Mon-talk© with Ingrid Lemme,  August  2006

American Dream Quote of the Month: "A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.”   ~ James Dent

American Dream Woman© of the Month: Patricia Waleko, kindergarten aid , Montauk Public School


American Dream Man© of the Month: David Rattiner is the editor- in –chief of the Montauk Pioneer  who lives in Montauk.  www.MontaukPioneer.com

Best Friends of the Month: Aida and Susan

American Dream Business of the Month: Montauk Plaza Pet Supplies

 

American Dream Teen of the Month:  P.J. Monte - a skilled boxer, and a real nice, cool, handsome guy  who is in training for the Golden Gloves. 

American Dream Doctor of the Month: Shawn P. Cannon D.O.  www.HamptonDoc.com  Dr. Shawn P. Cannon was educated at The New York College of Osteopathic Medicine where he earned his medical degree in an accelerated program. He continued his studies at The Albert Einstein College of Medicine at The Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. Dr. Cannon completed his medical education in 1995 where he served as Chief Resident in the Department of Social Internal Medicine.

American Dream Kid© of the Month: Alexis & Ciara Giffin ( the twins are 9 years old)

American Dream Mom© of the Month:  Diana Giffin

American Dream Dad© of the Month:  Tommy Giffin

American Dream Baby© of the Month: Michaela Giffin

American Dream Boat© of the Month: Evening Prayer with Capt. Kevin Maguire ( see photo)

American Dream Teacher of the Month: Dear Ines Fox

 

American Dream Movie of the Month: You, Me and Dupree Released July 2006 /  Comedy  - www.youmeanddupree.com  - starring Matt Dillon, Michael Douglas, Owen Wilson, Kate Hudson – others. A fun and easy summer movie. Rated PG-13

VIP of the Month: Actor Matt Dillion ( Crash)  who visited Montauk a couple of weeks ago ( he stayed at Gurney’s) – His is starring in the summer comedy ‘You , Me & Dupree’

American Dream Media of the Month:  East Hampton Independent for Rick Murphy’s column Low Tidings - Crucifying Madonna! ( the crazy signer, that is )

American Dream Book of the Month:  The Caregiver’s tale - Loss and Renewal in Memoirs of Family Life  by  Ann Burack-Weiss

American Dream Author of the Month: Richard Montauk is the author of How to Get Into the Top Colleges and How to Get Into the Top MBA Programs (both Prentice Hall Press), he divides his time between homes in San Francisco, California and London, England.


American Dream Couple of the Month:  Eugene & Jean Prohaske ( 54 years married)

 

American Dream Real Estate Company of the Month: Pospisil Real Estate


American Dream Real Estate Person of the Month:  Geri Tomitz of  Keeshan ( just a nice, honest  woman )

 

American Dream Mobile of the Month:  2006 Honda Civic Hybrid

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American Dream Artists of the Month: Ernest D. Wildner-Fox, who donated to the Montauk Playhouse  a rendering of his vision of the exterior of the future Montauk Playhouse Community Center.

Website of the Month: www.DateHampton.com, an exclusive online web community for singles seeking to date someone in the Hamptons (created by David Rattiner) and it is free for you to post.

Fan of the Month:  David Rattiner

 

Food for Thought: Working class pushed of the NC Coast / Coastal growth threatens small businesses - The  N.C. state legislature is considering a tool to slow the disappearance of traditional waterfront businesses such as fish houses, the same kind of property-tax break that farmers can get.www.newsobserver.com/1233/  - Does that sound like what we could get accomplished on our East End?

 

Hot Tips of the Month: St. Therese Outreach Line for people of Montauk who need help – call 631.668.1318  – You don’t have to be a member of this church.

American Dream Town™ of the Month:  Abindon, Virginia, American Dream Town 2006  - won the prestigious title with over 20 000 votes, national! www.AmericanDreamTown.com

Not –for –Profit Organization of the Month: The Montauk Surfcasters' Association (MSA) is a non-profit association which was started in 1985 by a handful of surf fishermen who wanted to have a voice in preserving and protecting the privilege to surf fish at all our pristine beaches in the East Coast. www.SurfCasters.org

Never Forgotten:  Patrice Magnier of Montauk, the beautiful young woman passed away on July 25, 2005 a day shy of her 18th birthday through a tragic accident. www.Patrice--Magnier.Memory-of.com

Save the Dates: Concert on the Green, every Monday in August 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm /
Saturday, August 5th - Harbor Lights Gala Benefit Montauk Playhouse Community Center / Montauk Lake Club / Saturday, August 26th, 2006 - Drinks by the Links - Montauk Village Association - Greenery Bucks Raffle @ Montauk Downs. / Every Wednesday night stand-up Comedy 9pm  @ Gurney’s Inn.

Bummer of the Month: Shortage of EMT  and Fire volunteers!  Motivate our retired East End   millionaires – or convert out volunteer departments and pay people who can afford to live here.

 

 


"The American Dream is alive and well to all those who choose to chase after it." -Jim Bickford

Town of the Arts, Abingdon , VA has won our ( started in Montauk 2003) the national  American Dream Town award 20006 online competition by collecting more than 20,000 votes world-wide. The voting was done last year from October to December on the website www.AmericanDreamTown.com   Each voter could go to the American Dream Town web site once a day to cast a ballot, so the number no doubt represents also repeat votes by the same people. Still, the competition was heavy, 150 towns from 50 states ( three for each state). Mayor Lois Humphreys appeared on the American Dream® Show in Montauk (taped at Gurney’s Inn)  and now it was our turn to discover  the  America’s Dream Town 2006.

Just west of the Blue Ridge Mountains lies a terrain that was once highly thought of by Indians and desperately sought after by the white men, they say.  Nestled in the foothills of the Appalachians and secure in the valley formed by the Holston River is Abingdon, VA, a town rich in past and folklore, one the oldest English-speaking settlements west of the Blue Ridge. Founded in 1778 and first named Wolf Hills by Daniel Boone, Abingdon features a historic district of about twenty-blocks. Its Barter Theatre is the State Theater of Virginia and amongst the oldest professional residence theatres in the US, still performing in the second- oldest, performing arts space in the US. This very Barter Theatre launched the careers of such notables as Gregory Peck, Patricia Neal, and Ernest Borgnine. Abingdon has received other accolades as “One of the Top 100 Small Towns for the Arts in the US”; and many other distinctive honors. The Virginia Highlands Festival (held each August) attracts tens of thousands of visitors who enjoy the celebration of Appalachian culture. When the area was a rugged wilderness, the Cherokee nation, who lived to the South, and the Shawnee, who made their home to the North along the Ohio River, did not choose the Abingdon area as their home for a reason. Legend has it that the Great Spirit forbade them to come to this abundant area because the living would be too easy and the inhabitants would become corrupt. Here we have to part from most of the earlier history of the town  for space reason but are referring you to their website http://www.abingdon.com/our_rich_history.html  By 1800, Abingdon had become a well-established and populated center of Southwest Virginia, and this was the very Abingdon that attracted Francis Preston in 1830. It was in this year that he began building on his mansion-like home, which is now known as the Martha Washington Inn. That is the hotel where we stayed and enjoyed our stay thoroughly. Originally constructed in 1832 as private residence of General Francis Preston and his wife Sarah, in 1858 it was purchased as a facility for a woman’s college and then renamed the Martha Washington College.  In 1860 Martha Washington College held its first session and despite interruptions was able to operate through the Civil War.  In 1919 Martha Washington College consolidated with Emory and Henry College.  In 1937 the facility opened as a hotel.  It remains in a 19th century atmosphere where each room is decorated with antiques and is a most charming place to stay while discovering the town and area. A horse and buggy drawn carriage has a set space at the main entrance. Abingdon, unlike other towns, bounced back quickly after the Civil War (what do you expect?), and by 1875 prosperity had returned. By the early part of the 20th Century, Abingdon followed the trend that had swept the Appalachian Mountains: lumbering. The Depression, while causing the downfall of lumbering and the Martha Washington College, brought to Abingdon one of its greatest treasures: the Barter Theatre. In 1933, Robert Porterfield gathered 22 fellow actors and headed to his hometown of Abingdon. Here, he established the idea of "ham for Hamlet," bartering foodstuffs in exchange for a ticket to the theatre. Playwrights, including Noel Coward, Tennessee Williams, and Thornton Wilder, agreed to accept ham as royalties. One exception was George Bernard Shaw, a vegetarian like my Magna-Cum Laude husband man, who bartered the rights to his plays for spinach!!! Barter Theatre became the State Theatre of Virginia in 1946, with help from Eleanor Roosevelt; and in 1965 Lady Bird Johnson bartered a potted plant for a ticket. As we rode in the horse-drawn buggy down the shaded brick sidewalks, it was as if we had stepped back in time. Soon we arrived at Abingdon's oldest house, The Tavern, built in 1779. Faithfully restored, and located in the historical district on Main Street it now offers indoor and outdoor ‘rustic’ dining. The Tavern has served as a post office, stage office, inn, pub and restaurant throughout the years and is most delightful period restaurant serving great home-style ‘German food’ -  the Smoked Trout filet appetizer would do just fine on any Seven Star table.  After a most refreshing night sleep – we had refrained from the Sherry graciously offered on the dresser- we went for a swim in the natatorium, the new brick walls trying to match the ‘timeless façade’ of the other buildings. The Spa at The Martha was unfortunately sold out, so we could not try any of their signature treatments and got dressed for a romantic, elaborate breakfast for two. The potatoes pancakes were to die for. We met with our tour guides Rick Humphreys (he’s the Post Master for the Castlewood, VA Post Office, owns a B&B in Abingdon and is the Mayor’s son ) and CVB director Myra Cook at  the lobby for an excursion to the near-by Abingdon winery and to visit to one of the historic gristmills, a four-story, 5,000 square foot timber frame structure. The winery we found on a little fairytale creek with buildings almost too new looking to be there. We enjoyed a most informative tour but the wine-maker himself. Then we were off to the delightful White’s Mill, four miles north of Abingdon on the headwaters of Toole’s Creek.  This mill was originally constructed with two stones, a corn stone and wheat stone, and modifications around the early 1900’s moved the wheat stone out and replaced it with roller mills, bucket elevators, screening deck and a bolting sifter. Lunch we had at the Starving Artist’s Café, a local favorite featuring gourmet sandwiches and unique entrees for lunch and dinner, across the street from the old train station that now houses artists’ studios.  The food was delicious, the paintings on the walls fascinating and the company delightful.

America’s 5th annual American Dream Town competition is accepting your nominations starting December 1st 05 until October 1st 2006! 150 American Dream Towns national will be nominated and are competing for the #1 American Dream Town Award 2007. The winning town will be featured on the American Dream Show® on Hamptons TV. Hamptons TV is a commercial cable and broadcast TV station serving New York City, New Jersey, Westchester and Long Island with the affluent Hamptons and is watched world-wide in real-time via Live-Web-Stream. Just in time for the summer beach season the Long Island, N.Y.-based Hamptons WVVH TV station is making its local programs available on Time Warner Cable's video-on-demand system.

American Dream Town 2006 / Abingdon, Virginia - American Dream Town 2005 / Braselton, Georgia  - American Dream Town 2004 / Glen Rose, Texas -  American Dream Town 2003 / Montauk, L.I. New York

Love Ingrid

 

 

Ingrid Lemme is Director of PR and Marketing for www.GurneysInn.com  Resort & Spa in Montauk. She is show hostess of her talk show American Dream which airs on WVVH TV, 78 Hamptons Television Tuesdays 6:00 pm, Fridays at 7:00 pm and Saturdays at 2pm. www.AmericanDreamShow.com . Send her an e-mail to ilemme@optonline.net , or a letter to PO Box 752, Montauk N.Y. 11954.

 

Note: New airing times for American Dream® Show:

                                     Tuesday        Friday        Saturday

                                            (6PM)        (7PM)       (2PM)

Subject: AMERICAN DREAM SCHEDULE

 

                                Tuesday        Friday        Saturday

                                    (6PM)        (7PM)       (2PM)

Marvin Scott                      7/18        7/21        7/22

WB11 Anchor & Correspondent WB11   and Sunday's 11 News Closeup  

Peter Masterson                7/25        7/28        7/29

 

Film Director: His notable films from this period include Norman Jewison's In the Heat of the Night (1967) and a starring role in The Stepford Wives (1975). After writing the screenplay for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), Masterson became a director, making his debut in The Trip to Bountiful (1985) starring Geraldine Page and Masterson's wife, Carlin Glynn. But for an appearance in Gardens of Stone (1987), Masterson became a full-time director.

 

Carlin Glynn                      8/01        8/04        8/05

A stage actress and Actors Studio member whose theater roles have ranged from the ingénues "Gigi" to Mona, the madam, in the raucous "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" on Broadway and London's West End, Carlin Glynn has also made a handful of appearances in TV and films.

 

 

Charles Gargano                8/08        8/11        8/12

Chairman and Commissioner for Empire State Development - he  oversees development projects that include the rebuilding of Ground Zero – he is George E. Pataki's top economic adviser.