Friday, September 23, 2011

Hi,

Tomorrow is the anniversary of Faneuil Hall opened to the public (1742) in Boston, puppeteer Jim Henson’s birthday (1936), Chief Justice John Marshall’s birth anniversary (1755) and it is the Schwenkfelder Thanksgiving, in 1734 the German religious group celebrates their escape from persecution and still celebrate this day in the Pennsylvania Dutch country (Lancaster area).

Well, today President Abbas formally requested recognition from the UN.  Good for him.  I’m far from anti Israeli, but I’m tired of their BS.  They say they want to make peace with the Palestinians, yet they continue to build settlements in disputed areas.  The Israelis  built the new “Berlin Wall” to keep the Palestinians out.  I totally understand Israel’s concern for security, they are surrounded by a bunch of people that don’t like them.  And it’s getting pretty much worse with the changes in the area.  I personally believe they are just stalling.  Putting off the inevitable, like we have been with our debt.  Just deal with it, get it over with and move one.  You are going to have to come to terms someday.

I had the most interesting phone call Thursday.  I broke the hinge on my cell phone on Wednesday and the new phone shows the incoming phone number and the city and state.  This phone call came from Lake Worth, Florida; where I had my first Bed and Breakfast.  The woman said her name was Sherry and she wanted to book a room for three days.  We chatted for a few minutes about the dates and room and when I started writing down her info, I asked for her last name, which she gave me.  When I asked for her husband’s first name, she said Harold.  Now my mind’s kind of spinning and to breach the subject, I offered that my first Bed and Breakfast was in Lake Worth.  She hesitated and I said it was on South Federal Highway.  She said “Ed?”.  They stayed with me for about a month as they were finishing building a house out west of Downtown Lake Worth.  How amazing is that?  (Or weird, or uncanny, or ……..).  They were thinking of visiting Pittsburgh and chose my Inn for reasons other than we already knew each other.  They were a great couple and I look forward to seeing them again.

My friends Toby & Bruce from the Blue Heron Inn on Lake Finley, NY are visiting again.  They have a lovely Inn right on Lake Finley, with a full restaurant and gift shop.  They are originally from around here, but keep moving further north.  First Warren, now Lake Finley.  Bruce, a chef, brought me a bottle of his killer BBQ sauce that I’m having for dinner tonight.  🙂

I’ve never been a big fan of Glen Campbell.  I mean his music’s OK, and of course I enjoyed his hits.  But they were never really big with me.  I just saw an interview with him.  He is releasing his latest, and probably last album Ghost on the Canvas.  The 75 year old Campbell has announced he has Alzheimer’s and is publicly speaking out about it all over the place instead of hiding it in a corner from the public.  I have a lot of respect for that and bringing the public’s awareness on this terrible disease.  My father passed away from complications from it.  It is a very sad thing to watch and his wife seems to be quite the trouper.  She was with him at the interview (she seems to be at his side all the time now) and although he was lucid, she kept prompting him when he would have difficulty.  Very touching to see.

We all know  Palladian windows, they that famous three window grouping of a larger window in the center and two matching windows on either side.  They’re attributed to Andrea Palladio, an Italian architect from the early 1700’s.  The Carnegie Museum of Architecture is having a show on Andrea through December 31 during their normal hours of operation (10 1.m. until 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays [extended to 8 p.m.] and Sundays noon until 5 p.m.).  There’s an opening exhibit reception this Saturday from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. and a lunch and lecture on October 13 starting at 1 p.m.  And another special event October 20 from 5:30 until 9 p.m.  See their web site for details.  They will be showcasing his drawings, his early book translations that made him quite the hit in England (and then the Americas).  You see variations of his work in many modern higher end houses, all kinds of older construction and MANY government and public buildings.  He is one of the most renowned of the Renaissance Architects.

After five months of owning my smarty pants phone, I down loaded my first app.  Pretty impressive, huh?  🙂  I was reading about how important the Places app is for Innkeepers in an Innkeepers magazine.  So I bit the bullet and just did it.  I now can make phone calls, text, take pictures, surf the web and find the closest lodging establishment to where ever I am standing.

My good friend Myra visited Wednesday night.  You know her, she’s the one that recently opened The Stone Manse Inn in New Cumberland, PA (Harrisburg).  She’s only been open a few months and she has 35 reservations on her books for October.  OMG, that’s incredible for only being open for a few months.  She has her husband Phil scrambling to finish another guest room that she sold.  🙂  You go girl.

Contractors were back this week.  They finished Bromeliad’s stair way (painting, hand rails, etc). I know, white wall and grey stairs and tile, how boring.  The stairwell is narrow and windowless.  I needed to keep it from being claustrophobic.  I’ll add a few splashes of color to keep my reputation in tact.  🙂

They installed the four new windows in Bougainvillea’s bedroom and bathroom.  Those windows were so bad, if you pushed on the center rail to open the window, the top and side rails would raise leaving the glass and bottom rail below.  The one window behind the television was like that when I bought the place, they others have deteriorated since.  So not only can you now open and close the windows, it should make a big difference with keeping the guest room warm/cool.  I’m having an argument with myself right now.  Do I want to stain and polyurethane the windows or paint them?  They are very good Marvin windows with stain grade wood.  I hate to cover up all that natural grains with paint, but not sure how it will look against the yellow painted trim.  I’m leaning to staining them first.  It would be easier to paint over the stain than remove the paint so I can stain them.  Opinions?

The last project before winter for the contractor is we’re replacing Ruellia, Bromeliad and two of the Ballroom doors.  Not only functionality, but also should help with lowering my outrageous utility bills.

Well, that’s about it for now, we’ll chat soon again (sooner than almost a week again since my last post.  Sorry),

ed