Waaa Waaaa

Collecting friends will tell you I am an exceedingly lucky woman.  Therefore they showed no sympathy 
 when I told them how difficult a trip to London and Paris was.  Getting from six to fifteen trunks home on a regular flight is no small feat and actually impossible in this day and age. At that time, in America by the time you see trunks and boxes swirling and thumping around on a luggage carrousel, there is not a porter in sight to help. After a particularly grueling but lucrative buying trip in  September and October a long time ago, I begged a United agent to allow two porters to come to our aid.  He called them down, one too old to be doing that type of work and one too lazy to be doing anything.  The United agent graciously lent me a flat bed trolly since the porters were not allowed to bring theirs down to that level.  After my spending $800. in excess luggage fees I felt I had actually bought the flatbed trolley, but I intended to keep it safe and take care of it anyway.  Everyone who had luggage wanted my flatbed and my two guys.  I had to hang on to all three.  Andy, my husband, was watching for the boxes and trunks on the carousel. I saw that he let a really big box go by.  Thinking he didn't see it I called out to him. He smiled, shook his head and said it is not our box.  It went around another time so I hailed him again and he said, "believe me it is not our box." Third time around I risk losing it all by leaving the porters, the trolley, and my sanity in order to check out the box no one was claiming.  As I looked up, each weary traveler was looking at me, a frantic woman with a flat bed trolley and three men... screaming for one of them to pick up the big box marked condoms.

Ahhh, Brimfield flea market

I know you well, Brimfield flea market in Brimfield, Massachusetts and love you still.  I have not been there in years and I know it is not what it once was, but each time I think of it it is a thrill.  A man named Gordon organized and opened this experience to the world back in the sixties and we were fortunate to get there during spring break and on opening day.  There was Gordon at the gate to greet each car and asked where the passengers were from.  At the time we had come the farthest.  It was a harrowing journey to get there.  I was still teaching so due to school schedules we could not leave until dinner time on a Friday.  Andy drove all night.  We stopped at a motel to give Andy a little rest before the gates opened early that morning.  The boys and I had slept the entire trip so they bundled up in their coats and walked around.  'Somehow', David fell in the murky dirty pool that was left uncovered.  Andy was resting and I was getting dressed and suddenly Mike ran in totally wet to get us and there was David sloshing after him dripping wet winter coat, boots and all and looking really upset.  David had fallen in, how one can only guess? Mike jumped in to save him.  Mike said to him, "hang on to the side and I'll get dad."  David said," no, you hang on and I'll get dad."  Somehow they came to an agreement and both escaped with their lives. We had a lovely dinner after the flea market to celebrate Mike's heroism.  (On many occasions after that Mike joking suggested that might have been a bit premature.)

Brimfield was the largest and best flea market in America.  I don't know if it is still working but I can tell you it was a wonderful experience.  I found many treasures at that market and I will never forget all the people who traveled with us to get there.  One time after a convention here in Columbus I hired a Greyhound bus and forty-two people joined us for the adventure of shopping New England.  Brimfield was high on the agenda but we stopped at everything that even looked like it might have antiques.  The bus driver liked us so much that he wished we did not have to end it all at the end of a full week.

I don't remember how many people came to our convention but I do remember having them all here to afternoon tea and then dinner.  It was hot, I do remember that.  I have a guest book that would answer the question of how many were here.  I'll have to get that out sometime.  We had a convention with speakers and a sales room... it was a well organized time out of a week in our lives. I do remember a couple from the Netherlands attended but did not go on the tour. People from all over America did attend and many joined us on the bus trip.
Our first stop on the trip was an antique shop.  We had a microphone for use on the bus.  Andy announced that Doris would go in to see if there was anything good to be had.  That resulted in him being bombarded with soft objects and THEY were the first shoppers in the door and I was the last.

Ahhh, the antique fairs and flea markets

I was looking at my wayward notes for this book nay essays and Brimfield, in America, and Newark in England gave me a thrill.  It is difficult unless you are a collector to imagine the wonderful high that these two markets gave the two of us every time we heard their names. Still, years later all those memories rush in to take me to a cold February in England.

Although Andy has been with me at the flea market in Newark, England he has never been there in February.  I don't think he'd like it, but I did.  The Newark Fair is established as the premier international antiques and collectors fair in England.  The excellent facilities, as well as Newark's central location, ensure the fair's great success.  One can reach it by train, but the private bus that picked us up at the Barkston Hotel at 4:00a.m. and took us to Newark in time for early opening at 6:30a.m. was our go-to ride. There would be forty of us and it cost each of us only twenty English pounds.  A bargain and a security blanket that ensured that our purchases and our cold tired bodies got back to the hotel in one piece.

 The Newark and Nottinghamshire Showgrounds offers space for up to 4,000 stallholders occupying eight permanent buildings,  50 marquees and hundreds of outside pitches.  (I give you this information now because this fair still exists but it is not nearly what it was in its heyday and that is when I shopped it with glee.) At the time I shopped it as many as 20,000 customers came to this glorious flea market which included leading buyers from all over the world and we Americans were in that category I should think. For additional information Goggle Newark, England antiques fair.

So picture a wrapped up woman looking like the Michelin man jumping out of a bus with a set of roller wheels on a foggy English morning heading for the buys with intense focus. Proof of that is sitting in my kitchen as I write.

It was the end of the day and the bus was leaving at 6:00.  I was dead tired but this really large tent had its entrance flap back and the warm lighting lured me in.  I looked to the left and there sat the most wonderful pine, very large, table with bottom racks that I had ever seen.  At home, my kitchen was being re-done and I had to have this seven foot very heavy table.  The merchant was happy to have, possibly, this last big sale because the table was 2,000 pounds.  Very expensive and it was at the end of my shopping day, but I did have 2,000 pounds and I gave it to him without a receipt.  I was frantic to get back to the bus and my shipper was back near the bus and I had to get to him first.  It was like 'clear the way'. I was running and panting and dragging my bag on wheels and people actually did get out of my way.  They were afraid of me. I got to the shipper and he said let's go back and let me look at the table so I TRIED to find the tent.  You got it...I could not remember where the paid-for table lurked among the 4,000 stalls. We searched and searched and the bus waited and waited and the passengers were tired, cold, and hungry after marathon shopping for 12 hours. That's never a good scenario. Finally, the shipper said go on, get on the bus and I will find the table.  Nothing else could be done so I left him and 2,000 pounds and trudged back to the bus.  The collectors on board were actually gracious about the short delay because they knew how they would feel leaving something like that behind.

The next day, late in the day for some reason, the shipper called and said he had found the table and that he would 'dine out' on that American story for months. He was happy too because all of my purchases could be placed on the underside of that table and the entire table with my purchases could be plastic wrapped and travel safely to America which it did.

Books, blogs, and mistakes

Betty Rosbottom was my cooking teacher at the Lazarus department store in Columbus.  When in town I would schedule as many of her sessions as I could around my trips and hers because she and her husband 'worked' Paris and they still do. She has had a cooking blog for years and I just rediscovered it.  She has a list of blogs that she enjoys based on food places in and around Paris because they go to Paris to eat. She told me once that when she would arrive in Paris she would choose where to eat, starting usually with a patisserie and she would select several small delicacies and then sit and try to figure out how they were made and with what. She would come home with a load of recipes that she had figured out just with the tasting of the product and some chef begging.  I will list them here for you to enjoy too:

The Provence Post
Paris by Mouth
John Talbott's Paris

Note:
The Nightingale is one of the best books I have ever read. I just finished it.

I am in my six weeks' reading cycle and have discovered a favorite author and I say this having only read half of the book so far.  I found her on Amazon books and put The Nightingale on my Kindle. I'm enjoying the book and looked on Amazon and luckily for the world she has several more books.  I love it when that happens. I have a friend, my seatmate on the Italy trip, who reads 100 books a year.  I never thought to count what I read, but I wish I had.  It is not nearly 100 I can tell you that.

I use Grammarly or more truthfully it uses me when I write on the computer.  It is free and it catches a lot of mistakes.  I find, however, they want to 'compound' words too much of the time.  I always thought compound words were kind of lazy. I would never have thought to compound seatmate because looking at the word quickly when reading I would think what the heck is that word. But, I compounded it and hope for the best.  Also because I am tired of seeing that red error line under my words.

Back to food: Andy and I did not travel to Paris to eat, believe me.  We stayed in a semi comfortable hotel but it was not fancy.  We did not search for places to dine but we found some good food anyway.  Also, our dealer friends took us to many different restaurants. It was antiques that we concentrated on but it was the eating in Paris that gave us the most fodder for laughs.

The first miserable time we went to Paris French friends had stayed at our house for the week- end several times and they are the ones that gave us the name of this restaurant, unfortunately. We thought it would be friendly.  It was not! We spoke no French and they tried not to speak at all.  We were asking about dishes, or the special and he replied after a snort that the asperge was beautiful.  It sounded like perch, the fish.  So Andy ordered that.  I don't know what I ordered but out came the most beautiful plate of white buttered and sauced asparagus that one could only dream about, that is if you liked asparagus which Andy loathed. We didn't know either that one dared not send a plate back to the kitchen, especially one so full of pride and beauty.  All hell broke loose and we were cussed by the kitchen staff, the chef, the chef's relatives, the other customers, and their relatives. They called in people off the street to cuss us in French for insulting their beautiful spring asparagus. It wasn't pretty. Finally, the waiter came back and threw down his order pad and asked in perfect English, "what WILL you eat?"  I said salad and Andy said spaghetti...another faux pas. you don't say spaghetti in France, it's pasta and there are hundreds of choices and sauces. I think Andy got just plain noodles. I could not deal with his pain I  was too busy eyeing the salad that throbbed.  On top of the lovely greens was a row of quivering beef, bloody and which had only felt the heat of the grill for a minute on each side. We yelled for the check and made it out the door, but even at that we were followed by a few screamers; they may have been armed.

Come spend the week-end

Somehow Andy and I had gotten in the pleasant habit of inviting collecting friends to spend the weekend with us a day or two after arriving home from London and Paris. The collectors liked this because they got the first choice of the antiques that were nestled in the trunks. They also were comfortable here; they enjoyed their stay. They liked the food  because often I would buy interesting items from the trip for them to taste and try, and, I was also in the midst of my Martha Stewart faze.  I tried everything she told me to including the puff pastry wrapped turkey for 30. Sigh. Those are days I'll never get back. The two mentioned couples were here for the wrapping of the bird and the eating later in the day.

 Often these two couples came from far away in all kinds of weather to spend the week-end and it was great fun. We would relax and play cards and talk and once we watched the complete set of Martha Stewart's entertaining videos. Even the men liked her first attempt at becoming famous back when she was a bit more relatable. We had a cocktail or two as well.

We had just moved into our dream home that we had waited to get for 15 years. (It then took us 27 years to come up with the perfect name...Many Branches.)  It was 1987.  We got a call from the first of the two collecting couple that had just gotten into the game and had all my books and they were eager to visit.  We said we would be in London and Paris for three weeks but they could come for the week-end  a couple of days after we got home.  The dates were set and everyone was pleased. The woman wrote me to confirm the dates and time before we left saying exactly when they would arrive.

After three weeks of heavy buying, we had six trunks to unpack, sort, place, wash, and price. Andy went to work the next day and I staggered around cleaning, cooking, arranging and setting the dining table.  I had things under control on Friday after having just arrived home the day before.  I had done all of these jobs by not going to bed.  I stayed up, but worked in my nightgown.  I wanted to make the mother-in-law-suite perfect for these first time guests whom I had never met face to face.  Secretly I was hoping they wouldn't hack us to death in our beds.

I had one more job to do and that was to mow the nearly three-acre backyard and I chose to do it in my nightgown.  We have trees, bushes, fences, and extreme privacy so what could go wrong?

David, our son, was not married at the time and still lived at home.  But, he was working and I didn't expect anyone to see me as I zoomed around on my John Deere.  I was in my zone when out of the bushes David jumped scaring me to death while letting me know that the guests were at the door. Stop it, they are not due for 26 hours. No, they are here and I put them on the porch. It was hot that day and I was steaming.  I asked David to get them something cold to drink and I tried to get back to the house, still out of sight, and up the stairs to a shower.  I pulled myself together and stepped down the stairs like Scarlet O'Hara (minus the curtain rods) The couple was hot but gracious as I ushered them into our lives.  The house was cool and pretty and suddenly we were relaxed. Do you drink? I asked. And so we did.  By the time Andy got home from work we were very happy, so Andy joined the fun. I sent them off to their accommodations and to wonder about the house and look at the collection and the sales items while I went into the kitchen.  The meal I had scheduled for the next night had to be eaten that night, but I did not care at that point.  Everyone was so comfortable I could have fed them peanut butter and jelly and they would have been happy. We had many more week-ends together at Many Branches. However, we never reconciled the time mix up but it didn't matter much among friends.

Requests

Rarely do I get asked for recipes.  People either don't need or want them, the dish may not look tempting...I don't know.  So when asked for the doctored cracker recipe and the vegetable gratin I was a bit nervous because you know me, if it isn't baked goods I have no exact limits.  Anyway, I was going to write them up just for her, then decided it is easy to do on the blog and then I can copy what I did and put it in my kitchen journal and Bob's your uncle. So, these are steps not recipes.

Doctored crackers:
Because these are so delicious you must buy two bags of those bland oyster crackers and melt 2 sticks of butter.  To the butter, you add all the things you like such as: red pepper flakes, be generous, dried seasonings (oregano, Italian seasoning, dried parsley and cilantro,) a shake of Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt to taste, but be careful with the salt, some Cajun seasoning is good in it too. And, Trader's Joe's chile lime seasoning blend is a great addition.  If you have not bought that, you should grab your coat and go to Joe's.  Stir gently after pouring this delicious concoction on the bland oyster crackers making sure every cracker has a bath of flavor.  Be generous with the dried parsley because that makes the crackers pretty.  This takes a BIG bowl in order to mix it all properly. I don't know your oven, but mine is successful at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Check them every once in a while and you can even take them out, turn them over to brown the other side.  I don't usually do that.  They want to be dried out, that's the key. Store them in a big cookie tin.  Eat them like popcorn or in soups, stews, on salads...it's endless.  They last a long time and if you are looking for gifts, put these in a cellophane bag, tie it with a ribbon and your receiver will be forever grateful. My batches never taste the same way twice but that is fun and tasty. If you find you have over seasoned. Just buy another bag and toast the plain crackers in the oven with melted butter and then add them hot from the oven to the entire batch. Stir them around and they will pick up the seasoning from the bottom of the tin in which you keep your stash. They need a punch of flavor, so I don't think you can over dress them.

Note:  You can do this exact thing to saltines and any other cracker you wish to jazz up.


Gratins:

I do a lot of the prep work and keep the results in bags in the fridge to use in soups, salads, gratins, any kind of casseroles. So my food processor really works out in this situation,  I even poach chicken tenders and put them in the processor and make pebble-like pieces that are great in chicken and noodles and in all of the above dishes and in chicken salad sandwiches. Speaking of processors, do you have the kind with that lid that you have to baby and twist and turn and cuss to get it on correctly?  Life is too short.  I bought a new one with flaps that you just press down and off we go with a smile on my face.

I have bags that I reuse over and over and put the processed food in for future use.  Bags: broccoli, cauliflower, green onions, sweet onions, chicken, spinach leaves, carrots, celery. You get the idea. They stand like soldiers in the fridge ready for duty. I can just reach in and gather what I want for gratins such as the one pictured.  

Butter a large baking dish.  Peel potatoes and slice them to your liking.  Place a layer of them in the baking dish with salt and pepper and a dash of dried Ranch dressing mix. Lay a layer of broccoli with a dash of Ranch dressing mix with a spreading of your favorite melting cheese on top. Next, add a layer of celery and cauliflower. Have a jar of your favorite Alfredo sauce (or make your own) turned upside down for easy flow and spread half of it over the layers you have so far. Repeat the layers and top with remaining Alfredo sauce and then pour a bit of half and half or whole cream over it all.  Finish with the cheese. Put foil over the baking dish and bake at 350 for an hour and take off the foil and bake until brown and bubbly.  You can layer this dish with ANY vegetable you like and you can add some of the pebble chicken for extra goodness.  I have even done this dish with pepperoni instead of chicken. It is a very forgiving dish. Use salt and pepper as you would with any bland vegetable that resides in this dish. Trader Joe's chili lime seasoning does well in this dish and gives it a fresh kick.

Sadly, Trader Joe died a couple of days ago.  What a man!

Note : I am reading a really good book, THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah.

Bleuette in Paris

I had just arrived in Paris, alone this time and was shopping at my friend's shop.  Her name is Marie Claude. She had some lovely things for me and I was totally thrilled.  Towards the end, as we planned dinner out together with her Douglas, she pulled out the ugliest doll I had seen.  I was not a doll dealer or collector so I was not too interested.  You should try this on eBay in America she said.  I had started doing eBay a month before and was thrilled every time I sold something there.  I took pictures in settings and really spent hours getting things just right and on to eBay.  So, I looked at the doll called Bleuette and said I am sure, since I am not a doll dealer, that I could not sell that doll if my life depended on it.  Why?  Because I sold only what I liked.  But Marie Claude said to take it home, put it on eBay, and if it does not sell bring it back on the next trip to Paris which at that time was every other month. I tucked her carefully into my trunk, not because she thrilled me but because she was going to make a round trip back in a couple of months and I didn't want her damaged. So to America she came and she took it by storm, but I did not know that at the time.  I put her on eBay and the auction was to end on a Sunday night.  Andy and I huddled around the computer and up she came for auction to the highest bidder.  She came on with a bang and there was a fight that ensued and her price rose up and up and my next field of sales, books, and interest bloomed in front of our eyes.  After the fight and the win, I sent Marie Claude a check.  I also faxed Marie Claude to please find and save every Bleuette and her clothes that she could find for me. Bleuette's clothes were very important (Bleuette's clothes were couture and one dress I had for her sold for $2500.)

Marie Claude got busy and when I arrived back in Paris without Bleuette, she had a load of them for me...twelve to be exact.  I bought them all and told her I wanted to be her best and only buyer for that doll and her clothes.  Le Bourget, the antiques show that was out of town was the next day.  I visited the money exchange to change from dollars to francs and was loaded for bear. I shopped the show and found wonderful items but no Bleuettes.  Now at the time I was certainly not an expert in the field and since Bleuette continued to surprise me, never really became one, but I never let one slip by me and suddenly I was the go-to Bleuette lady in America.  Le Bourget was especially fun that day because I was so relaxed.  In one day I had bought enough until the next trip.  I glided around the show after two hours of running and then I heard PSSST PSSST--not knowing it there stood my new best provider, Joss. We spoke neither language but she said she had Bleuettes in the car and I was afraid she would rob me if I got out there and she was afraid to let me in the car, out of the pouring rain for a reason I cannot fathom.  Instead, she popped the trunk and I nearly fainted.  The trunk was full of Bleuettes beautifully dressed in Couture. That would mean a total of 37 Bleuettes to take home to America.  The rain poured down, I was soaked and so was Joss and her side-kick. But, we could not get into the car for me to count out thousands of francs to line her pocket.  I bought the entire lot but I was short a couple of hundred dollars.  I asked if she could meet me in Paris tomorrow and I would take the dolls and meet her for lunch to give her the rest of the money--her side-kick told her not to let me take the dolls without full payment and the rain pelted on.  I was nearly ready to tell her to 'stickim' when she came to her senses and agreed to meet me for lunch and payment. By then our mascara was running down our faces or at least mine was and our clothes were actually ruined...or at least mine was.  I cared not!  It was a very good trip because I had also found a driver and he drove me on every trip that I made to London and Paris.  He, in fact, drove all my tours and friends every trip we made.  So I was set for five years worth of trips to Paris alone. He was so interested in every bit of each and every trip and he knew his way around France like no other.  One thing more not to worry about. All 37 Bleuettes arrived in America and sold within two weeks. So not waiting for every other month, back I went for more. Paris' doll world, I was told was in a frenzy finding everything that could be thought of as Bleuette so I had a lot of frogs to kiss before things calmed down. The French hated me taking their Bleuette dolls out of France but they could not ignore the money that their dolls made for them.

Note:  I hasten to say there are many beautiful Bleuettes and it was just the first one that threw me.  I enjoy the five full years of their popularity as well as the people associated with the field of Bleuette and her fashions. I thank the French for their hospitality and help.

Le Bourget

When Andy and I enter the show (brocante) Le Bourget Parc Expositions (not in Paris) in the dark at 7:00 a.m. my mind is like an engine pulling too many cars. Should I hit this dealer first or take it in order or try to figure out the row set up or go helter-skelter and let fate lead me to my choices of the morning.  I say morning because, by noon, it's over.  The French like to make their money fast and spend the rest of the day eating, smoking, drinking and having a good old time off in some obscure spot.  And should they be dining in their booth, don't ask them anything! Also, watch your feet.  The floor is covered with merchandise and I would hate to think that anyone was so silly as to expect the floor to be clear while gawkers everywhere were paying little attention to their feet.

So you might have guessed Le Bourget is inelegant as most French shows are.  In America we try to set up the most attractive show as possible, but here the merchandise needs a good wash, they may say there is no damage, butttt...buyer beware. Having written these negatives we have found some of the most glorious treasures in that building (or hut or airplane hanger.) I actually forget about the place because there are so many things to see, to buy, to bring home.  I loved it! Don't worry if the dealers seem to be packing up all the time.  I don't know why they do that but one thing they do do is bring out new merchandise through out the day.  Why they don't put it all out, I don't know.  Unless they don't have room for everything which is a good possibility or if they don't like your looks which is more likely.  You may think you have seen it all but go back and look again and there will be treasures that they have just unpacked. Go figure. You can speed by a booth and see nothing of interest and on the way back you buy 14 pieces of child-sized furniture. Look  again and there is the exact thing you want only dirtier than one could expect.  I have brought things home and before they go in the house I set them on the bricks and use the hair dryer or if sturdy the leaf blower on them.  They bake in the sun with baking soda sprinkled inside to make them smell better. After baking they get a final blow out.

I've written eight books about toy china, glass, furniture, and Bleuette and that is what we searched for.  It was the time of our lives and we enjoyed every minute of the experience right down to seeing the French spread their white linen table cloths on a shakey table, with a flourish, when lunch was in the works.  Writing about lunch I can taste the ham and grilled vegetables waiting for the dealers and customers...the ham so pink and succulent it made one forget to shop. We would order the lunch and drink a glass of wine (and I mean glass) while anticipating the meal. All this took place in a dirty setting, but one learns to dress for it, I always wore black in France and I fit right in; well not really fit in.  If you are not French you actually don't fit in period. Once you start buying big, things get friendlier and Andy and I had some great times with some of the dealers for many years, but one still feels American in a place where the French allow you to visit but expect you to go home.

Oyster crackers

This is what I am talking about: doctored oyster crackers.  You know how dull and bland oyster crackers are...and how cheap they are.  Both are an asset here because the doctoring of them can be to your specification.  I melt 2 sticks of butter while adding to the butter: red pepper flakes, dried seasoning to your liking, no salt because you will use some garlic salt if you have it, cajun seasoning, dried parsley and cilantro. Stir and put in the oven at 350 for about 15-20 minutes.  Watch them because I don't know your oven.  They should look like this picture and they last for however long you have them.  You get where I am going?  Whatever you like to taste in a good spicy cracker put it in the butter, stir and pour over 2 bags of crackers. 


 

I also made this vegetable gratin today.

Au jus prep beef concentrate

I have to tell you about products that I did not find at Trader Joe's.  Carfagnas is our Italian market where many wonderful items present themselves in a small amount of space.  Three or four butchers take your number and cut your meat to order.  I try to bring home something I have not tried before and Minor's au jus prep beef and also chicken base give dishes a great appeal. It is so good.  I have added it to almost everything, well, not ice-cream.  It is a thick paste-like substance with no jiggle and it is perfect. I keep it in the fridge.  You won't believe what it does for soups and stews and casseroles.

We've had no winter to speak of and that suits me just fine.  We are planning dates of special occasions and that includes Easter.  We will celebrate 61 years of marriage, Easter, Carly and Brooks marriage, Andrew and Brittany's coming nuptials, the green grass, the sun, and the gathering of family. You can bet Minors au jus prep beef and chicken will appear in some form or other.  

I look forward to Monday nights at 10:00 on public television when Escape to the Chateau is on.  I LOVE that show and discovered you can watch episodes on Youtube.  From there I discovered a different show called the same or nearly so that features other families that have bought these run-down chateaus in southern France for nearly nothing and are in the process of fixing them up to offer weddings, tea rooms, tastings, cooking lessons...ways to make money for restorations and living expenses in a place where there are 28 or even 45 bedrooms. On my favorite is a red-haired designer and her multi-talented husband who seems to be able to do anything.  It is amazing to see all that he is capable of doing and she is really special.  Don't miss this show. Oh, they also visit flea markets and find the most wonderful items to fill their rooms at very low give-away prices.  I remember those flea markets well in France and England. Sigh. I must say Escape is about over for this season (I think one more to go) but catch up on Youtube.

Isabel Wolff

A lady who was my bus mate in Italy in October has kept in touch, as have many other bus tour members, but this one is a reader.  She has moved me in the direction of some very good authors.  Isabel Wolff is one of them.  I just finished three of her books: Shadows over Paradise which was very good, The Very Picture of You and it was good, then there was my first read which was A Vintage Affair and I like it very much.  Her other books on Amazon and there are many, but they don't seem to be much more than beach reads although I must admit I have not tried any of those.  I do recommend these three that I have listed, however.

Spring is just around the corner and I am trying to get in all my favorite stews and chowders before the season becomes too hot for them.  The showers and weddings are a bumper crop this season with at least four just in the spring alone. Then there is our grandson graduating from the University of Florida at the end of the summer, so we are flying down to Florida for several days of pleasure.

Andy has started tramping the yard.  He is ready to plant.  It is also good exercise.  He takes our one remaining dog and off they go for a good tramp.  Andy carries a rake in case the coyotes are coming for a visit.  Bella would be a snack that they would enjoy. I want another Yorkie. I miss a posse of dogs.

Good reading.