Days of Future Past

Meet me on South Street, hurry on down...

South Street Royalty: Susan with then husband Bob Ingram

and illustrator/author, Charles Bordin, struttin' South Street, circa 1981. ©Nick D'Aquanno

As I settle into life back in the US of A, I'm able to spend more time reestablishing contacts and context. For one brief shining period that was known as Camelot, my husband Bob Ingram and I owned an amazing bi-weekly newspaper, the SouthStreet Star. Those were wild and wooly times in the early eighties when the buzz and fumes of the late sixties and seventies were fresh. Alternative newspapers provided a critical link between the corporate and sometimes monolithic coverage of what was then the hay day of corporate news, whether it was print or media. There were basically three daily newspapers in Philadelphia at that time: the morning paper - The Philadelphia Inquirer, it's more 'earthy' or more 'blue collar' sister - The Philadelphia Daily News, and the grand old dame of Market Street - The Philadelphia Bulletin. Papers like ours were the blogs of the time. We had barely any funds but we had buckets of fun. And chutzpah! We had loads of that too. We checked our facts and went for the stories that dailies and weeklies didn't have the luxury of covering.

George Thorogood ©Nick D'Aquanno

Long interviews with South Street Rockers, for example, including guest rockers like George Thorogood were par for our course. In October Ruth Snyderman, Julia Zagar and some other formidable South Street nobility are planning a reunion. I'll post more when I know more. In the meanwhile, hurry on down, meet me on South Street, the hippest street in town.

Pompano Beach Renovation

It has been a wild and wooly 10 days. Rob McMahon and his excellent team from Island Remodeling have literally ripped the house from under me. I found them through a referral from Annette, the lovely woman I bought the house from. They began demolition a few days before I arrived, ripping up the old carpet, pulling out fixtures and appliances, removing a rotted entire downstairs front wall, scrapping off the outdated 'popcorn' ceiling spray, and finally riveting up the downstairs tile. All that remains of any original portion of this casita are the concrete side walls and the foundation. There is a spanky new "European" water heater that provides instant hot water and doesn't needlessly heat an entire tank. There will be new tile floors downstairs and in the master bath, new bamboo wood floors throughout upstairs and on the steps. Recessed lighting throughout was installed today. The kitchen is beech with lots of storage and deep drawers from Ikea. All appliances are the highest energy efficiency available including a small European Bosch washer and dryer. Basically, this will be as 21st century a home as one can make on a moderate budget. Here's a photo essay to date:

Look at the biker's babe - goggles on the pup. Cindy and I caught them and I couldn't resist snapping the big guy on his big bike and the little lady!

Appliances gone; closet door moved; ceiling fans gone

Kitchen stripped; front wall demolished - rot exposed

Hard step!

Closets stripped in Master Bedroom

Master Bath to the pipes

Guest bath spared the pillage!

Guestroom/Susan's office view

Ikea Kitchen Cabinets, beech; sample granite counter

Ikea haul - Rob and Chris speed pull!

Rob and Chris - the Ikea "A" team - they pulled faster than Ikea's own guys!!

Rob loads the Island Remodeling van - I got to ride shotgun.

To Floor and Decor - the downstairs and master bath selection: Italian ceramic.

Downstairs old tile gone!!!

Today, May 14th, Floor and Decor deliver!

My hero, Wayne takes on the heavy task of moving the tiles inside!