October Architectural Digest

I'm delighted to have written a piece for the beautiful October issue of Architectural Digest, and you might enjoy picking up a copy! For this assignment, the magazine asked me to write about the talented artist Marc Hundley who had designed a furniture collection inspired by an important beach house owned by his friend Justinian Kfoury in the community of Water Island on Fire Island. The beach house was originally owned by Morris Golde, who hosted an array of writer and artist friends at his island home including Edward Albee, W. H. Auden, Ned Rorem and Frank O'Hara. One day in June I took the train out to Sayville, Long Island, and then a bus to the ferry dock where Marc Hundley picked me up in a motor boat and we sped across the Great South Bay to Water Island where I visited the house and viewed Marc's beautiful handmade furniture. It was a lovely day. The October issue is filled with stylish stories including a feature on the gorgeous Southampton home of fashion designer Tory Burch who is pictured on the cover looking super-glamorous atop a ladder trimming her hedgerow. Check out the October issue!

A Weekend on Fire Island

A view of the harbor in Fire Island Pines from the Top of the Bay shop. (click on photos to enlarge)
TD and I had a wonderful summer weekend on Fire Island, courtesy of our friends David and Gary who invited us to their handsome and comfortable home. It was lovely to spend time with them and also to be on Fire Island again. Fire Island Pines is a beautiful spot where we have had many great times over the years. Four years ago, this blog was born in the Pines. And, most importantly, TD and I met there over Labor Day weekend...wait for it...27 years ago. Our anniversary is coming up. And so Fire Island Pines has a special place in our hearts.
On the ferry boat ride from Sayville to the Pines, this traveler was carrying a chic purple J. Anthony weekend bag which is instantly recognizable by its simple lines, timeless design, and leather placket for monogramming.

Note to self: look into a T. Anthony bag.
At David and Gary's house, we enjoyed their gracious and easy-going hospitality which included some fantastic meals prepared on the grill. David had the butcher butterfly an organic chicken, which he then marinaded and grilled – I think it was the best chicken I ever had.
The pool at their house is long and wide and encircled by a deck – perfect for hanging out in the water or at its edge.

Wispy clouds floated by overhead

while a butterfly enjoyed the nectar of the latana in the nearby flower box – do you see him in the center?

There are little shops to visit in the Pines like Top of the Bay where I took this picture overlooking the harbor below.

Down at the beach, the sound of the waves and the ever-changing ocean are so soothing.

The weather was spectacular – we lucked out with sunny, hot, crystal clear days.
On the beach there is a never-ending parade of strollers

swimmers

and volley ball players.

The light at the end of August takes on a silvery hue so everything shimmers late in the day. It really is heaven on earth where one tries to linger a little longer.

At the end of the weekend we were back on the ferry headed to the main land and "the real world" as fashion designer Peter Som said to me en route.

Many thanks to our hosts David and Gary for a beautiful, relaxing weekend. It was a relief for me from a sadness – my mother was diagnosed a few years ago with pulmonary fibrosis, a disease of the lungs which has no cure, and which is getting progressively worse for her. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers, dear reader – my mother was been the biggest supporter of this blog and was the first to instill in me a love for beautiful things.

A Week on Fire Island

(click on photos to enlarge)
TD and I had a wonderful vacation last week in Fire Island Pines as the guest of our close friend Philip. You may remember we visited Philip last Labor Day in his beautifully restored modernist house designed by architect Andrew Geller in 1961. Philip had two other friends visiting, Tom and Jim, and the weather all week was superb. Aren't we lucky?
My favorite walk is always a walk

to a beach.

I took refuge from the hot sun under an umbrella. The clouds glowed in the clear blue sky.

I just love the colors of the beach: blue, white, green, khaki sand. Those are the colors that I wear.

I could watch the colors change all day. It's so relaxing.

5:00: cocktail hour under the shade of the umbrella.

Philip's modernist house is very chic indeed

and carefully edited.

Here is the pool in the morning,

and Jim making dinner at night.

Up on the roof is a fantastic deck for viewing the ocean and the bay.

Yours truly.

The sun set slowly over the Great Bay

sinking down below the horizon

until it slipped away.

Heaven on earth.

A Weekend on Fire Island

I had a challenging week at work at the ad agency so no chance to blog but I want to return a minute to last weekend, Labor Day weekend, when we went to visit our friend Philip on Fire Island. Ted and I were also celebrating our anniversary – we met in Fire Island Pines on Labor Day weekend twenty-four years ago.

Philip bought this house on Fire Island six years ago. It was designed by pioneering architect Andrew Geller and when it was built in 1961, it was the first example of modernism in the Pines. This important house had deteriorated and been altered but Philip completely restored it and brought it back to life. The design flies upward with bright expanses of glass windows. The walls were not built at ninety degrees but slant inwards instead which further emphasises the upward feeling. As a result, all of the corners and joints fit together inside like a wooden jigsaw puzzle. It's kind of like being inside a beautifully crafted boat.


The heated lap pool always entices.


Inside, modern furniture complements the architecture.


Chicness itself, as we say.


Through the guest room is a spiral stair case...


which leads up to a fantastic roof deck...


with spectacular views of the ocean...


and the bay. Really divine.


My favorite walk: the walk to the beach.


We set up camp...


and Ted and Philip took a dip.


When Ted and I met on Fire Island twenty-four years ago, we actually had already been introduced earlier that summer at an event for the Road Runners, the gay running club. When we met again on Fire Island, I was visiting a house on the ocean with friends and up from the beach came Ted who was part of that house. Last weekend I went for a run on the board walk and then I walked down to the beach. I stopped in front of the house where we met. A new house is now built on the site but ironically the owners still wave the Fire Island Pines flag which Ted designed for the community. I was standing there on the beach looking at the house thinking about the day that my life changed, when up from behind me came Ted. Just like twenty-four years ago.