Noe’s Nest: What part of princess ..... ?

5^th – 6^th August, 2013.

 

Laura and Arend’s one-bedroom apartment was full to overflowing, so Pat, Paul and I stayed for our last night in San Francisco in the B&B Noe’s Nest, in Noe Valley.

When Laura drove us there, the front room was filled with laughing women, some in various states of undress. It turned out that the proprietor, Sheila Ash, was hosting a women’s clothes-swapping party, with all proceeds going to one of Sheila’s several charities.

Sheila, 66 (but looking much younger), has become a San Francisco icon after arriving in the city decades earlier as an unmarried Jewish mother with a bi-racial child and living on welfare. After studying and working hard in such a variety of jobs as waitress, model, actor, director, teacher, restaurant reviewer, fashion consultant and B&B proprietor, she now donates to the charities who supported her in her early days.

A cushion on Paul’s bed asks “What part of Princess don’t you understand?”

 

We were all given a glass of wine and invited to join the clothes-swapping ladies or go and sit in the Butterfly Garden at the back of the house. Pat and Paul immediately elected to go to the garden, which was a veritable fairyland.

 

In the Butterfly Garden was what Sheila called the Wine Tasting Room. This was a glass hexagonal heated room, which featured a chandelier and wood panelling.

 

The Wine Tasting Room also featured mirrors and stained glass inserts.

 

Our room was very luxurious, and included a chandelier.

 

Somehow, it didn’t seem quite right to set up my computer on this Chinese lacquer-ware desk in our room.

 

This was our very fancy bed.  And no, that is not a picture on the wall – it is the houses across the street, pretty as a picture.

More of the houses across the street:

 

 

On the wall of the stairwell.

 

Next morning, Sheila (right) and her friend made breakfast for us.  Sheila told us that she had designed her outfit herself. 

We believed her.

 

Sheila’s formal dining room.

 

Sheila’s motto?

 

Part of the front of Sheila’s house, taken as we were boarding our early taxi for the airport.

 

Here is Sheila, who went downstairs to copy an article about herself for us, which had been published in the local paper.  Reticence was a quality Sheila had obviously dispensed with long ago.

 

Sheila gives Pat the article and a goodbye kiss.

Paul’s plane back to Australia was that evening, but Laura, Arend, Pat and I shared a special taxi to the airport.  Pat and I were flying to Vancouver to begin our Alaskan cruise, and Laura and Arend were flying to Hawaii to begin their honeymoon.  It was sad to say goodbye to them, but we were so happy to have shared this special time with them.

Hope we see them again soon!