The Rocking Chair

My Grandmother's Ladder-back

I have rarely seen a classic New England home that did not have at least one rocking chair. They are in so many ways perfect - easy to anthropomorphize as low-key, friendly, and selfless.

Our rocking chairs are almost always the first choice for guests.  This includes the old and the young, each of whom seem to appreciate the ability to both move and feel some weightlessness for different reasons.  I put rocking chair in the same strata as good kitchen smells and visible toys for children in making a house inviting.

This old ladder-back was my favorite chair in my grandmother’s house.  I have cushions for the seat and back that change seasonally.  In the coldest weather I might wrap a wool throw around the seat cushion with another thrown over the back.  In the summer I substitute them for white cotton covers and throws.

At least six generations of my family has sat in this chair, and the arms show the wear.

For Colder Weather

Although their origins are somewhat in question, (the Benjamin Franklin myth has been pretty thoroughly debunked), some think the first rocker was made in the northeast while others say it was the Windsor Rocker, made in England in 1725.  Wicker showed up shortly after that (in the eighteenth century), the Adirondack Rocker in the early 1800s, and the Boston Rocker around 1840.  Rocking chairs have historically been reserved for the elders and heads of a family.

While I usually stay far away from oak furniture, I happily make an exception in this case, as well as with my old Macey roll top desk. The Presidential Rocker (I always call it my Kennedy Rocker) may be the most comfortable chair in our house.  I also have cushions and throws for this chair.

I asked the Public Relations Manager at L.L. Bean, the affable Mary Rose MacKinnon,  how long they were offered in their catalog.  She checked back - and for her efforts I thank her - and said it was a catalog item from 1985 to 2009.  (My husband ordered mine from there around 1993.) Happily, they still sell it in their Home Store in Freeport – still made in the US - at what I believe is a reasonable $299.99. 

A true Carolina Rocker has this stamp underneath the arm.

Although infinitely less comfortable, this was always on my grandmother’s wrap-around sleeping porch.  I just like the way it looks and of what it reminds me.  She had it painted black, and in my house it has been white, now blue, and might be white again shortly 

Then there are the requisite impractical school chairs, such as this one (of course made in Gardner, Massachusetts, as they still are today at Standard Chair).

 

Like so many perfect things, rocking chairs can easily be forgotten. But their low-key contribution to the quality of our life is, for me, always appreciated.

Preppy Trivia Question: What was the first store to carry Vera Bradley and Vineyard Vines?

I had asked this trivia question:
Q: What was the first store in the country to carry Vera Bradley?  It was also the first store to carry Vineyard Vines.

Thank you to everyone who responded.  Here is the answer:
A: The Fligors of Edgartown.

Responses of Murray's Toggery Shop in Edgartown are geospatially correct anyway.  Murray's occupied The Fligors' building from about 2001 to 2007 (Murray's originally had opened their Vineyard store 32 years ago in Vineyard Haven, before moving to Edgartown when their lease was up).

Although I had for so many years shopped at both, and certainly bought my fair share of Vera Bradley at The Fligors, I had not known until it came up in conversation last night with Carol Fligor that their store had been the first to carry these two brands.

Reader Question: Can I be Smart about Clothes?

Dear Muffy,

To put it bluntly, now middle-aged, I realize I am a very smart person who has been very stupid when it has comes to clothes. 

Worse, I have been deliberately and even proudly stupid. I had for decades thought I was somehow above thinking about clothes. I had thought that thinking about clothes was a habit of vain and vapid people, and that I, for whatever reason, didn’t need to.

With clothes I have been alternatively cheap, trendy, secretive, wasteful, extravagant, gaudy, and impulsive. I realize I have, through my spending, supported the wrong stores and wrong products. The sorry state of clothing vendors today is my fault. Now, in my mid 40’s, I look at my collection of clothes as being disconnected from how I see myself. This is a small but relevant area in my life where I have failed.

Let me ask you, then, can one be smart about clothes? To be honest, I hate the term “Preppy.” I never say the word aloud, let alone describe myself that way. When I suggest your blog to others, I apologize for both words “Preppy” and “Muffy”. But most of what it connotes, and all of what you describe, feels right. 

So, to make a short story long, can one have a guiding framework for clothes? Do you, Muffy, simply have great taste, in which case I am in trouble because I don’t? Do you work really hard at it, which again I really would rather not? Or are there principles that you can articulate and that I can intellectually defend and work to own myself? Is there a Muffy Manifesto?  Can I hope to one day be comfortable with my wardrobe?

I know this is a lot. Thank you!


Here is what I want from clothing vendors, although I realize some of these are more aspirational in many areas than achieved!

1. I want to look good, respectable, competent, and gracious. Beyond that, I don't want to stand out or bring undue attention to myself by what I wear; I want to improve the scene I am in.  I like simple.
    
2. I want to enjoy clothes if I am in the mood or the occasion requires, but I absolutely don't want to have to think about what I wear each day. I want clothes that are generally compatible with each other.
    
3. I want to buy less over time. I don't want my clothes to look dated (either in my closet or my photographs). I don't want to have to purge my wardrobe of bad choices every few years.
    
4. I don't want to buy something cheap and have it quickly fall apart. I really don't want to buy something expensive and have it quickly fall apart. I want high quality in much of what I have.
    
5. I want my clothes to get better with age. I want a few nicks and tears to be badges of great adventures, and not activate some kill switch and be the end of an item. I want clothes that can be repaired. I want clothes to shift roles as they get older, from going out to working in.
    
6. I am willing to spend more for a good item. I am increasingly suspicious if I don’t have to.
    
7. I don't want my items made in third world sweat shops. I don't want to contribute to environmental disaster. I want a visit to the factory to increase my loyalty not decrease it. I don't want to be deliberately ignorant.
    
8. I want clothes to not get in my way. I want clothes to enable unplanned physical activities, not inhibit them. The best clothes have been designed around meeting the needs of active people, and often for specific outdoor pursuits.
    
9. I want it to be easy to buy clothes in general. And effortless to repurchase clothes I already have and love.
    
10. To get even some of these, I must care more than I want to about the right cut, the right materials, the right construction, and the right colors. I have to plan ahead and even stockpile. I have to learn from others. I have to be on guard for clothes that look right but are not (Why J. Crew is not preppy.).  And even, unfortunately, I have to care about the right brand. 

I hope this helps!

Has the blog changed me? Not really.

People have asked me recently if the blog has changed much about me.  Sadly no.  Exhibit A, this 2001 kind note to me:

My motto should be:  "Muffy Aldrich - Giving unsolicited advice to L.L. Bean for over 10 years."  (Okay, maybe more like 20 or 30 years...)

Note: I removed Mr. Carleton's email and phone number before posting this card for his privacy.

Real New Englanders...

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“Real New Englanders, as we all know, do not wear showy new clothes.” 

- Judson Hale, Inside New England

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Your Comments on Companies of Note in 2012

Last year I posted this chart, on this entry.

It suggests that companies follow a journey, from the entrepreneurial crucible stage (on the left) to the all-but-dead company shell (on the right).  It further plots where many companies are on this journey today.

Typically, purists shop from the vendors in the Crucible and Precious categories, for example.  In contrast, as companies move into New Markets, they typically shed their demanding traditional customers for greater numbers of more capricious consumers.

I have received emails asking:

1. If I was going to update this chart for 2012, and also 
2. If I would allow a time for comment before a final chart was posted.  

So yes, I will update this chart (it has been a busy year and vendors have changed), and yes, if you want to comment on companies, please do.  Please share if you believe:

1. A new company should be added to the chart, and where would you put it.
2. A company on the chart has moved to the left or right in the last 12 months.  Let me know which company, to where, and even any thoughts of specific signs. 

Feel free to use these numbers for placement, or just use the more colloquial"a little more to the right".

Birding

I have a thing for birds.  It is difficult to fully explain how completely ingrained they have been in my life and my experiences in New England.  This includes treks to Cape Ann, Massachusetts to see the snowy owls; to visiting puffins on Matinicus Rock and Eastern Egg Rock, Maine, to counting loon chicks on Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire.

Countless weekends in my childhood were spent birding.  Even holidays have been defined by such activities as rising before dawn to partake in the annual Christmas Birds Count, and every New Years Eve calling barred owls and screech owls in the woods at midnight with one of the world's greatest ornithologists.

I love watching birds, from the visitors at the feeders in our yard...

...to those circling overhead in search of a meal.

Even the most common birds are beautiful.

As with the ocean, a scene with birds is always changing.

1. Hawk dives into our pachysandra...

2. Hawk flies off...

3. ...with a snake for its young.

And sometimes they even look a bit ominous.

A hawk eyes our chicks.  

Birding takes one to some beautiful places.

One can see Ospreys and their nests from the roads, but I prefer being in their world (even on cold days), such as this inlet in Wiscasset.  

Missing the Loons on Winnipesaukee, NH

Loons are in the salt water this time of year but when the warmer weather arrives they will be back and closely monitored by the volunteers at the Loon Center.

I even like birding gear.

I still use my father's Nikons from several decades ago.  (I find scopes just a bit too heavy for most outings.)

My husband's old Gokey briefcase now carries our birding supplies.

I have never known a generation of my family that did not have a love of birds, even when that included  hunting them. 

My Father Grouse Shooting in Maine

I probably spent more time socializing with adults as a child birding than almost anywhere else.

Here, Birding with Naturalist Edwin Way Teale (left) and Yankee Magazine's Larry Willard (right).

My father took this photograph of his great friend, Dave Parsons, the taxidermist at Yale's Peabody Museum in New Haven, and...

...over forty years later, we still have many of his birds in our house.

Although this one has seen better days, it now has its own charms.

My grandfather and his father carved their own decoys, some of which we keep today.

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We have gone out with quite a few noted ornithologists, including some from here. 

The next generation of our family has an amazingly strong affinity for birds. 

And bird motifs are plentiful in our house. 

 

 

 

 

Our Bootscraper

Even our Christmas stockings (for both humans and pets) reflect our avian love.

This time of the year, with the leaves gone, it is a great time to be on the look out for some larger birds.

 

 

And, even if all you see are "LBJs" (little brown jobs), you can't beat the views.

A Walk Through New Haven, Connecticut

Whenever I am driving through, I can't help but stop in New Haven, Connecticut.  The city has so many great places to visit and see.   It has always been one of my favorite New England cities,  not just because of Yale's dominance, but also because of its history. (It was founded in 1638, led by puritans Davenport and Eaton.)

We started our walk by the Yale Rep.

The Yale Rep was started just a year before Long Wharf Theatre, and together they built New Haven's reputation for "serious" productions.

I used my new Navy Lotuff Signature Handbag (being made here), with which I could not be more pleased.

 

Louis Lunch advertises itself as home to the very first "hamburger sandwich" in 1900.

Chapel and College is for me the heart of New Haven.

The shoulder strap is a feature that I am using quite a bit.

The United Methodist Church (1849, by New Haven Native Henry Austin)

The New Haven Green is part of  a designated National Historic Landmark District,  still owned and maintained by the descendants of the original settlers.  

Center Church is one of the three on the New Haven Green. Center Church was built from 1812-1815, based on London church, St Martin-in-the-Fields, which was inspired by the works of Sir Christopher Wren.  

In true old Yankee fashion, the Congregationalists bickered and ended up splitting and building two different churches side by side, United and Center.

 

Yale Visitor Center (the Old Faculty Club)

I have enjoyed many nice evenings at The Graduate Club.

 Yale's chapel, Battell Chapel (1874), is a Victorian Gothic brownstone which most agree is not terribly attractive, either inside or out. (What they needed was H.H. Richardson, who designed Trinity Church in Boston.)

 

 

 

 

Naturally, we stopped by J. Press.

 

Selecting Trousers

This trip we had a car, so we drove the ten minutes to get to Wooster Street, arguably home to some of this country's best, authentic, Italian food.

The Very Famous Pepe's

They make outstanding pizza, as only those in New Haven can, and also have the longest peels I have ever seen.

While waiting for our pies, we went a few doors down.  If you want extraordinary Italian pastries, Libby's, since 1922, is the place to go. 

Just about anywhere else, these items would cost twice as much and be half as good.

To be a welcome house guest, stock up at Libby's.

 And we paid our respect to Sally's.

A Favorite of Frank Sinatra's

 

 

I have some other favorite New Haven spots, but did not get to them this trip. But next time I will get to more of them, to be sure.