Mom

My Mom would have been 82 yesterday. She passed away in January 1999, just a few days shy of my parent’s 53rd anniversary. So in honor of her birthday, I’d like to tell you a few random things about her.

My Mom was an amazing person and one of my very best friends.

My Mom was stunning. I wanted to grow up to be an elegant Mom just like her. She looked like a movie star to me.

My Mom’s favorite perfume was Arpège by Lanvin. “Promise her anything, but give her Arpège.” She wore it every day. It was the only fragrance she ever used. When she and Dad would go out for the evening, she’d put a couple of drops on my pillowcase.

My Mom saw the world in terms of black and white. There were no shades of gray. You were wrong or you were right. She liked you or she didn't. She did not keep this information to herself. You knew where you stood. I found this trait both admirable and horrifying.

My Mom was intelligent and very knowledgeable. She always astounded me with the breadth of her knowledge. She would have made an excellent Trivial Pursuit partner.

My Mom was wise. I was born in New Jersey, but we moved to Connecticut when I was 13 months old. I don't remember New Jersey. I complained once to my Mom that I felt uncomfortable saying that I was from New Jersey, since I did not grow up there. Nor was I comfortable saying that I was from Connecticut since I was not born there. In fact, I said, I felt rootless. She told me that I was from her. I never felt rootless again.

My Mom is the reason I wear black almost exclusively. When I was twelve she told me that redheads look good in black. I was not about to disagree with her. She, however, liked to wear bright colors!

My Mom was not perfect, but she was perfect for me.

It’s hard to encapsulate someone like my Mom in a few sentences. There are so many memories that it’s difficult to pick just a few. That said I’m not sure that pages and pages would give you a real sense of my Mom. She has been described by many as “a force of nature.” Simply, my Mom loved me, and I knew it. I loved her, and she knew it. Not a day went by without a phone call or email or ten. I miss her.

So, as 2008 draws to a close, I’d like to wish you a Happy New Year and to ask all of you a favor. Please tell the people you love how much you love them. Give them a hug. Spend a little extra time together. My Mom would want you to!

Merry and/or Happy Whatever You Celebrate

I thought today would be the perfect day to unveil the photo used on this year's holiday card. I did not use any of the photo candidates that I wrote about here. Instead I was lucky enough to snap a snowy scene on the 7th of December. So without further ado, here is the photo used for the holiday card 2008:

These are Echinacea (commonly known as Coneflowers). Echinacea are my favorite perennial. They come in a wide variety of colors and styles. Butterflies love Echinacea. That's an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail taking a sip:

After blooming, birds can eat the seeds from the cones. I haven't yet been quick enough to catch some American Goldfinches feasting, but will one of these days!

Here's an American Goldfinch male in my backyard thinking about eating Echinacea seeds in the Fall.

I hope that whatever you celebrate, and even if you don't celebrate, that you have a joyous holiday season.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow (as if I have a choice)

Winter descended upon us with full force this past weekend. The first storm on Friday dumped 9 inches of snow, canceled school statewide, and generally made for a beautiful but cold and snowy day with hazardous to impossible driving conditions. I’d shopped for food the day before so didn’t need to leave the house. It lightly snowed off and on most of Saturday. On Sunday we had a repeat performance with slightly less snow and some sleet. I think that Winter announced it’s official arrival (Sunday) with a bit of overkill.

Here is a picture of Mr. Twinkle. He’s actually a 9” ruler that my son made to measure snow. Mr. Twinkle was up to his neck in it on Saturday when we measured the first snowfall. He looks altogether too happy about it!

I don’t generally mind snow. The snow plows come out in force and the roads are usually passable. I live on a side road that is not as well plowed as the main roads are. In addition, I live on the top of a hill. I did run out between storms on Saturday when it was lightly snowing. I took my daughter with me and was talking to her about driving in snow, what to do in a skid, etc. Then I was able to show her how to handle a skid. We were only going 25 mph so it was not a very dramatic skid and the car has traction so it was a piece of cake. Actually it was probably some ice under the snow! Fortunately I am extremely comfortable driving in snow. Better yet I did not encounter one person driving in a manner that indicated that they thought their 4 wheel drive could handle anything. You’ve got to respect the weather conditions when you drive in bad weather.

My kids really love the snow:

I think that this is going to be a very snowy and very cold winter, much more like the New England winters I remember from when I was a kid. I’ve noticed that the squirrels around here are fatter and puffier looking than I’ve seen them in many years. It probably means that they’re well fed and have nice winter coats, but I’m sticking with the idea that it’s a weather predictor.

Children frolicking in the snow (my daughter is making a snow angel and was not knocked down by her brother):

And just to add a little excitement to the frigid weather the furnace decided to get sick on Friday. I nursed it all through Friday night into Saturday morning, pressing the reset button when necessary. We had some very anemic heat. It was probably the absolute minimum to keep the pipes from freezing and bursting, but not enough to actually heat the house. Our furnace also heats our water, so no hot water. On Saturday morning the oil company that maintains our furnace and delivers oil called me even before they opened to let me know that a tech was on the way. The pipe feeding the oil to the furnace was partially obstructed with sludge. The tech cleaned it, and viola – heat and hot water. Yay!

And keeping with today's theme, here are Celtic Woman singing Let It Snow:

The kids and I would like to wish you and yours a joyous holiday season and a New Year filled with all good things. May the most that you wish for be the least that you get! Cheers!

Qwill's Qwestion: What's happening with your Winter weather? Any winter driving pet peeves?

Animal Crossing: City Folk for Nintendo Wii

I spend a lot of time reading about and writing about video games. I read many many press releases every day. I run a small video gaming website devoted to Wii and Nintendo DS games. We're still a new site and still finding our voice. But every now and then I actually find some time to play a video game just for fun. Lately I've been consumed or rather every bit of my available free time (all 3 minutes of it daily) has been consumed by a new Nintendo game - Animal Crossing: City Folk.

Meteor Shower in my town

Nintendo has released 3 Animal Crossing games. The first in the series was Animal Crossing for Nintendo GameCube, which was released in 2002. Next up was Animal Crossing: Wild World for Nintendo DS, released in 2005. The latest, Animal Crossing: City Folk was released on November 16, 2008. I did not play the GameCube version of the game, but still play the DS version daily if just to water my flowers. If you don't water the flowers they will die. The game allows you to breed hybrid plants. I have over 100 hybrid flower plants in my DS version of the game. I've played it for over 2 years and there is absolutely no way I am going to let my hybrids die. And, yes, I know it's a game.

Fishing - someone find some butter and lemon!

Animal Crossing: City Folk is a terrific new addition to the Animal Crossing series. Some people have complained that it's too much like Wild World. I disagree. It's a lot like Wild World, but there are some fun new additions to the game. One of the best innovations is the addition of the Wii Speak microphone. I can play with friends all over the world and talk with them while playing. It beats stopping whatever you are doing in the game (for me usually fishing) to type to chat. Speaking is so much easier. There is also a Wii Speak channel that is independent of any games. You can send voice mails to your Wii friends and chat with them. A friend in England is picking up the Wii Speak microphone so we can chat.

Northern Lights

Another change from prior games is the addition of a City to the game. There is a bus stop in my town so I can catch a bus to the City. The City has a number of interesting businesses to visit - the Auction House, Gracies Grace (high-end furniture and clothing), a theater where you can learn different emotions, Redd's (black market goods), Shampoodle (hairdresser), Katrina (Fortune Teller), and the Happy Room Academy (they rate the interior of your house). In addition there is a shoe shine and you can match your shoes to your clothes. I particularly love this addition. I can't stand the red shoes I'm stuck with in the DS version. Yes, I do know it's just a game.

My town is named Statia after the island of St. Eustatius in the Netherland Antilles. My character is named Qwill (such a surprise). I'm still in the process of planting trees and flowers to achieve perfect town status and get the golden watering can. After that I'll cut down all the excess trees that I had to plant to reach what the game considers perfection. I prefer to concentrate on breeding hybrid flowers!

My House

Basically, you start off with a small one room house, catch fish and bugs to sell in order to raise money to pay off your mortgages as well as donate to your town fund, buy furniture, etc. You interact with your townsfolk, who are all animals. You buy goods at Nook's. The more you buy, the bigger Nook's becomes until you have a Nookington's. You can donate funds to your town to get 1) an additional bridge, 2) a town fountain, and 3) and lastly a windmill or a lighthouse. This barely scratches the surface of this game.

In winter, you can build snowmen and if you do a good job, the snowman will send you a present.

A perfect Snowman

There are lots of holidays and celebrations throughout the year in Animal Crossing: City Folk. The seasons change. You do various things to earn Bells (the unit of currency) so that you can have a bigger house and buy furniture and clothing. It's a lot like real life even though it's just a game. Perhaps that's why I like it so much. Of course, unlike real life I can simply turn it off!

Happy Holidays from Statia to Your Home

Qwill's Qwestion: What's your favorite game for any game system or the PC?

[The photos I've included were taken in the game while I was playing. That's another nice feature, snap the photo and save it to an SD card. Not supplied with the Wii, but it's easy enough to get one and put in the slot in the Wii.]

Contractors - Gone but Not Forgotten

As far as contractor stories go mine are not so awful. All the work was done on the outside of the house. I'm discussing the projects in reverse order though they did overlap at the end.

The second project was re-shingling the house. I am not happy with the roofers even though they are the roofers that originally shingled and later re-shingled this house. They were extremely careless on the ground. I have a fenced Tall Bearded Iris Garden in front of the walkway in front of my house. The garden also includes Mums and New England Asters. The roofers took down the fence and trampled the garden claiming that they did not see the plants. WHAT? There was a FENCE! There are green things (the iris fronds) and dried plants (Mums and Asters). I don’t find it even slightly believable that they did not see the garden. The only way they could have missed the garden is if they were all blind. In that case, they should not have been on my roof!! I had a long discussion with the project director at the company's head office about how much Iris cost, how some of mine are no longer replaceable, etc. They have agreed to reimburse me should the Iris not appear in the Spring. I will be sending a letter to them via certified mail to that affect this week.

This is what my Iris Garden looked like in June 2008:

Some of the Iris

The first project was to rebuild the enclosed deck. This project started on the 1st of September. This was supposed to take 3 weeks, but took a little over 3 months. When my parents had this house built in 1967 there was an open elevated deck on the back of the house. I liked the open deck a lot. My Mom would hang fuchsias every summer. It was beautiful. At some point when I was not living at home, the deck was enclosed. I’m not sure why the deck was enclosed though.

Over the years the deck began to list to the side and became unsafe. This happened because whoever enclosed the deck did not add additional supports to hold the weight of the sides and roof. Apparently when the deck was enclosed my little town had no building code in place covering decks enclosed or otherwise.

I interviewed a number of contractors and since the prices were similar, I chose the contractor I liked. It turned out to be a good choice. While there were many delays – weather, materials not showing up on time, and a family issue that had an impact on his time – the contractor always called and always kept me informed. That isn’t to say I did not get a bit stressed by the delays. Having my porch furniture in the house for 3 months was annoying and made it difficult to clean. And in the end there are a bunch of very small things I need to contact the contractor about that were not done. I won’t list them here because I’ve taken care of all but one of them. I do need to paint the inside roof (white) and the outside posts, etc. (white) in the Spring. It's too cold to paint now.

Some Before and After pictures

Before

After

Before

The inside roof of the old porch had a ceiling, which I'd vetoed for the new porch. When the old ceiling was torn off, it rained mice! Lots and lots and lots of mice. I think I made the correct decision about the ceiling.

After

The porch is screened. One of the delays was waiting for the custom screens to arrive. It was worth the wait.

I like the porch a lot more now. There is lots of light and it's much cooler. I've rearranged the furniture so that I can look out when sitting on the couch. Right now it's 14F here! I'm going to wait for Spring to enjoy my new porch.

Qwill’s Qwestion: 1) do you have any contractor stories or, 2) what part of your house, apartment, etc. would you redo if you could?

Mark Henry, Author - New Website and a Contest!

I was going to blog about contractors today, but something more important came to my attention. Mark Henry's new website has launched. Mark Henry is the author of Happy Hour of the Damned and the upcoming Road Trip of the Living Dead. He writes funny, witty, zombilicious novels.

To celebrate his new and fantastic website (I know because I spent the morning there instead of writing about contractors), he's having a Grand Reopening Contest!

The lovely Amanda has her own section on the website! In addition, Amanda, Wendy & Gil will review movies and have already reviewed that zombie classic - Night of the Living Dead. Do not miss the Goofs section!

And check out Mark's books. You can order Happy Hour of the Damned here. And you can preorder Road Trip of the Living Dead here.

You'll never look at zombies the same again! So, go and enjoy his new website, read the first book, and become a fan. Just like me.

(and Mark says I haven't been fawning enough lately - so take that Mark.)

Being Mom

I was thinking about what to write about and decided to write about children and Moms in general. Of course that means that I’ll write a bit about my small humans (who have approved this topic). I had my children later in my life. It’s not that I didn’t want children early. I’d always hoped to have my children before I was 30. As we all know, however, the best laid plans, etc. I didn’t meet my DH until I was nearly 37. I had my first child at nearly 38 and my second when I was 42. So I was off by about a decade. But that’s a huge decade.

I was told by many folks and read repeatedly that Older Moms have more patience and that more life/work experience is useful. This is not necessarily true. In the case of this Older Mom, I’m more set in my ways so that patience thing – not really working for me. In addition, I’m somewhat more tired than when I was in my 20s and 30s. Being tired does not help with being patient. Also I just can’t fathom how my work experience is helping out here. I’m an attorney by training. I haven’t figured out a way to sue my children for not cleaning their rooms or for causing pain and suffering. I experience said pain and suffering every time I look in their rooms.

On the plus side I do know a lot more than when I was in my 20s. I keep thinking that some of that will come in handy especially now that my oldest is almost a teen. Although at my age remembering the teen years is a bit difficult. Another plus is that I’m more wily than when I was in my 20s. That helps with children. But no one handed me an Older Mom manual when my oldest was born nor was I given an instruction manual along with the baby. I don’t think that Younger Moms get that manual either.

So here is what this Older Mom has learned that I share with my children:

1) Everything you do has a consequence. Think before you act, if the consequence is acceptable, then act. And make sure that the consequence affects you and does no harm to anyone else.

2) Sometimes life is just not fair. You were not born with an assurance that life would be peachy and wonderful all the time. Deal with it.

3) Everything that you want will not be handed to you. The corollary to that is: There is no Bank of Mom.

4) Work hard for the things that you do want.

5) Be kind and polite.

6) Being angry is ok under the right circumstances.

7) Be kind even when angry. Spoken words can’t be erased.

There are lots more things that I’ve taught and will teach my children. But I’m not really sure that being an Older Mom is that much different than being a Younger Mom. Would I have been a different Mom at 27 than at 37? I doubt it, but I can’t be 100% positive. I do know that I would love my daughter and son just as much no matter my age. One thing is for certain though, if I had had my children at 26 and 32 they’d be out of the house by now. That thought makes me incredibly sad. I guess I’ll just have to deal with it when that day comes.

Qwill’s Question: Older Mom or Younger Mom – is there a real difference?

(The picture is included because I think that Chinese Lanterns look like hearts. And I heart my small humans. Besides it's pretty!)

Channeling Martha Stewart...

For the last several years I have made my holiday cards. For the first three years I used a painting done my DH, but for the last few years I have used one of my photos on the card. I usually use a photo of something from one of my gardens. The spring and summer photos are a bit incongruous for winter holidays, but I like flowers, especially the ones that I grow. This year I was going to buy cards because I am just too busy. However, I started to think that it won’t take that long to make a couple of hundred cards. I am clearly delusional, but I feel that I should not break my self-imposed tradition. It’s not really THAT difficult.

First I have to pick a photo, which may be the hardest part of the entire procedure. Next I print and trim the photos and usually round the corners. I have a gizmo that I use to do that but it’s still a bit time consuming. 4 corners x 200 photos = 800 rounder snips. After that, the cards are printed. I print some in French and some in English. I use a generic Happy Holidays type greeting because I do not want to take the time to print different greetings for each holiday. It’s a time saver for me. After the cards are printed, I round their corners. Another 4 corners x 200 cards = 800 rounder snips for a whopping 1,600 snips. Well, that explains why my hand hurts after all of that! Now comes the assembly. Archival double-sided tape is used to secure the photo to the card stock. But it’s just a postcard type card that would simply fall over if I don’t do a bit more. The final step is to hot glue a little ribbon to the back of the card so that it can be hung. I pick out the ribbon after I pick the photo because I like the ribbon color to pick up one of the colors of the photo. When I can’t find the right color I simply use a white ribbon. The last step is to put the cards in the envelopes and head off to the post office. Sounds simple, no?

I am just beginning to sort through my photos. All of the photos are taken in the year that the card is sent. Here are the 2008 candidates… so far…

Qwill’s Qwestion: Do you have a holiday tradition that you just have to keep each year and/or which photo should I use for this year’s card?

Thanks for stopping by!

Collecting

My friend Ter posted a link to an apartment that defies description. Let’s just say it’s a disaster area of epic proportions. But it got me thinking about hoarding and pack-rattiness. And that got me thinking about collecting. Collect: To accumulate as a hobby or for study.

I buy a lot of books, but don’t care about hardcovers, or first editions, etc. so I don’t consider that a collection. I do consider my TBR as making up for a 10-year period where I had no time to read fiction.

I only have one collection. I collect mugs made by Emma Bridgwater in the United Kingdom. I also have a few mugs from Nicholas Mosse. Those are made in Ireland. The bulk of my collection is from Emma Bridgewater since I only have 8 Nicholas Mosse mugs. Fortunately it's easy to buy Emma Bridgewater mugs in the U.S. now. Several sites have them, and I've even seen them in some museum stores. It’s probably a good thing that I collect mugs because I drink a lot of Stash Green Chai Tea everyday usually with foamed skim milk.

I tend to have very busy days and have a habit of setting my mug down and then completely forget where I put it! My kids find this amusing. Just this morning I rounded up 5 mugs from various places around the house. I know that there are more lurking, but I've yet to find them.

My favorite Bridgewater mug at the moment says "Happiness Is A Cup Of Coffee & A Really Good Book." The reverse side adds "And A Piece of Cake." It makes me laugh, which is a good way to start the day!

I have over 100 Bridgewater mugs so I’m good if you all want to come over for tea or coffee! But you'll have to bring your own cake.

So here’s Qwill’s Qwestion: What do you collect?

For My DH

I’ve wanted to write something about my DH for a while, so here goes.

I met my husband, Claude, while I was on vacation on a small Caribbean island. He was the chef at the 10-room resort where I stayed. It was pretty much love at first sight for us. We were engaged 2 months after we met and married 5 months after that. We welcomed our first child (a girl) the next year. We also moved to the Caribbean where Claude was the Executive Chef at another resort. Before you think that living on an island in the Caribbean is fun, I can assure you that going to the beach every day gets boring after a while. And lets not forget the hurricanes! After nearly 4 years we moved back to the U.S. We had our second child (a boy). In many ways I believed that our relationship was much like a fairy tale. I did not realize how accurate my belief was. Most fairy tales, before being made more palatable, had tragic endings. Read the original Brothers Grimm to check that out! I lost my handsome prince, not to a dragon or ogre, but to something much scarier - cancer. Throughout his illness my husband was brave, stoic, and optimistic. As long as Claude had a breath in his body he fought. He handled his illness with unparalleled grace and strength. He died in my arms on Valentine’s Day 2004. I miss him every minute of every day. And I am sad that my kids are without him. Claude and I would have celebrated our 13th Anniversary last month. I’m not going to tell long stories about him, but rather will share what he was doing towards the end of his life and for a time while he was ill.

Claude was born and raised in France. He studied to become and became a chef in Paris. And, wow, could he cook! After we returned to the US, he worked in a restaurant not far from the house. But he wanted to build his own business again and he turned to making chocolates. He also started to paint for enjoyment. Without overstating, he was an artist with both paints and chocolates. See for yourself.

Just a couple of his many, many paintings:

A Painting of the Riviera:

A New England Lighthouse

And here are some of his wonderful chocolates. We had 19 different assorted chocolates and 6 types of truffles. We shipped in North America only and sold at some speciality stores. We used no artificial ingredients or preservatives and everything was handmade.

For Valentine's Day a White Chocolate Box filled with chocolates and surrounded by Coeur de Passion (heart shaped dark chocolate filled with a passion fruit filling) and Noix de Muscade (a type of truffle):

And a close up of the Heart Box (edible):

A four-tiered box for Christmas:

And this is what you saw when the box was opened:

A 1 lb box of Christmas chocolates:

Claude was a remarkable man. He was talented, intelligent, funny, and most of all he loved me with all of his heart. I hope that wherever he is, he's at peace.

Michele Bardsley & Broken Heart Citizens at Bitten by Books today!

Bitten by Books is excited to welcome author Michele Bardsley and her cast Broken Heart Citizens today as our featured Guest Bloggers! They will be talking with you today and answering questions. Check out the contest at the end of this post! You could win the amazing prize they are offering up today!

****************************************************

Theodora Monroe, co-founder of the Paranormal Research and Investigation Services and self-published nonfiction author, will interview Broken Heart citizens for her newest book: Living Supernaturally in Broken Heart. Please help Dora complete the research on her book by asking your favorite paranormal citizen a question. For more information about Broken Heart, visit

http://www.BrokenHeartOK.com

Hello, my name is Theodora Monroe, and I’m thrilled to be here at Bitten by Books conducing research for my newest book. We have with us today several members of Broken Heart’s unique parakind community. Please welcome Jessica, Patrick, Eva, Lorcan, Patsy, Gabriel, Libby, Ralph, Damian, Darrius, and Drake.

Here's the link: http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=1886

Tag-about is Fair Play - 6-Things Revolution!

Mark Henry was tagged by me earlier today with the standard 6-things meme. The ever inventive Mr. Henry has turned this on end and created the 6-Things Revolution.

The new rules (which may be changed to suit your whim):

1. If you're reading this meme, consider yourself tagged.

2. Post these directions, or directions of your own making on your blog.

3. Post 6 pictures of what's going on in your life right now. They don't have to be interesting, so don't worry.

4. Give each a title.

5. Bask in your artiness.

Butterflies Are Not Always Free

Scary Laundry

Candy Bag and Axe

Parenting Books

Dinner or TG for Take Out

Only A Few Games

Now it's up to you!

TAG, YOU'RE IT!

So after staying up most of the night watching news, I get tagged by the most wonderful Rottie_mom this morning! Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Six random things about Qwill:

1. I have webbed toes! And no, I don't swim better because of them. :)

2. I have a degree in Slavic Studies. My thesis was titled "Sociolinguistic Problems of National Groups in the Soviet Union during the Stalin Era, 1922-1953." (did you manage to stay awake while reading that title?)

3. I co-edited a book on International Telecommunications Law back in the days when I practiced law. It was a lot of fun. No, really!

4. I received the Hammer Award from Vice-President Gore for helping to streamline part of the Federal government. This was a long time ago!

5. I've been a Green Bay Packers fan for over 40 years even though I live in New England.

6. I managed an Italian resturant in Washington, D.C.

So there are 6 random facts about me. So time to tag House of Redheads, Zombie Chow, Michele Bardsley, Dakota Cassidy, and Jaye Wells. All of these folks are awesome. However, the authors in this list are all very busy so may not have the time to play, but please check out their blogs and books:

Michele Bardsley is the author of the fantastic Broken Heart Oklahoma Vampire Series among many other books.

Dakota Cassidy is the author of wonderful Accidental Series as well as lots of other books.

Jaye Wells' Red-Headed Stepchild will be released in March 2009.

Zombie Chow is the blog of Mark Henry who has penned the unforgettable Happy Hour of the Damned. Road Trip of the Living Dead will be released in February 2009.

Vote and get a free cup of coffee from Starbucks

THIS IS A NON-PARTISAN MESSAGE! So please, no partisan comments!

After you vote on November 4th, you can get a free coffee from Starbucks. As if any of us need an incentive to vote! So go exercise your franchise tomorrow!

fran·chise

NOUN:

A privilege or right officially granted a person or a group by a government, especially:
a. The constitutional or statutory right to vote.

(American Heritage Dictionary online)

More Fall in New England

A few more photos of Fall around here. It still amazes me how quickly the leaves change. This is a photo of my favorite tree in town. It was completely green 2 days ago.

Here are some random pictures taken above the big lake in town. I used to sail on the lake when I was a kid.

One of the roads above the lake.

An old wall that is still maintained.

The view towards the lake.