My favourite ice cream flavours are the traditional ones. Vanilla, strawberry, mint chocolate chip. My children like ice cream that looks like toothpaste. With sprinkles on top. I don’t often eat dessert, so when I do, those crazy cones are just too much. All I want is a scoop of something classic in a little paper cup. Pistachio, with a little vanilla on the side.
Our first road trip was two weeks after Jason and I met. We rented a car in Florence and drove through Tuscany and Umbria for a few days. We barely knew each other, and with no radio in the car, we threw ourselves in at the deep end. We didn’t talk all that much, and it wasn’t lost on either of us how natural it felt to be quiet together. In the years that followed, we drove through Western Canada, California, Baja and Mexico. And when I say we drove, I mean Jason drove and I co-piloted. I’m hopeless with a map, so I actually didn’t even do that. I’d listen to music, (Frank Sinatra took us through the Rockies) tidy my thoughts and cuticles, and take in the scenery. To this day, we talk very little in the car, only the car is far from quiet. With three children in the back, snacking, eye-spying, bickering, whining, kicking, crying, and drowning out Jason’s yacht rock with their iPads, our car is not what it used to be. Road trips en famille are equal parts adventure and ordeal. There are the tedious, monotonous, pull-your-hair-out stretches. “Are we there yet?” “I need to pee!” “I feel car sick.” But the pay offs — spontaneous swims, exquisite scenery, unpredictability, adventure, and bonkers, loud, beautiful, messy hours all together — make it worth it. I admire families who travel across the country –– our destinations are never more than a day away –– and who camp along the way. That’s a whole other level of challenge. Maybe one day we’ll be up for it. Maybe one day, when more than one in the pack has a driver’s license!
We spent the evening at our hotel yesterday, as it poured with rain, and we didn’t have much of an appetite to get in the car again. I love to sit in hotel lobbies, especially ones as stylish as this one. Enormous vintage mustard sofas, beautiful ceramics, candles and books on every surface, board games for the kids, an imaginative cocktail list and good food to fill our bellies. I dove into Nora Ephron’s brilliant book of essays, and poured over the pages of a huge hardback on Matisse’s cutouts. I can’t remember the last time I spent an evening this way. Such a pleasure.
Behida Dolic is a self taught milliner with a charming shop and studio in downtown Hudson. Some pieces are classic –– like the 1950s inspired straw hat that I purchased –– and others are more whimsical. I very nearly walked out with Dolic’s take on the traditional Vietnamese conical hat, and there were some shallow crowned toppers in sorbet colours that were delightful. Have a look at her dresses, too; they’re as romantic and playful as the hats. She’ll ship anywhere, but a visit to the shop is a real treat if you’re ever Hudson Valley way.
I bought a sweet, white cotton dress at a charming little shop in Rhinebeck today that I see myself wearing a thousand times. It’s the kind of frock you can pop on with messy hair and flip flops, or dress up for a fancy summer fête. I love clothes that travel, versatile, and easy to throw in a duffel and go. This will be my summer go-to. That’s if I manage not to spill a glass of red wine in my lap.
We went to a lovely cafe in Kingston today and ate sunny-side-up-eggs, salads and grilled cheese sandwiches off beautiful plates handmade by Lail. It’s such an indulgence to eat good food off plates made by a local maker. I’d love to own a set of bowls in different colours. Tomatoes looked gorgeous against the lapis blue, and my mixed vegetable salad couldn’t have been prettier against the hunter green of my bowl. Now, just how many can I fit into the trunk of our car?
The house we are staying at in Rhinebeck this week, a modern riff on a clapboard, on a quiet street in the heart of town, has warm, mahogany windows everywhere you turn. There are no blinds, so the light comes pouring in at all hours of the day. There’s something quite lovely about waking with the sun, and tuning into the morning, noon and dusk light that each season sends. This house here, is designed by the Toronto architect we’re working with, Heather Dubbeldam. From the back, it looks like a modern barn, and the light that floods through is really quite amazing.
We are exploring Upstate New York this week, and we began our road trip at the Letchworth State Park. It really is a pretty place, with acres and acres of trails and three dramatic waterfalls. As we climbed up to the falls, we came across three Indian women in saris the colour of spices. They looked so beautiful, and so out of place in a sea of gortex and New Balance trainers. I couldn’t help but snap a photo.
It’s sweet, nostalgic, and reassuring to see our kids watching films that we watched as kids, (Three Men and a Baby) or noshing on cereals that we also loved (Lucky Charms). My daughter asked me what Koolaid was the other day, and today both my girls bought their first scrunchies. They looked pretty cute, the little one in her signature messy top knot, the older one in a low ponytail. I had dozens of them in my early teens, in satin, velvet and every coloured cotton. I even had a scrunchie to match my puff ball skirt. Paula Abdul, Demi Moore, Madonna, Julia Roberts et. al. were my idols. My neighbour, Jessica and her daughter, Phoebe were donning matching pink silk scrunchies last week, and looking cuter than cupcakes. I’m stealing the look. Let’s hope my kids are on board.
I love pleats. I love how they can be so tidy and tight, and how they spread like an accordion as you move. I have a pair of hot pink Miyake pants –– a gift from my Mum –– that I wear as often as possible. They make me happy. There is a matching top, in flaming orange that sends the whole look to Mumbai.
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