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Come Sunday, I’ll be proud to join Americans across the country — and those overseas — in celebrating Independence Day. 

I love how the colors of the American flag show up everywhere around the holiday, whether it’s a bunch of red, white and blue helium-filled balloons reaching up to the sky or a strawberry shortcake topped with blueberries and sweet cream.

After a year of relative isolation for so many of us, we’re finally getting back together in social situations. 

And I sincerely hope we haven’t forgotten our manners during the health crisis — although the state of the please-and-thank-you-and-you’re-welcome world seems precarious at best.

I discussed wedding gifts in this spot a couple of weeks ago, but it’s still June — the traditional month for brides and grooms — and there is always more to say. 

Many who are preparing to walk the aisle have been busy selecting the color scheme for bridesmaid dresses, flowers and the wedding reception or dinner, from the tablecloths to the napkins to the parting gifts for guests. 

For many of us who call Palm Beach and other parts of South Florida home, the state’s Panhandle is a remote region that seldom finds a place on our travel itineraries.

And that’s a shame because the northwestern most part of the Sunshine State offers plenty of diversions, if you know where to look. With that in mind, may I suggest a visit to Apalachicola, a charming Panhandle beach town about seven hours or so by car from Palm Beach? Apalachicola is about 80 miles southwest of Tallahassee, and I won’t forget my recent visit there anytime soon.

We’ve all heard about April showers that may come our way and bring the flowers that bloom in May.

And oh, how lucky I am that it’s true. I am an unabashed flower person. Over the years, I think I have designed a fabric or wallpaper that features every flower in the garden, from crocuses to daffodils, and pussy willows to forsythia.

This week, I said to myself: Goodbye, dear Fritz.

That is the name by which I always called Walter Mondale, whom I became friends with when he served as vice president under President Jimmy Carter. I also knew well his artistic-and-fun-loving wife, the late Joan Mondale, and their daughter, the late Eleanor Jane Mondale Polling, for whom I designed an apartment in Chicago some years ago. 

It’s Easter time, and the flower shops are filled with springtime blooms.

But it is the daffodil that I love the most, with its yellow color in a mix of varieties — some with white centers, others with fluffy centers trimmed in orange and so many more.

There’s no question about it: Savannah is one of my favorite cities, if not my all-time favorite.

Last week, I traveled to Georgia to deliver the keynote speech to open the Savannah Antiques & Architecture Weekend. I spoke in the walled-in gardens of the Andrew Low House, a venue owned by the Colonial Dames and open for tours. The mansion has been beautifully restored and charmingly decorated to reflect a 150-years-ago spirit.

When I arrive home each evening, there's magic in the air with the fragrance of honeysuckle coming from the bushes I planted near my front door. The scent is so fresh and welcoming.

I also love to bring natural scents inside. I adore the fragrance of fresh roses placed in a bowl on the coffee table. And an arrangement of lily of the valley or peonies perfume the air so beautifully.

Here it is, almost March, and I’m still thinking about the holiday season and one of the gifts I got — a special gift, indeed.

It’s an artwork made by my 4-year-old grandson, Bowie Varney. Bowie presented me with his first piece of art, a collage he created at his day school. And so happy are the colors he used — orange, yellow, aqua, green and purple. I know the opinion of a proud grandfather may be a bit biased, but I really love this piece.

I recently recovered from a bout with COVID-19 and wanted to share my experience.

Like so many people, I was surprised to be diagnosed with the disease, as I have strived for many months — most of the time, anyway — to strictly follow the CDC guidelines by wearing a mask and social distancing.

Keep color rolling on the roadways of America, I say.

I grew up in the 1950s, when the highways of America were filled with bright and happy hues. You might see a sky-blue Thunderbird, a hunter-green Packard, a bright-red Chevrolet and some other make with designer colors, perhaps a combination of salmon and cream, or turquoise and white.

Everything old is new again, right?

Back in the 1970's, I had the pleasure of getting to know the late Emilio Pucci when my family and I traveled to Switzerland to spend the winter holidays in Gstaad.  Signor Pucci was the Picasso of fashion, as I thought of him - and still think of him.  He was also a chalet neighbor and we often visited.  I sometimes even traveled with him.

Without question during my decorating career, Architectural Digest earned a reputation as the most important interior design magazine in America — and one woman can be credited for its preeminence.

She was the late Paige Rense Noland, who died Jan. 1 at 91 at her home near South Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach.

If the pandemic hasn’t stopped you from taking care of your holiday shopping in brick-and-mortar stores this Christmas, I know the shopkeepers are appreciative of your business.

But when I’m thinking about a gift that’s always useful and attractive, my No. 1 choice is a flower vase. The late Pauline de Rothschild once said that you can never have enough vases, whether they’re glass, crystal or ceramic. A distinctive vase of any size is certain to be used and appreciated.

Christmas at the White House is always exciting. I have been lucky enough to visit the executive mansion many times during the holidays and once assisted with the Blue Room tree during President Jimmy Carter’s administration.

During my visit to the White House with my associate Brinsley Matthews for a reception on Dec, 3, I saw that first lady Melania Trump had carried out the holiday decorations in the public spaces with an America the Beautiful theme.

During the coronavirus pandemic, children have been spending more time at home — and many are also attending school from there, thanks to the wonders of virtual technology, the dedication of teachers and the vigilance of parents.

School can be difficult enough, but parents can help make virtual learning easier by providing children charming, happy rooms in which to do their schoolwork.

Remember the Irish dresser, that pine cabinet with upper shelves for displaying dishware?

It was the one with the perfect recess to display teacups, saucers, plates, glasses, rosary beads, perhaps even the family prayer book. You could find in it just about everything that pleased the Irish family to have in their kitchen, viewed by all who entered the home for a cup of tea and a scone, or a slice of bread and a bowl of soup on a rainy day.

It’s pumpkin time — and that, to me, means it’s time for pumpkin pie, one of my favorites.

I get mine at Upper Crust Bakery at 2015 S. Dixie Highway in Lake Worth Beach. That pie is perfect for pumpkin lovers. Stop by the bakery and purchase one for the Halloween season — a nice treat in these stressful times.

If you are out and about and happen to come across Rosa Estate Jewelry, a gem of a jewelry boutique on South Dixie Highway, you are in for a treat.

Not only will you see beautiful sparklers set with diamonds and pearls inside the velvet-lined cases, but you may also have the pleasure of meeting the co-owners, Bob Hartman and Louis Rosario.

I’m not ashamed to say it: I grew up in the days of the typewriter. Yes, I’m talking about that heavy machine with little black letters and numbers on white keys — or vice versa — along with the exclamation points and question marks and periods.

Oh, how the world turns and moves on.  But what happens to the items we discard along the way?

Lately, believe it or not, I have been busy creating coloring books.

In fact, I have just completed a new one called ''Color the Greenbrier Beautiful.'' It is filled with 27 pages of original illustrations to color. The drawings depict the lobby, ballroom, dining room and guest suites of The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. — a hotel for which I have served as decorator for some 53 years.

These days, it seems, every street corner has a coffee place, whether it’s a Dunkin’, a Starbucks or some other brand. And so it is in the terminals of airports, where coffee seems to be available everywhere, day or night.

I have been a coffee fan for years — but not to drink. I love coffee ice cream, you see. It was my dad’s favorite, along with rum raisin, and I’ll say the coffee bean doesn’t fall far from the tree.

It’s fiesta time -- or at least Fiesta dinnerware time.

Upon entering Tamarack, visitors see front and center a Fiesta dinnerware display — a large one, indeed. The West Virginia manufacturer known as The Homer Laughlin China Co. produces lots of Fiesta dinnerware, just as it has done for many years. Branded as The Fiesta Tableware Co., this line endures.

Every time I drive along the sea on Palm Beach’s South Ocean Boulevard, I enjoy seeing the stone ornaments on entrance columns flanking the gates of the beautiful estates.

Some of those are in the shape of pineapples, the symbol of hospitality. It’s so popular around the world and is the signature image — on plates, napkins, letterheads and even drink coasters — of Williamsburg, Virginia.

It’s nearing the end of July, and mid-summer days have delivered plenty of Florida sunshine and lots of high temperatures.

When summer came to Massachusetts, my grandmother always addressed the days with many changes in our home décor. Out came the slipcovers for all the furniture, mostly white linen ones lined so that the print upholstery for wintry days never showed through.

Here’s to the women of South Dixie Highway who have a passion for the vintage and the antique.

Their businesses on and near West Palm Beach’s Antique Row have reopened, and they are happy to be welcoming customers to their shops once again. As one would expect during these extraordinary times, face coverings are required for entry and social distancing should always be practiced.

Commercial plane travel is improving, but it bears little resemblance to flights last summer. On board, travelers have found that social distancing, face masks, hand sanitizers and gloves are the norm — and likely will be for quite a while, it seems.

Even if you won’t be stepping foot on French soil, you can still get a touch of France by traveling our beautiful coastal road to the bridge that takes you into downtown Lake Worth.