Happy Shampoo, Happy Necklaces

I have a friend in Orange Park whose job it is to sell shampoo, lotions, mouthwash, conditioner, bar soaps to hotel chains. Until I met Natalie, it never occurred to me that someone had to do that...I'm a bit thick sometimes...no need to agree. She now also sells the Vera cloth bags and purses that many are crazy about. I wrinkle my little nose at them, with the extent of my collection being a coin purse with a photo slot that Natalie gave me just before CHRISTmas. I put Lucas' photo in it when they were visiting me and he carried it around with him for awhile. I just can't warm up to that Vera stuff, sorry, but it reminds me of diaper bags...what can I say?

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I do, however, like the soaps and lotions in the hotel bathroom! Natalie came to mind this a.m. as I prepared to shower and was gathering the supplies I needed. Ah, let's see--Happy Shampoo, Calm shower gel, and Peaceful body lotion. I'm nearly in a trance from the effect of these names alone!

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The Happy Shampoo also reminded me of a necklace Lori made for me a couple years ago which Justin described looking as though she cleaned out a drawer and attached the found items to the chain....never mind, I LOVE it! No one else in my circle or the world was wearing such a thing so he didn't undersand my "need" to have one like that. When Justin and I were in Santorini, where there are jewelry stores upon jewelry stores, one of the lovely shop keepers admired my necklace, then enticed me with the words, "You have happy necklace--come into my shop and I show you happy bracelets!" We just looked at each and chuckled, him knowing that "happy bracelets" were exactly what I'd be tempted to buy! But, I resisted the temptation of happy bracelets, while cherishing the invitation. It seems very unlikely she had anything in her shop to compare to my happy necklace!

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So now I wear a joyous necklace, tame by comparison to the one I wore that day, but have washed my hair with Happy Shampoo, and am ready to take on the Big Apple!

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Happy Palm Sunday all!

A Day at the Met

Our first full day in New York was spent at the wonderful Metropolitan Museum of Art, affectionately known as "the Met". Our last visit here was spent in the Egypt and Roman section of the museum with only cursory glances at the other galleries which make up the expansive Met. Justin could recite to me the things I was actually trying to read on the glass cases, as he knew what they were after studying that in school. We got our money's worth from St. Johns that year, that class, anyway.

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A brand-new exhibit opened featuring Greek and Italian architecture and art...right up our alley. It takes me a long time to get through a museum as I like to read about what I'm seeing, but Justin hurried me along from hall to hall, claiming we'd seen this stuff already in the "old" area...it was new to me, that's all I can say! My memory is short when it comes to this, but my appreciation is great. Finally we arrived at the new exhibit, greeted by an enormous column centered in the hallway.

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Justin and I simply marveled at what it took to transport and establish the enormous displays. There were many funeraries and frescoes, actual rooms reproduced from Italian villas, stories painted on their walls to enjoy while dining. Amazing, I can't even tell how much we enjoyed it. I can tell you that it certainly makes me want to book a trip to Italy and Greece post haste! For those not traveling overseas, this is a wonderful taste of the antiquity seen in those foreign lands.

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I was concerned earlier in the week that my tired back would be a problem for me but so far, so good. If there was a bench to rest on in a gallery, I took advantage of it, but didn't let it hold us up. I even climbed up and down staircases to get to the other galleries. My boy, on the other hand......his feet hurt, his back ached, he had sinus pressure, a real mess! If he was a horse, we'd have to shoot him!!! I had some cold tablets and ibuprofen in my purse to give him and we pressed on, after a cold drink in the cafeteria.

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We managed to last the day but ran out of gas about 5:30 or so. Our cabbie dropped us at the door and we were back upstairs by 6:oo pm, not quite ready to have dinner. I was prepared to go out for dinner somewhere but Justin was just as happy to dine in. We shared a Cowboy steak and mashed pototoes and he enjoyed a pizza for one. Since he wanted to make sure all the food was eaten, he tried to eat the zuccini squash that came with the steak, but just couldn't choke it down, even with Grey Poupon mustard on it! It was after 8:00 when we had dinner and I was ready for bed after finishing my posting. Oh, by the way, that steak was absolutely delicious, tender and flavorful, quite a delight.

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I read some e-mails last night before climbing under the covers. One was from Judy R., with whom I am reading a book, 1200 miles apart! The book, brought to my attention by Christine, is written by Francis Mayes, who also wrote "Under the Tuscan Sun". Judy said she's skipping around in it, "A Year in the World", telling me she tends to get hung up in the Greek Isles portion. A girl after my own heart! Judy paid me a very, very generous, heart-building compliment, however. She said that my writing is like Mayes, using 'bolding' words. My, oh my, the gauntlet has been dropped!

We were no where near the falling crane

New York City always has some sort of newsworthy event taking place when we are here, this time being no exception. Today a 19 story high crane fell into an apartment building about 4 blocks from our hotel. It looks just terrible, from what we've seen on the local news, with some fatalities, but don't know if they are residents or passers-by.

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As we drove in from the airport yesterday, our very, very nice cab driver commented that he hoped we didn't run into any of the traffic mess involved with having the President in town....cool! It turns out President Bush was addressing an economic conference from the Waldorf Astoria, where we have stayed a couple times in the past. Justin and I listened to the speech in our hotel room at the Omni, instead of at the Waldorf! And no traffic tie ups either. Our driver was listening to WABC, the flagship station of Rush and Hannity, etc. as we drove in from La Guardia, so we did, too.

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Our room was ready when we arrived, which was much appreciated. Justin and I were quite tired after getting up at 4:00 a.m. to get to the airport. We sort of vegged out in the room the balance of the day. This is such a nice hotel, with an extremely comfortable room, not like that room from last summer at the Paramount, which was the size of a postage stamp! Our room has a love seat, desk, chair, side chair with ottoman, armoire with TV and closet space.....the foyer area has a credenza with the mini-bar and the top covered with purchasable items. Too costly to devour but tempting nonetheless.

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We weren't in the room 20 minutes when company started coming over--the doorman brought up our luggage, a man came to change the shower curtains, housekeeping came to make up the room (it was already done!), another man came to check the mini-bar after the previous residents checked out, and then room service brought our lunch. A bit later the housekeeper came by to turn down the bed which we didn't need but got her to remove the food cart remaining from our lunch. I commented to Justin, "I get as much company here as I do at home!" It was getting comical already, not wanting to get too comfy in case someone came to the door again!

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Justin fell so fast asleep that I didn't even try to wake him to go out anywhere. I rested on and off, read my book awhile and tried to get warm. It's cold here in the Big Apple! Glad I have my fancy red leather coat with me, earning its keep!

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For dinner we went to the dining room and had a nice meal, expensive of course, as hotel restaurants often are. The diet Cokes are served here in the tiny glass bottles with the metal caps, requiring the old fashioned bottle openers to get at the soda. The price we paid for glasses of soda in Florence is closer to being fair than $5.00 each for the 8 ounce bottle! The housekeeper told us about a bodega a couple blocks away so after dinner we walked to Smilers to score some soda. (I can't believe that we didn't bring some with us...we usually do). Once there we found this place was part deli/part grocery store, with a long buffet of hot and cold foods to scoop into to-go containers. Everything looked and smelled wonderful, wishing we hadn't just eaten...They did have 20 oz. sodas so we stocked up and headed back to the hotel. It didn't take long to get settled in and I got under the covers to get warm. My sleep was good, the afternoon nap not causing a problem at all. Justin did have a bit of trouble at first, but eventually had a reasonable night's sleep.

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Justin and I had breakfast in the same restaurant as dinner, this morning having eggs, toast, and breakfast potatoes. Justin was coaxing me to eat every bit of food on my plate but I just could not finish it all. I rarely eat all my food anyway and today was no exception. He felt like it was too expensive to leave anything plus we'd not have to eat lunch early if we had a big breakfast. We like to eat at the Cafe in the Met, so planned to do that later in the day so we'd be less hungry come dinner time. It's wonderful to have some sort of delicacy while gazing across at Central Park! Tomorrow, more about the Met and events of today....

Some more musings...

I just watered the lemon tree and am getting "so 'cited" to see how many lemons its growing right now! I've tried not to fuss over it very much, to spook it into dropping them, but so far, so good.

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For those who don't know the story of the lemon tree, I will tell (my foreign accent there!).........not long after Timmy died, his teacher, Mrs. Booth, called to tell us that Timmy's lemon seed had broken through the ground. What? We didn't know anything about this. Apparently after Christmas break, the pre-k class planted a seed from a lemon tree in a Styrofoam coffee cup and were watching for them to pop through the soil. They'd kept Timmy's going and when it sprouted, she called me. I picked up the cup when I got Justin after school and sure enough, there it was, a tiny tree!

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We nurtured it, moving the tiny plant into a larger container when it outgrew the foam cup. Eventually the seedling became a tree and we transplanted it into a large plastic planter on a wheeled stand, and let it spend some time outside in the sun and pollen. About four years ago it made a single lemon, more the size of an orange, which I promptly stored in the freezer. (I didn't mention that in my "Fond, Frozen Remembrances" posting....)

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The following year the tree surrendered three lemons, one of which I cut into, to harvest more seeds. I planted those seeds and eventually got several more seedlings to grow. They were divided into two pots, one of which "disappeared" from the base of the big tree. I gave a few of the seedlings to Timmy's father so he could have an off-shoot as well. I squeezed one into a sort of lemonade and froze the remaining one.

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Upon moving to the condo, the tree seemed upset, lost all its leaves two years in a row, and made no more lemons. Upon inspection, it became obvious that the tree had a disease of some sort, tiny bugs making white gobs under the leaves, and so on. Last early fall, Fausto, who is a Master Gardener, gave me a recipe for a concoction to spray on the tree every couple weeks to knock out the bugs, and IT WORKED!

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After re-doing my "river room" this past December, I decided the tree needed to come inside, to protect it from any further infestation. It is safe to do that now that Boots was gone, and wouldn't use the tree as a substitute cat box! I had to move the green plants from the funeral outside because of that rascal, and now have only a few of those left. Cats!!!

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And now, the lemon tree is trying to produce just a few more pieces of fruit for Mama, so she can cut them open to find more seeds to grow more seedlings......

Justin is having another adventure

"The wind is in from Africa, last night I couldn't sleep. Oh, you know it sure is hard to leave you, Carey, but it's really not my home. My fingernails are filthy, I've got beach tar on my feet, and I miss my clean, white linens and my fancy French cologne. Oh, Carey, get out your cane and I'll put on my finest silver. Go to the Mermaid Cafe, have fun tonight! Ooh, you're a mean ole daddy but you're out of sight...."

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What does THAT mean? I have no idea, but its a song by Joni Mitchell that rattles around in my head periodically, and you just caught it as it came through....lucky you!! This came from memory, I'm not even listening to it on the iTunes!! Why does one remember such things yet forget others??? Anyway, "Carey" has a jaunty melody, not deep or dramatic as some of her pieces are. This one always makes me want to go to Joe's Crab Shack and sit on the deck with a lovely adult beverage, watching the sea gulls beg for crumbs...ahhh, Spring must be coming!!!

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Christine and I were lamenting, as only we can, about the fact there are no Writer's Conferences planned locally this year. She was going to look into some Statewide ones, as we are in the mood for a conference! I've checked a few websites in the areas and found a couple along the Gulf Coast, which are held in late summer, early fall. The height of hurricane season....not that this would prevent our making plans to go, just another consideration. Those held in the spring at the Sea Turtle Inn were timed just right, for us, anyway!

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Our art teacher is out of town this coming Monday so I won't even be missing a class when in NYC. Bob offers make-up opportunities which is nice, but the times don't work very well for me, as Wednedays are used for church stuff usually. April won't allow for classes as I'll be away, trading travel and scrapbooking for watercolors! Even trade.....

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I nearly forgot to mention Justin's pending adventure! He has been asked to serve as Olivia's escort for her Debutante Ball at the end of the month! Justin, as far as we've been told, will need to wear a tux, and supposedly learn to ballroom dance.....in about two weeks' time! Of course, I am going to miss this big event, too, just like the Prom! If we'd known ahead of time I could have scheduled my trip to WI/MN for afterward, but.....anyway, I'll have to call Sandy to find out what's what and get the "Ball" rolling for this event as far as Justin's participation is involved. This means Justin will be getting his hair cut, helping him make his decision for now, rather than later!

What a way to end the day!

Listening to Sarah, and watching her as well! Judy J. called to tell me that Andrea Bocelli was on PBS, so I turned it on just in time to catch the closing song, which he sings with Sarah--Con te Partiro--A Time to Say Good-bye. A program featuring her new CD, the one I panned so nicely when I first got it, is showing from Vienna, which makes it okay...There are some tunes on the CD I love, including the one in duet with Fernando Lima, "Pasion". (I wish I could type with a Spanish accent!!)

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The day began with a therapeutic massage by Carol, who tried to help my poor back, and did the trick, I dare say. It's much better today than it was plus I have some anti-inflammatories to take, a re-fill of the ones I took for the sciatica problem last fall. I'll have a full arsenal of medication to see me through the time in NYC, where so much of our time will be spent on foot. Jennifer came to see Carol for her first time following my appointment, and loved it! Her fears were allayed, Carol didn't hurt her and Jen got relief from some of her pains. Her treatment is a bit different from mine as she has arthritis coursing through her body, even her hands felt better after treatment! Good! Originally she'd wanted me to stay with her for the massage, but decided this a.m. she'd go it alone, and did quite nicely.

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While Jen was at Salon 2000 with Carol, I went over to Wal-Mart for my scrip and then picked up a few other items, as usually happens when one enters that store. There were chocolate rabbits and other Easter candy right as I came in so grabbed a few things for Justin's basket. On the way out, I met Danny Roy on the fork lift and chatted with him briefly, before heading back to Great Hang Ups to wait for Jen.

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I took the watercolor that I painted in class on Monday to show the ladies and Julia looked at, called it "done". Dee was busy in the back at first and then a client came in so we got talking with her until lunch time. Julia came with Jen and I to Koko's which was lovely with our personal chef, Matt, preparing our meal for us, wonderfully, as usual. Something funny happened while there--the waitress was training a new waiter, and she pointed her pencil at me, telling him, "She is one of our valued customers!". Wow!!!!

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When we got back after lunch, I saw Dee had placed a white mat around my piece and propped it on the counter so we'd see it when we came in. The mat really set it off. We picked out a frame and in a couple weeks, a new piece to add to my collection of work! It was great fun painting this picture and I feel like doing some more of that one. Nothing original about me!

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Upon arriving home, Dave, the doorman, was standing at the ready to help carry my laundry basket of purchases upstairs, the gentleman he is! That saved re-aching my back, which would have been dreadful. What was dreadful were my now formless, melted chocolate purchases for Easter!!!!! I should have known better than to leave them in the car all that while, with the temps getting up there this afternoon....ooops. Dave suggested putting them in the freezer, they'll taste okay once they re-set, but won't represent anything the least bit "Easter". Good emergency chocolate to keep on hand, I guess......

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Now she's singing "Running" which is the same melody as the "Jerusalem the Golden", which tears me up. It's from the composition of The Planets, called "Jupiter". By the way, I got through the rehearsal tonight without shedding a single tear.....we shall overcome!....or, be overcome!

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When I arrived at church, I did nearly shed a tear at how nice the yard looked up front. Judy J.'s grandson, recently moving here from MI, was gracious enough to lend his back, arms and legs to getting that grass and such cleaned up for the coming holidays. That means the world to me, and since I can't do it myself and he can---well.......thanks so much, Josh!!!!!!!!

SShhh--I hear the river breathing....

...or at least it seems like I should be able to hear it rippling along, rolling easily now in the right direction.

As I am writing this afternoon, youtube is playing the anthem that we’re singing for church tomorrow evening. It’s a “spiritual”, as you’d expect any religious hymn to be---but it’s the melody that hints a folk-style flavor, called “What Wondrous Love is This?". We could probably use a few more practices on it before we’d be ready to perform but unfortunately, not many people grace the pews for the mid-week worship. Our embarrassment will be limited to only about 30 folks, or perhaps we'll simply blow them away with this offering!! We are also singing on Good Friday and Easter morning, and then I’ll be gone for awhile to WI and MN.

Last night was a bad sleep for me. When I got up yesterday morning my lower back was complaining and didn’t improve all day. After having dinner with Twila and Judy J., I came home and worked on the computer for a bit, starting to put the tax stuff together (UGH!!).

My heart wanted me to stay up for the shuttle launch but my eyes and tired back told me differently. I found myself awake very early in the a.m., still aching in the low back. Lynx and I went to the kitchen to get a soda and an ice pack, which is the absolute last thing I’d want to wear…otherwise. Trying to lie on my back and keeping the ice pack in just the right place took all my concentration but eventually I dozed off and on until getting up about 9:00 a.m. At one point I went out to get a second ice pack which really held its coldness, and later realized I’d grabbed a bag of fresh coconut instead! Did the trick, so what’s the dif??

It seems to feel a bit better but I’m determined to stick close to home and keep icing it as I need to be at the top of my game by Friday as we go to NYC. Justin made that trip once with me dragging my injured knee behind me, and certainly we don’t want to do that again. I’m getting a massage tomorrow morning which will certainly prove beneficial.

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Judy R. wrote me this morning in a quick note that she has a brand-new granddaughter, Isabel Sophie, born yesterday. All are doing fine and now little Emma has a sister....one more added to the clan of Jer and Judy! Congrats all around! Oh, and it's Barb's birthday today--Happy Birthday in Green Bay, Barb! Lord's blessings!

I may close my eyes for a little while this afternoon, but not too long so that I can sleep all night long tonight. Usually don’t have problems sleeping, and don’t think it was my tired back that woke me, perhaps the TV was on too loud…watched “Godfather” before dropping off to sleep. “Don’t ever take sides with anyone against the Family—ever!”