Month: February 2022

Take a walk with me and stop at my door. There’s a small space seeking attention. It’s not quite an Agatha Christy mystery, but happenings keep happening on a small wooden perch. What is it?

There’s No Mystery! The apartment buildings in my retirement realm have a megawatt of hallways and doorways that overflow with shelves.

Shelves?

You Betcha! Because next to each door is a shelf that can hold a potpourri of creative memories, humorous knick knacks, pretty arrangements—i.e.. miscellaneous collections that I call,  SHELF STEW!

The hallway shelf was originally meant to be a functional counter, not an ornamental item. In early Retirement Home design days, designers wanted to offer a useful site to place packages or purses when searching for keys to unlock doors. Another idea was to include a lighted key hole.

Consider: It is a pleasant, creative way to say, “hello” to friends and neighbors. Amazing to think that this not-so-big piece of 14 inches of wood at it largest section could possibly make any impact? But it can and often offers a smile.

Back to Shelf Stew and the embellishment of Floors, Doors and Shelves to add some hallway vibe to boost our moods and outlook. It is my personal aim to add temporary pleasure or color to a long, long hallway.

Winter homage to nature’s glories using dried branches and bits of baubles.

What it’s not:

It’s not rocket science, actually not any science, literature or the new virtual super chic Metaverse.*    There are no marquee illusions.                                                                                                                          There is no exclusivity, not even inclusivity, it is just a personal bunch of mixed decorating stew, like this,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

A  Kitschy Valentine Day Salute,

a beautiful museum card,

    some 1904 English Tiles.

Same bird!

In reality, some residents are not interested in changing displays. My interests stems from my interior design background because designers have a natural propensity to create and  hopefully uplift, please and/or sell to their clients.

My favorite shelf of all time occurred when my granddaughter was eight years old during her first solo visit. We enjoyed ice cream for breakfast, watched TV mysteries in bed, ( early Nancy Drew), while eating french fries and/or popcorn. She surprised me by asking if she could design my shelf. For starters, she collected shells and found a tiered stand in my closet.

added a sign, “The Beach Makes Peace!!

Added another sign, “Tell us what you think of our decoration!!!…Remembered her manners and wrote Thank you!!!…Thinking ahead, she also added Post-It Notes and a pencil,             

Finished it off with a final flourish and a new sign with heartfelt hearts, thanking all who commented.

Doors and Floors!

My Retirement Realm only allows small pets. Hence, Delilah only pops round for her Christmas visit.

Delilah expects a Christmas bow display!

Doors sometimes offer…Surprise! A Festive Birthday Wish from a Dear Friend!

So Many Holidays, New Promises!

Stages of Autumn:

Eerie & Spectral?

.

Turkey Territory!!! 

June brings a bouquet of wedding pictures. Perched on shelves are smiling young couples, never ever foreseeing that future moment of nostalgically gracing a shelf in their retirement home.

Plus, among those many hallways are not only shelves, but doors. And if you knock on that door to say hello you will discover a fellow human being who has timeless style and awesome intellect. This is not a rumor; I can unequivocally say that we who have ended up here have found valued friendships scattered among these verdant acres.  Friends, who without a moments hesitation, will come to you aid.

At the top of the Friendship Tier___My Family!

                                                                         Happy Shelving To You!

Sy’s Salient Points:

Friendships are transformative. (A pencil & Post-It Notes on a shelf offered an opportunity for new acquaintanceships.)

*  METROPOLIS Editorial, Jan/Feb 2022:”The Metaverse will be the amalgamation of virtual reality, cryptocurrency, NFT’s (non-fungible tokens)…..a collective reimagining of the build environment.”

*A critical essay by Claire L. Evans in METROPOLIS, Jan/Feb. 2022: Claire’s opinion piece regarding Mark  Zuckerberg’s Meta’s social VR platform, “Horizon Worlds.”                                                              “This metaverse isn’t a new world, only a way of prolonging the grift of social media.”

Happy St. Patricks’s Day Blaire!

Murray Moss said, “You can’t fall off the floor!”                                                                                                                But you can fall onto the floor, or the ice, or the snow. During the next weeks you are going to see plenty of falls if you are a Winter Olympics fan. I was/am and in the past I enjoyed a sport that was challenging and inspiring. Tell me what you think and if you plan to watch.

 DO NOT underestimate a boot attached to a 3/16 inch piece of long steel that is holding up a live body standing on an acre of ice in a freezing atmosphere. Be smart, keep moving — keep your circulation going!  Being lazy in an ice rink is unacceptable.                                                                                                                    (People have frozen to death….I’m not sure about in an ice rink, though.)

I wanted to keep moving; ice skating sounded interesting and so, one summer, I took my mother’s hand as we made our way to St. Louis’s 1894 Union Station filled with freeways of train tracks, gold leaf ceilings, arches and richly colored stained glass windows. My mother and I walked down the vast indoor entry staircase under the glorious Whispering Arch to sign up for a summer skating program in Minnesota.

Whispering Arch

Grand Staircase

We had pre-arranged to rent a master bedroom in a graceful two-story home where our glimpse of life rivaled that of Jack and the Beanstalk as lush, leafy branches tapped against our windows. Our walk to the rink was equally splendid, and formed my lifelong love of trees. If you were so inclined AND of a certain age, it was great to hop-scotch from sun spot to sun spot walking to the rink,—landing on those audacious sun spots that dared to find a path from the sky between the tree leaves.

In case you’re wondering about the perfect diet for a skating athlete to follow, mine centered on the Woolworth Five and Dime lunch counter. It was heaven if you wanted to exist on pancakes, French toast, grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, hamburgers, French fries, chocolate milkshakes and hot fudge sundaes. I always skipped the ‘vegetable of the day’ unless it was corn.      I was eleven!                                                                                                                                                                                      

As I soon learned, there were many places to fit in as a skater, competitions, compulsories and free skating. After a while, I discovered I liked competing with individual challenges including compulsories.

When I started, the figure skating world was focused on skating figures on the ice, otherwise known as Compulsories.  This involved using blades to draw circles, figure 8s, and similar shapes on clean sheets of ice demonstrating accuracy and clarity of exact line placement. Dauntingly, early ice skating officialdom decreed a series of eight inflexibly escalating tough as nails tests. Three judges administered each test, studied each line and angle diligently, and then would decree….Pass or Fail.

Free skating, the showpiece of skating with its zip and zing offers the sheer joy of speeding along and jumping; a feeling akin to flying unencumbered, (do consider the caveat— landing the jumps is essential,) spins and footwork, all a fine art.  So much fun!  We worked hard during those summer programs, starting at 6:00 am weekday mornings and skated all day with short breaks.

In the nineties when television became interested in skating competitions showcasing skaters executing mind numbingly dull eights of barely visible lines carved into the ice, tv ratings spiraled downhill—the bells tolled and the compulsory figure section of skating vanished. Kaput!

Free skating, now, represents the sport. The preeminent male skater in the fifties and rightly so, was Dick Button.* His jumping/flying/skating skills equaled that guy who had to go into a phone booth and magically exit in blue tights with an “S” emblazoned on his chest. Check the height of Dick’s jump, no cape as he soared over tall buildings landing on soft knees with deep edges.

In those early years, skating clothes had not morphed into the fantastical with a thousand or so shimmering sequins. The men wore short formal jackets looking like they had left their restaurant job…. “Hi, I’m Ted, I’ll be your waiter tonight….”

During a Denver summer, I shared an apartment with a favorite friend; we were teenagers, did our own cooking and were always happy to have an invitation to enjoy someone else’s cooking.

To my joy, my coach invited me to some lunches with Dick Button.  I enjoyed good food and amusing conversations with a two time Olympic Champion who was the first to land a triple jump in world  competitions way back in 1952.  Dick completed a Harvard law, degree, created production companies, became a tv analyst, etc. — truly an accomplished human being.                   

And now, 70 years later, new Olympic skaters will be crowned. New megastars will land quadruple jumps on a boot attached to a 3/16 inch piece of long steel. Kudos to the talented skaters and the other Olympians who soar in their sport!

Sy’s Salient points:

Skating led to opportunities that would reach far into my future including a demanding learning curve. Delightful friendships ensued to be continued in new and different rinks throughout many, many summers.

*Dick Button: Wikipedia

Happy Valentine’s Day Blaire & Happy Birthday Everett

TO MY FRIEND, RAY BARNECUT…

Lay-back-spin