Hamptons

One Year Ago…On The North Fork

August 30, 2015 by Leah Leave a Comment

From the outside looking in, Facebook makes it seem like lots of people I know have the perfect marriages and just love “doing life together.” I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen that phrase thrown about of late. For anyone outside the church world it translates as, “I really like living with you and doing stuff together even though I don’t like you sometimes.” But I know enough to realize that no relationship is perfect, least of all ours, and it’s been a hell of a first year. Everyone says the first year is the hardest and we decided to challenge that notion by taking it to “eleven” and throwing two home remodel projects into the mix. In hindsight, this was idiotic and we should have maybe waited until the second year…put less energy into our house and more energy into each other type of thing. We’re figuring this messy business out as we go along, and hopefully in the process of doing that, will learn each other in different ways and laugh a lot at our mistakes.

One thing that has carried us through this year is the memory of our wedding and the week when friends and family descended on Long Island to be with us as we made this big, scary life decision. Being with my girlfriends, going to the Hamptons, eating Briermere Pies, and soaking up every ounce of summer the North Fork could offer…my heart aches when I think of the happiness it brought to my soul. I get choked up when I look back at the pictures.

More than anything, it was my hope that our friends from out of town would get to see how incredibly beautiful the East End is, so we drove them around the North Fork and then took them down south for a day in the Hamptons. We visited the Montauk Lighthouse and went to Bridgehampton Beach at the end of Ocean Road where the waves were rolling in.

The rehearsal dinner was held at the Soundview Restaurant and the sunset was everything we hoped it would be.

Photo by Solomon Davis

Photo by Ashley Thomas

The morning of, we all drank some coffee, steamed dresses, and put makeup on as I tried not to be sick while brushing my teeth. The house we stayed in was a dream.

All Photos: Kimberly Barnes of Kimberly Barnes Photography

The only time I cried was when Jane brought the flowers. I used to work at a flower shop and have been dreaming of this bouquet for years. Jane is a talented designer who used to own the Greenport florist and is a sweet friend who introduced me to Hugh Prestwood and Nancy Lee Baxter as a teenager when I was really into songwriting. I thought they hung the moon. The bouquets were even more beautiful than I’d hoped and so much love went into making them.

I bought the shells at The Iron Gate in Franklin years ago and had been saving them for my wedding bouquet. The dusty miller came from mom and dad’s yard, the seedum came from Jane’s, and the dahlia’s came from a field down the street…all were lovingly cultivated for the bouquets. A little bit of Tennessee and a little bit of home.

I spent hours putting the place cards together at mom and dad’s dining room table using pieces of sea glass that Rob and I had found on the North Fork, along with shells that came from my great Aunt Jeanne’s collection. It was humbling to say prayers of thankfulness over each name, grateful for these special people in our lives, some of whom were sacrificing a lot to be there with us.

These are some of the most gorgeous women and oldest friends I have on this planet and their beauty took my breath away.

The guys were pretty hot too…

Brecknock Hall was this amazing backdrop, steeped in North Fork history. We could not have found a more perfect place to celebrate. There are so many special moments of magic that I remember, I could go on for days…

Our cute little parents

And when the wedding was over, there was just us, living our lives from day to unglamorous day with this incredible memory to smile back on. I will always think of it as one of the happiest days ever, being home, surrounded by the people we love most in the world.

And so we press on…working on our marriage, loving our pets, fixing our house, savoring every joyful moment, and going back to the North Fork as often as life allows.

A Season Of Plenty: Harvest And Home

July 20, 2013 by Leah Leave a Comment

I’ve been eating insane amounts of tomatoes. I think eating tomatoes makes a person happier. I’ve been eating so many tomatoes I fear I might start to look like one. The Sun Sugar little yellow cherries are ridiculously delicious. It’s wrong. A vegetable shouldn’t taste this good.

A plate of homemade pasta with Sun Sugar tomatoes, zucchini, fresh basil, garlic, and capers.

I’ve also been eating tons of cucumbers and zucchini. The beans are finished. I ate those. The peppers are doing well. I am also consuming those at an alarming rate. The downside to all this produce consumption is that I can picture my body going into some kind of jittery withdrawal when the growing season ends and I am forced to haul myself to the grocery store to buy food again.

It is almost the end of zucchini season here, but I was distressed to find that my plants have succumbed to the squash bug. I was hoping my plants were stronger than that, but no. They cheated on me…with a bug. At this point, all I can do is tear the eggs off the plant, squash them on the patio and spray with insecticidal soap, a mixture of diluted Murphy’s Oil and water.

I’ve hardly had to do any spraying. I’ve sprayed the soap on some aphids, but for the most part, mother nature is helping me out. I have two garden spider webs with small spiders in them that are taking care of some bugs. And I’ve also noticed the birds hanging out on the tomatoes every now and then. So far, I’ve seen two dead tomato hornworms, but no damage and no more worms, so thank you, birdies!!!

The watermelon are slowly getting bigger. Excitement!!! These are the Doll Baby variety.

I went to Long Island for a week at the beginning of the month. It was wonderful. I wrote a piece about home for Women You Should Know that posted while I was up there. Being near the beach made everything better for a while. I mean, tell me, how could anyone be in the presence of such beauty and not be changed in some way for the better?

Bridgehampton beach on a summer day.

Ye olde mighty Atlantic.

A potato field down the street from mom and dad’s house in Mattituck on a walk to Bailie Beach.

Bailie Beach on a clear summer day.

My spot on Bailie Beach after braving the icy Long Island Sound water up to my calves.

Dad’s daylily garden. Every single one of these plants was hybridized by dad so they are each unique in their own special way. This is where the magic happens.

The docks in Greenport have finally been repaired following Sandy. I never get tired of this familiar sight.

A lavender farm in East Marion in full bloom. The color was almost as intoxicating as the smell. Perfumed rows.

A pretty sunset on Bailie Beach after a steamy summer afternoon.

Then I came back to my garden. And next week I head to Denver to be in my best friend’s wedding. Before the wedding, another BFF and I are hitting Estes Park to become one with nature in the Rocky Mountain National Park. We plan on hiking till we’re sore, drinking ungodly amounts of tea, and hopefully still being able to fit into our bridesmaid dresses at the end of the week. This is a big moment, when a bestie gets married. She will be my third bestie tying the knot. I have 5 who I consider BFFs because we’ve been friends so long it’s hard to imagine not knowing them. They have made my life better in so many ways. So I’ll stand beside my girl and try not to cry and thank God that she found a good man. That’s a really good prayer for a girl to have for her girlfriends…that they find good men who will love them like crazy.

I hope to post pictures of the trip next week if a bear doesn’t attack us in the park.

A Day In The Hamptons: Art, Gardens, & The Atlantic

April 25, 2013 by Leah Leave a Comment

Even though I’m a North Fork girl, I absolutely love the Hamptons. They are beautiful in their small town simplicity and urban sophistication, and in the spring just before the official season begins, the locals enjoy the last sunny days before Montauk Highway is suffocated by city traffic. Today we started at the Parrish Art Museum, which is free on Wednesdays. I’ve been fascinated by this building since construction began a few years ago. The design is modern and minimalist, a rectangle in a field next to a vineyard.

The art was surprisingly wonderful. There is currently an exhibit by Alice Aycock that was mesmerizing to me. The pieces are very geometric in nature with lots of angles and three dimensional drawings with bright splashes of color incorporated into them. I was enamored. In fact, I had no idea that one of her installations sat on the riverbank in Nashville in 2007. I remember the piece and knew nothing about it when it was in the city, but I rounded a corner in the museum and there was the picture.

I wish I could have taken photos while inside. There isn’t a ton on display, but what is being shown is showcased very well with lots of spacing in between and tons of natural light coming in through the wide expanses of windows in the building. I will definitely be heading back for future installations!

Next, dad and I headed to Marders Nursery to look at gorgeous plants that I can’t take on the plane with me. Sadness abounds!!! This garden center is sublime. The place sells everything you could possibly want and the employees know their dirt, which is awesome. The gift shop/florist has lovely planters with all kinds of succulents, a wide variety of very hard to find seeds, and all sorts of incredible books that make you want to sit for hours and look at pictures of plants.

Then we were on to East Hampton to visit the Longhouse Reserve, which I believe is one of most well kept hidden gems on the South Fork. This 16 acre botanical garden could not be more beautifully done. I was so surprised we hadn’t found this place before and am so glad dad discovered it! There are sculptures scattered throughout the gardens, but the most glorious thing about this place at this particular time of year is the daffodils…there are literally thousands that put on a heart stopping display around every corner. The cherries were in bloom, the vinca were carpeting the woods in purple, and the ferns were starting to unfurl. We could not have picked a more perfect day to visit!

This was done by Yoko Ono apparently…or some poor bloke who had to pour the cement for a giant chess board she designed.

Who doesn’t love finding a happy elephant frolicking in the woods? Who?!

Chihuly. The guy gets around…

A trip to the Hamptons isn’t complete until you pay a visit to Martha Stewart’s house on Lily Pond Lane. I was reading her blog recently about how she was transferring some of her rose bushes to her Bedford farm, and well, it wasn’t too hard to figure out where she was considering that we love driving by Lily Pond. Her home is lovely, shielded by privet hedge and a pretty sea green gate. I can only imagine how gorgeous it must be on the inside.

Georgica Beach is such a lovely spot to view the ocean in the off season. From May 15 – September 15 a residential permit is required to park there, so we get our walks in when we can. Just a short jaunt down the beach are Steven Spielberg’s home and Calvin Klein’s former residence. I can see why they love this stretch of beach. I envy them the view, but feel so lucky to be able to drive down here and see it too.

The houses on West End Road line this beach and have insane amounts of massive chimneys, as in like ten chimneys on one house. Why? Do they still heat the rooms with fireplaces? Is it like Downton Abbey “Hampton’s style” with servants shoveling coal during the winter? Are they for show? Does the house with the most chimneys win? Santa must get so confused.

The Atlantic is a majestic powerhouse. The waves roll in slowly and crash as though the weight of world is swimming through them. With the freezing winds it’s hard to stand and look for long, but I love the feeling of smallness I get when standing in front of the sea. You can take a girl away from the water…and it may very well break her heart.