HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." ~Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

"A WOMAN WHO DOESN'T WEAR PERFUME HAS NO FUTURE." Coco Chanel

Well,I don't know how much that can be proven, but it is an interesting quote.

I was recently searching for a certain perfume called Magnolia or Eau de Val sold by L'Occitane.  They no longer sell it, but once in awhile you can find it on ebay.  I first found it in Paris when my daughter and I made that very special trip there a few years ago.  All I have to do is smell it and I am transported there. While searching online  I came across a very interesting blog for those people who love all things vintage and especially perfume.   Amelia at The Vintage Perfume Vault  has a blog wholly devoted to vintage scents.  It is fascinating.  After reading some of the posts, I began to reminisce about the first scents I remember.

The very first time I can recall being impressed by a perfume was when I was about five years old.  I was visiting my Aunt Esther in New Jersey for a few weeks.  I don't recall the reason for the visit, but I do know that my parents were not with me and neither was my younger sister who would have been a baby at the time.  There were several things memorable about this visit:  the wringer washing machine, my uncle cleaning fish he had caught in the lake on a picnic table behind the house, my aunt cutting off my long hair and giving me a perm, and my teenage cousin Joanie preparing to go out on a date with her future husband.  Those four things stick in my memory like glue.  My memory of Joanie was that she had a pink bedroom and she sat on a bench in front of a vanity and was putting on some cologne from a small bottle.  I almost remember the scent and I think it may have been an apple blossom scent.  It may have come from the local 5and 10 store. Oh, how I admired her.

My second memory of perfume was the black bottle of "Nuit de Noel" by Caron that was enclosed in a dark green box and sat on my mother's dresser for years and years.  It had been given to her by one her brothers when he returned from World War II.  I can vaguely still remember the scent.

Another vivid and favorite memory is that of the round handpainted bottle of violet cologne that sat on a shelf in my grandmother's bathroom.  I dearly loved that bottle and the smell of violet.  To this day, violets are my favorite flower and I now display that same bottle on my vanity and I have added more recent bottles of violet cologne to my collection.

Of course, there is the unforgettable "Evening in Paris" which was bought at the local 5 and 10 in Willow Grove and given to my mother at Christmas.  You can still find it at the Vermont Country Store.  I have added a few vintage bottles to my collection.

The scent of "Tweed" perfume that my mother wore when I was young is another memorable one.  I wore it out on my first date.  Recently I found it in my favorite catalog from The Vermont Country Store and ordered it.  After all these years it still smelled the same, but my taste had changed and I returned it.

Isn't it amazing that certain smells will evoke memories just as sure as if they tapped you on the shoulder?

Thank you for joining me on my little trip down memory lane!

CHRISTMAS...FINALLY!!

The preparation seems to take months, well certainly it takes weeks.  And in a flash it is over.  I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas.  Mine was wonderful.  I had my daughter and son-in-law and my two grandsons here for a few days before Christmas until they left Christmas morning to fly to Texas to visit the other grandparents and cousins.  My youngest grandson believes in Santa and it was great to see him Christmas morning when he saw what Santa brought.  The anticipation had been building for two days for both boys to open gifts.  They started trying to awaken my daughter at 3 a.m. on Christmas morning.

I burned bayberry candles from sundown until the candles burned out on Christmas Eve.  This is a tradition that I have honored since I was young and my parents did it.  "A bayberry candle burned to the socket will bring joy to the heart and gold to the pocket."  

I am wondering how many of you follow this same tradition?

Have a wonderful New Years everyone!  As my friend and fellow blogger, Lynne says, are we saying twenty-ten or two thousand and ten??

(ha, ha  - I just noticed that if you click on the picture of the candles to enlarge it, you will see my husband watching TV in the background.  I thought it was my globe that is sitting on the end table!)

WHITE CHRISTMAS????????

I am sitting here looking out the window at ........... no snow.  At least hardly any.  The entire mid-Atlantic and northeastern area of the country is seeing blizzard conditions, but here along the coast in southeastern Delaware, nothing.  It did start out with some snow during the night, high winds, then rain.  There is a dusting of snow out there, but that is it.  A few miles north and a few miles west of my house -- plenty of snow.  It will ice up tonight which should make driving treacherous.

Christmas is around the corner.  Decorating: done.  Shopping: done.  Wrapping: not done.  Baking:  not done and may not be done.  I hate to bake even though I love to cook.  I will have to make a pie for Christmas and I may make a batch of Tollhouse cookies (no chocolate chips for my husband --- yes, really).

My daughter and her husband and my grandsons will be arriving from Massachusetts on Tuesday and can stay until Christmas Day at which time they will fly out to Texas to be with his family.  Meanwhile, I will be babysitting my granddog.

Update:  We got a little more snow at dinnertime, but nothing to compare with other areas.  I found this photo in my saved photos from a few years ago.  I see I had long hair and Beau looked younger so it was probably three years ago.  Obviously, we had a decent snowfall then!

NOTE:  I have unfortunately had to utilize Comment Moderation on my blog.  I have had several weird messages left and want to edit them before they appear.  I see now that the comment moderation is not working.  Always something.

CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK

Yesterday I went with the local Realtors' group on our annual bus trip to New York City to see a play.  We saw "Jersey Boys" which was fantastic.  There was never a dull moment in the show and if you grew up with the music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, this show will have you rockin' and reminiscing in your seat.  We had two bus loads of mostly women and traveled up there in the pouring rain from Delaware.  By the time we got to NY the rain was stopping and it turned out to be a mild day -- perfect for walking around the city.  A few of my friends and I almost always have the same routine when we get there (we have about two hours before the show starts):  we go to see the tree in Rockefeller Center, we go to St. Patrick's Cathedral, and we go to Saks to use the ladies room.  Saks is beautifully decorated and it always reminds me of "Sex and The City" with all the sophisticated salesgirls (and salesmen) dressed in black and offering to spray you with something lovely.  My friend pointed out a lovely sheath dress that would look stunning on someone who was a size 2 -- price no object? -- a mere $980.00!

We always eat lunch at Stage Deli, but this time we tried Carnegie Deli -- two of the few Jewish delis left in the city, I have read.  Authographed photographs of famous people covered the walls and the waiter told us Woody Allen's movie "Broadway Danny Rose" shot a scene there and he comes in there once in awhile.  I had my usual corned beef on rye which arrives, four inches high, piled with enough meat for three or four sandwiches.  The deli was small, noisy and smelled delicious.  I wish I had room for the only-in-New York cheesecake.  There is something different about it -- it is drier and higher than other cheesecakes.  I should have brought a cooler with me to bring one home!

Note:  For some reason all of the pictures I took with my cell phone turned out in black and white.  I just checked the settings and somehow they were set that way.  Don't know how that happened!  So these pictures are ones I found online.  Thank you to those people, whoever they are.   Blogger also wouldn't let me move the pictures around.  I have had that problem before -- don't know why it does that.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

THIS N' THAT

I have totally been neglecting my poor old blog.  I meant to write about my visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's "Fallingwater," my new camera, my husband's trip south on the completed boat.  So here goes -- I will make it brief:

In early October my sister and I drove out to Pittsburgh to visit our Uncle Bud.  We had made this trip a year ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Nothing better than a sisters' road trip.  We so enjoy each other's company.  Uncle Bud is 86 and loves to travel and is always active.  He is one of two of our mother's only remaining siblings and he was our mother's favorite brother.  He insisted on making the reservations in advance (which you have to do) to get into Fallingwater and he drove the two hours to and from his house to Fallingwater.

Fallingwater was built in  1937 for the Kaufman family of Pittsburgh as their weekend retreat.  You probably have seen pictures of it.  If not, here is one of the house behind us.  It has to be seen to be believed.  It is built cantilevered out over a waterfall amidst deep woods.  Stone floors, rustic throughout, totally integrated with nature, extremely contemporary for its time and even for today.  Frank Lloyd Wright also designed much of the furniture in the house.  One question presented by the guide -- "Could you live here?"  My answer is a resounding "YES!"

Now my new camera:  I researched cameras for a month, going between spending a lot of money on one, or being more reasonable.  I knew the things I wanted in a camera.  My previous camera was a little Fujifilm which still works, but the USB cable connection is done for.  I had pretty much settled on a Canon, but finally ended up with another Fuji because it was more reasonable and had everything I wanted for under $200.  I am a very mediocre and inexperienced photographer, so I am happy with what I got.  Here is a picture of it.

The Great Boat Trip South:  My husband and boat partners left November 4 to take their 65 ft. trawler south via the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).  This has been a four year project to totally gut and rebuild an old fishing vessel.

As you can see the photos are miniscule thanks to the downloading features of the Kodak EasyShare from which it was downloaded.  Kodak Easyshare is NOT Easy Share!

We had a huge nor'easter or as they are calling it Nor'Ida because it was the remnants of Hurricane Ida.  The beach here is totally eroded, roads were flooded -- it was a mess.

All the best to you, fellow bloggers,

Violetlady

HOLIDAY SWAP

I have joined in a Holiday Swap. Go here to read about it and join in, too. You have until November 12. I did this one year on someone's blog and it was a lot of fun.

I want to tell you about my visit to Fallingwater in Pennsylvania with my sister and uncle, but will leave that for another day.   I have a new camera which I will show you.  I haven't tried it out yet.  And the biggest news yet is that my husband and his friends are leaving tomorrow morning (if all goes well) on the big boat trip down the Intracoastal Waterway to Florida (after their four year boat building project).  More on all this news to follow in a few days.

VIOLETTE CAT

This is our old lady cat, Violette.  For months now we have been having trouble with her refusing /forgetting to use the litter box.  (We now have four boxes.) We took her to the vet and after all the blood tests and exams, they determined that she was a healthy old cat, especially since she is 16 years old.  Five oriental rugs have been ruined, hardwood is smelly and I am getting ready to have wall to wall carpet torn out in a bedroom.   I now have a complete arsenal of cleaning supplies and anti-cat urine products.  I finally had reached my breaking point and made an appointment to have her put down this week.  The vet had told me that even though there is no physical reason for her habits, if she can no longer fit into our lives, then we could have her "put down."  I made the appointment, but my husband and I were so upset that morning, that I cancelled it.  I continue with the numerous puppy training pads all over the house, cleaning up constantly and now trying to limit her territory.  And no, nothing has changed in the house over the last four or more months to cause this.  I researched it online and have made my own diagnosis (with no help from the vet, thank you) that she is suffering from senility.  Yes, cats can have this when they are old.

We are trying to be patient with Violette and give her love and attention since, of course, she is not doing this on purpose.  I remember when Beau was a puppy and all the accidents he had.  The difference is that we knew he would learn to go outside.  Violette is just old.  Wish me luck.

VIEW THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD

What a beautiful weekend we had so I decided to take a little ride around the area and take a few pictures from my car window.  Since my camera hasn't been working right, I used my cell phone camera and they turned out just fine.

The first picture is of a spring along the canal.  The third picture is the unpaved driveway leading to the boatyard where my husband's boat is and the sixth picture is the boat.  The fourth picture is of a ladies entry in the annual "Punkin' Chunkin Contest" right here in Sussex County, Delaware.  It is a strange event, but people come from all over the country (maybe even the world) to participate.  People create giant machines that shoot pumpkins into the air and whoever shoots one the furthest wins.  It is very competitive and I have never attended one of these events, but it is a real big deal here.  Sussex County also has a Scrapple-Apple Festival.  Do you all know what scrapple is? 

Has anyone besides me had difficulty moving pictures around on their post?  I have been trying for two days to do this post.  Apparently Blogger has a new way of posting pictures and it won't let me move things around with any accuracy anymore.  It is a real pain.

I am leaving tomorrow for Pittsburgh with my sister.  We will be visiting an uncle who will be taking us to see Frank Lloyd Wright's "Fallingwater." I have wanted to see this for many years and am really looking forward to it.

See you next week!

SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY

Cindy at My Romantic Home is hosting Show and Tell Friday.  Stop over there and take a look at her blog and also all the others who are joining in.

Since I used to do "My Favorite Things"one day a week, I am resurrecting one of my old posts for this Show and Tell.

Today I am sharing with you something that is very precious to me since it was a baby gift for me over sixty years ago. Yes, I said 6 - 0!! This sweet little dish was handmade for me by a friend of my parents. It says "This is Meryl's dish" because Meryl is my first name (after my mother).  I have never used the name Meryl - I have always gone by my middle name so you know this is old.

What astounds me are the things I have that are breakable and have survived all these years. My mother was protective of these things, as I am. I think it is a female thing: to treasure and to protect. After all, we do this with our parents, our children and with our friends. It is our most important "job" in this world.

THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX

AUTUMNAL EQUINOX - One of two times a year when the Sun crosses the equator, and the day and night are of approximately equal length.
At the autumnal equinox (Sept 22, 2009; 5:18 P.M. EDT), the Sun appears to cross the celestial equator, from north to south; this marks the beginning of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. (from Wikipedia)

Yes, it has been slightly cooler here in coastal Delaware, but we still have beach days into the autumn.  Actually, this is the best time of year to visit this area or for locals to hang out without the summer crowds.

It always amazes me that Fall seems to arrive on September 1.  Oh, the weather is still warm and sunny, but it is something that is just felt in the air.  The colors are suddenly more golden, the sky is a clearer blue, sometimes there is already a faint smell of woodsmoke.  Everybody comments on it.  I have had my homegrown pumpkin on the front step for a month or so.  It is the first time I have grown a pumpkin from last year's Halloween pumpkin.  He was early, but he survived.

The Fall is a busy time here in this resort area.  October brings our annual Rehoboth Beach Jazz Festival.  There are main events at the local convention center (sometimes big names like Chris Botti!) and the restaurants and bars offer their own jazz groups.  The following week is the Seawitch Festival which is the Halloween celebration in Rehoboth Beach.  There are lots and lots of things for kids of all ages to do on the beach and in the town.  November brings our annual Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival .  Some people stay throughout an entire day watching movie after movie and leave bleary-eyed and tired.

Autumn is my favorite season for many reasons, but primarily because it is the season of my birthday.  I was born on Thanksgiving!

REMEMBERING

I am sure we are all remembering where we were at this time eight years ago -- actually about two hours ago.

I forget a lot of things, but there are two things I will always remember--  Where I was as I watched Katie and Matt announce on TV the crashes into the towers and then watching them fall and where I was when I heard JFK had been assasinated.  I had been getting ready to leave the house for work on 9/11/01 and watching a few last minutes of the Today Show when the announcement came on.  On 11/22/63 I was in Philadelphia walking to the train station from a class and it was my 18th birthday.

We all live in gratefulness that we have been kept safe on our own soil since September 11, 2001.  We all live in hope that our safety will continue and we bless those who continue to defend us and those who have perished.

ANOTHER MOSAIC/Things That Make Me Happy

click to enlarge

 

I have had so much trouble making these mosaics, and Cindy at My Romantic Home (see her link in my sidebar) helped me finally figure it out since the way Big Huge Labs set it up just wasn't working.  So now I am on a roll and I am posting another mosaic today.


Always,

ANIMALS IN MY LIFE MOSAIC

click to enlarge

Always,

ELECTRONICS, ETC.

I was finally able to get my pictures off my memory card by taking it to the drugstore and sticking it in one of those machines so now I can download them from the disk into my computer.  I can still use the camera, but it just won't download into my computer.  I am thinking that the USB cable is bad.

And now my printer at work doesn't run at all.  It won't turn on.  The computer guy was in and looked at it and said, "it's broken."  Duh.  I bought it in January of 2008.  So I am shopping for a new computer.  I want one that is inexpensive that prints, copies and scans.  I don't need a fax.  I will probably end up with another HP although this last one was certainly bad news.  I found one at Staples for only $99 which I think I will get.  Walmart had a similar one, too.

I just can't stand it when mechanical or electronic things don't work.  I am a very patient person with other people and with life in general, but when something doesn't work it just sends me over the edge.  I used to believe that if something didn't work, if you dropped it on the floor or desk, it would jar it into working again.  Maybe I should try that with my printer before I buy a new one!

I went to an auction on Sunday and brought home a few things, one of which is one vintage snowshoe.  I thought it would look cute hanging on a wall somewhere.  Also a little "gold encrusted" demitasse tea set and a Limoges china tray handpainted with violets -- twenty dollars for each.  I may try to sell the little tea set on ebay.

That is the news here -- hope you are all well and happy.


Always,

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH

I know I haven't been here for awhile. I thought I might end this blog, but now I have decided to hang on for awhile longer and see how I feel about it. I don't usually like to ramble on and on about little, mundane things in my life because (1) they are pretty boring and (2) I don't usually want to share personal things with everybody out there. I like the blogs that have a particular niche, like books or cooking or decorating, but I don't usually have enough to say in these areas, so I am left just with my opinions or problems and sometimes joys and that is where I get into the problem I have with rambling on and on and on......see what I mean?

Ok, this is the latest: my camera no longer will let me download my pictures. I went to my Aunt Grace's funeral last week and took pictures of family members I haven't seen for a long time. Now they are stuck in my camera unless I want to remove the card and take it somewhere.

Last night there was a serious fire in my real estate company's annex office (two doors down from my office). It was a total loss and today the agents in that office are relocating into our building. They have lost computers, files, everything. The smell of soot and smoke was everywhere. It was awful, but at least no one was hurt. I was asked to move my desk location from where I have been to a smaller desk in order to accomodate another agent. At first this made sense because I am not in the office a lot and although I am technically a full time agent, I really only work part time at it. But the more I thought about it, the more irritated I was because this is supposed to be a temporary move (but could be pretty long term) and why should I give my spot to someone when they could just as easily move to the smaller desk. Of course, that agent is in the office full time and is a bigger producer than I am. It all comes down to money and politics. Well, it is just one of those things over which I have zero control and I hate that.

So this is my long overdue post and as I said at the beginning, I have rambled on and on and on and complained about personal stuff which I don't like to do. But, we're all friends, right?

Always,

TUESDAY BLOG HOP

I decided to join the Tuesday Blog Hop!



A proud capture! Grandson Cooper holding his prey.

Here is my grandson Ian who took this self-portrait while we were on vacation last year. Look at those eyes!

BEST WEDDING ENTRANCE EVER

I found this on youtube. This is the best wedding entrance ever. Enjoy!!!! ( Make sure your speakers on for the full effect of this video.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0&feature=player_embedded

MY CRAFT PROJECT

Here is the tray I made after following Cindy's directions on My Romantic Home. I put a vintage doily under the glass. It is supposed to look "distressed", but I didn't have the right color to do it with. But I think it looks pretty good considering I am certainly not "crafty." I think I will make another one and put old black and white photos under the glass.

Always,