Nothing special happened today but they did go to Cheesecake Factory to taste what would have been their wedding cake (red velvet cheesecake with white chocolate frosting).Sunday, July 11, 2010
Just a Regular Day (No Wedding Today)
Nothing special happened today but they did go to Cheesecake Factory to taste what would have been their wedding cake (red velvet cheesecake with white chocolate frosting).
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Fourth of July
I discovered I don't even have a tag for the 4th of July until now. Somehow this holiday seldom lives up to my expectations. I always picture a big picnic in a beautiful park and sitting on blanket under the sky watching a fireworkS display. Somehow that doesn't often happen. I remember some lonely holidays where the kids had their own plans and I was alone. I have gone a few times to the big fireworks displays in town which were fun but the crowds and the killer heat and humidity make that a hassle. I remember going to a small town display with my friend Carol years ago. Joyce had a nice party at her apartment on a lake a few years back. I have one special memory of being out with friends on a couple of boats and watching the sky light up above our heads. Anyway, the perfect celebration eludes me. Florida weather has a lot to do with it. Often it is so hot and dry that there is a fire hazard and all the displays are banned. This year we were drowned with rain. But we still had a happy day.
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After many months of staying with us, Jaime has a new apartment. She and Aaron have just moved in and are having fun fixing up their new place. The kids love it. They made burgers on the George Foreman grill and invited both families for lunch. Since it was raining we all found a spot in their small apartment. After lunch, Karin and Alan and Stephanie and Cory took Jill to White Sands beach for a water ski show. Jonah elected not to go. The rain stopped just as it got dark and the kids shot off some fireworks at their own homes. (Jaime said they met their new neighbors!) Roger and I turned the lights down low and watched the fireworks show in NY City on TV while neighbors lit up the sky all around our house. Last year we trekked out to the middle of the golf course and got quite a show. All the trees block some of the view but we still see and hear a lot of excitement. I guess my dream 4th would be to rent a place at the beach and watch fireworks from a lawn chair on the sand. I am very happy and hopefull for the future. I wish I would have got pictures of the people and the food. Duh! Anyway, I hope that everyone in blogland had a happy day.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
1965 Love Story
I walked down an old street the other day right by the house where I lived in 1965. I loved that house. I loved the boy next door. We built that house new after my father died. We chose it from a model home display - the first one I had ever seen. It cost $16,000 to build back then.
The house was red brick with double white doors. Everything in it was brand new since there was nothing from our previous life that we wanted to save. There was a curved brick wall and a little fountain at the entrance. There was an upstairs room with big windows, a peaked ceiling and a parquet floor. At 17 I did most of the decorating. We had sleek, dark Danish modern furniture, beige carpet and a muted color scheme downstairs. Upstairs was a modern sofa with a kind of orange burlap upholstery and a futuristic beige leather rocker and ottoman. The man from Sears came and took measurements for drapery. I showed up and managed to object to some detail from every room. My mother gently but firmly stepped in and the drapes were made to her specifications. They were beautiful. For my room I chose a dark Danish modern bedroom set and dramatic seagreen drapes and bedspread. I used a dark coffee table as a bench in front of a long window. I had a seat cushion on it and a little aqua princess phone that lit up at night. The room smelled like "Wind Song" my favorite perfume. It was a great room!
I was engaged at the time to my first boyfriend who was serving in Vietnam. Someone built a house next to ours with one empty lot in between. My mother became friends with the owner who was a pretty divorced women. Amazingly she was a medical record librarian like my own mother. My mom kept coming home and telling me about the cute guy next door. I would peek out the window and see a tall boy with glasses. I wasn't impressed. One day I answered a knock at the door with a towel on my wet hair and there stood a very cute guy with short dark hair and crinkley gray/blue eyes. I literally lost my breath. He was returning some lawn chairs that had blown out of our yard. It turned out he was staying with his mom on break from going to Oklahoma University. The boy I kept seeing was his brother who became friends with my brother.
Anyway, long story short. I fell in love with the guy next door but I kept wearing my engagement ring and writing to the guy in the army. The day came to pick him up at the airport. I was all emotional and dramatic but determined to marry my fiance. My friend Sheila went with me and took pictures of us embracing. But I tell you as soon as I saw him I realized I loved the other one. What to do??? I went with him to get a car that he had been saving for. He picked a new burgundy 1965 Mustang.
Inevitably we had a dramatic scene with me and my neighbor running to meet each other in the middle of the vacant lot next door. My army boyfriend was very upset but he met up with my friend, Sheila. They eventually ended up getting married. Unfortunately the neighbor went back to school a few months later and I ended up alone. I went heartbroken with my mom and brother to our new home in Florida near my aunt Nellie. That was 45 years ago!
So, the other day I typed what I thought was the old address into Googlemap. I turned on Street View and there it was. The big windows upstairs, the double white doors, my bedroom window in the front. And there was the vacant lot still vacant and my boyfriend's house next door with the windows covered over with boards. From the satelite map I could zoom into the back yard and pick out the octagon shaped patio we put under some trees to hold a covered swing. So I knew it was the right place. I don't have many pictures of that time. Army boyfriend burned the ones I sent him and I didn't have any copies.
Imagine this post with Sonny and Cher singing "I Got You, Babe". I was into the popular songs of the 60's along with folk music and Bob Dylan. That is my memory trip back to 1965.
The house was red brick with double white doors. Everything in it was brand new since there was nothing from our previous life that we wanted to save. There was a curved brick wall and a little fountain at the entrance. There was an upstairs room with big windows, a peaked ceiling and a parquet floor. At 17 I did most of the decorating. We had sleek, dark Danish modern furniture, beige carpet and a muted color scheme downstairs. Upstairs was a modern sofa with a kind of orange burlap upholstery and a futuristic beige leather rocker and ottoman. The man from Sears came and took measurements for drapery. I showed up and managed to object to some detail from every room. My mother gently but firmly stepped in and the drapes were made to her specifications. They were beautiful. For my room I chose a dark Danish modern bedroom set and dramatic seagreen drapes and bedspread. I used a dark coffee table as a bench in front of a long window. I had a seat cushion on it and a little aqua princess phone that lit up at night. The room smelled like "Wind Song" my favorite perfume. It was a great room!
I was engaged at the time to my first boyfriend who was serving in Vietnam. Someone built a house next to ours with one empty lot in between. My mother became friends with the owner who was a pretty divorced women. Amazingly she was a medical record librarian like my own mother. My mom kept coming home and telling me about the cute guy next door. I would peek out the window and see a tall boy with glasses. I wasn't impressed. One day I answered a knock at the door with a towel on my wet hair and there stood a very cute guy with short dark hair and crinkley gray/blue eyes. I literally lost my breath. He was returning some lawn chairs that had blown out of our yard. It turned out he was staying with his mom on break from going to Oklahoma University. The boy I kept seeing was his brother who became friends with my brother.
Anyway, long story short. I fell in love with the guy next door but I kept wearing my engagement ring and writing to the guy in the army. The day came to pick him up at the airport. I was all emotional and dramatic but determined to marry my fiance. My friend Sheila went with me and took pictures of us embracing. But I tell you as soon as I saw him I realized I loved the other one. What to do??? I went with him to get a car that he had been saving for. He picked a new burgundy 1965 Mustang.
Inevitably we had a dramatic scene with me and my neighbor running to meet each other in the middle of the vacant lot next door. My army boyfriend was very upset but he met up with my friend, Sheila. They eventually ended up getting married. Unfortunately the neighbor went back to school a few months later and I ended up alone. I went heartbroken with my mom and brother to our new home in Florida near my aunt Nellie. That was 45 years ago!
So, the other day I typed what I thought was the old address into Googlemap. I turned on Street View and there it was. The big windows upstairs, the double white doors, my bedroom window in the front. And there was the vacant lot still vacant and my boyfriend's house next door with the windows covered over with boards. From the satelite map I could zoom into the back yard and pick out the octagon shaped patio we put under some trees to hold a covered swing. So I knew it was the right place. I don't have many pictures of that time. Army boyfriend burned the ones I sent him and I didn't have any copies.
Imagine this post with Sonny and Cher singing "I Got You, Babe". I was into the popular songs of the 60's along with folk music and Bob Dylan. That is my memory trip back to 1965.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Peggy's Birthday
I love this picture of Joyce and Peggy
Left to right: Joyce, Peggy (sitting), me and Karin
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Beach
This picture shows one parking lot and some picnic tables but not the covered shelters, the old fort, the pier, the campground, the snack bars and gift shops, the miles of sidewalks for bikes and roller blades or the miles of white sandy beaches. This is truly a special place!
The water was warm and clear
The sand was white and clean
We set up in the shade of some pine trees, near a little creek that Jonah loves
This is the most crowded I have ever seen Ft. De Soto and there was still plenty of elbow room
Jonah in his element
Bucket full of water critters
Perfect beach quiltWe had a beautiful day at Ft. De Soto park. Even the drive is fun. Straight on I-275 across the Howard Franklin bridge all the way to the Pinellas Bayway (last exit before the Sunshine Skyway bridge) and then turn left for Ft. De Soto or go straight for St. Pete Beach and the Don Cesar hotel. We listened to Jaime's custom music CD's and pointed out the landmarks while Jonah was the navigator with the map. As Mia said, "We're gonna have FUN!"
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