Month: February 2005


  • Cat at door in Bourton on the Water, England


    This is one of my all time favorites of the myriads of photos I've taken over the years.  It was taken on a trip to England back in 1996 and when my husband and I went back in 2004 I wanted to get an updated shot of the same cottage, but alas, it was not there.  Or at least not in a form I could recognize.  There were more commercial establishments where I thought it would be, so maybe someone bought them out.  A lot can happen in 8 years, so I'm not surprised it wasn't there, just disappointed.  I guess that's just one more reason to get that shot when the opportunity arises, because you may never get the chance again.   


  • Buffalo River in Arkansas


    Oh, the joys of home ownership!!  The kitchen sink is stopped up again and the plumber can't come until sometime tomorrow . . . while I'm at work, so I guess I'll be traipsing home sometime during the day the meet the plumber.  Oh well, I guess I should just be grateful that we have indoor plumbing and I don't have to go to a pump out back to get water. I've never lived in a house that didn't have running water, however, I did live a couple years when I was very young in a house that had a path out back instead of an indoor potty.  I don't EVER want to go back to THOSE "good old days".   


    I got a new hair cut and hair style this week.  Doesn't sound like such a big deal does it, but I haven't changed my hair style is 30 years.  I haven't quite decided if it's just that I'm not used to it, or that I don't like it.  We'll see how I feel after a week of double takes when I pass a mirror. 


    UPDATE:  WONDER OF WONDERS!! . . . Two jugs of Liquid Plumber and the sink is "healed".  YEAH !!   I think I'll keep a couple containers of that stuff around the house . . . for the NEXT time.

  • Our Latest Project



    This is our latest project around the Duffy household.  We had two 26 year old chairs recovered this month (by a real upholsterer, not by me) and there was just enough material left over for me to recover this bench in the guest bedroom.  The fabric is beautiful . . . although I would rather have had the pattern running the other direction.  But there was just barely enough to do it this way, and to do it the other direction, there would have had to be at least one seam and I sure didn't want that. 



    Here's a close up of the fabric. Mauve is one of the two accent colors in my house.  When we went to the warehouse to pick out the fabric to have the chairs recovered, my husband and I walked up and down the many isles and took little swatches of the ones we liked, and finally decided on this material. We took the swatch up to the front desk to tell the folks what we'd pick out and he got a little weak in the knees when they told him how much it was per yard.  We considered changing our selection, but then we (HE) decided that we'd stick with the fabric we LIKED rather than one that cost  less.  


    I'm glad we did.  I LOVE the fabric.  And now those chairs look like a million bucks.


    You know, when we got them 26 years ago, it was from a flea market, so no telling HOW old they really are, and Mike has been wanting to have them recovered for the last 20 years . . . he finally prevailed.


    Gee, if I'd known they were going to look this good, I'd have agreed years ago.


  • Another house in the Chesapeake Bay area. 


    We're back again.  This has been entirely too much traveling of late.  Two weeks ago we drove to Houston to attend a Super Bowl party that a business colleague of my husband was throwing (Yes, I know the Super Bowl wasn't IN Houston, but that's where the party was any way).  We drove down to Houston from Dallas and back the next day.  Then last week end we drove to San Antonio for my son's 35th birthday, and then while my husband drove the car home, I flew to OKC for mom's 84th birthday.  This week end it was back down to Houston for some very good friends' 50th wedding anniversary.  We couldn't miss that.  Again it was down one day and back the next.  We're putting an awfully lot of miles on the car, not to mention our back sides, sitting for hour after hour in the car.  But we've made a pact, Mike and I . . . . no more traveling on the week ends for at least a month or two.  Thank goodness Monday is a holiday for both of us.  We'll still fell like we've had a week end.


  • Home in Chesapeake Bay area . . . St. Michaels


    Well, I'm progressing nicely, according to my physical therapist.  I can't wait to be finished with the therapy sessions.  It's incredible to me that I'm actually PAYING someone to inflict pain on me.  Stretch this, twist that, pull this, can you tolerate that . . . how about a little more?  What's wrong with this picture?  But Cyndy (that's my p.t.) was very pleased with me tonight.  I gained from 5 to 15 degrees mobility in every category she measured, so that's good.  I'm finding it a lot less painful to reach my arm up over my head each morning when I comb my hair too, and that's definately a good thing. 


  • I received my final valentine today.  My sweetie bought me "The Notebook" on DVD.  I don't expect he'll watch it with me, but he did get it for me.  I loved this movie and even though I know the story well, I expect I'll have a really good cry when I  watch it again.  I cry easily (much too easily) and this is a real tear jerker.  The book and the movie don't end exactly the same way, but I enjoyed both.


  • Alice has finished the web site she has been working on that covers our most recent "Sister Trip" to the Texas Hill Country.  Check it out . . . it is SUPER, even if I do say so.


    http://chris.duffy.home.comcast.net/HillCountry/pages/home.html

  • My daughter-in-law sent me one of those funny emails that gets forwarded again and again, and I really thought it was hilarious.  These are little kids' letters to God. . . and here are some of the best ones . . .




    Dear God, please put another holiday between Christmas and Easter. There is nothing good in there now. Amanda




    Dear God, I wish you would not make it so easy for people to come apart. I had to have 3 stiches and a shot. Janet




    Dear God, is it true my father won't get in Heaven if he uses his golf words in the house? Anita




    Dear God, my grandpa says you were around when he was a little boy. How far back do you go? Dennis




    Dear God, do you draw the lines around the countries? If you don't who does? Nathan




    Dear God, did you mean for giraffes to look like that or was it an accident?  Norma




    Dear God, maybe Cain and Abel wouldn't kill each other so much if they each had their own rooms. It works out OK with me and my brother.  Larry




    Dear God, is Reverend Coe a friend of yours, or do you just know him through the business?  Donny




    Dear God, I didn't think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset you made on Tuesday night. That was really cool. Thomas