Author: Dackel Princess

Life & Other Thoughts

Today I’m thinking that life goes by us far too fast. I wrote about Andre Agassi ending his tennis career yesterday and today Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter,, has passed away. So, I guess I’m feeling a bit blue.

Steve Irwin made nature fun. He had a quick smile, made people laugh at the same time he was teaching us about animals we might never have considered.

My nephew, Taft loves Steve Irwin. He loved to play “Crocodile Hunter” in my sister’s living room. Taft and his brother Luke would pile the seat cushions up and hide the croc and then discover and tame it ala Steve Irwin. One of Taft’s birthdays we even had a croc cake and Taft dressed up like Steve Irwin. Luke was often forced to be Taft’s faithful sidekick, Baby Bindy. They had so much fun and Luke never did mind being the side kick of the “Crocodile Hunter”.

The other day I got sent one of those “Getting to Know You” email questionnaires. One of the questions was, “What are you afraid of?”

Well, there isn’t much. I mean, I don’t like snakes or mice, or those types of vermin, but I can survive them. I’m not afraid to die, although I admit, I’m sort of busy living my life right now and it would be a terrible inconvenience for me.

What I’m really afraid of, came to me while I was showering this morning. It was after I heard that Steve Irwin had died.

I am afraid of the people I love, dying.
I want my loved ones to live long and happy and healthy lives. I want to watch them all get gray hair, wrinkles and watch their children and grandchildren grow and to see and to know that their lives are good.

So yes, I have a fear. It’s just not one I knew I had.

Rest in peace, Steve Irwin, I bet Heaven is filled with wonderful wild animals, who were there to greet you.

Thank You, Andre

I watched The US Open Tennis Tournament from New York today. It was nice to see that somewhere the weather was good, as we have had rain all day.

I’ve always enjoyed watching tennis, especially men’s tennis. There is something about watching these men serve a ball at mind boggling speeds, and then equally amazing to see the ball returned.

But today was a sad day for me too. It was the day that Andre Agassi played his last professional game, and his last game at the US Open.

For 21 years I have watched Andre play this game. When he started out he was a cocky young man with long hair, a scruffy two day growth of beard and usually some long dangly earring whipping around his face.

But there was that grin, and his ability to make shots and get shots that intrigued me. If he was playing, I was watching.

Back then Pete Sampras was playing as well. He had a serve that few could ever hope to return. Pete and Andre seemed to always meet somewhere along the way during the different tournaments. And if one didn’t win the other did.

But where Pete was always Pete, Andre went through many changes over the years. You could see his game grow and change as you watched the man, himself growing and changing.

Andre searched for happiness, failed the first time he thought he’d found it, and then low and behold he got together with tennis champ, Steffi Graf, whom he married and has had two beautiful children with.

But time and age are an athletes worst enemy, and so it was with Andre. We watched his body giving out over the last year, at the same time we found ourselves feeling so proud of this once cocky boy, turn into a wonderful, caring man.

I watched his match today. His last match. I could feel the pain wash over me when I saw him flinch with a back spasm. He did not stop playing. He gave it his all. The crowd cheered and tears were shed.

When the game was done, his opponent was crying too. Andre had showed us all what a real champion looked like, and how a real champion retired, with such grace.

So, thank you Andre, for 21 wonderful years.

Getting Back To Life

I’m tired.

I decided it was time to get back to life. Actually I couldn’t stand to sit around for another moment of another day, looking at all of the things that needed to be done.

Hubby has done well. He has made sure I’ve gotten my meals and drinks and a nice place to sleep, but men don’t see dust bunnies, (or in our case huge clumps of white dog fur) newspapers on the floor or the laundry basket that has been sitting in the family room for three days.

Now some of this stuff I can deal with. I carefully stooped down to pick up the newspapers, not bending forward which would put pressure on my eye, and I scooped them up. Check

I put all the laundry in the basket and Hubby carried that down to the basement, where I did three loads of laundry. Check.

I couldn’t quite deal with the dust bunnies, so they are hopping around the house, but I plan to have Hubby get the vacuum out tomorrow so I can do that. Check

We had a small amount of plums in a basket from our tree. I got a recipe for Plum cake, and threw it all together and it came out great!! Check.

Dinner was a frozen pre-made turkey soup with German bread. Easy. Check.

So it’s a start. My mind and body are willing it’s the eye and the head that just do not want to cooperate. I know, I know. Time.

Friday Musings

Why is it, when you have nothing to do, life goes excruciatingly slow? Why can’t it fly by, like it did when I had 60 pounds of peaches to can and only a few days to do it?

Ah, sweet mysteries of life!

I saw Dr. W. yesterday and she is very happy with my eye. We both sat there grinning at each other, as I’m not sure which one of us his happier, her or me! Here is my sweet Dr. W. with her favorite patient. I can safely say this because I brought a basket of goodies from our garden and orchard!

So yesterday was a real high. Happy, happy, happy! Today? Not so much. I woke up at 4 AM with a terrible eye/headache that has plagued me all day. I have tried everything and nothing has worked.

Oh well, into every life a little rain must fall.

Last weekend my cousin, Janet and our dear friend Megan
came up for a visit. They cooked, I ate and we watched movies. Life was so good. The cooking included Janet’s wonderful potato salad, a bean salad and Megan’s Chocolate Trifle! I’m still dreaming about that. I just go nuts for chocolate!

Thursday was a quiet day. Quieter than I had hoped or planned for. I took care of some paper work, and watched/listened to the TV. Fritzi kept me company much of the time. As did Greta and Emily.

Greta goes before the German judge in September for her rating. I am a wreck about this, (just call me a nervous stage mother!) and I hope she does well. Could I stand to have some stranger tell me Miss Greta isn’t perfect? I think not!

Finally, I am sad that Caroline Keptchure was fired from “The Apprentice”. I’m thinking that Ivanka Trump will take her place. Who says nepotism is dead?

Thursday Thirteen, “The Grandmother Edition”



1. She was born February 4, 1887. Her parents George and Sarah, named her Mary Francis Daniell.

2. She had two sisters, Sarah Mathilda, the oldest, whom we all called Tilly, and Marionette, who chose to move away and never have much to do with any of the family.


Marionette, Tilly, seated and my very blond grandmother.

3. She met my Grandfather when she was 8 or 9 years old. His family moved into her neighborhood and Gram became best friends with his sister, Katchen. Gram taught them to speak English, as they were from Germany and didn’t speak a bit of English when they arrived.

4. Papa fell instantly in love with her and pursued her all through their teens. (Today we would call this stalking! LOL)

5. Her father insisted she finish college before she even considered marriage.

6. They married right after graduation on June 1, 1921, and were married for nearly 65 years before she passed away.

7. They had one son, Robert and my mother, Rosamond. They always thought of Tilly’s son George as their own too. They adored him.

8. Gram taught school in the Boston Public Schools. She taught 5th grade.

9. She was a member of the DAR, The Eastern Star and worked for the Christian Science Monitor in Boston.

10. She was always busy working for charities and I can’t recall a time, until she was very old that she actually rested.

11. She adored her grandchildren, there were five of us, Carl, Erica, my brother Richard, sister Melodie and yours truly!

12. She made the best cookies and also warm milk with honey and a pat of butter in it. To this day it calms me.

13. Sadly, she passed December 2, 1984. I feel lucky to have had such a great and wonderful grandmother.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!



Check Up #1

I go for my one week check up today with Dr. W. My appointment is at 11:00 AM. They will check my eye pressure, the sutures and look for any signs of infection.

Hubby is driving me in, and this will be the first time he will meet Dr. W. I know, that like me, he will like her instantly. She is just one of those really likable people.

You know the best part of all of this is, I am not nervous at all. In the past, I have always been nervous going to my eye appointments.

Having my vision back, with no glare, no prisming, etc. leaves me feeling excited and energized and confident! I also feel the eye looks better every day.

Having an incredibly black eye hasn’t bothered me at all. In fact I kind of like it. It’s my badge of courage and victory!

I wonder if Clinique makes this shade of black and blue and yellow make-up for the eyes? It could be a new fashion statement! LOL

Thinking of The Past

I wonder what people did after eye surgery, before continuous, 24 hour satellite TV and computers with adjustable font size?

I remember back in say 1966 my grandmother had cataract surgery on her eyes. I think she had them both done at once. Of course this is back in the days before they inserted lenses back into the eyes. This meant that once you had healed you wore those thick coke bottle glasses that made your eyes look far too large for your face!

After Gram’s cataract surgery she had to lie perfectly still on a chaise for several weeks. Her recovery was much worse and much harder than mine. TV was only on from 6 AM until say 1 AM. They did not have books on tape, and computers? Lets face it, back then one simple computer took up an entire building and all it could do was a series of mathematical calculations. E-mail? What e-mail.

Gram didn’t seem to care. I think she must have had an incredible imagination. I remember going over to see her and talk to her and tell her all about my school day.

Papa would put drops in her eyes, in such a loving manner and he would bring her tea or lemonade. Whatever she wanted.

Have you ever seen the movie, “When Peggy Sue Got Married”? I love that movie because in it, when Peggy Sue is tossed back in time, she goes to visit her much loved grandparents. She gets to talk to them again, to visit, to hear their voices, to feel their love, one more time.

I’ve thought a lot about my grandmother during this time. I can understand how she felt and what she went through. She was a kind, happy woman who loved her family more than anything.

I still miss her.

Black & Blue & Joyous

Are you all tired about hearing of my black and blue and sore eye, yet? It seems to be the one thing that consumes me each and every moment, of each and every day. Why is this? Could it be I am entirely self centered, or perhaps, I am horribly vain, so that having this black eye is ruining my self image?

Not really. I think the biggest reason that this is on my mind to the exclusion of all else is, the happiness I feel that finally, everything has worked out and my vision has been restored!

I know, you are thinking, “Pah-leeze, I hope she doesn’t tell us the story about the 5 long years of vision loss again!”

Okay, I won’t. You have all heard it before, so I’ll simply say, that the joyous, wondrous, miraculous feeling I have inside right now, is something everyone should experience once in their lives. It makes me truly appreciate my vision, and the expertise of Dr. W.

So happy thoughts to you all on this Monday morning.

A Little Frustration

I had thought I would enjoy the time I would have to recuperate. After all, all the cooking, the cleaning and the canning had kept me busy from dawn until dusk. However, a few good nights of sleep and I feel like I am ready to go.

Of course this isn’t the case. I’ve got down time, and plenty of it, so that my eye will heal without incident.



Isn’t that funny? How often have we said, “Oh I would love to be able to sit around and do nothing”? The thing is, most of us get bored fast and I think most of us also would like to do our own thing and are used to doing it. Imagine having to ask for someone to cook a meal, or get you a drink? Water to take your pills with? It’s just foreign to me.

I’ve been caring for my family, and my home for 30 years now. I’ve done the cooking of our meals, the cleaning up and the organization. So yes, it’s hard for me to sit back and let others do “my job”.

I’m feeling better and I just need to get through the next few weeks. Then I’ll be home free. I need to relax. To rest and to stay still.