City Views, Country Dreams

Good morning from New York.

It often seems to those of us who have seen a few New York springs, that the hot weather abruptly arrives at the end of May, around the time of our Memorial Day holiday. That is what happened again this year. It's finally fine to wear sandals, and to shed a layer or two of jacket or sweater.

There has also been lots of rain, and the park is very heavily green. Rose bushes in sunny places are beginning to bloom, and some folks on my block have planted begonias, impatiens and pansies to bring a little color to the concrete and asphalt.

Although I have yet to see them, new neighbors have moved into the recently renovated apartment next door to mine. Last night when I returned home from work and was unlocking my front door, I heard a baby crying from behind the door next door. Previous neighbors in that apartment have had babies, and it is a testimony to the design of the building and the thickness of its walls, that once inside my home sweet home, I heard no crying.

I do hope to meet this new family soon.

After some blustery rain last evening, today is a lovely day, made more lovely because it is a day off. We will host a "special" event at the shop tomorrow, focused on our petite-sized range (theoretically for those 5'4" and under.) This event is not a very extravagant affair, featuring some light refreshments, and the opportunity for customers to meet with the company's petites specialist, and to have 10 per cent of the amount of their purchases be donated to a worthy philanthropy.

I am a bit worried that not too many folks may attend, despite our publicizing the event. Often our events give the customers a certain dollar amount off the price of an item, or give them a gift with each purchase. That will not be the case tomorrow. Customers making a purchase will received "double points" for their purchases, however. (We have a program that grants a customer a point for every dollar that is spent. When the accumulated points reach 2,000 ... no matter how long it may take, the customer receives a gift card worth $100.) It is my sense that a gift with each purchase would have been a stronger draw, but we will know more tomorrow.

After working so very hard, day after day during the retail month of May, it was very disappointing to my staff and myself that we did not meet our sales goal. Therefore, we won't get a bonus check for May. The checks that we each received for our April success were quite substantial and quite welcome in these inflationary/recessionary times. We think that what kept us from our May goal was powerful Mother Nature, who provided two very, very cold and rainy days, when few customers ventured out to shop.

Now it will be my task to motivate the staff to keep going strong during June.

My assistant manager and I will be out of the store for two days next week, attending out of town managers meetings. We do value our staff and their ability to flourish without us, but all the same, I really wish that both of us did not have to be away for so much of next week (the two meeting days, plus our regular two days off.)

It is now the season when staff will begin taking lots of holiday time off, so it is a bit of challenge to juggle the schedule, making sure that everyone does get the free time they request, but also making sure to keep the shop adequately staffed. I try to be fair to everyone.

Since the weather is so good today, I will now put my sandals on and go outdoor to check on those roses.

City Views, Country Dreams

Good morning from New York.

Our springtime here continues to be on the chilly side, but that has helped to extend the flowering season in nearby Central Park. We have had lots of April and May showers and the still new leaves on the trees are very green and very heavy, really weighing down some of this year's fresh branches.

On a recent Park walk after recent rain, I took this photo which give you a little idea of the mood of that overcast day.

I regret that I have not had more time to take such walks in the Park due to having the usual busy times at the shop. Despite media reports of our being in a recession (or maybe just on the edge) our shop has had its busiest spring ever.

How wonderful that I was able to add another staff member, and that she is terrific. We all just work together, enjoying each others' company, and trying to keep our customer service skills high. Many evenings when 7 p.m. (the posted closing hour) arrives, we still have customers in the fitting rooms, trying on clothes, making their decisions. The two or three of us who are still there as the "closing shift" are by then so, so tired, but we do try to remain poised and gracious until that last customer has left the shop.

This results in great sales figures, but also in very tired folks, who have been working a physically and mentally challenging job for over eight hours. Still, we laugh and compliment and complement each other, and get up the next day to do it again!

This past Sunday was Mother's Day here in the States, and I was able to let all but one of the mothers on my staff have the day off. The four of us who were to work on Sunday wondered just how busy we would be. The answer was ... very. As a gesture on that day we had purchased lots of deep red and pale coral roses, so that we could present one long stem to each lady who visited us that day. It was a simple thing to do, but seemed to be quite popular.

Yesterday was super rainy and windy, and not an ideal day for a celebration, or maybe it was. Scheduled months ago, it was the day of my employer's annual service awards luncheon, which honors folks reaching milestone anniversaries with the company ... five, ten, fifteen years and more. I attended to support two members of my staff who were being so honored. We traveled via a chartered shuttle bus from the company's Garment District showroom to a beautiful site overlooking the Hudson River. The building was once the home of Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain.

As always, the luncheon was beautifully catered, and it was great fun to get re-acquainted with old friends, and to meet new ones. The event is usually somewhat emotional as well, because we all really do believe that our company is just a bit different in that we do care about each other.

Afterwards, the shuttle bus took us back to the City. Of course, many folks attending the event drove their own cars or used other transportation. We do have many locations in the metropolitan suburbs and anyone living in those areas cannot rely, as I do, on public transportation.

I also wanted to thank all the folks who have been posting words and comments about their beautiful gardens, and the exercise and delight that those gardens ensure. I have mentioned before that my apartment is not at all plant friendly, and thought that I would share with you a little photo that proves my words true.

These two scraggly survivors are too stubborn to totally give up. This view is from my living room and, as you can see, has a vista facing across an air space to other apartments. Thank goodness that the view from my bedroom is much more open and lets me see sky, trees, interesting architecture.

Perhaps you now know more of why I do have country dreams.

City Views, Country Dreams

Good evening from New York.

Spring is really coming to New York. The flowering trees are flowering, the daffodils in the Park and in some streetside garden plots are just about spent. We still can enjoy the colorful parade of tulips.

Park Avenue on the East Side, like our own Westside Broadway, is a wide north/south avenue, with space between the two directions for a bit of ground with trees, and seasonal plantings.
Some eastsiders only admit that spring has arrived when the tulips in the middle of Park Avenue have bloomed. Well, they have done so. And ... we westsiders can report that tulips in many beautiful colors have also performed over on our side of town.

On my own little block we have see the magnificent tulip magnolia tree that gets the sun near the Broadway corner has fully bloomed, and now is in its first green leafing. (Last year's strange weather led this tree to actually produce three generations of blooms. We had never seen the like of it, and despite deploring global warming aspects, really did like the show.)

We also have had the white flowering pear trees' spring announcement, and currently have several beautiful pink cherry trees in abundant bloom. All this really does soften our urban concrete and press and stress.

Note the segue. That cough that struck my throat back in February has not left. I am so tired of the hacking that can overtake me at certain times of day. My staff at the shop keeps begging ... go see the doctor, Again.

The shop has been amazingly busy. The financial news indicates a recession has our country in its grip. The recession does not yet have our customers in its grip. In fact, we have a beautiful spring collection, that really does appeal to real women (as opposed to some females who may appear in the adverts in the glossie fashion mags.) My staff and I can barely keep up with the demands of each day.

Our company prides itself on our wonderful customer service, and that is what we do endeavor to deliver, even when we are so totally exhausted, stressed, etc. It is up to me, as manager, to try to keep up the esprit de corps, and so far I think that has been accomplished. We just keep on exceeding our monthly sales goals, which means that we get some very good bonus checks. Tomorrow is the final day to our April retail month, and we should go way, way over that month's goal.

I remember back when I began as manager of this shop about two years' ago, and the atmosphere was so very different. I hope that you all will allow me to say that the two years really have marked a change. We have a happy staff now, who take care of each other, and the customers love our shop. Since we are located very close to the offices of the company's design team, we have benefitted from having access to that contact. Hoping that the future will continue this positive expansion, and that we do not get caught in recession's web.

Ah, but let me get back to that cough of mine. I will have next week off, and will be attending to various overdue medical appointments (dentist, eye doc) but today I tried to connect with the specialist whom I saw last month about this persistent cough. He is on vacation until May 5. Undaunted, I called my gp and got to see him this afternoon.

He assures me that the cough will go away. That he sees nothing serious. But he has gotten me an official request for a chest x-ray. I will do that next week. When I told him about all the renovation work being done in this apartment building over the past months, my doctor said that could also be a factor.

So. Right now I am not coughing. Before the hour is out, I am sure that I will have another big spasm of coughing, ejecting stuff that I will not trouble your dreams by a description. Awkward sentence that one, but still you won't get a description.

Tomorrow, it is back to work for that one last day before the week off. I have left my assistant a long, long list of things to do, think of doing, wonder about doing. I so hope that next week lasts longer than a week.

I want to see friends, do some artwork, have that x-ray, see my dentist and eye doc, and get out to the park, and just relax.

Pleasant dreams to all.

City Views, Country Dreams

Good evening from New York.

Spring is officially here, so sayeth the calendar. We New Yorkers, however, are still wearing our winter coats and keeping our scarves, hats and gloves nearby.

In Central Park are some areas that are sheltered, and get continuous sun. In those areas the daffodils are fully bloomed out. But in most parts, the daffs are just now coming into bloom, alongside their fellow prophets of spring, the crocuses and forsythia. Tulip leaves are well above ground but the stems with the buds are waiting for more warmth.

I actually prefer this sort of cooler spring, because it extends the blooming season.

My long-lasting cough is still lingering just a little bit, but I have been to yet another doctor, a specialist, who has assured me that the annoying tickle in the throat that causes the cough will be vanishing soon.

At the shop, there are few signs that our clients are experiencing a recession. Our sales consider to be quite astonishing. We now have our April collection on display, and I have chosen a few styles to wear in the shop. (It may be spring, but my choices are still mostly black!) I have a great pair of black Irish linen cropped trousers which will go with everything, and be very cool in the hot weather to come. I also chose an interesting new jacket design in a heavy silk georgette crepe. It is about hip length, and based on a kimono shape, complete with wonderful "lantern" sleeves. I should take a photo of this jacket to show you how swell it is.

The jacket has no front closure, but I fold one side over the other, and then secure it, obi style, by wrapping around a long ecru Fortuny-style-pleated silk scarf, and tying the ends. The ends of the scarf are trimmed with beads, and the weight of the beads keeps the scarf tied round my ... 25 inch waist. I wear the jacket over a knee length black silk dress over long black palazzo trousers. It is fun to be in a "costume."

Now, even if the weather outside is cool, I am warmed up enough to respond to dear UPL's request for seven secrets, or sort of secrets.

1. I am another left-handed person.

2. I am the oldest of three children, having two younger brothers.

3. As a child I loved to help my mother with certain household tasks, such as polishing silver.

4. Being angry will make me cry. I rarely now cry from unhappiness, perhaps because I am rarely feeling really unhappy.

5. I have an old-fashioned rotary phone, and no air conditioning.

6. When I cannot sleep, instead of counting sheep, I remember the Tube ride into central London from Heathrow and try to remember the stops, and the rooftops I would see from the window.

7. I only east tomatoes in the summertime, when I can buy them at local greenmarkets from the farmers who raised them.

This afternoon, I visited my expert hair stylist who has got my bob back into perfect shape. She is a marvel!

Earlier this evening I finished the forms to file the New York state and city taxes. And ... great news is that I do believe I am due for a refund!

On that very upbeat note, I will wish all of you pleasant dreams.

City Views, Country Dreams

Happy St. Patrick's Day from New York.

We had a beautiful March 17, with vivid blue sky, temperature enough above freezing to protect the legs of marching drum majorettes and kilted pipers. The steady breeze did present some challenges.

I watched the Parade from the west side of Fifth Avenue along the edge of Central Park. It seemed to me that the crowds were much smaller than in past years. This will be apparent from some the photos that will follow. Very few folks were watching the Parade from the other side of Fifth, but you all will be able to see some fancy Fifth Avenue apartment buildings.

I tried to capture a variety of hats, marchers and viewers, so that you all would be able to share this lovely afternoon with us.

Pleasant dreams.

City Views, Country Dreams

Good Evening from New York.

I can remember when I would write a blog almost every day. Then, there were the times when I would write at least once a week.

And then, as can be the case with any sort of diary, the frequency dropped off. My last post was around the time that I actually thought that I would be soon stopping the coughing spells whose freqency was a bit alarming.

Well, the coughing went on. And on. I kept going to work, and on every available day off, used any free time to sleep, thinking that would bring on the cure. It did not.

Friends and work colleagues pestered me to see a doctor. Demands at the shop kept piling up, and my time off became less and less. Some of you may have already detected my over-developed sense of responsibility. It has been on display. It is not a way to stop a cough.

Finally, yesterday, I did arrange an appointment with my doctor. I was delighted to know that he still had kept my file, because I had not seen him in about four years. Really, I just don't get sick. I do see my various other docs, the eye man, the gynocologist, the skin cancer man, the dentist lady, but the general practitioner, or internist as they are called over here, if I have no need I will not make an appointment.

Yesterday afternoon I did promise to make another appointment for a long overdue "regular checkup." The kind and diplomatice doctor said ... my lungs are clear. He thought I might have had some sort of viral infection and gave me a prescription, which I have filled and will use for two more days, before seeing what the results might be. I will call the doctor and report the results. If all is well ... hooray. If not, I may need to have a chest x-ray. Wait ... on Monday, I had my annual mammogram. Is that not enough x-raying for the month of March?

I make a bit light of this, but it is a relief to have seen the doctor, and to have him think that there is not much wrong with me.

Today was a day off that began with ... an 8 am managers meeting. After that get together was adjourned I had the day to myself, and this afternoon actually did a little doodling around with my watercolors, inspired by the very early signs of spring that I have seen in the Park. I will return to the watercolor, which is very abstract, and mostly green and yellow. I have no idea what it may turn out to be. The main thing was that I actually got the paints out for the first time in months. I have to retrain myself!

If all goes well, I will have added to this post a picture of a painting I did many years ago, another of my china tea cups. The photo is bad, but it does give an idea of the painting.

Here in New York, we are still all abuzz about the revelations regarding Mr. Spitzer, who today resigned as Governor of our state. The blocks around the apartment building where he has his private residence (not the governor's mansion which is upstate in Albany) have been totally taken over by television sound trucks. Helicoptors bearing cameras hover above.

Meanwhile this evening brings a little news about the 22 year old young lady who had the encounter with the former governor that seems to have been the encounter (but far from the only such encounter) that doomed his career. It is entirely likely that this young lady had no idea that he was the governor. Her own story is not such a happy one.

In the midst of all of this, the coughing is abating, and spring is slowly headed our way.

Pleasant dreams to all.

City Views, Country Dreams

Good evening from New York.

I am someone who tells myself and others, I never get sick. Until I do.

It is so annoying to admit that over two weeks ago some germ or other got into my system, and since then I really haven't been running at full speed.





Cold, flu? Who knows, but the main problem has been the cough that will not leave. Many of us at the shop have had the same symptoms, and our customers tell us that they have also been felled by this wicked business.

The germs really did pick a very inconvenient time to come calling. On February 7, I'd planned an experiemental special evening at the shop, inviting long time loyal customers to come in from 6-8 pm, wearing or bearing their favorite vintage garments from our company. We had a lovely buffet of light refreshments and fizzy water and white wine, but best of all, had representatives of the company's design team on hand to meet the customers. In our invitations to the customers we described it as a backstage pass to meet the designers and ask/tell them anything on that they would like.

I felt absolutely rotten that day (could not even wear my absolutely required eye makeup) but the evening was a wonderful success. The customers loved meeting each other, and the designers had a grand opportunity to meet their public, so to speak. I took lots of photos and have written the first of a series of reports on the evening. I think that the company will be replicating this event at other shops in future.

Meanwhile, every time that I have had a day off, I have just slept as much as possible, rallying thereafter to get down to the shop again. Every time that I thought I had banished the bug, it just came back at me again.

But a lovely surprise came last weekend, and would not have happened if I had not been at work.

We are now featuring our spring preview styles, and New York weather is not at all springlike just now. So, along with the incipient economic recession that is sweeping over our land, business is not so good. Many customers now either concentrate on the sale area, or utter those "I am just looking..." words. On the weekends, we have many visitors from abroad and from other parts of the States. We can usually figure out who is not "local."

So. A couple had browsed through the shop, and were on their way out, and as is my habit, I went up to them to say bye, bye, and to offer the lady our most current brochure. As I gave the booklet to her, she turned to me, and said, "I know you. Aren't you Frances ...?"

Well, I am. Thank goodness, she quickly took away the mystery of her own identity and I realized that I was seeing a teenage, college-aged good friend, whom I had not seen in 40 years.
What a marvelous random gift of fate!

We had a grand, if too brief, chat, and exchanged e-mail addresses. I am just stunned that she recognized me! It is really marvelous to now already have been playing catch-up with the e-mail technology, and to re-c0nnect with someone whom I felt I had lost. If I had given in to the flu/cold or whatever has been giving me such grief, I would have missed this lovely reunion.

My lesson learned is that even when you might be feeling sorry for yourself, and doing a bit of moaning, life just might toss you an unexpected bouquet.

Pleasant dreams to all.