Whoosh.. We are going back in time.. back seventeen years to be precise.. to Christmas 1996.
Dagga Parrot and Peter Pigeon went to stay with a couple of HER friends.. they had lots of their own birds.. another two would not be a problem.
Knowing HER Boys would be happy, safe and very spoilt, SHE flew to spend Christmas and New Year with Edgar, an old friend, in the Texan Hill Country. This is an area of Texas, north east of San Antonio and not that far from the State Capitol Austin.
The Christmas bit of the holiday was VERY jolly indeed as Fredericksburg, the place where SHE was staying, was a' jumping.. with 'children' back from college and lots of folk in town staying with their families for the holidays.
This charming town was founded in 1846 by German immigrants and a huge amount of the original families are still living and working in the area. It is a FUN place to be and especially at Christmas!
The weather was chilly to fair.. but immediately
after Christmas it turned very cold indeedy.. chilly-billy on the hilly is a phrase that comes to mind.
The word went out from Traffic Police.. ONLY travel if absolutely necessary.. all of the roads were covered in black ice and conditions were extremely dangerous.
Luckily the house was one block off main Street so it was a short but very brisk walk to shops if one needed anything.. but no jaunting for four days can make a girl go stir-crazy..
And so when the driving ban was lifted and a dear friend said "do you want to come with me to Austin for the day".. well.. SHE replied quicker than a rat coming down a drain pipe!
Off they went.. to do food shopping for their New Years Eve party they were giving at the HUGE branch of a local food supplier, to have lunch with a couple of friends, to look at everything and ending up, after having a very successfully good time in all the year end sales, at a HUGE shop called Last Call..
I am sure that YOU will all agree that this is a
very strange name for a shop until I tell YOU that this is a branch of Neiman-Marcus. With new merchandise arriving in their shops all the time, stock only has a limited time to sell or be moved on.. and this is where it goes.
Friend wanted to look at linens.. they agreed to
meet in the coffee bar at 5pm.. SHE followed HER nose to the shoe department.. oh lordy.. SHE knew SHE had died and ended up in Shoe Heaven..
SHE has a small, quite narrow foot and there were literally hundreds of styles that SHE fell in lurve with.. "be sensible" SHE told HERSELF.. thankful that SHE had a pristine credit card with HER.. with a zero balance.
For there.. right in front of HER nose were some beautiful J.Renee pumps.. black suede with festive embroidery all around the shoe.. proper Christmas shoes.. for $60.00.. a steal.
I regret to say that several equally delicious pairs of shoes joined their friends in HER basket.. happily all at similar very reasonable prices and then.. suddenly.. SHE felt faint and very weird.. for in front of HER.. all by themselves.. was a pair of over the knee black suede low heeled boots.
SHE maybe a Londoner but SHE is also a European and every self-respecting European woman can recognise a pair of Ferragamo boots.
SHE literally prayed.. bent down.. turned one over and squealed with joy.. oh hallelujah.. they were HER size.. slipping off HER shoes, SHE raised HER leg and slid the black silky babies on.. and was doing the twirl of happiness when HER friend walked up.. "Nice.. very nice indeed" was the comment.
In a walk in cupboard at the back of OUR home is HER shoe stash.. they are all in boxes or with boots trees or folded up with tissue.. and there these beautiful shoes and boots live to this very day.. taken care of most carefully.. for there will never be another day that SHE will be able to buy a pair of long suede boots by Salvatore Ferragamo for $100.. plus tax.
GeeGee Parrot.
December 8th, 2013.
Dagga Parrot and Peter Pigeon went to stay with a couple of HER friends.. they had lots of their own birds.. another two would not be a problem.
Knowing HER Boys would be happy, safe and very spoilt, SHE flew to spend Christmas and New Year with Edgar, an old friend, in the Texan Hill Country. This is an area of Texas, north east of San Antonio and not that far from the State Capitol Austin.
The Christmas bit of the holiday was VERY jolly indeed as Fredericksburg, the place where SHE was staying, was a' jumping.. with 'children' back from college and lots of folk in town staying with their families for the holidays.
This charming town was founded in 1846 by German immigrants and a huge amount of the original families are still living and working in the area. It is a FUN place to be and especially at Christmas!
The weather was chilly to fair.. but immediately
after Christmas it turned very cold indeedy.. chilly-billy on the hilly is a phrase that comes to mind.
The word went out from Traffic Police.. ONLY travel if absolutely necessary.. all of the roads were covered in black ice and conditions were extremely dangerous.
Luckily the house was one block off main Street so it was a short but very brisk walk to shops if one needed anything.. but no jaunting for four days can make a girl go stir-crazy..
And so when the driving ban was lifted and a dear friend said "do you want to come with me to Austin for the day".. well.. SHE replied quicker than a rat coming down a drain pipe!
Off they went.. to do food shopping for their New Years Eve party they were giving at the HUGE branch of a local food supplier, to have lunch with a couple of friends, to look at everything and ending up, after having a very successfully good time in all the year end sales, at a HUGE shop called Last Call..
I am sure that YOU will all agree that this is a
very strange name for a shop until I tell YOU that this is a branch of Neiman-Marcus. With new merchandise arriving in their shops all the time, stock only has a limited time to sell or be moved on.. and this is where it goes.
Friend wanted to look at linens.. they agreed to
meet in the coffee bar at 5pm.. SHE followed HER nose to the shoe department.. oh lordy.. SHE knew SHE had died and ended up in Shoe Heaven..
SHE has a small, quite narrow foot and there were literally hundreds of styles that SHE fell in lurve with.. "be sensible" SHE told HERSELF.. thankful that SHE had a pristine credit card with HER.. with a zero balance.
For there.. right in front of HER nose were some beautiful J.Renee pumps.. black suede with festive embroidery all around the shoe.. proper Christmas shoes.. for $60.00.. a steal.
I regret to say that several equally delicious pairs of shoes joined their friends in HER basket.. happily all at similar very reasonable prices and then.. suddenly.. SHE felt faint and very weird.. for in front of HER.. all by themselves.. was a pair of over the knee black suede low heeled boots.
SHE maybe a Londoner but SHE is also a European and every self-respecting European woman can recognise a pair of Ferragamo boots.
SHE literally prayed.. bent down.. turned one over and squealed with joy.. oh hallelujah.. they were HER size.. slipping off HER shoes, SHE raised HER leg and slid the black silky babies on.. and was doing the twirl of happiness when HER friend walked up.. "Nice.. very nice indeed" was the comment.
In a walk in cupboard at the back of OUR home is HER shoe stash.. they are all in boxes or with boots trees or folded up with tissue.. and there these beautiful shoes and boots live to this very day.. taken care of most carefully.. for there will never be another day that SHE will be able to buy a pair of long suede boots by Salvatore Ferragamo for $100.. plus tax.
GeeGee Parrot.
December 8th, 2013.
Ah yes, Neimans! The name is evocative of Dallas in its oil-rich hey-day. It was a draw for women from the Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, AND Texas provincial cities. We would drive in, shop, lunch at the Zodiac Room, and shop some more. Loved this tale about going to the Hill Country to that sizable "German" town & finding ...of all things...a Neimans Outlet!
ReplyDeleteOh dearie ME.. has Fredericksburg become sizeable? When SHE used to go there, the total population was about 3,000 and that included all the outer area..
ReplyDelete