Thursday, April 8, 2010

Hi,

I had lunch yesterday with Judy from The Carnegie Museums www.carnegiemuseums.org yesterday at The Warhol www.warhol.org. Judy is in charge of corporate sponsorship for the Carnegies.  We had a great conversation about The Parador, naturally, but also what she’s doing to promote the Carnegies and why.  Lunch was pleasant, they had pretty much ran out of sandwiches, but the quiche was good.  After wards, we went up to the fifth floor to see Bunny Yeager’s show.  Bunny’s in her 90’s now, but was one of the early Playboy Bunnies and an amazing woman.  When you go in the gallery at the end left side of the floor, there’s a series of photographs of stunning women.  Some in bathing suites, some in high end fashion outfits, most were blond, some where brunette.  I was thinking that they all looked a lot alike, that Bunny had very specific taste in what she wanted to photograph.  We asked the attendant outside the room about the photos and she explained they were all of Bunny over the years.  Dah me.  Bunny would make her own outfits, set the scene, set the lighting, position the camera and then have the photographer snap the picture.  Pretty amazing.

Vera from Office Depot called me this morning.  She gave me the most sincere apology I think I have ever gotten.  She has worked extensively to correct the error and I am thoroughly impressed.  It seems she has tracked down all the places my name had been given to and had my name removed.  She asked for my patience until the end of May to be sure I don’t get any more unwanted mail because of Office Depot.  I am certainly impressed and Office Depot now has a loyal customer.

I went to LMS Greenhouse and Nursery Tuesday to get my Jack’s fertilizer.  Jack’s is the best water soluble fertilizer available to the general public.  LMS is in Allison Park, which is a bit of a trip from here.  I’ve gotten my Jack’s from them in the past, but never really paid a lot of attention to what they carry.  They have a great selection of tropicals, some are hybrids you can leave out all year, some you have to bring in when it gets cold.  All look very healthy.  One of the things I like about them, they have large specimens for people that want instant gratification (that’s me frequently 🙂 ), and you pay the price for LMS growning them.  Or, if you are frugal (which is me frequently 🙂 ), they have smaller versions at very affordable prices.  One of my happy scores was a small elk horn fern.  I had this gorgeous specimen in Florida that I brought up here and ended up killing.  I think I’ll do OK with this guy now.  When I first moved back up here, there was so much going on that I didn’t give the plants the attention they deserved.  I also lost this fantastic pony tail palm from my poor tending.  The two pony tails I have now are not as unique as the triple trunk specimen I moved up here with, but I love them the same.

Madona and Danny were here about a month or so ago and when she got home, she sent two toys for da boiz and a plaque for me.  Well, RJ has fallen in love with this toy that is three cloth rings put together like a chain.  The the fool plays with that one a lot and when he has the end link in his mouth (as apposed to the center one), the other end drags on the floor.  Well, he’ll step in it and it will be caught on his leg.  He can’t figure out how to solve the problem, so he just hobbles around like that.  Of course his rude dad, just laughs at him.

Colin and his girlfriend should be arriving shortly, they are my only check-ins today.  (Colin used to live over in the Mexican War Streets, he moved back to NJ and is in for a visit).  After that, I’m headed out to Betty’s for our weekly visit, I’m bringing a roasted chicken and she’s happy.  🙂

The Parador Inn of Pittsburgh now has a face book page, if anyone wants to become a fan.

I’ll ramble again soon,

ed