Sero Shirts

Yes, a Men's Shirt

The shirt I wore in last post was made by a long gone shirt manufacturer named Sero that used to be located in the shoreline town of Branford, Connecticut.  I found a stash of these shirts that I had bought for various family members from almost thirty years ago while helping my mother clean out her attic. (So yes, the interesting question was as much 'from when' as 'from whom.')

Their line for women

Some of the other shirts I found

From my archives...

Who Made this Shirt?

For the answer, click here.

Made in Essex, CT: Leather Man Ltd. and Eliza B.

Essex, Connecticut is one of the great New England boating spots. It is also the home of Leather Man Ltd. and Eliza B.

If you visit Essex on Saturdays, make sure you stop by their Factory Store.   This is a real factory store, as in, part of same building as their actual factory. 

At the helm

I can't say enough good things about owner Cecil Lyon, and hold him in the highest personal esteem.  (My admiration both for his company and of him are so aligned.) He is unfailingly gracious and with a superbly dry wit.   And his touch is everywhere.  Leather Man Ltd./ Eliza B. is a shining example of how a company benefits by having a hands-on owner from start to finish.

He kindly took me on a tour of his facility.  And although we have done this many times over the past (almost) three decades, each visit is just as exiting. 

The design room

What they sell is made in Essex, Connecticut

Sandal making

The construction process of the Eliza B. Allez! Flats

His famous wit in action

Stacks and stacks of embroidered ribbon

I stopped to admire his boat

The actual factory store is as every factory store should be - overflowing with one temptation after another.

Belts

A great wall of sandals

Saying hello to Benny (their Jack Russell)

Beautiful canvas totes

And as today was sock burning day, I brought my Ragg Socks that had reached the end of their life.

Factory Store Location and Hours:

55 Plains Road 
Essex, Connecticut  06426
(800) 767-6585
Saturdays, 9:00am to 1:00pm

See also: Best.  Belts.  Ever.

Poll: Which city is preppier: Boston or Cambridge?

Harvard's Winthrop House

Here's a good Moot Court topic: Which city is preppier - Boston or Cambridge? 

On our most recent visit to Boston and Cambridge, walking around looking for signs of Spring, we found ourselves debating the merits of both cities. At the end of the day, we mulled the apples to oranges comparison of, in terms of architecture, public space, stores, contribution to and acknowledgement of history, and general tone, which city is preppier?

Here are some images from (and exhibits for) each, which we took over the weekend. Please vote for your favorite in the poll.

This post is (as this trip was) necessarily influenced by my interest in genealogy.  If the topic offends you, please read no further. 

It is impossible to talk about these two cities for too long without talking about Governor Thomas Dudley and Governor John Winthrop, the first and second Governors of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They are both my husband’s tenth great grandfathers, and between the two of them they founded Boston, Cambridge, the First Church in Boston, and Boston Latin School. It was Thomas Dudley who signed the Charter founding Harvard College.

Lineage can sometimes be an amusing subject in our house, as my ancestors were always in a slightly subservient role to my husband’s (he is a direct descendant of King Edward I, William the Conqueror, and Charlemagne.  My ancestors were "Gentlemen Volunteers" to such people.)


Exhibits for Boston:

There is the always lovely Public Garden.

A walk up Beacon Street...

...took us past the Massachusetts State House on the way to King’s Chapel Burying Ground.

Boston has Brooks Brothers and other Newbury Street stores.

Commonwealth Avenue

First Church in Boston

Exhibits for Cambridge:

Harvard Square's J. Press

The Andover Shop

A 10th great grandfather

Cambridge, of course, has Harvard.

We actually had this debate at Pinocchio's, which may shed some light on which side I fell. The feeling in Pinocchio's always reminds me of the original location of Regina Pizzeria from decades ago, although less drafty!

Addendum, in response to some comments (which are great, and the debate is appreciated): Genealogy doesn't bestow credentials, but can inform perspectives. Bringing it up aggressively and competitively is just as disingenuous as hiding it or being deliberately coy when it is relevant to a topic at hand. The background presented here is one direct influence on this blog, and so may be of interest (and even clarifying) to at least some people reading this.

Addendum 2:  Here are the final results of the poll:

Reader Question: Composting

One of my late spring gardens

Dear Muffy, 

I recently found your blog, and have been reading through your older posts. I love your gardens, and your compost is the most beautiful I have ever seen. I have tried to compost a few times, but have always given up. What is your technique? Thanks for your time!

I have always loved composting, including reducing my own garbage and growing better flowers.

My "New Dawn" roses

Given we never use chemicals in our yard, enriching the soil is a must if I am to have my perennial beds. So for the gardens, I use the manure and the pine shavings from the hen house for a winter cover, and come spring, a generous supply of compost.

One of our Rhode Island Red hens, Gamma, keeps me company

Our results

For the longest time we wrestled with an ideal compost system. I never liked the high maintenance, smell, and often heavy shoveling work that went with traditional composters. (And given our pool is not too far away from where we compost, the last things our guests want on a hot July afternoon is to smell any decomposing.)

A few seasons ago, we put together from scraps around the house a system that has worked very well to deliver all of the benefits with virtually no work. (And this takes no special building skills either.)

A schematic of the no-maintenance compost system we put together and currently use

We stacked bricks into two walls, about three feet apart. We put two pieces of Closetmaid shelving (but any coated shelving would work) between them. Then we put a traditional composter (but a garbage can with some air holes and no bottom would work just as well) on top of that.

Then we put a catch bin underneath the composter. In the catch bin we made four 2" holes directly on the bottom. This facilitates the ability of little bugs and worms to go up from the earth into the compost and any water to seep out.

Now, all we have to do is throw in food scraps (no meat, no dairy, as with all composters) in the top. In about eight weeks, the food at the bottom begins turning to compost and sprinkling down into the bucket below.  Rain and gravity do the work of moving the compost, and only when it is ready.  One can create two or even three composters to increase capacity (we have three).

These composters are zero maintenance. You can take the perfect compost out of the bucket below whenever you need it.

More company

One of my gardens in mid-summer

Even off to a party (in a Lilly), the work is never quite done