Book Talk for The Hillsboro Club, Florida

I ended my tour of Florida with a final talk at The Hillsboro Club on the East Coast about an hour or so south of my prior talk in Palm Beach.  Over many years, I had heard about the special charms of the Hillsboro Club and indeed, it was every bit as delightful as all earlier reports.  Many friends are members and we discovered to our great delight, other long time friends who happened to be there at the same time.  Since it is a club, no one owns their own property —no condos, private homes or cottages.  Instead it is more like a New England Inn but right on the Ocean with its own private beach — it has been in existence since the early 1900’s when it started as a boys’ winter athletic training camp until the parents decided to butt in.

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Charlie found the perfect spot to paint, out on the deck of the Hillsboro Club overlooking the Ocean and the picturesque Lighthouse, which is one of the rare Lighthouses still working and run by the Coast Guard

The evening after the Sugar Bowl drew an enthusiastic audience, I spoke about my book — quite a contrast!  As it was after drinks, the audience was in a happy mood but I kept it short since I was between them and their dinner.  Dean Rybolt, who keeps everything running smoothly for the members made sure all the technology was in perfectorder.    Elena Vandervoort who had organized the evening introduced me.IMG_1331IMG_1325IMG_1324

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterwards, we had a delightful dinner in the good company of Elena and our friends who had first suggested, really urged, us to come to the Hillsboro Club — and just the women at our table joined together — Marion DeGroff, Bartie Cole who had organized a marvelous talk for me at the Ladew Gardens in Maryland several months before, Irene Hamm, a good friend from NY and Connecticut and me.   It was tough to leave the next day to come home to the storm du jour of that date.

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