Here is a list of the world's largest lakes.




Back when I lived in New Jersey and had never been to Florida, I had no desire to go. I envisioned the Gulf of Mexico as just a very large lake and living in NJ my idea of a large lake was very limited. Our NJ lakes are lakes where you can see the shore from anywhere on the lake. I'd never been to any of the Great Lakes so my ability to gauge lake size was rather limited.

Friends who had visited Florida always came home and raved about it but the tans they returned with always had an unpleasant orange cast to them and they also complained about the bugs. Never having seen a swamp except in movies, I still had no desire to add them to my list of things to see before I die so Florida was a place I could easily pass on visiting. Then I met my future second (and last) husband and he loved Florida and went on and on about it. When the opportunity for a week off came up and he wanted to fly us there in his airplane, I accepted to please and humor him.

He was a very smart man. Before taking me to visit his Mother near Fort Lauderdale, he flew us to St. Petersburg and we drove to Clearwater and stayed at a hotel on the beach. I love the beach. I loved the Clearwater beach with it's white clean sand and the Gulf was lovely. It was as nice as, if not nicer, than the ocean. That was how Florida won me over. The trip to his Mother's house, was not so nice. Tacky homes built where the everglades once florished and the air smelled hot, steamy and unhealthy. For years that was the worse part of coming to visit Florida. The requisite visit to MOM.

Now that I've been here for almost twenty-two years, I guess I'm almost a native. This year when my friend and I did our 2nd Annual Atlantic City December trip, I think I even referred to Florida as "home".

Statistics....

My friend, Anne, sent me a long e-mail full of these interesting statistics... I will try to post one a day.

Sebastien Izambard's L'ombre d'une femme


The incomparable, lovely Frenchman from Il Divo is Sebastien Izambard. He's the pop singer in the group and had composed and sung on his music cd a few years before joining Il Divo. There are also a few other songs he did that are on YouTube. I have no idea where they found them but coupling them with some great photos make them worthy of posting here so I can always find it.

Il Divo

I have become besotted by Il Divo and spend much of my time watching YouTube videos of them. I now own all of their albums and DVD's. I love their music and they are gorgeous to look at. I want to link to one of them but have almost forgotten how to do it..

Chestnuts!

I know I'm supposed to post more about my trip to France but yesterday I was reminded of my love/hate relationship with chestnuts so that's what I'm writing about.

While perusing the produce department at Publix the other day, I spotted a package of chestnuts. They looked clean and somewhat fresh. The label said they were from Italy. I've been told that we and many other places had a chestnut blight that wiped out our lovely chestnut trees and now we have to have trees shipped in from China.., of course.

I've lived in Florida for about 21 years now but at heart I am still a Jersey girl. A damn yankee. Growing up, it was a tradition alround holiday time to roast chestnuts. I love them. The first few years here in the south, I couldn't find them and when I did finally get hold of some they were awful! Size wise, they were small, and when finally roasted at least half of them were rotten. And then there is the problem of preparing them..

Boiling them leaves them rather tasteless. but to roast them, the shell/hull should be slit with a knife because the little buggers have a tendency to respond like popcorn and explode. Unfortunately, they don't hold together like popcorn. My history with them is frightening. I usually do put a slit in them and sometimes I'm even smart enough to enclose them so if they do explode they don't scatter all over.

Well last night I thought I'd just parboil them to give them a start. First I washed them because the chaulky film on them looked a bit like mold... then I was too lazy to score them and put them on a pizza tray to roast. Left the room to watch tv and didn't remember them until the explosion and Shadow flying three feet into the air. Three or four more explosions until I got to the kitchen. Turned off the oven and with a small potholder grabbed the tray to pull it out. Unfortunately I moved too fast and at least half of them hit the hot oven floor and proceeded to attack me with exploding projectiles of shells & chestnut meat.

Of course, I burned my hand, trying to retrieve the ones still whole and managed to get a few while ducking to avoid more exploding chestnuts. The ones I saved were delicious with only one not quite up to par.

This morning my clean-up project for the day was to vacuum out the oven. I have to admit that it was a first for me. I had to wipe down the top, sides, and shelves but the vacuum cleaner was the only tool that could get into the nooks & crannies to capture all the tiny little pieces.

I wonder if someone sells a chestnut roaster? One that is guaranteed not to attack.

Here is a photo of the owners of La Carriere, the B & B where Annie & I stayed after our workshop. It is owned by Justin & Robin Saunders. He's English and she is American. Two cute daughters who love to play dress-up and a loving old dog make up the rest of the family. We really enjoyed our stay there. The book that is recommended on their site is well worth the read. Michael S. Sanders', From Here You Can't See Paris. It is about the most amazing restaurant. We had Robin set up a reservation for us and it was the best meal I've ever eaten...



I have decided that the funk I'm in is because I miss France. I'd love to move there but since our US dollar is now worth dirt, it isn't feasible but I am thinking that perhaps next spring or summer, I can rent a "Gite" (cottage) or small house and stay for 3 or 4 weeks. I might even try for a house swap... I just need to have the largest yard sale ever to empty out this place. That & get busy listing piles of stuff on eBay. I will try harder to post & upload some more photos of France.

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Duchess Karen the Decent of Leighton Buzzard Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Just something to post until I can make time to play catch up... To my Brother who reads this.... I got your message but what is new phone number, new job and new life???? Call me again.