At the Club - What not to read.

Going back to the "Club" days.

I was hired to work nights at the Lake Placid Club in 1983.  My shift was 11 PM to 7 AM.  I was one of the auditor responsible for posting charges to customers room bills. Balancing the days work for the hotel/bar/restaurant and stores.

This is just one of the stories I will write about the LPClub.

It was really early in the morning, about 2 AM, and our work was done.  We could not leave and both brought books with us to pass the time.  Dave was near the switchboard reading and I was on the couch in the outer office by the big fireplace.  The security guards were out on patrol of the grounds.  The LPC was huge and large portions of the property were closed off.  Kids and people loved to sneak in. About 100 rooms in this one wing were so run down it never opened while I worked there.  As you entered the massive lobby this wing was on the right, just past the salon.  I remember several time hearing the saloon type wooded doors swing and gently rub each other as they passed in the night. Probably just the security guards checking the salon and the wing of unused guest rooms.

I mentioned the club was OLD, (founded in 1895) The Lake Placid Club was a social and recreation club founded 1895 in a hotel on Mirror Lake in Lake Placid, New York, under Melvil Dewey's leadership and according to his ideals. It was instrumental in Lake Placid's development as an internationally known resort. 

By New England Ski Museum - New England Ski Museum, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19066235


it was also in receivership so not a lot of upkeep was being done.  It was so bad you could not run the heat and have hot water.  You could only have one at a time. We generally had heat running during the night and about 6 AM we would turn the boiler over to water so the guest would have hot water for their shower in the morning. One night the pipes were making so much noise it was hard to concentrate on our work.  We kept going into the lobby to see if we could figure out where the noise was coming from.  The 2 security guards were with us as we walked around the lobby, up stairs and down this hall towards the library.  We hear the swish of those doors down stairs and all four of us look at each other.  If we are the only ones here - WHO is swinging the door.  Clearly not the security guards because they were right next to us.  hmmm.  The pipes quieted down and we went back to the desk and the guards continued down the hall.  

Dave went back to sitting at the switchboard ready, and I went back to the couch.  After a short time the pipes started up again and we looked over at the security office to see if the guys were close by so we could check it out again.  It seemed like the noise was coming from a different room.  No security so Dave and I left the front office and head down this outer hall in the direction of the noise.  It sounded like music, but through the pipes.  Looking at each other almost afraid to ask if the other hears music, we keep walking down this hall.  Silent. We round this corner when above us we feel heavy footsteps and they are running.  Again, Dave and I look at each other, afraid to ask... We get to the stairway and the 2 security guys are running down them asking if we hear music.  I feel relieved.  I'm not crazy.  We, together, head towards the music.  Since this building is so old and was constructed at different times the floors and sections change a lot.  It's not easy to get from one spot to the next without a lot of work.  The music is louder now as we reach the Agora section of the hotel.  The security guards ask us to return to the desk, just in case anyone calls.  Our eyes were bugging out - me thinking I am not going back there ALONE!!!  Dave, I'm sure, has the same thought as neither of us moved.  The four of us approach the chapel, which is beautiful.  Stain glass windows, huge windows.  I bet the Sun coming in them makes beautiful colors.  There are the church pews, and they are big, wooden and smell musty, but we can make them out and don't run into them.  There is a large pipe organ in the center of the room on a stage and it's playing!  No one, however, is  playing it.  The piano seat is empty.  The music is beautiful... It is playing on it's own.  Dave and I stand there staring at the organ and the security guards don't move.  One of the guards clears his throat and the music stops immediately and I felt this calm body of air pass by me and leave the room.  No more music that night.  All Quiet as we return to our assigned posts.  I pick up my book from the couch and the security guard Frances ask me if I am really reading "The Shining" by Steven King.

Yep, I was, actually, didn't really think about it.  I never brought that book back to work.  I started doing word searches.

I give up !

This is so important !!

We waste so much time and energy on people that clearly don't care about us.  Why is that?  Why do we need people to like us? Why do we expect people to like us? I wonder that all the time. It seems like if someone does not care about me or for me I spend energy analyzing what I have done or more often - what have I done to this person to make them dislike me.  Am I the problem or am I the solution. I try so hard to figure it out that I think I am going crazy.  I reach out and get no response.  I call and no response.  What if these people are my family - aren't they supposed to like me?

I try to act like it does not bother me, however it bothers me a lot.  Quick example - birthdays come and go.  For theirs I FB message, text and CALLED on the phone.  I actually spoke to them for a bit.  Mostly about work or the kids - not what I would have considered personal at all. My birthday comes along and I get FB messages.  No one bothered to call.  It really makes me sad as this was exactly what my mom predicted would happen.  We gathered there in March and reassured her we would all be fine and  together.  After mom died and we spent a week together doing things, I was thinking well maybe her thinking was just that thinking about what would happened when she left this world.  I think I have spoken to 1 once in 3 years - because I called on the birthday.  2 of them just a handful of times - again because I call.  I was determined at Christmas not to call.  I did not and neither did they. One I speak with all the time as we are in the same boat.  No one includes her calls her, nothing.  It's really sad and I am glad I have her. What happened after mom died?  I think that they were all so busy and together and I was away that they no longer think I am part of their family or a sibling. Is that possible?  We have always been so close - at least I thought. Do they blame me because I was not there for the months they were all taking care of her?  Do they blame me for not allowing mom to come out the last 2 years?  I try not to make this about me, but since I talk to no one that is what I have come up with. I pray about this daily and wonder if they do too? Do I have the wrong attitude? What am I supposed to think?  What am I to do?  Keep doing the same - no one talking?

My hubby had a solution one night when I was crying, he suggested I call and ask them what is the matter?  Maybe they are just so busy with their own lives they don't think about me.  I guess that is a solution I will have to ponder.  Maybe they are waiting for me to ask, waiting for me to decide for them.  Oh, well, I will have to write more on this later.  We shall see.

Beach day

What a beautiful day at the beach.  Sunny, slight breeze, 74ish.  We wake at 9, have our coffee on the balcony sharing the sun shine.  Another day closer to going home. 

We finish our coffee, go inside to make breakfast- what to have?  Eggs, bacon and fresh melon.  After breakfast we get ready for our daily walk.  Blue roof, bathroom or upside down U?  Where to go today?  Time will tell.  Nothing hurts so the further distance will do fine.  We hope there is a breeze on the beach because the walk to it is amazingly still.  No palm trees waving, no flags moving just very still.

There is a breeze, thank you we both say as we turn to each other and laugh.  We walk and talk and pass the blue roof house, next is the bathroom.  A public one next to a shower area do you can clean off the sand before you load up the car. We use the water to cool us off.  Ahhh does that feel good.  

Valentines Day - Why do we celebrate it ?

Today is Valentines Day 2016.

What did you get?
What did you get for others?
Why do we celebrate this day?

We know that it is a day of love, that we are to shower our loved ones in displays of affections,  shouldn't we be doing this daily?

We are to eat chocolate and receive roses? Couldn't we do this weekly - monthly?

Some revel in the glory of love while others curse the holiday to the depths of its existence, devaluing as a “Hallmark Holiday” constructed to simple push the sales of candy and cards.  Do you agree?

No matter how you feel about this holiday and it’s implications, the truth is that there is a ton of lore and history behind it. 

Interesting Facts - 

*Hallmark Holiday?
Though it is often claimed to be a holiday made up by the popular greeting card company, Hallmark didn’t produce its first Valentine’s Day card until 1913. This is literally centuries after the first declaration of the official holiday in 1537.

*The first phone??
If you’re missing your honey on Valentine’s Day and want to hi on the telephone, you can thank Alexander Graham Bell. It was on Valentine's Day in 1876, he applied for a patent for the telephone.

* Heart Shaped Box???
John Cadbury, a coffee and tea shop owner in Birmingham England discovered the profitability behind chocolate manufacturing in 1822. In 1822 his son Richard packaged Cadbury chocolates, known really for their Easter creme eggs, in the world’s first heart-shaped box.

When did we start receiving Jewelry?  Going away on a trip?  The day just keeps getting bigger and bigger.  How did you spend your day?  Who did you make smile today?  Did you make a difference in someones day?  This should be a goal on a daily basis and you will be all the better for it.  

Leave a bit of Sparkle every where you go. - I want some feedback on this !!!

 

Hungarian Beef Stew - random I know.

I bet you are wondering where this came from?  

Facebook actually.  Someone posted a picture of Hungarian Beef Stew and the memories came flooding in.

 See, this is the problem.  I LOVE Hungarian stew and you would think it would be easy to find in Hungry.  I, along with my mom, visited my sister and BIL in Romania where they lived in 1999.  We were there for a few weeks and traveled around Romania before embarking on our journey back to the USA.  This journey brought us through Hungry.  What a beautiful country and it's a good thing my sister and BIL knew where they were going as the street signs were about a mile long and I would be lost.  They had stayed at this cute motel and we went into the city of Budapest one of the days before flying out.  We were on a mission as I was craving authentic Hungarian beef stew.  We checked several menus along this main street and finally found what I was dreaming of for days.  Hungarian Stew.  It was so delicious I could not get enough.  I even bought some authentic spices so I was able to make this at home which I did on several occasions. 

Thanks Facebook and cooking light magazine for posting this wonderful picture and bringing me back to a wonder visit and my only visit abroad.

Leave me a comment if there is something this picture reminds you of.

Goofy Dog - I love you.

Where to start this - my goofy looking black lab named Cody.  We have several names for him as I think most people to.  Tom calls him Mr., Mr. Big, especially when he is riding in the truck doing errands.  When we are trail walking he is bullet and Mr., or speeding bullet when he is tearing down the path towards us.  We have learned to get out of the way or Cody will run us over.

We choose Cody in May when we were just back from Florida.  We had lost our Akita between Christmas and New Years 2013.  We had decided to wait a few months before getting another dog of any kind.  WELL, that changed when a girl we know posted a picture of a puppy she was fostering.  It was love at first sight or bite.

Who could resist this face... certainly not me.  That blue eye instantly pulled me in.  Tom was in love too.  His birth date was April 16, 2014.  He was mine for sure the date was the same date my mom died the previous year.  That too was a sign.  We had to wait 2 more weeks and he was not 8 weeks yet.  

PS I should have seen the stick and realized what that meant.  He was the most adorable monster I have ever known.  throwing balls under the couch and being able to get them.  Under the beds too.  I have some great pictures with him sneaking under the bed with socks and things we normally would not have - sticks that we let him in the house with not realizing he like to make kindling.  lol  the things we learn quickly or not too quickly in my case. 

Never before have I had a dog who loved to be on the couch or sleep in my bed.   

Someone is in the wrong bed...

This one is empty.
More on this later.

Do you ever wonder ??? I DO.

This was circling around on FB yesterday and I had already done my blog post for the day so as I sat here reading this it really made me THINK.  That is the point right.

At the moment, I'm not sure I really exist in many peoples lives.  I did a test for most of 2015 and it's exactly what I thought. If I don't call people including family, they don't call either.  I have a feeling this will make some people mad - oh well.

Do you think a text is the same thing as calling?
Do you wonder why I don't call?  
Do you wonder if I'm ok? 
Do you wonder if I am still alive?
Do you wonder anything about me.  
Do you think of me? 
Do I still exist? 
Do I have family?
Do I have siblings? 
Do I have friends? 

When I hear Songs I think of ....
1.) Why are there so many songs about rainbows - Kermit - DB
2.) Jump - VanHalen - TH
3.) Journey - any of them really - CL
4.) Private Dancer - Tina Turner - DU
5.) Yellow Submarine - DB
6.) Neil Young - Again any song - TS

I too wonder about the story part - Growing up I had what I considered a best friend.  We went to the same church and different schools.  But since I was active in our church and so was she we were able to spend time together.  As we grew up things changed when I move here to LP.  I did not have a phone so we wrote back and forth.  I 'm not sure why or what changed but we were not as close and that part makes sense. I would contact her when I was home and we would get together.  We sat together at church and talked like we had just seen each other.  One year it changed big time.  We had planned to get together and I had borrowed my moms car, I took her to work so I would have it for our meeting.  When I got back home there was a message from her ... I had forgotten I promised my SIL that we would get together and sew for the day. I was shocked!!!  That is your OUT.  You are sewing with your SIL.  I called her back and she would not budge.  I was so hurt and mad that she did this. She could sew any day.  I tried the next few times to get together and she either didn't answer the phone or didn't have time.  One time I saw her in my moms favorite restaurant.  She was behind us but I recognized her voice.  I turned and spoke to her.  She was quiet and I said a few things and we left.  I never saw her again.  Move forward to a few years ago.  My first friend here in Lake Placid was really sick and was dying from throat cancer.  We had a great chat and I brought up this event.  He said - you know, you should probably try to contact her and let her know you are thinking about her... Funny.  I did - I called her at the church she was working for and it was like pulling teeth.  I asked several questions and she gave 1 word answers and asked nothing in return.  Eventually I gave up and hung up the phone.  I still think of her today and wonder what I did...I sent several cards asking what I did, What Happened to us.. Today - I still don't know.  

I sent one final card 2 years ago at Christmas saying this was my final contact and have a great life.  Since you don't want to tell me what I did - I'm going to assume I did nothing and the problem is YOU!  Well I hope you are happy.  Merry Christmas and thanks for nothing.  I thought that I might get a response but again NOPE.  I really think about her and the funny part is - 
* She worked for a church
* She's a Christian
* She has a family and they don't really talk.
* Her parents think we still are in contact... um I left in 1981.

Gets funnier - she lives on the same street as my brother...  lol - I would so love to go back and maybe take a walk around the neighbor hood and wait to see if I see her.  The look would be worth what I have been thinking for years.  

So, if you are thinking of someone today as you read this - CONTACT them.  They might be dead the next time you think about them and you would have missed out. - That story for a different day.  

  
 



 

Is Perfume a thing of the past.

Today I am wondering if wearing perfume is a thing of the past?  I used to wear it daily then comes along bath and body spray, body scrubs and other scented bath products.  I started asking for these and let the perfume go and now years later I am finally getting back into perfume.  I still use bath and body products and don't wear perfume with them because of the mixing of the scents does not seem like a great thing to do.

I'm just wondering how you feel about it?  Scented shampoos, scented soap, scented everything becomes scent over load.  My favorites in bath and body is the Sweet Pea, LOVE LOVE it.  Next would be the brown sugar, and a few others.  Mostly I asked for Sweet Pea and I have lots and lots of different products with the same scent.  

For Christmas 2015 my husband asked what I wanted and it took a while but said "you know what...I think I would like some perfume.  I really have not worn any in more that 15 years."  I through out all my bottles when we moved from Lake Placid, NY to Saranac Lake.  Most had dried up or lost their scent so I didn't see the point in taking with along with us.  My husband told my step son that I wanted perfume and he started on a mission of finding one... He lives in NYC so research is easy.  

My box arrives from NYC and I don't know really what Tommy got for me and I was so excited to see """ PERFUME""" I could not wait to get the package opened.  Such a cute box and elegant bottle.  The perfume came highly recommended he said.  I sprayed a little on my wrists and immediately fell in love with it.  What did he get you ask?

Chloe - See how cute the bottle is.

Chloe - Love Story is the expression of a free woman

Clare Waight Keller as creative director. Clémence Poésy as the actress. Mélanie Laurent plays film maker. Inez van Lamsweerde is the photographer and Anne Flipo created the scent. Each Chloé girl brought her vision to this new story. A declaration of femininity. A proclamation of freedom.

Essence of seduction

The freshness of Neroli illuminates her. The sensuality of orange blossom attracts him. The stirring femininity of jasmine stephanotis – the flower of happiness – makes her more irresistible than ever. On her skin, cedar vibrates with flair. A floral love story, fresh and sensual.  An unforgettable essence of seduction.

Unlock the secret

As a symbol of their affection there is a padlock, her fragrance. A precious jewel magnified by pleated glass. The delicate touch of a ribbon knotted nonchalantly at its side represents the modern and refined Chloé attitude.

First light of day

A boat moored under the Pont des Arts. As he opens the door, she disappears. Because above all she is free! Will she be back? Her fragrance floats in the air. The scent of a #chloeLOVE STORY.

I love this story at the end - she is free - does she return or is he left with just the  fragrance... Only time will tell.  Did I mention that I LOVE this perfume. Now I want to wear this every day.  When I am in my store people ask be what are you wearing.  I proudly tell them it's Chloe.

So to get back to where I started - Do you wear perfume?  Many of the younger generation I feel don't but the celebrity's make their own perfume and around the Holidays the commercials start.  I can tell you I have never seen the commercial for Chloe.  But then again, Lake Placid only has 2500 year round residents and no place near us sells it and that makes perfect sense.

Story on the Hill

This really happened - holding luggage hostage.

The day started like any other when you're at a hotel and the tour buses are leaving.  Porters are picking up the bags from outside the guest rooms on their lists and delivering them to the motorcoaches outside.  Drivers count bags and when the numbers match, they are set to go.

One bus is missing a bag - How did this happen?  We need to find it ASAP and the bus is on a schedule and needs to leave by a certain time to make the ferry.  While the guys are going through the list again, we get a call at the desk to have someone come up to the 4th floor - some one is running around in their underwear!  Really!!!  Call for someone else to check on the runner.

Bus Driver getting antsy for us to find his bag.  Porters go into each room to see if maybe the guest didn't put the bag outside the door.  Nope - no rooms with luggage, no extras in the hall.  Great.  Get another call about the naked runner who is now on the 3rd floor.  Called on the radio for someone to go check it out.

Bus leaves knowing it is missing a bag.  We have description, color and name of person the bag belongs too.

About 8:30 I receive a Manager call about a suitcase and she is holding it hostage until her boy friends gets his clothes and wallet back?  I really have no idea what she his talking about except the suitcase I what I focused on... Who is calling from outside the hotel talking about a hostage situation and a the hostage is the suitcase?  I take her name an phone number and tell her I will look into it, but she needs to return the suitcase immediately as she is in possession of STOLEN property and will be prosecuted.  

I call down to housekeeping to see if they found clothes and a wallet and sure enough they did.  I asked them to bring the items to the front desk.  I called the police and they arrived at the desk.  I told him the story I knew.  The housekeeping manager came to the desk with the items and I called the woman back from my cell phone on speaker so the police could hear too.

Apparently, the boyfriend was in the hotel and hooked up with a guest.  He was getting phone calls from his girlfriend who said she was outside the hotel and he better get his azz home.  The BF ran out of the room carrying his stuff down the stairs and lost some of his items in the stairwell.  He ran into the main hotel and up the stairs and found all these suitcases and took one thinking he would be able to find something to wear - WRONG - he picked a little old lady's with nothing for him.  GF in the parking lot waiting for him to come out so he leaves with the suitcase and calls the hotel to exchange this stolen suitcase for his clothes.  The police tell them to come inside and get their stuff and return the suitcase.  They do come inside and the police talk to them in the back office.  We are all stunned by the stupidity of this day.  Barely 9 AM and this is happening.  We get the suitcase and call the driver of the bus, send one of our staff heading down the road to catch up with the bus.  He makes it just in time.

Police in the back for a while and later we find out the naked senior citizen suitcase thief is an employees son!!!  Can't make this up people.  Hope you enjoyed this.