Mrs. Van der Loop's Blog

Communist Blockage

You know how I abhor censorship of any kind (except in social intercourse when it's politic to censor one's actions). Well, the Chinese are censoring many blogs like mine. This website called The Great Wall of China will tell you if your blog is being censored by the Chinese government. Chilling.

Extravagance of Expenditure

My maid Helen has just informed me about the new $1000 pizza in New York. Extravagance of expenditure, in any form, is vulgar vulgar vulgar. I see it so much these days...even in good society. Please remember that restraint and thrift are the hallmarks of good breeding.

Climbers Beware

This afternoon I met my good friend Constance in The Grill Room at the Four Seasons for luncheon. I had my usual, the Grilled Mediterranean-Spiced branzino with warm Farro Salad. The Branzino was cooked to perfection, as is customary, and Constance was having one of her better days. But all of that pleasure was for naught, because sitting at the next table was a social climber extroadinaire. I will not repeat the many fine New York names she crowed about with such shocking volume. I will only say this: Nothing so blatantly proclaims a woman climber as the repetition of prominent names, the owners of which she must have struggled to know. Otherwise, why so eagerly boast of the achievement? Nobody cares whom she knows—nobody that is, but a climber like herself. Climbers, please take heed and muzzle yourselves!

Unseemliness

I find this woman terribly vulgar. It distresses me that she is recieved in ANY home, much less those of breeding and gentility.

This Walter Reed Mess

The man pictured below is General Kevin Kiley, the former head of Walter Reed Hospital. I am so distressed about the reports coming out that our brave soldiers who have been injured were treated in such a shoddy manner. As many of you know, my father, Thaddeus Van der Loop, served proudly in WW II. As a Major in the fighting forces, he commanded many men with the greatest of honor. It shames me that his standards are not being upheld today.

A Modest Proposal

Miss Stella McCartney showed her new frocks recently in Paris and this was one of them. You may call me old-fashioned, but this type of costume is not appropriate for a young lady of breeding and culture. Miss McCartny is from a well-to-do family. Yes, her father is a musician, and as we all know, the show people are a different breed of cat. Most of them are such braggarts. The late Mr. Van der Loop refused to have show people in the house. However, since his demise, I have loosened up on that rule and I often have members of the Metropolitan Opera to tea in the afternoon. But that is not to the point of this entry. I find this sweater "dress" to be vulgar to the point of obscenity. I wish young designers and socialites would come to their senses about these things. As ever, Lydia.

I say Nay

When I curt the ribbon on the New York Times this morning at breakfast, I was greeted with a photograph and accompannying article about this large horse! It seems that it is the largest horse ever. and weighs over 2400 pounds. I find this worship of all things large to be truly vulgar. When I was a young lady, Iwas taught to cherish small, even tiny things, such as thimbles (I still have my thimble collection), buttons, doilies, small curios, tiny pieces of string, beads. These small things were usually kept in tiny drawers and were not viewed every day, but when you found an old button in a tiny, out of the way drawer, it was like a reunion with an old, dear freind. Let's all not forget that small things can be wonderful too. -- Yours as ever, Lydia.