Sunday, March 18, 2012

Hi,

Tomorrow is the birth anniversary of William Jennings Bryan (1860), Wyatt Earp (1848), David Livingstone (1813-“Doctor Livingstone I presume”), Supreme Court Justices John Sirica (1904-Watergate judge) and Earl Warren (1891).  Also, the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano since 1776.

Here’s some of my pet peeves:  Talking on the phone.  I stood and waited yesterday for quite sometime yesterday while a guest was on the phone.  He’s girlfriend apologized, said he does that all the time.  I guess his time is the only one that’s valuable.  Parking straddling two spaces.  I don’t know if they think it would confuse the meter reader or they just can’t park their car (more than likely, they just don’t care).  Throwing food on the street, sidewalk, park.  I know it’s biodegradable and it’s not really the appearance that bothers me, it’s walking my dogs.  My biggest fear is that some sicko tainted it.  OK, I’ll lighten up.  🙂

OK, your career counselor is back at work.  I found a job for all of you, Workampers.  Workampers are people that travel around the country full time and park some kind of an camper and work from this temporary location.  These aren’t gypsies or migrant farmers either.  Most Workampers are retirees or people nearing retirement and are just supplementing their pensions.   This group also includes people that have lost their homes and/or jobs.  Some are just trying to make ends meet, others are looking for a more adventuresome lifestyle.  Some will work summers in the North and then travel to the Sunbelt for the winter, some do just the opposite.  The Recreation Vehicle Industry Association estimates a half a million people live full time in their recreational vehicles and the number grows each year.  More info at workcamper.com, workersonwheels.com and workampingtoday.com.  Happy trails and send me a post card.  🙂

Pittsburgh’s alternative hip-hop artist Mac Miller was a double winner at mtvU’s Woodie Awards for emerging artists at the South by South West Conference in Austin last Thursday.  The Woodies will air on MTV Sunday at 8 p.m.

I guess by now you have all heard Goldman-Sachs executive Greg Smith quit last week after working for his soulless company for twelve years.  Many are questioning the motives behind his resignation and more importantly why he resigned through an editorial with the New York Times.  What I like is the parody relating him to Star Wars.  You have to scroll down a bit, it’s about halfway down on your left.  You can’t miss Darth Vader.

Phipps Spring Garden Show opened yesterday.  With the mild winter, it may not have as much pull as it traditionally does after three months of frigid weather and snow storm after snow storm.  But it’s always a pleasure to spend a day  strolling through Phipps.  This year’s theme is The World’s Gardens.  The show begins at the welcome center with a giant green topiary of earth that sets the tone for the exhibit.  The famed Palm Court has human images of different colors with linked hands under international flags.  The South Conservatory is a hold over from the Cultural Trust Dutch Festival last month.  The Serpentine Room has a Polynesian theme, the Sunken Garden  has the UK flag in red salvia, white tulips and blue senetti.

Picture time.  My good friend Don Berger was in a week ago.  Don was my boss at the William Penn when I worked there.  He was there when Servico (the previous owner) was in bankruptcy.  He made all of the ornaments that decorated that huge tree they put in the lobby because there was no money for new ornaments.  He took wall paper remnants, Styrofoam balls, anything and everything.  When I started, two months before Christmas, his office was an assembly line of last year’s ornaments that needed re glued, glitter, tinsel or ribbons.  It was pretty funny.  Suffice to say, he’s one of the most creative persons I know.

I have all these pieces of lace the previous owner left behind, here’s his suggestion for Bird of Paradise:

Do you know the story behind the wooden focal point above the bed?  The last guest room I created at The Parador of the Palm Beaches was African Tulip.  One of the salvage yards I frequented was Ellison’s on Georgia Avenue.  I found this really cool pecky cypress door at Ellison’s (which is currently over Bird of Paradise’s bed) and built the closet to fit the door.  When I sold that property, the new owner was planning on bulldozing everything to build townhouses, so I took everything like my door that I liked (those tropical windows in my current pantry is a story I’ll tell in a future post).  I brought the door up from Florida and it was leaning on a wall in the Ballroom.  The door’s way too narrow for anything that would need a door here.  One day, Bird of Paradise was finished.  Crown molding repaired and painted, wall paper removed and the walls primed and painted, furniture in place and I’m standing in the room thinking that’s a big empty wall behind the bed.  I thought hmmm…………….

Speaking of salvage yards, my last trip down to Florida, I spoke of Adam and Eve’s place and that I bought some architecturals from a hotel they tore down in Miami.  Here’s Don’s suggestion:

I’m not sure how much I like Carlos’s Mexican picture next to them, but I think the architecturals look pretty cool. (Carlos was my chef at the Palm Beach Oceanfront Hilton, which was my last corporate job).

And I’ve had this screen thing in the basement since I bought this place.  It’s like three large wooden picture frames on double hinges.  It was obviously made to be a screen, but it was all funky and nothing was in the middle of the three panels.  So I cleaned it up and attached three pieces of lace on dowels for each panel:

In the same room, I found a permanent home for my Dia de Muertos ladies from Karin’s down in West Palm that I spoke about during my visit:

I just love those two ladies.

Enjoy the sunshine between the clouds and pouring rain this afternoon,

ed