From Louis

…………..The local news lately has had one tragic story after the other, so I felt the need to post something light hearted….What more could bring a smile to someone’s face than SNOWMEN…..For years Jac and I  collected snowmen….not very seriously….and just enough to put on the glass shelves on our kitchen windows. Whenever we saw something we liked we picked it up. There are music boxes, a snow globe, and even a snowman that lights up…Some are antique and some are brand new……I’ll keep them on the windows until March when there is still a chance of snow…..then like Frosty they disappear for another year.

…………………………There are few things that are as beautiful as a fresh new white blanket of SNOW…..before the plows and shovels, and dirt and salt destroy the simple serene beauty of it….it’s joyful……even Sammy loves to go out into the snow with Uncle Lou.

……………….I couldn’t sleep this morning……I got up and looked out of my bedroom window, and in the dark I could see the line where the black water ended and the line of white snow began…….It’s the first snow fall of the season here in my area of CT. It already looks like more than what was predicted at 3:45am, and it’s supposed to continue until 8:00am or 9am……who knows….maybe longer……..My mind was racing…..I didn’t want to go to the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea, because I didn’t want to disturb Sammy…..she would have been confused at being waken so early……..I normally would have gotten up as quiet as possible so as not to wake Jac, but she would always hear me and say “what’s the matter?”…….I would reply, “nothing, I just can’t sleep….I’ll go and watch some TV…..go back to sleep”……”No” Jac would answer….”it’s too early…..get back into bed, and I’ll rub your back”……..Who could pass up an invitation like that! I would obediently get into bed, and with the promised back rub, would fall back to sleep……….This morning, instead of a back rub, I’m visiting with my 24/7 friend…..my computer…….After I post this…..I’ll go and sit in my reclining chair with one of Jac’s mom’s crochet blankets, watch the snow fall, and hopefully fall back to sleep with my thoughts and memories of all the snowfalls I shared in the past.

…………….For the Anne Klein Company’s 30th Anniversary the AK Co. published a special insert in conjunction with Woman’s Wear Dailey’s magazine. It comprised of single photos and collages of the past years starting in 1968, the year AK was opened until 1998. The photo at the upper left is Anne Klein herself with two of her sketches. What many people do not realize is that she only designed the AK line for 5 years, from 1968 until she died in 1973. The impact she made in that small amount of time was phenomenal!!!! She changed the way women dressed overnight and created a new category of dressing….”DESIGNER SPORTSWEAR”. Yes, there were other sportswear designers before her like Claire McArdell and Bonnie Cashin, but none created boutiques housing their entire collections of coordinating separates and accessories to make it easier for women to shop and put outfits together…….These were the new working women who needed a different more modern way of dressing…..She had the first designer boutique in a store….it was called the “Anne Klein Corner” at Saks 5th Avenue. Before that designers clothes were mixed together in “salons”. A women could walk into the AK boutique and walk out with 2, 3, 4, 5 outfits that mixed and matched along with the accessories to tie it all together…..She no longer had to run around the store looking for pieces to go with what she purchased….The photos are just part of the 12 pages I still have. I started at AK when I was 24 years old and spent the next 20 years there………..the best years of my designing career. I will always be grateful to Anne Klein and her husband Chip Rubenstein for selecting me to join the company knowing I would replace her along with Donna Karan.

……………………Before I put my COOKIE ORNAMENTS away for another year…..I thought I would show all of these little treasures to you! Jac and I, when we lived in NYC, had cookie ornament parties in our apartment! We invited 4 friends over for a total of 6 of us to make ornaments. I’d mix the flour, salt and water to create the dough and put it in a bowl with a damp cloth over it, and we’d sit around a table and create. We used all kinds of kitchen utensils to create things such as a GARLIC PRESS which was great for making hair!…..a tooth pick to make the hole from which the ornaments were hung….and whatever thread you wanted to use to hang them with. I used gold thread. When we were finished with the ornament we put them on a cookie sheet and into the oven they went for about 1 hour or until they got golden…..Then they came out to cool, and once they were cooled we painted them with acrylic paint. Then sprayed with varnish to keep them bright. Considering they are a little over 35 YEARS OLD….they look pretty darn good…..The last party we had was in 1986! All of the ones above I made, and everyone else took theirs home…….It was great fun!!!!!….lots of wine, and lots of laughs….some of them were X rated, and some of our friends made ones that were XXX rated. Those went home with them to go on their own trees!…..LOL