Surprise guests bring great Bluffton memories, and even some divine chocolates

I recently had two marvelous surprises at my store. These two treats were a welcome relief from all of the chaos going on in the world.

The first surprise was the arrival of Tao Melosi and his son Lucius.

Tao is the grandson of the late great designer extraordinaire Barbara Sturgis. Barbara and John Sturgis arrived on the Bluffton scene in the early 1980s having purchased the Fripp House sight unseen. John at the time was helping redo the Winterthur House in Delaware.

Barbara and John were absolutely amazing. They left no stone unturned when it came to “fixing” up the Fripp House. They painted and papered the house constantly .... changing it about when they felt it just needed a tweak. The two were a constant at every yard sale, estate sale .... any place they thought a treasure might be unearthed. What we might consider something to be horrid they saw the potential to make it a beauty.

Together they created a fabulous antique shop in their backyard, stocked it with their delicious finds and decorated it fabulously. People flocked from miles around and left with a skip in their step and a lovely goody. Lots of us in Bluffton have something the two decorated in some fashion.

Barbara and John started feeling the itch to move on to another challenge and began looking in Georgia for another historic house to embellish. My father found one for them in Sparta, Georgia, built in the 1820s so it was tootle doo to Bluffton and off to another adventure.

I visited them several times to see their renovations .... once again, they had collected all sorts of fantastic treasures and were very excited with the new endeavor.

Sadly, Barbara died in the midst of everything and Sparta faded into the sunset. John returned to Bluffton to put the Fripp House on the market and close the antique shop.

Tao and his sister Amber were the children of Barbara’s daughter Sarah. Their father was Italian so the children spent part of the year in Italy and summers in Bluffton.

When Tao came into the store we all had masks on so all one could really see were eyes. I said hello and Tao said, ”Babbie it is me, Tao. “

You could have knocked me over with a feather. He and I both were on the verge of tears and shared lots of hugs and joy at seeing each other. Tao had just sold a restaurant he owned in Kalamazoo and decided a road trip was what he needed.

When I last saw him, he was the same age his son is now, 14 years old. Tao remembers all of the fun he had in Bluffton and many of his friends.

He shared the sad news that John had died in Michigan, where he had moved after leaving Bluffton. John had lived on a farm and had a large barn crammed with treasures. One day Tao saw an ad in the paper for an estate sale and it was John’s. Tao was curious to see the contents of the sale so he went.

The barn was teeming with people and all of John’s wonderful things. Tao said it was a sad sight to see the prices on things that were going for a song. I know I would have loved to have been there and many of us who knew John would have too.

I adored seeing Tao and his son. After our visit, they were off to Southhampton, Long Island to visit his sister Amber and her three children. Tao plans on coming back in July while waiting until he can fly to Italy to visit his father. I got to practice my “pigeon” Italian ... Ciao.

Heaven in Bluffton

My second recent treat was a visit from Terri and Bruce Bogartz.

Some years ago I mentioned Bruce in one of my columns and his parents saw it and mailed him a copy. Bruce is a chef and owns a restaurant in Sandy Springs, Georgia, called Bogartz Food Artz, and Terri is a pastry chef. See her creations @terris-kitchen-table-pastries on Instagram or Terri’s Kitchen Table on Facebook.

The last time I saw Bruce he was not married, but he certainly got a fabulous, adorable wife. It is as though they were made for each other. Before they left Bluffton, the couple brought me a chocolate espresso cake with mascarpone-chocolate-coffee frosting, and chocolate-coffee-cinnamon shortbread cookies with almonds.

Did I say heaven? I was in heaven. We bid each other adieu and they drove off, leaving me in a state of bliss.