VACA 2011...Part 2

We stayed at the Hibiscus Coffee and Guesthouse in Grayton Beach. I really don't know where to begin with this place. Retro without trying. We described it as Florida Kitschy. The Urban Dictionary defines kitschy as so tacky or lame that it has a certain ironic appeal. That really sums it up. D said that a younger him would have turned around and walked out. The new more enlightened him just enjoyed it for what it was.

I said it was like a cross between staying at my Aunt Effie's and Grandma's house. I think the Hibiscus Coffee and Guesthouse was channeling my Aunt Effie. She was a trend setter.

It was not about pampering. None of that nonsense. That where the similarities to my Grandma came in. She was old school German. No pampering there either. And definitely no nonsense. (But she had a warm and loving heart.)

I'm not even sure if it was about clean. It was what it was. And they served a good breakfast. Don't be misled by "Coffee" in their name. This was not a coffee house coffee...more like a truck stop coffee. But, I don't judge. It was coffee.

As soon as we got in I started to take pictures of our room.

There was a matching one on the other side of the bed. (Do you see that bedspread? circa 1950.)

Me. Hi!

Note the Hibiscus in the frame? Our room was called the Hibiscus Room. So it was themed heavily with retro Florida Hibiscus mementos.

Hibiscus curtain over the closet.

"Vintage books, old china, antiques; maybe I love old things so much because I feel impermanent myself."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Virginia Woolf (A Room of One's Own)

"Everyone collects souvenirs, whether they call them that or not."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Michael Hughes

This was the hallway in our room. I just wanted a picture to show the floor. It was wood. Not planked wood...more like painted plywood.

Bathroom art

This bathroom was charming. Plantation shutters. Pedestal sink. Claw-foot tub. Lovely small black & white tiled floor. Pretty in that sentimental memory sort of way. Usability factor was low. The shower curtain, which circled the tub, grabbed you as you tried to bathe. D said it was like trying to shower in a ziplock bag. I thought that was eloquent.

Charming claw-foot tub

Then I sort of wandered out into the public sitting area, called the library. There was a beautiful chess set on a table by the window.

"I would certainly end up forever crying the blues into a  coffee cup in a park for old men playing  chess ..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Charles Bukowski (The People Look Like Flowers At Last: New Poems)