Notice to vacate

I will be giving notice today of my impending move. I still do not know where I am going and believe me that is a wee scary. Did not bother me as much when I was younger and had children. I believe there is something about those moments I am forgetting. Not something bad just something. I have done this many times before, I should remember. I am ready I am eager. I packed more things yesterday and have another car full of goodwill items.  I am eager to leave here. Here being this house. I giggle when I think of moving into the abandoned house across the street. I saw one for rent several streets away. The only reason I admit, that, those interest me is to torment the humanlings that live on this street.

Okay, I admit it, I am still wounded by the cruel hate mail I have received numerous times by these creatures.  Without knowing anything they have made a judgment.  Oh bugger !!! They are behaving like people! Hahah     Shall I erase their blackboard? Hand them a clean canvas one more time? I am leaving them to their sad little lives and embarking on yet another wondrous adventure that will just as they all do end in me being miserable and preparing yet again for another and another and another. Can you say PIRATE?

 I wonder …. Where does this wonder-lust come from? Do I descend from gypsy? 

Are gypsy folk wanderers on purpose or do they just want adventure? Could I hale from some Nomadic people?

 People of the Sahara or Middle East?  

Nomadic peoples of the Americas? Do I have the blood of Vikings and a need to go forth?

 Do I descend from Cortez or Lewis or Clark?  I do not consider myself a pioneer. I would have stayed in Baltimore while everyone else pioneered America. My brother is not so disposed to travel and seek out adventure. SO where does this come from. The restless need to move on every few years?

People of this Hood! I Lady Tamara www.LochaberHighlandEstates.com forgives you for your cruelty and hatred.  I shall not be here after 30 days.   Have blessed little lives and may I NOT wander across any of you again. 

I must write my “quit this house” letter.

Ta ta…..

Did John….the Earl of Rochester have any children? I may be one of them……

Phoenix Dactylifera

We have been looking at apartment’s lofts and townhomes for days trying to find a new home. Most of the staff in these facilities has been friendly and helpful and prompt. Yesterday we encountered the nest of rudeness. Practically in my own back yard. We called the place as we got there so as not to waste my time or theirs. No answer, yet there are four vehicles out front none parked in “Future Resident” parking. We call again, still no answer. We go in. No one greets us. We hear voices and we chat with each other, still no greeting.  We start to wonder around the club house area, still nothing. We then go to the club house kitchen and start opening and banging cabinets, nothing. We wander through private office area and guess what nothing.  After 15 minutes I inform my daughter we are NOT supposed to live here. Her response was “why would anybody, these people are rude!” On the way in we saw a man filling out paperwork and chatting with someone we could not see. Shoe decides to be bold and step into his lease signing and low and behold our unwillingness to be rude and intrude on his time finds not only him but the agent he is working with plus 2 other agents who are involved in a personal conversation.  We are each writing to the corporate headquarters regarding this matter.  I will also include that the refrigerator was filthy inside and in need of a cleaning. There was a small boy in the fitness center attempting a workout on a weight machine.  If you are thinking of renting in this area and want to be at a facility such as this let me know I will give you the name.

I have been craving dates. Weird I know but seriously craving dates. So I bought a canister of chopped dates and was eating them in my yogurt. Somewhat satisfying. I was shopping the other day and still having a crazy need to eat dates when there they were in the deli section a nice sized bowl of Medjool dates. I bought it and have been eating 2 a day.  Anyone else crave dates? Well to satisfy my curiosity I shall inform us all about them.

*Botanically; they are the fruits grow on the palm tree 

belonging to the family of Arecaceae of the genus:Phoenix 

and scientifically named as Phoenix dactylifera.

·       *  The palm tree species that bear dates is a dactylifera it translates to finger, I bear. So that would mean I bear fingers.

·       *  It is believed that date palm originated around Persia.

·      *  The Egyptians turned the dates into wine.

·        *Dates were brought to Mexico and California by 1765 where they were cultivated around Mission San Ignacio

·        *Dates range from bright red to yellow when unripe

·        *They have male and female plants.  Only the female bearing fruit. There is usually one male per female plant however with help 1 male can pollinate 100 female plants

.

·        *Dried dates are fed to camels, horses and dogs in the Sahara

·       * Finely ground dates can be used with flour to make bread

·        *The young tender leaves and date flowers are also edible

·       * Dates are a good source of potassium which is an important component of cell and body fluids that aid in controlling heart rate and blood pressure. Offering  protection against stroke and coronary heart diseases.

·        *Protein and fiber along with traces of boron, cobalt, copper, fluorine, magnesium , manganese, selenium and zinc

·      *  The tree trunk is tapped for the sap which is then made into molassis and wine

·        *They contain, vitamin A, which is known to have antioxidant properties and is essential for vision. Vitamin A maintains healthy mucus membranes and skin.  A is known to help to protect from lung and oral cavity cancers.

·        *Vitamin C, B6, B1,B2,B3, B5, B9, E, K,  Calcium and iron

·        *Every part of the date palm can be used for building, or baskets or eating.

·       * Dates have a high tannin content and have been used for fever, astringent, detergent, for intestinal troubles. The syrup is used for sore throats, colds, bronchial catarrh.

·        *They are also believed to counteract alcohol intoxication

·      *  It is taken to relieve cystitis, gonorrhea, edema, liver and abdominal troubles.

·      *  The fruit is rich in dietary fiber, this prevents LDL cholesterol absorption in the gut. It also helps to protect the colon mucous membrane by decreasing exposure time, as well as binding to cancer causing chemicals in the colon.

·        *The fruit is very rich in antioxidant flavonoids such as beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin.  These help protect cells and other structures in the body from oxygen free radicals which are protective against colon, prostate, breast, endometrial, lung, and pancreatic cancers.

*Who needs Centrum Silver just eat a few dates every day. Yumm

Lady Tamara www.LochaberHighlandEstates.comwishes to thank Morocco for the dates!

Sparkly Window

I was making my tea this morning when a sparkle caught my eye. It was up high and coming from a window in the house behind mine. The sun had risen just enough to reflect off of something woven into the curtain fabric. Or, maybe the entire curtain was made of sequins. Does not matter what it is made of, what matters is there in the midst of a morning I was less than cheerful about was magic. It unlocked the gates I had constructed and barred and bolted while at Mothers last night. Does she have any idea how hurtful her words are? Things are not as they seem Mother. My world that I paint for you is truth but a gentler version because I do not want to worry or stress or panic you. I seem to be handling things very well because I want you to be at peace about them. You had a man to help you carry loads, burdens, trials, devastation. I have had no one. Stop evaluating me based on you. 

Sparkly window, sparkly window…..

My tea smells like roses. Really Roses. It is wonderful and brought back to me vivid memories of Chatsworth. This is how the house smelled inside. Like roses and tea. I could live there if we could move the entire estate to the coast.

I found an apartment yesterday that I could live in, reminded me of a cottage, more than I wanted to pay though. We start the search again today.

Lady Tamara www.LairdOfLochaber.com  was contacted about an interview. Do I have anything unique that I do? Hahah…uh no! Except, I am a Lady and I Lady Tamara own a small piece of Scotland and have a crest and tartan. 

Speaking of that why did I not receive an invitation to the Queens Jubilee? Off to check the mail!!

Barbie Abduction

I know I am quirky and believe men should show a lot more valor and honor and respect to a Lady. So here we go…. I had a buggy full of groceries I was loading into the back seat of my car because the trunk was full of treasures for others I was going to drop off at my local Goodwill store. There was a red truck parked next to me. I had 4 bags to go. 

As those of us who started driving sometime before 1986 know parking spaces used to be larger and I could have stayed by my car and he could have backed out without incident. No  he gets in, starts up his truck, I put a bag in, he puts the truck in park, foot still on the break, I put in another bag, he revs up the engine a bit to let me know he is backing out regardless if I move or not. I stop, move the buggy to the back of the car by the trunk, close the door and step out of his way. He backs out, I smile prepare to wave (as if to say no worries have a good day) thinking he was actually going to apologize for his rude behavior. He does not. He just drives off at about ½ warp. He was immediately demoted to non-female creature status.  What he should have done was wait or offer to help me finish. It is 98 outside and I am very sure I am old enough to be his mother. Speaking of his mother she has been demoted to having male creature like qualities, no female. She probably took him to Oklahoma for some of their famous couch burning parties. Hey Podunks move back to Oklahoma they miss you. And to show I harbor no ill will against your lack of manners I have a parting gift for you; you….may ….take…. Sophie and Lovey with you!!!! Happy couch burning!

There was some weird stuff going on at the gas station. As I stepped out of my car I spied a make-up sponge, the triangular kind girls use to apply foundation, cream blush and create a clean line over their eye shadow, laying on the ground near the pump. Did some girl miss the trash can? Was she snatched by Zombies? Kidnapped by her estranged husband? 

Strange, but it was about to get stranger. As I stepped back over to my car and reached for the door handle I see a tiny pink pump, Barbie pink, and Barbie sized. It is just lying there all alone. The sponge, the shoe, no Barbie, I am thinking abduction, Foul play of some sort, Elopement? She left the suds in the bucket and the clothes hanging out on the line. Should I notify the authorities, is it a crime scene, what? I would have removed my prints from the pump handle but then I may have wiped off the perps (hahaha I sound so Law and Orderish). Is it too late to report? Why did I assume it was Barbie who has been involved in foul play? Maybe it is a real human girl and those are the only existing clues? Maybe it was the revenge of a 6 year old brother...bwahahahahhahaa.....

I was just down stairs in the dining room taping a box to pack in and before I can start the tape starts peeling up. I re-tape and pack it up. Right as I am about to finish I can hear the crackling of tape coming off. I stick in the rats and their cage and the iron and tape it shut. I tap the tape back into place and it starts coming off at another place.

 I tap it down and still more crackling of tape coming off. I have now double wrapped the entire box in all directions with packing tape and as I started to climb the stairs there it was the crackling of tape peeling off. I am starting to freak out. This was a used box. Used for what I must now wonder….

Well, I remembered everything at the store but the tea. I could not find the gourmet cheese and so a very sweet gentleman offered me a few ideas about where to look for he had not seen a deli area either. He could tell I was lost or puzzled and he asked if he could help clarifying his offer with “it always difficult at first to shop in a new store in a new area.” He was getting his flirt on. When I replied I could not find the cheese he again clarified, “by cheese you mean Gruyere?” Who offers that choice up first? Most people would say cheddar or Brie. Curious little man and helpful, wanting to appear as a knight in armor. Had the store been more of a market, had we been on Mykonos, had there been a café I might have partaken in a cup of café con leche with him.

Lady Tamara  www.LairdOfLochaber.comwill be making a slight detour from her loft hunting this morning for tea. May I suggest the oatmeal with pure maple syrup and fresh pecans for breakfast? Delicious!

The Color Board

The Legend of the 7^th wave came up today as I was reading. I had always heard this and have seen it at the beach. Start with a big wave then count and wave number 7 will be big. I thought I would check it out for a fact. As I was reading and getting way too much technical information on something I see as a beautiful miracle I quit reading. I would rather not know why they are there and be filled with wonder than look at them and think about how a windy day in Africa blew this here, although, that is an awesome thought too.

Photo courtesy of Steve Jones Gulf State Park Beach

I was at a graduation last night on a photo assignment. I captured some moments but nothing that will be acceptable for print. I always see what could have been “Kodak” moments after the fact. How to prove that is what I am working on. 

What I also saw was that this class was the same as my class, just different names and faces. The achievements were just as great, the rewards and awards. Some of these kids knew exactly who they were and where they were going. They knew what they wanted to be when they grew up just as some of the kids from my class. Me?..... I still do not know. I have tried many things each with the goal to be outstanding at it and make it mine. Some of the things I wanted to excel at and be spectacular were the things that were a disaster. Interior design…fail (probably due to the very hefty, masculine, Hitlerian  female, why did she dislike me instantly professor.

 Fashion design… hahah …my creation was actually a mistake in the way I cut the fabric., which was on the bias , out of muslin with hand drawn by me, pastel flowers on the 6 (not 4 another oops) panels that once sewn together created an apparently amazing skirt that draped beautifully and moved so that the flowers appeared to be blown by a soft wind. I was just trying to get through the project so I could spend more time on my color board for my Interior Design class. All the fuss over my skirt by my accounting, art, and fashion professor could not make up for the complete annihilation of my color board by the Hitler disciple. I was in tears as she berated (not kidding!!!) me and my board in front of the entire class. My first board ever and I put my name on the wrong end. She screamed about unprofessional, client, fire, no one would hire me, why was I there. Which is exactly what I wondered for 2 weeks and then withdrew from school all together. I would like to ask her now…. Why did she do that? I had never been publically humiliated like that in my life. I had never been on the receiving end of so much anger that was in her voice. She threw my board to the ground.  This woman would only wear natural fiber dyed with organic dyes. I would like to strip her naked wrap her like a mummy in cheap polyester and close her up in a room completely paneled in vinyl with curtains of even cheaper nylon and carpet made of that disgusting feeling stuff Motel 6 makes their bedspreads out of. Hey maybe the catastrophe award giving teacher is her child or even her disciple.  Pivotal point in my life here; dream of designing beautiful interior spaces destroyed in about 4 minutes and life designing fashion for Oscar de La Renta not even realized due to the above mentioned devastation. I pray these kids all encounter teachers and professors with the skills to encourage and praise, not destroy.

I am at last out of cat food. In an attempt to save some money to put into the “gypsy caravan” account so I can move, I bought a different, less expensive brand of cat food. Goblin who is a bit picky hates it and proceeds to let me know this every day as he grumbles at me and his bowl and then proceeds to up-chuk the food, which leaves a stain on my carpet in an awful old mustard color. Scarlet who rarely complains does not like it either.

 I am going on a grocery expedition this morning to get cat food, cat litter, and cream and tea for me, Lady Tamara,www.HighlandTitles.com who it sounds like has become the “Cat Lady”.

Thought to ponder….. Did Anne Boleyn have 6 fingers on her left hand or not?  If the originator of the tale was trying to be cruel why not say both hands? Why the left hand?  Why are there no portraits of her anywhere that were painted while she was alive? Why they all were destroyed? (Yoda program at work here again)  Did her parents have any? The paintings that exist are interpretations painted years later or so I read. It is like that sad Egyptian Queen, what was her name, whom all evidence was destroyed or disfigured or so they say.

 From what I studied briefly yesterday; most people with 6 fingers and/or toes are very tall. She was 5’3” or so.

Random note here…..I just love Vigo’s character Everett in Appaloosa.  Especially when he tells Mrs. French “We are both with him”. Wish I had someone to watch over me with as much loyalty. 

Bang Home

A Child is “honored” at school with the Catastrophe Award. She got it for having the most excuses for not having her homework done. I do not understand the teacher awarding for not doing homework. Bad grades are a reward itself. Why the attention?  Was it the teacher’s goal to publicly humiliate the child? The benefit of that being…total destruction of a an 8 year old or the event that launches her into a career of comedy or the spark that ignites a fuse that will ultimately lead to a life of evil? Who gave said teacher a license to teach? I will call her abilities a fail.  The Catastrophe Award needs to be returned to the teacher. It is like the Most Improved Award. (except in bowling).

I have thought about everything I need in my next home. A beach. A pool. A fireplace.  2 bedrooms. A study. A porch, balconey, deck. A washer /dryer connection. That is a good starting place. I just need to locate this dream cottage, apartment, condo, townhome, castle in Albania,

 house in the Hebrides.

 How much is a flat in Morocco? 

Maybe I should lease a live/work space and let members of my Artz council gallery there. Hmmmm…. That is very doable. I like this idea. Help? Not sure how to find such a space.

I need a hairstyle. I went looking two weeks ago and found 8 salons 5 closed three had about 26 cars each outside. I do not want fast service or lip service or you telling me I cannot have bangs because they are not in style.

 Really???? I also do not want you cutting bangs so long I have to be back in 2 weeks.

 Yeah bangs are for 8 year olds.

 Long hair is for 18 year olds.

  One more thing stylists! Every single person who enters your salon is a potential customer so your “better than” attitude needs to be checked! I am paying you for a service. You are NOT giving me a favor. Why is it so hard to find the perfect stylist here? Do I need to go back to Cali every 6 weeks for Stephanie to do my hair? 

Lady Tamarawww.LochaberHighlandEstates.com  has 2 goals today. Hair and place to live. She will be seen setting up for the San Antonio Jazz festival this evening come on by and help out.

NOT my McCoy

Mother is watching the Hatfields and McCoys. She is from that area of West Virginia. She has seen episode 1 3 times. I admit it is a bit confusing if you do not know the players. The 3 day television event should have come with a playbook, map and list of characters color coded so you know which clan member was shot by the other clan member. Not all McCoys had the McCoy last name; same for the Hatfields.  My Grandmother who was a Battin had a very distant relative named Priscilla marry a William McCoy around 1777. They stayed mostly to Pennsylvania and Maryland. My McCoys did not arrive in Kentucky until well after 1880s and as far as I can determine were not related to the McCoys. 

Roseanna McCoy

However I have not hunted for ghosts in that direction.

They did mention an event in episode 2 last night that I had just done some research on about 2 months ago that did involve ghosts from my Mother’s side.  I cannot recall the names or place this occurred but the portrayal was pretty much dead on to what happened. I am inclined to spend the day today chasing ghosts. I vaguely recall my Granny Ina mentioning the feud and to which side her family claimed. She mentioned this when I was a young teen and I was thrilled with the story and  legends, that sides did not matter. She remembered but I got the impression she was not directly involved in any of it. I did not think to pursue it. I suppose I believed she would be around forever and I could ask her some day. 

The Hatfields. 

The ancient woman I interviewed when I lived in Alabama for a school project. She had lived in what was referred to as the Oredman-Shaw House.

 It was a town home in Montgomery. The woman recalled living there during the Civil War she was 3 -7 years old. She told me her Mother had a house maid sew coins into the hems of hers and all the childrens dresses and coats. I kept that interview for a very long time but have lost it after several moves and a flooded storage room. I should have interviewed my granny. 

After checking fares to Salt Lake City yesterday I am inclined to believe that it is a very popular destination for the rich and famous. I could not find a ticket for under $500.  Do they NOT want visitors? I could fly to Dan Diego cheaper. I drove through Utah once. I did not see anything fabulous except for the cave drawings. Maybe the city itself is awesome. I will not know will I Salt Lake? What does the name Utah mean anyway? Who named it Utah?

Lady Tamara  www.LairdOfLochaber.com will now be contacting Anthony to see what help he needs for the Jazz Festival.

Stay jazzy everyone! Now where is my Etta James collection?