DESTINATION: Ikea

For a day of fun, some people head to DisneyWorld. I, on the other hand, went to Ikea. As soon as you enter the doors of this giant European market the cinnamon sweets and Swedish meatballs aromas hit you with the promise of a nice, filling lunch after a morning of browsing.
You immediately ascend the beckoning escalator up, up and away into the fun and fresh home interior designs that are distinctively Ikea. Ikea is not just a big, box mega store that is overwhelming. It is cleverly laid out, where you follow the path and/or the arrows on the floor so that you systematically wend your way thru the entire place to take in all of their innovative departments filled with affordable design. I saw no evidence of economic depression at the Ikea store in Tampa, Florida on the day I visited. It was bustling with people actually buying things; loading up cars. Do you live in 300 sq. ft. of space? Visit their "model home" where within less than 300 sq. ft. you have your kitchen, living room, bedroom, bath and closets wonderfully laid out and organized by means of shelving and a raised bed. Do you need to exist in less than 500 square feet? There was another model set up that included a children's room. The children's designs are especially functional and fun.


Do you need a giant fabric leaf that hangs from the wall in rain forest, shade like fashion? A white or pink, plastic daisy that hangs on the wall that also serves as a night light? A giant moon-like paper globe lantern for $8.99? Or, perhaps a child's chair, shaped like an egg with a fabric flap that folds down so they can hide inside the chair? View at least two glassed in mechanical demonstrations of how chairs are tested by pounding them with a machine to determine that they have a 10 year warranty. Wow. Who would invent such a precise and synchronized chair testing machine, encase it in glass and place in a retail store?


People tell me I am easily amused. But, I suspect that is a good thing, as I am entertained by the idea of certain things rather than having to actually own the material goods.


To see what's in store on your first trip to an Ikea, check out their website. You will see that not only do they have basic sofas and chairs that you can purchase extra slipcovers for, bedding, shelving, lamps, kitchen cabinet designs, toys, glasses, dishes, plastics, gadgets, rugs, curtains, curtain hardware, fabric by the yard, frames and prints, but their selection of European duvets and pillows using down and feathers is wonderful also. And, we are not talking "Designer" prices, but person-with-a-paycheck prices. So, that makes shopping here fun. There is always the possibility that you actually can and will buy something.


Ikea has their own in house cafeteria style restaurant with reasonably priced selections using real dishes and glassware (not styrofoam). Their specialty is a plate of 15 Swedish Meatballs served with mashed potatoes and a dab of lingonberry (it's a Swedish thing) sauce for $4.99. They also have organic and vegetarian options.


The history of Ikea interested me also. It started in Sweden in the 1940's by an enterprising fellow that started selling matches when he was 5 years old; now expanded into 40 different countries around the world. I believe that they employ their own designers, challenging them to come up with happy designs that perhaps even use eco friendly or recycled goods. If you are ever in a city that boasts an Ikea, do drop in.

DESTINATION: Tarpon Springs, Florida

It's all about the sponge. An entire Florida Gulf village built on the heritage of Greek immigrant fisherman seeking the lucrative natural sponges abundant in the Gulf waters. It is a bit like stepping back in time, if not to the 1920's when this little town thrived, at least to the 1960's when tourists began arriving. And tourists are still arriving with their wallets and apetities. There seems to be no economic crisis in Tarpon Springs. Every table was taken at Greek restaurant after Greek restaurant, so much foot traffic, several bakeries, some with walk up windows to purchase freshly baked Baklava to go, and shop after shop after shop with their merchandise spilling out onto the meanering, aged sidewalks selling 15 cent post cards, colorful sundresses blowing in the wind, Greek fishermans hats, seashells, loofahs, imported and embroidered Greek linens, natural soaps made from olive oil in dozens of floral scents, tee shirts for babies saying "If Mommy says no, ask Yai Yai" (Greek for Grandma), and sponges; so many sponges. There are yellow sponges and wool sponges for washing your car, doing art projects or the shower, silk sponges to apply make-up, finger sponges for fish tanks and floral arrangements, giant flower pot sponges to use as homes for air plants or as containers for various bath or spa items. Talk about organic. Your 50 cent or $2.99 or $8.99 sponge investment can last and be useful for years. Some of the large basket like sponges are sought by collectors and can sell for hundreds of dollars.

I am a great meanderer and loved looking in the various shops, cafes and bakeries. Prices at all places were reasonable. What I call, The Florida Greed Syndrome of soaking tourists one time and then waiting for the next tourist/victim, never took root in Tarpon Springs. These family run establishments have carried on throughout the years serving their friends, family, community and tourists in the same manner and with the same prices, year round. And, this has served them well.

We ate at Mykonos and the owner greeted us as we entered, as I'm sure that he has greeted customers for many, many years, prior to us. Greek was spoken here. It was a small place but I counted no less than 10 workers all industriously busy, lighting flaming cheese dishes and exclaiming "OPA!", flipping sizzling, delicious things on the visible grill, re-filling ice tea glasses, taking orders, clearing tables. No lethargy or price gouging here. A fabulous gyro cost $5.95. Large greek salad with small slabs (not crumbled) of feta cheese were $7.95, delicious homemade white and wheat bread served with your food (free), fresh baked baklava with a nice cinnamon flavor $2.50. The menu states: "We are known for our authentic Greek cooking prepared from scratch daily in our open kitchen." I concur. The dinner plates that I saw coming out of the kitchen looked very appealing: stuffed grapevine leaves, Greek style shrimp and pan fried squid, ahhh to sample it all one day. The paper placemats (remember those!!; I brought mine home as a free souveneir) with a map of all of the Greek Islands also stated that Mykonos was highlighted in Everyday with Rachel Ray Magazine in 2007...as "Great Meal for a Great Deal."

Besides the shops and cafes you can also see a free, old film in a box like room to the side of a gift shop, describing each and every sponge known to mankind and their uses and an even older film on the danger and adventure of diving for the sponges. Then you are funneled through a dark relic of a tiny museum where various lifesize dioramas on sponge life are to be viewed. True, this museum perhaps had it's heyday in 1960, but I still found it a "must see", very educational and remember it's free. It really puts the appreciation of sponges into you and also into the sponge buying mood. Now, you see you really NEED sponges to make your life easier and complete. I'm in.

Dodecanese Boulevard contains most of these shops and restaurants and faces the docks and the water leading to the Gulf of Mexico. Up close fishing boats and sponge boats and many, many boat tours are available. You can take the Sponge diving demonstration tour boat for a 35 minute run for $8.00 or you can opt for an hour and a half boat tour of the waterways, going out into the Gulf of Mexico viewing the sponge collecting areas of the ocean and possible and probable dolphin sightings for $14.95. If you are eating in the restaurant or taking a boat tour, the parking is free for their customers or you may snag a generally free parking space. Otherwise, parking in various lots is $3.00 for all day.

The day that I happened to visit Tarpon Springs there was also the added delight of an arts and crafts show being held in the street. If you go, remember that this is the dock side area of Tarpon Springs and is known as the Sponge Docks. There is actually a separate and quaint little downtown area of Tarpon Springs that is lined with more Greek restaurants and antique shops that merit a walk about also. (There just happened to be another Arts and Crafts fair going on that same day in this downtown area.) So much to see.

Tarpon Springs definitely rates Day Trip status. Located just North of the Tampa/Clearwater area a day trip is possible from much of Florida and especially when zipping up and down, North and South on I-75. Get to old U.S. 19 in Tarpon Springs. From here you can turn to the little downtown or you can turn onto Tarpon Ave. which leads to the Sponge Docks. The street with all of the Greek action is Dodecanese Blvd. If you want to mapquest, the address for Mykonos restaurant mentioned above is: 628 Dodecanese Blvd., Tarpon Springs, FL 34689

Enjoy.

Coffee Table Re-Vamp

I am taking my daily walk around the block and pass a pile of junk; leftovers from a garage sale held the previous day. Nothing appears to be too promising, mostly cheap, pressed wood, furniture.

As it does in Southern Florida every good summer day, it soon started pouring rain. The next day I go on my walk and pass the same pile of junk, and while most of the pressed wood furniture has buckled and folded into glumpy, swollen messes, due to the rain, one coffee table stands alone. I give it closer inspection and find that it is actually all wood and the rain has not done any real damage. Hmmm, a treasure? I return home, pick up my two wheel hand cart and then go and wheel this giant coffee home to ponder upon. It is dark, dark wood, somewhat marred, and the legs are plump and gorgeous. It could have a cottage-y, beach-y feel, if it were lightened up, I'm thinking. If I were a gifted artist, it would be a marvelous wooden canvas with it's various planes and mouldings, I can visualize each area painted a different tropical color, aqua, blue, parrot green, coral and peach. But, alas, I am not that gifted and do not want to spend the extraordinary amount of time it would take to carefully paint in such detail. So, it gets a lovely coat of white primer, and one edging done in a nice, tropical greenish blue color that I already have on hand. Now it is wonderfully suited to display giant seashells. Which leads to another idea. To give it some pizzaz; I rubber stamp in the words, SHE SELLS SEASHELLS BY THE SEASHORE SHE SELLS SEASHELLS BY THE SEASHORE SHE SELLS SEASHELLS BY THE SEASHORE all around the top edge in small letters and in a nice sandy brown color. And only now am I pleased with the finished product.

Mingle with the Masses at a Flea Market

Today I mingled with the masses. If you want to know the true heartbeat of a community, spend an entire day at a down and dirty flea market. In Fort Myers, Florida, go to Ortiz Ave. they have it all. We're talking 100+ spaces, all outdoors, of good flea market junk, plus fresh produce, green peppers the size of grapefruit 4 for $1.00, Plant City (they are famous for) Strawberries $1.00 quart, live chickens (sadly, I had to resist causing a distraction so that I could free all the chickens), gardenia bushes, blue jeans, tires, washing machines, shoes, DVDs and well, back to the good flea market junk. If you know what to look for there were some extraordinary bargains on antiques, framed prints, and solid wood furniture. Or, if you're there trying to stretch a paycheck, 50 cent clothes and $1.00 sets of dishes were happily being bought and sold, left and right.

I enjoyed my finds and also the food. I noticed many people walking past me, gnawing on a roasted ear of corn with the husks and corn silk singed and pulled back as the "handle". Buttery stuff was squirted on the corn and then sprinkled with really hot paprika. It was adorable to see many small children happily munching on their corn treat (perhaps without the paprika?) as if it were the best lollipop in the world. Just outside the grounds of the flea market is a popular eating place, La Mexicana. It is a grocery store, bakery, and hot food line that is simply delicious and very reasonably priced.

I love the international flavor of flea markets. So many languages and music are heard. It is a very entertaining place to be. Watching people from behind my sunglasses keeps me quite entertained, but there are actual singers, guitar players, and people who will inscribe your name on a piece of rice. What's not to love?

This was my grubby and sunburned adventure today.

Bonita Springs National Art Festival

This event was held March 14 and 15, 2009. The Art League of Bonita Springs hosts these festivals twice per winter in a nice setting along Hwy. 41, (otherwise known as Tamiami Trail) in The Promenade. Most of the artists are from far away places, the North, and enjoy getting away to the tropical paradise of Bonita Springs, Florida.
When I attend a show, I tend to zone in on the photography exhibits. At least a dozen photographers participated so I had lots to look through. There were many Italian street scenes, lots of doors and windows and laundry on lines, and Greek Island scenes with lots of blue. Also purple French lavender and a few kitties. I did not see a lot of people portrait work.
Since I am handy with a 35 mm camera, myself, I truly appreciate photographs that I could not capture personally; those one time circumstance shots when all things just happen to come together, the subject, the setting, the lighting. A moment has been captured that is now past and in that moment there is a story. Those are my kind of photographs.
At this show, I found one such photo taken by Patrick Whalen. The scene is a grand home in elegant Italian decay perched alone and abandoned on the edge of a cliff over looking the ocean. Not too far out to sea you can see Mount Vesuvius with a cloud formation that looks every bit as good as volcano smoke. The home is abandoned, it's last use as a restaurant. Indeed, very small in the the corner of the photography there is a table with a white tablecloth close to a guardrail. And very minute, in front of the house, facing Vesuvius is a swing, empty on an A-frame stand.
I purchased this photo and on the back it is labeled St. Agnello, Italy. Perhaps one day it will be an adventure to go and see this setting/sun/yellow stucco house for myself.
I looked up Patrick Whalen's website and it is nice. Another favorite photograph is the hot pink Italian house with character. I encourage you to look at the sight and hey, purchase a piece of photography art. http://www.pcwhalen.com/
Another stop that I made at the show was at artist Jan Peng Wang's space. FABULOUS oil paintings. The talent is phenomenal. His portraits of people, young girls, family scenes, the faces, the highlights, the shading, the eyes. Think "Girl with the Pearl Earring". I almost feel that it was a privilege to view his work at such a humble setting as an outdoor art show. I see his work in the Louve perhaps as a more fitting setting. Strangely, however, when I went to his website, the images there did not make the same impression on me. They were more like sculptures. The work he displayed in Bonita was emotional. I was thrilled to be able to buy three little signed notecards of reproductions of his works, since I could not buy the real paintings. Sigh. Two of my prints have a girl and a young lady with what Hungarians call a babuska tied on their heads, apparantly also a tradition in Tibet where some of the subjects live. The third print is of a young girl seated and her mother and sister braiding her hair. Simple scenes captured in glowing, rich oil paints. Seeing his work is truly a treat and I can at least check out the website to see where he might show these treasures again. Mr. Wang is from Canada. http://www.janpengwang.com/

Clear the Clutter

Saturday, March 14: Gave a lecture on "How to Clear the Clutter from our homes, once and for all" at Florida Gulf Coast University, in Fort Myers, Florida as part of their non-credit classes. It was a good morning and I hope all enjoyed the class as much as I did. It was established that we "clutterers" are in good company because clutterers are highly intelligent, creative or artsy, know the importance of recyclying and may very well be perfectionists.

Some of the highlights: 1) We need to have a vision of what we want our homes to look like. It may be a luxury hotel suite, a model home, our Grandmother's house from way back, or a picture from a decorator magazine. Visualize that environment where there is "A place for everything and everything in it's place." Keep this vision in mind the entire time we are de-cluttering. This is our goal, and we can achieve.

Where to start? Start in one corner in one room. I suggest by the front door. Work your way around the entire room, looking at each and every item, piece by piece to determine is it ???

1)Trash. Immediately put in trash can or recycle bin and get it out of the house.

2) Donate. (find an organization that you can be passionate about helping with donations, such as a no-kill animal shelter, a shelter for women and children, etc..., then you will be happy to give useful items to them and letting them go.) Put the donations in your car today and drive them to the thrift store.

3) Give away. If you are saving things for your children or something would look perfect in a friend's home, give it to them now. Make them come and pick it up today.

4) Sell. Plan that garage sale or find a consignment shop or place the item on http://www.craigslist.com/ immediately. Give yourself a dead-line of when these items need to be gone, such as 3 days. Consignment shops will only want items valued at more than $5.00. so that will help in your sorting. Resolve to not bring anything unsold back into the house after the sale, load them immediately into a car or truck and drive to donate that same day.

5) Keep. Just because you've always had something doesn't mean that you need to always keep it. Look at each item in your home with a fresh eye. Do you love it? Does it bring happy thoughts to you, and not negative ones? Is it useful? If it is clothing, does it look fantastic on you and flatter you? (And, that is you now, not the size you want to be in the future.) Does it have monetary value? Do you have a place for it? Will you need to store it? (not good). Take it to it's new home, immediately.



Never sort into piles on the floor. Sort immediately into the final containers, in the above categories. Do not wait to go through the entire room or house, before you make the trip to the thrift store for your donations, or start selling items, by then it is too overwhelming again. The reason this de-cluttering method is successful is that you spend part of your time, whether it is 10 minutes or 2 hours per day sorting, but you allow enough time for packing up your car and driving the stuff to it's final destination that same day. You begin to see results immediately.

There is so much more advice, it definitely takes a full two hours of seminar to cover it all, but I thought that I would share at least some of the tips to get you started if you happen to be searching for a path out of a cluttered environment.

Shoe Repair Shop Revival

Today may be February 4, but I just got around to reading my February 2 copy of the Wall Street Journal. (It's a long story as to why I have a subscription to the Wall Street Journal.)
There is an article in this February 2 issue that makes me happy! I know, good news from the business world these days?
The article tells us that there is a shoe repair boom; "a new lease on life to the tiny shoe-repair industry, which has been shrinking". In these rough economic times people are re-discovering the old shoe repair, otherwise known as cobbler shops to re-heel high heels, resole boots and polish up oxfords. "Nation-wide, cobblers and their suppliers report markedly higher revenues than a year ago, as newly frugal Americans opt to repair their shoes rather than replace them."
I consider shoe repair an old fashioned business, and like an old fashioned business, generally the skill, equipment and store-front is passed on from generation to generation. The younger generation, due to lack of interest and lack of business had been closing up many of the old corner shops and moving on to other careers. Just try and find a shop in your town. However, those businesses that remain today are flush with new customers, many of whom have never been inside a shoe repair shop. I am happy that so many are re-discovering the glories of a shoe repair shop.
As a child, I used to accompany my mother or father into the dark, tiny shops with their wooden cubby holes full of people's shoes, each with a large manila claim tag. I loved the smell of leather and shoe polish that immediately enveloped you and also the reality of taking something worn and damaged and making it look like new again. How did they do that? Even back then, I loved the "Before" and "After" scenarios. My Mom's Jackie Kennedy style, worn out high heels would be taken in and when picked up they would have brand new heel tips. Separated leather belts and frayed suitcase handles could miraculously be glued and stitched into looking respectable again.
Penny loafers, in leather, of course, were all the rage and they regularly needed re-stitching and sprucing up. We carried them in dusty and torn and picked them up clean and shiny and practically perfect. Also, there was some fabulous fad about making clickity, tapping noises when you walked, so we had the shoe repair man attach little metal taps to the heels also. It made me feel special to click my way down the polished linoleum school hallway, my ponytail swinging side to side, like the cool girls. The affinity for shoe repair shops may be genetic. Steven, my Uncle, (even though he was only about 5 years older than me), purchased the business and contents of the local shoe repair shop in his hometown of Martins Ferry, Ohio. The owner could no longer carry on business and my uncle made a stab at learning the business. This didn't last long and he ended up with a basement full of cobble equipment. Boxes of shoe soles in various sizes, heavy iron shoe forms in sizes ranging from adorable child size to extra large, cool hammers, metal nails, and boxes of those manila claim tickets with the tear off lower portions. You could always go into Grandma's basement and play "shoe shop". In my later years I ferreted out some of the equipment that was still stored there and brought home the tiny child size metal shoe form. Anyway. The point is; LOVE shoe repair shops and glad they are popular once again.