Day Five

Fiorella went to sleep last night wrestling with an ongoing situation that she wanted to discuss with someone at a distance--someone like Ellen--but when your girl woke up in the morning, she remembered that Ellen had died and she was on her own now.

Son L delivered a load of Fio's furniture and paintings yeserday. She's not sure what will happen to her furniture, but her larger paintings will go (1) above her bed and (2) on display in her studio. Then there are the lamps....

The family next door was holding a birthday party for their kid this afternoon and we were invited--exactly what your girl needs to start getting acquainted with the neighborhood. Sic'm, Fio!

How wonderful! Fiorella received a newsy message from friend Paula today that warmed her heart. Your girl and Paula met each other years and years ago when they were both teaching at the University of Texas and they've been bosom buddies ever since.  Paula lives in Vermont now, but the bond is still strong 💗

Bad ending. Fio may be joining Ellen sooner rather than later. Two of her heart meds had run out and she wasn't able to get to Walgreens till today--and, it being a holiday, the pharmacy itself was closed. Fiorella well remembers being rushed to a hospital by friend Suzy years ago because, her dosage wasn't strong enough.

 

 

Day Four

 OMG--it's like Ellen passed her moxie on to Fio last night while your girl was sleeping because suddenly, Fio not only got her energy back, but her self-confidence! Watch out, world--DOLLY IS BACK IN TOWN!

The first thing Fiorella did today was lug a heavy ladder into the studio and lean it against a tall bookcase so it would be handy for her when Son L drove in with the last of her books and memorabilia. Yep, Fio's determined to save everything she can so the generations to come will remember her.

It looks like Son L, Fiorella's hero for the day, has at last cornered FB Decade in its den and, in due time, your girl will get a copy of her on-line high jinks--under a different name, of course. 

Today is Aunt Julie's birthday.  She was like Ellen, but in a Russian Orthodox way. Her spirit was strong and she was much beloved.

Do not mistake my silence for agreement. I may be appalled.

 

 

 

Day Three

Did Fiorella tell you that Ellen was heavily involved politically? That she actually knew Stacey Abrams?

As well as more of Fio's clothes and the rest of her library, Son L will be U-hauling another load of Fiorella's artistic life back to the new house today. (This moving gig is the pits!)

Fiorella awoke to an acrid smell this morning so intense that she thought she'd be be joining Ellen sooner rather than later. With her heart beating at mach speed and her nose and mouth burning with flames, there was nothing to do but drink milk, milk, and more milk, then go outside and breathe deeply of the the clean morning air. 

Fio did a great job emptying the boxes designated for the studio, then getting their contents semi-arranged on the shelves. There's a lot more work left to do, but Fiorella feel more confident re her grand plan than she did a week ago.

 Ellen knew every aspect of Fiorella's life from when she was seven years old on. Who will be your girl's biographer now?

 

 

Day Two

I woke up in the middle of the night with my feet as cold as ice and my cheeks wet with tears. In adulthood, even as we had gone our own ways, Ellen and I had always known the other was there for her. That's what it's like to grow up like sisters. 

But it would be  no more.

Tears rolling down my cheeks, I grabbed doggie's water bowl from under the bed and hurried to the bathroom, filled it with hot water, then sat down on the closed toilet and unfroze my toes again and again.

My feet warmed, but my tears were still flowing.

I want my Ellen back.

 

Weeping

 Fiorella is still weeping about her friend's death. Ellen Paule was not just a good friend, but a good person. Surely, God could have found someone else to make off with.

Has Fio ever told you that she and Ellen met in the middle of the street? Fiorella tried to impress her new acquaintance by asking her if she knew she was a Christian and Ellen said. "No I'm not," then took Fio home with her where Mrs. Paule gently explained that they were Jewish.

Jewish? How interesting! Fio was hooked, and it turned out that their mothers liked each other too.

When possible, the Paules drove Fio to school with Ellen and arranged for her to sign up for lessons in swimming, sewing, children's theater, art, and the like along with the Jewish girls. Then there were the plays that Ellen and your girl performed on the Paule's patio every summer--and when Fiorella walked down the aisle of her Lutheran Church to be married, Ellen was her bridesmaid.

The twosome went their different ways after college, but stayed in touch by email and occasional phone calls. Ellen's last call was to tell Fio she had stage four cancer. Your girl arranged for a meaningful gift to be sent to her friend, then called to see if the little lion had been received, but it was too late. 

And Fiorella is still weeping.

No Title

Working her way through her life in letters, pictures, employment, and career wins and losses takes quite a lot out of a girl. Whatever else, Fio has certainly had an interesting time--and hopes for more of the same in the future,

The second that Fiorella gets a handle on the organization of her arts and crafts studio, she'll put finishing touches on her bedroom--i.e., hire a handyman to fix the misaligned rods in her clothes closet.

Your girl is embarrassingly behind the times. She didn't know that there are no coloring books that don't include stickers, no staples to feed her stapler with, and no way to open her front door except to memorize a complicated code.

Fio hopes that next load Son L is hauling out of storage will include her scales, more of her clothes, the electronic piano, and the rest of her library.

Fiorella called California a few minutes ago to find out how Ellen was doing and learned her lifetime friend had died before she could even see the gift lion Fio had sent her. WHY, GOD? WHY, WITH SO MANY BAD PEOPLE IN THE WORLD DID YOU ALLOW A TRULY GOOD PERSON TO DIE?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a Day!

Having opened all but two boxes in her intended studio, Fiorella has reached the point at which she'll have to start going up and down the ladder to move books, memorabilia, and paintings into their proper places. She'd like to tell you this will be her last labor, that the house will be settled soon, but no--there are still several more boxes in storage. Wondering if she'll have to hang paintings from the ceiling....

In the meantime, your girl has to set up appointments with various medical personal, but when does she have the time? One thing you can be sure of--Fio gets a lot of exercise.

At last, Fiorella's mini-fridge is cleaned off and keeping your girl's meager lunches cool. She stores milk, meat, and fruits on the inside of the fridge, apples, nuts and chocolate on top of it.

Fio just came across a painting she did of her neighbor when she and Husband were first married. Vera was from Germany and such a good language coach that Fiorella came out on top of the German class she was taking.

Has your girl ever told you that she's no good at arguing with people outside of a debate class? Move forward, Fiorella, move forward!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keeping You Informed

 Fio decided it was about time to introduce her granddaughter to the joys of coloring books that she herself had experienced at a child, but her plan went awry. Apparently, the lovely books of her childhood are no longer in style--nor are crayons, those gorgeous coats-of-many-colors that warmed your girl's heart and enhanced her visual palate.

Face it, Fiorella, not that you were any good at mathematics anyway, but you need to get yourself a good calculator. Counting on your fingers doesn't work anymore.

Son L drove your girl over to Daughter's house this evening so she could wallow in the luxury of his sister's Soaker Tub. Because of a knee injury, Fio can't use a regular tub. 

Piece by piece, the sewing closet in Fiorella's studio is coming into shape. Today, she put in a shelf for her heavy equipment, and tomorrow, she'll add add in a few more shelves for fabrics. On the floor of the closet, she'll have two large hampers of scraps and what-nots. It's a dream come true!

More info on Fio's studio room--the mini-fridge is ready for action and your girl will be filling it tomorrow!

 

 

Famly Shorts

 Fiorella is so excited--going through the most recent delivery from storage, she's located the print-outs of her posts for the past what--fifteen?--years! You tell me.

Granddaughter B did Fio's nails this afternoon--with an orange crayon. Thinking we have a fashionista in the making.

Son L has apparently decided that his mother is reliable because when he went out for hamburgers, he left Fio in charge of B for the first time ever--although, just to be safe, he made sure to give Mom his cell number.

Fiorella is planning to get B a coloring book or two, if such things are still extant. It's good for a child to draw free-style, but B needs to learn how to color within the lines too. That's life.

Warning to offspring--Fio is going through a lot of family pictures, and they'll end up in your mailbox sooner rather than later.

 

 

 

 

More and More and More

While Son L and his family are off clearing out all their belongings from the in-law's house, your Fiorella has been clearing out all the multiple messes in her bedroom. She's also supposed to be watching out for the guys who've been hired to come mow the front lawn, but so far, it's a no-go.

Fio also rechecked the current sales prices of her mother's pride and joy--the families' collection of Limoge Haviland. Your girl would love to keep it forever, but she threw her last Christmas extravaganza two years ago and doubts if anyone in the family would want the china for any reason but to capitalize on it --just like Fiorella.

The  mower guys came at about three and Sonia Dog started barking like the world was coming to an end, Fio accidentally kicked over Doggie's water bowl and dropped a full box of push pins in it. Yes, a good time was had by all.

So much on her plate--setting up her bedroom, sorting through the piles in her sewing, art, and writing studio, putting together the library, sorting out family information and pictures.....And to think, Son will be picking up another U-Haul storage unit tomorrow.

 

 

Lactose Retentive

 Milk, milk--cold, cold milk

How I love, love, love it 

Tastes like ice, smooth as silk

When it goes down my gullet

My father's favorite and my own

My mother drank hot tea

But when I'm out or when I'm home

It's milk, milk, milk for me

Covering the Waterfront

 Now that Fiorella is living with Son L's family, she's thrown away the "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up" necklaces that her kids had gotten for her when she was living alone. Actually she did have a couple of minor "Can't get up" situations during that time, but by crawling on her back, she was able to squirm out of them quicker than any ambulance could have gotten to her.

Hmm...apparently your girl was stung on the left side of her right foot when she went outside to sit with Sonia Dog in the fading evening light. Doggie, on the other hand, had a great time playing with a frog (toad?) who alternately fascinated her and frightened her.

What did your girl get done today, you ask. Well, she went through a big box of bank statements, notebooks, and nothings to find the exact four pages that were important to her search. Tomorrow, she'll start on the closet--except for the clothes racks, which will probably require a handyman's professional touch.

Fiorella misses seeing the big zoo shows, but they don't seem to be available on Prime TV 😢

Fio longs for the total relaxation of a Soaker Tub, but it must be one that she can get into and out of easily. Any suggestions?

 

 

 

Weather, Work, Health

 The dog looks up at Fiorella and whines her fear of the unusual afternoon darkness, the rolling thunder, and the loud lightning strikes that shake the house down to its foundation, but there's nothing Fio can do about any of it. In fact, she herself is caught up by the storm and searches around  for her own asylum, but her bedroom, hooked onto the side of the house, seems to be a prime target. And the whole time, her mind is pulling up memories of the Texas Snowstorm, the one she almost died in.

*

Somehow, your girl pulled herself together enough to make a fair amount of headway in shaping up her studio, but there's still more to go. The floor has been cleared, but now everything Fiorella tossed randomly on whatever shelf or desk was nearby has to be evaluated and put in its proper place. 

*

Fiorella, accompanied by Son L, kept her appointment with the Austin Regional Clinic and got a list of referrals as well as a lab appointment. Her doctor was Syrian, which, of course, was the highlight of Fio's day. She's never met a Syrian before and hopes to pick up a couple of words and phrases from her.

*

 

Health, Fridge, Friends, Food, TV

Hey, hey hey--your girl is in good health, according to her new doctor. In fact, she has been instructed to lay off the extra half-cumadin pill she's been gulping down for the last couple of years. Now to get that left knee repaired and find out what's new about familial tremor. FULL STEAM AHEAD, FIORELLA!

Fio, who is an odd eater, will soon be setting up a mini-fridge, probably in her studio, which, to the relief of Son L, will prevent your girl from grabbing any more green grapes that have been earmarked for his wife. Oops!

Always a social creature, Fiorella decided it was time to get to know her neighborhood better so she started with Lisa, who lives next door with her wife and three children.  Later your girl will expand across the street, then to all of Austin,  and then across the world. Got it?

Son L drove Fio over to the local HEB where she picked up a bag of walnuts, two bananas, two of the most delicious looking apples she's ever seen, a small steak, and CHOCOLATE. Guess which item she sampled first?

Your girl has a bone to pick with her TV. How about the powers-that-be add some new shows to their playlists? Fiorella loves Doc Martin, but this is apparently the show's off season. In the meantime, she has already exhausted classics like Hercule Poirot and Miss Fisher, and she can't stand the new Midsomer Murders. The only winners she's been able to come up with so far are a few singletons like Doctor Thorne and To the Manor Born.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking Back at Old Times

 Your girl had a full list of things to do today, but working on the room that's going to be her arts and crafts studio took precedence. After all, every proof that Fiorella has inhabited this earth is currently crammed into a motley crew of bags and boxes piled on top of each other almost waist deep--and it's up to her to make a meaningful presentation of it all. But before she could get started, Sonia Dog heaved up mightily in the kitchen and won't touch her food bowl or pills. Fio thinks that the causative factor was the grass edging in the back yard, but the only thing she knows for sure is that Doggie will not be accompanying her out to the street to pick up the morning newspaper.

Back to the studio, Son L had spent a couple of days putting together the necessary bookshelves, but Fiorella is the one plowing through yellowing newspapers and fading print. The paintings were in the best shape, of course, but your girl noticed that a few of them were a little damaged. Get out your paints, Fio!

In a way, it's sad to go through one's past life. After all, not every one of Fiorella's endeavors were successful, but what the heck--she tried 💗

 

Still Not Settled In

As Ay-Yi-Yi-Y plays loudly in the background, your Fiorella plows her way through a riot of cardboard boxes, bookshelves, and bed linens to reach her filing cabinets, which are stuffed with not only memorabilia and unfinished stories, but books in Russian, German, French, and every other language she could get her hands on.

One more reason Fio should find out if her old mini-fridge is still usable: she pulled a nice-looking clump of green grapes out of the family communal refrigerator and had snarfed down about half of them before learning they were Daughter-in-Law's private stash. Oops!

Congratulate your girl--she managed to roll sixteen winter sweaters and eleven throw rugs. The sweaters all fit into one box, but it took two boxes to bundle up the rugs needed two boxes. Now to find a place to store them all.... 

Now that Fio has boxed up the extras, she has more time to consider that weird lopsided clothes rod set -ups in her closets, and she thinks she's figured out an easy fix for it--ignore the current rods and install a second l-o-n-g rod at the appropriate level.

 Be sad for  Fiorella. She has been stabbed in the heart by someone she trusted.

 

 

 

 

Oops, Fio Screwed Up Again

As Fiorella writes, Son L is putting together the second bookcase in her arts and crafts room. Maybe there will even be a third bookcase. Fio hopes there will be room for it though because, since she has the first bookcase against a wall, the second is more sturdy if it is backed up, library style, by a third bookshelf. Got all that?

It's no fun to be laid up in bed with a bunged-up knee watching Hercule Poirot catch the killer that (yawn) your girl remembers from the last time she was laid up.

For supper tonight, Fiorella will eat a raw potato. Don't laugh--it's an experiment and healthier than chocolate.

Your girl found a stack of her old notebooks, the ones she'd used to list her monthly expenses, then tucked into boxes for moving to the new house, but never seen again, and now, she's determined to start a new notebook--no more surprise billings. 

WHAT HAPPENED? This was supposed to have come out on Sunday!

 

 

 

 

 

Looking Up

 Hooray for Fiorella! She's shoved books into every nook and cranny of the bookcase that Son L put together for her! Now to move the big oaken chest out of the way so he can work on a second bookcase. In all, your girl thinks four bookcases will do it, but, the room may have to accommodate a fifth.

Another encouraging sign--your girl found a couple of Evelyn Palfrey romances nestled in one of the boxes she was emptying, which will give her something something to (re)read when she needs to be lifted out of her current circumstances. If you haven't discovered Evelyn on your own, look her up and give her a try.

Fio has to admit that her heart beats faster when she opens those cardboard boxes and comes across her old drawings and paintings. Dang it--she's GOOD--and her musical compositions aren't that bad either. Then there are the Christmas cards and poetry. (Give her a second while she wallows in past glory.)

She's also proud of the DUMP TRUMP buttons she manufactured and her FB campaign to free the jailed children. 

Hey--maybe there's going to be a good ending for Fiorella after all!

 

 

THWARTED!

 Fiorella is bed-bound because her left knee, the one she tried to crack a branch on last winter, is acting up again, which means that she is going crazy because she has seen all the TV shows and not only doesn't have anything to read, but can't work on her bedroom or art studio. To make it worse, she has no local friends to sympathize with and her current literary efforts are hidden in bundles and boxes God-only-knows-where. Like the Ancient Mariner, she is alone--alone on a wide, wide sea.

Okay, Fio will admit she's taken a few hobbling daytime steps into the kitchen for grapes and cookies, but she paid for her dinner with her knee twinging like a creaking door the whole time. Not that she hasn't had other, non-recorded ventures at night when there's no one around to rat her out--like the time she had to walk backwards to and from the bathroom so she wouldn't wet the bed, and the time she ended up on the floor and had to crawl back to her room.

But asking your girl to sit back in bed and stare at the ceiling is like asking a shooting star to stop in its tracks. Fiorella's not an athlete, but she was born for action, and right now, she should be working on her new home. Then, after she gets it in decent shape, she has to rip into her own special talents--art, writing, music, and languages.

And then there's the world in general, which Fio hopes to make a kinder place for her having been a resident thereof.

 

 

Same Old Story

 

 Sorry to be late, but it's the same old story--too much to do and too little to say. Yep, Fiorella's life is pretty dull these days, with no end in sight. The new house needs upgrades and so do Fio's allotted rooms, but most of the work will have to be done by people more muscular or more knowledgeable than she is.

Son L was kind enough to climb a ladder and hang the pictures of his maternal great-great-grandfather and great-great-grandmother above her big side window today. Your girl would like to get some other pictures up there on either side, but they will have to wait till she locates the rest of her boxes.

Daughter made a big mistake in putting off the day when she is coming over to pick up a couple of special items that she's had her eye on because that gave Fio time to add other things to her pile. Yes, your girl wants her pretties to have good homes.

Looking over the paintings that have emerged from the mess so far, Fiorella thinks she's going to have to do a little touching up. Maybe newspaper pages were not the best things with which to pack oil paintings 😞

Sleep well, my friends 💗

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Wild Ride

WHOOPEE TI YI YO! There's nothing like making a morning trip to IKEA to pick up one kid-size dressing table and four tall book cases, loading all the slats into a Kia Soul and driving thirty-plus miles back home with the makings of the dressing table on the floor of the car and the those of the book cases shoved between the car seats, which meant the driver couldn't see out of the passenger or the rear view window. Son did a great job behind the wheel, but the second Fiorella got inside the house, she collapsed on her bed and slept for most of the afternoon. Yep, all that praying was hard work.

Remember Fiorella's quarrel with Louis deJoy's desecration of the postal service? Remember that important check posted to Fio on April 5th that never showed up in her mail box? Well, in company with a wad of other "lost" mail, it showed up today, May 11. Now do you understand why deJoy should be ousted?

Now that your girl has rejoined the human race, she needs a new wardrobe. Yep, Fio looks downright seedy, which is par for the course when one is tramping around acreage, but not when one is mixing with real people everyday. (Besides, she's lost a little weight and wants to show off her new look.)

As a post script, Fiorella can hardly wait to get started on the bookshelves. Those stacks and line-ups of books in the hall need real homes.

Apologizing for messing up yesterday's blog. Fio fell asleep.

 

 

 

Mother's Day

Son L drove Fiorella and Granddaughter over to Daughter's house for Mother's Day, and as they say, a good time was had by all. Fio was especially grateful for the way Daughter and her significant other had made use of your girl's former furnishings...from the furniture itself to paintings and tableware. A lot of sweet memories were also floating around.💗

Groan. Now Fio has to find someone who can lower the rods on one side of her clothes closet about six inches and then lower the other side to match. Any suggestions?

Guess what? That shoe rack that your girl was counting on never materialized--so much for on-line shopping. Now wondering if that giant hamper she ordered will come through.

Fiorella found another series of Hercule Poirot mysteries with which to calm herself before she goes to bed each night--nothing like a good murder to soothe a girl's nerves.

Fiorella has The Eye. That means that she was born with a talent for judging art of all kinds, including decorating. As you can guess, it's not a talent she flashes around, even though it's hard on her nerves to keep silent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday Evening

 Fiorella had a fairly good day, which is great considering the night she'd had, starting with not being able to sleep, then working down to a parade of nightmares. Wonder what caused all that?

When will we ever be settled in? Son L drove a U-haul-full of his family's belonging to our new home today, but there are more to come. Meanwhile, the last of your girl's stuff is still waiting in storage. Well, at least that's a better situation than when a British friend of Fio's claimed her cargo after her transatlantic ship had docked and discovered that her piano was a total wreck.

Don't tell anyone, but Fiorella is planning to fasten a red and black throw on the wall near her bedroom as a background to some of her paintings. Only one hitch--how does she get the throw to stay on the wall?

Fio has enjoyed watching the British shows on television, but now she's used up all the ones she's interested in.

Your girl is embarrassed to confess that she can't remember the names of some of her forebears whose pictures are in her collections. She'll have to pass the photos around to family members again.

New Girl in Town

 Fio is NOT happy with Walgreens. When she was about to move back to Austin, your girl visited her local Walgreen's, where "everybody knew her name" (whether they wanted to or not) in order to find out what she should do about transferring her ten prescriptions. "No problem," they said. We'll transfer them  for you."

 Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Throw back your head and laugh.  The first time that Fiorella got a prescription filled at her new Walgreens--about a month ago--it took twenty minutes, which did not endear your girl to the local establishment compared to her former pharmacy--but she was assured that the first experience would grease the doors for her second clutch of refills. WRONGO!  Her second refill took even longer and caused Son to leave the car and come in to find out what was going on. To top it all off, Fiorella learned that she is is going to have to this go through the same nonsense for each of her rfuture efills until the local pharmacy has made its own list. GRRRRR!

Your girl is still sorting through her lovely belongings and trying to display them to their best advantage in her new house, an assignment which is difficult because the two small rooms she's been allotted are rather limiting. But Fio will be Fio and she's determined to make good use of those orphans--like bunching a parade of gorgeous pillows against the huge picture window on the left side of the house.

Going through a moving box that Fiorella had hurriedly filled with family memories, she discovered a lovely little journal that her mother-in-law had poured her heart into while she was attending YWCA girls' camp, in Oklahoma, lo, these many years ago💗💗💗

Sonia, being a dog, barks up a fury every time the doorbell rings. Obvious cure: a dog's hearing is much keener than ours so we can't shut our sweethearts' down altogether; however, we can turn off our shrieking doorbells and go back to  the quick knock on the door.

From the Zoo to You

 Your girl spent a wonderful day at the San Antonio Zoo with Son L and his family, visiting every animal in the lot from fish to bird to squawking monkeys and mighty rhinoceri, and--tada!--your Fio actually got to ride a lion--on the merry-go-round, that is. The whole time, she cried, remembering the merry-go-rounds in the department stores in Ohio when she was a child.

The mini-train was another treat, especially for granddaughter B, who had never ridden on one before. The first thing she did was make friends with her seat-mate, a little girl a couple of years older than she is. Yep, that kid is heading toward a great political future. How does Senator B sound?

The zoo covers a lot of territory and Fiorella won't lie to you--no longer a spring chicken and cursed with both a bad hip and a problematical knee, she broke down and used a wheelchair a good part of the way. (Thanks, Son, for supplying the muscle power!)

The way home was, thank goodness, uneventful, despite the heavy traffic. In fact, your girl is proud to say that ALL of her children are good, safe drivers.

Fio is back at home now, taking care of her dog, plotting ways to turn a blank room into her workroom, and dealing with the universe. Wish her well!

 

Wednesday with Fiorella

 Fiorella is still working on her arts-and-crafts, sewing, writing, etc., room. She's moved about half of her books to the hallway for the time being while her fabrics have been and gathered together and stuffed fnto into Bankers Boxes. Next, she'll start on the books--if she can get shelves for them. Still wondering what to do with her plethora of accent pillows.

You won't believe this, but that check from Colorado finally came through--once it had been registered ($26.35). Postmaster Louis deJoy, you should be ashamed of yourself! 

Whoopee! Fiorella has been invited to use Daughter's rimmed soaker tub on a regular basis. It's the one that she can maneuver herself in and out of on her own.💗

A visit to the San Antonio Zoo is in the cards for your girl and her family, and Fio, a devotee of all the zoo shows on TV, can hardly wait. Things have changed for the better for animals in captivity since her parents took her and her brother to see the zoo in Cleveland, lo, these many years ago. The animals are not just show pieces, but educational studies.

 

Making Up for a Lost Blog

 This is a second blog to apologize for Fio not having correctly labeld her May 2nd blog.

After bemoaning the ending of the TV adaption of a famous British novel, your girl scanned the boob tube and found a British comedy--To the Manor Born--that she likes.  The heroine is a tart, attractive, middle-aged woman who is more British than the Queen, but not as wealthy. Audrey fforbes-Hamilton has had to relinquish her family estate to a wealthy, good-looking Czechoslovakian entrepreneur whose mother is looking for a wife for him. You can take the story from there.

Three cheers for Fiorella--she's made such good headway on establishing her arts and crafts room that she has now gotten around to setting up activity centers: writing, languages, and art, with "music" going to the parlor The music will go into the parlor.

Your girls has lost her glasses again. Please let her know is you spot them.

Pssst! Keep it a secret, but Fio and family will be visiting a zoo sooner rather than later. 💗😁

 

 

Catching Up

 Two banker's boxes, then a rest to catch up on the intrigues of the Gresham family in Doctor Thorne, a TV adaption of the 1858 Anthony Trollope novel. The costumes are magnificent, the plot intriguing, and the end is happy--after four episodes.

Warning--do not ever again leave a giant chocolate bar alone in the refrigerator with Fiorella around. Yeah, she ate the w-h-o-l-e thing. 

Son L and wife are gone for the afternoon which means that Sonia Dog is doing her bast to protect Fiorella against the barrage of little girls who are showing up on the doorstep and asking if Granddaughter can come out and play--which always ends up as them coming in to play

It's amazing how much of Fio's voice has come back now that she has to talk with Son L's family every day. 

WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON? Fio meant for this blog to appear on May 2nd!

Life Moves On

 It's hard to get accustomed to a new, modern house. Even the washing machine and drier are different--and more complex. Then there are the cupboards--at five-foot-two and eyes of blue, Fiorella has to go up on her tippy-toes to reach even the first shelf. On the other hand, the yard is lovely.

Fiorella gritted her teeth and moved about a hundred pounds of books into the hall of her boudiour this evening so she will have room to line the arts-and-crafts room with book shelves, after which, of course, she'll have to move the books back into place again. Oh, well--it's good exercise.

Going through her boxes, Fio rediscovered pictures of her maternal great-grandparents, and now that your girl is older, she thinks she resembles her great-grandmother.

Cross your fingers--Fiorella mailed two payments recently. DUMP DE JOY!

After researching gerd menus, Fio has added peanuts to her daily diet. Wish her well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not My Best Day

 How could Fiorella have known that a computer had to be turned off in between uses--which means turning off the switch, not just closing down the lid?

It's been a dark, rainy day, and your girl spent most of it pondering her fate and moving stacks of books, paintings, half-written novels, and whatnot around to make a path through what will eventually be the library, studio, and arts and crafts room.

Frankly, Fio is tired of the universal remote TV shows--or maybe she's tired of TV in general. Her life is at a standstill too. She can't read, write, paint, or whatever until all of the above are in their proper places. Then there's the piano, which is still in storage.

 Did Fiorella ever tell you that her mother taught herself to play not only the piano, but the harmonica?

Your girl tries hard to make everyone happy, but sometimes, it doesn't work.