Lest We Forget

MEET *LIZ TAYLOR!!

We have a new addition to our family!!  Her name is Liz Taylor in honor of the great actress.  We call her Taylor and she is 8 months old today. She is a Standard Poodle, but will be a small one.  We got her last month.  It has been a year since we lost our dear Beau so it was time.  She is gorgeous and so well-behaved.  We love her so much.

Thanks, Ben!

Never waste any time you can spend sleeping.

--Professor Frank H. Knight, in class at the University of Chicago, 1936
(Frank Knight was a well known economist.)

I try to watch "Sunday Morning" on CBS every week.  One of their correspondents, Ben Stein (remember him on "Happy Days"?) last week commented on the subject of sleeping.  I was happy to see that he averages ten hours of sleep a night.  And he seems to be living a successful life!  Ben is not just an actor, but a writer, lawyer and economist (as was his father).

I am a champion sleeper known to sleep eleven or twelve hours at a time.  I usually average nine to ten hours.  After my sister and I had left home and Mom was left to do as she wanted, she was also a great sleeper.  I am like her in this regard and many others.  Strangely, my sister is not a champion sleeper and neither is my daughter.  Sometimes I am embarrassed by the fact that I am not an early riser.  Friends may call at 11:00 and say, "Did I wake you?"  Of all the people I know, most seem to be early risers.

My husband awakens at 4 or 5 a.m.  But, he is usually fighting sleep at 7 p.m.  I like to go to bed late and sleep late.  Now that I heard Ben Stein's positive comments about sleeping, I will no longer feel guilty or embarrassed.  Thanks Ben!

 

Always,

VIOLETLADY

FIVE MONTHS LATER...

It has been a long time since I have written an entry on this blog, but here it goes.  Things have been super busy since my last post five months ago.  My husband and I have moved, he has had two surgeries (as a result of his fall off his boat last spring) and I have been re-nesting our townhouse.  I like to decorate but I have been doing this in bits and spurts.  It would be nice if money were no object!  I do have lots of "stuff" to work with, though.  We moved from a sizeable house with a large yard and lots of trees to a townhouse in a community with NO trees and no yard.  We actually like this new place - slightly smaller - with a different room configuration.  I find that I greatly miss my yard and trees, though.  The upkeep here is easier and utility bills are more reasonable.

Spring is just around the corner and today in southern coastal Delaware it is supposed to reach 70 degrees.  I am leaving for the beach (10 minutes away) to take a walk by the ocean.  My walks are usually "head-down" looking for shells or beach glass.  When I moved here in 1992 one thing I noticed was that there were not a lot of shells on the beaches.  I remember the New Jersey beaches having lots of shells, including large clam shells which we would gather and paint when I was a little girl.  I have heard that the beaches there have less shells than they used to have also.

So long for now.  Hopefully, I will keep up with my blogging a little better than I have recently.

Always,

Violetlady

xo

UPDATE:  Returned home from the beach.  Walked a mile 80 degrees - lots of people of all ages, dogs, kites.........but no seashells.  Got to my car, decided to get out and take a picture with my cell phone, my car locked automatically with my keys inside.  Had to call my husband to go home, get my spare keys and bring them to me.   Still - what a nice day!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY TO ALL WHO ARE IRISH OR IRISH FOR A DAY!!!!!!!!!!


 

What A Month!

Autumn has arrived here in coastal Delaware although the temperature today was supposed to be a high of 84 which is somewhat warm for October.  Pumpkins are cheerfully spreading their color throughout a local pumpkin patch that I drove by today.  It made me happy just to see it.

We are very busy -- my husband is building another mega-house for a client.  It has been a struggle getting it past local town regulations since it is on a canal and larger in height than is usually allowed, therefore needed a variance.  He thinks he may retire after this house.  At 72 it may be time.

I am busy preparing for our annual Realtors' auction in which we raise money to help provide a happy Christmas for needy children.  Our theme is "Winter Wonderland By The Sea."  We will use loaned Christmas trees with white lights and centerpieces of seashells and "snow." We have a very limited budget for decorations so I don't know how much of a "wonderland" it will be!

I attended an Argentine Tango weekend workshop last month and have another one in a few weeks.  I have never done this before and I signed up and went alone.  My husband is not a dancer and since his fall off his boat this summer he is still limping around.  The dance classes were tons of fun -- what a beautiful dance.

We are also in the process of moving to a smaller home not far away.  I am trying to get up the momentum to pack.  I am a clutterer and a collector which makes it difficult.  I am also running into a problem getting boxes from the local liquor stores.  They used to provide an unlimited amount of boxes needed for packing.  Now they don't seem to want to give more than a few at a time.  Other stores crush them as they discard them.  The last time we moved we had movers do it, although I did the packing.  For some reason (husband's decision) we are doing it ourselves with the assistance of his employees.  I don't know how I got all this stuff in this house when we moved here fifteen years ago.  What a nightmare!

Hope you are all having a happy October!

Photo credit: www.Virginiaplaces.org


Violetlady
xxoo

Beach Plums

My mother was a "South Jersey girl." She was born and raised in New Jersey until she met and married my father and forever after lived near Philadelphia (his hometown).

We grew up always knowing about beach plum jelly. The beach plum is a shrub that grows along the seashore from Maine to Delaware.  Mom picked the little sweet plums and made her own jelly. The plums were cooked and then strained in a cheesecloth which was tied to a cabinet and hung over a bowl to gather the juice for the jelly. Mom always made her jelly with the paraffin wax over the top before sealing it. I don't usually see canning done this way anymore.

We can buy local beach plum jelly at the farmers market by a lady who picks the plums herself in the sand dunes along the seashore. Today I was at the Lewes Farmers Market and she had a large container of the plums. She said she had not picked these, but purchased them from another vendor who grew cultivated beach plums. She will use these when she runs out of her wild plums.

For more information on this delicious little plum, read http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/BeachPlums.html

Thanks for stopping by - come back again!

Violetlady
xo

I Love New England!

I recently returned from a great little vacation in New England.  My sister and I drove to Andover, Massachusetts to visit my daughter and son-in-law and my two grandsons.  The oldest turned 14 while we were there!

We drove to Wolfeboro, NH for a day and visited some of our favorite spots and drove on two separate days to Gloucester, MA (which we loved).  While in Gloucester we drove to nearby Rocky Neck Artist Colony which is and was where some noted artists have lived and worked.  We had planned to drive over to Ogunquit, Maine which is another favorite place, but instead spent the two days in Gloucester.

Here are some pix!

The best clam rolls at our favorite drive-in in New Hampshire.

A working lobster boat in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Dorys hand made in Gloucester.

The Dory Shop

Deep sea creature -- photo taken by my 10 year old grandson in the aquarium at a restaurant where we ate lunch in Gloucester.

I will be back up in Andover at Thanksgiving - this time my husband will go, too! I can't wait!

Thanks for stopping by.

Violetlady

xxoo

I SHALL RETURN!

If any of you have been checking in and see that I haven't posted anything for quite awhile -- I will be back soon.   I am just in a blogging slump these days. 

I will back to checking in on other blogs and posting to my own in a few more weeks. 

Hope you all are staying cool in this scorcher of a summer!  (Here are some pictures of my visit last weekend to Bucks County, PA where I used to live.)
Love,

Violetlady

Memorial Day

Memorial Day, originally known as  Decoration Day, was proclaimed in 1868 a national day of remembrance of those who died in the Civil War.  It later included all those who died in any war.

To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps."

Happy Mother's Day

I hope you all have a Happy Mother's Day.

 I won't be able to be with my daughter and grandsons, but the love between us will span the miles.  I will also be cherishing the happy memories of my sweet mother.

Here is a picture of my mother holding me, circa 1945-46 and one of me holding my little girl, 1966.

Always,

Violetlady
xo

My Opinion For The Day

I think I have been watching way too much mainstream television.  Dancing With The Stars, Celebrity Apprentice, Access Hollywood and the list goes on.  I have developed a big peeve about some of the interviews and personalities.  Have you ever noticed how they rave about certain older actresses' looks?  Well, who wouldn't look great for 50 or 60 or 70 when you have had a little nip and tuck every once in awhile?  It is like getting credit for something you never did.  I understand that many (most?) actresses have to keep up appearances in order to maintain their careers.  I am not against plastic surgery in general.  I will never have it, but within reason I think it is one's own business.  But, PLEASE, don't rave on and on and give accolades to older actresses for looking young, when it is ARTIFICIAL aging.

Tonight on Access Hollywood, Raquel Welch was given the compliment of being the most glamorous grandma (in time for Mother's Day).  She is a beautiful woman (aged 69) who has obviously had some very good plastic surgery.  She looks natural.  Her skin is not pulled too tight which makes some women look like monsters.  BUT -- she has not aged so beautifully without the help of a talented plastic surgeon.  I want to see someone who has not had "work" done and still looks good for her age be given a compliment or award for aging naturally and gracefully without plastic surgery.

That is my opinion for the day.

Violetlady
xo

MOSAIC MONDAY - BEAU 2004-2010

I am joining Little Red House's Mosaic Monday today with photos of my dear little Beau who left this world two weeks ago today.


Violetlady
xoxo

Beau

I have been trying to write this post for a day or so and am finally feeling like I have the strength to put thoughts into words and onto the keyboard.

We lost our dear Beau on Monday night.  I was away as you know and Ken was walking Beau down our street for Beau's evening constitutional.  Beau was always a little eccentric, shall we say, and one thing he hated in his neighborhood was trucks of any kind -- big or small.  He would bark, he would lunge, and sometimes it took all my strength to hold back his 17 pounds from his effort to get at a truck's moving wheels.  I warned him time after time.  This time, he lost the battle.  The leash either broke or slipped from my husband's hands.  It was over in an instant.  I flew home the next morning. 

Everything has just been awful here at home.  The house is empty and quiet and sad. (We also lost our old Violette cat two weeks ago).   Beau was a great little barker and he guarded his street with a vengeance.  I was home a lot and Beau was always within my sight or at my side.  Almost everything I did was linked to him in some way. 

We have had so many wonderful e-mails, Facebook comments, phone calls, cards and gifts that it has astounded me.  I am so touched and so grateful.

Not a day goes by that Ken and I don't cry over our little guy.  I know it will get better, but for now the pain is visceral.

One of our blogging friends, Barbara at The Clark Homestead, said this:  "What a little warrior, now he will be in Valhalla with the other brave souls."  That says it all.

Violetlady
xo