It's a Girl Thing!

 

What could be better than a girls' day out weekend with my daughters!  They drove home Friday night and we watched TV and indulged in Ben and Jerry's ice cream and talked and laughed and talked some more!  There is nothing like waking up lazily on Saturday, spending the morning in our pj's -- catching up on laundry and House Hunter's International and savoring Ash's delicious French Toast.  Then it was off to Monterey -- first stop Target for practical things like light bulbs and a computer mouse, until Ash squealed, "Hey, those are my favorite kind of gloves," and Lys started trying on hats.  Not so practical, but their Christmas wish lists have been started. Lunch at Island Burger at Del Monte Center was next - their Hawaiian burgers, dripping with teriyaki sauce and loaded with pineapple, are fabulous!  (As you can see, food seemed to have a big part in our weekend.)

Then it was time for Bath and Body Works so we could stock up on all the delicious winter hand soaps and moisturizers.  It's a girl thing, but we love those pump soap dispensers and they smell so pretty.

Macy's was the next stop where our intention was simply window-shopping and getting ideas for Christmas.  But then we discovered they were having a fantastic sale on handbags --  we had a contest for whose bag looked the rattiest and decided that all three of us really needed new ones!  So each one of us walked out with a new purse.  We were so happy with our choices -- a red (looks pink here but it's a dark red) leather bag with a leather ruffle on it for Ash, a black hobo bag with a studded bow on it for Lys, and a sleek black bag with just the right combo of pockets and right length strap for me!


Evening rolled in and we ended up at the movie theater to watch the suspenseful "Argo" movie -- very good -- and then drove home to 70's rock and roll blaring through the car speakers.

They had to go back home Sunday morning -- and I miss them already!  Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

My Laptop's Last Hurrah

Well, I knew it was only a matter of time -- my Acer laptop computer died last night.  We definitely got our money's worth out of it.  It once belonged to Lys during her high school days and I adopted it when she upgraded for her college work.  Keys were beginning to stick, it was slo-o-o-w-w-ing way down in its response time, and then last night, it cranked out its final hurrahs. As much as I hate spending money on it, a laptop is a necessity for me.  I have a nonprofit to run, serve on a couple committees, plus do some private speech therapy -- all of these require computer-generated records.   Yes, I do have my desk top PC upstairs, but I confess to being spoiled by being able to sit on my comfy couch, dog at my side, and favorite TV shows in the background while I play around on the computer.  So I stopped by Staples after work today and am now the proud owner of an HP Envy with Beats audio (not that I'll actually use that much).

It has Windows 8 and this seems to take getting used to.  (I'm never crazy about changes like this.)


The reviews say this new Start screen results in much quicker access to the programs you want.  But honestly I keep hitting the "charms" when I don't mean to -- I'm sure I'll improve with practice.

So while it wasn't planned ~ Merry Christmas to me!

November Has Arrived!

Fall is here!  I love that feeling....  The crisp chill that greets me when I open the door in the morning.  The cold in my lungs when I take my early power-walk.  The pale fog hovering over rooftops until it burns off mid-day. And while we don't sport as many trees with leaves aglow as the streets on the east coast, we do relish the few golds, oranges and reds we see on each block. I love pulling into my driveway after work and getting a whiff of a fire burning in a neighbor's fireplace -- eager to lay my own fire. And it's truly satisfying to snuggle up under an afghan with my pets and a book before bed.

Autumn Fires

by Robert Louis Stevenson

In the other gardens
And all up the vale,
From the autumn bonfires
See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over
And all the summer flowers,
The red fire blazes,
The grey smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!
Something bright in all!
Flowers in the summer,
Fires in the fall!

Happy November!

Seven Little Ghosts Song

Did anyone else's Mama sing a song to them when they were little about "Seven Little Ghosts Sitting on Seven Little Posts, singing Whoooo?"  I loved it and my mom always sang it in a very quiet, spooky voice.  Of course, I had to teach it to my kids when they were little, too!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

Image(s) courtesy VintageHolidayCrafts.com

Happy Blogoversary!

Yesterday was my Blogoversary, meaning I've been adding to this drivel for 4 years now -- some months more consistently than others. I'm still not sure of the point of blogging -- to journal, to record history, to share, to reach out to the world in some way, to allow introspection and unloading of words and emotions. I'm not great at it. There are many other bloggers out there that are incredibly witty and entertaining. Some have A PURPOSE. Some produce works of art and photography. Some have blogs to make money. I've noticed recipes, gardening and home decor are popular, as are oodles of pictures of people's children to share with their family and friends.

Mine is a hodgepodge of life as it comes to me. No theme. Just my crazy assortment of experiences and interests and thoughts. And maybe that's why I blog. So much of what I do is not tangible so recording it here makes it...real!

So onward toward year FIVE of me Bloomin' Words! 

Grief Comes in Waves

I'm a SF Giants fan.  My daughters live in San Francisco and you can't help but catch the fever even as far down as the Monterey area where I live.  My brother, on the other hand, was a big Detroit Tigers fan.  We spent the first years of our childhoods in Ohio, then moved to California like so many other dreamers in the '60's.  My oldest sister had graduated from high school so didn't last long here -- she returned to the Buckeye State as soon as she could and lives there still.  So I do feel a little bit like a traitor for not sticking with the Tigers as my fav team (I'm sure I probably made some "cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye" promise to my brother to to never forsake them when we were kids).  There was that time that I got so mad at him over something that I tore up his Rocky Calaveto baseball card--Rocky and Al Kaline were his favorite players, of course.

Anyway, I've had the flu this weekend so haven't been up to much beyond sleeping, playing on the computer, and watching the World Series.  Suddenly it all hit.  I missed my brother.  I missed my dad.  I missed my husband.  I missed my mom.  And my mind ran the course of things I'd read:  "Okay, you can grieve and feel sad, but you can't allow yourself to 'stay' there," or "Okay, now remember all the good things and happiness they brought you -- think about that, not sad thoughts."  But I also remember that "Grief comes in waves," and sometimes it comes when you least expect it.

And sometimes, for whatever weird reason, I welcome it -- it makes me feel alive, it's proof that they were here and our love was real, it honors them to know they are not forgotten.

Wonderful Williamsburg!

Aye-yie-yie!  Imagine returning from a fabulous family vacation, falling right into charity committee work, click-click-clicking into a new school year -- everything suddenly seeming like its all in fast motion.  Sums up my life for the last two months.  So let's rewind here and go back to my last post -- yes, back into hot, sultry summer days, into that rental car driving from the blue waters of North Carolina's Outer Banks into Virginia....  Back, back, back to hot summer days, radio blaring, my daughters and I taking photos out the car windows as we take in the scenery.  And then we pull into Colonial Williamsburg!

Lunch at a town tavern was simple fare, but satisfying. It was mid-summer hot and we were thirsty!

It's interesting that there are actually a few private citizens living in some of the houses in this non-drivable historic area of town.

 

We watched artisians and laborers at work....

 Shopkeepers....

 and soldiers in the military encampment....

 

We even listened as Patrick Henry and other speakers presented their political views.

The courthouse was the site where Benjamin Waller read the Declaration of Independence on July 25, 1776, after it arrived from Philadephia.  Such history resonates through these walls and on these steps!.   

 The Governor's Palace below is a strong reminder that we were once under the rule of the British Monarchy.

  

The wig room....

 

 Lavish linens on the canopied beds....

 

 

 Swords lined the entry hall of the Governor's Palace...

 The flag during this period bore British and eventual USA symbols.

Being the history buffs that we are, this was a a much loved and memorable stop on our road trip north!