Frances Ellen Speaks!

Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category

What to do? What to do? I miss my sweets.

I thought I’d be well over my need for sweets after trying to watch my diet for a few weeks. But the truth is, even if you stop eating cake and pie and cookies, etc., there’s so much sugar and sucrose and every other kind of sweetener in most of the other foods we eat that it’s impossible to stay away from sugar.

I used to be able to cut out sweets pretty easily. After a week or so, the craving disappears. No more. Sugar has invaded most everything we eat nowadays. This is my new solution.

After I eat dinner, I allow myself to eat a piece of hard candy. Sometimes I sit back and have a coffee flavored one. That’s almost as good as having a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.

Othertimes, I pop in a root beer barrel or some other taste treat I like. So far, it’s working.

Drew Brees

Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints!

One of my unforgettable events – a whale watch off the coast of Cape Cod.  When you board a whale watching boat, the crew is quick to tell you that you don’t always get to see a whale. They just do their best to locate one.

Not all that reassuring, so I wasn’t expecting much.

What I got was almost unbelievable–even for the crew!

1. A rare sighting of two (not one) Right Whales. They were playing together. At the time, there were only an estimated 800 in the wild. They have been hunted almost to extinction.
2. Picture a school bus pushing itself  up and out of the ocean– front end first. That’s the only way I can describe what it’s like to see a Humpback Whale breach out of the water. The one I was lucky enough to see, stayed by the boat, waved with his fin several times and jumped completely out of the water landing again and again with a huge splash. Glorious! Wonderful!
3. As if that weren’t enough, on the way back to port, over a hundred Dolphins swam around and under the boat. Did you know dolphins appear to be green when you look down on them from above the water?

I’ve  had a few unforgettable events in my life–mental pictures that I cherish. This is one I recall often. I’ll never forget it.

Do you have any?

I have been eliminated–not laid off with the hope of being rehired. No, I am an eliminated entity. That’s like erasing all the writing from a chalkboard with one sweep of an eraser. One minute there’s something there; the next minute it’s gone.

The thing is, one doesn’t know what to do with oneself when the alarm doesn’t go off. I remember all those mornings when that annoying alarm sounded and all I wanted to do was catch another 20 minutes of sleep. Now, for some reason, I don’t crave the sleep. I get up like always, but I have no place to go.

After several days of thinking and analyzing and speaking to my family, I have decided to move in with my daughter. We will be three generations in one house. That has spawned much discussion among my friends and acquaintances.

Many families, not just mine, are merging together out of necessity. I didn’t realize that while I was still employed, but it appears families are circling the wagons. They have run out of other choices.

In some instances, it is a good thing. My ophthalmologist has opened his doors once again to his son, and his nephew, too, is having a hard time finding another job. He is expecting to find him on his doorstep any day now, as well. However, he welcomes the opportunity to help both boys through this crisis and believes he will come to know each of them a little better because as he puts it, ” I only know the boys as they once were, not as the adults they have become.”

I think my decision to join my family will also be a good one, but I know there are many family situations that are not conducive to combining generations in one home.

I just had a discussion with a friend five minutes ago, while I was writing this post as a matter of fact, who is not looking forward to what the near future has in store for her. Her mother-in law and brother-in-law are preparing to move into her home. She is forced to give up space that she worked hard to create for herself and her husband over the years. That may not sound like much, but it’s huge. Furniture put into storage to make room for other furniture being moved in. Drapes to be hung in a sun room that will now be used as a bedroom, no longer a place of refuge. She views this turn of events as an end of her peace and comfort, something she craves when she comes home from work. The fact that she is forced to give all of this over to people she doesn’t particularly care for, but who she is obligated to help in their time of need, makes it all the more an enormous struggle. Yet, she will do it because she loves her husband.

I think depression will be the likely result for those who are forced to join together and make unwanted and unforeseen changes in their lives. What a pity. What to do? What to do?

Most people think if you’re going to visit New Orleans, it should be during Mardi Gras.  That’s great, I admit. The parades are not to be missed and the craziness on the streets adds to the raucus, carefree atmosphere.

But there’s so much more to New Orleans: Bourbon Street, the French Market, the Garden District, eclectic shopping on Royal Street, the fantastic architecture throughout the City and the Riverboats on the Mississippi River. And there’s more, much more.

But for me, it’s all about the food and the music. I’ll never forget savoring the taste of my first beignet at the Cafe du Monde, or the taste sensation of gumbo at the Gumbo Shop in the French Quarter, or authentic cajun food found throughout the City.

And the music?

You can hear music everywhere, at any time, by day, or by night. If you want to experience music at its very best, make plans to attend the Jazz Fest, which is held in April each year. Tents and open-air stages abound with every imaginable type of music: jazz (of course), gospel, oldies, big band, zydeco, blues, country, bluegrass, dixieland, even latin jazz. If you can dream it up, you can probably find it at the New Orleans Jazz Fest. All live. All sensational–and the food at the fair? Every bit as savory as the music.

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