Pompeii

We went downtown to the Fine Arts Museum yesterday.... they have an exhibit of artifacts from the ruins at Pompeii. Wonderful display of gold and silver coins, gold and beaded jewelry, blown glass, pottery, bronze, silver, hand painted frescoes....... mostly everything in very good condition, considering it was buried under tons of burning debris and ashes.

It was hard to look at the body-casts of the victims, however...... mothers clutching their children, a child with arms reaching up for help that never came, a dog nearly folded in two from the intense heat. Very sad.... I couldn't look at those displays for more than a few seconds.

It's always amazing to me to see museum exhibits with items that are centuries-old..... the bronze items were very intricate, as were the silver goblets and serving pieces. How in the world did they do all that handmade ornate work way back then? There were even some surgical tools in this exhibit, which are nearly identical to surgical tools still used today.

Our museum district here always offers very fine exhibits, and we try and see all of them, both at the science museum and in the art museum. The drive from here to downtown is an easy one, as long as you time it right so you don't get stuck in rush-hour traffic.... and parking near the museum is free and convenient, so that makes it easy as well. Plus the museums are near the biggest and prettiest downtown park... and the best Greek restaurant is only a short ride from both museums. What more can you possibly ask for?

We stopped at the Whole Foods Market while we were downtown, and came home with two bags filled with prepared food, and some specialty foods that we can't get locally here. Whole Foods is supposed to be opening a market right in the area here, but it may take till next year to be completed. When that happens, I may just take the stove-top and the oven right out of our kitchen...... who would want to use them with all the home-cooked foods at the Market?! (Okay.... just kidding.... just kidding.)

My cousin L called this afternoon and we were on the phone for over an hour, talking mostly about Amy Vanderbilt's etiquette book. L says she misses the good manners and "niceness" of years ago, and is saddened that her grandchildren are growing up "too modern."

I quoted to her from the etiquette book--- that you can't control how anyone else raises their children, but you can control the children's actions when they're under your own roof.... plus the best way to teach is by example, not by criticizing. I think L is sorry that I've bought that etiquette book now, because she tends to over-criticize her grandchildren and she thinks that's okay for her to do. I suggested she go to her library and check out this book. She said she may just buy a couple of copies and give them to her daughters. (Well, I wonder how that will go over?)

Wednesday stuff....

We went to the movies this morning...... hardly anyone there for the first showing, which is always a welcome surprise. We were the only two people in theatre #18, to see Dr. Seuss' latest book-brought-to-film. The animation always amazes me.... so different than the animated films from years ago.

Horton Hears a Who was colorful, whimsical, musical..... and it's no wonder that the film is making millions upon millions of dollars since it opened. But today, in a small Texas town on the outskirts of a larger Texas town, there were just two of us sitting in the theatre watching Horton protecting the tiny white speck on top of the little pink flower.

And every time the word "speck" was said in the film, I thought of EKV, who used to work with me at the library back in NY. E's favorite thing to say, when the other women were gossiping or complaining or not being nice, was: "Don't they all realize that we are all just a tiny speck in this huge universe?" E, with her incomparable Greek wisdom, always had a wonderfully unique and wise way of looking at every-day life and putting in all into its proper perspective.


I colored some eggs yesterday, just to see if farm-brown eggs would hold the color from the drops of food-coloring. And indeed they did...... I now have half a dozen hot pink hard-boiled eggs in the fridge. Very Seuss-like eggs.


I'm reading "Texas," by James Michener. I've had this huge book for a couple of years now..... bought it for one dollar at a yard sale and it just kept getting buried at the bottom of my pile of books waiting to be read. As with all of Michener's volumes, the research is amazing, the story is gripping, and if this is how history could have been taught while I was in grade school and high school, I would have been more interested.


I'm also reading through a huge volume of "Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette." Interesting reading, to say the least, and this world can certainly do with a bit more manners and proper etiquette. I bought that book (the 50th anniversary edition) for just $5.00 on Half.com----- the etiquette books in Barnes & Noble were too expensive, and the Half-Price Bookstore only had older copies in poor condition.

Etiquette (and the lack of it) has been the topic of discussion between me and my cousin L up in NY. She is always saddened by the disregard of "social, public manners" these days, and L said that children should be taught etiquette and manners at school if they're not taught at home. Which got me to thinking about social customs, and proper manners....... which led me to my search for this book.

So when I get overwhelmed by how horrible the early Spanish settlers were to the native Indians of Tejas (before they changed that to Texas), I pick up the etiquette book and I'm going through it page by page.

By the time I'm through with both books, I will know as much Texas history as Michener wrote, and as much proper etiquette as Amy Vanderbilt deemed necessary.

What color would you like your egg?

I've been eating the hard-boiled eggs that Miss C helped us decorate after we took her out for her birthday dinner. Every morning, I pick out a pink or blue-shelled egg, or a purple one, or a striped one....... and I have that with a slice of the Irish soda bread (from our St. Patty's party), along with a cup of tea. The little chicken egg-slicer has been doing a fine job in giving me nice little rounds of hard boiled eggs. Not my usual oatmeal, but just as nice, and I hope it's not too many more calories than the little bowl of oatmeal.

I have to say that opening up the fridge and looking at that bowl of brightly colored eggs makes me smile every morning. Being that C had told us that "coloring eggs would be a good thing to do on a rainy day," I kept that in mind when I did the grocery shopping this afternoon.

I bought two packages of food coloring.... the usual box of the primary colors (red, green, yellow, blue) that they've offered for years, along with a box of new "neon" colors-- hot pink, lime green, peacock blue, and bright purple. I also remembered to get a small bottle of white vinegar. (Can't forget that again--- my next-door neighbor would never let me live that down more than once.) Those are all now tucked away in my pantry closet, for the next rainy day. Or maybe even a sunny day, when these colored eggs are gone and I need another bowl of bright eggs to make the inside of the fridge more interesting.

After all, is there a rule that says you can only color eggs the week before Easter?

Speaking of Miss C... she is up north now, visiting her aunt and uncle. They sent her an airline ticket so she could visit with them for a few days of this week's Spring Break. The phone rang early this morning, and it was C, calling to say hello, telling me that she got up before everyone else and was trying not to make too much noise until her aunt and uncle woke up. She told me that she had packed her little chicken egg slicer in her suitcase-- she was going to make hard boiled eggs for her aunt and uncle, and use the cute little chicken to slice them. She was excited about this trip-- the first time she would be flying on a plane without either one of her parents.

As we were talking, I heard her saying "Good morning" to her uncle, who had just walked into the kitchen. I told C to remember the telephone manners that I insist on in our house-- and suggested that she say good-bye to me, being that her uncle was awake. (She knows that I can't stand when people talk and talk and talk on a phone while there are other people in the same room.) I told her to have a good time, and I said I miss you! To which, C replied with her usual I miss you more! She does that also when I say "I love you!".... I love you more!

When C goes off to college, there will be four adults missing her... her parents, and us.

Back to our once-favorite Italian restaurant.

We went out for dinner last night, to the Italian restaurant that we used to go to at least twice a week. (Or, as the locals say here in Texas-- the Eye-talian restaurant.) We had stopped going there just before they moved to a new and bigger location.

Their old restaurant was small and cozy, and you felt as if you were eating in someone's private home. Added to that was our favorite waitress K, who made our nights out really feel like nights out. But K wanted a change of jobs, and she left there-- or rather, the owners fired her after she gave them two weeks notice. Being that K had been working for them since they opened, I felt as if they had treated her very poorly. And she was the best waitress they had, for goodness sake.

When the owners opened their newer and bigger restaurant, we went there to try it. We weren't impressed with the decor, which I called "too cold, too modern, too everything but cozy." The booths (which they didn't have at the old location) were too high--- they looked like cubicles, and the seats weren't comfortable to sit on for more than ten minutes or so. When you were seated, you couldn't see over the tops of the seat-backs, so you felt as if you were eating in a little cave.

The food was good, but the new plates were as big as a bathroom sink, and that's what they looked like. When you put a normal-sized portion of food onto a sink-sized plate, your mind tells you that you're getting a child's portion for an adult price. And of course their prices went up to pay for the renovations on the new location.

But my husband wanted to go back there to try it again, so that's what we did last night. Into the closets we went, and got all dressed up for the occasion. We sat in a booth, forgetting how uncomfortable they were. The salad course was half the size that it used to be. The bread basket didn't have the fancy stuffed breads that the owner used to bake, so I didn't even taste the plain slices of the white loaves. The main course was served on the bathroom-sink plates. Delicious food, but those plates..... horrible choice.... the waiters can barely fit two of those plates on one of their serving trays.

Speaking of waiters.... we saw E as we walked into the door, and he gave us a big hug. He's been working there for years, and he was our waiter quite a few times when K had the night off. He waited on us last night with his usual flair and efficiency, so it felt like a night out, rather than just a meal in a restaurant.

The owner's wife was there, and she came over to say hello. So glad to see you again! (Well, of course she was... we surely spent enough money there over the years, and brought in enough of our friends as well.)

We will probably go back there. Dinner was indeed very good.... my husband had shrimp cooked in a rich champagne cream sauce. I had risotto cooked with fresh spinach, crab, shrimp and scallops. Delicious....I took half of it home and had it for dinner again tonight. I enjoyed it a little more tonight because I wasn't eating it out of a bathroom sink-sized plate. (I hate to keep harping on that, but I can't get the sink-shape out of my mind when I think of those ridiculous plates.)

Maybe I should just bring in my own china and ask the owner to serve my dinner on my plates. And we have to remember not to sit in one of the booths. And we also have to make sure to sit where E will serve us.... because the other waiters and waitresses there last night didn't look too promising. (That's a lot of "rules" to remember just to make sure we have a good night out.)

"Can I borrow half a cup of vinegar?"

We took Miss C out for her birthday dinner last night..... her choice was one of the larger Oriental restaurants on the other side of the Gulf Freeway. We ordered appetizers and soups, and brought home most of our dinners in to-go boxes. For dessert, we went to La Madeleine and picked out a calorie-laden goodie for each of us, and came back to our house.

Before we left to pick up C, I had decorated the dining room table with her birthday gifts, plus everything we needed to color Easter eggs-- which C loves to do. I set out our best china for our dessert and tea, but I also used all of my Disney cups (made to look like the teacup ride at the Disney parks). I put the egg colors in the Disney cups and had them in a circle of eight around the centerpiece on the dining room table. And the centerpiece was a pretty bowl filled with two dozen hard-boiled eggs waiting to be decked out in colors, beads, sequins and stickers.

C had brought her birthday candle to the restaurant and we had it lit in the center of the table there, then we did the same thing in our dining room. I had given her the large pillar-shaped birthday-decorated candle last week on her "real" birthday-day, but she didn't light it with her parents... she saved it for us.

After we sang Happy Birthday, and C took a good half-minute to come up with a good birthday wish before she blew out the little candle on her fruit tart, we started to color the eggs. We all noticed that the color was taking longer than we thought it would to turn the eggshells from white to bright. My husband asked me if I had read the instructions on the box. What's to read?-- You pop in the little color-tablet, add hot water, and you should have color.

My husband read the box..... and asked me if I had added a little bit of vinegar to the cups. Vinegar? Oops. I didn't have a drop of vinegar in the house, and I didn't think a bottle of thick balsamic vinegar glaze would be a good thing to use. I ran next door to V's house.... Can I borrow half a cup of vinegar? --- "Oh, you must be coloring Easter eggs!" said V.

What?! Does everyone in the world but me know that you need to add vinegar to Easter egg coloring? As soon as I added a spoon of vinegar to the cups of coloring, the smell of the vinegar in the hot water set my mind to remembering that you do indeed need the vinegar. Adding the vinegar to the hot water made the liquid bubble like a science experiment, which gave all of us a good laugh.

So this morning we have a bowl filled with colored eggs in our fridge.... pink and blue and purple, some with stripes, some with sequins and beads, and one that says "Best Friend" on it--- C made that one and gave it to me last night. It will be the last egg that we crack, without a doubt. We gave half of the eggs to C, so she could enjoy them with her mom..... and use her cute little egg slicer that I gave her... it has the head of a chick at one end and the feet of a chick at the other.

We had such a good time yesterday with that child. She is such a delight, and so very easy to please. She squealed when she saw how I had decorated the dining room table for her birthday and she loved the little place cards I had made for the three of us. She is seventeen now, and there's still a sense of fun, a sense of wonder, and I don't think she wants to let go of the "little girl-ness" that's still inside her. Which is fine. C is just C and she'll grow and mature at her own pace.

C suggested to me that we should color eggs more often. She said it was a good thing to do on rainy days, and being that she likes hard-boiled eggs anyway, it's more fun to have decorated eggs in the fridge than plain old white ones. Something tells me that I should add food coloring and vinegar to my shopping list.

St. Patty's Green Lunch

St. Patrick would have smiled..... we had a great lunch today with K & B, C & R, and J & S. Everyone wore something green and brought something green. When C & R walked in, C was holding the foods they cooked, and R had a bag filled with "props," as she called them.

R is full of surprises-- like for our Harry Potter dinner, when she brought her Tarot cards and came dressed up in her Renaissance gown. For today's lunch, her "props" were two dancing costumes from when she was a young girl and was a member of an Irish dancing group-- not only the costumes, but the dancing shoes as well, plus all the medals she won over the years.

The green and white costumes were handmade by family members, and beautifully embroidered with designs and crests and emblems of her dancing group. We hung them up in the archway between the living room and the dining room, and R displayed her medals on the piano, along with black & white photographs of the dancers. What a great surprise that was-- and of course, appropriate for the day.

The foods were amazing, as they always are when we all get together. C & R brought green rice, plus tomato slices topped with basil and mozzarella. K & B brought sag paneer, which is an Indian spinach dish baked with a mild goat cheese, along with naan, traditional Indian bread. They also brought dessert-- a rich pound cake frosted with green icing and green sprinkles. J & S brought shrimp quesadillas with a green salsa.

I made the Irish soda bread, which I sliced and arranged on a vintage green platter and used as the centerpiece for the table. Around that, I had shamrock-shaped candy dishes filled with pistachio nuts and green pumpkin seeds. Shamrock-topped plastic picks were studded with green grapes and chunks of kiwi, with a dipping sauce of key lime yogurt. I made spinach and cheese pastries, and my husband made mashed potatoes with cheese and bacon (not green, but potatoes seem to be a staple in Irish cooking). I also had fresh spinach leaves stuffed with mozzarella cheese and sprinkled with balsamic vinegar and slivers of pistachio nuts.

All the ladies got rhinestone shamrock pins, plus green tea and chocolates in their favor-bags (which were green silk bags decorated with tiny green flowers). The guys got cellophane bags covered in shamrocks and filled with green tea and chocolates.

Our lunch started at 2:00 and didn't break up until 7:00 this evening. We took our time with all of the food, then enjoyed dessert with K & B's cake, and the pistachio gelato that I bought at the supermarket.... plus green tea and coffee (not green). We're such a great group when we all get together.... lots of interesting conversation that never seems to hit a low spot.

We're going to try and arrange a dinner at the Moroccan restaurant downtown.... with the 8 of us, we can reserve one of their small private rooms, which should be a lot of fun. We've been there with K & B twice before, but the other two couples haven't tried that restaurant yet.

Nearly 11:00pm now... and it's been a long day. A fun one, but a busy one....... and tomorrow will be also. I'm trying to remember the last un-busy day....

Quick Irish Soda Bread

This recipe was from a friend who worked with me up in NY at the library years and years ago. CF made this for an employee lunch and by the end of the day, every last crumb of it was gone. It became one of the library staff's favorite recipes, and every time I make it, I think of CF.

3 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tblsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. baking soda.

2 cups buttermilk, 2 tblsp. vegetable oil, 2 eggs (beaten), 1 cup raisins, 2 tblsp. caraway seeds.

-- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a 10" tube pan: spray with Pam (or coat tube pan with butter and a bit of flour).

-- In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

-- In smaller bowl, combine beaten eggs with buttermilk and oil. Pour this mixture into dry ingredients. Use an electric mixer on low speed and mix till batter is smooth and well-blended. (Batter will be very thick.)

-- Add raisins and caraway seeds, and use a spatula to fold these into the batter.

-- Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes, give or take, depending on your oven. Use a thin knife to test for doneness.


Totally easy, totally delicious. I have to admit that I never add in the caraway seeds--- I don't like the taste or the smell of those seeds, and I've never missed them in this soda bread.

For tomorrow's St. Patty's lunch, I intend to slice up this bread and place it on a beautiful vintage green glass plate that is sitting on top of a gold pedestal---- it will be the centerpiece on the dining room table, surrounded by green glass shamrock tea-lights.

This year's Irish soda bread is for you, CF.... wherever you are.

Yard sale shamrocks.

Stopped at two yard sales yesterday morning... at one of them, I found two Syracuse China platters.... beautiful white porcelain with gold trim, and tiny green shamrocks dancing around the edges of the plates. Perfect for St. Patty's Day, and of course I bought them. Two things in, two things out..... I went through my plates when I got home and took two of them out of my buffet to take to the consignment shop.

I brought Miss C to the DPS (Dept. of Public Safety) to get her driver's license renewed yesterday. The rule is that until you reach 18 yrs. of age, the license has to be renewed every year... they charge just $5.00 for that. Guess they do it to make sure the teens keep driving, and don't get any citations posted against their licenses.

C didn't want to go home afterwards... she asked me twice if she could come to our house after the DPS, so of course I said yes. On the way home, we stopped at a Cajun Deli and bought take-out dinners to bring back with us. I didn't exactly feel like cooking for three when we got out of the DPS, and the Cajun food was a nice treat.

While I was waiting for the to-go orders, C was browsing through the gift items in the deli. Before we left there, she told me to close my eyes and hold out my hand, and when I did, she put a pink beaded L-shaped key ring in my hand..... then gave me a big hug for taking her to the DPS for her license. Such a sweet kid. Not only does she love surprises for herself, but she also loves to give surprises.

No yard sales for me this morning...... I'm sure there were some out there, but I didn't wake up early enough and besides that, I had enough to do today, with getting ready for tomorrow's St. Patty's Day lunch. The Irish soda bread is made, the spinach/cheese mixture is set to be spooned into the pastry cups, my husband has made his famous bacon & cheese mashed potatoes...... and the dining room table is all set and looks positively green and beautiful. I've still got some last-minutes things to do tomorrow morning.

Gorgeous day today...... nearly 90 degrees, and tomorrow promises to be more of the same. Perfect weather..... as it should be here at this time of the year. Finally, the weather gods are paying attention.

"I forgot my key."

That's what usually happens to our young Miss C about every ten days or so..... she forgets her house key, so she will come over here after school until her mother gets home from work. Co-incidence or not?

Yesterday was one of those days, and C was here after school and came with me on a couple of errands.... then had a little bite of dinner with us (saving room for some dinner with her mom), and then I drove her home.

One of the errands was driving to SteinMart to pick up a cute little egg slicer that I had seen there last week. How cute can an egg slicer be? Well, picture one round wire egg slicer that has a little chicken's face at the top and little chicken's feet at the bottom. You just look at it and it makes you smile.

I had seen those at SteinMart when I was there last week, and didn't buy them. I thought I had an egg slicer here already (which I don't-- guess I haven't sliced any eggs lately). The chicken-faced egg slicers would have been perfect Easter favor-gifts, but we're not hosting an Easter dinner this month. So I didn't buy them last week, even though I thought they were just adorable.

Yesterday, my cousin L called from NY to say hello, and she got to talking about eggs and egg slicers, and she told me that she had been searching the stores in her neighborhood, looking for a simple egg slicer. No one had them, and half of the stores didn't know what she was talking about when she described the round circle of metal strips that made slicing an egg so easy.

So there was L on the phone, asking me if I had any suggestions for her as to where she could find an egg slicer. I told her to stop looking for one, that I had seen cute little egg slicers right here, and I would go back to the store and get them and mail one to her. Well, how cute can an egg slicer be? she asked me. I told her to trust me..... that I was sending her the cutest one of all.

Which is what took me to SteinMart yesterday afternoon, with Miss C... I bought her an egg slicer as well, being that she's the Princess of Cute, plus she loves hard-boiled eggs. While we were in SteinMart yesterday, C found a cute little purse in the shape/color of a puppy-- so realistic that when she was holding the purse in the store, three other customers thought she had a real puppy in her arms. That settles it, I told her..... if she wanted the purse, I would buy it for her.

C still has five "birthday coupons" from her 16th birthday that I had given to her last year. Each of the sixteen coupons was for a different gift, and the reason she has five left over is because those five were for driving lessons--- that I couldn't follow through with because our car insurance doesn't cover anyone under the age of 25. So I had told C that she could redeem those driving coupons for anything else within reason (with myself being the voice of reason).

So there was my 17-year-old Miss C yesterday, with this cute puppy purse in her hands, loving it as if it were a real puppy. Seventeen or not, there's a lot of little girl left in Miss C. Which isn't a bad thing.

On the way home from SteinMart, C was talking about western boots, and how badly she wanted a "real" pair, not a cheap pair from one of the shoe outlets. That conversation got me to thinking... I have two pairs of real (translation: expensive) western boots. The darker pair is my favorite, and they're so comfy and beautiful that I know they'll last me forever. The lighter pair is a slightly different style, more pointed and less comfy, and I don't want to wear them anymore because I don't want to repeat last year's foot problems.

Before driving to C's house on the way home yesterday, we came back here and I took those light colored western boots out of the back of my closet. I gave C a pair of thick white socks and told her to try them on. Are you serious?!?!?!?! Yes I am.... try them on.

They weren't exactly a perfect fit, because her shoe size is one size smaller, but with the white socks, and the likelihood of her growing into them, they were perfect enough for her to love them. She pranced around in front of our full-length mirrors in the dressing room... then she walked around our breakfast room and kitchen so she could hear the sound of the western heels on the tiles, and she wore them home, tossing her sneakers into her book-bag. She was one happy little cowgirl. I explained to C that they were indeed expensive, and that she shouldn't plod through muddy fields. She assured me that she wouldn't consider such a thing with those beautifully stitched and patterned boots. Yeeeee-haaaaahhhh!!!!!

We're taking Miss C out for dinner next week, to celebrate her birthday, which was last week. (We always keep our celebration second to anything her parents have planned for her.) C's choice was dinner at one of the largest Oriental restaurants here (she can use chopsticks better than most people can use a fork). We'll take her there for dinner, then to La Madeleine for dessert, then we're coming back here to color some eggs for Easter.

Before we drove into the subdivison yesterday, I pulled into a local gas station and asked Miss C to fill my car up with gas. She giggled and laughed, and couldn't believe that I've never pumped gas into my own car. There's still just one service station here (across from the Johnson Space Center) that has a man there who will pump gas for women such as myself who prefer not to do it. I told Miss C that I typically go there for gas, but it was too late in the evening yesterday to be driving on NASA Road One... too much traffic pouring out of the Space Center at that time.

So there we were yesterday, with my little car sitting in front of the gas pumps, and C was giving me a step-by-step lesson in how to pump gas. She pressed all the buttons and held the hose as the gas poured into my car, and about the only thing I did myself was to put my credit card into the machine. After the receipt came out of the pump, and before we got back into my car, she gave me a big hug and told me that she was certain I could fill the car up myself if I had a mind to. We sat in the car and laughed again, saying that there was probably a man sitting inside the service station, watching us and wondering why we hugged each other after my car was filled up with gas. "It's a chick thing," said C.

With everything else going on at the moment, all this fun stuff with Miss C is saving my sanity.

Dr. Seuss Goes Oriental.

I went into League City today.... got my hair trimmed a tiny bit, then stopped in J's antique/resale shop to say hello to J and L, and to look around a little. No sooner had I walked into the door and I saw a whimsical Oriental-style chest of drawers.

The minute I saw it, I smiled. The next minute, I told myself that I had no room for such a cabinet. The third minute, I was telling myself that of course I could find the perfect spot for such a wonderful little piece. Then I came to my senses, but only for a minute or so.

It does indeed look Seuss-ical. It stands nearly four-and-a-half feet tall, and it's about 18 inches wide at the top and 12 inches wide at the bottom. The chest has five drawers in it, the widest draw at the top, the smallest at the bottom. The legs curve out just a little bit, so it looks as if it could walk around the room if it had a mind to. The drawers are deep and wide, and I just knew it would be perfect for all the place cards and embellishments I use for our parties.

But..... where to put it. L looked at the price and told me she'd give me a nice discount if I wanted it. Well, of course I wanted it, but.... where would I put it. I told L that I would think about it as I walked around the rest of the shop. As I browsed, I could hear the voice of my husband's mom telling me what she always told me: Buy what you love, honey, and worry about the details later.

Details.... such as where to put this magical, whimsical chest of drawers.... painted a faded-brick red, with a design of gold branches and gold grapes, with small lion's-head drawer pulls on each of those cute drawers.

J came into that part of the shop and he picked up the chest and we looked at the bottom. Good and solid, well-made, all the wood in good condition. It looked to be old, but we didn't know exactly how old. As J kept talking (asking me when the next Charades party was going to be) I was mentally going through everything in my sitting room, wondering what could come out so this little Oriental chest could go in.

Bingo! The little wood sewing chest with the pink satin lining..... I've had that in my sitting room for years now, and it's always been filled with all the place card embellishments. Trouble is, everything gets mixed all up in there because there's only one compartment and every time I want one thing, I have to search through everything.

L gave me a nice discount, as promised, and then J and I had to figure out how to fit it into my car. We took the drawers out and put them in the trunk, which was thankfully empty because I hadn't gone anywhere else this morning. The tall chest went into my front seat... I had to recline the passenger seat as far back as it would go, then we rested the legs of the chest on the floor and just set the chest back onto the seat (watch that leather!) and it looked as if a wooden soldier was leaning back while still in the "at attention" position.

But it got home safe and sound, and it's now in my sitting room, holding all the place cards, plus the embellishments, and all the odds and ends that I use for my greeting cards and gift tags. It is the perfect, perfect piece of furniture, especially if you have a soft spot in your heart for Oriental design.

As for the pink satin-lined sewing chest.... I put it in the breakfast room and filled it with my magazines. That wooden chest is sort of kidney-shaped, and sits up on Queen Anne-style legs, so it's doing a fine job holding my magazines, and looks even better with the top open because you can see the satin lining and the pink fringe around the inside edges. I found that in J's shop a bunch of years ago..... yet another time when I bought something and didn't know exactly where I was going to put it.

Buy what you love, honey, and worry about the details later.

Daylight Savings Time

It's that time of the year again, a little earlier than usual--- the clocks go ahead one hour. Which is always fine with me, because I don't like when it gets dark at 6:30. Having the sun out till nine o'clock just makes a good day even better.

Everything is earlier this year..... Mardi Gras, Easter, Daylight Savings Time..... seems that the year is speeding along even quicker than usual.

We're not "doing" Easter this year, being that Easter Sunday comes just a week after St. Patty's Day. We're having friends over for our St. Patty's Green Lunch, so we figured that was all we needed to be doing this month. We're still talking about hosting an Ice Cream Sundae Sunday.... those plans are still in the works. I already have the invitations for that type of party, plus the favors--- sparkling glass ice cream cone ornaments and books on ice cream.

Yesterday was Miss C's 17th birthday. I've already given her two of her gifts--- one being a new birthday candle. The one I gave her a few years ago has just about seen the best of its days, and it was time for a new one. Without a doubt, she will use this birthday candle for the next few years, lighting it up for a bit during her birthday-day breakfast, lunch, and dinner, then putting it up on her desk shelf till the next year's birthday celebration. When we take her out for dinner, I will give her the rest of her gifts. C usually brings her birthday candle with her when we take her out for dinner, and we put it in the center of the table and light it up. She is so sentimental about things like that, and it's very touching.

I'm still smiling over the essay that Miss C wrote and entered in the essay contest. Winning that contest is immaterial, because in my mind, C is (and always has been ) a winner. Of all the people in her life that she could have chosen to write about, I am immensely flattered that she chose me. I just shake my head in wonder at all the little things she remembers from year to year.... and it's the little things that seem to be most important to her.

I didn't go to yard sales this morning....... the temperature dropped down to 50 degrees last night, and it wasn't much warmer when I got up this morning. Yard sales aren't much fun when you have to bundle up in sweaters and coats, so I went back to bed and slept till 7:30. There will be more than enough Saturday morning yard sales as the weather gets warmer.

This afternoon was beautiful.... nice and sunny..... not as warm as I'd like it to be, but we can't complain when the temperature is 75 degrees here when most of the country is dealing with heavy rains and snowstorms.

Miss C's Essay

Our young Miss C phoned me last night and asked if she could run over here for a few minutes. She wanted to show me the essay that she's entering in a school-wide essay contest sponsored by the Coca-Cola Company.

I have a copy of her essay here, and I'm going to re-type the whole thing here, word for word. Needless to say, I was amazed, overwhelmed, and sat there last night with tears in my eyes as I read what C wrote:


"On a quiet calm day in my English class, my teacher Ms. B informed us that there was a writing contest with prizes involved. Everyone looked extremely excited and demanded for the prompt. In a sweet and calm voice our teacher said "Who speaks for or inspires your generation and what are they saying?" All at once I could hear "I'm going to write about Hannah Montana." "I'm going to write about Jessica Simpson. " "Ricky Martin is a sure winner."

"While everyone was trying to outdo each other with pop stars and celebrities, I knew just who I was going to write about. This person is neither a pop star nor celebrity but has a heart of gold which is way more important than anything else.

"I first met Miss Larrie when I was in second grade. I didn't know her name but I always saw her gracefully walking down the halls with a book. She would come into my classroom on certain days and help kids that had trouble reading. She would always enter the room with a smile, her glasses, and a beautiful assortment of books to read, which always caused me to smile no matter what mood I was in.

"I never got the chance to read with her at the beginning of the year because there were kids whose reading was worse than mine, so it wasn't until the middle of the year that I lucked out. The kid who had trouble reading moved away and I was able to ask the teacher if I could go and read with her.

"The next day without fail, Miss Larrie came into the class and asked who she was going to be reading with. Before the teacher could point me out, I was at her feet like a little puppy dog begging for attention. As we walked to the library she said "Call me Miss Larrie because Mrs. B--------- is too hard to say." When we sat down at the table she opened her book and some wearied feeling came over me, a feeling of mystery maybe, but a good kind. It impressed me, every time I stumbled upon a word that I didn't know, she never got frustrated with me and she never stopped smiling. As time went on we became closer, and during our reading breaks, we would ask each other questions about our favorite animal, favorite book, favorite this, favorite that, until there seemed like there were no more questions left in the world.

"When the last day of school came around, I wasn't happy like the rest of the kids. I wanted to stay and read with Miss Larrie. Lucky for me, Miss Larrie suggested that we still read over the summer, and we could also go out for lunch and hang out. This got me excited so every Friday, we would go out to a small cozy Greek cafe or a Chinese buffet for lunch, and then back to Miss Larrie's house to read. The first time I was at her house I felt like I was in a tiny castle because of all the antiques and pretty pictures. We never ran out of books and sometimes she would let me keep them. We would read one whole book every Friday and eat pineapple ice cream until my stomach was about to explode. Miss Larrie would take tiny little mouse bites at a time.

"As time went on we hung out more and more and started doing everything together. We went to plays, the museum, Moody Gardens, the Houston Zoo, and even small things like grocery shopping, which Miss Larrie never likes doing, so I always keep her company. Our favorite thing to do together is going to garage sales. We always find things and when we get back to her house we have even more fun finding a place to put them.

"Before I knew it, I was helping her with the Pajama Program, which is a nonprofit organization that gives less fortunate children pajamas. She is the president of the Houston chapter and has now collected 4,500 pairs of pajamas and brings them to places from Clear Lake to Lake Livingston. For her birthday this year, all she asked for was pajamas for the kids and nothing for herself. To me that takes a very special person to do that and I admire her so much.

"You can still find Miss Larrie the same way today, with a book in her hand, glasses (which are the new ones that I picked out), and most important, a great big smile. She is one of my best friends that I could ever have. Miss Larrie isn't a celebrity or a pop star, but she inspires people to do good things in life and always does her best for everyone."


---- I typed C's essay word for word, and now, after re-reading all of her paragraphs up there, I am once again overwhelmed at her writing. Just the sweetness of her memories of all the years we've been special friends is very heart-warming. And to think that she remembers all the little things, like the pineapple ice cream, picking out new eyeglasses, and going to the little Greek restaurant for lunch.

Maya Angelou once said that children respond the most to the person in their lives whose eyes light up when they see that child. Children want to know that they are loved, that they are wanted, that they are appreciated, that they are seen. Years before I heard those words from Maya Angelou, I always remembered the look in my Aunt Dolly's eyes when I would walk into my grandmother's house. Aunt Dolly's eyes would light up whenever she saw her nieces and nephews--- and I have to say, the better-behaved you were, the brighter the light would be in her eyes. As I got older, I made it a point to always do that for any of the children I knew--- to keep my eyes bright and my smile happy, no matter what was going on in my own life.

I wish all parents knew that little secret of Maya Angelou's ---- keep your eyes bright and happy when you look at your children, and be ready to open your arms and hug them. As Miss Frankie always said: "Everyone needs a hug, especially those who think they don't want one."

Miss C will be 17 this week. We will be celebrating her birthday with her as soon as her parents figure out a day when we can take her out for dinner. I had asked C if she wanted to invite a friend to come with us for her birthday dinner, but she wants the dinner to be "just the three of us." She likes it that way, she said.

Will the real Texas weather please stay put?!

Summer. It's here one day, gone the next. Yesterday it was gone, with temperatures no higher than 60. Today will be warmer, near to 80, so summer is back again. In all the years we've lived here, we've never had such a yo-yo-ing of the temperature as we've had this season. And this weekend is when the clocks are set ahead an hour, so that means that summer should be here for good. Are the weather gods listening?!

The perfect black dress...... I went to SteinMart the other day and tried on that black dress again. I took off the belt that came with the dress, and tried on some others. Found the perfect one--- a belt of gold metal circles, and I also found the same sort of belt in silver. So I can dress it up or dress it down, and it will be the perfect dress each time.

That worked out so well that I tried on some jeans. Found the perfect pair as well... a dark color, no crazy pockets, no outlandish embroidery, just a few tiny gold metal studs on the back pockets... all I had to do was turn up a hem on them and they're just fine. A perfect shopping day, finding a black dress and a pair of jeans. I quit while I was ahead and didn't buy anything else.

When I came home, I went through my closet and my dresser and chose two things to put into the donation box (two tops that I hardly wear anymore), and then I went through all of my belts (none of which worked with that black dress) and tossed eight of them into the donation box as well. (Keeping with my rule-- new things in, old things out. I got rid of more belts than I bought, so I'm ahead of myself.)

As I type this, AngelBoy is on a chair in my sitting room. He's napping there with his two front paws crossed and his blue-eyed face is resting on his paws. He must be dreaming because every minute or so, I hear a little chirping noise from him. His eyes are shut tightly, he seems to be fast asleep...... but those little noises just seem to be part of his dream. I can only imagine what cats dream about. Endless open cans of Fancy Feast? Soft plushy chairs that aren't off-limits? Although in this house, no chairs are off-limits to these cats.

We tried that in the beginning.... tried to keep the cats off of the furniture. It worked for a while, but then they would jump on the sofa or a chair when we weren't looking. When we did see them there, they looked so darn cute as they slept that we just left them where they were. And now we have Mickey Kitty, who takes a giant flying leap from one arm of the living room sofa to the other.... The Mickey Express, as we call it. And, of course, we think he's cute. Positively adorable, in fact, given his tiny eight-pound size.

The saving grace is that our cats have been de-clawed. I hated to do it, but I would have hated to live with the consequences had they not been de-clawed.

Castles in the clouds.......

We went to Half-Price Books yesterday, looking for books on Germany. We found a beautiful book on German castles... filled with magical photographs of castles so tall and stately that they seemed suspended from the clouds, rather than rooted in the soil.

Our trip to Germany this summer is looking to be a tour of the castles. There are hundreds of castles, it seems, in every section of the country. My husband will make an itinerary for the regions of Germany we will visit, and without a doubt, we'll see every castle we possibly can for the length of time we'll be there. (This is getting to sound like our trip to Maine, where we saw so many lighthouses that I lost count of them.)

To drive or not to drive--- that is the question. In order to rent a car in Germany, my husband will have to get an International Driver's License. Then we have to figure out the cost of gas over there--- add that to the cost of the rental car, plus all the mileage we're sure to put on that car...... and then we'll decide if it would be better to just arrange bus tours and let someone else do the driving.
Still a lot to plan, but by the time we're set to go, my husband will have worked out all of the details.

I went to some local yard sales yesterday..... lots of them around here being that summer has finally (thankfully) arrived. I found a bright pink feather boa, which is the start of my Halloween costume for this coming October. I don't know how I'll use it, but for the one dollar that this brand-new and perfectly feather-full boa cost me, it will be fun for a costume. Maybe I'll dress up all in pink, from head to toe, and call myself "Cotton Candy."

I also bought some pretty Italian-made bowls at one of the sales----- brand new, one large serving bowl and four individual bowls.... made for a spaghetti dinner. Hand-painted with pretty vegetables, in cream and green colors. Very nice set, which of course I thought of keeping.... but then I thought of the consignment shop. I really miss the buying/selling that I used to do in J's antique shop, but I don't have time these days for the work involved in keeping up my own space in an antique store.

The consignment shop is easy...... you just bring the stuff there, they price it and display it (and keep it dust-free) and when it sells, they split the price with you, 50-50. A great deal, in my opinion. (Plus they have the responsibility of the bookkeeping and the taxes for the state--- which is also a great deal.) I've already taken things there.... my first check will be ready on the fifth of the month-- they pay their dealers once a month.... so I'm guessing that it will be a good check because a lot of the stuff I've brought them has already sold.

I was in SteinMart the other day, looking for black slacks for the summer. I found the perfect pair, and I'm sorry I didn't buy two. I may go back there today or tomorrow and buy another pair while they still have a lot of them. I was also looking for a black dress, which I found, but I didn't like the belt that came with it, so I may go back and try that on again, and go into the dressing room with that dress and about thirty belts. This way I can try on the dress just once, and keep switching belts till I find one that looks great with the dress.

I miss having a plain black dress that I can just toss on whenever I need a simple outfit. I have just one black dress in my closet, but it has a silver ruffle around the hem..... I bought it years ago in NY, and although it "works" here in Texas, it's more NY than TX because of that silvery ruffled hem, plus it's really too dressy for a lot of the times I'd like to wear it. I've been looking for the "perfect little black dress" for a couple of years now, and just never finding the right one that you can either dress up or dress down with different accessories. But if I can just find the right belt for that black dress in SteinMart, then it will be the perfect one.

I also tried on about six black skirts the other day in Stein Mart... and I'm happy to say that I didn't buy one of them. I already have a bunch of "favorite" black skirts and even though I found some pretty ones yesterday, I was determined not to add another black skirt to my closet.

The next shopping search will have to be for jeans. I need a darker color pair of jeans and I know that's going to be harder to find that the little black dress. Last time I found a pair of jeans that I liked, I know that I tried on at least forty pairs before finding the "perfect" pair. I'd like to be able to go into a store, and into a dressing room, and just stay there trying on clothes that are brought to me. What wears me out is having to get dressed again, go out of the dressing room, look for more things to try on, go back into the dressing room, and hope that the whole process doesn't have to be repeated.

And if that right there is the hardest thing to have to deal with, then life is very good indeed.