Category Archives: Friend Alert

Here’s my first film, of Zoe and her PBK, taken just a short while ago. Camera doesn’t do great video (neither do I) and lighting was bright in here but not bright enough, but Jim wanted to teach me how to do it before he goes back to the salt mines tomorrow.

Here it is!

Go buy your dog a Kong and some peanut butter!  Dee

Women and art. With all the castles and historic places and galleries I attended in Scotland and London, the most important work of art was at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, The Royal Collection, her self-portrait.

La Pittura (Self-portrait as the Allegory of Painting, 1638-39) is a Renaissance painting of a woman by a woman. That was simply not done in that era. I went to the exhibit by myself and ran into several women in this corner looking at this extraordinary work of art. All women, and amazed at the talent and bravery of one woman in 1638.

All my life I’ve been amazed at the talents of women that mainly get passed over by men. Family is a given with Owee, Mom, Joan and Lorna and Aunt Anna on Dad’s side. My violin teacher, Nancy S., Sallie P., Carol H., Mrs. H. (ballet and tap), Joanie and her Mom of course.

My H.S. French teacher, gymnastics coach, Margaret Fox and all my favorite female chefs (no, you’re not on Food Network).

Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Florence Nightengale, and then we have the story tellers. Joan Baez with Diamonds and Rust, Kate Wolf and the wildwood flower, my celtic storytellers and now Ms. Juni Fisher.

There are many more and that’s a good thing, because there can never be too many women to emulate. Given that we’re over 50% of the population, we need our girls to aspire to something great, like President. When I was six years old I had three precious books. One was “Four Days” about the death of JFK, another was about Abraham Lincoln, and the last about Annie Oakley, who was my heroine of the day.

What ties this together is that Jane, another heroine, is helping to restore a work of art by Artemesia Gentileschi. I believe women painted in those days but just weren’t given credit for it. Artemesia was brazen (not in a bad way) to paint herself this way.

I was on a rant because my cell phone is down and all of a sudden there are these big white flakes at the window. I’m going to take a photo for you….

I tried but they all came out badly. These big fat flakes are floating by my windows. None will settle on the ground, it’s just a magical fairy tale that happens every few years in Texas.

As I grew up in snow country I always loved the first pristine snows of the season and hated the rest as Lake Erie laid its waste upon us and we had to shovel it. Before school. After school.

But now, as these light flakes drift across the sky it reminds me of childhood and Christmas. As dog Zoe wipes her face post-dinner on our living room rug (no Aubussons here) I contemplate taking her out in the snow, perhaps with the camera.

Perhaps I’ll watch the snowflakes along the cityscape for a few moments, dimming the lights and knowing that AT&T should be doing something to get their cell phone towers back up to speed. One has to call them to complain and if one cannot call, one cannot complain. Quiet, dark, snowflakes, needy dog. Good stuff. Dee

I just remembered a story from our glory days as young staffers in Albany. We booked the Speaker’s conference room for a staff party, about 65 of us, and Dennis, office mate, and I were organizing. Dennis had a recipe for this nasty pink punch and I was the only person on staff who had a real punch bowl.

The lone punch bowl and ladle (at 22 I had this stuff from family) were brought in but Dennis decided he was going to make the brew in a five gallon water bottle and serve it in the Speaker’s water cooler.

For weeks afterwards the very important ladies in the Speaker’s office said their water was pink and they didn’t know why (they probably also got a nice buzz going by afternoon). So I’m guessing the statute of limitations allows me to tell that story now.

We also had a big fight about who was going to cater the summer staff bbq. It cost us each $5, exhorbitant! OK so it was five bucks for a single gal and the same amount for a family of five. There goes the raise issue again.

Come event time massive rainstorms were forecasted so we scheduled a conference room and instead of a caterer for 100+ people each “team” would do their own thing. So I made vichysoisse and cucumber canapes as part of an elegant 6-course meal, and one team member brought in a silver candelabra and salt and pepper shakers and I think I added great-grandma’s embroidered linen tablecloth.

Everyone else had sandwiches or stuff they bought at the cafeteria. They thought we were nuts. Sometimes one needs to be outrageous.

Recently a couple of young friends described a barbeque with no tools, no plates…. To my chagrin I realized that my pantry includes a plumbing key for the grills and fireplace, gas torch, enough plastic plates and cups and utensils for fifty, matching napkins and grill tools that show that yes, I’m an adult now. Dee