Sunday, August 31, 2014

Musical Moments: September Song, Willie Nelson

Classic song and Nelson...



Willie Nelson, phantomstallion.com




Musical Moments: September Song, Willie Nelson


How time flies.

Suddenly August is almost over. Labor Day is here. It's the end of summer and the beginning of fall.

 And a great time for Kurt Weill's classic with Willie Nelson:

Hope you're having a great weekend.




Friday, August 29, 2014

Closings Lead Latest Darien Weekly Real Estate Results

Summer lull...



Harbor View, Neal Hughes, jrusselljinishiangallery.com




Closings Lead Latest Darien Weekly Real Estate Results


Nine closings led Darien residential real estate results for the week ending today.

Results in other categories, according to the Darien MLS, were:

-- Five new listings of property for sale;
-- Six price changes;
-- Three accepted offers, and
-- Two properties going under contract.

For more:  





Self-Made Real Estate Mogul's Homes

The art of the deal...



Don Peebles' Bridgehampton, Long Island home, wsj.com




 Self-Made Real Estate Mogul's Homes


Don Peebles, the son of a mechanic, grew up in Washington, DC, and has built a real estate empire that includes three palatial family homes, Candace Jackson reports on wsj.com.

There's the Bridgehampton house above, another in Coral Gables, Fla., and a third in Washington's Massachusetts Avenue Heights neighborhood near the vice president's residence.  And there's a beach house in Sag Harbor, Long Island.

 
 

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Home on Montana's Bitterroot River

House of the Day...

 
The River Farm, hallhall.com
 
 
 
Home on Montana's Bitterroot River
 
 
The River Farm, a 69-acre property that fronts directly on a world-class fishery, the Bitterroot River in Montana, is the Wall Street Journal's House of the Day today.

The property features a 7,800-square-foot house built in 2006, a pond and a tree nursery with views of the Bitterroot Mountains in Big Sky Country.
 
 
For a slide show with more photos by the listing broker:  http://hallhall.com/ranches-for-sale/properties/river-farm
 

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

About "Downton Abbey"

Cool castle...



Highclere Castle, hgtv.com




About "Downton Abbey"


Are you a Downton Abbey fan?

The abbey is actually Highclere Castle, an English country home, Briana Mowrey reports on hgtv.com.

Highclere, built in the Victorian era, is a working estate in the Hampshire countryside, Mowrey wrote.

A few fun facts about the castle:

-- It's old:  It was built 175 years ago;
-- It's huge:  The estate has more than 30,000 square feet of living space, and the property includes 5,000 acres;
-- It's expensive:  It's valued at more than $240,000,000.














Monday, August 25, 2014

Pricing Your Home to Sell

Pricing strategies...


 
Blinded by love, Sol Linero, wsj.com
 
 
 
 
Pricing Your Home to Sell
 
 
What's the best way to price your home for sale?
 
Nobody actually knows, Alina Dizik reports on wsj.com, as she covers a number of options people often try.
 
In residential real estate, the asking price is often as much about psychology as it is reality, she writes.
 
Michael Seiler, professor of real estate and finance at The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., said that most home buyers don't realize that setting an asking price is primarily a negotiating tactic.
 
 "When you set a list price, you're sending a signal to the market," he says.
 
Mike McCann, a real-estate agent with Berkshire Hathaway in Philadelphia, says pricing can be "a delicate balance."
 
Most sellers overestimate the worth of their home, he says, and some agents will start with a too-high price to avoid hard feelings. Others agents may start high just to get the seller's business or, conversely, they'll price too low for a quick sale and commission, he says.
           
Most agents say that getting sellers to start with a realistic asking price is one of their biggest challenges, Dizik reports.
 
 

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Musical Moments: First Anniversary

Keeping time...




Adele




Musical Moments:  First Anniversary



Musical Moments marks its first anniversary this month.

The series, which features some of my favorite music and artists, included 50 selections over the past year that I thought you might enjoy.

They ranged from Adele to Chopin and from Debussy to Gershwin and from Pavarotti to Vivaldi and more.

Today's feature is Final Song from Master and Commander:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l78VNe_dhAM

Here's a sampling of some of the most popular pieces from Musical Moments' first year that you might like to see and hear again:




Roberta Flack:  The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face: http://kenallensforum.blogspot.com/2013/09/musical-moments-roberta-flack-first.html








Friday, August 22, 2014

Closings, Deposits Top Latest Darien Real Estate Results

Mid-summer respite...


 
Morning Croquet, Watch Hill, RI, Sergio Roffo, jrusselljinishiangallery.com
 
 
 
 
Closings, Deposits Top Latest Darien Real Estate Results
 
 
Eight closings and seven properties going under contract topped Darien residential real estate results for the week ending today.
 
Results in other categories, according to the Darien MLS, were:
 
-- One new property for sale;
-- Five price changes, and
-- Three accepted offers.
 
The slower market activity was probably due to the usual mid-summer respite as many were on vacation before school begins shortly.
 
For more:
 


 
 

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Gabriel's Dream Come True

Looking good...


 
Gabriel Lavan-Ying and  park ranger, Yosemite, National Park Service
 
 
 
 
Gabriel's Dream Come True
 
 
Gabriel always wanted to be a park ranger.
 
When Yosemite park rangers got word of his dream, they stepped up in a big way, Skippy Massey reports on humboldtsentinentel.com.
 
Eight-year-old Gabriel suffers from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, an incurable disorder.
 
With the help of Make-A-Wish Central California and Yosemite National Park, Gabriel's dream came true in June when he was sworn in as an honorary park ranger.
 
See Gabriel attain his wish and join rangers on the job in Yosemite in a new, award-winning video:  https://vimeo.com/99676584
 

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Treasures of New York: Gold Coast Mansions

An opulent, bygone era...


 
Otto Kahn's Oheka Castle, thirteen.org
 
 
 
 
Treasures of New York:  Gold Coast Mansions
 
 
The North Shore of Long Island is commonly known as the Gold Coast.
 
During the turn of the twentieth century, it was home of hundreds of America's wealthiest men and women who built vast country estates modeled after country homes of the European gentry.
 
In a 40 year period from the 1890s to the 1930s, more than 1200 mansions were built on the Gold Coast by a who's who of the time, including the Guggenheims, Kahns, Morgans, Phipps, Roosevelts, Vanderbuilts and Woolworths, according to PBS.
 
For a peek into this opulent, bygone era, here's Treasures of New York: Gold Coast Mansions, which aired earlier this year on PBS in New York: http://watch.wliw.org/video/2365184233/
 

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Robin Williams: What Will Your Verse Be?


A salute...


 
Robin Williams, huffingtonpost.com
 
 
 
 
Robin Williams:  What Will Your Verse Be?
 
 
Earlier this year, Apple released a poetic television ad for the iPad that saluted Robin William's speech as John Keating in the 1989 classic Dead Poets Society, Mikaela Rakos reports on Dashburst.com.
 
Today, the ad is even more meaningful, she writes.
 
 
 
 
 



 

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Musical Moments: Eric Clapton, Wonderful Tonight

Do I look all right?


 
Eric Clapton, ultmateclassicrock.com
 
 
 
 
Musical Moments:  Eric Clapton, Wonderful Tonight
 
 
Musical Moments features music and artists I've enjoyed over the years.
 
 Eric Clapton wrote Wonderful Tonight on Sept. 7, 1976 while waiting for Pattie Boyd to get ready to attend Paul and Linda McCartney's annual Buddy Holly party.  Holly was an American rock and roll pioneer who influenced the Beatles and others, including Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones.
 
Boyd is a model, photographer and author from the UK.  She was the first wife of George Harrison and Eric Clapton.  In 2007, she published her autobiography Wonderful Tonight.  Her photographs have been exhibited throughout the US and have been seen in London, Dublin, Toronto, Sydney and Moscow.
 
The song was featured in the film Captain Phillips and in the Friends season 6 episode in 2000, according to Wikipedia.
 
 

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Robin Williams: The Invention of Golf

Fore!


 
Robin Williams
 
 
 
 
Robin Williams:  The Invention of Golf
 
 
Robin Williams was amazing.
 
Here's one of his hilarious riffs on golf:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okkhgZim5Ig
 
 

Friday, August 15, 2014

Closings, Accepted Offers Lead Darien Weekly Real Estate Results

Moving along...


 
Encounter at the Horn, Charles Peterson, jrusselljinishiangallery.com
 
 
 
 
Closings, Accepted Offers Lead Darien Weekly Real Estate Results
 
 
Nine closings and an equal number of accepted offers led Darien's residential real estate results for the week ending today.
 
Results in other categories, according to the Darien MLS, were:
 
-- Five new listings of property for sale;
-- Six price changes, and
-- Three properties going under contract.
 
For more: 
 


 
 

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Ralph Lauren's Chic Office, Home and Amazing Colorado Ranch

Polo man...


 
 
Pool house, Ralph Lauren home in Bedford, NY, architecturaldigest.com
 
 
 
 
 
Ralph Lauren's Chic Office, Home and Amazing Colorado Ranch
 
 
Ralph Lauren's chic Madison Avenue office, home in Bedford, NY, and amazing Colorado ranch are the subject of a feature story on architecturaldigest.com.
 
To see how the fashion designer has developed each of these places with his distinctive style, click on the link for a slide show:  http://www.architecturaldigest.com/celebrity-homes/2013/ralph-lauren-bedford-new-york-home-rrl-ranch-colorado-slideshow
 

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Cool Magician: Doug McKenzie

How does he do that?


 
Doug McKenzie, dougmckenzie.com
 
 
 
 
Cool Magician:  Doug McKenzie
 
 
Doug McKenzie is a magician who uses smartphones and more with amazing results.
 
Watch as this engaging wizard baffles and delights people in this enjoyable new video:  https://vimeo.com/102556992
 
 

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

New Video Offers Rare Look at North Korean Capital

Fascinating...


 
Pyongyang, rawstory.com

 
 
 
 
 
New Video Offers Rare Look at North Korean Capital
 
 
Enter Pyongyang, a new time-lapse video produced by a pair of film-makers for a North Korean tour company, offers a rare glimpse inside the enigmatic country's capital, Dylan Stableford reports on Yahoo.com.
 
The film-makers said they were given "relatively" free rein on the project, but were accompanied at all times by two "guides" from the National Tourism Administration office, Stableford wrote.
 
One of the film-makers said the team was not paid for the six-day shoot, though their expenses were picked up by the tour company, according to Stableford.
 
 

Monday, August 11, 2014

Enchanting Northern Italian Estate

Charm and nostalgia...


 
Bishop's Room, Agnelli estate, architecturaldigest.com
 
 
 
 
 
Enchanting Northern Italian Estate
 
 
Marella Agnelli takes her niece Marella Chia on a tour of the famous family's enchanting estate, Villar Perosa, outside Torino in northern Italy on architecturaldigest.com.
 
Reminiscing about her first visit to Villar, Marella Agnelli said, "There was this sense of being in an enchanting time warp.
 
"Villar was an old family home full of charm and nostalgia," she said.
 
The tour was a break for the two Masrellas from work on their new book, Marella Agnelli, The Last Swan about her life as a style icon, photographer, textile designer and inspired amateur decorator and gardener to be published by Rizzoli in October, Chia wrote.
 
 

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Musical Moments: Adagio in G Minor

Famous adagio...


 
Autumn Leaves, youtube.com
 
 
 
 
Musical Moments:  Adagio in G Minor
 
 
Musical Moments features music and artists I've enjoyed over the years.
 
This week's selection is the famous Adagio in G Minor. 
 
 Adagio in G minor for violin, strings and organ continuo, is a neo-Baroque composition popularly attributed to the 18th-century Venetian master Tomaso Albinoni, but actually composed by the 20th-century musicologist and Albinoni biographer Remo Giazotto, purportedly based on the discovery of a manuscript fragment of Albinoni, according to Wikipedia.
 
It has been the background music for a number of  films, including Rollerball, Gallipoli and Flashdance, Wikipedia reports.
 
 

Friday, August 8, 2014

Closings Lead Darien Weekly Real Estate Results

Closings jump...


 
East River, c. 1898, Donald Demers, jrusselljinishiangallery.com
 
 
 
 
Closings Lead Darien Weekly Real Estate Results
 
 
Twenty-one closings led Darien's residential real estate results for the week ending today.
 
Results in other major categories, according to the Darien MLS, were:
 
-- Nine new listings of property for sale;
-- Three price changes;
-- Five accepted offers, and
-- No properties going under contract.
 
For details: 
 


 
 
 
 
 

Thursday, August 7, 2014

New National Lighthouse Museum Opens Today

Tour 14 great lighthouses...


 
Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse under the George Washington Bridge, architecturaldigest.com
 
 
 
 
 
New National Lighthouse Museum Opens Today
 
 
 
The new National Lighthouse Museum opens today on New York's Staten Island, according to Carrie Hojnicki on architecturaldigest.com.
 
The museum is a sweeping ode to the design, history and importance of the lighthouse, Hojnicki wrote.
 
For more, including a slide show of some wonderful American lighthouses:  http://www.architecturaldigest.com/architecture/2012-06/american-lighthouses-slideshow?title=1