Cape May Getaway

May 11, 2014 Ana Mo Shoshin

Cape May is a resort beach town that sits at the southern most tip of New Jersey. It's known for it's brightly colored Victorian houses, dripping with gingerbreading, and classy but casual beach atmosphere. Like almost all Jersey beach towns, it's a mad house in the summer, attracting tourists from all over, particularly Philadelphia. Despite getting very crowded, it's less of a wild party town than neighboring Wildwood. Cape May has gorgeous beaches, fancy B&Bs, and a more conservative nature.

I grew up visiting Cape May with my mom in the off season, and know it as a quiet, pretty town, with some hidden gems. I recall there being cats everywhere, in every shop and on every stoop. My mom and I often dreamed of writing a children's book staring the feline population. We used to go there quite often, but I haven't been back in more than ten years. So I was pretty delighted when our friends gave my husband and I a gift certificate to one of the most prominent hotels in town. Congress Hall is steeped in history and is quite luxurious by NJ standards (and by our standards, too!).

Built in 1816, burned in 1878 and rebuilt the same year.

I had always seen the hotel on previous visits, but never entered and certainly never stayed there. Congress Hall's expansive creamy yellow building with white columns, and tidily manicured grounds are iconic in Cape May.

The rooms are equally manicured with pastel blue and yellow details, the hotels signature colors.

The bathroom in our room was almost as big as the living room in our Brooklyn apartment. There is a nice bar, The Brown Room, and a decent restaurant, but sitting on the balcony or taking a long soak in the tub was more our speed this trip.

I had to sneak in some time for sewing, of course.

Although we explored the town some, we were more interested in the beach as the weather was practically perfect. We saw dolphins, horseshoe crabs, many birds, and many stones and shells.

We particularly like the southern most point of town where you can walk a rocky beach, picking up Cape May Diamonds and exploring the lighthouse grounds.

The lighthouse has a great little nature museum and Purple Martin hotels.

The brief trip yielded many great treasures. Cape May Diamonds, smashed pennies and a fossil are just a few things we took home with us.

Fern fossil, coral found at Sunset Beach, Cape May Diamonds, pink rocks and sea glass in a jar, and an enamel pig pin from The Blue Pig.

We did manage a trip to the Cape May County Zoo and the ferry, but were not able to see some of the interesting nearby sights. We can save those for another trip.

There's something about shore towns that speaks to us. Something about the ocean, and the people who have chosen to make their lives near it, that's soothing and inspiring. Shore towns are relaxed, but hard working, calm but diligent, very much like the waves hitting the beach. I will always visit them.

Sunday

February 16, 2014 Ana Mo Shoshin

Stash #3

My mail delivery is really becoming a problem. I lost a package of vintage fabric this month. The post office says it must have been stolen... but somehow I'm not convinced.

Not the best lighting, as I took this picture at night, but I received some vintage fabric this month!! I adore the bright blue and orange on the end. I have also recently come to grips that I'm addicted to fine calico of all colors. So the blue on the right is wonderful to me.

The Bismuth is so shiny and iridescent! Hard to capture in a photo.

Two treasures we picked up in DC, a perfect pyrite cube and a bright piece of bismuth. Again, not the best lighting, maybe I will try for more pics another time. We are thinking that we need to re think our over all gem display, especially for small pieces like these. One day it will happen.

6th Ave in Park Slope was lovelier than ever.

Brooklyn has seen so much snow in recent weeks. Some of the prettiest I have seen in the city.

It has gone from beautiful and crisp and clear, to wet and icy and horrible and back again for several weeks.

I'll leave you with another ill lit pic; My truck, completely buried.

There's another 2 foot wide, 2 foot high wall of snow between it and the road.

Art and Nature in Washington DC

February 12, 2014 Ana Mo Shoshin

During our recent trip to the District of Columbia we made time to see some great art. Nature was a little harder to come by. But our first stop was the National Museum of Natural History which is pretty much a combination of nature and art.

A statue/idol from Easter Island who greets you as you enter the museum...

But this guy in the lobby is more iconic.

I hadn't been to the Smithsonian Museums in many many years, and my husband had never been to visit them, so it was a great adventure. He was very keen to see the Hope Diamond, which I had forgotten is blue. I didn't get a good picture, unfortunately, so you will have to visit it for your selves!

We loved visiting the big gems and meteorites! I hope, one day, to own one! Can you imagine owning a piece of outer space?

There was a great live bug exhibit that culminated with a butterfly garden. We skipped the butterflies bc it cost extra and we were short of time. I love a good bug zoo, so we fully explored the other bugs. They were fascinating, interesting, and not a little creepy. We left feeling a bit itchy.

We popped into the National Gallery of Art and saw a few favorites.

I think Seurat and I would've gotten along. He seems to love the Shore.

This is a detail from The Wind by Felix Vallotton. I had never heard of him before but really enjoyed this painting. It seems like he is someone I will have to research.

I always love Wyeth's muted tones, bleak but beautiful.

There's an underground passage way connecting the two wings of the art museum. The highlight of which is an amazing light walkway. I'm not sure who the artist is, but it was clearly a fan favorite judging by all the people snapping pics.

One of the things that I find really thrilling about all these museums is that they are free. The ease of entering is a shocking contrast to doing just about anything in NYC. Bc one doesn't pay to get in, there is only a small security table, only for checking larger bags, etc... It makes it quick to enter but it also makes it feel so much more accessable. I could certainly picture people popping in on their lunch break, or walk home. And it must be spectacular for people with kids. All of the education, fun and excitement of the museum in an easy and affordable way. I sometimes marvel that families can pay what it takes to go somewhere like the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, where one trip for a family of four might cost upwards of $100.

One of my IG friends recognized this spot in a photo from all the way in Cleveland, OH. It leaves an impression.

Something that I was not thrilled with was that a lot of museums, exhibits and exhibitions seemed to be closed, some permanently. Upon entering the Modern wing of the Gallery of Art, we realized that there were only a very few pieces on view and these only in the lobby. All the galleries were closed.

The few things that were on view were pretty great, though. On display was work by some of our favorites, including Serra (not pictured), Ernst, Calder, and Goldsworthy.

The largest Calder mobile was sadly tied and not allowed to turn.

We are fans of Max Ernst's paintings and print work and were happy to discover this sculpture.

It's pretty rare to find Goldsworthy's work in galleries or museums. I always feel lucky if I stumble onto it. Unfortunately you could get no closer to it than this as the doors out to the patio were locked and the windows to look down on it were ve… — It's pretty rare to find Goldsworthy's work in galleries or museums. I always feel lucky if I stumble onto it. Unfortunately you could get no closer to it than this as the doors out to the patio were locked and the windows to look down on it were very dirty.

Walking out on the National Mall is very similar to being in a sculpture garden or museum bc of all the monuments and memorials. I covered some of what we saw in a previous post about this trip, so I won't go into it again. But it was also nice to see some "wildlife" on our walk as well.

One of the things that I really really wanted to do was go to the National Zoo. We ran out of time for it on this trip... So I guess we will have to go back!

Last week

December 16, 2013 Ana Mo Shoshin

Last week we went to visit family in Tennessee. We spent most of the time catching up with family and friends but we were able to squeeze in some thrifting and eating.

The place I most wanted to visit to eat was The Nashville Biscuit House. We went there directly after landing and it did not disappoint. I tried to get back almost every day after that, but it was not in the cards. We also hit the Barista Parlor in East Nashville. It was almost unbearably pretentious. But I did have a killer cappuccino. For a big family dinner we ate at Cock Of The Walk, where they throw your cornbread in the air! To round out the southern eating we had awesome ribs at Bar B Cutie.