Noury's Creative World…

Finally, the soup materialized…very easy and simple to do, but just right for a cold day such as today.  Door bell…I wonder who that can be at this time of the night, oops!, it is only 6:32 pm, but it looks and feels as if it was getting close to midnight.  It is Miss Hannah, (remember, she is one of the girls that cleared up my sidewalk) my wonderful neighbor.  Chili and corn bread!  The goodness of this family is one of my biggest blessings here in North Carolina.

Going back to the soup.  It takes about one hour and you just brown the turkey (85/15 grounded) with olive oil (extra v), then add seven cups of water, bring to a boil, add the mix already prepared in an envelope, and let it simmer for one hour.  I added some veggies I had left from last night’s dinner (fresh pasta from my angelic neighbors) and just waited for my warm and magic brew.  It hit my cold self just right.

I ran out of my 72% cocoa chocolat!  When I was growing up in the Caribbean, there was not an opportunity to learn ice skating, so I didn’t think it was wise to venture out to get the dark master.  I remembered I received for Christmas, from my charming and lovely  step-daughter, Kym, and her family among other things, a tin can with kisses inside.  Seek and you shall find.  I am covered for the next few days.  I’ll have to limit my intakes of these kisses to four a day.  Thank you Kym, you saved my daily intake of chocolat.

Now I am getting mentally prepared to see what next thing I am going to concoct to keep myself from becoming lunatic.  Need to get out of this house!

 Your Happy Contessa

P.S.  Yes, I know, the plate is missing a small piece, but I cannot bear to part with this one.  Only have three left and I bought them in an estate sale in Florida long ago.  The soup tastes better in these plates.  The tin with butter cookies in it has not yet been opened.  Will have to wait for another worthy major crisis.

Yes, 11:oo am came on Monday, and not a sight of anything white or colorless dropping from the sky.  Oh well, I thought, no excuses available, so I guess I have to go to the Community Center today.  But because it was a bit later than I usually have been going (2 days last week), I thought that maybe there won’t be any hot walkers at the trail.  Not a chance!  There were three already, and guess what.  Two to them were in a maniacal rush to get to heaven faster that they are scheduled to.  Man, they (a man and a woman) couldn’t walk fast enough to beat each other.  Not only that, but the woman got into one of those machines and all I could hear was the clicking to make the machine go faster, faster.  By the time I left (30 minutes), she had gone back to speed walking and the man was still walking but his face looked as if he was in real pain.  These people were not spring chickens, around my age or older.  That’s a puzzle to me.  Why do we do things that are supposed to be good for us, but we do it stressing the heck out of our organs, especially our little heart.  We are nuts!  But now that I think about it, maybe it works for them.  Not for me, buddy.  I am a slow poke in no hurry to beat the track.  Besides, I was always looking to the outside to see if anything white was falling to the ground, so I could cut short my 30 minutes, but no luck.  As I was walking out, waving goodbye to Miss Linda, little white droppings (no pigeons around) started to show up.  By the time I got home and put the garbage containers back to where they belong, it was all gone.

Don’t get me wrong, it is not that I am disappointed for not having any snow yet, but after all the hype on television, come on, something got to give.  And the sky over my location is oblivious to all of it.  Maybe it is a good thing.  Where are you Martha?

The walking shoes you see above, I purchased back in Florida around 2005, when my husband and I sold our antiquarian bookshop.  That’s when I started my walking gig.  I feel better after I do it, it is the battle before I go out to walk that is the challenge.

It is 3:49 pm, nothing yet.  Maybe we’ll be lucky.  Maybe not.  Either way, I am prepared.  My wonderful neighbors, Miss Kim and her daughter, Hannah, just came by to spray some mix on my walk path so the snow won’t stick.  There are still angels all around us.  They were the ones that cleared my sidewalk and path to my door when I returned from D.C. and we had all that snow.  Maybe I do look like a little old lady after all, that can use all the help anyone can provide.  This family has been a beautiful support system for me after Ron went to heaven.  I am grateful for them.

Oh, I forgot, I am supposed to make some soup and the beans in it need some time, so I better get downstairs (the tundra) and get cooking.

Until next time,

Your Happy Contessa

P.S.  It is 8:24 am on Tuesday and there is one solid sheet of ice covering everything outside.  My newspaper delivery person is the hero of the month.  There it was, inside two plastic bags, the newspaper.  I had to walk on the grass, that was very crunchy, I didn’t want to risk having to go to the hospital by walking on the sidewalk.  Unless the clouds up there decide to come apart, to let the sun shine through, this ice is going to be with us for a while.  Please gods of the clouds, be extra nice.  There are things to do and people to see.  That’s funny.  Do you think this ice will be there tomorrow morning.  That will be outrageous, I need to do my walk!  By the way, no soup for me yesterday.  Maybe today.

I am exhausted…it is only 2:45 pm Sunday afternoon and I am ready to sit again to continue the process of the disappearing derriere.  That’s until I go to Wal-Mart to see about those magical balls that will stop the disappearing act.  There’s not worst thing than being your own boss, especially if you are a very demanding person.  I am, but this way of being is taking its toll.  No wimpology principle is tolerated in Happyville.

Oh yes, the quilt.  I started this quilt over twenty years ago.  My late mother-in-law, Miss Margie, she made beautiful quilts.  I saw one with a lot of little squares and then I thought, I can do that.  I still have that streak of invincibility in my aging personality.  I think I can do anything.  Sometimes that’s the only way I can  survive.  Anyways, I didn’t ask her one question about quilts and the process.  I’ll show her, I told myself.  Now she has been in heaven for quite a while, and the quilt was very placidly resting in one of my closets until my restless self found it.  I thought again, of yes, I can finish this thing before I become energy myself, along with playing the guitar.  That guitar stares at me every second that I am sun bathing in my winter retreat.  Patience, dear guitar, patience.  Going back to the quilt, the thing is that the same way you measure a tv screen, you know, at a diagonal angle, well, the quilt has somehow taken an odd shape.  It is not square, it is not rectangular, it is just that, odd.  I refuse to cut it to make it even, so I am going to have to be very creative, so that a 100 years from now, when my daughter’s great-great grandchildren see it, they will find some surprises in its structure and the way it was put together.  Then they’ll say, wow, look at what abuelita (Grammy)  did to make it work.  Hummmm.  Hopefully they will not take after this trait, to take shortcuts.

It is a big quilt.  72″x78″, that is, after tucking and shoving some of the little squares.  It is pretty too.  I embroidered her name, date and time of birth, place of birth and added some drawing such as flowers, a little house and the sun.  Also, it says how much I love her.  The concept is very touching, but the process keeps on getting complicated.  Now I know why it was in the closet.  But I am finishing that thing this winter of my discontent.  Promise.  Let me add, that all those little squares were sewn by hand, one by one.  Now the next step is the batting, I think.  Wal-Mart to the rescue again.  Oh, and the ball.

So many things to do, and hopefully the winter will last long enough for me to accomplish all I am set to do.  What did I just say?  Winter…long enough?  I must be losing some of the screws up in my cranium.  One of these days, the muse that is on her way on  I-95 South may find some company.  Until then…

Stay warm.

Your Happy Contessa

Well, there you have three of them…probably you are thinking, what’s with her now?  This afternoon, after sitting at the computer for a few hours, when I was getting up from the chair, I realized how my derriere was kind of sore.  Then, as you probably know a bit of me by now, I thought, man, I am sitting too much.  Then I thought again, (I am always thinking)  need to do something.  But when I went downstairs to see what’s for dinner, it dawned on me that I was going to have to sit to eat and then to watch the news and my novelas.  Too many musical chairs. 

Wouldn’t it be nice if someone were to invent a chair that nurtured our derrieres.  What I mean by that is (I am sure this is an issue that is not gender biased) that instead of our back’s small protuberance (mine is) disappearing as we more and more sit, there would be chairs that will make our back side really look like a back side and not like a flat piece of board.  That’s the way I look to myself whenever I look on the full length sized mirror.  It is a good investment as everything really shows up.  What you have that is too much, what you are missing, what is out of control and the things that are dropping trying to catch up with gravity.  Right now I am sitting on the edge of my back side so my almost non-existent derriere does not continue to disappear.

Did you think it ends there?  Noooooooo, when you are ready to go out, and you lock your door, what happens next?  There it is!  Another derriere flattener  device  waiting for you.  Your car seat.  I must admit my new cheap chick camera does wonders.  It was dark, really dark outside when I took this picture, and look at the results.  Now, going back to the real issue, I don’t have the foggiest idea what I am going to do about this dilemma.  In the meantime, need to walk some more.  Maybe I can walk while I sleep.  Anything to have a nice looking derriere!  Help out there, need some suggestions.  I am not getting any younger and plumply, everything is going down to meet gravity, all of my parts included.  One of my sisters bought one of those things some women wear to look more plentiful, but I am afraid that if I were to use one of those,  it might turn the wrong side and I may be showing some curves in the wrong places.

These are some real serious issues.   HELP!!!!!

Your Happy Contessa

 P.S.  This posting is for today and tomorrow.  Need to walk some more.  Brrrrrrrrrrr, it is cold outside, but it is either a disappearing derriere or hitting the road!

Welcome to my favorite winter spot.  It is the warmest, brightest and most  welcoming spot to an always cold body in my house.  Here I take in my daily doses of Vitamin D (whenever the clouds allow the center of our planetary system to shine through), ponder on things to do or not to, and feel grateful that at least I have this place upstairs (that’s why it is warmer) to escape to whenever the views from the windows downstairs are so depressing.  No sun, no warm feeling, not so hot for my usually happy and content person.  Here I concoct what I would like to see materialized in my life.  The resolutions are somewhere hidden under one of those books.  Dreams, accomplishments and resolutions are totally different things for moi.  Sometimes they cross each other’s paths, but very briefly. 

Today the muse that usually inspires me with a funny line called a few minutes ago, from some rest stop on I-95 South.  She is driving as fast as she can, probably will get to the Keys and keep on driving herself into the ocean.  It is spicy cold (noticed I used a new word?) even in Florida.  My sister in the Dominican Republic tells me that it is very cold there also.  I subscribed to Skype for a 120 minutes rationalizing that I could talk to her 30 minutes a week, but those are gone in just one conversation.  Does anyone know of a very cheap way to call a cel phone in the DR?  Ok, let’s go back to the cold issue.  Let’s try to revisit the South Pole theory again, shall we?  Or how about the Equator?  Maybe I will start my list of those countries to keep in mind for next time.

I am reading books on Julia Child, Martha Stewart and some guru guy to keep my mind motivated and focussed on the important things in life.  Food, beautiful surroundings and peace of mind.

With that note, today is just another great day, rain, shine, snow and whatever else.  

Make it happen!  Whatever that is for you.

Your Happy Contessa

This is my community center’s inside walking trail.  I went there yesterday morning, around 10:30 am and registered ($5 for a whole year!, I am a resident, big difference), had a nice chat with Miss Linda, the receptionist, and on my way up to the trail, just in a very casual way, I asked her, is the trail 1/4 of a mile?  I thought, I do this four times, and I am out of here, having done what is totally good for my internal organs and skeletal apparatus.  You know, 62 and two months and one half is not a joke anymore.  Either you take yourself seriously, or hit the road, or the pavement.  She said back to me, “no, it is 1/16 of a mile.”  WHAT!  I thought, I have to do this 16 times!  Now that is a total different thing than what I had envisioned.  Suddenly I felt very, very tired and the oval-looking trail became this out of space challenge.  On the second round of the walkabout, I started to feel as if the trail was moving under my feet, and then I said to self, “look, there are other women doing this thing that look a bit older than you and they are moving real fast.  Stop being a wimp and carry on.”  My heart started pounding a bit faster, and then I thought about Jim Fixx, remember him, he collapsed (and then died) while he was jogging.  All kinds of thoughts are coming at me real fast, but slowing very much my pace, I decided to move to the slow lane.  There are three; center lane, I guess for regular, right one for slow (me) and left for passers and hot potatoes that while they are passing you, you can tell they are kind of thinking of you as a second class walker.

I used to walk five days a week with Miss Raylene and one by myself with  no problems at all.  After my first walk at the center, (30 minutes, they have a small clock on the wall, slowest one ever) I decided three times a week will be just about right for me and the rest of my slow poke body.

Is the winter of my discontent affecting me so much that I have become a physical slob and cannot handle just a nice one-mile walk?  I’ll let you know what happens on Friday, even though there is a slight chance of snow.  Already looking for excuses.  Shame, shame on me.  I am just 62, what’s going on?  Need to put some of my-age type music and start the dancing routine once again.  Don’t like this laziness.  I used to be a type “A” person, now I rate myself a type “What the heck is that” person.  Need to change, or the bucket may be getting too close for comfort.

To wrap it up, I feel somewhat better about myself.  Oh, I forgot, they do take a picture of you for your id, and there I was, baseball cap and sunglasses trying to go incognito.  Thanks for the merciful Miss Linda.  She let me keep the cap.  Not a good hair day.  You know my issues with hair.

Tomorrow will be another day with its surprises and challenges.  Bring it on!

Your Happy Contessa

This morning while I was doing my bed, a thought hit me out of the gray.  The sun was not out yet, so it was still gray.  I had not done any resolutions at all.  But the next second, I went on to realize the routine for my mornings.  Boy, was it difficult to get out of bed.  So bloody cold!  I promised to myself not to use that word again, because when I looked it up on Webster,  it said that it was a crude expression.  But I remember my English neighbor using it often, and it sounded good.  Besides I cannot find another word to substitute.  Do not want to use profanity.  For me profanity is the expression of lack of imagination.  There is a lot of that in my brain.  Let me go back to the subject at hand.  Told you, ADD.

I bundled up enough for a visit to the North Pole, just to go out and get the newspaper.  I said North and not South, because I think it is closer.  But now that I think about it, do  you think the South Pole might be just a bit warmer, after all is in the south.  Just kidding.  Then, proceeded to make coffee, have my glass of water before I take anything (my mother used to say that it is like flushing your system before you add more stuff), then went on to prepare my plantain to boil,  and finally after I had my delicious 1/4 cup of coffee, sat down to read the newspaper.  I cannot remember anything memorable, except the cartoons, one of them in particular, Pickles, where Pearl (the wife) tells Earl (the little old man) that he must dress up before he can go out with her.  They are not going to the dollar store, they are going to Wal-Mart.  Dress a bit more upscale, she said.  Now that is memorable.  Have to remember that next time I go to Wal-Mart.

Now, finally about the infamous resolutions…I started, as you can see on the picture above, (click on it to see a larger image) but my mind went totally blank.  It is as if someone tells you that you will be granted three wishes, so go ahead and name them.  It is kind of scary.  I think there is a lot of pressure on this business of resolutions.  How about if I take a few months, perhaps to make sure I know what is it that I want to accomplish or change.  By then, half of the year will have gone by and half of the stress will be gone.  I don’t have the foggiest idea of what I want to do or have materialized in 2011.  I am still going through the things I thought I wanted since I was seven or so.  Now, that ravishing little boy I used to have a crush on, oh well, now probably he has grandkids and has a donut protruding  out of the middle section of his upper body, or maybe he has hit the recycling bin already.  That was bad.  I have to stop now, I am laughing so hard that I am crying. 

Shall I continue with the resolution business…I think not.  It is too complicated and the stress is a killer.  Let me resolve to finish this day, watch my novelas and maybe tomorrow I will feel better about this thing.

This was a hard one.

Your Happy Contessa

This was dinner last night.  I took the first bite and I thought, wow! this is the sweetest potato ever I have tasted.  What did they put on the ground?  Then…I remembered, I had put some sliced dates in the stir fry and I was chewing on a piece of date together with the sweet potato.  Let me back track.  Yesterday, late afternoon,  I was doing some research.  Pondering the reasons why the house hasn’t sold, and at the same time researching places I would like to visit in the future.  Some of them; India, Egypt and Spain.  Better time to visit India is around November to April, I think.  Not too much rain.  Humidity and my hair do not do well together.  That’s very important to me.  It’s a hair thing.  Ask any Dominican, and they’ll shake their heads in approval.  Where was I?  When I next looked at the clock, it was 5:27 pm and I was feeling a bit hungry.  Do not do fast foods.  So my options are do I cook or do I cook?  I took the latter.  Had some 1/4 pound of beef being defrosted, so I thought a stir fry does not sound that bad, with my usual staple, sweet potato.  Need to find another side dish with the same nutritional qualities as the one before mentioned.   Started cooking the beef, put some stir-fry mixes and some leftover vegetables from the night before, and then thought, why not some dates.  I love dates.  Added about one tablespoon of stir-fry sauce, and voila, delicious tasting dish.  Added olive oil to the potatoes and sea salt.  Very yummy!  FYI that was sparkling H2O.

Whenever you are having dinner with a group of friends, the anticipation of a good meal, and the conversations are like the ascension to the crescendo, you can’t hardly wait to put that food in your mouth, and then…after the process has been finished, you feel so full and bloated, you can hardly look up to the other people around, because they look just as disgusted as you are for having eaten so much.  But on this occasion, at least the aliment (food) was good for me.  Give the small amount of beef a break.

Where am I going with all of this?  I don’t know.  I know it tasted good while it lasted.  Maybe life is just like that.  Good things last for a bit, and then you have to start searching for the next one.  Always looking for good things is my favorite sport/hobby along with being informed how the Blue Devils are doing.

After dinner,  mixed with the dessert into it, I parked myself in my tv chair to catch up with my novelas and then, after my eyes started to get heavy,  started the process of closing my day with a prayer with gratitude for all the good things, and then to do it all over again today, looking for that new just perfect touch to the day.  Maybe I’ll win the lottery!  Yeah, right.  Maybe the house will sell.  Now, that’s a possibility.

Looking to a brighter today,

Your Happy Contessa

We buy stuff, we use stuff, we recycle stuff, we store stuff, we give away stuff, etc., etc.  One day inevitably, we must get rid of stuff.  And that day is usually Mondays on most of the communities in our cities.  It feels good to see that stuff go.  I remember, it must have been very important to me, otherwise I wouldn’t have bought it.  But now is the time to let it go.  Some of it is useless, out of date or plain not so hot right now.  This thought just occurred to me.  It is just like us, we are hot one day, feel we can rule the world, and before we know it, is time to be part of  “le garbage.”  Just that we don’t get picked up, we somehow get recycled.  This is a dark thought, but I think is funny.  Have to have a sense of humor even in the darkest hour.  It makes things light and not so serious.  Nothing should be taken that serious.  It gives another perspective to everything.  I think.  Now, le garbage will get picked up, and next week, I am sure I will have a whole bunch of new stuff to send away.  Musical chairs.  Here today, gone tomorrow.

The part of having a good time in Happyville is because the tree is in the garage, all ornaments and decor have been shoved into the garage and house looks somewhat neat and ready for next invention I am able to come up with.  Oh man, I forgot the wreath on the door.  Need to work on winter landscape for that one.  Thanks God for my glue gun.

I am really having a good time writing this blog.  I want to see how far I can extend my comfort zone and what this will lead me to.  I am positive this is going to be a good part of the fabric of my life.  For the moment, I have the best audience I could have asked for and it keeps me thinking what should I ponder on next.  A little bit of stress sometimes tries to get hold of me, but everything in moderation is good.

Thank you for reading my adventures and way of thinking.  You are very much appreciated.

Merci beaucoup,

Your Happy Contessa

Bought this new inexpensive (cheap) camera, not necessarily a bad one.  I am very pleased with the results, but oh my, couldn’t find anywhere the above picture, you know, getting used to a new brain challenge so early in the morning, and it happens later in the afternoon too, can take a toll on my limited neuron population.  I finally found the picture, and hopefully I’ll remember tomorrow where it is.  Need to write things down.  Information overload.

Now, let’s go back to the title of the posting.  All Christmas decor must be put away, to give space for the new (not really) stuff.  The tree and all its accessories go back to the garage and out of the garage there comes the good old (renewed) stuff.  Life is just like that, must move some things out of my life to make room for the new or renewed ones.  Otherwise, it becomes too much to handle.  It was a very good Christmas, just as good as the past ones, cannot remember a bad one.  I have decided that I am going to be very selective with my thoughts.  Only the good things I have room for in my mind.  The bad memories can hit the road even before the thoughts cross my mind.  I like living in this sort of escapism (wow, I thought this word didn’t exist, but checked my good friend Webster, and there it was), because it works for me.  I like to choose things that work for me.  I really do not care what works for others,  I may listen to what work for others, but I need to do things that work for me.  Sounds selfish, but c’est la vie!

Today I will place in the garage the things that belong to the past season, and I will bring back out the things that pertain to the season to come.  I will only deal with things that are on my plate at a particular moment, and tomorrow’s plate, I will deal with it tomorrow, or maybe not at all.  Sometimes things just sort of take care of themselves.

Laundry going, newspaper reading still going, post almost finished, I am looking at the sort of things I want to see in my plate today.

Ta ta,

Your Happy Contessa