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Blogs:
First Bell - On Education:
No City of Akron basketball tonight
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Pet telethon re-airs
The Heldenfiles:
NBC Releases Olympics Announcer List
Akron Zips:
Zips favored on road against MAC West leader
Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth's contract terminated
Balanced Ledger:
QB in Browns future: another mock draft
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – February 9
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs vs. New Jersey Nets
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day
Varsity Letters:
Five local gridders to play in Big33
All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Republican Pre-Conditions
Akron Law Café:
Law, Love and Chocolate
Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
HRLite House:
OFCCP Report
Akron Gamer:
Makers of 'Castle Crashers' unveil 'BattleBlock Theater'
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
By Mary Beth Breckenridge
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 12:00 p.m. EDT, Jul 10, 2009
NEW FRANKLIN: Nancy and Ted Sliwinski's home is a live-in travelogue.
One shelf holds an ornate metal plate from Iran; another, a doll from China. A trio of hookahs occupies a corner of the dining room, and a vividly painted door from a Bedouin hut hangs in the hallway.
The Sliwinskis have filled their home with treasures from their travels, collected during the nine years Ted Sliwinski worked as general manager of the Tamimi Group's commercial division in Saudi Arabia. The couple lived in that country five years, starting in 2000, and the rest of the time in Bahrain.
Wednesday, visitors will get a chance to appreciate their mementos during the Akron Symphony Guild's Lakes Tour of five homes on the Portage Lakes.
Many of the keepsakes were lugged back in suitcases during the Sliwinskis' trips home a few times a year, and the rest was shipped. Now the items add a worldly flair to their house on Turkeyfoot Lake.
The couple bought a house that used to stand on the site and rented it out a couple of years while they were in the Middle East. They had it razed about three years ago and built a new house.
Nancy Sliwinski drew up the house plans with input from her brother, a builder, and spent most of her time in the United States while the house was under construction so she could serve as general contractor.
The three-level house is traditional in design, with white-painted moldings, glossy oak floors and lots of windows to let in light and provide lake views. But it's the artwork and tokens from abroad that make the house memorable.
The couple incorporated them artfully into the home, so the result is neither cluttered nor museum-like. Dining room shelves hold many of the smaller treasures, intermingled with family photos. The wall of shelves was designed with space to showcase a Sri Lankan batik, artwork made by dying cloth repeatedly, using wax each time to protect parts of the design from the dye.
A basket in the dining room corrals a collection of desert roses, flower-like formations of gypsum crystals and sand. Heavy jewelry and traditional daggers are framed in shadow boxes on several of the home's walls. A clock propped on a living room shelf tells the time in Arabic.
Every room displays some memento from the Sliwinskis' time overseas. A mobile of African figures dangles above a toilet. A camel saddle is draped over a stairway railing, near a trio of folk-art cats from Indonesia. A bathroom vanity holds a carved chest, one of the many gifts Ted Sliwinski received from the people he worked with, who would bring him keepsakes from their travels home.
Even the Sliwinskis' talkative African gray parrot, Cat Food, is a souvenir. The bird, which the couple estimated has a vocabulary of 400 to 500 words, came from Africa and spent a month in quarantine in New York. ''We figured she'd be able to talk her way out of there, but she didn't,'' Nancy Sliwinski said.
Throughout the house are the handmade rugs the two brought back. They don't hesitate to walk on them — in fact, a plush gabba rug with decorative kilim inserts is just inside the front door, ready for wet feet. ''They actually say the more you use them, they're better off,'' Ted Sliwinski explained.
The house also displays an extensive collection of art glass by Giuse Maggi, a Milan-born artist now living in Bahrain. Maggi even created the eye-catching window treatment in the kitchen, a curtain of colorful glass squares.
To the Sliwinskis, though, the arts and artifacts that decorate their home are nothing out of the ordinary. ''I don't think of this stuff as being unique,'' Nancy Sliwinski said; it's just part of the culture of the Middle East.
And now it's a part of their lives.
Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com.
Portage Lakes tour
Five homes will be featured on Wednesday's Lakes Tour, starting at the Olde Harbor Inn, 562 Portage Lakes Drive, Coventry Township.
Tour participants will be taken to the homes by pontoon boats.
Three levels of tickets are available: $40, with boarding from 11 a.m. to noon; $55, which includes early boarding from 10:30 to 11 a.m. and a commemorative sun catcher; and $70, which includes early boarding at 9:30 a.m., brunch at one of the homes and the sun catcher.
All tickets include a light lunch.
To order tickets, call 330-836-5725.
The tour is sponsored by the Akron Symphony Guild. Proceeds benefit the Akron Symphony Orchestra, Chorus and Youth Orchestras.
NEW FRANKLIN: Nancy and Ted Sliwinski's home is a live-in travelogue.
One shelf holds an ornate metal plate from Iran; another, a doll from China. A trio of hookahs occupies a corner of the dining room, and a vividly painted door from a Bedouin hut hangs in the hallway.
The Sliwinskis have filled their home with treasures from their travels, collected during the nine years Ted Sliwinski worked as general manager of the Tamimi Group's commercial division in Saudi Arabia. The couple lived in that country five years, starting in 2000, and the rest of the time in Bahrain.
Wednesday, visitors will get a chance to appreciate their mementos during the Akron Symphony Guild's Lakes Tour of five homes on the Portage Lakes.
Many of the keepsakes were lugged back in suitcases during the Sliwinskis' trips home a few times a year, and the rest was shipped. Now the items add a worldly flair to their house on Turkeyfoot Lake.
The couple bought a house that used to stand on the site and rented it out a couple of years while they were in the Middle East. They had it razed about three years ago and built a new house.
Nancy Sliwinski drew up the house plans with input from her brother, a builder, and spent most of her time in the United States while the house was under construction so she could serve as general contractor.
The three-level house is traditional in design, with white-painted moldings, glossy oak floors and lots of windows to let in light and provide lake views. But it's the artwork and tokens from abroad that make the house memorable.
The couple incorporated them artfully into the home, so the result is neither cluttered nor museum-like. Dining room shelves hold many of the smaller treasures, intermingled with family photos. The wall of shelves was designed with space to showcase a Sri Lankan batik, artwork made by dying cloth repeatedly, using wax each time to protect parts of the design from the dye.
A basket in the dining room corrals a collection of desert roses, flower-like formations of gypsum crystals and sand. Heavy jewelry and traditional daggers are framed in shadow boxes on several of the home's walls. A clock propped on a living room shelf tells the time in Arabic.
Every room displays some memento from the Sliwinskis' time overseas. A mobile of African figures dangles above a toilet. A camel saddle is draped over a stairway railing, near a trio of folk-art cats from Indonesia. A bathroom vanity holds a carved chest, one of the many gifts Ted Sliwinski received from the people he worked with, who would bring him keepsakes from their travels home.
Even the Sliwinskis' talkative African gray parrot, Cat Food, is a souvenir. The bird, which the couple estimated has a vocabulary of 400 to 500 words, came from Africa and spent a month in quarantine in New York. ''We figured she'd be able to talk her way out of there, but she didn't,'' Nancy Sliwinski said.
Throughout the house are the handmade rugs the two brought back. They don't hesitate to walk on them — in fact, a plush gabba rug with decorative kilim inserts is just inside the front door, ready for wet feet. ''They actually say the more you use them, they're better off,'' Ted Sliwinski explained.
The house also displays an extensive collection of art glass by Giuse Maggi, a Milan-born artist now living in Bahrain. Maggi even created the eye-catching window treatment in the kitchen, a curtain of colorful glass squares.
To the Sliwinskis, though, the arts and artifacts that decorate their home are nothing out of the ordinary. ''I don't think of this stuff as being unique,'' Nancy Sliwinski said; it's just part of the culture of the Middle East.
And now it's a part of their lives.
Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com.
Portage Lakes tour
Five homes will be featured on Wednesday's Lakes Tour, starting at the Olde Harbor Inn, 562 Portage Lakes Drive, Coventry Township.
Tour participants will be taken to the homes by pontoon boats.
Three levels of tickets are available: $40, with boarding from 11 a.m. to noon; $55, which includes early boarding from 10:30 to 11 a.m. and a commemorative sun catcher; and $70, which includes early boarding at 9:30 a.m., brunch at one of the homes and the sun catcher.
All tickets include a light lunch.
To order tickets, call 330-836-5725.
The tour is sponsored by the Akron Symphony Guild. Proceeds benefit the Akron Symphony Orchestra, Chorus and Youth Orchestras.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Akron, Oh
Posted 01:35 PM, 07/10/2009
Ostentatious display of wealth.
Posted 02:06 PM, 07/10/2009
You said it!
Posted 02:07 PM, 07/10/2009
They must be Republicans!
akron, oh
Posted 03:19 PM, 07/10/2009
too bad none of the proceeds benefit real life people like Margaret Bell.
Akron, , OH
Posted 03:28 PM, 07/10/2009
No thanks !!! if they are willing to open their home then they should be able to open their wallet to the Symphony!
Takes a good symphony salesman to sell that tour to these 3 story folks...
canton, OH
Posted 03:29 PM, 07/10/2009
I've never seen a Brinks truck following a Hearse. It's better to spend time with family and friends than to aqcuire clutter...
Canton, OH
Posted 05:56 PM, 07/10/2009
The Rich & Famous. . . YAWN. . . I hope that they are happy. .
Jacksonville, Fl
Posted 11:27 PM, 07/10/2009
some peopole just have way too much money........ Share the wealth I say !!!!!!!!!! Give to the less fortunate!!!!!!!!!! Stand on the corners of Market and Main and pass out hundred dollar bills, which would help so many in need.......
North Canton, OH
Posted 07:01 AM, 07/11/2009
It's nice that they've done well, but do they use their money to help anyone else (besides the Akron Symphony)? Acquiring stuff is fun, but do something that will last. All that "stuff" will be gone some day, but if you help someone really in need the ripples will go on forever.
Posted 02:42 PM, 07/11/2009
Not impressed ...
Hooterville, Oh
Posted 05:16 PM, 07/11/2009
L the B's ABJ
