When I Get Older, Losing My Hair, Many Years From Now

Greetings:

Charles Poitras, a Newfound graduate who has lived in Miami Beach for some time, says that the Flamingo South Beach is referred to as the South Beach Dorm. Eighty percent of the people here are under thirty five. The phrase ‘eye candy’ is bandied about…especially by those over thirty. Hot tubs are especially soothing…and the articles are great too.

Here is the view as you approach from the south:



There are those moments, especially in the elevator where age is the elephant in the middle of the room. Upon being given a casual greeting, one young woman gave that look similar to when you had to take some yucky medicine and there was no way out. Others have been very cordial but think either we are their parents in disguise or have been sent by them. French, Spanish, Italian are more common than English.

As for the apartment itself, it is wonderful. The management is another issue. For example, where are more keys for the apartment and a mail box key? We are now in day 6. To make matters even more ‘fun’, our arrangement with our local post office in New Hampshire has created a ‘button, button, who’s got the button’ game where we may or may not be allowed to play. If you mail us please use carrier pigeon.

To be in sympathy with northern climes the hallways are frigid. A heavy towel is needed at the bottom of the hallway door so as not to foster precipitation. We had, at one time, looked at this building as a possible site of purchase. As a rental it is great, but not so much for ownership. Maintenance and management are arbitrary. No one really knows what is going on.

So here is the good stuff. When you walk in you see:



That’s the internet router on the floor since there is no WiFi. The kitchen is not particularly well supplied and is basically equipped for a runway model. We are glad to have glasses, dishes and a few cooking implements. The layout is good though:



Master bedroom does have a bathroom:











There is a second bedroom (and a hallway bathroom):



But then there is the balcony; this we like very much. Here is Val at leisure:






Looking directly below at the ‘bra’ or ‘moustache’ pool (take your pick):




Sunset is always special:




Val’s arrival has given other purposes to walking. Her expertise from having researched and written their book ‘Discovering South Beach Deco’ with her husband Richie has been a real treat. The next posting will show some of the places seen along the walks.

Meanwhile Gini and Julia say ‘Bon Appetit’ (‘Runway model at work’ says Val):




Val, Chris’ sister Eileen, Greg and Paul admire the kitchen creations:



Ciao.

We Be At The Beach

Greetings:

This posting is basically to let people know that we are here safely in Miami Beach. Our first week is with our friends Paul and Greg (and Mishu). Here is a picture from last year with the view from their balcony:




It is on the first Venetian Island (Belle Isle) going from Miami Beach to Miami. It is the same island where we have purchased a condo.




However we are renting the condo for the year and are grateful to Paul and Greg for having us each year. But one week is enough if you want to remain friends. So we have a five week rental at a place called The Flamingo South Beach at 1504 Bay Road on Miami Beach.

Miami and Miami Beach are two different worlds. We do enjoy the Design District, Midtown Miami and Chris bicycles through Bayfront Park to get to Key Biscayne. However, the world of South Beach is our preference. Our lifestyle is not glamorous but the surroundings are.

A typical day begins with Gini and Paul meeting some friends to walk five miles down to South Pointe Park and back. Chris sleeps in a bit and will meet Rick sometimes for activities such as a bike ride or coffee. Rick is a very dear friend. Chris was his mentor back in Lowell days to help him get through high school. He and Paul were living and business partners at one time but life has moved on. Rick lives in the next building here on Belle Isle.

More than likely Chris will go to an afternoon movie at the 18 screen Regal on Lincoln Road. Gini, Paul and various other moviegoers will accompany him. So far the list includes: It’s Complicated (Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin were very entertaining); A Single Man (devastating movie that was excellently made but brutal emotionally); Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey and Jude Law redefine this pair in a very good way) and Up In The Air (sad but very well done and George Clooney is great).

Shopping is also an agenda item. The stores on Lincoln Road are world class and places like Sawgrass Mills constantly beckon. Ocean Ave is filled with eye candy and elegant hotels. Art deco architecture also interests us and makes local walks interesting tours, especially with our friends’, Val and Rich’s, book ( Discovering South Beach Deco: Walking Tours in the Miami Beach Art Deco District) which describes the buildings along the walks in great detail.

Over the years many of Paul and Rick’s friends have included us in their company so there is always an interesting opportunity for drinks and dinner. Many of these people live on Belle Isle so the venue is fantastic and the ocean and Biscayne Bay are never far away.

Tomorrow we move into the Flamingo. Val will be joining us on Monday; Eileen on Thursday. Then the following Monday they are tag-teamed by Gini’s sister Janice and her husband Bill. We will be together for four weeks, the balance of our stay here in ‘the Beach’. So perhaps we will post some pictures of our rental there and ambient accoutrements.

But, bottom line, we are safe and doing fine.

Ah…The Women

Propulsed by our Five Guys infusion we found our way to Cyndy’s in Osprey, Florida. It had been many years since we had seen her. She is the former head of special education at Newfound Area School District and an amazing woman.

Fortune had thrown her and Chris together in an office above the 5&10 in Bristol. The experience was a positive one because when the new high school was built Chris begged and pleaded with her to share his office. So began the era-ette of ‘Special Needs Computer’. This was how the stenciling read above the door to the office. Immediately below it was a three foot picture of Howdy Doody (and you thought Dante’s invitation was of concern).

It soon became apparent that Cyndy’s home situation needed changing at the time, so she and another friend, JoJo, the drama director for the school, decided to enlist in the International school system in Bahia, Brazil. All accounts of this experience rival Woodstock – not bad for two ‘old broads’. How they survived is amusing and takes the ‘non’ out of non-plussed.

However that was not enough to satisfy her exotic wanderlust. She then signed on for two more stretches in Damascus, Syria. Having read many of her letters, we both want Cyndy to publish her ‘memoirs’. One of the more incredible tales was how she and another woman started out by bus from Damascus to Lebanon and then proceeded by train (by themselves) to Nice, France.

Her kharma has provided her with a nice town house in a retirement community in Osprey. Our conversation upon arrival begs conveyance. It was rich with ‘catching up’, fun filled nostalgia and philosophical exchanges. Chris has been fortunate to have had some very interesting office ‘mates’.

The agenda consisted of a tour of the coastal barrier islands, known as keys, in the Sarasota area; Casey Key, Siesta Key, AnnaMaria Key, LongBoat Key, all very impressive but… oh yeah, the weather. Now for those in the throes of New England winter you will feel like there is some justice in the universe when we relate the fact that temps had not really risen above 40 degrees anywhere we had visited and that sleet was gently kissing our windshield in downtown Sarasota.

In summary, Gini reluctantly admits that we might be the equivalent of Typhoid Mary. Ice in the streets of Myrtle Beach, biting winds preventing golf; ice dripping from fountains in Savannah; Elayne and Russ losing their water three mornings; and…while sitting comfortably in Cyndy’s living room, the power goes out. Our solution to the latter was to play three rousing games of Yahtzee by candlelight. Could this mean that the locusts would arrive in Punta Gorda to meet us?

Well this picture from Siesta Key sort of sums it up:



Long may Cyndy roam!

On Sunday, January 10, we left for Punta Gorda after a fine Perkins breakfast in Vencie…uh, Florida that is.

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Sandy and Lori had flown down to Charlotte Bay to investigate real estate. Sandy is a friend from many years who was present when Gini’s water broke for Chip at the ‘chicken barn. Check the comments section for that posting for her description.

Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda had been ravaged by hurricane Charlie. That, along with the current economy made for some very inexpensive homes. Here are some examples for between $45K and $60K:










Finding a good real estate agent can be quite challenging. Gini and I surreptitiously amused ourselves following Sandy and Lori and their agent during their tour of property. At one point Lori was gesturing madly through the back window about being rescued.

Their quest continues as the third day proved fruitful in finding a good agent but necessitates further visits to the area.

Gini and Chris liked downtown Punta Gorda. It was filled with funky shops and houses:

























As for the title of this blog – ‘Ah..The Woment’. This portion of the trip has been filled with fabulous independent, single women. One of the days searching for real estate involved Lori driving her rental car with Sandy, Gini and our cabana boy Chris doing iPhone searches and locations like he was born to it.

Cherchez la fun:

















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For those of you who know the blog from last year you will remember Mary, Gini’s step-mom. She and Gini were last heard yelling ‘Ride ‘em cowboy’ as they descended at breaknail speed down the side of Pila mountain in the Alps. Awaiting us in Winter Park was a fancy bottle of champagne, Mary’s signature. You may remember a previous blog posting of Gini’s dad, Charlie, helping build the steps. Mary is who he left with us for safekeeping.

Mary had decided, though, to foster a drug party. It was our first morning with her and there on our plates were small straws and ‘Pocket Espresso’. Chris’ attempts to convince everyone that the proper way was to snort it required a knowing demonstration by Mary:



We were impressed with Mary’s rendition of ecstasy:



However, ‘Ah....The Women’ would not be complete without Mary’s precious Sophie:



The bike was ridden today so there is thermal hope. Tomorrow we will visit Gini’s roommate from college, Nadine and her husband, Frank, and then later to try and finish another bottle of Moet and Chandon Imperial. Saturday – Miami Beach!

Take Me To The River...Drop Me In The Water

Greetings:
(click on pictures to enlarge)

The ride from Savannah was fairly uneventful and we passed the time with some decent oldies stations and a CD or two of our own. However the actual location of Elayne and Russ’ house is beyond the capability of any GPS mapping system and some simple directions were relayed by mobile phone as we approached.

Elayne was jumping up and down in the yard when we came through the gate and made our way across an open field to the house. The property is a ten acre strip that is narrow and very deep, terminating on several hundred feet of frontage on the Santa Fe River north of Gainesville, FL. Many homes, such as theirs, are built away from the river to afford river traffic a natural view of the flora and fauna.

Elayne and Russ have been married six years which accounts for how long we have known Russ but Elayne is another story. Thirty six years ago Gini took a job with an orthodontist in White Plains, NY as her first newly-married-income-producing endeavor. Elayne was working there. It was not long before there were ‘shenanigans’ going on during lunch hour, during work and eventually we were shenaniganning regularly as a group.

Elayne did not last much longer with the illustrious doctor and soon diversified. She helped Dr. Dubin, her husband at the time and a great optometrist, developed her own optician skills but really just kept gathering momentum towards her real talent as an artist. Our departure from White Plains after just two and a half years (Chris got himself fired from Archbishop Stepinac High School: “Too much Star Trek and rock music, Mr. Duggan!”) did not stop the maintenance of our friendship.

Eventually Elayne would travel to Spain and support herself solely on her income from art and even sojourn in Bristol, NH. She had an apartment and a studio in the old Abel’s Restraurant and had some success in town. She would wend her way to Maryland and then High Springs, FL. There she would initially have a store front and studio in the nearby funky town of Alachua and begin taking on art students. At one point she was teaching forty students. Currently she has downsized to another studio and still maintains many students.

So here is our star:



The house is filled with wonderful pieces of her art. Here is an example:




Russ is a man of many traits. He has recently retired from managing air traffic controllers. His list of accomplishments is most impressive but the one that we most attribute to his natural abilities is river guide, but more of that later.

Here is the house:



Elayne also has a small studio on the property, there is an old VW bus waiting to resurrect and yard scultpture (object d'yard) but Russ’ pride and joy is his Big Deck (hear, hear):



This multi-leveled platform is backlit, frontlit and sunlit for the exclusive purpose of fun and frolic. There is room for a band and about thirty or forty seated friends/guests. The bar is eclecticly resplendent with fishing gear and fiber optics.:



And of course there are the groupies:



Mother Nature dominates however as you go down their passage to the water to their dock. You pass about 8 or 10 canoes, skiffs and kayaks along the way until you are struck with the beauty of the river:



Elayne had to address a local woman’s club and could not join us on this one day of good weather and temperature. However Russ bundled Gini and Chris into a large canoe and they were off.

We were the only humans on the river but it seemed to be Turtle Day as we skimmed along:





The wind had died down and movement seemed effortless, especially for Gini who sat oarless between Chris and Russ. There was some concern to her vantage point:



Many springs feed the Santa Fe River and we made our way to one of the more public ones called Blue Springs. It could have been the Caribbean or Hawaii as the transparency of the water of the springs allowed for color and the beholding of fish:





Though it was Russ’ idea, Chris crumbled some dried leaves to make the fish think he was offering food. Later it was noted that there were underwater posters with Chris’ picture with warnings about a no good northerner peddling false wares:



The entire community is in love with the river and tries not to impact it negatively while still providing themselves access from their property:



One of the more interesting members of the community is Naked Ed. We had met Ed at Russ and Elayne’s wedding. The wedding, itself, was fabulous. The wedding party arrived in canoes and the ceremony was performed at the dock. The event had been synchronized with the full moon and later that night the members of the reception all paddled along the moonlit river. A destination was Lily Springs where guitars, etc were produced under the approving eye of the owner, Naked Ed (in all his glory).

This time the weather was a bit much and Ed was almost unrecognizable. He does provide an announcement to casual paddlers:



But perhaps the most glorious component of this escapade was the paradisical glow of our native guide:



We are wealthy and fortunate in our friends. In this way life has been very kind.

Next is a visit with Chris’ office mate from many years ago, Cyndy. Leaving High Springs was difficult and we took to the road with some reluctance. But thanks to our initiation by Rick and Hanna in Myrtle Beach we were able to notice a great place for lunch as we headed further South. ‘The best hamburger you ever tasted’ claimed Rick and was verified for the second time as we pulled into a Five Guys hamburger place. May you all be so fortunate.

One Night Stand in Savannah

Greetings:

Despite the freezing conditions, Savannah was beautiful. Gini was able to get a travel agent discount at the Residence Inn on the edge of the Historic District. This district is architecturally fabulous. After a visit to the nearby Visitor’s Center to purchase a self-guided walking tour booklet we discovered that our destination for lunch was one of the most beautiful buildings to see. It is the Gryphon Tea Room that was formerly an apothecary:


















The interior is still preserved from the apothecary days and is full of crafted detail, ceiling highlights and furniture appropriate to the former business. Our booklet claimed it was the place where Robert E. Lee had his last prescription filled (maybe not the best endorsement). Our lunch was on the wonderful side and we sat in the large, floor-to-ceiling window to the right of the entrance.

Many of the streets have malls in the middle with mossy draped oaks providing a classic southern ambiance. Detailed items were in abundance. such as a dolphin downspout:



…and a sunflowered gate:



Henry Ford’s first showroom has been repurposed:



There are 2300 houses in the historic registry. They nestle one after the other and lazily flow between well-kept parks and fountains. One of the nicer fountains was dripping with ice, a rare Savannah sight:




Here are a few examples of some of the homes:






We thought that this one would make a fine home for the Von D’Luccis:



That evening we enjoyed dinner at Garribaldi’s, a very good Italian restaurant with dishes designed to reflect Savannah’s local offerings.

Next is High Springs, Florida where we will meet up with Elayne and Russ at their riverside ‘estate’. See y’all then.