Seasons have their timed events, exquisite moments when the sap begins to run or raspberries are at their ripest. Miss these, and you miss out on some of the best that nature has to offer and the pure pleasure of being in the right place at the right time. Rarer still are those found moments of time when I have nothing more pressing to do than take advantage of a snowy afternoon with my children and we decide to do something extraordinary together. Such was the case last week when a few inches of wet snow kept them home from school, and my son reminded me of an offhand promise that if we got the right sort of snow we would make an igloo. I had never constructed one before and it was on my list of things to try one of these days. Now the moment had come, and so I determined to give it a try.The basic technique requires a sturdy plastic container, more or less rectangular and a bit larger than a shoebox. I found one of these in use as a storage bin for a half-finished Erector Set, and it served us well as a form for the blocks of compressed snow we required. We then marked out a rough circle in the snow in the side yard on the north side of the house, where it would be more sheltered from the winter sun. It took about 16 snow blocks to complete the lowest course, leaving a gap for the tunnel entrance, and we staggered the next layer, overlapping the inner space by about a third of the width of the block, and packing in the spaces with more snow.It was at this point that we noticed a tendency for the blocks of snow to lean in and the incomplete circle of our wall to become less and less stable. We shifted our attention to the tunnel, building it up and curving in the walls with a strong capping block to keep them together. After that, the igloo walls went up much more easily, though by this time must have filled and packed and filled nearly 100 blocks and were running out of snow in the neighborhood of the igloo.We attracted a couple of neighborhood kids along the way, though it was less a case of Tom Sawyer getting others to do his work for him than keeping an eye on more would-be helpers. My children rotated on and off the job as fingers froze and clothes needed drying, but after about three hours of steady work the igloo now had a narrowing hole at the top and my son’s head stuck out as if from a turret. My plastic container finally cracked from all the stamping that compressing the snow required, and after a frenzied search of the attic I located another, small one, that would have been frustrating to use at the outset of this project but which worked just fine at the latter stage. A few more spiraling courses and we capped the dome, sealed up the rough edges, and wormed our way inside to admire our handiwork.It is not a very large igloo, but it has withstood the warm weather that followed our snow day. Last night we made ice lanterns by freezing the contents of water balloons and placing votive candles inside the crystal bowls that emerged. On the dark side of the igloo, out of the glare of the street light, a candle placed within the structure reveals our icy masonry beneath its cover of snow. The joy of that snowy afternoon spent together on our igloo will remain far longer than the candle flame and the snows of winter.Tim Abbott is program director of Housatonic Valley Association’s Litchfield Hills Greenprint. His blog is at greensleeves.typepad.com.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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