, etc. to resemble the experience of the Merion location.  Overhead was Matisse's The Dance, in three arched alcoves.  Matisse had been commissioned by Barnes in 1909 to create The Dance, and Matisse had crossed the Atlantic with his finished canvasses to oversee their installation.

The experience of walking through rooms that seem like someone's "salon" is still very much a part of viewing this unique collection.  There are many pieces with Lancaster connections.  Early American painted chests, boxes and metalwork are placed among impressionist or modern paintings.

                                              American, Pennsylvania German Chest, 1784

The collection is truly staggering, and how I'll choose a handful of highlights for my tour is not evident right now.  I will have to return many times.  The Barnes is a one and a half hour drive from Lancaster.
If you enjoy looking at art on your own terms (there are no labels next to the art), or would like to gain insights into how this important collector chose, acquired, and exhibited the works he loved, it's well worth the drive.

My only disappointment was the $18 admission charge and additional $20 charge for a docent-led tour.  Dr. Barnes was very keen to make viewing, appreciating and learning about art democratic.  I'm not sure how accessible this collection is to the average person.

America's Coolest Small Town 2013

It's official!  The votes are in!  Budget Travel Magazine has named Lititz, PA, the Coolest Small Town for 2013!

It's cold and blustery today and my husband and I coincidentally drove up to Lititz this morning to pick up my favorite Rooibus Chocolate Mint Tea from the Chocolate Cafe on Main Street.  The winter sun was throwing beautiful shadows over the red brick townhouses as we made our way into town.

There was a lot of excitement in the air!  Not only is Lititz celebrating their Fire and Ice Festival this weekend, but Budget Travel Magazine announced Lititz has beaten out fourteen other small towns in their contest to find the coolest small town in America.

250-yr old Lititz is just a few miles north of Lancaster and draws a lot of tourists from Philadelphia and New York.  As well as my friends and I.  It's one of our favorite local destinations when we want to feel like we are somewhere different, a respite from the same old chain retail stores and restaurants.

The town was founded by the Moravians in the  1750's and until 1855 only Moravians were permitted to live there.  Today friendly merchants, unique shops, cafes, teahouses and inns make you feel like you've stepped back in time.    Along tree-lined streets you can enjoy the colonial architecture, the Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, Wilbur Chocolate Store and Museum, enjoy a beer tasting at the Bull's Head Pub, visit the Moravian Church, Linden School, the oldest girls' boarding and day school in the U.S., and much more.

The coolest small town in America was pretty cold today, so while there, we enjoyed some of Celine's (the charming owner of Chocolate Cafe) wonderful hot chocolate.  With fresh whipped cream.  More about Celine and her unique cafe in a later post!