oh! and a quick tour

of some of the work I accomplished last week while working at the condo in FL-
first I worked on the kitchen display shelves- on cabinet tops-

the window was already done but I tweaked the arrangement just a tiny bit- LOL

above the stove/microwave etc...

then I was working on groupings of the paintings I had been collecting (http://semifreelife.blogspot.com/2013/07/i-collect-art-part-2-sort-of.html)

 

the grouping in the entry of palm pictures- includes a moonlit palm which I show below so you can see it in greater detail- I am quite pleased with this group-

 

 

then in the living dining area I did a group of sea/beach related paintings-

there is a gap because one of the paintings didn't make it back from the framer's in time for this trip-

all in all, fairly successful so far-

then I worked a little bit in the lanai- found perfect pillows with crab motif in the turquoise and blue colors of that room- and got an extra lamp to shed more light into the Phil office space-

still have a few things on the list to complete that area but making real progress-

on to the guest room which did actually reach completion this trip- with the addition of some decorative pillows and some art work- in the photo below you can't really see how cute the pillows look on the bench but trust me - the coral colored starfish was a perfect find- and it picks up the color of the lady's bathing suit in the 1950s French school poster of a swimming pool...

found some shells and sea glass to create a potpourri basket on the dresser top-

outside in the courtyard everything has been growing in our absence-

the ferns filled in- after the extreme thinning during the process of adding landscape lighting... the other vines are also coming back despite my decimating them in June when I installed the sprinkler timer and hoses-

and perhaps most impressive the cactus I was going to throw out in the fall is now growing another plant altogether and looking quite nice- next to our little Buddha statue...

 

here is what it looked like in June-

 

 

in March when I left the pot only had the raggedy looking cactus and I was going to throw it away but since there was no pick up for yard waste scheduled before I left I decided to just leave it in the courtyard--- so this is kind of a cool development...

the curtain rises

Last night the fall theater season began for us.  We hadn't been to the theater since June 6th when we went to see Stella & Lou. Last night we went to the TimeLine Theater for a new production of A Raisin in the Sun.  Stirred by our attendance last season at the Asolo Theater production of Clybourne Park

(see my prior entry- http://semifreelife.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-plays-thing.html )

we saw that Time Line was planning to stage Raisin this year w\hen we went to see "Concerning Strange Devices"  http://semifreelife.blogspot.com/2013/04/more-incredible-theater.html last spring...during a week of fabulous theater.

The story of Clybourne Park is both concurrent to Raisin and five decades later long after the neighborhood had become a black neighborhood and was then in the process of re-gentrification.

Both plays were excellent- and have well deserved reputations - Clybourne won a Pulitzer in 2011 and the Tony for best play in 2012... As for Raisin, though it received popular and critical acclaim, reviewers argued about whether the play was "universal" or particular to African-American experiences. The New York Drama Critics' Circle named it the best play of 1959, and it ran for nearly two years and was produced on tour. A Raisin in the Sun was the first play written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway, as well as the first play with a black director (Lloyd Richards) on Broadway.  In 1960 A Raisin In The Sun was nominated for four Tony Awards.

The entire cast was excellent with a particular shout out to the Mama (Lena) character - well worth seeing....

so we are "off and running" with the theater season- next week we see 4,000 Miles at Northlight and then in October we have Mansfield Park at Remy Bumppo and Old Jews Telling Jokes  at the Royal George and I am going to try to squeeze in The North China Lover at Lookinglass as well....

Then earlier this week I booked all our Asolo theater tickets for the winter season - we will see four plays at their rep and three classical concerts at the Van Wezel. 

Oddly enough the Asolo is also doing 4,000 Miles this season in April of next year (their last selection while it is Northlight's first)- If I love it I may get additional tickets to see it as a comparison between productions....

So we are soon headed to NYC to see the kids and Larno- expect some reports of our week there at some later point... and then we begin preparing for China in earnest... coming soon!

so I woke up

thinking about the blog and how I don't usually use it as a platform to rant about "stuff" but I had I topic I thought was worthy - you know the usual- people not doing what they said they were going to do and how everyone is sooooo effing special these days that the world revolves around them -

I had seen (thanks to two referrals from FB friends) this incredible video called "this is water" that uses the David Foster Wallace commencement speech text set to video images which seemed to both fit the external issues and the internal... here is a link to it - you may find it interesting or enlightening -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z5TIFr5XMo or another link if that one fails-
http://www.askmen.com/video/entertainment-and-celebrities/this-is-water-david-foster-wallace-video.html

but on the way through the morning- as I was doing all the things I had agreed to do to take care of the details of everyday life - I found the rant dissipating...LOL - to the extent I can't even remember the genesis of my ire some five hours later... especially in light of the day/date....

that Tuesday the sky was the brightest clearest autumn blue - the crisp air hinting of the winter season to come, but only the smallest of hints... and each of us of course remembers where we were and what we were doing that morning.  12 years... a long time - an instant passed - and it has been TWELVE years. How could that be? It's been forever and no time at all...

So instead of ranting today I am going to NYC -

I first went to NYC with my erstwhile boyfriend who brokered for gold arbitrage between the Chicago Board of Trade and New York COMEX.  We went several times and I spent most of my time exploring museums and learning my way around.  Later, I had a job that involved business trips to NYC back in the mid 80s.  Then a different job and a lot more trips to the city, including opening an office there.  So I knew NYC very well when I met Phil and it quickly became our destination of choice in the US for long weekend getaways. 

In the year after 9/11- when no one was traveling - we went to NYC eight times.  And of course we were traveling.  Less than a month after 9/11 we were in Rome and we spent the Christmas holiday in Paris.  How could we pass up fares and hotel rates like those? Our round trip Europe tickets were costing between $400- 500 (those were the days!) - deals abounded. 

But it was to NYC we returned again and again in the first year or 18 months after 9/11.  We loved it so much that our enthusiasm spilled over- and both son and daughter ended up there one way or another... Jeremy for college at NYU in 2003 and then a career there.  Angela headed there the  day after her college graduation in  2009...  And, just two years ago last month, our dear friends Laure & Arno and the adorable Alix moved there - so now we have all kinds of reasons and excuses to visit!

So in one week from today we will be off again to NYC - because even though NYC doesn't look like this photo I took in 1997 on one of the first trips Phil and I took to NYC together- it is still our favorite US destination....

in case you want to see a little bit more 9/11 related information - here is a post I did when we visited the Memorial in 2011....

http://semifreelife.blogspot.com/2011/10/day-two-nyc.html

today I say a prayer of thanks for all firemen/women everywhere - god bless them for the work they do. I still tear up thinking of them in full gear running up the twin tower stairwells as survivors were running down...