How Does Your Garden Grow?

I hope it grows green and bright and pretty....... Our gardeners finished the front garden late this afternoon, after a full day's work. They were here early, and the weather was kind-- it didn't start to really rain till they were nearly done, and they just kept going. We had bouts of thunder during the afternoon, and dark clouds all day long, but no major rain till the job was done.

Boxwoods are now lined up in front of the house, with a second row of Indian Hawthorns. The other rows are impatiens and begonias, and the topsoil is covered with cypress mulch. With all the high red-tipped shrubs gone, the yard and the garden look so much bigger. Not that it was small to begin with, but those thirty-year-old bushes were long past their prime and really took up more space in the garden than need be.

The Quackernackle Choir (my four little ceramic ducks) now have a new spot..... I took the wrought-iron staircase-shaped planter out of the garden, since it looked ridiculous without the larger shrubs behind it. The Choir is now singing around a concrete urn that's filled with pink impatiens. The tiniest member of the Choir is sitting right up in the urn under his umbrella of pink flowers. Very cute, if I do say so myself.

Three days from start to finish with the garden...... so glad to have it all done.... they all worked very hard. Stringing holiday lights should be interesting come December.... the shrubs won't have grown much by then, I'm sure. They're about two-feet tall now, and their maximum height is five feet, but I don't know how fast they'll be growing.


The phone rang this afternoon and it was our young friend C, with a question for me. First, she asked me if I remembered "way back when" she was in second and third grade and we would read together. I told her that of course I remembered.... how could I forget? That's how I first met C--- when I was a reading tutor at the local elementary school and she was one of my second-graders.

C's request was for "more reading time." She wanted to know if she could come over here after school so we could read together. "And we're reading 'Romeo and Juliette' soon.... don't you think that would be fun to read?" I told her it would indeed be fun to read, and of course she could come over here after school. I suggested that she call first, to make sure I'm home on any given day, being that I'm in and out a lot of the time. (When four gardeners aren't in the front garden, that is.)

C also told me that she'll be going for a part-time job interview -- as a summer lifeguard in the subdivision-park's swimming pool. C just loves the water, swims like a fish, and has already taken a CPR course, so I'm sure they'll think she's perfect for that job.

I can see that the special little spark is back with C, now that she knows they don't have to move to Vegas. She's already making plans for the summer, and even told me that she'll be getting her learner's permit when school ends and she intends to hold me to my promise of teaching her to drive. (That wasn't a promise that I had any intention of breaking, I assured her.)

Nice to know that all is once again well in C's fifteen-year-old life.

The Weed Lady

My next-door neighbor V is calling herself "The Weed Lady" now...... and she's in shock over what our gardeners have been doing to the flowerbeds in our front yard. Usually, we can count on V to pull up any weeds that are in those flowerbeds. We think she does it out of frustration... she has weeds of her own that she can be pulling up, but somehow she gets more satisfaction out of pulling other people's weeds.

She has told us that she's familiar with her own weeds, but it's more fun to see what kind of weeds are in the yards of the neighbors. I was out walking Gracie late this afternoon, and there was V, deep into the bushes of a yard that I've never seen her in before. She told me it was my fault that she was forced to pull weeds so far away from her own street. But she also seemed pleased because that particular flowerbed had weeds she hadn't ever seen before.

The gardeners couldn't finish our front yard today because it started to rain this afternoon. They brought twenty boxwood shrubs, and a truck-load of topsoil and cypress mulch. They'll be back tomorrow, with shorter shrubs to go in front of the boxwoods, plus some flats of impatiens. I told the gardener that I could grow impatiens very well, so I guess he's not taking any chances with me and my limited gardening talents.

One of my neighbors gave me two of her gardening books to look at..... one thousand of pages of plants that grow in Texas. In my opinion, that's 999-too-many pages for me. All I need is just one page of easy-to-grow, fool-proof plants.... and I'll be set.

Hopefully, we won't have any more rain tomorrow, and the gardeners will be able to put down the rest of the topsoil, plant all the shrubs, add a little color with the impatiens, and scatter the cypress mulch. Soon after, my neighbor V will be in our front yard again, looking for weeds.

Mr. Schlamp

One of the patrons in the NY library where I used to work told me something one day that has stayed with me all these years. I can still see that man standing across from me at the circulation desk of the library, shaking his head in wonder because he had heard from the neighbors that my husband (my ex-husband) had left me.

"The trouble with young men is that they want their wife to be a perfect lady in the bedroom, a perfect chef in the kitchen, and a perfect tramp in the bedroom. It's only when they get older and find themselves alone that they come to realize that all they needed was to let their wife be a perfect friend."

Mr. Schlamp passed away a good many years ago. His wife died first, and he spent the last ten years of his life living alone and coming to the library on a daily basis. I think of him from time to time.

The Front Garden

As I type, our gardeners are pulling up all the old landscaping in the flowerbeds in front of the house. Red-tipped shrubs that were planted nearly thirty years ago, and green nandina bushes with tiny red berries.... out they are coming. The nandina bushes have grown straggly over the years we've been here, and there were always more red berries than green leaves.

I've been wanting to re-do the front garden for the past few years now.... I was inspired this year by our newest neighbors up at the corner of the cul de sac. Soon after they moved in, they took out all the tall shrubs in front of their house-- also thirty-year old plants. The entire front of their house looked larger and more welcoming. We all cringed when they started pulling out those old shrubs....... the previous owners kept them all trimmed and flowering. But we all have to admit that the house looks better without them.... they had just grown too big and too tall.

Our gardener has been hinting that a change was needed in our yard. Every once in a while when he saw me outside, he would grab hold of one of the older shrubs and tell me "Eees too tin.... need new." Or he'd point to a patch of unidentifable bushes and say "Eees weed... need to pull out." He and I always disagreed on that one..... in my limited book of gardening rules, if it's green, it stays, and if it blooms, it gets moved to the little flowerbeds by the front walkway.

I was outside just a little while ago to see what the front of the house looks like without those tall shrubs...... looks brighter and bigger out there. I never much cared for the red-tipped shrubs... they always got too thin too quickly, and they constantly needed trimming. He's going to replace those with shorter, greener, thicker-growing shrubs. As for the little nandinas with the red berries, I won't be sad to see those gone. The only thing the berries were good for were holiday centerpieces at Christmas-time. In their place will be pretty pink azaleas. We'll fill in the rest with impatiens and small flowers. (And possibly a few blooming weeds.)

I'm waiting for one of the neighbors to call me and ask if we're moving. That's what happens on this little street....... when you do something major, everyone thinks you're getting the house ready to sell.


We drove into Kemah yesterday, with intentions of having lunch at one of the waterfront restaurants. It was just after noon-time when we got there, and there wasn't a parking space to be found, unless you wanted to pay for the private lots, which we never do. We live here, we don't want to pay for parking as if we're tourists.

That waterfront area has changed drastically over the last few years. Kemah used to be a sleepy little waterfront town. That was before billionaire Fertitta started buying up the land and the restaurants. He's been making a mini-DisneyLand ever since, except of course he doesn't have the Disney magic. As a result, that sleepy town has turned into a tourist trap. Wonderful for the tourists (they love it).... horrible for the locals (we hate it).

After a quick drive around those parking fields yesterday, we decided not to leave money in one of Fertitta's restaurants...... we drove to the little Greek restaurant instead. We had a nice lunch there, and felt good about the free and easy parking and the delicious food.

Blokus Night

It's 10:30 p.m. as I type this........ C and her mom just left.... they brought pizza and stuffed mushrooms, and I made a tossed salad and Key Lime squares for dessert. After dinner, we played our Blokus game...... great game.... never the same twice, and it's just a lot of fun. We played four games, then we all got tired and called it a night.

L told us that it's official......... C's dad will be taking back his old job in Louisiana, and leaving the job in Vegas. He's a little disappointed that both his wife and his daughter didn't like Vegas, but his old job gave him a great raise in salary, as an incentive to come back. So really, it has all worked out for the best. Needless to say, C is thrilled to not have to leave her school and her friends and her home. And of course, my husband and I are happy not to be losing them.

C was here three times today..... early this morning with her friend L--- they came over for their usual Saturday breakfast. Then they rode their bikes over again this afternoon...... and then C came for dinner tonight with her mom. I swear, C knows this house as well as her own.

This afternoon when C was here with L, both girls asked to use the bathroom at the same time. They stood there deciding who would go first, so I told them to each take one of the bathrooms and they wouldn't have to wait. C said she had "dibs on the master bathroom" and seemed excited about that. I asked her what was so special about that one, being that the guest bathroom has the Victorian-ladies wallpaper. C said that she likes to look at the little blue house in the master bathroom.

After they left, I went in there to see what she was talking about...... and realized she was talking about a ceramic house figurine, done in blue...... one of those designer collections. I just have one of the houses, given to me as a gift years ago before we bought this house. The little blue house has been in just about all the rooms here, moving from spot to spot as I changed things around. When we had the blue and pink wallpaper put up in the master bathroom, I moved the little blue house in there.

Tonight when I was setting the table, I took that little blue house and put it next to C's place-setting. I figured if she loved it that much, then she should take it home and put it in her own room so she could enjoy it every day, rather than waiting till she could use our bathroom to see it. The little blue house, as C told us, is her dream home.... she hopes to have a house like it one day. And where would she want it to be? By the ocean, of course, water person that she is. Hopefully, her dream will come true when she gets older.

I made placecards for the four of us tonight..... in the red/blue/yellow/green colors of the Blokus game. I took four colored placecards and cut them into four equal strips, then attached one strip of each color to make a placecard of the four colors for each of us. They came out great, and of course, C was happy to add them to her growing collection.

One day when C was here and in my sitting room, she saw my "party book" on the shelf and asked if she could look through it........ the book caught her eye because it has grown so thick that it doesn't close all the way. The book's pages are filled with invitations and placecards from the parties and dinners we've had here. For each occasion, I save one of the invitations and/or the placecards, and I also make note of what foods were served, what games were played, and what favors were given out. I started keeping the book just so I wouldn't repeat the same things too many times, but over the years, the book has turned into a keepsake.

Looking around this house, everything in it is a keepsake.

Party On....

I was thinking today about the phone call with my Aunt Dolly yesterday. In order to "slow down," as her doctor suggested, my soon-to-be-94-year-old Aunt no longer entertains. Not that there are that many family members and friends near the old family home anymore. Most of the family has scattered now. When I was growing up in the 1950s, mostly everyone lived within a short car or bus ride away from our grandparents' home. And mostly all of the family friends have now either moved away or passed away. My aunt lives alone in the house built by my grandfather in 1920, in the neighborhood filled with houses that my grandfather's construction company built in the 1920s.

My grandmother's home was always filled with family and friends. Any day of the week could be a party.... all they needed was someone to drop by unannounced and they were invited to stay for lunch or dinner. Out came the "good" tablecloths and napkins, the fancy china and glassware, and my grandfather would go into the wine celler for a bottle of his home-pressed wine.

My Aunt Dolly would "dress up the table," as she called it. Into the center of the dining room table would be some sort of centerpiece that she would pull together from items around the house. Anything from simple Lilies of The Valley from my grandmother's garden, or a collection of little porcelain dolls.... or even a simple arrangement of fruit and nuts in a beautiful bowl. My Aunt Dolly knew how to "make nice," as my dad and my uncles called it.

That art of "making nice" was totally absorbed by me over the years. I spent as much time with my Aunt Dolly as I did with my parents, and it was always an adventure to be in that house. Aunt Dolly kept boxes of "odds and ends" in the attic.... hat boxes filled with ribbons and pretty cards and bows, flowers and beads, colorful magazine ads, broken bits of jewelry and fancy beaded trims. Aunt Dolly threw nothing away if she thought she could re-use it for something else, whether it be for a centerpiece or for gift-wrapping a package.

Everything my aunt did, I do now. I have boxes of ribbons and beaded trim to use for gift-tags and placecards. I keep the fronts of pretty greeting cards and use them to make invitations, postcards, and placecards. Other boxes hold watercolors and art pencils, and then there's my storage closet of shelves filled with assorted holiday decorations.

My husband and I don't have family living close by, and our family up north hardly ever comes to visit, but our home is always filled with friends. Either a small group of four or eight, or a house filled with thirty. I make centerpieces for the tables just the way my aunt did--- not by ordering something frilly and fancy from the florist, but by taking little treasures from our home and arranging them in such a way that makes our friends smile. And by trial and error and lots of practice, I've made decorative little topiaries for the dining room table... for Valentine's Day, for St. Patty's Day, for Easter.

Somehow, Aunt Dolly's talent for entertaining was planted in my heart and soul and it's alive and well and constantly imaginative. For as long as I'm on this earth, my Aunt Dolly's spirit will live on. And when I'm no longer walking on this planet, I have a feeling that my young friend C will be carrying on the tradition. C is doing with me what I used to do with my Aunt Dolly.... she watches me closely as we prepare for a holiday or a party, she saves all the placecards I make and all the cards I send her. She asked me last year to show her how to brew and pour tea, and when I found the perfect little teapot for her, you would've thought I'd given her the world.

And maybe I did. One of the things my Aunt Dolly has always said is that "if you can make everyone feel comfortable in your home, it will mean the world to them."

My Aunt Dolly means the world to me, and she always has. She never had children of her own, and she was always very close to her nieces and nephews. When I was a kid, Aunt Dolly would tell me "You're my girl...... you're my girl." I think Aunt Dolly liked having me around because I was a patient child, and I did what I was asked to do without giving her a hard time. She would just hate it when one of my cousins would say "But why?!" Aunt Dolly would raise her eyebrows and her whole face would change into a fierce scowl.... she seldom had to give a reason to that question because whoever asked it would've either run off to another part of the house or just started doing whatever had been requested.

When Aunt Dolly was younger, she looked like Loretta Young.... just beautiful. And to me, Aunt Dolly is still beautiful. She has grace and charm, confidence and control. She can entertain the neighbors, or entertain royalty..... no matter who comes into her house, they will feel welcome. She may, however, tell you to "take off your shoes.... I just did the floors." That was an old family joke--- Aunt Dolly would always have "just done the floors," no matter what day of the week, or what time of day you happened to come by.

Aunt Dolly. I thought about her all day today, and I can't stop thinking about her tonight. I just spoke to her yesterday afternoon.... she sounded fine. A little tired from the medication she takes for her backache, but other than that, she had no complaints. "How can I complain? I'm 94 years old and still a size 6."--- that's what she told me yesterday. She also told me that her body has changed over the years.... that her size 6 body now doesn't look like the size 6 body she had in the 1940s. "You would think that with all the stairs in this house that I walk up and down all day long, I'd have legs like Ginger Rogers."

I told my aunt that even Ginger Rogers doesn't have legs like Ginger Rogers anymore.

Technology Makes Life Easier.........

And if you believe that line, then let me tell you about a bridge in Brooklyn that's for sale at a good price.

Last night I was ready to toss my cell phone out into the trash, along with the garage-door opener, the garage light, and the instruction manual for my car. My husband came home from work as I was losing patience with the cell phone, but he missed the parts about the garage door, the garage light, and the car manual.

With the car...... there are small inside lights at the floor of car, by the two seats. I must have touched the little control that makes those lights stay on and stay bright, but I didn't realize that when I saw the lights on when I got out of the car. I waited a few minutes, thinking they'd go off automatically, but of course they didn't.

Out came the manual.... and off went the garage light. Stupid light. It stays on for a little while when you open or close the garage door, then it goes off. We have a separate light in the garage but it hasn't been working and we never got it fixed because I don't do anything in the garage but keep my car in there, and my husband hardly ever goes in the garage.

So there I was, trying to find the page in the car manual for the little floor lights, and the light kept going off in the garage every few minutes and I kept having to hit the garage-door button to make the light go on again. All of this while Gracie is barking from the inside of the house because she hears the noise from the garage-door opener, and while I'm trying to make sense out of the manual that seems to be written by engineers for engineers.

Finally, finally.... I found the right page in the car manual and was able to translate the instructions into plain English and the floor lights in my car went off. Then I came into the house and noticed that there were two messages on my cell phone. Both from my sister.... so I called her back and told her about the car lights, the garage lights, and that whole story.

After the phone call, I noticed that the "message" symbol was still showing on the screen of my cell phone. Well, I didn't want to leave it there because I had called my sister back and I wanted the screen back to its normal state. Out came that manual, also written by engineers, because I can never remember which buttons to push on the cell phone.

I thought I was following the instructions carefully, but the little message symbol wouldn't go away. Not only wouldn't it go away, but some other little symbols came up onto the screen and they wouldn't go away. It was just about then that my husband came home. I told him about the floor lights of the car, and the garage door opener, and I told him I needed to call in the handyman to fix the center light inside the garage.

In the middle of all of that, I'm still trying to clear the screen of my cell phone, and I even managed to remember to ask my husband how his day went at work. His reply: "Would you like me to fix your cell phone for you?" I snapped the cell phone shut and told him I'd do it myself or die trying, thank you very much.

Well, I'm still alive, and so is the cell phone. And it's a wonder that it is, considering how many times I slammed that little lid shut while I was trying to delete those messages.


This afternoon, I called my Aunt Dolly in NY to say hello and see how she was feeling. She's been having back problems, and her doctor has told her to slow down a little bit. Aunt Dolly will be 94 this year. She lives in a house with seven bedrooms, two bathrooms, a wine celler, two kitchens, three staircases, two driveways, a three-car garage.... and she takes care of it all by herself. Her way of slowing down: she makes a smaller pot of homemade soup, she sits down for a cup of tea in the afternoons, and she cleans just one floor of the house per day (one floor meaning one entire story of the house, not one floor in one room).

As I said.... Aunt Dolly is 94. Know why she's living so long and so well? She doesn't have a cell phone and an automatic garage-door opener. She doesn't own a microwave or a computer. She doesn't even know what a DVD or an iPOD is, and if you told her that "technology makes your life easier," she would tell you that "only good hard honest work makes your life easier."

And my Aunt Dolly would never buy a bridge, no matter what the price.

Cafe Poblano

Went out for a Tex-Mex dinner tonight to celebrate our friend C's birthday. The dinner was hastily arranged just two days ago by C's husband L... I think it was her 60th birthday, but I'm not sure--- C isn't telling and I'm not asking.

There are so many Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants around town, and L picked one of the newer ones by the Gulf Freeway. Nice decor, good food, but I ate just half of the dinner-- the fish part. I left the rice and the beans, being that I ate all of the fish.

Tonight was a surprise for C, and when she walked in, we were all surprised to see her as well--- she was walking with crutches. C and L just got back from a skiing trip last week, and C broke her ankle. She didn't break it while she was skiing, though--- she broke her ankle while shopping in the town. So of course we all laughed at the irony of that, and suggested to C that she just tell everyone she broke her ankle on the highest slopes.

Most of the people at tonight's dinner were friends from C and L's square-dance group. They've been square-dancing for years and years. Hard to believe that, when you look at C's husband-- he definitely doesn't look like the square-dancing type. L is the one who dressed up for our Halloween party as Paul Sr. from the Orange County Choppers family..... so I just can't picture him doe-si-doe-ing.

Before we left the restaurant, C made everyone write their name and birthday down on a slip of paper... she said we should all get together when the next birthday comes along. Nice idea.... so we'll see if anyone follows through with it. C has the list, so she would be the one to plan to get everyone together.

At the dinner tonight, both L and C told everyone at the table about the Charades parties that I give here........ there were 20 people at the dinner. I hope that C didn't expect me to invite everyone to the next party. No room at the inn, as the saying goes..... we already have 30 people in the Charades group. I couldn't imagine hosting a Charades party for 50 people. Then again, we have more than that at our Christmas party.

All of our parties started out with a small group of friends....... and they've all grown into a larger group of friends over the years. Speaking of parties.... the next one we're hosting is on Easter Sunday.

"Body Worlds" - Anatomical Exhibit

We went downtown this morning to the Museum of Natural Science to see Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds -- "The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies." We drove down there with J and S, and met R and C in front of the museum. This was an early-morning trip--- we all agreed to meet there at 8:45 so we would be among the first in line to see this very popular exhibit.

Great idea to be there so early, although none of us thought so when our alarms went off at dawn this morning. The exhibit is filled with real bodies which had been "donated to science," as that saying goes. G. von Hagens developed a method to cover the bodies with a heavy plastic coating, to preserve them in different stages of post-mortem dissections and poses. They call these bodies "plastinates."

The Houston Chronicle ran a very long article about the exhibit, so all of us knew what to expect, more or less. What couldn't be seen in the newspaper pictures was the still very life-like expressions on the faces of the plastinated bodies. You could count the eyelashes on most of the bodies, and if you looked long enough at those faces, you would swear that you could sense their personalities.

The plastinates were in all sorts of poses--- exercising, playing cards, riding a horse (which was also plastinated!), and there was one man there holding his own skin. His entire skin had been taken off and he stood there holding it in his hand as if offering it for sale.

The entire exhibit was very humbling, to say the least. We are all so very fragile, when you look at the mass of bones, muscles, arteries, organs, veins and such, that are artfully arranged from the tip of your head to the tip of your little toe. And we are all so very much the same.... there was no hint as to color or race or religion..... so really-- does any of that matter in life if it makes no difference in death?

Speaking of organs, they also had those in glass showcases.... healthy lungs as compared to the black (charcoal-black!) lungs of a smoker; a healthy liver as compared to an alcoholic's liver. And the brain--- a "normal" brain next to the brain of a person who suffered from Alzheimer's.

Really makes you want to respect the body you're in, and take better care of it, that's for sure. After the exhibit, we saw an IMAX film on the body, and then an exhibit of artifacts taken from an ancient burial chamber.... the Queen of Ur took everyone in her kingdom along with her when she decided she wanted to die. The cooking vessels, jewelry, musical instruments.... plus hundreds of people... all were found in the chamber.


It was an educational morning..... we didn't leave the museum till after 12:30 and then we went further downtown to a little cafe for lunch. Even after looking at all of those plastinated bodies, then watching the IMAX film about the inner workings of the body's organs, all we wanted to do after looking at the Queen's burial chamber was eat! (But I think we all chewed our food very well, after seeing the film about bits and pieces of food plopping into the stomach after swallowing.)

Of course, I can't leave the museum without a book, so I bought a copy of Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds. Outstanding book, over 300 pages of descriptions and photographs about the exhibit. Interesting reading, if you can find it at a bookstore. (Or check out the website at www.bodyworlds.com).

Blokus Game

C brought over her "Blokus" game tonight and the four of us had a great time playing after our dinner of pizza and salad. My husband and I hadn't played "Blokus" before but it was very easy to learn the game and we quickly caught on. It's a four-person game, each having plastic tiles of different colors, in various shapes to work your way around the board. The object of the game is to use as many tiles as you can... the one with the least number of tiles left at the end of the game is the winner.

Sounds so easy, but there's a definite strategy to the game, which I haven't figured out yet. Definitely fun to play. So much so that I plan to buy a game to have at the house here, so my husband and I can play. Two people can play the board-- each using two colors, or just using half of the board with one color each. They also make a smaller "Blokus" game, for just two people, but I think it would be better to have the larger game so more than two can play.

L showed us the flyers of the Vegas houses that they looked at..... some of them were very nice-- the model homes with all the extra bells and whistles. And at those prices ($465,000 and up) they should be nice. In face, for those prices, they should sing.

It definitely looks like L's husband will be leaving the Vegas job and taking back his old job in Louisiana. They've made him a great offer, and both L and C want him to come back here, rather than all of them moving to Vegas. C was so glad to be home.... there was nothing about Vegas that she liked, except for the trip to the Hoover Dam where she got to feed Cheetos to the little chipmunks. I swear, she took more pictures of those cute little chipmunks than she took of everything else out there.

So glad to have them home.... and I told L that when I see her husband the next time, I plan to tell him that I'm glad he got that (Vegas) out of his system.

St. Patty's Day.... Once again

Our young friend C and her mom are coming over for dinner tonight (the dad is still working in Vegas till he makes up his mind about his old job in Louisiana). We were going to go to their house for a pizza dinner, but C's mom is exhausted from the week's trip to Vegas, so I suggested they come here instead. We're still ordering pizza, but from the Italian restaurant (delicious!)rather than Domino's (yuck!).

Knowing how much C appreciates all the frills of a party, I decided to make tonight's pizza dinner another St. Patty's Day celebration. Out came the ivory tablecloth and the green china... the shamrock tree is in the middle of the dining room table, and I made up green placecards decorated with tiny shamrocks. C is still saving all the placecards I've made over the years.... some are pasted into her locker at school, others are on her desk in her room.

I had a quick-mix for a chocolate-cherry bread, so I popped that into the bread machine. I've learned that those flavored-bread mixes come out more like a little cake than a bread, so I'm using that for dessert. When the bread/cake/whatever was done, I let it cool and then sliced it into three layers. Cute little square-shape, filled with cherries, and it came out delicious. The recipe called for 1/2 cup of melted butter, which I just couldn't make myself put into that mix. I used just two tablespoons of butter, then added in apple-butter for the rest. The cake is just perfect, without all that extra fat. Anyway, the little square cake is now a three-layer chocolate-frosted cute little thing, decorated with chopped pecans and a little green elf sitting in the center of it. C will love it, I'm sure.

This is the second time we've had a St. Patty's Day get-together, with not one Irish food on the table. Lots of green, though....

L is going to bring over all the flyers from the houses they looked at in Vegas. She wants us to see what was available out there. We truly already know, because my husband did some searches on the Internet while they were out there. I guess L is just trying to justify her disappointment with the Vegas lifestyle. She doesn't have to justify her opinion with us.... we've been there, and from what we saw, Vegas is probably the last on our list of places we'd wish to live.

Speaking of "last on our list of places we'd wish to live," we can add Russia to that list. My sister and I are watching The Amazing Race again this season, and we both said that although Russia had some beautiful architecture and clean streets, it's still too cold for us. And both of us would've been eliminated from this season's Race as soon as the teams arrived at the Russian swimming pool where they had to dive from a high board and go underwater to retrieve the clue. I know how to swim, but I don't put my head under the water, and there is no way on this green earth that I would voluntarily jump off of a diving board.

"But you could've done that--- you know how to swim!" .... that's what my sister was telling me over the phone the other night. I told her that I don't put my head under the water and that I would not have jumped off the diving board. "Well.... then it's your fault that we can't win a million dollars!!!" I told her that my days of accepting Italian guilt are long gone, and if she really wants a million dollars that badly, then she should sign up for swimming lessons herself.

St. Patrick's Day

A good day today...... my friend/neighbor V and I went into Alvin (home of baseball great Nolan Ryan) to look around the antique and resale shops there. Alvin is a very old, quaint little town with lots of interesting shops. I don't know which are more quaint--the shops or the people who own them.

I truly enjoy V's company.... she reminds me of Frankie in so many ways. (This V isn't my next-door neighbor V.... this is V from around the corner.) She also loves antiques and her home is chock-full of them, just like ours is. She sometimes goes to the shops with her husband S, but most of the time S waits in the car for her. He enjoys the rides to the little towns, but doesn't enjoy the shopping all that much. She and I went to three antique shops, the third one being the largest--- an old supermarket that was converted to an antique co-op. That third one is owned by one of our friend J's customers, and he remembered me from J's shop, so he gave us some nice discounts on the things we found.

The things we found..... most of them, we had to leave there in the shops. Not enough room at the inn, is what we kept saying. Neither of us have any more floor space for furniture--- well, we actually do, but our houses would look ridiculously crowded. So we just oohed and aahed over all the pretty furniture from the 1940s, then walked on by and told each other how much money we were saving.

Both of us found some small items.... V bought two sets of glasses--- one for every day, and one to put away for the holidays. She also found an vintage jewelry box, made of patterned glass. I bought two dinner plates that I can use with our set of green Myott china, and I also found a beautiful Homer Laughlin serving bowl that was just too pretty to resist. I found lots of glasses, which I didn't buy, and lots of beautiful teacups which I also didn't buy.

One thing I did buy--- a very pretty porcelain flower basket with two white doves sitting on the edge of the basket. It's fairly large, about 18" or 20" in diameter, and the entire thing is made of porcelain. It's on the front porch now, looking very pretty in the corner underneath the stained glass window. I'll fill it up with Easter grass and those plastic eggs. Come to think of it, I can decorate it for different holidays, or fill it with a pot of pretty flowers for the summer. Only $15 for that sweet thing, so I couldn't resist that either.


The best news of the day---- C's mom called this evening, to tell us that she and C were back from Vegas. Both L and C hated, hated, hated Vegas... a nice place to visit for a couple of days, but neither of them want to live there. L investigated the school districts, and didn't find one that she wanted for her daughter. They looked at houses every day they were there... too small, too expensive, too everything but what they wanted. (They couldn't afford the few that they would've have settled on..... so expensive out there, I swear.)

When they got back home here, L called their realtor and took their house off the market. Her husband is now re-thinking the Vegas job.... and, wonder of wonders, his old job called him and made him an offer that L doesn't want him to refuse. It would mean working in Louisiana again, but that's where he worked before, and that's only a three-hour's drive away. So now he's thinking about that, and weighing it against the Vegas job.

My husband and I are keeping our fingers crossed, and hoping that they decide that Vegas just isn't the place for them. Honestly, we know that they could move at any time, but please heaven, not to a place like Vegas. Not for C.... we just knew that wasn't the place for her, and we never said a word to her parents.... but I'm so happy that they found that out for themselves.

Thai Seafood

We went out for dinner tonight, to a local Thai restaurant. We hadn't been there in a while, but the owner remembered us just the same. Such a nice, quiet little restaurant.... always very clean and neat, tablecloths and fancy-folded napkins, and extremely efficient service. And the food....... always the freshest fish and vegetables, and the food is so beautifully arranged on the plate..... pretty as a cookbook photo, I swear.

I ordered red snapper, which they covered with shrimp, scallops, and sliced mango. Enough food there for two dinners, so I have half of it in the fridge for tomorrow or the next day. They served that with rice and steamed vegetables, along with a salad sprinkled with peanut dressing. They also make homemade coconut ice cream, so my husband and I split a small scoop of that as well.

After going to this family-owned Thai restaurant tonight, I told my husband that the impersonal service of the Chinese restaurant we go to leaves a lot to be desired. We're spoiled with all the extra attention we get in Babbo Bruno's, and tonight's service at the Thai restaurant makes the service at the Chinese place seem minimal at best.

We used to go to Thai Seafood on a weekly basis, to have lunch there, or I stopped in to pick up to-go orders--- the restaurant is on the way back from J's antique shop, and when I worked there, it was on the way home, and a good excuse to bring home good food instead of having to cook.


We spoke to C and her mom the other day......... they were looking at more houses in Vegas, and finding some that looked better than the ones they had seen on the first day. Problem is, the houses which are in better condition are also more money, which means a higher mortgage payment. They planned on talking to some bankers while they're out there. Also, the school district that they thought would be fine for C turned out to be not so fine at all, and now they won't consider that school at all. So it looks like they'll have to start another search for a high school as well.

C and her mom will be home on Friday, and they invited us over on Saturday so they can fill us in on everything. I hope by that time, they'll have found a nice (and affordable) house, and a decent high school. (From my lips to God's ears..... as Blanche would've said.)

We've had beautiful weather...... sunny and warm, just a bit of rain the other day, which quickly cleared away to a sunny day. It was a little windy today, and the winds blew the sun away for a little while and made the temperature drop a little bit (from 85 to 75). When we went out for dinner tonight, I changed into a heavier sweater and wore a leather jacket. (Yes--- 75 feels that cold to me here.) Hard to believe that I lived through all those NY winters for so many years.

Six-Hour Lunch

I cannot believe how perfectly this afternoon went.... our friends got here at 2:00, and didn't leave till eight o'clock. As the last two were leaving and we glanced at the clock, we all just couldn't believe it. What a great group we are, I swear.... the conversation just never quit, and the longer we all talked, the more interesting it got.

Everything from spirituality to the ego, from childhood experiences to post-mortem discussions (one of our friends is a retired doctor). I couldn't even begin to list every topic we talked about because it would take the rest of the night to type, and I'm slowing beginning to fade here. I've just about finished cleaning up.... the dishwasher is running for the second time, and when that's done, then I'm done for the night. The kitchen/dining room is closed until tomorrow.

This afternoon's menu was eclectic, to say the least, but there wasn't an "Irish" food on the table. No one thought of Irish soda bread, but I've already made a note about that for next year. We all contributed "green" foods to the table, which was dressed up in green and ivory. Lots of shamrocks everywhere, and I even used foil shamrock-shaped doilies as coasters underneath the water goblets.

Our friends J & S brought homemade steamed dumplings.... absolutely delicious, and topped with green onions. R & C brought green rice (made with green peppers and cilantro), as well as a homemade pesto with rice crackers for dipping. B brought a spinach and goat cheese dish from an Indian restaurant where she lives--- that was very good, and it came with spiced white rice. I made tiny pinwheel-shaped rolls stuffed with pesto and parmesean, and the Greek spanikopita, which baked up perfectly.

For desserts, we had the pistachio gelato, key lime tarts, and lime squares. I also had clover-shaped dishes filled with Dove mike chocolate candies, which were wrapped in bright green foil, and a plate of sliced kiwi-fruit. And the coffee and green tea, of course.

Delicious food.... and we took our time because I served each course separately, beginning with the steamed dumplings and ending with the spanikopita. Lots of extra dishes and silverware, but it's the only way to have a nice leisurely meal.

Everyone left with favor-bags, filled with green tea, chocolate-covered pretzels sprinkled with tiny green shamrocks, and an interesting trivia book on St. Patrick's Ireland. The beaded shamrock necklaces were a nice surprise for everyone, too..... a little unexpected thing that made everyone smile.

After our friends went home, my husband looked at me and said "Now how are we going to top this?" ....... Well, we'll just have to try, because we're planning to have our friends over again on Easter Sunday.

St. Patty's Day Lunch

Everything is all set for this afternoon's lunch....... I've done all I can do until it's time to plug in the coffee urn about thirty minutes before our friends are supposed to get here. I love that big urn.... just fill it up, turn it on, and you don't have to think about hot coffee for the rest of the party. (And not being a coffee drinker, it always comes out great as long as I pay attention to the measurements.) Now I just have to remember to put the kettle on for the green tea when we get to dessert this afternoon. (Green tea, yes...... but the coffee is just plain old coffee.)

We went to Babbo Bruno's for dinner last night. Our friend K was working, which is always nice for us, and C was there as well. I brought some of the shamrock-sprinkled chocolate-covered pretzels for K and her mom, and I wrapped up some St. Patty's candies for C's children. Those girls work so hard in that restaurant, and they always make it a point to give us extra attention, no matter how busy they get.

Stefano had salmon ravioli on the menu last night. It was too tempting not to try, so that's what I ordered. Delicious mixture of salmon and ricotta, and he served them in a very light tomato sauce for me, instead of the heavier vodka cream sauce that was on the menu. I've got more than half of last night's dinner waiting in the fridge.... even with the lighter sauce, I didn't want to splurge on all those calories. (I kept thinking how many leg-lifts I'd have to do for each ravioli I ate.)

Speaking of calories, we had decided to get pistachio ice cream for today's party, instead of pistachio gelato. We stopped at Goodie's Ice Cream Shop on the way home.... and wouldn't you know it--- no pistachio last night. Not even mint chocolate chip, in keeping with our green theme. So, back to Friendswood we went, to the Italian Gelato shop..... and got pistachio gelato for this afternoon's dessert. Just as well.... the gelato is lighter than ice cream, and with the other desserts we have, it will work out better.

My fridge is so full with trays and platters right now. As far as I'm concerned, a new fridge would be a blessing, and the sooner the better. It's always such a balancing act when we have company over. I told my husband to open the fridge gently, to protect the "house of cards" that I've constructed on the shelves of that refrigerator.


No phone call from C last night, so I'm taking that to mean that her trip to Vegas has improved a little bit. From my lips to God's ears, as my dear friend Blanche always used to say.

Perfect Little Triangles

I've spent the morning getting the spanikopita ready for tomorrow St. Patty's Day lunch. Instead of doubling my usual recipe, I opted to make my usual recipe twice, using two separate pans to mix up the spinach, onions, cheese, spices, eggs. Every time I've tried to double that recipe, it never seems to come out right, so it's just better for me to do it twice. I don't have the measurements written down.... I just go by how it looks, so doubling it doesn't work. When the two pans of spinach mixture were done, I tasted a little of both just to be sure, then I mixed them together. Sort of the hard way to do it, but it works for me.

My friend F had suggested that I practice folding the triangles (folded-flag shapes) with paper towels. Well, that worked like a charm. I was able to fold up all the strips of fillo dough perfectly, ending up with perfect triangles instead of oddly-shaped bundles. I now have two pans of spanikopita in the fridge, waiting to be baked tomorrow. I had two triangles left that didn't fit into the second pan, so I baked them up for our lunch today. Delicious.... perfect lunch dish for a St. Patty's Day get-together. Our friends will also be adding foods to the table, so our buffet lunch will be a green surprise for all of us.

I don't think I'm going to make the kiwi cocktails.... we'll have enough desserts as it is, with the key lime cookies, the lime tarts, and the pistachio ice cream. Plus, I don't have enough room in the fridge for the champagne glasses that the cocktails have to set in. When I made those cocktails for New Year's Eve, I had to squeeze them into the fridge and I broke one my prettiest glasses.

I told my husband that it will soon be time for a new and bigger refrigerator. I've just about had it with this side-by-side fridge/freezer. It works well for us except when we have a lot of company and I do extra cooking, which is about once a month. The one I'd like to get for the kitchen is a side-by-side on top, but the doors open to full-width shelving. The freezer is on the bottom, which I think is a great idea. These little side-by-side shelves just don't hold what I need them to hold when we have friends over. I will keep the fridge that we have now, but I'll hook it up out in the garage and use it to store extra foods for our parties.

But that's to worry about another time. Tomorrow is our lunch, and today is my day to get as much ready as I can so I won't be frazzled tomorrow morning.

"I Hate It Here...."

Those were the words I heard over the phone last night when our young friend C called me from Vegas. They had spent the day looking at houses, and they were totally disappointed.

C said that Vegas was "brown, ugly, and not at all cozy." Well, I've heard a lot of adjectives attached to Vegas before, but cozy isn't one of them. She also said the traffic was awful wherever they drove, and there were too many crazy drivers and weird looking people.

Her mom got on the phone to tell me how awful the houses were.... too dirty, too small, not enough yard-space, and she had seen too many rooms painted in neon colors. Their house here will sell for around $190,000 and that's for approximately 2500 sq. ft. of house, plus a huge in-ground pool and yard. The houses they're looking at over there are in the $450,000 range, and the square-footage is less than 1400. And the price range they're looking at is at the bottom-end of the housing market out there. Talk about sticker shock.

I told C to keep her chin up, but I don't think that helped any. I think all C wants is to keep her chin right here in Clear Lake and as far away from Vegas as possible.

All Things Green

Spent the day baking green desserts and decorating the living room and dining room with green shamrocks and St. Patty's Day beads (Mardi Gras-type necklaces). I baked key lime squares (exactly like lemon squares, only with lime), and tiny key lime tarts. I sprinkled green sugar on top of the tarts, which weren't as lime-y colored as the lime squares.

The cats are all on the porch, wondering what's going on, of course, and watching me through the windows of the breakfast room with sad kitty eyes. Especially AngelBoy... he really knows how to work those blue eyes of his, and his meow is the saddest of all.

I was going to make the spanikopita triangles this afternoon, but I'll do those tomorrow. I didn't know if the fillo dough would get soggy if I made them today, and I didn't want to take a chance. We also have to get to the ice cream shop tomorrow and buy some pistachio ice cream. I thought that would be a nice touch with the desserts, given the green theme. And I even have green tea to serve with dessert. (Details.... it's all in the details.)

In the back of my closet, I found a pretty green top and a mint-green pair of capris, so I'll wear those on Sunday. My husband has a green shirt, so we're all set. If I think of it, I will tie a green ribbon on Gracie's collar. And I should put some green on the Venus de Milo statue in the living room--- I usually make it a point to "dress" her for every party, so I must have something green that will make everyone smile.

Cloudy day today, not a drop of sun, but it was very warm. It may rain tomorrow, but it's supposed to be hot all weekend long. Fine with me. In my opinion, we've had enough cold snaps to last us for quite some time.

Birthday Coupon

We drove into Friendswood today with C.... she was "redeeming" one of the birthday coupons I made for her--- for the Italian Gelato Shop. She's had gelato before, but hadn't been to that particular shop. They must have thirty flavors of gelato there, so she was a little overwhelmed with all of the choices. But after careful looking, and a few samples, she chose two flavors and proclaimed both to be delicious. C was real cute with the coupon.... she didn't want to "turn it in" because she wanted to save it. (She's very sentimental and saves nearly everything.) So she asked me to sign and date the gelato coupon, so she could keep it, but know that she already redeemed it.

C was determined to use one of her birthday coupons before she and her mom leave for Vegas early tomorrow morning. C isn't really excited about this trip, and neither is her mom. Both of them are sad to be selling their house, sad to be leaving this area, and sadder still to be looking for a house in Vegas. I told C that she should at least be excited to see her dad once they get there, but even that didn't cheer her up, and I know how much she has missed her father since he started the new job out there.

C's house was on the market for two days and they already have an offer on it, so I guess the pressure will really be on her parents now to find a new house out near Vegas.


On a happier note, our local PBS station showed Barry Manilow's Music and Passion show tonight (from Vegas). The entire show, with the interruptions for the pledge-breaks of course. I called K's mom when it started, because I know she's also a big Manilow fan, and she called me when it was over, to say that she was dancing around her living room. My husband told me that I should have a Manilow party. (Now there's an idea....)

But that idea will have to wait. My party to-do list goes into full swing tomorrow as I start baking the desserts for Sunday's St. Patty's Day lunch. I also have to make the spanikopita. My friend F suggested that I practice the flag-folding with paper towels, and that worked out well. So we'll soon see if the fillo dough cooperates as well as the paper towels. If it doesn't, I will once again have interesting little bundles, rather than neat little triangles.

Speaking of that dough..... I've seen it spelled fillo and phyllo, which makes me wonder just what the correct spelling should be. I hate to misspell words..... that's right up there with my hating to be late.

Note this....

I usually write little post-it notes to remind me of appointments, even though I keep a date-book on my desk with day to day reminders written down. This morning, I had my usual piano lesson, then a dental appointment this afternoon. I had two post-it notes for the dental appointment, one on the kitchen counter, one on my laptop. Plus, the little appointment card that I had taped into the day book, plus the reminder call yesterday from the dentist's receptionist.

This morning got off to a slow start because I didn't get right out of bed when the alarm went off. Then my friend from North Carolina called to tell me about her recent trip to Las Vegas with her knitting group. Along with all the knitting and visits to local yarn shops, she also got to downtown Vegas to see Barry Manilow's show at the Las Vegas Hilton. Of course, she was totally impressed with the show and said that Barry seemed like such a truly nice man. (Well, of course he is.) The funniest thing about the knitting group at the yarn shops---- most of the women bought so much yarn that when they were packing their suitcases at the end of the trip, they had to just about sit on them to get them closed.

While I was on the phone with my knitting friend, I was getting my make-up on and then getting dressed, so I was on schedule with all of that, and on time for my piano lesson. When I got home from the lesson, I noticed pollen-dust on my car (heaven forbid!) so I hosed that down and dried it off before I put it in the garage. Everything is blooming here and the trees are tossing off pollen like it's confetti.

This Sunday is our St. Patty's day lunch, so I started doing some of the things on my to-do list for that. I decided to take a break from that and came into my sitting room to check my computer. And there was my note, as bright as day-- DENTIST 2:00....... It was 2:10. I called the dental office and told them I would be on my way in five minutes, and apologized for being late. That dental office is run like clock-work. They don't over-book, you never have to wait around past your appointment time, so I really felt badly. Plus I hate, hate, hate to be late. I don't like to be kept waiting, so I make it a point never to make anyone wait for me.

Notes. They work really well to remind you of appointments, but you really need to read them to make the process work.

"For Sale" Sign

Well, the For Sale sign in front of C's house makes it official.... and today was the first day that the realtor brought a prospective buyer to their house for a look-see. Our young C didn't want to be in the house while they were walking around, so she came over here after school today.

She wasn't too talkative about the house being sold, so I didn't bring it up. We were having tea in the breakfast room while she was doing her homework, and all of a sudden this tiny voice asks me "How many times do you think you'll be able to come and see me after we move to Las Vegas?"

I tried very hard to keep my voice as normal as possible, and I was determined not to let my eyes fill up with tears. I told C that we would fly out there as many times as we could during the year, and then we'd always have time during the summer. Her eyes brightened up at that one and she asked "You mean you'll be able to spend the whole summer with us?" I told her that that wasn't exactly what I meant.... we couldn't leave Gracie and the cats alone all summer long, and besides, her parents wouldn't want house guests for months or even weeks on end.

While C was here, my husband just happened to pop in during a break at work. He didn't know C was here, so it was a surprise for both of them. Before he went back to the office, C asked him to measure her against "her door," because she was sure she had grown some. Sure enough, she did grow a quarter of an inch since the last pencil mark.

That door is going to be a bittersweet reminder of C after they move.

And speaking of Vegas, C and her mom leave this Friday.... they're flying to Vegas to have a look-see at some of the houses C's dad has found for them. And while they're out there, I'm sure they will go look at some of the schools. C doesn't want to go.... she wants to stay here with us for the week. She had asked me that, but I told her that the decision was up to her parents, and I also suggested to her that it would be a good idea for her to fly out there with her mom so they both could take a look around at what will soon be their new home.

C's answer to that was "We don't need a new home.... there's nothing wrong with our old one."

Museum of Fine Art

We drove downtown this afternoon, to the art museum. We hadn't been there in a few years, and they now have a few new exhibits by American artists. Wonderful to see... two paintings in particular by Thomas Cole that just mesmerized us. So many little details in his paintings.... they both made us wonder how long it took him to complete the pictures.

After that, we went to Niko Niko's, our favorite Greek restaurant in the Montrose section of downtown. Delicious food, always delicious without fail, no matter how busy they get, and they do get very busy. So much food on the plates... I just ate my soup and barely touched my meal, which is now sitting in the fridge for tomorrow. Their lentil soup is absolutely the best. So are their desserts, but I didn't order any of those. I figured I'd have enough sweets in the house this week when I start baking for our St. Patty's Day lunch a week from today.

Cloudy day today, with only a few minutes of sun, so it was the perfect day for being inside the museum. The Impressionist Wing was closed to the public while we were there--- they were having a private reception for members of the downtown Greek community. Just as we got up the stairs to that wing of the museum, they began serving the food--- Greek food, of course. I wasn't hungry till I saw the platters of spanikopita being carried into the wing by the servers.


The Oscars are on TV tonight. I haven't seen any of the nominated movies, nor do I care who wins any of the awards. And I'm not thrilled with the host of tonight's show, either. Nevertheless, I'll be watching....... for a while, anyway, as I do my exercises. I love to watch and just look at the clothes and the jewelry and the hairstyles. I pick out my own best-dressed and worst-dressed, just the way my Aunt Dolly and I used to do years ago when we watched the Oscars together in my grandmother's living room. I'm sure that Aunt Dolly will be in front of her own TV tonight, watching the clothes and "tsk-tsk"-ing when she sees someone without stockings. (I wonder if my aunt realizes that most of these actresses don't even wear undergarments, much less stockings, underneath those skin-tight gowns.)

15th Birthday for C

We took our young friend C out for dinner last night, to celebrate her 15th birthday which is coming up. We told C that she could invite one friend to come along with us, and she chose L. We picked up the girls and were surprised to find them dressed up in skirts. C knows that I always dress up when we go out for dinner, and I was happy to see the girls in skirts instead of their usual jeans. I've made it a point never to tell C what to wear. When she asks me, I usually tell her to wear what she feels comfortable in, as long as it's appropriate for wherever we're going. Then, if she asks me if jeans are appropriate (like when we took the girls to the ballet at Christmas) I give her my honest opinion. When we all went to the ballet to see "The Nutcracker" and the girls saw how dressed up everyone was, they realized that their jeans wouldn't have been the best choice.

Everyone at Babbo Bruno's made a fuss over C last night. For as many times as she has gone there with us, she knows most of the staff as well as the owners. And a couple of the waitresses have been to our home as guests, so they've gotten to know C very well, and are saddened to know that she'll soon be moving to Vegas.

I thought of that a few times during dinner last night, and had to really put it out of my mind quickly and just enjoy the evening. We were at the restaurant for three hours last night, taking our time with the different courses, and watching as C opened her gifts from us. She usually opens her gifts rather quickly, but she took her time last night. I don't think she wanted the night to end. Last year for her birthday, I had given her a candle in the shape of a birthday cake. She saved it and brought it to the restaurant with us last night.... K gave her a little plate to put it on, so C's special candle lit up the center of the table for us.

This year, I gave C a porcelain birthday cake, sort of a keepsake item, and she loved it because it was the color of aquamarine, which matched the little porcelain "March" girl that I gave her last year. We also gave her a photo album for pictures of all her friends here, and for new friends that she'll make in Vegas. C also loves to make her own greeting cards, and I found her a craft box filled with blank cards and all sorts of papers and ribbons and embellishmnets.

Her favorite gift was the little beaded box filled with 15 birthday "coupons." On each little coupons, I wrote down a gift-- books from the bookstore, clothing from Old Navy (which she loves), ice cream, a hamburger lunch, a Chinese dinner, go-kart rides, driving lessons..... I can't remember them all now. I told C that it's up to her to call us to "redeem" the coupons when she has the time.

For the past few years now, the plan had been for me to teach C to drive. Her mom is too nervous to do it, and her dad just didn't have the time, so C asked me. Now that she's 15, she can get her learner's permit, but her parents don't know yet if they'll have time for all of that before they move to Vegas. So I told C that the driving-lesson coupons (I wrote out a bunch of those) will have to depend on her parents' schedule for the move. Of course, she told me that we could "fix" that problem if me and my husband just put our house up for sale also.

And when C blew out the candle on last night's dessert, that was just what she wished for..... that we would move out to Vegas also. A nice thought on her part, but I can't see that happening. We will truly, truly miss this child when they move.

Shrinkage

My sister called me this afternoon to ask two questions:

1. Did you watch the first episode of The Amazing Race? (Of course.... there are two women from Houston in this one.)

2. Are you as tall as you used to be? (Of course. Well, at least I think so. How tall was I?)


And so began the search for height. I had to look no further than the pantry-closet door in my kitchen, where my husband marked my height-line one Saturday morning when our young friends C and L were here. He had just marked C's height on "her" door that day, and then he used the laundry room door to start recording L's height. (We didn't want L to think she was less important to us than C, so we started her on her own door.) After that was done, C got the idea that we should all have our heights marked on a door. My husband used the pantry-closet door for my height-line, then I used the same door to mark his height. The girls were happy, and my husband and I didn't think about our height-lines after that.

Until this afternoon, however, when my sister wanted to know if I was shrinking. She thinks she's shrinking, and she thinks her husband is also shrinking. I just turned 54 in January, and my sister is seven years younger. Honestly.... do women start shrinking at this age?

I tried to measure my height-line on the pantry door. In order to do that, I had to put the cell phone down on the counter--- you just can't hold a cell phone on your shoulder the way you can with a "regular" phone. So there I was, with a cloth tape measure in one hand, trying to hold the pantry door still with my other hand while Mickey Kitty was trying to grab the bright yellow tape measure. My measurement came out to five feet, two inches. What???? I know I was taller than that.

I got back on the phone to give my sister the sad news: I'm shrinking. See?!?!?!? was her reply, and she shrieked it into the phone. I told her to have her husband measure her when he got home from work, and let me know how tall she was. Or short. Whatever the case may be.

When I hung up the phone, I put Mickey Kitty out on the screen porch so I could re-measure that height-line without interruption. And lo and behold---- I realized that I was measuring down to the bottom of the door and the door is above the ceramic tile floor. I wasn't as short as I thought I was.

My husband came home right after that, and I told him about the height-line and my sister's phone call, and I asked him to measure me again. Seriously measure, not just a flick of the pencil against the door.

I called my sister back, to give her my "official height" of five feet, three and 3/8 inches. I told her the pantry door is marked with that number, and today's date. So I'll check it in a year or two and see if the number is the same. She's waiting for her husband to come home so he can "seriously" measure her as well.

She hasn't called me back yet, and it's been over an hour now. Her husband is probably still laughing. (You know how men are.... there's only one kind of "shrinkage" that they take seriously.)

Perfectly beautiful weather.....

Today was very warm and sunny, with bright blue skies, a tropical breeze, and everyone's garden is blooming and just bursting out in all sorts of colors. Wherever you walk, you can smell the yellow jasmine, azaelas, roses, white lilacs, and all sorts of flowering plants that I can't identify. If my dear friend Frankie were still walking the earth, she would've called me around noon-time today to say "Darlin', it's just wonderful to be alive today, isn't it?!" Yes, Frankie, it surely is, and I wish you still were.

This morning started off early..... I woke up before the alarm because today is piano-lesson day (and just about the only day of the week when we set the alarm). I was all ready to practice a little bit before going to K's for the lesson, and our neighbor's daughter S rang the bell and asked if one of us could drive her to school. She woke up late, and missed her first class, and her mom had already left for work. (S has her own car, but she had a little accident last week and the car is being repaired.) So off I went with S, and we had a nice chat between here and the high school, which is just outside the subdivision. This is S's senior year, and she's going college-shopping this weekend. She will either go to Austin or San Antonio for college, and she can barely wait to get a "taste of what's out there."

S and her sister M used to come over here for tea and cookies when they were little girls. And sometimes they came for lunch-- they liked my husband's grilled cheese sandwiches. They came to our Christmas parties with their parents every year, and they came here in their Halloween costumes to take pictures in front of our fireplace. And sometimes, they just came over to say hello and play with the cats. We've watched those two girls growing up during the last ten years, and they've matured into well-spoken, confident, and responsible young ladies. When M went off to college two years ago, we didn't have a weed in our front garden because V (the mom of S and M) would come over here and pull them all out--- it was her way of coping with the stress of "losing M to Austin." Now it will be S's turn to fly out of the nest.... and I expect V will be back in our garden, pulling weeds.

I'm sure the Mardi Gras festivities and rodeo events will fare better this weekend, now that the weather is back to normal. The rodeo parade was held on one of those cool and cloudy days, and some of the Mardi Gras parades were all wet and soggy--- hard to catch beads if you're holding an umbrella.

There was an article in today's paper about the school children who had to move to Houston when the hurricane destroyed the schools in New Orleans. It seems that the New Orleans kids wanted to take off for the Mardi Gras parades in Galveston--- when they lived in New Orleans, schools closed so everyone could take part in Mardi Gras. Well, as the saying goes: "This ain't New Orleans."

The Houston school districts don't close schools for Mardi Gras, and they don't close schools for rodeo. (They do close for heavy rains, however, but the sun is bright and shining this week.)

Speaking of the beads that are thrown during Mardi Gras parades--- in New Orleans, if the beads land on the pavement, no one picks them up. They say the beads have to be caught, not taken up off the ground. Well, I guess no one in Galveston takes that into account, because I've hardly ever seen Mardi Gras beads left on the streets of The Strand. Any beads landing on the pavement are scooped up as quickly as they fall onto the Galveston streets.

Don't know how I got from the beautiful weather to picking up beads.....