Suddenly... a Vision of Loveliness in White Chiffon

All of a sudden today I got an email from someone who attended my Mom's memorial service.

It made me smile... so here it is:

Hello, Ann. I just wanted to say thanks again for the warm memorial afternoon. I was glad we could have a Chelsea YC table.

I thought I should explain my entry in the guest book, which went something like, "A vision of loveliness in white chiffon." The year was 1986. The late Bob Yacavonis was the Commodore, and it was the second of my 20 years as Secretary. Bob wanted to give the place a little class, and to this end devised an evening of wine and crepes. He obtained a string trio, possibly from one of the local colleges, to provide the music and rounded up some of us officers and friends to make and serve the crepes and wine. Somehow, he roped your Mom into this. It was a lovely, but warm, July evening. The trio played on the gazebo while members gathered about the picnic tables in the shade. The cooks, meantime, were jammed into the then tiny kitchen. So there we were, the men all dressed up our whites and Club ties, the women in their best cocktail dresses, and all of us sweating bullets over hot crepe makers.

The beads of perspiration have faded with time, and so I'll always remember your Mom as that vision of loveliness in white chiffon.

Best regards,

Barry Meehan, CYC Commodore 2008 (and one-time crepe maker)


How sweet is that. My Mom sure knew how to class up a joint!



Photo of Mom and Dad at Chelsea Yacht Club on the Hudson River

Lines that Divide Us

Here is a video worth watching...

Cogitate on this for a while.

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Walking the Talk...

Today I am relaunching my diet. When my Mom got sick my world got a lot out of wack. I had done very well on the South Beach Diet getting my weight down almost 40 pounds! But when my Mom got sick I reverted to my old way. Why not eat that whole container of Ben and Jerry's? Maybe we should all enjoy what we can while we can and worry later? Well that's just fine if you're going to die in 6 months but I'm NOT. I need these organs, bones, muscles etc. to work for me a lot longer than 6 months! So today I started up again.

I like the South Beach Diet. I don't feel like I am not allowed to eat. I just have to be very careful for 2 weeks about what I eat. Then I have to be less careful for a while till I loose all I want to loose. Then I just have to eat healthy food most of the time and I'll be just fine.

I like eating green veggies but I do miss potatoes... oh how I miss potatoes... Boiled, mashed, baked, fried how I love my potatoes. I'm an Irish girl you know. I don't feel the same longing for bread or rice. Unless it is warm fresh baked bread.

Something else wonderful happened to me today. I walked to my local grocery store. It saved some petrol and burned some calories all at the same time. I had to carry the groceries home, so I had to carefully plan what I was buying. It made it much easier to say NO to the bad stuff. It even makes it easier to say no to the bad stuff my son and husband want. "Sorry dear... I just don't have the room in my bag for chips." "Ice cream is very heavy and will melt on the way home!"

To keep me honest I am going to occasionally post my actual weight here on this blog. Shocking I know! I am doing this because I find it useful to be accountable to someone. So here it is. 183.5 pounds - 8:00am - Monday September 15.

Many people do not think I look like I weigh that much. That's nice... but I do... and it is NOT healthy for me to weigh that much. My paternal grandmother was built just like me and she developed diabetes as she aged. I can easily see that happening to me. I don't mind the occasional flu shot, but I don't want to have to give myself a daily shot of insulin if I can prevent that.