My New Year's Holiday in Palm Beach, Florida, Part Two
No visit to Palm Beach is complete without a little shopping and sightseeing.
During my recent trip to Florida, my friends and I took some time to walk through some of the wonderful antique shops along Dixie Highway, Georgia Avenue, and Worth Avenue. We had so much fun touring the different galleries filled with furniture, lights, garden ornaments, and other decorating pieces - I always take lots of photos of items that interest and inspire me. We visited Pan's Garden, a private botanical garden dedicated to Florida's native plants. And, on our last day we drove to Merritt Island, home of Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center, to visit the historic Hacienda del Sol.
Here are more images from my holiday in Palm Beach - enjoy.
-
- On this day we shopped along Georgia Avenue. This is Brass Scale Antiques, owned by Judy Barron. Judy’s shop focuses on American and mid-century pieces. She also runs estate sales in and around the Palm Beach area. I spotted this fun pet bowl and took a quick snapshot with it.
-
- In another store, I saw this old 19th century tilt-top table completely covered with shells. It reminded me of my granddaughter, Jude, who loves shells and has a large collection of her own.
-
- Here is the base of the table – also covered with interesting and beautiful shells.
-
- At Casa Gusto, I admired this breakfront burl cabinet piece. Burl is a grain characteristic that happens in many types of wood and results from harvesting a tree or a part of a tree that has a burl.
-
- Here, I was looking at both the woven mats on the wall used as the backdrop behind the paintings and the table – its apron has such an interesting shape.
-
- This chandelier from Italy is made with Brazilian agate and brass.
-
- I was told this giant clam shell came from the ocean off southeastern Africa. It caught my eye because I have several giant clam shells at Skylands. I often use them during parties to hold ice.
-
- Later in the evening, I saw one of the most gorgeous trees. This is a kapok tree, Ceiba pentandra. It is a tropical tree from the family Malvaceae, native to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, northern South America, and West Africa. A giant in the rainforests, the kapok tree can reach up to 200-feet in height, sometimes growing as much as 13-feet per year. This is one of only three kapok trees in Palm Beach.
-
- One of the things we also did in Palm Beach was consume way too many desserts during our brief holiday. This chocolate mousse with tuile cookie and whipped cream was at Le Bilboquet.
-
- And this is their apple tarte tatin with vanilla ice cream.
-
- Not a dessert, but just as decadent – a baked potato with caviar at Club Colette, where we celebrated New Year’s Eve.
-
- Here I am with Susan Magrino. The “necklace” I am wearing actually came off the table – it was part of the holiday decorations.
-
- This is the first sunrise of the new year, 2024 from the famous Worth Avenue Clock Tower. As the tradition goes, whoever is at the Clock Tower when the clock rings in the New Year, can join a group photo for the local newspaper.
-
- We also had the chance to visit Pan’s Garden on Hibiscus Avenue, just one block north of Worth Avenue.
-
- Right away, I saw this Rhipsalis, a genus of epiphytic flowering plants in the cactus family, typically known as mistletoe cacti. I love rhipsalis and have many in my own collection.
-
- Here is a beautifully shaped red cedar shrub.
-
- This is called a coontie palm, Zamia integrifolia. It actually looks like a small fern and is typically one to three feet tall with stiff, glossy, featherlike leaves.
-
- This is Southern river sage, Salvia misella, a low-growing ground cover native to the southern half of Florida and the Caribbean.
-
- And this is Silver Saw Palmetto – a naturally occurring form of the Saw Palmetto that is native to the southeastern coast of Florida.
-
- Do you recognize who I am with in this photo? It’s Dr. Mehmet Oz. He invited me over to see his gorgeous Addison Mizner designed 1919 mansion.
-
- The next day, we did a little more shopping and antiquing. This is one of a pair of authentic Royere chairs.
-
- And a wall of midcentury modern sconces.
-
- I really liked these woodland stone squirrels, but the only reason I did not buy it was because I didn’t like the squirrel’s toes – they looked too much like fingers.
-
- Driving by, I saw a sea heron drying its wings. At first I was concerned it was injured, but it later flew away, so I knew it was ok.
-
- On our last day in the area, an extra day due to travel issues, we drove to Merritt Island to visit the iconic Hacienda del Sol, now the home of Todd Eberle and Richard Pandesio. Todd is a very talented photographer and over the years has taken many photos of me for my magazine, Living.
-
- The 17,000-square-foot mansion features 11 bedrooms and 12½ bathrooms on a 7.5-acre site.
-
- It also has a 50,000-gallon saltwater pool overlooking this half-acre man-made lake.
-
- Look at the towering palm trees. There are many on the property.
-
- I saw this charming bench. Doesn’t it remind you of a peacock’s tail?
-
- This is one of the bathrooms. The original imported tile and marble came from Portugal, Spain, and Italy.
-
- This is called weeping mortar, a style that involves applying a very large amount of mortar when laying brick, but then not scraping or molding the mortar after it seeps out between the bricks.
-
- Here is a view of their living room.
-
- And here we are at one of the bars – I think there must be about six in the house. It was so much fun to see Todd and Richard, and to end our brief Floridian holiday on Merritt Island. I’d love to bring my grandchildren here sometime to see Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
