Fond Memories

Cadillac Mountain near Camden Maine. When Robin was 5 months old, my mother decided she would fly up for a visit. We were living in a very RUSTIC cabin at the time (another post) and so she stayed in a log cabin motel in Skowhegan, nearby town. Wanting to make her trip worthwhile...sidebar - now a grandma myself I can tell you no extracurricular activities are really necessary - the grandkids make the trip worthwhile...I decided we would rent a car and drive up the coast to Camden Maine and Cadillac Mountain. There is a beautiful photo of my mom holding Robin with this same view in her baby album. I was just thinking about this day and how nice it was to do something special with my mom and my daughter. Making memories is so special and I am so very thankful that my mom was able to make the trip. I was thinking the other day, too, that she came to every place I lived at least once...except for this home in Tallahassee. She passed away in April, 2002 and we moved her in 2004. Take time to make memories, girls...it is so important to fill your mind with happy times with family. God brings them to mind just when you need them. Isn't is just amazing how the mind is able to store so much? And we can close our eyes and remember so many scenes in our lives. Looking at photos will jog the memory, too. While on our recent trip to Cincinnati, Holly shared some old photos. I really wish I would have taken a few. There were some of her wedding back in 1974, I think. I was wearing an aqua crepe pants suite that my mother made for a Lambda Chi Alpha Dance a few years earlier. I was crowned Sweetheart that year and I had forgotten how lovely that pants suit was. Mom made several evening gowns for me - my favorite was a dark green velvet dress with rhinestone straps. I felt so glamorous. If I had a scanner and knew all of the tricks, I'd scan it and share. But let me say this...the material was $15/yd. and it took 2 yds. I remember thinking that was SOOOO expensive. It was a beautiful dress and my mom did such a professional job with every detail. I still miss my mom.
Take care to cherish the time you have with family...get out and make those memories.

Did someone say Wasabi?

Tonight Jason and I decided to go on a "real date". We went to Nagasaki Steakhouse - Japanese Cuisine. What a wonderful evening. We started with Tempura Sweet Potato as an appetizer. They brought 6 little flat patties with a delightful soy"ish" dipping sauce. The meal began with Miso soup. It had a light oniony chicken flavor with mushrooms and scallions. Just yummy. Followed by a salad with iceberg lettuce and a sweet dressing that could be compared to a thousand island taste. Very nice. Shortly after we were seated, a young couple was also seated at our grill table. I was glad because this kind of restaurant is much more fun when you are with others.
Our chef was Michael. He was FANTASTIC. He began with all the fancy maneuvers - and all with a spatula and a knife. He did some tricks with eggs that he eventually scrambled for our fried rice. He also made noodles that were to DIE for...I'm glad I didn't because I ordered shrimp and scallops and they just melted in my mouth. He did serve up a ginger sauce and a seafood sauce but honestly the food was seasoned so well no sauce was really needed. Jason ordered steak and scallops. His steak was also melt in your mouth tender. One really neat trick he did was to slice a big onion, then stack it and fill it with oil. He then lit it on fire and it was like an onion volcano. Very cool. He had a great personality. All the time he was cooking, I noticed he had slipped two nice plump shrimp on the edge of the grill and I kept wondering who those were for. After he was finished preparing all of our meals, he started chopping and flattening the shrimp. When finished, he explained that he was going to catapult the shrimp and we were to catch it in our mouths. It was HILARIOUS. I was able to catch 2 out of 3. Jason did the same. Mary, the gal at our table, caught 2 and her boyfriend caught 3 out of 3. It was Mary's birthday, so we got the added pleasure of a birthday dessert and tea.
After dinner, we watched a little longer as another table was getting the same treatment. There were children at that table and the chef was "pretending" to salt them as he was seasoning the food. All in all it was a wonderful evening. The food, the service, the entertainment and the overall atmosphere made it a 5 STAR evening.
I would highly recommend Nagasaki Steakhouse to all my Tallahassee viewers. It's pricey, but worth it for a special occasion.

ooh la lift

Lighten, tighten, brighten...that was what they told me the first time I learned about ooh la lift. I was in Chicago (very early post) for the American Girl Museum visit with Robin and Hannah. While in Chicago, a visit to Marshall Fields is a MUST! We were just walking in when an attractive sales representative at the Benefit Make up Counter approached and asked if we would like a makeover. Not the "extreme" makeover we all just talked about in Cincinnati...LOL...well maybe that is relative...anyway....I must have been looking very tired from our whirlwind tour of the windy city and the gal decided I needed a lift.
An ooh la lift! It is a GREAT PRODUCT. You just dab 3 little spots under your eyes and you get an immediate "lift"...no more tired look. If you combine that with their eye bright you really look like you just took a 15 minute power nap. I am serious. It's a little pricey...but worth every penny....you will need quite a few pennies. Anyway....as Melissa says...these are the things that I love.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Is there anything else to say?

History

Something just occurred to me, and occasionally you all "ramble"...so here goes. It just occurred to me that once you have lived 50 plus years...you know a lot of HISTORY. Stop laughing. As a young girl I never enjoyed HISTORY. I remember classes...American History, The History of Ancient Civilization, Art History, anyway....I am becoming an Historian. I never would have thought so.
I dreaded those classes and now I know so many Jeopardy answers.

Why did you choose your china pattern?

Emily's post got me thinking about my everyday china pattern. I was a junior in high school and I was invited to Chicago to visit my Aunt Leora ( my mom's older sister - see photo...
L to R ...Lois, youngest, Leora, eldest and "the twins"...my mother, Lucile and my Aunt Louise. Affectionately known as the 4 L's. Anyway...I took my first flight on American Airlines, FIRST CLASS, and flew nonstop from Cincinnati to Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Many happy memories of that trip...

• They gave cigarettes in F/C in those days. I got a little package of 3 Winstons on my tray and thought I was "something else"....LOL
• I was taken to the Premier of Thoroughly Modern Millie, and saw Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Channing in person. Everyone was very dressed up, it was a "red carpet Hollywood like affair".
• I rode on the L
• I bought a beautiful Pendleton Wool KILT at Marshall Fields
• AND I fell in love with my Aunt Leora's CHINA.

I made a decision that year that when I got married, I would register for Blue Danube. I was never sorry, never changed my mind. It's been 37 years and I still love it everytime I set the table. I have posted a blurb from their website...

If nobility ever had to claim a pattern for its own, then Blue Danube china is surely the one. Indeed, royal families of distinction have reverently chosen Blue Danube china's exquisite design for centuries. The design of Blue Danube china was first attributed to the German artist, Kandler, and is based on the most beautiful symbols of ancient Chinese and Far Eastern art. Blue Danube china depicts the flowers of good fortune and happiness, no wonder it's become the world's most famous pattern of all.

so....what story can you share about the choice you made?

The earlier years...

I have always loved being on the water. My father and I sailed on Lake Cowan. I just loved floating on the water. It was just me and my Dad mostly. That, too, makes it a nice memory. When I first moved to New England, I found myself drawn to the sea. I would walk along the beach, find a rocky spot and sit for hours watching the huge waves crash against the rocks. I love the smell of the sea, the rhythm of the waves. The house we rented on Thatcher Road was on the ocean....right on the ocean. There was a marsh between the house and the beach, and a short wooden walkway...but we were so close you could hear the waves touch the sand when you left the windows open at night. Such a calming effect. that soothing noise helped me fall asleep many a night. I love the tastes of the sea. The first time I boiled a live lobster, I wasn't sure I could do it. Putting that guy head first into a boiling pot of water seemed so..."harsh"...but one bite of that meat in clarified butter and I knew this was something I could do...again and again and again. Fresh Maine Lobster. Nothing like it. Nothing in the world. Gloucester has been in the news lately and it has brought back so many memories. I moved to Rockport, Mass in 1971. I lived in Rockport, Lanes Cove and then moved to Waterville, Maine - where Robin was born until 1977. In 1980, I made the move south to Boca Raton....but my heart stayed in New England for a long time. I learned to knit and crochet in Rockport. I went to my first "Fiesta" in Gloucester. It is an annual Italian Festival. If you care to know more...you can google it...but what I remember is the Greasy Pole. A huge telephone pole parallel to the water and out over the water...and loaded with GREASE...thick thick grease...and the goal was to walk out on the pole and get the flag without falling in. Google it...really....I know there are photos out there. One of my favorite "tastes" of the sea are CLAMS. You cannot live in New England and not love clam rolls. I love them steamed...called "steamahs" ( that's with the accent) and I love them fried. This weekend is the Memorial Service for Larry. I am sorry I can't be there. I think I will find a quiet spot ....grab a Narragansett and toast the good times.