Past Blogs

A great hotel is a small slice of heaven. All have a grand lobby, tasteful rooms, snowy linens, luxurious beds, mountains of pillows, gleaming bathrooms, impeccable housekeeping and pleasant, but not obsequious, staff. I rank staying in one of these soothing, gorgeous environments among life’s greatest pleasures.

Money is the only obstacle to a night in paradise. Fortunately, with patience, luck, flexibility and a computer, spectacular bargains at four and five star hotels occasionally can be had. Happiness is having the computer screen inform you that a $350 a night room is yours for the price of a Comfort Inn.

I am a fan of the Historic Hotels of America website. Compiled by the National Trust for Historic Preservation,  it lists all the restored, grand old hotels that survived hard times and wrecking balls to be reborn for a new generation travelers. Staying one night in any of them is a vacation in itself. America is a nation of intense speed and excessive work. A return, however briefly, to places that evoke more gracious times is restorative.

As much as I appreciate the history and grandeur of America’s old hotels, I am also a lover of midcentury modern and contemporary hotels. A night in a hotel designed by John Portman is exciting. With the exception of those who fear heights, who doesn’t like a ride in a glass elevator up a soaring atrium?

One of my top favorite hotels from this century is in Holland, Michigan. It is the Haworth Hotel on the campus of  Hope College and was built with funding from Haworth, leaders in commercial furniture design and manufacture. It is a stunning showcase of top of the line modern furniture built in the cities near Holland and around the world.

My taste in architecture is eclectic. Although my husband and I prefer to live surrounded by the clean lines and simplicity of midcentury modern design, we love spending a night surrounded by the best of any architectural style. For example, we can enjoy all the ornateness of a Gilded Age building and never have to dust a thing. Vive la difference!

 

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The other day I came across a group of mid-century cat drawings. These stylized cats were a staple of mid-century design popping up in jewelry, cocktail glasses, lamps, eyeglass frames and countless other places.

My delight in the cats led me to wonder why dogs did not achieve the same popularity as mid-century icons. (I do try to be fair and include dogs in my worldview.) And then the lightbulb went on in my head.

Dogs were hugely popular in the 50’s era art, however, it was only one particular breed that achieved stardom. Care to guess which breed?

The answer, of course, is poodles. How could I have momentarily forgotten my wonderful, circular, turquoise blue felt skirt with the strutting poodle dog?

I don’t think it is a coincidence that mid-century cats were generic cats and that dogs were represented by one breed. Only 42 breeds of cats exist, and they are all similarly shaped…minor variations on a theme. According to the American Kennel Club, there are 190 different dog breeds. The World Canine Organization recognizes 340 types.

Dogs differ dramatically in design from mastiffs to chihuahuas. Plus, they have been domesticated twice as long as cats, thus giving people much more time to breed them for human needs. Cats did not need to be messed with to be useful: they all catch mice, and they refuse to do anything else we might find helpful.

Here are a few pictures I’ve put together of 50’s cat and dog art. These “dog days” of August seemed like a good time to do this. As far as I know, no “cat days” are set aside in any month. I can only conclude the reason for this is that cats know every day is a cat day.

P.S. One other 1950’s dog achieved great fame. Click here to view.

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Things were far less complicated and convoluted in the last century. Diners, restaurants and bars in the 1940s and Depression-era would hang out signs that said “Eat” or “Drink”…perfectly edited messages. What could be more explicit?

Many restaurants now appear to be vying with each other to come up with cute and ridiculous non-food-related names. For example, we have The Blind Horse, The Horse and Plow, The Black Pig, The Silver Fern, The Fat Seagull and The Chubby Seagull all in our vicinity.  Anyone who has ever observed real seagulls eating would not consider frequenting a seagull themed eatery.  

My husband and I love taking road trips and spotting aging restaurants with their oversized Eat signs. Here are a few that we have come across in our travels and recorded. I’m positive that hundreds more of these unsubtle yet concise enticements to indulge exist across America. They are out there just waiting to be photographed. I’m on a mission to take pictures of the ones we’re lucky enough to encounter.

If you would also enjoy a scavenger hunt for these antique signs and diners, please add your photos to this blog. You might even be brave enough to go inside and EAT.

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I recently learned an interesting fact about Henry, a dog friend of mine. Henry is a big (or standard) French Poodle. What I found out from his owner is that Henry is not Henri. Poodles did not originate in France.

The name poodle comes from the German word “pudel” or “pudelin” which means to “splash in water”. These dogs are German and were bred to be water retrievers and bring ducks and other waterfowl back to their owners.

The poodle is, however, the national dog of France. But there they are called “Caniche” which means “duck dog”.

Neither is the poodle dog’s distinct hairstyle a French fashion statement. It is rather a matter of form follows function. Less hair makes the poodle a better swimmer, but also more vulnerable to cold water. So the dogs were clipped for swimming, while puffs and pompous were left to protect the joints and vital organs.

And speaking of hair, poodles do have hair, not fur. Fur grows to a certain length and then sheds (all over the place). Hair just keeps growing. People with allergies and extremely tidy folks just love these dogs.

If a poodle wants to enter the show ring, it must have one of three cuts: the Continental Clip, the Modified Continental Clip or the English Saddle. Puppies, however, get the Puppy Clip, which is an even trim over the whole body, no puffs or pompoms.

Two of the most outstanding features of these dogs are their intelligence and their energy. In other words, poodle owners can expect to be outwitted and outlasted.

Here is our friend Henry in action. He is a 52 pound dog who has the heart of a puppy.

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Chet is a big black dog with one white ear. His partner is Bernie Little, a wounded war veteran and ardent environmentalist. Together they run the Little Detection Agency somewhere “in the valley” in Arizona.

Chet and Bernie are the characters in a series of mystery books written by Spencer Quinn, which is the pen name of Peter Abrahams, an Edgar award-winning writer. I, however, strongly suspect Abrahams is really a dog cleverly masquerading as a human.

Of these books, Stephen King says, “Without a doubt, the most original mystery series currently available.” I totally concur.

I’ve just finished my eleventh book, “Tender is the Bite”, and it is a witty delight like all the books in the series. Every word in every book is written from the dog’s point of view. How Mr. Abrahams got so totally into the mind of a dog is the real mystery here.

I have never had a dog, but I love dogs and have known many. I have no doubt whatsoever that these books unlock the workings of a dog’s mind. (And that is why I have never had a dog. They need “their person” around all the time, and I can’t be there 24/7 for a dog. Road trips happen.)

Here are a few excerpts directly from Chet’s brain. If you are a lover of dogs, I’m fairly sure you will smile as you read them. And you might want to give the Chet and Bernie books a try.

“We took the ramp onto the freeway, headed to the orange tip of the sun, just over the edge of…of whatever the edge is, where you can’t see any farther. The edge itself is very hard to get to – in all our time on the road we’d never quite reached it. There’s lots to look forward to in life.”

“I think we’re being followed,” Bernie said. “We were creeping along at walking speed on the East Canyon Freeway at rush hour, stuck in an endless river of traffic. Of course we were being followed, followed by too many cars to count! Not only too many for me to count- I don’t go past two- but also for Bernie. And Bernie’s always the smartest man in the room, one of the reasons the Little Detective Agency is so successful, leaving out the finances part.”

“There was a bowl of kibble with- oh how nice- some crumbled biscuit treat mixed in waiting for me in the kitchen. Can you go from feeling no hunger to being out of your mind with it in no time flat? Oh, but yes! Try it sometime!.”

 

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