Hello Blanche & Judy Lipshutz - Memories of Old Carpets

I've known Blanche and Judy Lipshutz for over 25 years. Judy and I both got our master's degrees at Hahnemann University in downtown Philly. Her degree was in Movement Therapy.

Since neither Blanche, 87, nor Judy has a computer, I showed them the wonders on my Acer laptop. Each had me goggling various people they knew. A niece from NYC is getting married - yes, the registry is up there - and you should see her gift list! She wants a $600 blender. I still use my $22 Oster I bot after Sarah was born in 1974.

BTW, great Times video of Kidney Tranplants, scroll down.

Judy asked me to goggle her full name. Up came the thesis she wrote at Hahnemann. It can be purchased at Amazon.com.

I gave them a tour of my house. Showed them the new carpet I got before my kidney t'plant last April. I spilled coffee on it last week - I could not believe my carelessness - but got it out by goggling How to Remove Coffee Stain. Well, most of it, anyway.

It's so much fun showing people my house. It makes me appreciate it even more. At the end of this blog I'll show you the folks who put it my newest carpets.

I'm so used to eating healthy and delicious meals I think nothing of it. They loved my stir-fry w/added peanuts and chopped scallions on top.

We had ice cream sandwiches for dessert, with soy ice cream. I begged them to take home the remaining six, but they wouldn't. Scuse me for just a second.

At the table, we talked of many things, but not of cabbages and kings: Judy's great new apartment, which is b'ful and filled with light. I gave her a long fake Persian carpet - found at Cowbell curbside - that I kept in my hallway but no longer need since I got a new soft carpet. She never stops talking about how much she loves it.

Makes me very happy.

Today I gave Blanche my old kitchen radio, which works well, from Radio Shack, b/c I got a new one at a Hatboro thrift shop: a 1967 Philco.

This is not my Philco, but I love the Art-Deco-ness of it.

Blanche and Judy are both great readers. See how we learn from our parents! Blanche is reading "The List" by Martin Fletcher, about a German Jewish family who moved to a very hostile England.

I'm reading short stories by Andre Dubus, all of which are love stories. The one I read last nite was mercifully short - about a married 25-yr-old guidance counselor who is having an affair w/a 16-yr-old student. She plots how her young lover should kill her husband. It's so ridiculous, the thot that they can get away with it. Dubus failed to provide a sympathetic portrait of the woman and the underlying reason she wanted to kill this good man.

Blanche is blessed by good health. She walks every day. I always walk company out to their car, something I learned from the late artist Sam Maitin when I interviewed him for Art Matters.

I'll never forget when I went into his Center City apartment/studio, he had two huge white pillars he'd made. I always wanted to make something like that, but never have.

Below are 3 pieces of artwork, the top is Outdoor Sculpture by Maitin, I think.





My 2 collages above were unearthed when I got new carpets and all my furniture was moved around. A good opp for me to reacquaint myself with who I am and what-all I've done.

Here's DeWayne Moore of Abington putting in the hall & stair carpet. That man was fast! He finished in about three hours, leaving a thick coating of dust in the living room.

Old stair carpet.

Here's Nick DellaGuardia, owner of Specialty Flooring in Roslyn.

Nick came out to the house so he could advise me about the best-looking rug for my stairs and middle bedroom.

I always buy 'remants' b/c it saves loads of money.

My laundry room is carpeted with the same brown carpet as at the Willow Grove mall!

Can you believe how awful the old pink carpet looks? This was Sarah's room before she flew away into adulthood.

After she went to college, she never came home again. That's next-door-boyfriend's Scott's house.

Flecka Valasquez from Puerto Rico, who Nick said is very strong, not a woman to tangle with, lays floors w/her ex-boyfriend Darwin can't-remember-his-last-name from Ecuador.



I invited my neighbors in to show off the eggshell white carpet and matching walls.

Nick sent me Rich Claire to paint Sarah's room. Very interesting guy who fought in Vietnam.

Sarah's room before it was painted. I used it as a huge storage room but am turning it into a "sitting room."

Your team at Specialty Floors. Son/law Doug, in the white shirt, will take over when Nick, on far end, retires. Wife Sandy helps out and crochets. I've bought several of her scarves and a blanket for Baby Grace, who ain't no baby no more.