A Rainy Summer Must Have

The past few weeks have been rainy. As in: the lawn needs mowing every five days. Typically lawns are parched this time of year.

So when I was in NYC on Friday and -- once again -- rain threated I headed for a reputable umbrella store not far from Grand Central. I adore single object stores, for example glove stores. So this was great fun. But they didn't like me taking photographs. SO. I won't write the name of the store. But that's not to say I won't talk about the cool umbrellas. The octagonal one above is by Piganiol , a French company that has been around since 1884. The Piganiol "welcome page" is very snazzy. The lozenge-shaped one below is from the German firm Knirps.

I vetoed the Knirps because the process is too lengthy. Open case, take brolley out of pretty sleeve and open it. That's too much for someone with my attention span. Instead I went with the model by Finnish textile maker marimekko (see below). It's got an impressive J-shaped wooden handle.

Here it is closed.