Category: Life

bookmark_borderThe sweet, sweet syrup of the Prince of Lies

Posted on by Christine Elias

I learned something fascinating recently — vinegar is the sweet, sweet syrup of the Prince of Lies. This is what it did to my polished concrete floor. A little accident making some salad and — damn! — a whole lot of damage.

After the spill — if you look closely you can see some of my tears, too.

The good news is a vinegar spill can be fixed. The bad news is this cannot be accomplished by a handy homeowner with a Dremel  — believe me,  I considered it. Professionals must be called in.

This is what the floor looked like after the men came and buffed it. (It looks just like it did before the tragedy.)

Yeah, it’s frustrating when things go wrong and you have no one but yourself to blame but yourself. (Oh, why did I make salad that night — I would’ve been so very happy with soup!) Not to mention, this is the second bit of excitement (not the fun kind) in my condo in the last year — I also had to replace my washer/dryer.

But look how good the floor looks now! That’s thanks to a company called Toronto Marble Renewal. I was very pleased with their service and professionalism. I highly recommend them.

What I don’t recommend is having a salad a my house. If you come over, we’re having gazpacho — um wait, that has vinegar in it!I wonder how much it will cost to install hardwood floors.

 

 

bookmark_borderTwo (very different) Gothic Revival Mansions

Posted on by Christine Elias

This is the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina…

Pretty impressive, right? It’s even more impressive in person. I am not the only one who thinks so — over 1 million people visit every year. The estate is still owned by one of the Vanderbilt’s descendants —  William Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil — who sounds like a pretty business-savvy fellow…

“My acquaintances in the world of historic preservation told me in the 1960s that Biltmore could never be profitable, that I couldn’t run it as a private enterprise,” recalls Cecil, who is president of The Biltmore Company, which operates the 8,000 acre estate in Asheville, NC. “But they were wrong.”

Beyond the actual castle — I mean house — the grounds are pretty  amazing, too — all 125,000-acres of them were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.

The architecture is not exactly my taste, but I really enjoyed my visit there a few years ago.

And this is Casa Loma in Toronto…

Also quite impressive! The exterior was restored a few years ago at a cost of $20 million. The interior — well — it’s very tired. In fact, some parts of the mansion appear to be in dire need of serious restoration.

The City of Toronto has always owned Casa Loma but it was managed by the Kiwanis Club of Casa Loma (KCCL) from 1937 to 2011. Currently it’s run by the Casa Loma Corporation. Apparently, there was a bit of a power struggle between the city and the Kiwanis..I must have missed that in the paper.

In 2006, a public process to develop a strategic vision for Casa Loma was started, but because of downturns in the economy and a number of financial challenges, this  vision has not been implemented to any significant extent. That’s too bad.

There were not a lot of people there this past weekend which surprised me a bit. From what I read, the attraction gets about 300,000 visitors a year, which sounds like a lot. But to compare, the CN Tower gets 2 million visitors or so a year.

Casa Loma is — at the risk of sounding maudlin — a beautiful tourist attraction in dire need of some love. I hope it gets some soon.

That said, I did enjoy my visit — especially the stables and the tunnel!