Oh no.

Едва ли някой, присъствал на Мo'Horizons партито на списание Едно, Groovy Sessions и МINI, ще има удобен повод да го забрави някога. За останалите - дерзайте, представяйте си и ...

Ползвайте за помощен материал видеото, макар да не смея да твърдя, че то е уловило дори и стотна от настръхналата и гореща емоция, която владееше прекрасния Yacht Club в Созопол. И все пак е нещо:

Lake Norman is one of the most beautiful inland bodies of water you will ever see and great sailing. It has about 520 miles of shoreline and is 130 feet deep at its deepest point. It took four years of pushing dirt and two year to fill up the lake before it was finished and ready for many activities especially Sailing.

Sailing is just one of the many activities on Lake Norman and happens to be the activity my husband and I have enjoyed for years. Lake Norman Yacht Club is one of the oldest yacht clubs on the lake.  They do a fantastic program for Jr.'s, starting with Opti's right up thru the many different fleets.

The Peninsula Yacht Club is one of the newer yacht club with boating of all kinds and a social membership.  PYC is known for The Peninsula Cup Regatta, which is held in September. This year my husband Skip will be racing his Tripp 26 "Huntin Tripp". A great boat to trailer, it's been to Key West Race Week, The NOOD in St. Pete and  Solomon's Island..

Outrigger Sailing Club has a website at www.outriggeryachtclub.org. They have the best Chili Cook off in the fall of the year.

There are races on Wednesday nites, Friday nites and many special events on Lake Norman. The Hospice Regatta is held every year out of LNYC and the winner goes to the national Hospice Regatta. LNYC had the Soveral Nationals here  in July with boats from places like Atlanta.

To find out  about other Yacht Clubs you can go to GoLakeNorman.com.

Happy Sailing,

Vicki Hildebrand

This is an excellent opportunity to try out several different boards, and get instruction and advice from some experts regarding this exciting new sport. SUP board use is exploding in Hawaii and on the West Coast, come see what all the talk is about! We will get started around 10:00 on Sunday, go to www.kiocc.com for directions, the Yacht Club is off Route 50 at Exit 41, right on Kent Narrows.

# 463, SUMMER REFLECTIONS, BY CAPE COD ARTIST ANN SULLIVAN

OIL

20 X 30

You should only dance in your underpants when you look good in them, like Madge

I do not dance in my underpants, I dance like Elaine from Seinfeld

Not really, but you get the picture, I dance like a suburban mother at the yacht club party down in connecticut...and those women do not dance in there underpants...actually I think they wear bloomers..but thats something to be discussed at another time.

I went back to working out, weightlifting, not just cardio, and although I know it happens, I was suprised at how weak my muscles got after taking some time off...I used to hate that about running, I would get this great pace going on, then get some blasted injury then have to sit out a few weeks...thats when I discovered the moronic 'running through an injury' idea...not so smart.

Anyway, today I have been forewarned that employment is going to be hellish, lots of stuff for the DNC, thrilling...I would sell tickets to the events on ebay, but who would want to go, and I wouldn;t want to be the one selling the ticket to the next Manchurian Candidate, if you know what I mean...

I think the chinese judges are cheating at the olympics...I think china was a bad choice for any event promoting unity and fellowship, but it just goes to show you how EVERYTHING is politicized....  lets take the way back train to the 1980s..

I just wanted all of you to know this: With only one exception due to a printing emergency, I haven't even LOOKED at work e-mails this week. Perhaps this is why:

Our View:

This kids are having an awesome time!

Flying Kites:

And Playing in the Sand:

And Playing Miniature Golf:

Playing in the Water:

Barack Obama joined in on the fun at Ben and Jerry's!

Oh! And did I mention the View?!

So, this is a big shout out to all my Ada peeps who are letting me take a break this week! It's been a breath of fresh air. I've been able to read all sorts of book. I've had wonderful conversations with my family. We're getting a real chance to be quiet and rest (even, in spite of our kids waking up at 7AM each morning.) The air is fresh and full of life. I know that in a few days I'll be ready to head home an tackle the next ministry year head-on.

I was waiting to catch the 7.20 on Friday when I over heard a conversation. A man walked up to the passenger window of the vehicle next me. After their initial greetings I thought I overheard the driver say that he was embarrassed to be reading a power book. After a while I realized that he said he was embarrassed to be carrying a power boat. From what I gathered to of the local yacht club members were catching up on old times. “The next thing you know I’ll be pulling around a personal water craft!” As I pondered the hierarchy of recreational water vessels their conversation waned on to the hardships of the modern recession. One of them will be canceling his membership at the yacht club because since his kids have gotten older they go out less and less with him. It seemed to me that the other reveled in his hardships as the driver continued to insist the boat he had in trail was not his.

Growing up in the Great Lakes region it never occurred to me to buy a boat. There it only seemed like you had maybe three to four months of boat-able weather, leaving your boat in shrink wrap for the remainder of the year. It wasn’t until I sailed the Straight of Juan de Fuca in November onboard a Navy warship where I saw small sailboats battling the swells and gales. It was then that I knew I wanted to sail. In the years since then I have looked for sailboats under ten thousand dollars. I read John Vigor’s Twenty Small Sailboats to Take You Anywhere but I have found that Craig’s List to be more helpful narrowing down what I’m looking for. I’ve been able to find quite a few vessels for under ten grand, but it seems finding an affordable place to keep the boat more difficult. A slip at the Yacht Club is about the same as having a car payment. Until then I’ll continue to day dream about main masts and jib sheets.

Villa Melissa - 4 Zimmer 2 Baeder, grosser Pool, direkter Zugang zum Golf von Mexico in Cape Coral, Florida

http://www.swfloridarentals-team.com/VillaMelissa.htm

Diese wunderschöne klimatisierte helle Villa befindet sich in der beliebent Yacht Club Area in Cape Coral, Florida nicht weit entfernt von Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel und Captiva. Die Villa verfügt über 4 Schlafzimmer, 2 Bäder, eine sehr moderne Küche mit angrenzender Frühstücksecke und offenem Wohnzimmer. Der grosse Pool ist solar beheizt. Das Haus liegt an einem Kanal mit Bootsdock und hat direkten Zugang zum Golf von Mexico (15 Minuten). Villa Melissa ist voll ausgestattet. Es sind unter anderem alle Küchengeräte und -utensilien sowie TV, DVD-Player, Stereoanlage, Grill, Waschmaschine, Trockner und High-Speed Internet vorhanden. Es wird Ihnen an nichts fehlen. Genießen Sie einen unvergesslichen Urlaub, egal ob Sie einen relaxten Tag am Pool, einen Shoppingtripp zu einer der vielen Malls in naher Umgebung, einen Ausflug nach Disneyland oder in die Everglades planen.

http://www.swfloridarentals-team.com/VillaMelissa.htm

And a thank you for those who have served our county, and have enabled me to enjoy the freedoms that I have today!

(If I had a picture of my grandpa in his uniform, I would post it here.)

It's been a pretty low-key Fourth. JT and I ran errands this morning, then spent the afternoon playing in the garden and on the internet. We're currently outside, on our new porch, burning stuff in the firepit and drinking beer and cider (guess who is drinking what!?!). Have I mentioned how much I love wireless internet? I love it a lot.

Anyways, our low-key day is in serious contrast to the party days of my childhood... I swear I tried to find a parade near here this morning, and it just wasn't happening. Anyways, when I was little, we'd head out to the parade, which usually took place about 4-5 blocks from our house. After the hour-or-two parade, we'd drive out to my grandparent's lake cottage for the afternoon/evening. At the cottage, we'd hang out for a bit, and then decide to head over to the lake's yacht club party.

The yacht club always had a "kids parade" in which my grandpa insisted we participate. The parade consisted of kids walking around the yacht club. That's it.  Just kids, walking, in a straight line, right around the yacht club building.  So dorky, but we did it anyways. There was usually a magician, some food, facepainting, and then: PARTY GAMES. The games were the best. In fact, look what we have here, for your viewing pleasure! Yes! It is me, participating in said games. I would like you to pay special attention to my very patriotic red, white, and blue ensembles in each of these. To this day, I am tempted to throw on the old red, white, and blue apparel on July Fourth (I resisted temptation today and am wearing khaki and brown, but only because 95% of my clothing is dirty and nothing red, white, or blue looked appealing).

Jen circa 1987.  Check out my awesome face paint.

Look at me go!  I got second place that year (the only reason I know that is because my mom wrote it on the back of the picture.)  Also, note the cool paint sweater that my grandma made for me.

This must be in '88-89.  Do you love my red and white striped jailbird outfit?  And what about the side ponytail?  Can you say FASHION QUEEN!?!

After the games, dinner, and a dilly bar from Dairy Queen, we'd head back to my grandparent's cottage and wait for it to get dark so the fireworks would begin. There was a pretty great view of the fireworks from their house, and, in our older years, my dad got brave and thought he would set off a few of his own.  I think he may have singed his eyebrows once or twice, but I'm sure he won't admit that.

Anyways, at some point during the evening, my grandpa would start "beeping" - and by that, I mean, yelling, "beep, beep, beep" at the fireworks he liked. Why? Because if we were in the boat, we'd be pressing the horn in appreciation of the good fireworks, and my grandpa thought he should also let them know which ones HE liked. Occasionally, the rest of us would play along and beep, too. I'm sure the neighbors thought we were nuts.

So that is the fun we're missing out on here in MSP! At the old condo in uptown, we'd climb up on the roof and watch 4 separate fireworks shows simultaneously (we had the tallest building in the area, so we could see pretty far). It was amazing, and I'm wishing that we at least had that view tonight. Instead, we've got a freaked-out pitbull (nevermind that I've given him the TOUGHEN UP! YOU'RE A PITBULL speech 85 times today), a sweet firepit, an awesome porch, and fantastic weather. So I'll consider it a good 4th of July.

Not to mention, OUR WEDDING IS IN EXACTLY THREE MONTHS! (stay tuned this week for a little series that I'd like to call weddings that I have been to, in which I feature -wait for it- weddings that I have been to.

Time to go make some s'mores.

                        YOU ARE THE ONE....

For Renee, at Night at the "Yacht Club" maybe?

 (Harry Winston's Attraction Necklace)

 Renee during the day at a Yacht Club luncheon....maybe? 

Chanel Resort Collection....

Re:  Destination Hyannisport

Dear WWD Editors:

In lieu of inappropriately revealing swimwear I have opted to pack, instead, for day, long sundresses for sitting by the sand or for lounging by the pool.  And....for Night (evening soirees and yacht parties) I am packing evening gown (but no low cut necklines, I'm on important business).  However, for those who can "show some leg" try the suit below (it's at Neiman Marcus).

Disney will distribute Renee Ashley Baker's first motion picture, in movie theatres worldwide, under an "output deal" valued at $53.5 million dollars....Renee Ashley Baker will make a profit of $104.3 million dollars....

Rent money is taxable. Renting a home works the same way as if you were selling goods and services to a consumer which may therefore require that you report this income once tax season rolls around. On another note, make sure your homeowner’s insurance covers rentals in case of unforeseen damages to the property or even the tenant.

Be ready for anything. People tend to be quite lawsuit happy in this country and with renting, there’s always that risk that a tenant might sue you because they don’t like the rent you’re charging or some other matter so strongly consider hiring a property manager who knows what you can charge as well as a lawyer who knows about rental properties.

Don’t rent to just anyone. Remember that the tenant who you say “yes” to will be living in this property you’ve likely invested lots of money in so take the necessary precautions (references, credit check, etc) to try and make sure that they not only have a high degree of cleanliness but that they’re not a financial liability waiting to happen.

Treat the home as if you were living there. You own the property and there’s a good chance you’re going to sell it once real estate picks up again so take care of the necessary repairs and duties to keep it looking nice and you’ll also have much happier tenants.

North Light Yacht Club was created to provide an all-inclusive boating experience to boaters and their families on the Gulf Coast. Amenities and services will include a full-service restaurant with al fresco dining, an outdoor pool and spa, fitness center, concierge services and organized activities and events for adults and children. Among the club's unique features will be the ability of its members to own an individual dry slip in the North Light Boathouse, an on-site 280-slip dry storage condominium facility built to withstand 130 mph winds. Slips ranging from 30-40 feet can be purchased or leased with an option to purchase through one of North Light's sales programs through Aquatic Resort Properties and Cabela's Trophy Properties, LLC.

The marina will be operated by Coastal Marina Management, affiliated with Galati Yachts, and will offer wholesale fuel, launching services and wet slips for members. The club plans to partner with several reputable boat brokers for members who wish to purchase a boat.

Phase Two, slated for completion in early 2009, will include construction of the state-of-the-art marina, dry storage facility, pool and pool deck and The Bridge - a 4,200 square-foot, two-story clubhouse featuring a bar and grill, nicely-appointed restrooms and showers and The Fleet Room, available for social gatherings and meetings.

"The view from The Bridge will be spectacular because it's right on the waterfront," said Liz Empson, North Light director of sales. "Members and their families will be able to enjoy themselves in a classy, but relaxed environment. Here, luxury will be comfortable and attainable for families."

Phase Three includes the construction and grand opening of the 12,000 square-foot clubhouse and will commence once Phase Two is complete.

"Service is paramount at North Light Yacht Club," said Joe Winkeler of Ozean, LLC, owner and developer of the project. "We want to provision the boats and help families launch in the morning and then guide them back in after a full day out on the water. We'll unload, clean and retire the boat back into its slip while the family socializes and enjoys dinner together at the club. It's about letting real, everyday people indulge. And the club's location in Niceville will provide boaters with easy, convenient access to the entire Gulf Coast."

Renderings, descriptions of amenities and pricing are all available at the new Information Center. Currently, the club is offering dry-slip, social and corporate memberships. Those interested must complete and submit a signed membership application and deposit.

The club is a 15-minute boat ride to the Gulf of Mexico, a 10-30 minute drive from most Okaloosa and Walton County resorts and a 10-minute drive to Okaloosa Regional Airport

palatu' navigaţiei. trist, aparent părăsit, deşi radaru' de sus spune că se mai mişcă ceva pe acolo. minunate addon-uri pe pereţi: aer condiţionat, cabluri şi ţevi de gaze. a fost o clădire frumoasă. văzut de pe dunăre, încă mai pare.

cred că vara e chiar fain să fii poliţist...

tocmai comentam că în port la galaţi nu sunt docheri. este! deşi pare destul de singur şi deprimat...
în spate, fostul cămin al marinarilor. l-au îmbrăcat să dea bine văzut de la strada. sau de pe dunăre.

am mai scris cumva pe aici că oraşu' ăsta pare în paragină?

yacht club regal român. încă n'am înţeles de ce yacht, de ce regal. remarcabil mirosul de latrină tropicală din preajma stabilimentului. la întoarcere am ocolit prin stradă.

ca să fie tacâmul complet, la întoarcere era să mi se ataşeze un maidanez de pantaloni. altfel m-aş fi plictisit de tot...

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Men are shoving their dollars now a days into far more rewarding bachelor parties. Taking off to exotic destinations with their buddies one last time, before tying the knots. As oppose to going to a club, to stare at a stripper’s boobies. I just read about it on Forbes.com today, not exactly in those words. It was called "The Ultimate Bachelor Party Spots", by Shivani Vora. Apparently it’s a new growing trend in bachelors, guys have realized, "It's all about bonding with friends", really? No more Scores? I guess not as often, sorry ladies.

It makes sense. Breaking old habits, and doing something different. I mean you’ve gotten this far. You managed to make it thru school, survived nagging parents. You’ve are busting your Bunda/Booty everyday at work proving to your boss that you are good at what you do, and they should be paying you more no? And now you managed to find that certain someone whom makes all the difference in your life. An experience to travel with your friends, see something new and experience it together. Yes, it’s a far more memorable thing to look back at, than trying to figure out why your wedding was called off after you woke up with a stranger, and really can’t recall what happened.

Or at least if you are planning to be infiel/unfaithful, chances of your partner finding out about it will be slim, because a trip to new adventure destination with the buddies, has a more mature sound to it than say, a gathering with the boys to the local strip club before chapel walk. So Hells yeah, you deserve something more than the same ole bachelor party. I read guys are even signing up with Bachelor Planner and paying muito dinero/alot of money. But that may not be necessary. It can still be done on a decent budget. A step up because you’re different like that, and it’s your reward before you start on a new chapter (high five).

So hey, why don't you and the guys check out, Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. It's different and you really don't have to spend alot, unless you want to go rent yourself a yacht and go out in Luxury. Hey some dude shelled out $125,000 bucks to for 18 of his friends to fly out to London, and then booked them all at the Mayfair Hotel. I guess getting married convinced him to .. go overboard. Or he really loved his pals, and feared the bride would scared them all away. Who knows, I'm sure he's still remembering the bill he got for all of it.

But on a moderate or even a small budget

one can really have an awesome time in Salvador da Bahia. Get a nice tan while you surf, try out kite boarding. Dive and see if you can find some stash of gold down in a shipwreck. Like they do in the movies and then back stab your friend, for it and ride off in a jet ski. Literally.

Ok don't try that one, there's a reason why we only hear about it, ... in movies. Do try some Ecological activities in the nearby islands as well. There are tons of islands off the coast of Bahia. Or if you rather not risk having a " near drowning", experience before the wedding maybe stay on land and go learn some Samba moves. At a local dance school with a pretty Bahiana instructor, whom will flirt with you so much you'll be smiling like a ding-dong for days, (a term used in grade school, it's somehow associated with looking rather silly). Imagine you returning to your bride and surprising her with your dance moves at the reception? And she though you couldn't dance all this time;} She'll be so impress, women like to see a little hip swinging too.

Handpick your own stash of hand-rolled cigars with

the guys for the bar at your wedding reception. How smooth is that, and the bride can’t complain, it’s your contribution to the reception planning. They have places all over the city in which you can walk in and watch them do it. They even take a break and sit back and smoke with you. Play some serious golf with the boys, or pretend if your bad unless they tell…no one will know. There is a popular Golf course in Salvador da Bahia, the Catussaba Resort Hotel. The Golf link I just added is actually a humorous story writen by a man on, "World Golf", about how the stereotype of Brazil girls rings true in Bahia. Oh yeah he mentions, golf too.

Then later before dinner relax in the hammocks and kick back some cold beers as you talk about old times and watch the sunset behind a group of locals starting up a soccer game on the beach, or laugh at the stoned-out ones getting hit in the head with the ball while playing their guitars as they serenade the moon-rising. I'm just mentioning a few of the things you could do Salvador da Bahia with your friends.

Strip clubs??? LOL, you won't miss them. Just look around you, men and women in Bahia... looks so darn...GOOD. There's got to be some beauty secrets they all share. Joan Rivers, girlfriend if you are reading this, I'll find out for us, ... sooner for your sake. So guys you can admire the beauty from up close in broad daylight, for free as you simply walk down the streets. Just don’t stare too long, remember you’re classified as part of a new generation of “hip” trend-setters, not the creepy dude group. Put your sunglasses on if you must.

I wonder what the ladies are doing nowadays as they count down their last days of… ”Freedom”?

I'm going to go find out, I'll be back,

I am a visual learner so I need to see it to "know" it.. How do you "see" a fictional story location? For me, I started with the "real world."

Travel magazines and postcards of Rhode Island, Cape Cod and Narragansett Bay were a help, but not enough. So I spent one Christmas break compiling a 3 foot by 4 foot topographical map of Narragansett Bay. I found it on the web on a geological survey site and proceeded to print it out, quadrant by quadrant. Then I taped them all together until I had the complete topographical map of Narragansett Bay, including all the islands and the surrounding land areas. My husband did question if it might not have been cheaper and easier to just buy the map, but frankly, I don't think I could have bought the entire map that I ended up with. In any event, this gave me a "visual" of sorts to know what the land around the bay was like. I could tell that while the area is not that far above sea level, there most definitely are hills and ridges, marshes and sand dunes.

The next thing I had to do was make the imaginary town a real place to me. I started by printing photos of diners, stone warehouse buildings, rocky coastlines, Fort Adams, docks and wharves, and even that building at Woods Hole with the sailing ship model jutting out from the stone wall above the doorway.

Once I had an idea of the kinds of items and places my town included, I created a map of the town. Now I could "see" where Max's house stood in relation to Carbone's Auto Body shop, the diner, the rich uptown area, Lighthouse Point, her school, and the downtown dock areas. I could see how much area the Naval Research base took up on Lighthouse point, where the pier and research labs were in relation to the haunted carriage house and the Yacht club, and how far of a walk it was back to the town and the diner.

Next I needed to see Max's house and yard. I grew up in those three-family houses, so I had an idea in my mind of how they would be set up - back staircases, front and back porches, attic rooms with slanting walls, stone wall cellars that spooked you every time you had to go down there. I did a map of Max's neighborhood, and a blueprint of both hers and Noah's house, showing all three floors in each. I wanted to "see what she saw" when she looked out her attic window. From the map-making kit I had as a kid, I knew about doing room plans, so I could tell where the kitchen stove was, how many couches were in the living room, and if they had a computer desk. With these, I could now see Max's house, her backyard, her neighborhood, and how it connected to everything else in town.

Rosa's Midway Diner is such a big part of the story that it required equal attention. I have been in a number of diners over the years, so I had some mental images. I found a number of good books on diners, and consulted the American Diner Museum website. I even went to the local diner here in town (Cary, North Carolina) and with the permission of the owner, took a couple hundred interior shots of tables, counters, stools, equipment, pass-through windows from the kitchen, plates, etc.

From all of that, I created a blueprint of Rosa's Midway Diner. I drew up the "diner of my dreams," the one I would build if I had the money. If this book ever sells big, I swear I'll build it. It has regular booth seating including the large back semi-circular booth that Rosa uses for her Friday night poker games. It has a large window behind it made of those glass blocks, and all tables have roses in the vases. There's an extra long counter with stools, another counter in the front of the diner where you can sit, sip your coffee, read the paper and look out on Main Street, and a large take-out area for walk-in business. And of course, there is the new drive-through being installed as part of the take-out area.

The diner itself is a character in the book. As such, I have created a "biography" of the diner - a timeline of how it started, who created it, where it was located over the years, expansions...the whole works. Before I'm done with this, I will do an oil painting of that diner, both outside, and in. To that end, I have a very rough cardboard model of part of the diner interior, that includes the kitchen pass-through, counter and stools, and the drive-through areas

To further give the diner reality and context, I did a map of the diner area and Main Street. I felt it was important to show where the diner was in relation to all the businesses mentioned in the story, as well as to the rest of the town.

Lighthouse Point is another important part of the story and required "visuals" and biographies. I wrote up the story of the ship's captain who built the lighthouse and surrounding stone warehouses and who died along with his family, in the fire that destroyed his mansion. I also created a map of the area around the haunted carriage house, and blueprints of the abandoned ammo bunkers and anti-aircraft gun emplacements right near the carriage house ruins.

For Uncle Jim's lab, I chose the stone building at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, the former "Candle House." I even gave Uncle Jim's lab a similar sailing ship model jutting out from the exterior wall over the doorway. Interior shots of other buildings at Woods Hole served as inspiration for the lab and office interiors of those buildings.

Since paintings have such power for me, I did a 24 by 36 inch oil painting of where the two story worlds meet - the rocky coastline at Lighthouse Point. Every item in the painting is in the story - from the hermit crab, Carpus, who is right up front, to the lighthouse and rocky point, wooden pier, tide pool area, distant fishing trawler, fort on the hill, research labs and ...yes, the ghosts.

The University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography is the barely veiled location of the university in the story. I gave Jerry a research lab located in a former World War II ammunition bunker, and had her out doing her environmental research on a university-sponsored ocean-going research vessel, very similar to the R/V Endeavor. I verified the research itineraries, including places visited, work performed, and the durations of cruises, from the various research vessel ship logs online. I also studied the online blueprints for these existing research ships, to see the locations of labs, bunks, galleys, as well as the rules for running such a ship and expedition.

For the museum lobby where Max sneaks up to, to file her contest entry, I did rely on a memory - a very strong one burned in my brain from early childhood. In Torrington, CT, the post office at that time was in a brick building in the center of town. (It is now further out in a refurbished old supermarket building.) The post office lobby, while a very wide open area, was a scary place to me. At one end were the faces of numerous FBI fugitives staring out from black and white printouts pinned to bulletin boards.

It was the other end of the post office lobby though, near all the service windows, that truly freaked me out for a long time. Above the windows, high up on the walls all around that part of the building, were these huge murals. They showed 1800s men and women trudging through mud, beside a Conestoga wagon. There were also other scenes of 1800s life - all scenes actually, from the life of the abolitionist, John Brown. The murals themselves were intimidating enough, but ....silly as it sounds, I thought they were alive. Standing in that post office lobby waiting for my mom, I would stare up at the wall paintings and listen to the loud voices echoing off the walls around me. I thought the figures were speaking. In reality, the echoes were the voices of the postmen behind the wall yelling back and forth to each other. But to a 4 or 5 year old staring up at scary murals, the voices came out of the paintings, out of these solemn, angry looking people struggling behind their oxen in the mud. Hence, the inspiration for the museum lobby murals that Max sees.

By the way, if you are visual too, click here to see the murals from the old Torrington, CT Post Office.

Click here to read more about the history behind Connecticut post office art work done in the 1930s Depression era as part of the New Deal.

The other items I consulted to "see" the location, involved technical things like weather charts, articles on ocean fog, articles and nature guides describing the trees, birds, types of rocks, and area geological history. And I asked questions - of myself, of my sister living up there, of Google: What is the air temperature at night in June? Are there any sea breezes? How fast do storms move in, from which direction and how bad do they get? What do your clothes feel like against your body when you're walking near the shore - crisp and dry, or soggy and limp? Do you need a jacket to walk around at night in the summer? Do you need a wetsuit to scuba dive in July?

Aside from visuals, I needed "sound" to further "see" the place. I selected CDs based on the emotions they created in me. When you watch TV, the music tells you if something funny, poignant, or ominous is taking place. In the same fashion I needed music or sound so I could see the events as they occurred in the story and feel the emotions of that moment and location. I played those CDs over and over and over, while writing in my garage. I am amazed my husband and my neighbors are still sane.

Some of these CDs include the soundtracks from: The Band of Brothers, Cinderella Man, We Were Young Once, and the Perfect Storm. There are also ocean and bird sound CDs, Gregorian Chants, and last but not least, Rosa's "Frankie boy," Frank Sinatra. But be assured, there are NO Dean Martin CDs. Just for the record, I personally have nothing against Dean Martin and I LOVE his song, "That's Amore," but you can never account for what your characters will love or hate. Rosa hates Dean. Plain and simple.

Next up - Let's Get Technical. Stay tuned.

For the human side of the story - Max's world - the setting could be broken down into the town, places outside of the town, and the bay itself.

Some specific locations in the story's town include:

• Max's home area - a residential street sandwiched between the local business district on Main Street on one side, and the auto body shops, shipping repair shops and commercial wharfs, on the other
• The diner area of town - centrally located, it contains Main Street's local business district, the schools and church.
• Uptown - the fancy boutiques, expensive hotels and restaurants along with art galleries, museums, the hospital, civic buildings and the library;
• The areas south and west of the diner are industrial in nature, and east of the diner right on the waterfront, there are welders, electricians, ice houses, a sailor's assistance shelter, soup kitchens, etc.
• Lighthouse point - at the upper end of the point, close to town, a state park along the shore; a little further down the road, there is the Naval research base on one side and an exclusive yacht and sports club on the left bordered by sand dunes with the burned out remains of an old mansion and carriage house from the 1800s; at the end of the road - old stone warehouse buildings that now serve as research labs, the wooden pier, a lighthouse on a rocky point to the left of the pier, rocky outcroppings with tide pools to the right of the pier, and an old Civil War fort, on the Naval Base land, that overlooks the pier and labs, and is open to the public as a museum.

Outside the town:

• A local university marine research facility including an ocean-going vessel and dock

The bay:

• Ecological disaster restoration sites out in Narragansett Bay where environmental researchers plant eelgrass shoots to restore the bay's destroyed eelgrass beds and seed the areas with baby quahogs - hard shell clams - to restore shellfish populations
• An upweller site - essentially a farm to raise baby clams and oysters used to reseed other areas

In considering the town, I needed ask some questions such as:

Is this an upscale affluent area? A low-income blue collar industrial or commercial fishing area? Are there homeless shelters or condos? Are the store fronts vibrant and thriving? Empty? Are there boutiques or thrift shops? Vegetarian restaurants or diners? Is this a "border" area where two worlds collide? How do the people on either side of the tracks react to each other?

Is this a newly established area or does it have a history dating back to the 1600s? Are there universities, military installations, factories? Does the commercial area involve banks and high finance, or boat repairs, metal shops, and welders? Or both?

What are the ethnic groups in the region? Is there a prevailing religion? Is it an old town where things "used to be this way" but are falling into disrepair or customs that are now disregarded? Superstitions? What are the prevailing attitudes on politics, work, family and friends? Is the area conservative? Liberal? Apathetic?

Based on these and other questions I came up with the following:

Under the Pier takes place in a fictional Rhode Island port town that's a crossroads between the pampered and the struggling. It's reflective of a lot of places in New England, manual laborers right next to rich tourists and the well-do-do. It is based on no one town in particular, but is more a blend of the many places I lived in or experienced over the years, places that run the range from industrial, commercial fishing, and laboring, to museums, boutiques, fancy restaurants, and art galleries. They have a heavy basis in blue collar and immigrant populations and while there's a variety of religions, many of the people at least used to be Roman Catholic.

Examples of some of the towns included as influences for this story are: Newport, Providence and Middletown, Rhode Island; Torrington, Winsted, Waterbury, Bridgeport, and Farmington Connecticut; Fall River, Seekonk, Gloucester, Provincetown, Boston, Woods Hole and New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Places like Farmington Connecticut and Boston Massachusetts have affluent or very successful upscale flavors to them. Many of the other towns reflect the reality that times used to be better in the past. Manufacturing used to be a staple of the region's economy. Now that has declined or almost totally left the area, though many old factory buildings remain. Commercial fishing, always a difficult way of life, has become a real struggle, and the towns themselves struggle with aging infrastructures like bridges, roads, parks, hospitals, etc., many in decline due to the loss of tax revenue that the manufacturing industry used to bring.

The town and surrounding areas are saturated with the influences, flavors, structures and artifacts of many eras in American history:

- Puritan Pilgrims and their intense work ethics; independent types like Roger Williams who left established colonies for the wilderness of places like Rhode Island so they could live the way they wanted; stubborn colonial farmers battling poor land; independent types who produced some of the leaders of the American Revolution, the literary world, industry and business

- Historic landmarks like old forts, statehouses, battle sites etc.

- The churches, schools, convents, and fraternal club buildings built by turn-of-the century (early 1900s) immigrants to New England, from Ireland, Eastern Europe, and Italy.

- Turn of the century industrial buildings when the area bustled with work, workers, and possibilities in the area mills. Money was tight and the hours long, hard and dangerous, but there were jobs to be had, especially during the busy days of World War II.

- Support businesses that grew up around those factories like, corner grocery stores, diners, hardware stores, newspaper offices and their printing facilities, Five-and-dime stores like Woolworth's, etc.

- Left-over World War II military installations, forts, anti-aircraft gun mounts, ammo bunkers. Some are still in use, some boarded up and abandoned, some razed, and some converted to other uses. For example, some of the old ammo bunkers were converted into research laboratories at the University of Rhode Island.

- Continued US Naval military presence including advanced underwater naval weapons research

- Ivy league colleges and renowned universities with cutting-edge research programs that often overlap with military objectives and budgets

Regarding Max's home - she lives right at the edge of both worlds, in her grandmother's three-family house. Her grandmother worked all her life in the diner, while her grandfather drove a truck for Grunder's Moving and Storage after a stint in the army, in Vietnam. In spite of their lower standing on the economic ladder, they still owned their own home. It's not fancy like the single-family homes in the richer parts of town, but still, it's theirs. It's more practical - a three-family house, which means you can rent out at least one floor for additional income. In Max's case, her grandmother rents out the first floor apartment - to Vince Santelli, the somewhat mysterious eldest son of Rosa, the old woman who runs the diner. Max and her grandmother live on the second floor. Their apartment is pretty comfortable since Max's grandparents converted the third floor attic into additional living space. Max's grandparents managed to send two of their three children to college, and the only reason Max's mom didn't go was out of choice - she wanted to be an artist. All in all, while not a rich or pampered life, Max's grandparents did okay for themselves.

Max lives next door to her best friend, Noah Olansky. His is a military family - his dad is a drill instructor for the Marine Corps, while his mom manages the local exclusive sports club. Again - not a rich existence, but still, they have a home, access to some nice perks, good schools, and they have ambitions for their son that they have a reasonable chance of achieving. In addition, they too collect extra income by renting the first floor apartment of their house to the elderly twin sisters, Mildred and Margaret Stoltz. It's considered a perfect arrangement. Noah's parents get tenants who pay on time and regularly, don't destroy the place or have late-night parties, and are stable. The two older women get a safe place to live, reasonable rent, help from Noah and his mom, and live close to their friends and the things important to them.

Behind Max and Noah's houses are stand-alone garages, and behind those, an overgrown wooded area that buffers their backyards from the backyard of the auto body shop and the commercial wharves on the next street. So it is a residential street right on the fringes of blue collar businesses.

Rosa Santelli, who runs the diner, lives in the central area of town, right in the middle of all the businesses. She has a living situation representative of that segment of society that started out in modest quarters, right next to their growing businesses, and stayed there even as the area declined. Rosa lives in a small apartment on the back side of the Grunder's Moving Company. This is not an uncommon occurrence in urban areas, to have back alley apartments behind commercial businesses. She has lived there all her life with her husband until he died. They raised their sons there and it is conveniently located right next to her 24-hour-a-day diner. As is the case with those arrangements, it still suits her as everything she values in life or needs, is right there. Her church is right up the street, the diner is next door, the florist who sells her roses for her diner is in a storefront next door, along with the Laundromat she uses for free, the hair salon where she gets her hair cut. She is friends with all of these people and has been for years. They look out for each other.

Rosa's apartment is also two doors down from the apartment Max and her mom lived in when they moved back to town from Cape Cod, six months ago. The apartment location placed them down the street from Max's school, next door to her mom's job in the Grunder's office, not far from the art galleries her mom was trying to break into, and close enough, YET far enough away from Max's grandmother. It had the added perk of being high enough, located on the second floor, so they could look out on the harbor and Narragansett Bay.

The businesses on Main Street clustered around the diner, reflect the nature of the area: a fish and bait shop, an Army and Navy store, marine supplies, a fish market, hardware store, grocery store, hair shop, photo shop, florist, gas and oil company, and a Laundromat. The local fire station, bowling alley, and liquor store are around the corner, and all these people know each other, support each other, look out for each other, and share food and fun with each other. For example, Rosa and all the local business ladies get together every Friday night at the diner for their poker group.

Gambling and games of chance are pretty standard things in the area and there's a long history of it, especially in the ethnic communities. For example, one of my grandmothers and her friends would catch the afternoon bus to Pennsylvania , play bingo for the night, then get home early the next morning because the cash prizes were bigger in Pennsylvania bingo games than those in Connecticut. Local churches always ran a turkey bingo at Thanksgiving and raffles during the summer.

My other grandmother would attend early Sunday Mass then catch the bus to Green Mountain, Vermont to go to the racetrack (horses). It was a very common thing for my dad, uncles, and family friends to take a day off during the summer to head to New York's Aqueduct horse race track, or for us to go up to the Saratoga racetrack for a day trip as a family. My grandmother knew horses, jockeys, and win-loss statistics. I knew very early on the different betting rules of the race track, such as what the Daily Double (predict the winners in two consecutive races) was, and I knew that the Latin prefix "tri" meant three, because you had to predict three things - the horses for first, second and third place in a race to win a Trifecta. I knew at a young age that you won the most money if you bet on a horse to win, but stood a better chance of getting some kind of payout, if you bet on the horse to place or show. And you always, always, checked your ticket and your change before you walked away from the betting booth.

As time went on, the state added lottery games. Jai Alai came to Connecticut from Florida. The world of betting became upscale with fancy off-track-betting facilities, lavish casinos with entertainment that rivaled Vegas run by the Mashantucket Pequot Indian tribe in Connecticut (Foxwood), or the large casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Jersey is just a long day trip away, either by bus or limo. So all of this is a part of life there.

Moving north from the center of town is the more upscale area frequented by tourists and the wealthier of the town. Museums, boutiques, bistros, fancy restaurants, art galleries, the hospital, and the city's civic buildings are all there. A walk through Newport Rhode Island gives as good an example of that as any place.

In contrast areas west and south of the diner are heavily industrial as well as military. East of the diner, on the other side of Max's street, and you are at the waterfront of the harbor. Again, blue-collar, generally commercial boating and fishing industries and support services dominate this area, along with soup kitchens and a Seamen's Assistance House that provides shelter and support to sailor's in need of a place to stay between jobs. This last one is based on a similar facility on the Newport, Rhode Island waterfront.

Heading out of town you can either head further inland, toward the rest of Rhode Island and the university in the story, or you can head out toward Lighthouse Point - a large strip of land jutting out into the water on the outer edge of the harbor. Past this point are the open waters of Narragansett Bay and then the open Atlantic. While again a fictional location, a look at the geography of the land surrounding Narragansett Bay, for that matter, right in the Newport area, would show countless inlets, harbors, rocky coves and jetties of land that could match Lighthouse Point in description.

As mentioned above, the story's pier is at the end of Lighthouse point, along with the research labs. To some extent, the campus setup for the research area was loosely based on facilities at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts.

To the left of the pier, on a rocky point, is the lighthouse that shines out on the waters between the town's harbor and Narragansett Bay. To the right of the pier are the tide pools and the rocky tail end of land as it meets the bay. Overlooking the pier area from the hill above it, is the old Civil War fort. It is located on land owned by the Naval base and is run as a museum. The Point also has the Naval base for underwater weapons research, the exclusive sports club Noah's mom manages, the burned-out remains of the haunted carriage house and mansion and a state park on the south edge of the point.

Out in Narragansett Bay, my story characters have been to eelgrass restoration sites, shellfish restoration sites, and an upweller installation - a farm where seed clams and oysters are raised to later be used in the above restorations.

Some of the real-life locations that inspired the above story sites include places like Fort Adams , an active military fort from 1824-1950 and now a museum, that overlooks the Newport harbor, as well as the many exclusive yacht clubs there. Narragansett Bay has many operating lighthouses, as well as state parks, and rocky points, tide pools, and wooden piers abound.

About ghosts. Well, frankly, I think most of New England is haunted, and Rhode Island is no exception. Brenton Point State Park in Newport, Rhode Island has the plant-shrouded remains of a supposedly haunted building, and the Cliff Walk along the water by Newport's exclusive mansions, as well as some of the mansions themselves, have their own stories of ghosts and hauntings. A number of these are in the book: Haunted Newport, by Eleyne Austen Sharp, though the Brenton Point one I learned about firsthand from someone when we visited the area.

The stone buildings that make up the research labs were based on many of the old warehouses and mill building scattered around places like Lowell and Fall River, Massachusetts. The main lab building is modeled on an old stone building in Woods Hole, Massachusetts - the Candle House - that has a model of a sailing ship mounted over its doorway.

I created the story of the ship's captain building the stone warehouses, lighthouse, and mansion out on the point, but even there, it is based in reality. On a trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia one summer, I dined in a restaurant right on the waterfront that dated to the 1800s and was built to hold goods for trade coming in on the ocean-going vessels. The same is true of waterfront buildings in many New England ports, including Boston.

Regarding the story's secret Naval research base, it mirrors the current reality in that region. Military installations and research labs are prevalent throughout the area, being in close proximity to large universities doing cutting-edge research in electronics, robotics etc. The Naval base doing underwater weapons research on Lighthouse Point is based very loosely on The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) in Newport Rhode Island, and on the area research projects sponsored by DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. NUWC's website describes the center as: "the Navy's full-spectrum research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support center for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, and offensive and defensive weapons systems associated with undersea warfare."

There are also the "leftover military infrastructure relics" from World War II that can still be found in the area - decommissioned bases that became wildlife research stations, remnants of anti-aircraft gun emplacements and artillery batteries on the hillsides overlooking the water, and old ammo bunkers. On the last - there are a few research labs at the University of Rhode Island that are actually converted ammunition bunkers. They are coveted because they can be easily controlled for temperature and humidity, and they have no sun-lit windows to interfere with experiments.

The University of Rhode Island has an extensive marine biology research program at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography right on Narragansett Bay. This includes the ocean-going research vessel, R/V Endeavor, docked right at the school.

A few remaining settings are out in the bay itself: eelgrass restoration programs and shellfish seeding at the sites of polluted areas. These are based on actual restoration projects such as for the 1996 North Cape oil spill, the 1989 Prodigy oil spill, the coastal superfund hazardous waste site at the Newport Naval Education and Training Center at McAllister Point off Newport, and others.

The details for the side trip to a clam farm or upweller site, where baby clams are raised for later transplantation to other areas, came from a number of websites found on Google searches.

Next up: So How DO You "See" A Fictional Town?

The national news media and overall real estate economic statistics are dire, and getting worse on a seemingly daily basis. The truth is that the real estate market boom was overextended and very much speculative based (as opposed to need and/or value based). These current market conditions were not a surprise to me or to anyone who has been in the business through previous market cycles. Essentially, I’m the middleman in real estate transactions, I think a very valuable middleman, but nevertheless a third party to a real estate transaction. I’ve witnessed many dire situations in the past few months where owners have lost all of their equity and stubbornly clung to unrealistic prices - ultimately losing control of properties to the bank or other creditors.

I work for one of the largest and strongest local real estate companies, and yet I’ve noticed that around my office the number of active agents has dwindled. The ones that are left are those consistently ranked over the years as “Top Producers”. These real estate sales professionals are not one, two, three or even four “deal wonders” but those that have the discipline, work ethic, business and organizational skills, as well as the experience to provide value-added services to their clients. Market conditions honestly make an impact on how we work on a daily basis- in a buyer’s market the skills I just mentioned become MUCH more important.

So, my response to the casual question “How’s it going?” is- it’s a challenge, an exciting challenge that makes all of us so called “Top Producers” reach deep down inside ourselves and our skills to make sure we have the discipline in guiding both buyers and (especially) sellers to “get real” and make informed decisions. Deals are still getting done, there are many foreign as well as local buyers making offers and closing on properties. However, everyone today knows that this is a buyer’s market (especially the Greater Miami area and even the coveted South Beach market). A seller today must start by pricing aggressively and working with a qualified real estate sales professional. In the past ten days, I have personally written four sales contracts/offers totaling over six million ($6 Million) for a combination of both commercial and residential properties. The one thing these had in common: all were priced right, in very good locations, and were being handled by competent real estate sales professionals that know how to present the properties to qualified buyers and their agent (me).

I’ve noticed that contracts take longer to close, and negotiations are longer and more protracted with financial underwriting departments looking much more carefully at each and every loan application. The value equation HAS to be present today and for the foreseeable future- the latest evidence of this are the headlines from newspapers indicating a pending revision of national mortgage broker regulations and new stricter national underwriting standards.

So, to summarize, the real estate sales business is still healthy for “Top Producers”- those of us that have the ability to be selective with whom we work with, and for those of us that also have the discipline to stay focused and use our hard-earned skills to provide a true value-added service for our clients.

My Key to Success

My team and I focus only on motivated sellers- those willing to do whatever it takes to sell their property.

• Working with motivated and qualified buyers-particularly those from Europe that understand the value in purchasing income producing and/or prime waterfront properties. If a buyer has the goal of purchasing for x dollars per square foot, then we set up a purchasing system until they get what they want.
• Continuously and religiously following up with creative & innovative marketing programs and then with direct buyers, cooperating agents, and interested parties on behalf of our clients.

]]> http://miabeachrealestate.wordpress.com/?p=50 Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:50:13 +0000 miabeachrealestate http://miabeachrealestate.ro.wordpress.com/2008/03/04/miami%e2%80%99s-next-residential-skyscraper/
Downtown Miami is well known for its many high rises made up of luxury condos like 50 Biscayne, office buildings and a few company headquarters. While the Four Seasons Miami Hotel may be the most expensive, fanciest and the largest, it could eventually be dethroned by a building that will truly pierce the skyline if certain local developers manage to have their way.

Designed by the renowned Kobi Karp, a pair of 1,022 foot buildings soaring over ninety stories into the Miami skyline to be known as the Empire World Towers are being planned and are notable not only for their incredible height, but also for the three “sky bridges” that connect one building to the other and are likely going to be translucent, suggesting a feeling of walking on air hundreds of feet above the ground.

Although they are expected to function as a high rise condo and/or residential property, many people might look at this and wonder why anyone would find this worthwhile considering that condo sales and Miami real estate has, overall, slowed.

The Empire World Towers still remain a massive work in progress and the developer doesn’t expect to finish the building at least until 2010, two years from now when most have concluded that real estate should be doing significantly better. Therefore, the Empire World Towers could potentially become a prime building for investors seeking their next residential property investment.

The project is still in its infancy and has yet to be approved by the Miami City Commission. Assuming it manages to clear all the red tape, Empire World Towers could be an integral piece towards reinforcing tourism in Miami. After all, people will definitely want to visit to see for themselves what would become the tallest building in Miami. Already located in one of South Florida’s finest urban communities, Empire World Towers has tons of potential.

Why is it that now a good time to buy a Miami Beach home or condo per the FAR? It’s simple, really. The glut of existing homes for sale opens up plenty of options that range from more affordable, realistic prices to reduced mortgage rates that translate to much more convenient monthly payments than what is common during better market times. Do some research and you’ll also find that renting a condo or home, especially at the present time, is nowhere near as worthwhile an option as that of actually owning a home. To a lesser but still noteworthy degree, Miami Beach and its tropical lifestyle make it a great place to live.

Another truth: houses are still among your best bets in terms of strengthening your financial security and gaining an investment that will yield long term results. Equity continues to build and therefore, so does your overall wealth. The tax perks you receive as a homeowner as opposed to renting also make a strong case for buying a home.

National Association of Realtors experts are saying that the market has dipped to about as low as it’s going to get and this year will finally start to see it slowly return to a better climate, particularly during the latter part of the year as buyers start to regain confidence, seize upon the low prices, and sales remain relatively steady. Couple this with the efforts being made by the government to spur the economy and suddenly, buying a waterfront condo or single family home doesn’t seem quite as absurd.