Memories of the Heart Blog

My sister is trying to be more French. That’s what she told me the other day. “I want to be more French. I want to have fewer but better clothes and be able to eat and still be thin.” And I thought that might be a good idea too and started reading All You Need to Be Impossibly French by Helena Frith Powell, which is a very cute book. It turns out that being French is probably not going to work for me. They apparently spend a lot of money on good underwear and, while I have nothing against this in principle, I would have to lose a few pounds to make everything look okay and I’m not quite sure when that’s going to happen.

But I did connect with another style the other day. I was in a bookstore called the Upstart Crow in San Diego and they had a rack with pouch purses hanging down. Every one had a peace sign on it and they were all made from a mix of fabrics. I immediately fell in love. The question wasn’t was I going to buy one, the question was which one would I get. I need a strong purse because I carry a lot of completely necessary stuff so I limited my choice to the ones with the heaviest material. I could feel the lure of my high school days calling to me (that was during the 60’s). When I had finally made my choice (and that took awhile) my granddaughter looked at me like I was crazy and suggested that I rethink the whole thing. I picked out the one I did because it had some blue in it and I wear jeans a lot. She just shook her head. Later, on my way home, I took out the purse to revel in the memories and was shocked at how bright it was. I got this shiver that said, Did I make a big mistake here? Reassuring myself that this wasn’t a big mistake no matter what I decided, I wondered if I was going to have the courage to perhaps stand out in a crowd with my new purse. Would people think I was silly? Trying to be younger that I am? Blind? Whatever. I am going to use my purse proudly and reveal this part of me that generally gets overlooked. I am going to express my creative, playful side. I am going to stand up for women everywhere and be the fabulous woman that I am, whoever that may be. I will be one with the universal energy and shine as a being of light.

How many people notice purses anyway?

I have been approaching my front door on the very edge of the walkway leading to my front door for weeks. Sometimes I have to walk on the grass. Why? Because my shrubs are sticking out into the walkway. There’s a simple solution, of course. Cut them. The problem with that is that most of the flowers are on that side and would be gone if I trimmed them. So I have continued to skirt the issue (in more ways than one).

But the other day I starting thinking about how dysfunctional this is in a feng shui sense. Because anything blocking the front entrance to a house also blocks the positive energy from getting in. What gets in is some amount of clogged energy. Not good.

So the other day we took the plunge and finally cut the hedges back. Most of the flowers are gone but, yay, I can get to my front door!

As I gazed in triumph through my front door I noticed that the little table in the foyer was cluttered. Oh, no. I’ve done it again. More negative energy. So I finally went through the four days of mail and took items to the local thrift shop. Now when I walk in there is a pleasing flow of energy and all is well.

Except for the room right next to it.

A guy responding to my craigslist ad emailed me the other day and asked me why someone couldn’t just make their own photo montage DVD. Good question. Here’s why.

The pans and zooms on the do-it-yourself software are usually automatic and don’t always fit the picture well. Ours are done manually and thoughtfully. It takes some creativity and finessing to match the music to the photos to make a polished, smooth presentation. It’s actually one of the hardest parts of the video and we do this very carefully. The transitions in the do-it-yourself programs can get a little overwhelming. We use transitions but appropriately without overpowering the video. And we run each photo through Photoshop and many are touched up, so the photos just look better.

All good reasons to let us do the job for you!

My husband went to his first baby shower yesterday. It was a couples shower and we weren’t sure what to expect. We heard ahead of time that one of the games was pregnancy twister, which is where you strap on something simulating pregnancy and then play twister. That was not in the cards for either one of us. So we went with our guards up a little.

The shower turned out to be lovely. Beautifully decorated, wonderful food, nice people. I thought we were doing fine. We had a great time until the games started. I was inside talking to a couple of friends so I didn’t care but my husband had to bow out of the first men’s game. When the second game came around he panicked, rushed inside and talked me into going home early ( which was okay because we had a dog at our house that needed extra attention). But I’m not sure I’ll ever get him to another couples shower and certainly I’ll never be able to stay at one until the finish! Oh, well, he never would have lasted through the present opening.

I live in an 8-9 zone and today is lovely and warm, although we have had a lot of rain recently. My thoughts are turning to planting a garden, although it is still too early to count on no frosts. So, because I can’t wait, I’m thinking of starting some plants under grow lights. For some reason I’m thinking about sage, partly because I think of sage as an old and wise herb. It is also drought-tolerant and loves sun which is good for the summers here, which typically reach temperatures of 100. I’ve read that sage should be replaced every 2-3 years but my guess is that I won’t be able to bring myself to do that. Sage is good added to pasta and I”ve heard the leaves can be deep fried. Its seeds should be frozen for 3 days before planting indoors and moved outdoors in about 8 weeks (after the last frost). It’s still too early to talk about how to harvest it. But in another month or two it might be time to take a smudge stick made of sage and cleanse my house!