Allied Forces

Via Restoration Hardware

Mandibles - A Natural History Collection

The mandible is the lower jaw of a vertebrate animal. This is perfectly apt since my mandible dropped from sheer wonderment the minute I crossed the threshold of this jam-packed creature emporium, and didn't quite recover until I was several blocks away. I really wanted to shout MANDIBLES from every Cape rooftop. Mandibles can be found up a rickety staircase in the Woodstock Foundry in Cape Town. Julia Jaki is the curator, Philipp Schulz, the taxidermist. Together, the Garden of Earthly Delights abounds. Our very own Deyrolle in Africa. In this jewel of a shop, those of a covetous nature like myself, really can be the proud owner of a simple egg of extreme fragility, the beak of a Bare-Eyed Cockatoo or (in my case) the skull of a baby Nile Crocodile...

Worth noting is the fact that all the birds, monkeys and small mammals come from zoos and bird parks - having died of natural causes - while the skulls, horns and skull-mounts of the larger Ungulata are by-products of South Africa's sustainable game farming industry.

All photographs by Philippa Berrington-Blew.

My Baltimore (II)

Our family always likes a modicum of self-imposed mental flagellation (or rather it is imposed on us) and Saturday was no exception. Our car broke down in Roland Park. No plausible explanation, just obstinately refused to start. No problem, we thought... we would catch a bus home. No buses from that location on a Saturday. Then we shall walk, I stated. What about a cab, was my husband's response. No! I exclaimed in a knee-in-the-nuts tone that prompted a sideways empathy glance from my daughter to my husband. A few hours later, we were home with aching limbs. But, at least it was a perfect fall day. Along the way we stopped to gawk at the AMAZING window in the Hampden Junque Shop. Wonderfully off-center, slightly macabre and infinitely original...

Hampden Junque

Brimfield, MA III

It would not have surprised me if I had spotted Noah's Ark (or the architectural remnants of it) at Brimfield this year. One practically did need a boat, and thigh-high galoshes to navigate the rice paddy-like conditions. Not only had Brimfield endured a devastating tornado in June, but it (and the dealers) also had to contend with a severe dumping of rain during the show. What added to the mix of good times, though, were my two intrepid companions who never quit as long as there were extraordinary things to marvel at. We terrified our unassuming 'porter-for-hire', by vowing we would abuse him (gently) for the hour we had him to ferry our flotilla of purchases. He asked me if I was afraid of tigers when I went home to Africa for holidays!!! I said I was more afraid of tigers in America. Then back at our motel room in the evening, the abundance of dinky bottles of Gin and Southern Comfort were most effective sleep aids. After all, re-energizing our flippers was absolutely essential for the following day's hunting...

Mia trying on hats for size

Liz

Wanted the giant ball of braided yarn

We weren't too sure if he was real for a second

All photos by Philippa Berrington-Blew