Here is a pic of a piece of blueberry cobbler with HD vanilla ice cream ala mode. I actually baked the entire cobbler myself. I started baking these last summer and have improved the recipe since. Only a few select have tasted this summer culinery treasure.

Saturday morning Bonnie, Prana, Mudra and I went tag saling in the neighborhood (lower Berkshire County). It was slim pickens, although I did pick up 2 pieces. The first was a faience lavabo purchased at the flea market on Rt. 7 in Great Barrington. The second piece was a bit unusual for me to purchase or even pick up. We were on Rt 102 on the way to Lee and parked on the median, walked across the street to an "estate sale" on the side of the road. There were a couple of interesting looking items but nothing special. Bonnie purchased a yellow ware bowl and 2 bracelets. I picked up a Wedgwood Etruria bowl with ram head handles. Bonnie was surprised by my choice. I don't buy dishes. But I liked this one. Bonnie said that it matched a partial set of dishes we had in the house. Now that set is a little less partial.

Before leaving our house for the 22 minute drive along the Housatonic River to Tanglewood, I prepared for the mosquito blitzkrieg. I doused my body in deet. I don't think I was bitten at the concert, however I felt itchy from earlier bites. We parked in a field fairly close to the venue. and loaded our new wheely thing (used for our gear). That actually made our hike to the site easy. Previously, we used our backs and our red wagon left over from our 25 years on Fire Island. We joined the endless caravan of picnickers, crossed the street under the careful eye of what is probably all the local gendarme and picked our spot in direct line, albeit far back, with one of the super sized movie screens. It just doesn't really matter where you end up at Tanglewood. Its just nice.

There were thousands of people on blankets, collapsible aluminum chairs with baskets, shopping bags (some provided by caterers) and coolers filled with anything you can imagine. I used to think this a picnic competition. I realize now its just a herd of individual family and friend groups just wanting to hear music, eat and drink in a bucolic setting. Many came with candles, some with exotic or at least heirloom candlesticks. Near us was a group of 4 with a folding table set for dinner and matching chairs. In the distance the sun was setting over giant trees. We had a picnic with great cuisine by our in house top chef and hostess, Bonnie. The bowl mentioned earlier is impressive so we used it for the angel hair pasta. Lemon chicken, a small charcuterie platter with sour dough bread, my blueberry peach cobbler and a celebration beverage were served.

It was Movie Night at Tanglewood last night. John Williams, composer of the sound tracks of ET, Harry Potter and if I had the program in my hand I would list many others that you know, conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Frank Langella (Dracula) narrated.

Unusual for a Saturday night, there was no rain. We had given our Bob Dylan tickets for the same night to our son Philip. The Dylan performance was in Bethel, NY. (Woodstock). Philip and his friend Nicole road their Vespas to the concert. Report said, "it rained there."

This little doggie woke me this morning.

Around 01230

Notice anything new at the estate?

Its been a long time since my last post. I have yet to write about what I do. I liquidate FF&E at locations that are closing due to bankruptcy, downsizing, or moving. I enjoy this work except for the job loss factor. I like to sell items so that others can capitalize on the pricing instead of purchasing new at super retail. Most of what we sell is in very good order.

Lucky for me I have had work assignments with no travel requirement. I consult for Hilco Fixed Asset Solutions LLC and have had the pleasure of working on many nearby assignments including: Linens & Things, Rag Shops, National Wholesale Liquidators, Pep Boys, and most recently the largest music store in the world; Virgin Mega Store in Times Square, NYC.

I just completed Virgin last week. Virgin was for me the most challenging assignment in the liquidation business yet. New York is tough for a liquidation, Times Square makes it tougher and the landlord, Vornado was the toughest icing on this cake. 1540 Broadway (home to Virgin Mega Store) is a very desirable piece of real estate and since 911, Vornado has not allowed truck access to its loading dock. When I was in my first meeting on the site, I heard that there would be no way to gain the cherished access that I felt was needed to complete the job within the time frame allowed. "We must be out by April 15 and you will never be able to bring a truck inside the building", was heard over and over again.

I met the general manager of the store, Gavin and the operations manager, Fred. Both were certain that there would be "no way to get the loading dock access needed". There were 2 freight elevators. One was available only to the land lord's contractor while the other was shared by everyone else in the building. Just another hurdle.

The items sold in this FF&E (Fixture, Furniture and Equipment) liquidation included the complete DJ booth, theater and decorative lighting, store use CD and DVD players, many plasma displays, a bit of recording star memorabilia and retail store fixtures of very fine quality.

To make a long and excruciating story short, we did get the access needed after the merchandise liquidation was over and the store closed to the retail public on April 31. We were then directed to be out on the 8th of April. OK, we could do that. Then it was April 7th. Well we did that. Had a great walk through with the landlord's representative. The walk through was his new high bar and all his future walk throughs would be compared to this one.

Now, you might say I am between Virgins as I will soon be at the Union Square location due to start by the end of April. I learned a lot from this one, primarily; set the goals, stay focused and don't let anyone's opinion discourage me. This job was an excellent example of how visualization works. Just as I saw the job from the beginning is the way it turned out. Wow!

See you at the Virgin Mega Store Union Square liquidation soon.