There is something oddly comforting to me at this time of year about persistent snow cover and daylight temperatures that stay below freezing. I worry about mild winters in New England. It doesn’t feel at all right when the sap runs in January, as it did last year, or when our lakes never really ice over. I’d rather spend a few extra mornings shoveling snow than endure a muddy midwinter.I can tell the mornings have been quite cold this past week by the increase in activity at my bird feeders. The old lilac bush by the kitchen window hosts feeding stations offering suet, nyjer seed and black oil sunflower seeds. These have attracted a regular procession of the usual goldfinches, white breasted nuthatches, dark-eyed juncos and downy woodpeckers, but also some more northerly species that have ventured down to our latitude in search of better forage. These have included both pine siskins and common redpoles this week. I can remember one winter, back in the early 1980s when I was growing up in Dutchess County, N.Y., when the temperature in late December reached 32 below zero and we had flocks of evening grosbeaks in our yard. I wouldn’t mind seeing those birds again, but without those extreme temperatures. That year we had to work very hard to keep my sister’s pony warm in the stable, and ice froze solid in the water pails. My pet rabbit moved indoors as well, and occupied the downstairs bathroom for a week or two until the brutal cold eased its grip on the land. There is ice today in sections of the Housatonic River, especially to the north of Bulls Bridge in Kent, which bodes well for the annual ice watch contest in that community. I have not yet been out pond skating, but have my eye on a couple of favorite spots, and if the weather holds I may give one of these a try next weekend. In the meantime, the family and I have taken advantage of Sunday public skating at Salisbury School, with new Christmas skates for the youngest and ever-increasing confidence for both children as they regain their ice legs.I’ve been waiting for the right kind of snow to make a snow shelter in our backyard. It needs to be deep and wet enough to pack into blocks if we are to make an igloo or a snow cave. This will require a significant snow storm, and I am careful what I wish for because these come with other consequences not half as enjoyable. Still, the opportunity to do this with my growing family has a time limit, and if we miss the moment when conditions are right it may not be repeated. Each season has its own character and plays out differently year to year. If you make the time, and time it right, there is magic still in the bleak midwinter. 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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