I hope that by now you get it that I am fascinated with our space program. Before I forget, let me express my appreciation to NASA TV. I took these photographs this morning while watching on my computer the countdown for the lift-off of Endeavour.
I always in my life have been a very curious person. I am interested in anything and everything. I find it at this stage in my life, I am even more curious than ever. And most of the things I witness leave an unforgettable impression in my collection of memories.
Endeavour was constructed as a replacement for the Challenger. First flew May 1992. Today’s launch was its final. It was named after the British HMS Endeavour, the ship which took Captain Cook on his first voyage of discovery, 1768-1771. Construction costs were $2.2 billion. After this mission, STS-134, Endeavour will be decommissioned. It will be on display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
It was so mesmerizing watching the lift off step by step. You cannot help it but be in total awe. It reminded me so much of the movie “Contact.” It made ponder on a lot of questions I sometimes contemplate about the space out there. How magnificent our beloved Planet Earth must look from where the crew is. It makes me realize how significant and insignificant at the same time we all are.
And there it happily went to Infinity and Beyond…Endeavour has travelled 103,149,636 miles for 25 missions. I would like to wish its crew a happy return back home.
Hope you have enjoyed this as much as I did this morning. If you would like to see a replay of its launch Monday morning, go to NASA TV, and be in total awe.
So it was today…16th May, 2011…a day to continue in our quest to conquer our outer spaces.
Your Happy Contessa
“Ah, but in such matters, it is only the first step that is difficult.” Madame Du Deffand, French hostess and patron of the arts. 1697-1780.
I was just thinking…have I already done a posting with this subject matter? I don’t know. If you are like me…I have already forgotten and there will be a few surprises on this one. Every day brings a new set of surprises…or not.
My Sunday mornings are very special. I feel more relaxed that on other mornings, maybe because in my mindset there is this feeling of just chillin on Sundays. But…routines are very good for me because they mean that my world is still in sync with my mental universe. Peace, quiet, reading the same recycled stories I heard about on the news last night, going through the ads, even though my pocketbook is zipped for eternity. No new spending for a while. Just bought (at one of the shopping channels) a 40″ tv, wi-fi, with all the bells and whistles, even though I am letting go of cable tv. It was priced just right. My rationalization is that with a newer tv set, I will be able to maybe capture the networks and a few other channels, and that will suffice for me. I can access the internet on this new tv, so I will have to learn a lot of new things, and that’s a good thing because I need more mental stimulation, other than doing this blog, and cleaning toilets. No more too much tv for me! It is brain zapping… sometimes after watching la tele for a while I feel like a zombie, and of course, go directly to the kitchen because “I feel a bit hungry.” Just plain disgusting!!!! In conclusion, watching la tele is dangerous for your psych, the middle part of your body, and a money pit. Look at me, Miss smart, tight-with-my-money kind of gal. Do I need a 40″ tv? Hell, no! But is sounded so fabulous with all the things I can do. We’ll continue with this saga in another posting.
Call this a big going off the subject matter. In between reading the recycled news and my favorite, the cartoons, I do laundry, prepare my breakfast, my coffee (the best part of the day), and other minutiae pertaining to other stuff. Then…after devouring my plain tasting plantains, but good for the smooth sailing flow of things in my organs, I proceed to very obediently take my vitamins. I tell myself they keep me from getting sick. Who knows!
Bear in mind that I am not endorsing any products at all. No money exchanging hands. At least not mine, except for the super scupper tv.
I hope you have found this new angle of my routines somewhat entertaining…I have enjoyed writing about it…and let me add…if my routines are kind of interrupted for whatever reasons, part of my petit universe is out of sync for a nano second.
So it was today, 15th May…a day in my life…with some pondering on to routine or not to routine.
Your Happy Contessa
“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life–it goes on.” Robert Frost, an American poet. 26 March 1874-29 January 1963.
This weekend I am off to Selma, North Carolina to go antiquing. I love to be surrounded by old furniture, books, linens, paintings, magazines (of course), in general, old pieces that remind me sometimes of my childhood. It may be the odor of old wood, old books or just seeing and touching, and sometimes buying plain old stuff. Old toys are among my favorites also. I am still in the pursue of a little red piano that may look like the one I used to have and played with so many times.
My first antique purchase...
Ron and I were visiting an Antique Mall in Alexandria, Virginia in January, 1984. After going around pretty fast, because I couldn’t at the beginning understand why we would be in a place that would sell used and old stuff. In the Dominican Republic when I was growing up, old stuff was equivalent to trash. So I was questioning Ron’s wisdom in visiting a place like this. But I came across this chair. It did not look like this when I saw it. The fabric was old pale yellow and stained, torn, and the chair itself was wobbly. I walked away from it, but I kept on coming back. There was something about this chair that would not let me go away. When Ron caught up with me, I showed the chair to him. He said “but honey, this chair is in terrible shape, it will have to be glued, re-upholstered and…I don’t know.” I told him that the chair was only $58 and we could have it fixed for a few more dollars and I liked it very much. Grudgingly he agreed and that was our first antique purchase together. My pick.
Well…by the time we chose the fabric and were told how much it would be the cost of making it what it is today…$350. We gulped because we were just starting our marriage and money was extremely tight. Remember my painting? That was a few months after the chair. I am always getting in a tight spot. But I manage.
I am glad we had the chair done, because it is a sturdy, attractive and it blends easily with any other piece of decor we have had over the years. 25 years. I learned so much with Ron about estate sales, auctions, garage sales (many, many stories to be told about this), and even picking up pieces from OPG. Other people’s garbage. You would not believe what people discard in this the land of plenty. I don’t do it anymore because without my aggressive and assertive partner is not fun anymore.
On this note, please go in an adventurous garage sailing this weekend or any other weekend. It is a lot of fun, you meet so many people and learn so much. And there’s always a treasure to be found.
So it was today…12th May 2011…another day of pondering and looking forward to maybe finding a treasure at the antique mall or any garage sale.
Make it a happy and safe weekend. See you next Monday.
Your Happy Contessa
“It is better to ask some questions than to know all the answers.” James Thurber, American author and cartoonist. 8th December, 1894-2nd November, 1961
The picture above was of a friend of mine and myself making an attempt to pretend to play tennis. To my friend my apologies for cutting you off the picture, but I didn’t have your consent to use your image. Copyrights issues. To continue…Why were we making an attempt to pretend to play tennis? In the 70’s, as it is today, we women would do anything to try to get a qualified candidate to notice us. St. Croix, U.S.Virgin Islands is a very small island. Everybody knew everybody and we knew that the “qualified” guys we wanted to meet would be members of the Tennis Club. Doctors, lawyers…yes, I know…la creme of qualified snakes to make your life a bit more miserable than the regular “qualified” Joe- the-woman-wrecker. But we wanted to give ourselves an opportunity to meet educated, good mannered, financially established kind of guys. And that was the place alright.
We became members, bought the cute outfits you see there, spent a small fortune getting the equipment and there we went. To get money, you have to spend money. Logic.
We sat at the open space clubhouse and of course, there they came. We were totally surrounded by “the candidates.” Finally we settled on two guys, two doctors, and full of panic, because the truth was going to be exposed that we didn’t know how to play tennis (I must admit, I had played a bit before, so I had an idea how to hit the ball). But the goddesses of good fortune were with us that day. The two doctors were not good at tennis at all. Probably they had the same plan we did. Made for each other. My friend and I laughed all the way back home, because in many instances instead of us hitting the ball, the balls were hitting us. We were making the rules as we went and all in all, it was just a sad situation. The four of us didn’t know what to do to save face, so we left them with “we’ll see you again, sometime.”
What a fiasco. Needless to say, our membership became an issue we would not discuss and the tennis outfits and equipment were tucked in the darkest corner of our closets.
More memories...
The things I used to do in conjunction with my best partner in crime to try to meet interesting guys. At least I can have a great laugh right now. Later in life, I took tennis again, but this time was for the pleasure of playing the game and burning calories. I still would love to play tennis…anyone? Not looking at all for any kind of guy here. Hope that is totally understood.
So it was today…11th May, 2011…a day to reminisce about tennis and catching “qualified” bachelors.
Your Happy Contessa
“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.” William James, American psychologist and philosopher. January 11, 1842-August 26, 1910. Ralph Waldo Emerson was his Godfather.
This past Sunday, on Mother’s Day, one of the cutest angels in my neighborhood knocked on my door and brought me a very sweet, reddish looking and cooling to my taste buds strawberry frappe. I am salivating right now thinking about having the little bit leftover.
After saying “Happy Mother’s Day” to me she gave me a container with the good-looking soon to be devoured frappe. Then we visited for a while, because I enjoy talking with the younger generations and I think they enjoy talking with me. Now, let’s get to the part that pertains to this posting.
We were talking about cable tv, DVD players, etc. I mentioned to her that I am considering giving up cable service for tele and that I enjoy movies, even though some of them are VHS, but that’s ok because I have a DVD/VHS player. Then she told me the story that one day she was shopping with her grandma and her grandma asked her if she knew where the VHS videos were. Then she responded…”grandma, didn’t you get the memo?” I started laughing, and laughing until I had tears running down my face. That’s one of the best lines I have heard in a long, long time. Oops, I thought, I think I didn’t get the memo either.
I have made a resolution that I need to keep up with younger things and their vocabulary, because I do not want to be left out of the soup. Younger thinking, younger looking I am hoping. Still looking to get the memo that describes how to make wrinkles and lines disappear. Do anyone of you have a copy? Please pass it along.
I am on a quest to get the memo every time one is sent out. Please let me know as soon as there is one floating around.
So…it was today…10th May, 2011…a day in search for the misplaced memo…and in a search also for a new lingo.
Your Happy Contessa
“Grown-ups never understood anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.” Antoine De Saint-Exupery, French writer and aviator, best remembered for his novella The Little Prince. 29 June 1900-31 July 1944.
The most shocking news of my newspaper this morning to me was the headline “SETI is shutting down its alien hunt.” An article by L. Krieger. SETI stands for Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence. Now that all of that has been established, I am still recovering from such sobering piece of news.
What am I going to do now that all information highways to our friendly out-of-space beings are closed. I have always counted on them to bring us good news, something other than ourselves killing each other, and big companies stabbing all of us consumers on our backs. I wanted something fresh, hopeful and lively. The search for another medium to give us direct access to E.T. is on.
I am kind of confused. I thought all we needed was a musical keyboard and play ta ta ta ta ta. And then they will answer us with an array of ta ta ta ta ta ta with a beat and lights of all colors. They do have rhythm, because their answer to our ta ta was pretty fast and very melodious.
Now on a more serious note, I think that if there is any E.T. life form out there or maybe down there, they will find the way to get in touch with us, or on a more perverse thought yet, having us for dinner. French wine anyone?
But because we are on a slower pace of energy, we are not getting it yet, so probably “they” don’t even want to bother with us, slow pokes. I hope I don’t see that day when “they” finally decide to play Columbus with us. So many shuttles, so many billions spent and no reply. We should get the message. “They” are no that much into us. Let’s search for another kind of entertainment. How about digging into the core of the planet? We may be surprised. Of course it will be hot, but what else is new.
Do you think all of this melee is going to affect our direct communication with our sweet angels? I surely hope not. I love talking with and listening to these sweet embassadors of heaven that don’t need any technological advance or set back to look out for all of us.
I suddenly feel better, even though we just have told E.T., “no more talking with you.” Maybe we will find another way. I am positively sure of that.
So it was today, 9th May, 2011…a day of not so hot news…and a challenge to keep on talking with E.T….
Your Happy Contessa
Hope you like my props. It gets my neurons working overtime. That’s a good thing.
One of my most prized possessions are my magazines. Love my magazines. Maybe it is because they take me to places I may never be able to visit, go into homes that portray places I would have liked to live in, be an inhabitant of beautiful and dreamy gardens, or just plain absorb what people I think highly of are thinking.
There’s so much to magazines, books and any other form of information that allow us to acquire knowledge that sometimes there would be no other ways for us to obtain.
But…I am simplifying again. Getting ready again…to move. Hopefully my house is going to sell pretty soon and I need to be ready. I have been saying goodbye for the last two years. Talking about a long…long farewell. I had to buy a new Christmas tree last holiday season, because I had already donated tree and trimmings to the Salvation Army. But…I have hope that next Christmas will be celebrated in Florida, with lights on Palm trees.
Stuff...just more stuff
I have to remind myself that the law of plenty is always working. I have to let go of things I don’t need or use, to make room for new blessings that are waiting for me to make space for them to come into my life. Law of reciprocity. What you give to others, you are already giving to yourself.
So it was today…8th May, 2011…a day to be in my garage making decisions about what goes out first.
Your Happy Contessa
“Patience is the companion of wisdom.” St. Augustine, philosopher and theologian, born in Roman Africa, November 354. Died August 430. His writings were very influential in the development of Western Christianity.
I became a mommy the first day I found out I was pregnant. Did you notice I said “I”, not “we” as in these days. The good old days making room for the better newer days. Officially I was blessed with a vision of my Milagros on November 12, 1979 at 11:58 am. After a lot of push, push and enough push, there she was with a mane of thick black hair and big black eyes looking at me like saying, hola mami! I believe that when you touch a baby, you are touching heaven itself. The innocence and wonder of a baby.
Motherhood is a hat you wear until you go back to your Creator. It is ingrained in you and it is an unexplainable feeling that you will carry forever to eternity and beyond, as Buzz Lightyear would have said.
These two cards were hand-made by my Milagros some years ago. I will always treasure them and I am forever grateful that I have had the opportunity to be a mother, and very blessed that I had the privilege to be Milagros’ mami.
I wish you all a Happy Mother’s Day and also to all and everyone that had to wear that hat one time or another.
This is my Mother...Happy Mother's Day mama!
So it was today…May 6th, 2011…reflecting on being a mother, …so the legacies will continue…
Today it is a beautiful day!! Sunny, temperature in the mid 50’s right now, sky light blue and lots of clouds for my ever-growing collection. The perfect day to open the windows and let the old polluted air out and let the new not so polluted yet air in. Curtains are dancing to the wind, and I can hear all of nature’s sounds and right now someone must be in big trouble…an ambulance is cruising by with its very well-known high-tech sound.
Kitchen window...
Also today I decided to spray against bugs. I do not like seeing creepy things on my floor. Especially spiders. I know…about karma…but it is their karma or mine. To this date, I am still preferring mine. This brings back memories…when I was growing up my mother, two of my sisters, a cousin and I were taking a trip to Puerto Rico from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. We were staying at a hospederia (hostel) overnight to take a plane the next day. That evening, around midnight, my cousin started screaming like someone was stabbing her to death. It was very, very dark. She screamed that someone was touching her. She kept on screaming until the whole population of the small hospederia was up and out on the yard, wanting to know what was going on. We were so embarrassed. We discovered after we turned on the lights, that a big cockroach was the culprit. The funny part is that as soon as she started screaming, all of us started to scream also. But we didn’t know why, just that something was going on. After we found out, of course no one could go back to sleep. Just checking out for bugs. Now you know my trepidation about discovering a bug in my house. That have been a few surprises around midnight in the bathroom, but usually my hand and a tissue do the job. At that time of the night, the only karma that rules is mine.
All the windows are open so air can flow freely and the fumes from the spray to diminish the bug population can also waltz out. I do not want to join those statistics yet.
Same thing happens when we breathe. It is good to let all old oxygen out and inhale new full of stuff oxygen in. It works for me. Whenever I have palpitations, that’s when that exercise works the best.
It is feeling pretty chilly right now, but it is a day that you feel good to be around. Everything so green, fresh, birds singing their own melodies, and the refrigerator talking its own language. Am I alone here? My refrigerator makes the funniest noises, especially at night-time, when I am trying to fall asleep. It sound like it is hurting or it needs food. I cannot make that one out. Even appliances these days are becoming hard to live with. Forget about the house settling. I only wish I knew their language so I could join in the conversation. Being by yourself exposes you to a lot of new and improved situations. You start talking with yourself, and that’s not that bad, it is when you start answering to each other. You and your shadow. I better stop right now.
So it was today…5th May, 2011, a day to say goodbye to some innocent bugs…and recycle the good polluted out and let the new one in…the cycle of life.
Your Happy Contessa
“I am still learning.” Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, Italian Reinassance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer. March 1475-February 1564
Very often in conversations I have with friends and family, the subject of happiness always comes up. There are countless books on happiness, there’s a movie with the title of today’s posting, there is a class at Stanford University on this subject also given to students enrolled in business classes, so I have to deduct that happiness is a very important matter in the role of being a humanoid. My self-appointed title is what else, happy contessa. So, yes, happiness is very important to me and I guess to the rest of the world.
How do we define happiness? I am sure it has different meanings for each one of us. For me, happiness is a thing of the moment. Happy thoughts, happy moments. It has time limits also. Happiness in the morning is not the same as happiness at noon, afternoon or night-time. Good coffee, having the newspaper delivered closer to my door and not on the street, being able to breathe, to have a bathroom to go to, and opening my kitchen curtains and being exposed to my foliage is just divine. It makes me feel as if I am part of something bigger than me and my tiny universe. Having a moment of gratitude makes me extremely happy.
My Secret Garden...
Happiness is having a lot of books around me, peace and quiet when the moment demands it, or better put, when I feel I want to be quiet. It is knowing my daughters and son and their families are doing just fine, and so it is knowing the rest of the clan are managing without too much drama. Do not like drama!! Even though, I have been known to have been a drama queen sometime some moons ago. I didn’t know better, and loved to waste precious energy dramatizing and making grandiose every miniscule problem.
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
That’s when learning that life is guaranteed with problems, paying taxes and dying came into my life to settle things down, and show me what the real priorities in life are. First, being able to breathe, and then the rest is very thick gravy.
Most of the time, happiness is determined by staying in the moment. Then things don’t seem to be that grand spectacle of crapola. A 100% happiness will get to be tiresome, I think. Utopia is eight feet below surface and they don’t seem to be doing too much noise, so I gather excitement is not one quality of the population of down below. I am going to be cremated, so I’ll be happily joining the sharks, pretty fish and corals. Now, that’s what I call not knowing what tomorrow brings. One day in the Pacific, another in the Atlantic, and hopefully a lot of time in the Caribbean Sea. I’ll be the best sun tanned sand you will ever see.
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Let focus on the happiness issue here. To be totally honest, sometimes I don’t even know what really makes me happy. I sometimes equate happiness with having an eternal smile on my face. Then the wrinkles issue comes into the picture and I have to stop laughing. Enough lines already. Need to invent some kind of eraser. Saw one on one of the shopping channels, but then the product goes away after you clean your face. Scary. Now you see me looking old and full of wrinkles, now you don’t. Will confuse the heck out of people who know me already and those yet to know. I’ll keep my wrinkles in the meantime. Less complicated.
To prove a point I made all those little happy faces. I am tired of looking at them. Even happiness has a limit. Too much is just too much. Enough is enough. No more happy faces for the rest of this posting.
Going back to happiness, you decide what makes you happy. And then, as they used to sing, “don’t worry, be happy.” Hippies and Bob Marley, I think, always had it right all the time.
So it was today…4th of May, 2011…a day in the pursuit of happiness…
Your happy Contessa
P.S. I just realized, the mention of money never came into my mind when I was thinking about what happiness is for me. That’s fascinating.
It was so mesmerizing watching the lift off step by step. You cannot help it but be in total awe. It reminded me so much of the movie “Contact.” It made ponder on a lot of questions I sometimes contemplate about the space out there. How magnificent our beloved Planet Earth must look from where the crew is. It makes me realize how significant and insignificant at the same time we all are.
Noury's Creative World... 