You Have Reached Your Destination

"When people go on vacation they generally seek out destinations that offer them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace."-Richard Moe, President, National Historic Preservation Trust

This explains why every so often we feel the need to vacation right where we are.

Last week was February vacation, and those of us who were not at the shows stayed in town - despite the lure of warmer weather elsewhere. If we didn't live here, this is where we'd spend our vacations.

There's no place quite like it. No two stores are the same, and we never tire of the local restaurants (that has not always been true, but it certainly is now). People ask us all the time about the other businesses, so we figure lunches out (not to mention the new shoes and the facial) are all part of market research.

At this time of year, it's easy to support local businesses because there are so few of us open! Yes, the money we spend with our neighbors is likely to come back to us, but we're also lucky to have very talented neighbors. If we didn't know what we know about the benefits of shopping locally, the businesses near us would still be our first choice for just about everything.

We try hard to make Left Bank "someplace, not just anyplace." Spring merchandise will be arriving shortly, and we can't wait to see it! Audrey found a few new people at the shows this year, and some of our favorite artists are trying new things.

It may be February on Cape Cod, but it's far from dull (even without the state-of-emergency snow storms).

Come by sometime. We'll show you all the best things.

If you live or vacation here, let us know your favorite places in the comments. We can compare lists!

face-to-facebook

We just read this article about how Facebook will be selling gifts for people to send to their friends.  Imagine: you get a reminder that it's someone's birthday, then you click to send them an actual, 3D gift, delivered to their doorstep.

Neat.... kind of.

What would be really neat is if facebook made it so you can find small businesses in your friends' towns, and then let you send a gift certificate from the place you choose.

Wouldn't that be a great use of all that data?

Maybe we can figure it out for ourselves.


Article: Say Hello to Gifts, Facebook’s New Mobile Revenue Stream

Ornaments!

We have the cutest Patience Brewster ornaments hanging in our window. Flying pigs, French hens and a... fish driven by an insect?

There is never a dull moment around here.

Cosmonaut Volkov and an edible still life

When people visit the gallery, they ask lots of questions unrelated to art. Questions about lunch, coffee and beach stickers, for instance. In the case of lunch, people get more of an answer than they bargained for.

One of our favorite places to go is the South Wellfleet General Store, in the now impossibly-trendy SoWo neighborhood (alongside Route 6 at LeCount Hollow Road, across from Blackfish Creek). If you are remotely hungry right now, you might want to skip this.

Chef Tony took over the kitchen this year and has changed the way Wellfleet eats. Some of the seasonal sandwiches he's making at the moment are:

• Fresh Striped Bass with fried green tomatoes and onion marmalade on a griddled Portuguese roll
• Grilled bluefish with Portuguese vinegar onions and braised radicchio
• The Uncle Vasco - Portuguese chourizo with peppers
• Slow-cured roast pork, pickled onions, local baby arugula and apple mayo

On the kids menu they have a Nutella banana panini. You don't have to pretend it's for a kid (trust us).

It should go without saying that they use only fresh, local ingredients. If you're curious about what kinds of ingredients they use, take a look in the produce section. Fresh produce comes from Redberry Farm (Eastham), Nestwood Farm (Truro) and Sixpence Farm (Truro).

The growers at Sixpence Farm are so proud of the produce they bring Tony (and he's the only one they sell to), they've provided cards that make for great summer reading.

If you can't read the sign, it says:

"Cosmonaut Volkov
This is not a plum tomato! It is a Ukrainian Russian heirloom - smuggled across the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. Named for the Soviet astronaut who lost his tether and floated off into space. Komrade Volkov is orbiting the earth as you are reading this."

Now that we think about it, people are asking questions about art. Haricot vert with garlic olive oil and sea salt art.

It's time for lunch.

Jill McGowan

Just in - beautiful new shirts from Jill McGowan! We love her style and her attitude:

"I'm often asked if I'm doing anything 'green.' More than a gimmick, clearly, quality is green. Clothes you love and wear again and again? Green. Fabrics and fine workmanship that last? Green. And a garment designed and made right here in the USA? Knock a few feet off your carbon footprint!" - Jill McGowan

It turns out Jill McGowan is yet another thing we have in common with Martha Stewart.* She likes Jill's white shirts as much as we do.

*(we knew there was something)

Michael Magyar - a studio visit

Every once in awhile we get out and about and do some visiting. Last week we dropped by to see Michael Magyar in his studio, Glass Studio on Cape Cod.



Unfortunately, we were not there on a glass blowing day. That meant they were able to chat with us a bit, but it also means we'll have to go back later for some awesome demonstration photos. Darn.


We love seeing where people work! To be in a space where they make the art we unpack and display at the gallery is kind of magical. Especially if you're a kid.


There's a box labeled "for kids only!" It's full of glass bobbles. Kids get to pick out a bobble to take home. It's important work, picking out the perfect one.


Everywhere you look there are ornaments and glasses, vases and lamps. Because we spend so much of our time with artists, we take some of this for granted. Despite the rose-colored glasses (no pun intended) through which we view the world, everything people use and buy is NOT made this way anymore. With mysterious looking tools and very hot fires, with techniques handed down through generations. It makes you look differently at your water glass.

Kathleen Masterson

Is it even possible to walk on the beach and not pick up a stone or two? There's something about them that makes you want to take the home with you. Especially if you're Kathleen Masterson.

Kathleen Masterson (aka KEM Design) makes jewelry out of the beach stones she picks up - earrings, bracelets, necklaces and some clever badge holders that can also be used as eyeglass keepers. You can see them on our website, or drop by the gallery so you can check them out in person!

And while you're browsing the web, be sure to read Stephanie Foster's terrific article about Kathleen Masterson in the Cape Codder!

Rosalie Nadeau

I visited Rosalie Nadeau at her studio last fall and took some pictures to share here - which I promptly forgot to do.

It's a beautiful studio, hidden among the flowers (well, it was then). And art covered all the surfaces - including art books on the stairs.

Steven Kennedy

Steven Kennedy loves this time of year, and looking at his painting and the view he's working from,you can see why. With no leaves on the trees, you can see all the way down to the water. The painting he's working on includes a cluster of buildings we can't usually see together - many of them will be hidden in trees soon. But now, you can get a sense of the center of Wellfleet - different architectural styles, different purposes, old and new, all built in and around each other. He also loves the luminosity of the light at this time of year and the bright, clear days.