When we got up and had a hearty breakfast this morning, if you had told me we were going to end up spending the afternoon at the home of the most entertaining gazillionaire I have ever met, I would NOT have believed it. But first let me catch you up on Georgetown.
Here are some snapshots of some of the beautiful homes we toured by trolley yesterday.
Little did we know that the next day we would all be guests in the most beautiful of all these homes, the one with the brick wall.
After breakfast we walked up to the Rice Museum, or perhaps to be more accurate I should say I walked while the others fooled me and rode. As we left the boat I had to turn back and get something and they would not wait on me. By the time I reached the parking lot they were nowhere in sight. So I assumed they were on the way to the museum two blocks away. Off I went while they watched from the safety of the car and when I was over a block away they called on the phone and acted innocent.
Anyway we toured the museum and learned much about rice cultivation which I had first learned from reading John Jake’s novel “North and South”. Here are some photos from the museum where we again saw Tess the pearl wearing cat.
Leaving the museum we began browsing some of the local storefronts until we ultimately found a little sidewalk cafe that served toasted pimento cheese sandwiches with a little jalapeo mixed in. The plate included lobster bisque and salad. I was ready to eat. Now the food was good but the company was spectacular.
Three gentlemen were seated at the next table having a discussion over the foreign aid to Israel. (They are from left to right: Lee, Teddy Bowden and Steve Rothrock.) It seems that another of their friends was violently opposed to it and they wanted to send him a newspaper article about a recent congressional vote to send more aid just to get his goat. It seems that their friend does not believe the Muslims ever intend to use a nuclear weapon and are too smart to do so. Naturally I could not resist interjecting myself and made some comment. Thus ensued a conversation that began at lunch and continued on a tour of a remodeled former church, a guesthouse and a greathouse complete with dogs, cats and raccoons. I tell you we have paid as much as $25 per person to tour homes that were not as spectacular as this and it all started when we became interested in a bit of litigation Steve is involved in with the Architectural Review Board of Georgetown. I cannot as a judge comment on the case but I will tell you that I have never in my career seen anyone as involved and prepared as this one man was. He has even restored a former church and uses it to just display and prep his case. There is a full-time staff to man the phones and organize the evidence.
What you see here is the restored former church which from the outside maintains all it’s spiritual dignity while the inside is a war room for litigation.
Next we went to the house that is the subject of the litigation. It is a thoroughly nondescript cottage from the outside while inside is an interior fit for royalty. I have never seen so many details packed into one little house in my life. It was too much to take in but this was only the beginning, for on adjacent property was a home we had seen from the trolley the day before and marveled when we were told that over $1.2 million was spent on renovation. We now know it was way more than that that. Just look at this place complete with two Westies named Wheezer and Piggy, a shaved Persian named Grace and the largest raccoon I have ever set eyes upon. It was completely overwhelming. Computer problems due to weather means you will have to wait until tomorrow for these shots.
