| Page 256

Did you say you “really love pink?” Then you’ve come to the right place! ♥

Driving up to the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo California, you can only be vaguely aware of the pinkdom that lurks within. Maybe the streetlight or gingerbread trim on the hotel might alert you, but unless you know what to expect, you would never guess. This hotel was built by Alex and Phyllis Madonna and opened with twelve rooms in 1958, all of them different. It’s like the Disneyland of the Central Coast with no rides and no Mickey, but still fun. ♥

I’m going to go easy on you, get you used to it gradually, by taking you in through the coffee shop, where we went for breakfast the day of Judy’s show. We’re not even inside and it’s cute already, isn’t it? Don’t you just want to click your little wooden shoes together and make a wish? ♥

You have to pass the bakery to get to your booth in the coffee shop. Those are Pink Champagne Cakes they make right on the premises! The Madonna Inn is famous for their cakes; see the Black Forest Chocolate Cakes on the bottom shelf . . . ? OMG with capital letters; I chose that for one of my wedding cakes (in my long and checkered career); I could eat the entire thing alone it is so delicious!!! A concoction of equal parts whipped cream and fudge cake with dark cherries inside. ♥

Pink sugar on the counter, cute Disneyesque uniforms on the wait-staff, pink leather on the counter seats . . . pink leather on the booths too.

Everything is carved, and swirly with pattern. You’re humming the music to Danke Schoen aren’t you?

♫ . . . How he tore your dress, what a mess, I confess, that’s not all . . . ♪

There are little booths in alcoves around the counter, we’re in one of them; there are tables too, and there is a fireplace.

“Be Forever Happy” is the message carved in the wood over the counter. Mr. Madonna made the whole thing pink because he thought Mrs. Madonna “looked good in pink.”

This is the hand-painted wall in our booth. What I love is that the decorating was done totally by the Madonnas; the Inn is a complete reflection of their own personal style, one of a kind. Whether it’s your style or not, it is what it is; I love the exuberance and generosity of spirit it shows! When you drive by their own house, it looks like a part of this! Phyllis Madonna loves to sing, she often sings at hotel events; Alex Madonna passed away a four years ago at age 85, but when he was alive he looked on, beaming, while Phyllis sang her favorite song, “I have a dream.”

Here’s my breakfast, thin crisp waffles with hot maple syrup and thick-cut bacon, and of course, pink sugar for the coffee! You are probably saying, “come on, get to the really pink part!” OK, here it comes . . .

Now we have walked from the coffee shop into the dining room. If you were running for Miss America and needed a dress, you would find just the thing at the top of these stairs …. princess-like ball gowns and tuxedoes are for sale in the shops up there. I bought a strapless gown to-the-floor, with embroidered pink flowers on a see-through overskirt for our first trip on the QEII. That’s how excited I was. ♥ I wanted to be Audrey Hepburn.

Just past the bannister is a trellis of roses (no, not real, but very pink!), behind us and over our heads is a four-foot doll dressed all in pink full skirts swinging back and forth on a trapeze; around the other side of the trellis is . . .

. . . what we’ve been waiting for; the formal dining room! We had Joe’s 50th birthday here, and all our guests wore pink of course and we had pink champagne. I also had a Valentine’s Party here for my best girlfriends; same thing, all of us in pink.

Here’s the food service station in the dining room. I can’t begin to imagine where they got this! They have 110 guest rooms in the hotel now and they’re all themed; there’s “The Caveman Room,” “Canary Cottage,” and “Paris Violets.” Kellee loved the “What’s Left Room,” where everything was leftover from decorating the rest of the hotel; squares of carpeting, mis-matched sheets, all different tiles on the walls of the bathroom. There’s ballroom dancing and a live band some nights, and the men’s room downstairs is so interesting, there’s always a line of women waiting to get in to see it!

“Moons and Junes and ferris wheels, the dizzy dancing way you feel, as every fairy tale comes real, I’ve looked at love that way . . . ”

These are the words I think of when I think of the Madonnas; I love pink too, we are kindred spirits . . . people who love pink are fairytale people.

♥

On Our Way Home . . . to Martha’s Vineyard!

Welp, we’re our way home to Martha’s Vineyard! We’re on the train; crossing the dark desert this very moment, with the thinnest line of hot pink sunrise outlining the black-silhouetted skyline of buttes and hills — I welcome you to my blog in a squashy sort of way . . .

Having pictures like this one I took at Judy’s show is almost as nice as the real thing, especially if you are swaying through Arizona on a train somewhere east of Flagstaff! We really don’t need a big ole squash in our “room with the gorgeous view,” although we sure do have everything else in here! I’m drinking my first cup of tea, made in our room with the electric tea kettle we bring on every cross-country trip. The train horn is wailing out to the dark sky; we’re going through a little town, lights of the houses and streets are all I can see.

Yesterday morning at dawn, we were packing for our drive down to the train station, when I looked outside and had no choice but to stop everything, grab my camera and run across the wet lawn to take this webby photo of our farm fence over the foggy back forty. If it wasn’t so pretty with the morning dew, it could be seen as a bit halloween spooky, especially when paired with this:

. . . . which, I admit, did take me back a bit; there was a moment’s pause before reaching to turn the doorknob at the Tea Cozy in Cambria a couple of days ago, where my girlfriend Diana and I went for our goodbye tea and lunch.

But of course it wasn’t scary at all on the other side of that door; it was a delicious lavender tea and pumpkin soup lunch, lots of girl talk, laughter and hugs to last us until we meet again. (It’s hard to love people so much on both sides of the country! Goodbye is not my favorite word!) The photo of the soup made me think that you might like to see how easy it is to dress up split pea or black bean soup for your Halloween dinner — or maybe chili . . . (the recipe, in case you missed it, is just a bit further down this page!)

Joe is still mooshed into his pillows, kept asleep by the rocking of the train; the sky has turned to gold above the pink now; soon it will be time for breakfast in the dining car, and later we get to have a nice long walk while the train stops to get its windows washed in Albuquerque, land of primary colors, red rock, white clouds, blue sky.

We’ve been in a time warp this last month, crossing the country and back; we never know what day it is! It was a mere September-something when we left home! Someone mentioned November to me the other day, and I thought “Why is she talking about November — that’s not for three more months!”

But here’s proof, the full Hunter (that’s October) moon, shining in on us last night in our room as we pulled out of Los Angeles. (See those two other little lights in the sky? There were actually four; the other two didn’t show up in the picture; they weren’t stars; they were airplanes in line, coming in to land at LAX!)

Yes, there’ve been lots of goodbyes this month, hellos, then goodbyes. It inspires many opportunities for kisses. This one is to my sister Shelly; she’s the youngest of the eight children in our family and the mom of twin boys who are eight-years-old. I was in the 8th grade when I told my mom I wanted to name our new baby after the most popular girl in my Junior High School who’s name was, of course, Shelly Stewart. I wob her. ♥

On our last day, we took Judy and Kellee to Ventana Grill in Pismo Beach, to feed them delicious food, and to say goodbye to them (and to California!).

P.S. My life would probably always be out of focus without Judy and Kellee! ♥

I tweeted the ride down Pacific Coast Highway, in the moving car, as we traveled along Trancas, Zuma, then Malibu Beach. There was no problem sending photos and videos from my iPhone, of boarding the train and watching Beatle Youtubes on the computer; all magic and working like a charm. But today, this post has disappeared from view twice, taking most of my brain cells with it. I would have tweeted to let you know, but of course the phone didn’t work either! A smarter person would have not fought city hall and given up the first time. Apparently, the desert, moving trains, and technology are not, how you say, “as one?” I almost gave up, but here it is in all its glory. My question is this . . . what do you want to see next? I could show you the inside of the famous Madonna Inn where everything is pink–I took many photos in there. Or maybe you would like a posting with lots of sparkly pictures titled “I ♥ Vintage Glass” — or I could show you how to keep wooden spoons and cutting boards beautiful; or I could just kill two birds with one stone and make us a list of what I have to do when I get home. That would be a thrill. What would you like my darlings? . . .

♥ ♥ ♥

We Love Pink ♥

On Our Way Home . . . to Martha’s Vineyard!