Madame Fortune's Adventures in France

Oh my, oh my, ooh lala! What a MARVELOUS time I had in France! Many appetites satisfied! Eating and drinking is one of the best things in my life and France is the place to enjoy it to the maximum. Here I am with the exciting "pastis". After a glass of this exotic drink, truly, it rather felt like the top of my head was lifting away from the bottom. Floaty, sort of. I liked it! But oh, the cheese! OH! Many kinds, many flavors, many textures, so delicious.

Here I am at the harbor....to the oh la!....Mediterranean.....amongst the sailboats. I'm a little out of focus here.....probably too much pastis the day before. It was a beautiful scene, however, even in my fuzzy state.

The chocolate crepe was very yummy, but maybe not quite so yummy as the nutella concoction....that was the very best! Of course the lunch crepe.....ham, egg and cheese crepe, eaten BEFORE the chocolate crepe was also fabulous. I actually started fearing that I would no longer fit into my Fortune Teller Booth if I remained in France much longer. I suppose one could dance away the food.....but that would require hours of dancing. OK, that would work!

Oh, mon Dieu! I have found my long lost Zoltar! Atop the mountain in Marseille at the Basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde he suddenly appeared. A brief ceremony was performed....I had to be on top because, you know, he is such a grand and large man. I cannot tell you how thrilling this moment was to me....and the Zoltar. We have been searching for each other for so long.

We celebrated a rapturous honeymoon in the trunk of Cecile's car as it went down the mountain that day. Ooh lala (again!). But no, I will divulge no details of that wonderful ride!

Best of luck.....well, it's either "in the car" or "not in the car".....to you all. And may all your travels be as delicious and romantic as my own.

Yours in Good Fortune, Madame Fortune of the Refrigerator

A Most Fabulous Trip!

The trip to Avignon for Cecile's......and Deb's .....50th birthday celebration was absolutely the most wonderful time. Sightseeing, eating, drinking wine, dancing, eating some more, drinking more wine, conversation, shopping. It was the BEST! I tried to limit this to the 10 best photos. Well, there are 15, I couldn't help it. The sights are very beautiful, but the people that welcomed us were even more so.





Shopping in Avignon....Cecile, Marcy and Deb carrying quite a few packages. Remember ladies, these things have to fit in the suitcases on the way back.....





A day to visit Anne. Her lovely kitchen and house, her wonderful cooking. Pastis! A pomegranate tree right outside her kitchen door. Dancing....there was even dancing. Please notice the BOOTS that Cecile and Anne have on....low-heeled, beautiful. The American Girls are coveting those boots!




A french meal lasts a couple of hours.....wine, appetizers, salad and bread, the main course, cheese and bread, deserts.....oh and wine. This day there were THREE deserts! Anne was such a friend to us.....showing us many places....feeding us a fabulous french meal.




Speaking of food.....ah, the bread......




Cecile astonished us with her parallel parking abilities. Notice....only 2 inches, at most!....on either end of that car. She did it, she really did! Amazing and impressive, Cecile!




The view overlooking Marseilles....to the Mediterranean....




Is this building beautiful or what?! Going to the Van Gogh exhibit....





The Three Musketeers at a sail boat harbor in Marseilles...



I have so many photos of beautiful places, which of course, are better in person. But the thing that I thought was the best about the trip was the people.....relatives and friends....that we met. I LOVED Cecile's party! So many people came to celebrate Cecile. Ruth, Cecile's friend from Chicago is there in the middle. There was such a warm feeling celebrating the adventurous and lovely person that is Cecile. Dancing! Champagne! Eating! (of course) Singing! Wine! Karioke! Laughing! So much FUN!





Nicole, Cecile's mom, was so good to us! And she was so much fun. And she cooked so much for us. I cannot imagine a warmer welcome. Nicole had been learning english for a couple of months; I had studied up on my rusty french....hahaha. Every morning we tried, at least we tried, to make sense of what each of us had to say. We did OK though it tired out my brain. With our dictionaries and with our hands we supplemented our limited vocabulary....we got quite a few laughs.





Oh Lola! Such a sweet friend. She loved having the Americans dropping little morsels for her. I suspect she's still getting little morsels even though we're gone.....





Cecile, Anne, Nicole and Christiane singing karioke. I don't know what the song is. When it was our turn to sing, we did "It's raining men!" It was lucky that we got help from Cecile and friends.





Cecile with Jean, her cousin, and his wife, Marie-France. They have the vinyard and beautiful old house where the party was held. This is a very lively couple!! So much exuberance!





I will have to say, there was never one moment, not one, where I wasn't having a wonderful time. Marie-France had just served us tea and we were having a great laugh over something....maybe about the other American who joined us....the small one.... there in Anne's hand.

"O" Happy Day!!

"O" Happy Day!!!

This morning really really early, when I was walking my sweet dog, every newspaper lying on every sidewalk and yard was inside it's plastic wrapper, folded in such a way that all you could see was the headline:

O B A M A

in huge 2" type. O what a sight! All these newspapers...some even lying on the sidewalks and yards that had McCain/Palin signs......haha! O what a wonderful thing!

I still can't express how excited and happy I am about the results of this election. Excited, happy, proud, inspired, relieved, hopeful. All of that. Watching the results come in, realizing that after all, O my!, this intelligent statesman of a man is actually going to win...it was thrilling. This man who appeals to our greater selves rather than our fears is going to be leading our country.

And the whole world is rejoicing with us!

Shopping for THE Dress......

Okay, yesterday I decided to make a stab at looking for the dress for Cecile's party. We've got a month.....surely....surely....I can find something by the time we have to leave for France. Yikes.

Keeping in mind the advice of my two daughters.....the younger who warned me away from "hooker" clothes and then the fashionista who put my mind at ease by telling me to "just get something age-appropriate" (??!!*%#*)......I headed into H&M.

Now I'm a certified fashion-bumpkin and a shopaphobic. This stuff is hard for me. So I go to H&M because I know that at least the stuff there is "trendy".

But still and all, it's so hard to find anything I like....good grief! BUT, ha, I end up taking 13!....13 things into the dressing room. This must be some kind of a record..

Trying on clothes.....flubba, flubba, flubba-lip....I always wish I was 4 inches taller and many inches skinnier in the middle....HA....neither of those things is ever gonna happen.

OK, I have no idea what size I am anymore now that there's the vanity sizing thing. I once bought a size 4 skirt and went "Wow!" Only later I realized that the size 4 fit me around the waist so well, because, actually, the size 4 was supposed to fit down around the hips....hahaha, that's how the girls that shop at American Eagle wear their skirts. And I once bought a size 0.....size 0? for one of my daughters....pbffft! There were no 0s when I was growing up.....I don't even want to be a zero....ever....of any kind.

OK, none the less, I have found that at these trendy stores (if you call Old Navy "trendy"....at least it's not "dowdy"....I'm avoiding "dowdy' like the plague...kind of like I'm avoiding "hooker").....at these trendy stores, in order for shirts and sweaters to fit around the middle, I have to get a "large" unless I want to "suck it in" all night long. But if I get "large" and there are long sleeves, I'd need the arms of a baboon to fill the sleeves to the end.

So the shirts....uh, blouses I guess...fancy, you know...the shirts I tried on would have meant too much of the "suck-in" thing....bleah!

Now here's the one that was the killer. I tried to try on this dress. I swear, they need hidden cameras in the dressing rooms. Then the employees wouldn't be so bored. Honestly this would've been hilarious for someone watching from the outside.

I didn't even like the dress all that much....it looked kind of school-marmish (sorry teachers) for me. But hey, if it's at H&M it isn't frumpy, it's trendy, right? I'll at least try it on, ya never know.

This dress was shear....see-through....with a black slip-thingy underneath. Tiny straps were what held the slip-thingy thing up. Also, there were these teeny-tiny clear plastic straps that were used to keep the dress from falling off the hanger.

Well, YOU try getting into that dress properly and see how it works for you. Haha, we could have a race. Trying to put on all those layers and have the dress come out in the right place is IMPOSSIBLE! My first effort ended up with the dress being backwards....I kid you not! I was laughing myself. I tried to turn it around in place, but forget that! What with the multiple layers and multiple strappy things, there was absolutely NO way.

Whew, OK, try again. Fresh start, deep breath, line everything up exactly right......OK.....oh MAN! One of the tags got stuck up in one of the layers, or somehow got bunched up with one of the strappy things, I don't know, but some of the fabric got hung up and wouldn't come down into place. And it was in the back....no matter how I tried, I couldn't reach it. O good grief!

One more go at it. I don't even like this dress at all anymore, but by this point I'd invested so much effort in trying to put this thing on....

The third attempt did NOT work either. My fingers got strung up in strappy things going up through the middle. It was impossible. I threw the dress on the floor in a ball. Forget that.

I did, however, manage to buy something. But actually I don't think it'll work at all for the party. I went into this store called "Deb". This store specializes in "skanky" I think...probably "hooker" is what they have in mind. The skirt I bought isn't skanky or hooker, but it IS too big. I like the lines and the way it flows, but they only had them in sizes 2X and 3X and like that. I found one 1X. 1X what? What does this mean? I looked for the size 1/2 X x 3A (I swear the sizes are getting algebreic) but no luck, so yeah, I'll have to take a tuck or two in this skirt if I want to wear it.

And the shirt....uh, blouse....that I got to go with it came from another store...it really doesn't go with that skanky skirt at all. I was only hoping and praying that it would all work out. Nope. Back to square 1 or 2 or 2X or 0 or......

I need help!

What Really Happened

Forest couldn’t believe it! He looked at that ”2008 BOCCE CHAMPION” trophy filled with marbles and with a chuckle asked, “what, did you win?” OHHH YEAHH! WE WON!!! Pinch me! It was like being the under dog team in a movie! The Mighty Ducks or Miracle, yeah that’s it, definitely, a MIRACLE! All we had hoped for was our tiny pasta, and maybe a chance at the insult prize. Ha, Mark pulled out his index card and let a few loose and I said Fugheddaboudit!! But never in our wildest dreams did we think we’d snag the GRAND PRIZE, no way!

Now, I know there have been some, lets say “Untruthiness” going around out there, Godfather, beer buying and such, and I want to take the time to get it cleaned up. This is what went down on those bocce courts. Under Dog Team “B”, completed the first round with 2 wins - 1 loss, not to shabby! What happen next was paranormal!

Game 1 in the finals, “The Graffer’s”, and Rick spouting “lets go for a shut out Ter!” Something took control of Team B’s hands. I watched that bocce ball leave my fingers in slow motion and roll to the pallino. HA, HA, non questa notte (not this night) Graffer’s!

Game 2, Arrivano I guai! (here comes trouble!) Mary and Liz “Rothchild”. It was during this game that I first noticed something curious! Did you all see it, the light in the sky? It looked like lighting, but it was something else. With the ”thunderous cheers” in our ears coming from the “A Teams” i tifosi (fans) in the next court, our bocce ball once again made its slow journey to the cute little pallino! AMMAPPA! (WOW!)

So there we were, the all round loser team in The Final Game, the sky still flashing! (or was that Pat’s camera?) Frank saw it too! A few of the fans on the side were making “old” remarks of some kind. The game was tense. I had the bocce in my hand, this would be the make-or-break throw and that’s when I heard it, the voice, the “Bocce Goddess” I think, shouted, “let it roll honey”! (or maybe that was Ellen?) Anyway the bocce left my fingers, rolled down the court right up to that cute little old pallino again!! The rest is history that will remain on that BOCCE CHAMPION” trophy cup forever, right under the Roths! HOW SWEET IT IS!! And THAT is what really happened! Capire?

Vedervi il prossimo anno.

Random Photos from Bocce 2008

Well, there ya have it.....the way it all played out....the story of the night. The 8 teams that made the championship bracket......A&A beating last year's champs .....and then the final....the victorious....the Godfather and Godmother of Bocce....the Browns!!.......(and this gives us all hope......have heart....if they can win it, anyone can!). The Title is theirs for the whole year.....So one more time, with admiration and awe, put your hands together for the Browns!



The Napolitans came with their Italian heritage on their chests. What syle! They are definitely dressed for the occasion....



Lauren and Liz are such a cute team!



Ricky does a great measuring job.....and wins anchovy paste for his effort!



The girls are in heavy conversation mode....



There's never been a picture of Fran that didn't look great. I vote her "most photogenic". Yeah, Denny, stick with Fran and you'll always look good....



Some silly stuff goin' on....



Is this Rothchild a future Bocce Champ?



This is the man to learn the game from.....



Joanne shows us the "Beauty Queen Wave". She taught us the WAVE when we first moved to Lititz. So far, I haven't had the occasion to use it....maybe next year. Joanne has that move DOWN!



Marty and Robyn musta had a good roll! What enthusiasm, what excitement!!


So there ya have it............................SEE YA NEXT YEAR!!!

More Fantastic Form......and Fanatic Fans!

The Boys....Thomas and Zach....thought they had it made in the shade....piece of cake.....in the bag. They won their first two games convincingly. But then they sputtered....and were astounded....astonished, I tell ya... that they could be beat. But they were good, if stunned, sports about it all.





We mustn't forget to mention the perfect form of our Measurer-in-Chief and Ref-in-Charge. Many a dispute was negotiated to a successful conclusion and mayhem avoided. Good job, Steve!



Amy's not sure if her ball went where she intended.....



Kirk demonstrates perfect form for hanging out under the tree....




Mary before her "Thrill of Victory and Agony of Defeat" episode....



Terry shows proper form with the "ball fling" method. Fran shows us how to hold the ball in anticipation of her turn. She is READY!



The crowd goes "oooooohhhh!"



Steve shines a little light on the situation....



It's hard to see, but notice the "grrrrr" grin on Anna's face. So fierce! So ready to take on the Browns!



Robyn winds up.....




The crowd goes "ahhhhhhh!"




The crowd goes "hahahaha!" Lenny musta made one of his funny wisecracks!



Pay attention, A-Team! you're up next!

Fantastic Form!

What kind of throw is THAT?!















THIS is PERFECT form for throwing a bocce ball. Bill can place a ball anywhere he wants to. He and Ellen were champs last year, and I tell ya what, that Bill can put the ball right next to the polina....kissing the polina.....or he can knock your ball right off the court. VERY IMPORTANT! Take note of the beer bottle in Bill's left hand for balance.



Also note: Flip-flops have been designated the official footwear for the sport of bocce.