Noury's Creative World…

Do not fear.  Nothing gross, naughty or disgusting.  This one is to remove any thought whatsoever about my belief  of thinking that “I thought I was someone important.”

Back in the days when Ron was getting in and out of the hospital due to his illness, one particular day he was getting a CT-Scan and I had to wait in the waiting room for him to finish with the procedure.

Never mind that this recent photo shows a new, improved and empty waiting room.  They have remodeled and recently I had to pay a visit.  But going back to the episode mentioned above, on this day, there was a standing-room-only crowd.  I was reading a magazine and suddenly had the urge to release some of the water I had been drinking.  So I had to go to the restroom.  I put some toilet paper on the seat after drying any liquids left over by the previous occupant (disgusting), and set about to do my blessing.  When finished,  I proceeded to wash my hands, looked at my ever rebellious hair, picked up my bags, and went back to the waiting area. 

Now, bear in mind that this local hospital is the meeting place of this county.  Everybody (baby boomers, mind you) knows everybody, by first name basis.  There I am walking with my then tight jeans, thinking that I look oh, so hot and cute.  I got to the waiting area and in the process of seating, I felt something on the back of my pants, and looking very cool and casual, put my hand back there, and OMG, toilet paper hanging out from inside the back of my then tight jeans.  The paper that I had put on the toilet seat to protect myself from any germs.  Wishful thinking.  I gulped, looked around to see if anyone had seen this so beyond embarrassing moment, but everyone, I noticed,  had their heads down, even if they were not reading. 

Those cowards!  Didn’t have the guts to tell a save from herself embarrassed woman that she had toilet paper coming out of her behind.  Thanks God I didn’t do #2.  I then pulled out the paper, rolled it in my hands and started to look for a garbage receptacle, but they also all disappeared in a second.  I had to put the rolled mass of paper in my purse.  I then proceeded to seat as if nothing had happened. 

From that moment on in my life, I don’t have any shame of anything extraordinary happening to me.  You name it, I have faced it.  I cannot walk on water, but I can swim in a little pond.

This reminded me of an episode at a German bank I used to work for in New York City.  This terribly handsome man (a vice president of finance that looked like he just came out of a magazine page, with always tanned skin) came out of the restroom and my desk used to be on the way there.  His name was Haig.  Let’s leave the last name out, just in case one day I become very, very famous, and he might be embarrassed.  He had his zipper open!  He went by too fast for me to say anything, but everyone he passed by started to laugh but said nothing.  So I thought,  let me wait to see if a guy will say something to him.  No.  No one.  So I just got up from my chair, went into his office, all glass may I say, and told him that when he came out of restroom his shirt didn’t look properly tucked in.  I then left.  I saw him from my desk rearranging his pants, and then he came by my desk to thank me very much.  Next day, a beautiful bouquet of flowers was delivered at my desk in appreciation.

I hope that if ever in your crossings in life, you are faced with a situation as the ones described before, say something.  Don’t let anyone walk around showing things that should be hidden or walking around with a royal train when there is not a queen around.  Now I can laugh about it, come to think about it, I think I was laughing to myself about the whole thing when it happened.  Let me mention, that now every time I go to a restroom I look one, two,  three or more times to make sure there is not a foreign object coming out of the back of my pants.  Paranoia galore.

It goes to show that you never know what is going to show up next in your life.  Receive it with humor (good) because laughter is good for our internal organs and our psych.

I just shared one lesson of the many I have taken in the classrooms I have been through in my beautiful life.

Your Happy Contessa

P.S.  From time to time I am going to share some of the quotes I think are just unforgettable from my novela “India.”

“It is not that difficult to make someone believe something that they already want to believe.”  Yvonne, the she evil character.  She has a psychopathic personality in her role.  It goes to show that you can always learn something from anyone.

Today (Friday) I almost went into a panic episode.  It was almost time to have lunch (I was so into trying to finish the quilt this year) that when I went to pull the stuff out for my lunch my empty stomach had a breakdown.  No enough lettuce for my usual grazing!  That meant that I had to get some lettuce out and all the equipment for the ceremonial event of getting the lettuce ready for my consumption.  Those chemicals with some lettuce added as an afterthought that I used to buy (you know those ones that all you have to do is put it on a plate) I don’t even touch that stuff, unless I am being fed in someone else’s home, and then I get my dosage of chemicals that way.  Have you noticed the smell that comes out when you open that plastic bag?  Pure adulterated chemistry class when I was a freshman in high school.  It takes my breath away, literally.  So imagine what it does to my 62+ organs.  Lord have mercy!

Let’s go back to the moment before the chemicals got me into dreaming of other times in my life.  So I take all my equipment out, start the cutting, rinsing (3 times) and then put the lettuce through the centrifugal force of my salad spinner.  Yes it has a name.  I almost forgot there for a moment.  Neurons, I know my muses have taken vacation, don’t you dare to do the same to me now.  Then after the lettuce has been exposed to violent force, I take the pieces out almost one by one to make sure I won’t be putting in my mouth some dilapidated stuff.  You would think I am going to live forever the way I take care of my lettuce.  Who knows what the heck is being cooked in my insides.  But in the meantime, I just worry about being happy with my very selective lettuce.  Then, the process of cleaning all of that equipment (not just the spinner, may I add) is to make the most motivated individual wish there was not lettuce on the planet.  Finally, after all of this has been going on, for about half an hour, then the preparing of the salad starts.  I am so hungry by then, that I need to grab some junk crackers from my pantry to calm the noise and the revolt going on in my stomach.  Then I need to set the table for one, turn on my “lunch soap”, Atrevete a sonar, and finally I sit to enjoy one of my pleasures of the day.  Because after that salad, I get to have two squares of my oh, delightful…72% cocoa piece of chocolat!

Life could not be better at that moment.  That chocolat is sooooooo  gooooood!!!

Then reality knocks on my door again…time to clean dishes.  Life is so complicated!  Work, work, and more work.  Then have to think what in the world I am going to have for dinner.  Ron used to tell me that I was the only person that he knew that would be thinking about the next meal right after finishing one.  I responded, well, if you plan ahead, you don’t have to eat “garbage.”

Thanks God the day only has 24 hours.  I don’t think I could deal with more time to work and plan what to eat.

Bon apetit!

Your Happy Contessa

P.S.  The word junk just brought some cute memories.  Let me share.  My step-grandson, Ian was visiting one day when we used to live in Florida.  They were going back home and then all of a sudden, Ian calls me aside and whispers on my ear “abuelita, do you have some junk food in your pantry, because I am hungry.”  Oh, my, the boy was hungry and wanted the real deal, his share of junk for the day.  I ended up giving him some crackers, and then his little brother, Logan, wanted some of this “junk” also.  Only “junk” available were saltine crackers, but they didn’t know any better.  They were happy and so were their parents.  Hooray for the “junk” that saved the day.

See you next Monday!

As you already know, I am watching this soap opera (novela) called “India, A Love Story,”  that takes place in Brazil, Dubai and India.    The following scene was played in yesterday’s episode.

The CEO of this big conglomerate (Cadore) is just coming into his office.  His assistant (a man) started talking to him about business, and right then the Corporate Lawyer (a gorgeous young woman, who is Cadore’s lover also) comes in and the assistant immediately leaves the office.  He said to her, “we need to talk,” and she says, “I guess.”  To make the short moment shorter yet, he is trying to close the affair making excuses, and she says to him “look, you are married to a crazy woman, and besides I don’t want to waste my time discussing this any longer.  This case is closed, so I’ll see you tomorrow for business as usual.”  She leaves the room and there walks in again his assistant and looks at the puzzled face of Cadore, and he asks “what happened to you,” and Cadore says…”I guess I am not as important as I think I was.”  What a moment for eternity.  The dumper becomes the dumped without any crying, claiming,  or fanfare on behalf of the female figure.  And she is the dumper.   We should have more moments like that one in real life.

Now, going back to the phrase “I guess I am not as important as I think I was.”  Wow!!  I love that phrase.  It will become one of my favorites for self-use to help keep me grounded.  Look again at the picture at the beginning of this posting.  That was my daughter’s interpretation of me in 1992.  I just noticed now, nineteen years later,  that she put some light lines under the eyes, ie., bags.  I thought I just had acquired them recently, but it goes to show me that they have always been there.  I feel sorry for my ego, but I love her interpretation of me.  I think it is priceless.  It was an English Class project.  She was talking about her mom, one of her favorite persons.

Going back to that famous phrase, sometimes we think we can walk on water, but I read in a book, that if I thought I was so important, to try to float on water as a simple straw can.   That also helped me at that time to keep me humble. 

I guess the moral of the story is that even in novelas you can keep on learning and remembering important things that need to be remembered.  Now, on the other hand, yes, I am important up to the point that I don’t lose touch with reality.  And who determines my reality… moi.  That’s where it gets dangerous.  My reality right now is that the word counter is happy, and so am I.  Hope you got something out of this posting.  I enjoyed typing it and right now I have a big smile on my face.  I am done for today!

Your very important person,

Happy Contessa

 

The time was early 90’s in Herndon, Virginia.  As you will notice I am not abbreviating the State of Virginia as VA.  Just to please my word counter nanobeing inside my computer.  Back to the picture.  I remember that day vividly.  I got so claustrophobic inside the house that I put on my coat, boots and grabbed a shovel and went out to do something.  Ron said, “are you crazy, you won’t even make a dent.  You’ll have a heart attack.”  I looked at him as I used to do so many times, very silent and just kept on going.  I thought, it is either I go out there and release some red aura, or someone will have to call an ambulance.

This is the way it looked from inside my living room.  We couldn’t go anywhere.  I think we had milk, bread, and other things to eat, and television to watch, but the tempers (mine and my ego) were running really high.  Boredom had reached its peak.  Have you ever seen a lion in a cage?  That’s how I felt.  I was going through my menopausing stage at that time, so I used to become this beast that sometimes even I wouldn’t recognize.  Ron and Milagros used to disappear from my sight when this other animal would take my place.  After the episode finished, I would look back and said to myself, “wow! that was bad.”  But repeating episodes was a normal thing at our household.  Happyville was not even on the map at that time.  I didn’t know of such a place.  I am so glad I got to that destination a few years ago.  I feel so bad for Milagros and for Ron for putting up with me while I was going through such a difficult period in my life.  But I did not want to take any “make me feel like another person” pill.  You know how is the merry-go-round game of pills.  They get you going with one tiny sweet looking pill, and then when you wake up from the nightmare, you have a whole pharmacy in your cabinet.  Forget about getting rid of them.  Mission Impossible. 

Of course, I am not suggesting every person is like me.  Thanks God for that!  Only one of me the world can take at a time.  Were we talking about winter here?  Oh yes.  I can only empathize with all the people who are going through such an ordeal right now and I pray that  you have peace, peace and more peace as you are going through this rough, difficult time.

Best wishes for some sun and warm weather.

Your Happy Contessa

 P.S.  Eventually Ron and Milagros came out later to do some shoveling and after a while Ron  walked to the 7-11 place about 1/2 a mile from the house to get some ciggies, and donuts.  We all felt good after releasing some energy, so hot cocoa and some donuts made a nice winter memory for all of us.  I think.

We have the dog days of summer, so I now proclaim the bear days of winter.  Don’t they (bears) hibernate all winter long?  I am ready.  Well…not really.  Have to eat, color my hair, read the newspaper, my precious books, magazines, well, you get the idea.

Just remembered a few extra things for this high maintenance body.  Floss, wrinkles cream, and if I continue, the whole posting will be about maintenance.  How did I get by with just eating, sleeping, crying, smiling and making my mama happy when I was a baby.  That’s all there was to it.  Of course, getting the diaper full of stuff was part of the process also.  But life used to be so simple then.  Diaper issues, well, that was my mama’s problem.  No disposables then.  Oh well,  the way I used to be.  Just a pretty baby making my parents happy.  That’s what I think.  I’ll ask my mama one of these days.

Now, just look at the different versions of my water.  And I am a very simple person.

This is so…I don’t know what to say.  You know how sparse my pantry and fridge are.  This was already there!  How complicated as humanoids we have become.  If this is only the water, you don’t want to take a look at my creams, makeup, etc., in my bathroom.  Sometimes even I have a hard time finding things.  There must be a black hole somewhere in there.

Going back to the first photo of this posting, I know, color coordination was not at its best.  Gray socks and pink whatever you call those things I have on.  But this was a priceless moment, and my ccc (cheap, chic camera) was right there with me, and I had to take a picture of this very relaxing, enjoyable moment.  I could have gone to sleep (hibernate) right there and then.  Even contessas have an off day in color coordination.  You should have seen the rest of my outfit.  You would be laughing until you converted into energy.  But I was comfortable and feeling groovy.  70’s anyone?

Muses, where are you?  The ink is running low, very low.  And the word counter is showing a number very low also.  Type, type, type.  But what?

 Oh my, a hot flash!  I thought I was over with those things.  What could it be?  Maybe I have too many layers and up here in my winter retreat I have to admit it feels like a sauna sometimes, especially when my sunbeam is visiting all day long.  But the sunbeam has been absent today.  I will just totally ignore this hot moment and keep on typing.  Well, well, well, the word counter is very happy.  I am making progress.  I can quit anytime now.  I think I will and go downstairs to cool myself off.  Too hot up here.  I never thought I would say something like that.  But I just did.

Hope you enjoyed my babbling today.

Hasta la vista amigos,

Your Happy Contessa

Probably you are thinking…She flipped!  Not so fast nanobeings.  This is my interpretation of atoms, molecules, protons, electrons and energy projecting out of their nucleus.  This was the best of what I was able to come up with for illustration purposes.  I have this need to use only my pictures (only one other image has been used).  Guess which one. 

In Monday’s paper, in the small science section, there was an article about “nano-yarn.”  I knew something (really nothing much) about this nano thing.  I knew it is being used with fabrics so I make sure whenever I buy a garment, I look at the components very carefully.  Sophisticated words are being added to the cotton, silk or polyester phrases.   Just like food, so much stuff is into it, and we don’t know how that is affecting our maturing mechanisms.  So is with this nano stuff.  It is being used for so many, many things.  Just an interesting fact.  Next to this article, there was a bigger article about this woman with a PhD in chemistry that is now baking breads because she is enjoying doing it and studying the reaction of components when you are bread making.  Different folks, different strokes.  Why doesn’t she just say she loves to bake bread.   Here I am being judgmental.  Not a good thing.

Nanotechnology (I had to look it up, love to learn new things) is the study of the manipulation (don’t like that word) of matter (you, me and the rest of it) on an atomic and molecular scale.  This new concept has been around since the late 1950’s when it was introduced in a paper by physicist Richard Feynman.  We need to know our neighbors, my friends.  We never know if we are being used as guinea piggies.  Who knows what the people next door are experimenting with.  Maybe that’s why my hair has taken it to be undisciplined,  at an all new level.

Now, my logical thinking is…if “they” whomever they are, are trying to manipulate matter (you and me and stuff), who is going to manipulate this nanothingies (invented that word and some others in this posting)  when they become rebellious.  Ahah!  I bet no one is thinking about this.  It takes many years to become a very logical being.  How are this nanopowerful creations going to behave when they interface with the heat of our bodies or who knows what else.  You know very well I am for change, but this one is really taking the cupcake.  Are you with me, or did I lose you long ago?

Are we on the way of becoming these nanobeings, with super atomic and molecular powers out of control?  I can only imagine the younger punks with so much nanoenergy.  Uhummm!

Now let me try to tie the cutest car above with this nano moment.  Nano means I guess,  tiny.  Started to see the relation?  Do you think I can take this nanocar and inject some of that nano stuff and make it the perfect size just for me.  I ponder on that one.  If that’s the case, let’s bring all the nano infusion we can take.  One more powerful thought.  How about altering the molecular structure of my wrinkles and just make them all disappear.  Puff!   Gone, all of them!  Gazillions to be made.  I’ll be the first one in line to buy that nanocream.

This posting goes to prove that you can make something much to do about nothing.

Full of nano stuff,

Your Happy Contessa

P.S.  Seriously, progress is fascinating for me.  In the sciences, and other fields, I am always fascinated and I am a big supporter of new technology and its discoveries.  Hopefully all of this will lead us to a better world for you, me and the rest of our brothers and sisters.

If you are a nano scientist, please lighten up and laugh at the whole thing.

Dinero, monnaie, mulah, all of these boil down to…show me the money.

This morning (Sunday) while reading the newspaper, there was an article of this woman, her husband and one daughter that were going to go without shopping for food, gifts or other stuff, that we just buy on a whim, for the whole month of February.  She chose February because it has only 28 days.  ????    They are doing this to cut on their spending habits and save some dinero.  They do have a well stocked pantry.  Usually, when we go to the store, (even the Dollar store) because something is on sale, or it is only a dollar, we justify the purchase.  Well, let’s go back to that heroic family.  They are only going to pay the necessary bills, mortgage, utilities, etc., and  will try to go without buying gasoline (guess they make sure they have a full tank).  You get the point. 

I pondered on that one…you know, most of the time I am pondering.  Don’t have another immediate body to talk to, so I talk to myself in my mind.  Not crazy…yet.  Went to the pantry and my fridge, and this is what I found.

As you can tell, I am not a hoarder.  I have a simplistic approach to shopping, and to living.  The less, the better.  Really, I don’t buy in large amounts, because I like going out every other day to the grocery store.  When I was growing up, the lady with the basket of eggs on her head used to come to see us every day.  Also, the vegetables, meat, milk, bread were all bought for same day consumption.  I know the dynamics of society have changed, but some things I have control over, and after all, I am my own boss.  If I want to go twice a day or three times (it has happened) to the grocery store, I can do it.  Well, let me not get distracted here.  Stick to the point of the dinero issue.  When I looked at my very selectively stocked pantry, and fridge, I thought, that won’t fly in this house.  Too much discipline and I am somewhat of a rebellious individual.  Too much control and order and I start feeling oppressed.  So I decided right there and then, no way, I couldn’t do that project.  I could brain wash myself not to buy stuff I don’t need, just because it is on sale, or say to self the very popular phrase, “do I want it or do I need it.”  That won’t fly either.  Life’s too short for being so disciplined.  What happens if some idiot just decides on the road that it is my time to disappear and become just energy.  There goes all the rationalizing.  Too many idiots on the road to take me away just before my exact time is due.  Where was I?

Oh, yes, the saving dinero project.  I wish this family all the best in their endeavor, and anyone of you that might want to try it.  As to my life, I am a very thrifty individual and somewhat disciplined.  I was thinking about going to the Goodwill to buy a pair of jeans for $3.39 in light blue.  The one I have is too loose.  But, I am going to walk around like a woman clown for a little bit longer, so I can save the gasoline it takes me to go there and the $3.39 + tax.  I feel better already.

To all of us savings some money and having a fun and better life. 

Your Happy Contessa

P.S.  Even though my 72% cocoa candy bar is not showing in my pantry, it is there alright.  That’s one thing I must have.

When I open my eyes first thing in the morning, first thought is “thank you Lord that I am still around, please give me the energy and enthusiasm I need today to make it a good one.  I cannot afford to be depressed.  Please protect and bless my family and my friends.  Thank you Lord, amen.”  Then I grudgingly pull the four layers of covers I have on top of me (sometimes it is a challenge to move underneath so much weight) and I deep breathe telling myself that it is not that cold.  Then,  I drag my heavy feeling body to the laundry room to weigh my slow motioned body.  Right there and then I decide that I need to get back to walking.  Maybe manana.  Then I go into the kitchen, warm a glass of water in the micro, start my coffee, (only can take 1/2 cup, otherwise I’d be bouncing out through the cardboard walls and my heart would be skipping beats) then I bundle up more yet and go out and get the newspaper.  I wear my sunglasses so no one can see the real me at that time of the day.

Come back inside, finish drinking my cleansing water (my mother’s suggestion to flush all the stuff out of your system, before you put back more stuff in your stomach), then go upstairs to publish my posting, (you see how I have all of you in my mind so early in my day) go back downstairs to peel my plantain, and get my breakfast going.  Add one egg to the water, and let it simmer for 1/2 hour.

The process is not that easy.  Hands get slimy and stained.  Nothing water cannot solve.  Then…the process continues.

Start to read the newspaper, get some of that delicious coffee (it really gets my day in a good mood), keep on reading the paper, and then the timer in the micro lets me know my healthy good for me breakfast is ready.  I cut the plantain in small pieces, put some xtra voo, sea salt and then it is ready to enjoy.  I only have eggs three times a week.  Cholesterol, you know.  All the rules change once you have reached 50.  After that, it is body vs mind.  And you know who wins most of the time.

Oops!  I started eating and then remembered that I needed to take a picture.  That’s why one piece of the egg is already gone.  In case you are into details.

After I finish with my breakfast routine, I take my vitamin C, Centrum regular, and Vitamin D.  Then I go back upstairs to visit with my sunbeam, if the clouds allow it to show up.  If not, well, tough for me.  I have to get my happy mood some other way, maybe reading a book.

There you have it.  Oatmeal has gone south with the muses.  Hope they are getting lots of sunbeams.

Best wishes and until next Monday.

Your Happy Contessa

 P.S.  This is totally unrelated, maybe it is.  Did you ever considered the fact that the water in our toilet bowls is so much cleaner than the water (if they have any) some people have to drink in some parts of the world.  I am always counting my blessings.

This was the day I became a very proud citizen of the United States of America.  September 28, 1996.  It is like my date of birth.  I never will forget it.  Sometimes I wonder if all Americans being born here shouldn’t go through a ceremony at 18 years of age, like the one I did when I took my oath.  It makes you realize that there are responsibilities and obligations when you say “I am a citizen of the United States of America.”

After 35 years of being a Permanent Resident “green card holder,” my daughter one day said to me, “mami you are such an activist, you get involved in some much stuff, and it is a pity that when it comes to make your voice count, you cannot do it.  She was right, I couldn’t vote.  I really thought very hard on that one.  I thought, this is my home, this is where I have made my dreams come true, I have been blessed so many times by the people of this country, with their generosity by allowing me to come as a guest and work, have an incredible life, be respected and most important of all, enjoy my freedom!  Remember that I grew up in the Dominican Republic under a dictatorship.  So freedom was and will always be of utmost importance to me.

Now going back to how does an activist look like.  There are no gender, age, skinny, heavy, short, tall barriers.  It looks like you and me.  I have to admit I have been too complacent recently, because sometimes I feel that it really does not matter my input into the system, because “they” are going to do what they want to do anyway.  But today I was watching a video on Face about protesting.  It made cry at first, and then it woke me up to the fact that “We are the People.”  We are our country.  I promised to myself right there and then that I am going to go back and get actively involved in a cause that I deem very important to me and that will affect the collective as a whole.

I have always been an activist.  It got me into a lot of controversy sometimes.  I believe in liberty and justice for all.  I guess that by being a participant in the outcome of issues that affect us all,  is the least we can do to fulfill our duty as citizens of this great country.  No excuses apply.

Let’s rock the boat!  Let’s get involved again!

Your Happy Contessa

P.S. I just downloaded the song “Wake Up Everybody” by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.  It’ll get you going.  I promise.

I remember when Milagros, Ron and I moved to Florida because Ron had retired.  After getting kind of settled in a fixer upper (it has potential , was what we decided when we looked at the house for the first time), I wanted to go out and get a job, because financially,  we needed the income.  After many interviews and realizing that the older guys I was interviewing with just wanted much younger looking chicks, I was so very much disgusted with the thought that I was being discriminated because I was much older than the others, shorter (much shorter) skirts, half-full-brain experienced candidates.  Sorry young things.  It is what it is.

I have always loved to read.  Books everywhere in our home.  I was reading one by the title of “Love what you do, and the money will follow.”  Yeah, right, I am going to make some money by just reading.  I kept on pondering on the title of the book and thought that I needed to expand my horizons and interpretation of the book.

One day, reading an article about used bookstores, the light bulb (energy-efficient, just kidding, there were none at that time, or maybe I didn’t know it then), went on in my brain.  Why not a used bookstore!  Immediately I felt I had something to look forward to and I could be my own boss.  That was on the list of things to accomplish, have my own business,  before I hit 50.  Getting too close for comfort.  Wow!  My own business!!

Started to do research, also started to buy lots and lots of books at garage sales, and started thinking where this store was going to be.  Ron (my always partner in crime, he was the guy with the reasons why things wouldn’t work, and I was the other one with the reasons why things  would work) and I started to take short trips around  where we lived and visited a couple of small towns in Seminole County.  Rent was always too high and not too much traffic. 

There comes into the picture Richard and Raylene, that just happened to come to visit us from North Carolina and we took them out that weekend to one of the towns we were considering.  Richard took a look around and very profoundly said “if you want to revive this town by yourselves and spend the next 10 years doing so, this is the place to do it.”  I didn’t like the sound of those words, because he had just burst my bubbles.

We decided then to go and have lunch in Mount Dora, considered the antiques center of Central Florida.  While we were sitting at a restaurant that had tall windows facing the streets, he said “now, this is the place you need to open your store.”  He must out of his mind, I thought.  Rents are so high here we’ll be out of business even before we started.  We finished having lunch and went for a walkabout in the town.  He had a good point.  Lots of traffic and people with shopping bags, an indication that people were shopping.

Probably all along you have been thinking, how could this woman who can hardly express herself in english think about opening an antiquarian bookstore.  That’s exactly what one professor told me one day in the store, because that had been his dream but he had not been able to do it.  I responded to him, you have the knowledge and probably the capital, but I have the guts.  We got along very well after that interchange.

To shorten the process of the birth of The Old Towne Bookshop, we decided that Richard and Raylene were right.  We needed to be in Mount Dora to succeed.  We found out that there was a building right on Donnelly Street (main artery of circulation) that had a second floor and one of the spaces (just under 300 sq ft.) was for rent at around $315. a month plus utilities.  Perfect, I thought.  After twisting Ron’s arm, I signed a lease and voila, we were in business.  Well, not exactly like that, but I need to edit, otherwise we’ll be here, me writing and you reading forever.  Ron went to his favorite hangout place, Home Depot to get wood to build bookcases, and I continued to buy books at garage sales.  We had one month to put it all together.

This is a picture of a new location after one year of being in a pigeon-hole, but that first year’s experience was priceless!

We must always have big dreams, go for them, and never, never give up, because this time it is not a rehearsal, this is it baby.  Make it happen, whatever your dream is.

I will continue later in other postings with the real adventures after we opened the store.  Met unbelievable people, learned so very much about this fascinating world of antiquarian books, but most of all, had an incredible journey.  I think it was Ron’s best time of his life.  Amen.

A toast to all of us making our dreams come true.  I have one in mind and I can’t wait to make it happen.  Will keep you posted.

Your Happy Contessa