SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH BILL CHERRY, 14th Edition

If it's going to warm-up today in Dallas, it had better get busy doing it.  Although the day is clear and crisp, it's a bit brisk on the bench here in the park.  Thanks, though, for stopping by for our weekly Sunday after church visit.

THIS PAST WEEK one of my blog subjects dealt with those whose marketing is primarily devoted to stating that they are Number 1, the Top Realtor, the Best OB-GYN doc, sell the most fried chicken, or whatever.

Several hundred have read the piece thus far, and about eighty or so have taken the position that they feel those ads are usually deceitful and objectionable.  I think if they stretch the truth or are blatant lies, they are totally unethical.  And that they are used without audit shows that professional organizations that claim to monitor their members have serious flaws.

Here are the thoughts and things that we might want to ponder today.

J.M.W. TURNER.  19th Century English artist, J.M.W. Turner gained his fame as a landscape artist working in oil and watercolor.  The Dallas Museum of Art will show 140 of his works, the most comprehensive retrospective of his career ever held in the U.S.  The show will be hung from February 10th through May 18th. For more information: 214 992-1247.

CHUCK WILLIAMS.  This is the guy who took what he learned about repairing cars in his dad's repair shop, and became an airplane mechanic for Lockheed in India and Africa during World War II.

<<--Chuck Williams, circa 1947

After the war, he moved to Sonoma and for a number of years was a successful builder.  Then seven years or so later, he bought a hardware store and began adding French cookware to its inventory.  But it was when he was the first one to import the Cuisinart food processor that his store hit real pay dirt and transformed itself into America's most famous cooking supply store. Williams-Sonoma.

Although he sold the company years ago, approaching 93-years old, Williams still contributes recipes to the company's cookbooks and catalogs.  The company also owns Pottery Barn and Holds Everything.

WILLIAMS-SONOMA FEBRUARY CATALOG.  Among the culinary hardware and gifts are many pages dedicated to "preserving the culinary traditions of New Orleans."  Peppered throughout are authentic Crescent City recipes for gumbo, Brennan's chef Lazone Randolph's famous bananas Foster, Chef Leah Chase's red beans and rice, Central Grocery's muffuletta sandwiches, and my favorite, Antoine's eggs Sardou.

You can order the homemade olive salad that is the garnish for the famous muffuletta directly from Central Grocery, 923 Decatur St., New Orleans, LA 70116 (504) 523-1620.  Patty and I call 'em up and buy four jars at a time, twice a year.

NEW ORLEANS.  After spending a couple of years living in New Orleans as a college student and as a radio host for American Airlines' famous "Music ‘til Dawn" program, I admit that I have always fantasized about going back as a permanent resident.  At 67 and with a wife who loves Dallas, I'm resigned to the fact that won't happen.  Patty's infinitely more important to me than New Orleans.  But nothing can keep me from loving it with all of my heart.

WORLD WAR II.  In the spring just before the war was over, I was playing with my friend Butch, when a military officer rang the doorbell of his mother's home.  The soldier was there to tell her that her husband, Lieutenant Walter A. Kelso, Jr., had died as a captured prisoner of the Japanese aboard the merchant vessel Oryoku Maru on December 13, 1944.  I can vividly remember what Mrs. Kelso, Butch and I were each wearing, where we were standing in the living room and I remember trying to understand why his daddy would not be coming home.  Sixty-three years later, I still don't fully understand.

Lt. Walter A. Kelso, Jr., circa 1942 -->

A couple of years ago, Butch's son Mark, who I proudly call my surrogate nephew, began and completed an enormous research project to find out once and for all the history of the American soldiers who had been aboard the Oryoku Maru, but especially his grandfather.

Mark, a computer wizard, a Galveston Realtor and an Active Rain member, launched a web site that you must visit.  Oryoku Maru.  You will see the callousness of our enemy in a way that is quite different than you have probably heard before.   It seems that most of those accounts were seriously deluted.

There are many photos as well as the story itself.  Interestingly, Mark discovered that entertainers Tom and Dick Smothers' father was also a prisoner on the Oryoku Maru.

HILLARY CLINTON.  A friend of mine emailed this photo.  I pass it on to you just for the heck of it, not as a political statement one way or the other. 

I will say, though, that I'm not sure I can endure another nine months of this campaign   

And further, there is a very interesting article in this week's (1-21-08) The New Yorker by Ryan Lizza titled "Minority Reports."  (To the right is the accompanying editorial cartoon)  If you have the opportunity, be sure to read Mr. Lizza's piece.

McShan Florist.  When we were teenagers, three of us chipped in to help our friend J.E. Tramonte who worked in a local flower shop after school.  The Cagnolas who owned Elbert's Flower Shop were fabulous designers, and they taught us well.  I can still do it, and I can still make the plush bows. 

So I've remained very picky about who I buy flowers from because of that experience.  In Houston, there were none better than Harry Rice's and Leonard Thorpe's shops.  Only a shop called The Empty Vase came close. 

Here in Dallas, it's Bruce McShan's floral designers.  Bruce's family has been serving Dallas since 1948.  Here's their phone number.  800 627-4267.  Tell them how much you want to spend and turn them loose to make your gift enormously memorable. 

Do not under any circumstance ask for one of the wire service designs.  Those things, in the main, are miserable and they use the fan configuration that hasn't been in style since Dorothy Lamour, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby made the first Road picture ("A Road to Singapore" 1940).

Thanks for stopping by for the visit.  I really do look forward to seeing you each Sunday when we can get away from talking about real estate

It's fun to explore with you the things I've thought about and learned since our last visit.  So, I hope to see you next Sunday after church, and remember that...

GOD Blesses!

Pen and ink drawing of Bill in the park by Galveston artist Carlotta Barker

Copyright 2008 - William S. Cherry

All rights reserved

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