While I didn't get to see the legendary windows of Bergdorf Goodman in person yet, my blog in the field correspondent Mistress Maddie's # 1 Fan left Brooklyn with another clan member and sent some snaps. I will be heading to New York for a two-day visit at weeks end for a jolly, and I'm told some of the best cream of potatoes soup I'll ever eat.

Special thanks to my field support for the pictures!

Cards on the table, I have ALWAYS had the major hots for David Gandy!

Always. I have not seen many men that can wear what he can, even if it's a suit or tux, and make it look and feel comfortable and like it's effortless. Whether he's wearing an immaculate three piece suit, jeans and tee , a tiny speedo, or nothing...and his uncut weapon is lovely...it's clear that for the world's leading male model...he is just ridiculously good looking and oozes sex appeal. Gandy is that rare breed of talent who used his gifts to not only legitimized the idea of the "male model" but who also played a significant part in altering the way men in general view fashion and dressing up themselves to be more fashionable. He was the world's foremost male model at one time, may even be the world's first male supermodel, and is still said to be "one of the most handsome men on Earth" Sit on that George Clooney. I know I would. So I was beyond tickled to come across this home tour of his house in southwest London, where he now lives with his family. It's as sleek, moody, and handsome as he is. And after years of living as a bachelor, the house still keeps some elements of that. I mean when he opened those garage doors to reveal the vintage car? As it he is not already sexy enough and then the accent and then the car too? I think he and I need to hit the Amalfi Coast wearing nothing but a small pair of speedos.

But that is here nor there...the House...

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention a detail from yesterday's post from the stunning windows at Bergdorf Goodman. Was it Tundra Bunny who mentioned where were the NYC rats??? The windows were an ode to NYC landmarks, and long-standing intuitions and characters. alas, there were no rats. But leave it to Bergdorfs to ALWAYS tie in a lovely little detail, that most passer by miss. The windows are always filled with details. Every peer in, and the more you study it, you will find more awesome little revels and bits of surprise and delight. While not rats, it's the next best thing in NYC....it's pigeons! So let me not forget to mention the dozens of sparkling and bejeweled couture pigeons created by Burke & Pryde. They're sprinkled throughout each window, and no two are the same. Each one is adorned with colorful sequins and unique patterns.

Last weekend I had gone to Ashcombe Market and Greenhouse to get some of my garden replacements such as the Cassia and the lovely Datura Ballerina plants. I always enjoy going there, and we have been using them since my paternal grandparents went there. The greenhouse offers quite a selection, and garden and bird supplies, but also offers up a small produce market, and homemade baked goods. They at one time even had their own dairy. The place got its named though from the lovely Victoria mansion of the same name. The Aschombe mansion sits atop a small hill all these years later like a well-heeled dowager from last century. I always enjoy seeing it. It is now a wedding venue. But I can recall when I was chosen to remodel a room back in 97 when the Harrisburg Symphony chose the location to have a fundraiser in the form of a Designer Showhouse in it.  I was nervous as it was the first big project for me being right out of schooling. I had gotten the Mrs. Writers Nook, Margarets library and where she did her writing. The inside of the house was just spectacular. The mansion originally served as the summer home for the mistress of the house Margaret Moser, widow of the Honorable Henry G Moser, an iron manufacturer, legislator and county judge. She babied the house and loved her gardens. The family was in it over 90 years. Once the family sold it and moved, Ashcombe's bought the house since they owned all the land leading up to the mansion, but didn't really use it for anything, lived in it briefly, which is how the Harrisburg Symphony committee decided to do a showhouse in it. Shortly after, it was used on NBC's short-lived comedy, Grand, then one Dr Stinckovic and his wife Mira bought it and it tuned into a Bed and Breakfast, who later sold it to the group that owns it now and did a 10 million renovation on it. It is now back in its glory days. The inside had gorgeous hardwood floors, winding Victorian era grand staircases, and many original stained-glass windows, not to mention restored original wallpapers paintings there were discovered all over the house when we did the designer showhouse. The stone facades and the intricate woodwork are a testament to the craftsmanship of the era in which it was built and we most likely will not see again. It rare there isn't something going on there, so I zipped in last week and took these exterior shots. Isn't it just gorgeous?