Love Notes

May 16, 2025 • #beach #boca grande #BOOKS #shells

The Shell Seekers 5/12/25

I stumbled upon this curious shell tree during a March beach walk in Boca Grande, and got to wondering about its architect ... was he or she a he or she? Young or old? A local or a visitor like me?

Several decades ago, while I stumbled along towards an unpreventable divorce, a therapist told me I was "a searcher". Well I certainly was searching then - for a way to mend this enormously sad situation I was facing. But what else did she really mean?

I'm still searching for the answer. READ MORE

Mar 17, 2025 • #beach #boca grande #water

Seeking Tranquility 3/10/25

"The cure for anything is salt water:
sweat, tears or the sea.”
Isak Dinesen

Given a choice, I’ll take the sea, please. I’ve just arrived on the Florida gulf coast for a work trip (yes, lucky me - my trunk show at the Gasparilla Inn opens today). And I did indeed dip my whole pale self into the sea within hours of my flight's arrival. Old Isak would be pleased to hear that there's also been a fair amount of sweat in getting to today. Clever readers know that life isn't all Instagram stories, preparation for such a trip isn't limited to booking a mani pedi and shopping for caftans. READ MORE

Apr 22, 2024 • #architecture #boca grande #golf #interior design #washington

Magnificent Places, Beautiful Spaces 4/22/24

We talked last Monday about classic style. Yet we just scratched the surface. Let's pick up again with classical design. A friend of mine wrote a book about the physical response you get from seeing beauty, “Feeling Beauty”, by Gabrielle Starr Harpole. While I can't do justice to paraphrasing the neuroscience she lays out in exquisite detail, I do intimately know the physical feeling she's describing. You walk into a magnificent building or a beautiful room, and your involuntary response seizes control - you take a pause, an audible deep breath, then emit a sigh, while a smile takes form.

One of my favorite spaces in Washington is the National Building Museum. I get that pause/big inhale/sigh/smile every time I walk in. READ MORE

Mar 24, 2024 • #boca grande #pink

Pretty OG 3/18/24

The expression "OG" has recently been popping up in my world of daily reads, so I did the usual and asked my husband if he knew what it means. "Is it Latin?" was his response. Hmmm ... pretty sure not Latin, so let's turn to Webster's:

"OG, short for “original gangster” or “original gangsta,” is a slang term for someone who's incredibly exceptional, authentic, or “old-school.” OG was originally used in gang culture, but it is now used as a general term to praise someone who is an expert at something." READ MORE

Mar 24, 2024 • #boca grande

Rest Period 3/11/24

Today's note is a quick postcard from Boca Grande - my trunk show is today, tomorrow and Wednesday at the Gaspariilla Inn, from 9:00 to 5:00.

Last week, we chatted about listening to the voice of the waves, (here). Well, I've had a pretty successful week in Florida doing just that. Within all their crashing into the beautiful Gulf Coast shoreline, I'm pretty sure I hear those waves whispering to me, "Slow down, you're supposedly on vacation, you're supposed to rest and regroup missy." To hammer that point into my sometimes rather thick skull, upon picking up our rental golf cart, I see the name painted on its hood, "Knot Working". READ MORE

Love Notes

Posts tagged: boca grande

The Shell Seekers 5/12/25

Seeking Tranquility 3/10/25

Magnificent Places, Beautiful Spaces 4/22/24

Pretty OG 3/18/24

Rest Period 3/11/24