Two Afternoons

The Family has taken off to the mainland for a pool party at Ditmar's. My position was quite clear: I don't like going to Miami on a normal day; going on Halloween is the height of insanity. So I was able to return to my little home in the countryside of South Beach and finally get to my computer; the two in my office can't do much in the way of photo presentation.

We had two afternoons in which eyewear played an important part. It was not as important as the reason for the events or the hosts or the food and champagne, but was certainly there to be seen. On Saturday the owners of Twist graciously gave me the Bungalow Bar and courtyard for a lovely cocktail party lunch . The free-standing building was the perfect venue for a private gathering and Pimpernel styled a lavish lunch of grilled shrimp and rack of lamb accompanied with all the flare imaginable from one who travels Europe so much.
The Countess, as usual, became the center of attention and actually brought a jeweled wand for part of the party I will show later when I get the disc I left at the apartment. Officer Brian never seemed to leave the buffet table, a trait that I would see repeated through the weekend.

. It was the night of the great Save Dade Ball at The Children's Museum so we tried to tone the partying down.


On Sunday we attended duBarry's superb lunch at The Ritz Carlton. Here, we found a table set up as only the combined opulence-obsessed minds of The Ritz and duBarry. duBarry had worked for weeks over the telephone with managers of the hotel to make sure nothing went wrong for the fifteen guests and that they understood that it was going to be--well--a little flamboyant.

Hey, it's South Beach and even The Ritz has a sense of humor.


Every place setting was an elaborately decorated box and every box contained, yes, eyewear for each guest to wear during lunch. Officer Brian never stopped feasting; I know he was Henry VIII in a previous life.

Like giddy children doing something bad, we wore our glasses and dined and drank ourselves into oblivion. THOSE photos are coming, also.















Of course, there are ALWAYS those guests who's lives are already so over-the-top, that an outlandish pair of glasses blends right in.




Each afternoon, of course, had an evening attached......