Thursday, 29 December 2011
send valentines day flowers - Census Bureau: Transition of American FactFinder
send valentines day flowers - Wedding chapel and amenities for sale in Elkton
Owners Frank and Barbara Smith hope a buyer will retain the chapel, the last remnant of the bustling marriage business that once defined this town on Maryland's northern border. But they also realize that the site, across the street from the Cecil County courthouse, would be a prime location for lawyers' offices.
"I am so worried we will lose this tradition, but we have to sell," said Barbara Smith, a lifelong Elkton resident who, at 80, is ready to forsake weddings. "We are the only one left, in a historic building with a historic sign out front, and our painting hangs in the Annapolis State House. We hope to find someone interested in keeping the building as a chapel."
Frank Smith, Barbara's husband of 15 years, handles the arrangements now, but, he, too, is ready to retire. He has officiated at more than 6,000 weddings, including one at which the ring bearer, a 180-pound Great Dane stood on its hind legs, placed its front paws on his shoulders and licked his face as he led the couple through their vows.
The Smiths are asking $350,000 for the four-story building and will toss in all wedding accouterments, down to the dainty lace curtains with rosebud tie-backs and the overflowing silk flower arrangements.
"We will leave whatever the buyer wants: definitely the pews, altar, seasonal decorations," he said. "They could be open for business the day they settle."
About 15 chapels, including one in the back of a barbershop, once lined Main Street, staffed by a platoon of ministers. The lack of requirements — no waiting period, no blood tests and no witnesses — drew celebrities and ordinary folks.
The famous brides and grooms include actors Cornel Wilde and Joan Fontaine, songstress Billie Holiday, John and Martha Mitchell of Watergate notoriety, evangelist and sometime presidential candidate Pat Robertson, and baseball legend Willie Mays. There's even an unconfirmed report of Babe Ruth's nuptials.
And the town's distinction spread through movies such as the Oscar-winning "Philadelphia Story," in which James Stewart beseeched Katherine Hepburn to run away with him to Elkton.
But business has waned considerably over the years.
Last week, Elaine Dunn and Michael Christopher were wed in the same small chapel her mother and grandmother chose for their weddings. All three brides walked slowly down a sweeping staircase from a spacious second-story dressing room and into the parlor that is Elkton's last Wedding Chapel.
As grandmother Ada Allison, who married on Dec. 9, 1960, and mother Susan Pennock waited for the bride, they reminisced.
"Martha Raye got married here in the morning, and I followed right after her," said Allison, 96, referring to a comedienne popular in the 1950s. "I don't know how long she kept her husband, but I was married 29 years."
For Pennock, a widow after 37 years of marriage, the day was bittersweet and her first time back to the chapel on Elkton's Main Street since her own wedding in 1971.
"It hasn't changed much," she said.
Sometime early last century, the then owners of 142 East Main converted a room into a chapel with pews and an oak altar that remain today. Even when Maryland enacted a two-day waiting period between license and ceremony, elopers still chose Elkton, and it remained, in the pre-Vegas era, the marriage mecca of the entire East Coast.
Barbara Smith purchased the building in 1975, and Frank joined her in the business when they, too, eloped — to Santa Barbara, Calif.
"We survived, and so did Colonial Jewelers and Edwards Tuxedos," Frank Smith said. "That's about it. Now we have law offices, tattoo parlors and bail bondsmen. If we close, that's the end of the wedding business."
Not exactly the end, but definitely the demise of a more church-like option. Just across the street, the courthouse nuptials will go on. Janice Potts, deputy clerk of the courts for nearly 30 years, registered 100 marriages in November, personally performing about 75 of them. There were 83 weddings at the courthouse on Valentine's Day, twice the number at the chapel.
"I guess we will pick up their business," Potts said. "The Smiths are good friends of mine. It is sad when any business closes."
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
send valentines day flowers - Two Brothers make big plans for food, beer and fun in 2012
“It’s going very well,” said Jim Ebel. “We’ve changed a lot of the way things are done, bringing sort of a different type of food — a different level of food, in our opinion. We serve a lot of organics. We’ve done a lot of remodeling, trying to create a more comfortable atmosphere for people. We’ve rebuilt the entire kitchen.
“Our focus is 100 percent on the customer so if they’re at the restaurant, they’re getting a top-quality experience every time. That’s really paying off.”
The brothers bought the restaurant, formerly known as Walter Payton’s Roundhouse, at auction for $1.1 million after longtime operator Scott Ascher filed for bankruptcy.
When the restaurant reopened under its new moniker, the owners began welcoming in a steady stream of diners and beer connoisseurs who enjoy the organic, sustainable food from local farms — much of the produce is grown on a family farm in Plainfield, for instance — and speciality beers brewed on location.
“I think everybody likes the idea of eating healthier and supporting the local economy as much as possible,” said Ebel.
Everybody also seems to like local bands, he noted, especially now that cover charges are gone and patrons can enjoy a wide variety of music for free.
“We try for the most part to focus on musicians within 30 miles of the Roundhouse,” said Ebel. “We like the aspect of doing local original artists rather than the stereotypical cover bands because you get a lot of local flavor. One night you might have a band with a big brass section — how often do you see that anymore? — and one night it might be a solo acoustic.”
As for those specialty beers, the first batch already has come and gone. And come spring, when the new brewing equipment is installed, the brothers plan to launch new brews — and pairings to go with them.
“We’re getting ready to launch beer dinners,” said Ebel. “We’ll be having specifically prepared meals with the brewers and owners there to explain flavor profiles and who we are and what we do. That will really take it to the next level of what beer and food pairings can do.”
The first beer dinner is planned for just before Valentine’s Day, and it’s just the start of a series of events celebrating the delights of barley and hops. This summer, the brothers plan to bring Hop Juice Fest, an outdoor summer celebration named for their Hop Juice brew, to downtown Aurora.
“We’re working with the city now to ensure that can happen in Aurora,” said Ebel. “We expect it will, and it’ll be a lot of fun.”
Saturday, 24 December 2011
Send Valentines Day Flowers - 2 Families Bond After Child's Death Saves Another
PASADENA, California (CNN) -- A tender smile frames the face of Eva Perez as she remembers the life of her 6-year old son.
"Hernan was a very happy boy," she says. "He gave me flowers all the time. He's the first 'man' (to) give me flowers."
But her smile is thinly veiled -- her face splintering into tears as she permits the raw truth to surface.
On Valentine's Day in 1999, Hernan suffered severe head trauma while sledding in the snow-covered mountains above the Los Angeles basin.
Eva says she tried to reach her son but couldn't navigate thick snow and ice. She flagged down a passing vehicle and asked the occupants to alert authorities.
Hernan was airlifted to Huntington Memorial Hospital, where, two days later, he was declared brain dead.
A family care coordinator with One Legacy, an organ and tissue recovery agency, approached Eva and her husband, Arnold, to talk about donating Hernan's organs.
They decided to donate four of Hernan's organs: his heart, liver and both kidneys.
"The right kidney went to an older white gentleman," says Arnold Perez, Hernan's stepfather. "The left kidney went to an older Vietnamese gentleman. His heart went to a young American boy, and his liver was given to a young girl."
That young girl, 9-year old Megan Corfee, recently recalled the day when she and her mother, Debbie, received word that a donor organ was available.
They were at a car wash when the pager from One Legacy started buzzing.
"I called the coordinator and she told me, 'We have a liver for Megan, get here as soon as you can,' " Debbie said. "I was like 'Wow! That was fast, after only being of the donor waiting list two weeks.'"
When Megan was just 7 years old, she was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis, a liver disease that she says "made my body think I didn't have a liver."
"I was jaundiced and I was throwing up blood," says Megan, who turns 22 this month. "Basically, when they did the transplant, they said my liver was shrinking, so I was pretty sick."
Four years after her successful transplant, Megan sent a thank-you letter to the Perez family. In the letter, printed on floral paper, Megan tells the unnamed "Donor family" she enjoys music and watching "Cosby Show" reruns.
"I had my liver transplant when I was 9 years old. I am now 13 and I am doing very well," she wrote. "I am very thankful that you decided to have your loved one's organs donated."
Three years after Megan sent that letter, the two families -- who lived about 30 miles away -- agreed to meet.
"Megan Corfee came to gladden our hearts," Arnold Perez said. "To me, she is an angel that was given life by another angel, and in our lives, she is a source of light."
Since they first met in 2006, the Corfee and Perez families get together every year at fundraising events for Donate Life, which handles the national organ and tissue registry and helps to raise awareness about the benefits of organ donations.
The Perezes treat Megan like their own child, and Eva and Megan have formed a particularly close bond, communicating nearly every day, either on the phone or via Facebook.
It's rare for donor and recipient families to meet, let alone forge such a close relationship, according to Bryan Stewart of Donate Life.
"In the case of Hernan, it was devastating for the family to lose him in such an accident," Stewart said. "And yet at that time, they saw the opportunity to leave a legacy of life where they could see Hernan's gift grow into other people."
Megan's mother said that sometimes, the meetings between the two families have "been a little awkward, I think maybe (because of) the language barrier."
But, Debbie Corfee added, "I see, especially in Megan, that it's something that gives her a boost and a spark in life. That life is worth living because of her connection with this family."
On a recent Saturday morning at the Rosemont Pavilion next to the Rose Bowl, the Corfee and Perez families met to help hundreds of other volunteers decorate the Donate Life float for the Tournament of Roses Parade scheduled for January 1.
Eva grasped Megan's hand tightly and said, "Look at the float!"
"One More Day," read the banner, "One more day I can have with Hernan and one more day that people are on the waiting list -- they want one more day to receive the transplant."
Three years ago, the Perez family was chosen to make a floragraph -- a floral portrait of Hernan on the Donate Life float featured in the parade. Eva Perez was selected to walk alongside the float, holding a tether to a hot-air balloon that featured a portrait of Hernan.
"(She) was literally connected to his portrait," Stewart said. "So for her, it was like walking five miles with her son again."
This year, Arnold Perez was chosen by his fellow volunteers to represent them on the Donate Life float. He will be one of 28 float riders.
The Perez family volunteers with Donate Life. Every week, Eva shares her story of loss to visitors to the Mexican Consulate in downtown Los Angeles in the hopes they will sign up to become organ and tissue donors.
Eva Perez credits the organization for giving "my son's death meaning."
"I realize that his organs and his life live on in other people," she said.
With their son never far from their thoughts, the Perez family will spend this Christmas at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City decorating Hernan's grave site with tinsel, wreaths and artificial snow as they do every year.
"In the six short years that Hernan was on Earth, it was clear to see that he was a marvelous boy," Arnold Perez said. "The fact that he was so marvelous and generous made it easier for us to make the choice to have him be an organ and tissue donor.
"He was a happy child, and the time that I spent with him and held him were really the joy in my life."
Copyright CNN 2011
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