Noury's Creative World…

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

My city-daughter has always been fearless and very daring.  I have learned so much more about life and how to go or not go about things from her.  Where do I start?

Her name is Milagros, which means miracle.  That’s what she was.  Back when I used to live in the U.S. Virgin Islands, my doctor told me that I needed to have a hysterectomy because of some other issues.  Then the weekend before surgery, my young doctor had a heart attack and died.  Right there and then I decided no surgery for me.  After some time, Milagros’ father and I moved to New York City and making the long story short, look what happened over a year after we arrived in New York.

She was the most beautiful baby ever.  Big black penetrating eyes.  So much black thick hair.  That’s one comment one of the nurses said as soon as she arrived into this world.  The picture above is one of my favorite photos of her.  Isn’t she just a doll?

She has always been very competitive and challenges anything and everything that doesn’t make sense to her.  When she was a little girl, she learned to play the clarinet on her own.  When she got to middle school, she asked her music teacher what she needed to do to win the top award at the end of the year.  She called me at the office and told me exactly what “we” needed to do for her to win that award.    Her first significant award was the Presidential Academic Fitness Award when she was a sixth grader.  She went on to win many more award in math, music, and any other thing she set her mind to do.   Yes, she won the award at the end of that year.

Why is she my other fearless leader?  When playing sports,  a little bit of blood coming out of her nose would not stop her from continuing to play.  I have to admit that my telling her to go back there and continue playing that she was going to be ok helped her to continue playing.  

She was always challenging,  on middle and high school orchestras for first seat, in the clarinet session.  I remember one day she asked me for help in algebra.  Remember, I was totally absent from any knowledge of the sciences of math.  I looked at the book, analyze it, then told her I was going to get some water, that I would be back, but instead I got on my knees in my bedroom and implore the good God to pleaseeeeeeee help her.  I was in absolute darkness about algebra.   A few minutes went by and she said, “mami, don’t worry, I figured it out.”  Praise the Lord!

She has a very analytical mind.  She says that life is like algebra.  You have some parts of the equation, you just need to find the missing factor.  What?  But she is right.

If ever she has had any fears, she hides them very well.  She is very confident.  In Paris, she took one look at the Google maps, and folded them and said to me “let’s go this way, it will put us there.”  She also said, “Washington D.C. was modeled after Paris, so there is a lot of rotundas that converge in one place.  She was right all the time.  Also, I have learned from her to follow the signs.  The signs are your friend she told me at the Charles De Gaulle Airport.  Right again.  She is a great listener.  I am always half listening and half on another planet, I think like most us.

On my 61st birthday, that morning at the hotel in Paris, I got up first and went to the bathroom and I thought I heard a knock on the door.  I told her not to bother that probably it was for the room next door.  When I came out of the bathroom there was a silver tray with a bottle of champagne and two glasses.  Life does not get any better than having champagne in Paris even before you have breakfast on your 61st birthday, or any birthday.  She had ordered the whole thing the night before without my knowing.  That’s one of the unforgettable moments my Milagros has made possible for me to make my life worth remembering.  Whenever I am in a Nursing Home, I have lots of great memories to keep me good company.   

 In conclusion, what most impresses me about my-city daughter is that she recovers from challenges and comes back even stronger than before.  We all need someone to look up to whenever we need some motivation, and Milagros is certainly one of those people. 

She was my inspiration in starting a blog.  Without her motivation and her  “I can do anything I set my mind to do” attitude you would not be reading this right now.  We would have never met.  That’s a terrible thing to think.  I always think, if Milagros can do it, so can I.  We feed on each other’s strong qualities.

Don’t get me wrong, there have been moments of great disagreements of the way she sees and does things and the way I do.  But that’s the way things are between moms and daughters.  Remember the sweatshirt you gave me Milagros?  I still have it.  You painted on it “I am the Mom.” 

I love you sweetheart and thank you for the memories.  All of them.  I remember when you used to tell me, “mami, in the grandeur scheme of things, this bad moment is going to be so insignificant compared to the whole picture of our lives.”  Si, Oui, Yes.

Thank you for allowing me to send my daughter a love note.  Let’s not take each other for granted.

 

Milagros and me at Le Grand Colbert Restaurant in Paris, celebrating my birthday.

Merci beaucoup!

Your Happy Contessa

You will never look at your hair the same way again after you finish reading this post.

Am happy with my hair?  Somehow, it depends on the feedback I get from the mirror.  I cannot ignore it, because it is one of the first things I look at in the morning.  Have a big, big mirror in the bathroom, so it is impossible not to look at it.  Right now my hair is too long for a many happy birthdays gal like me.  As we get….. long hair is not too becoming.  It makes us look much….  That’s why I need to go and get a cut.  That’s when my stomach turns upside down.  I hate going to the “cut shop.”  For the past few years,  everyone I go to (and I have had a different one every time I get a cut) is in a bad mood.  I rationalize it thinking that these women are going through the same stage I am going through.  Well, not really, I am post menopausal, they are in the middle of the process.  Just imagine.  I think they look at every person that comes through their door as someone just to make their day, and I don’t mean giving them your well-preserved and saved dinero.  I mean, you are what they have been waiting for to get even with their husband, if they have one, their children, the daughter-in-law, you get my point.  I dread going to the “shop.”  I feel like the cattle going to the slaughter-house.  I do try sometimes at home to do my own trimming, and that’s when the baseball cap will have to do until I go and surrender to these amazons with scissors in their hands.  I can feel the bad vibes.  And you know that I am all for keeping my blue aura.  My aura gets so much out of alignment, that as soon as I leave the butcher I have to come home and take a shower to let go of so much antagonism and the hair left all over me.  Probably you have never analyzed your trip to the “shop” this way before.  Or maybe you are very fortunate to have someone who really cares about your hair.

Only one time, in New York City, in August of 1978 I had the best hair cut in my entire 62 passing through.  It was in a real beauty shop, on 57th Street, between Park Avenue and Madison Avenue.  I remember the date, because it was a real treat.  It cost me plenty, but it was a pleasure departing with my dinero.  I think that woman took each strand of my hair and dealt with it as if she really cared how it was going to look after she had finish with me.

I am not going to continue to traumatize you with my hair issues, but now you have an idea of some of the pondering I do whenever the mirror on the wall tells me “hey, you, who do you think you are, a young punk?  Go and get a hair cut as soon as you can, so I can do a better job of giving a nice image back to you.  Get it?”  Life is not that pleasant and easy in Happyville sometimes.   I could continue talking about the provenance of my hair, its other issues, etc.,  but the word counter in my computer is telling me I am talking too much.

Have a good hair or beard day.

Your Happy Contessa

P.S. FYI I had not yet combed my hair when I took this picture with my ccc.

This gift from above I relish every day that the clouds allow it to come through and bathe me with its benefits.  Vitamin D, a tanned skin (during the winter that is not that easy to come by, unless you go and insert yourself in one of those plastic coffins). Let me continue listing the joys of having my sunbeam.  After a while of being under the magic spell of my sunbeam, I feel very energetic and ready to conquer the world, I mean, the day.

It starts (my sunbeam) on one corner of my winter retreat and goes around the room until around 4:00 pm, when it starts to recede and then becomes a beautiful sunset.  You saw two pictures on last Saturday’s posting.  That is the gift of nature I get when I am in my kitchen or living/dining area.  I am very fortunate indeed.

I have a very bright and sunny house.  It is in my favorite color.  Yellow.  I love my house, but as I am getting to have so many happy birthdays, the winters are becoming less tolerable for this Caribbean DNA body.  That’s why I would like to move back to Florida, and even then, if I find that that’s not where I want to be,  I just pack my few belongings and keep on moving.  The less you have, the easier it is to move around.  Flexibility, my friends, flexibility is the name of the game at this stage in our beautiful lives.

Going back to my sunbeam, it amazes me that the best things that life offers are free.  Fresh air, our sunbeams, being able to see, hear, etc., etc., and being able to laugh freely into the wind,  and enjoy the warmth it gives you to know that you have people in your circle of life that appreciate and love you just as you are.  Priceless!

With that in mind, let’s see what else I can come up with tomorrow to philosophize about us and life.

Your Happy Contessa

Before it is too late and I don’t find the time, North Carolina here’s to you for giving me memories that will last the rest of my lifetime.

Your beautiful sunrises, your unforgettable sunsets, your beautiful mountains and so soft sandy beaches, will make me remember you for an eternity.

 Thank you for being such a special place, always showing mesmerizing surprises wherever we go.

Thank you for taking us all for those incredible adventures and always showing us those extra special spots.

 

The time has come now to say farewell and thank you.  North Carolina, you will always be part of my life.  I have left here a very important part of the fabric of my life, so you take good care of him until that time when I will join him too.

I hope you enjoy my tribute to a state that has only been gracious and giving to me and to Ron.  All of this would not have been possible without our “official” guides to their beloved state, Raylene and Richard.  May the fun and going on those “blue roads” continue forever…

Until next Monday,

Your Happy Contessa

This morning while reading my latest issue of Victoria Magazine, there was a quote by Thoreau that goes like this…”Live the life you have imagined.”   Wow, that is a tall and humongous task.  First I have to find out how I have imagined my life for this stage of my journey.  One thing I know, it is supposed to be warmer.  Cannot complain too much, because I only make the situation not so good for myself.  Remember, mind over matter, and if I don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.  One of the spirits of the muses must be around.

Let me think…it takes me a while to get thinking…I imagine I would like to be living in a flat in Paris, but right now visiting India.  I imagine I have a trust account with untold amounts of dinero.  I have a big, big imagination.  I imagine having condos in Washington, D.C., Winter Park, Fl., and also in the region of Tuscany, Italy.  Provence, France,  is a good candidate also.  Well, if I am going to imagine it, why not go all the way.

Look what one tiny phrase from the transcendentalist Thoreau brought about.  The Book “The American Transcendentalists” is fascinating.  I could be one of them if today’s date would be 1830s-1840s.  Two of Emerson’s daughters were part of the movement.  This was the first intellectual movement in the United States.  It was the first movement against the establishment, ie., government, education, politics, religion, etc.  I am not an intellect, but always trying to learn something new.   A bit of being rebellious is innate in me.  I enjoy conversing about everything and anything without anyone taking things too personal.  It takes away the learning of what other people are thinking, so there is no progress.  I think we as a society have become too wimpy and very intolerant of each other.  We cannot utter hardly anything without  someone feeling offended.  Enough should be enough.  What muse is visiting at this time?  Certainly it is not the political correct one.

Well, there you have a bit of my philosophy.  I am for learning and embracing others, even if I don’t agree with them. 

We’ll go back to the imagining business another time.

Au revoir,

Your Happy Contessa

It is getting harder and harder to find part-time/temporary muses.  I have been on the road since yesterday looking for some hint, but nada, zip, zero.  To my know-it-all audience, do you know of any place were there might be some available.

Some of the most appreciative ones have called from the Florida Keys, saying they have been looking at real estate properties and may be considering becoming a native.  That’ll be the time and day.  What am I going to do?  Right now is like falling down and I cannot get up.  Muses of the universe, are you for hire?  Room and board included with the hiring package.  If the bankers of our country were to decide to let some money go, I’ll take y’all with me to the Caribbean or Florida when I find a buyer for my house.  

Seriously, the well is dry.

But, just a moment…as I was going to my kitchen to pick up my glasses, I saw something that probably I have been taking for granted recently.  I have such a beautiful view from my living/dinning area.  It does not matter if it is winter, spring, summer or fall.  This view has its own beauty.  It is my window into the world first thing in the morning.  Isn’t life just like that.  We take so much for granted, so we need to slow down to really see what’s around us, our dear ones included.  I went out earlier to sweep some leaves and the sun shinning on my face, the nice temperature, and my being able to even do the sweeping made me feel very grateful of just being able to do that.  That vitamin D from the sun really does wonders.  I feel energized, and ready to roll.  Have to watch it not to do too much altogether.  Have to leave some for the rest of the winter.  This is only mid-January, but it is a glorious day.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings.  Maybe the muses are getting tired of being too hot down there.  Wishful thinking.

Your Happy Contessa

 

December 15, 1949 – January 19, 2009

Alba Maria was the closest person I had on this planet until she went back home on January 19, 2009.  She was my fearless leader, even though I was one year older.  She went through all the growing up processes before I did, so she was the one I confided when I first went through the process of becoming a young woman.  She told me what to do and how to do it.  What pills to take for the pain and etc., etc.  She was always doing what papa and mama didn’t want us to do.  Alba Maria was always in trouble with mama.  I remember when she told me how we humans procreate.  I never heard such a thing before, and right there and then I decided I was going to become a nun.  All the nuns at our school were very happy and excited and plans were being made for me to go to Spain to join a convent.  That lasted until one day I noticed I was liking too much a tall, handsome boy in our class.  I used to get very nervous whenever he came around to talk to me, because he was a very nice young man.  I used to be chubby and had lots of pimples on my face.  He was a very considerate and compassionate person, even though maybe he didn’t know it then.  I started to question my vocation and the whole convent business deal was cancelled. 

Let me go back to Alba Maria.  She was extremely competitive.  Best in sports, of course.  She was always taking apart the radio, and fixing the tv set.  Trigonometry, Algebra and Geometry were like adding 2+2 to her.  So was Physics.  She used to question the Mathematics professor, and me and the rest of the class were in limboland.  She knew how to embroider, cook, crochet and made beautiful work.  She always won the awards our school had for this kind of crafts.  She had the most giving heart and was always thinking about others’ needs.  She was the first entrepreneur  in our immediate family, after my father.  That’s her in her store in the Dominican Republic in the 1980’s, showing in the picture.

We used to talk three to five times a day.  Ron used to ask me what the heck did we have to talk about so often.  Sometimes it was just a minute conversation or just to make a joke.  She was always telling me “I’ll call you back in a minute” whenever she was busy and couldn’t talk right then.

Her last words to me were “I’ll call you back in a minute.”  The pain was so intense, she could hardly talk.  I loved my sister with all my heart, I miss her so very much and she’ll always be one of the loves of my life.

Alba Maria, here’s to you looking good in heaven.

Loving you always,

Tu hermana, your sister,

Well, another surprise just happened.  This image, the one above went from my ccc to my computer in no time.  I thought, what the heck is going on here.  Let me explain.

Yesterday I sent out some emails with some photos I had taken with my ccc (cheap, chic camera).  The emails along with the pictures went into a black hole.  Nothing happened.  They are somewhere in black hole land.  Now, this morning I went about to try to send them again.  Nothing.  I included myself in the “to” line, so I was going to see what happened.  Nothing.

Better and bigger, what does it mean?  Let me see how I can explain this one.  Too much of a good thing is not good for you sometimes.  Too many mega pixels can make you spend over two hours of your day in nothingland.  Suddenly it dawned on me that maybe I should consult my know-it-all, Dr. Google.   Why didn’t I think of this before.   In one of the answers to my dilemma, it was suggested I change the camera default to less mega pixels.  Wonders of it all.  It even has a choice for pc.  I cannot tell the difference between 12 megap or pc default.  One of the emails I sent early in the morning took over one hour to be received, with only 3 pictures in it.

Technology, do to or not to do.  Change or perish.  I’ll take change (technology).  Don’t want to be left out in the dark, even if that means spending over three hours in my pajamas trying to figure something out.  In the process, my realtor shows up at the door.  I had my uniform on.  Pink robe that one of these days is going to disintegrate on the washing machine.  Someones wants to see the house in around 10 minutes or so.  ????  Thanks God for under the bed resource for storage and sweat pants and tops.  Ready in 10 minutes.  Are they buying the house?  Don’t know.  At least they saw it.  I almost wrapped the house in a bag and gave it to them for free.  I told them I was a teaser, but to remember I had the best house in the neighborhood.  Let’s leave it to the gods of to buy or not to buy.

Can you tell my muses are all down South?  I can.  I have been babbling about much to do about nothing for a while now, but it makes an impression that there’s something on the screen.  Oh boy!  Muses, please come back soon.  I am desperate around here!

Sayonara,

Your Happy Contessa

Super, super good and just right hot chili!  Last Saturday night Raylene and Richard invited me over for chili, and I am always ready for Richard’s chili.    It was Ron’s favorite also.  This time it was a bit spicy hot, which was just perfect for the cold season we are processing.  I had my ccc (for those of you that don’t know yet, that’s my cheap, chic camera), so I took some pictures, the one above included.  I love my new ccc, it has its own intelligence and knows when to flash a little or flash a lot.  Just like some humans I know, self included.  Maybe that’s why I like it a lot.

After partaking with the delicious hot stuff, we set about to watch a movie.  “The Blind Side.”  Great inspirational true story movie.  It showed something that I strongly believe in.  You have to be yourself, be strong when you need to, and most of all, dare to show up when we see a situation that needs our showing up.  This woman from the South was small in size but humongous in determination and courage.  Thanks the Creator for people like her.  All in all, it also showed that yes, it takes a village to make a difference in other people’s lives.  If we look, we shall find.  There are others just as determined as we are.

Also, to cap the evening, Raylene graciously gave me a beautiful case for my ccc, which she found when she was globetrotting a few years ago in Turkey.  How plentiful is the universe.  So much we are given.  I am always grateful, always.  She noticed that I had my ccc in a plastic sheet, so she disappeared with my ccc, and voila, a chic case for it.

Life is sooooo good!

Until next time,

Your Happy Contessa

“Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.  From “The American Transcendentalists” book I have started to read.