Valentine Chihuahua

 

Abby, our spokesdog and always willing model, is posing in her burgundy lace-trimmed daytime shirt meant for frolicking.

 She's all about the love.

Abby is enthusiastically modeling her formal Valentine gown.

💖 May sparkling hearts overflowing with love 

rain down on you forever! 💖

If you love romance,

try Jane Marie's Goodbye Lie series. 

 "Men will die for Breelan Dunnigan ..."

Popeye, Am I Too Analytical?

Now I ask you, am I too analytical?  Someone said that to me recently. I have never been accused of such before this.  However,  I take it as a high complement because I think of scientists and mathematicians as analytical, and they're really smart people. Just because I commented on Popeye having wee knees, do I deserve this title? Sure I do  Hey, maybe if I continue said analysis of life, might I be Jeopardy worthy?  Nah

( Image found on Pinterest.  If anyone knows the source, please contact me and I will give credit, of course. graciousjanemarie@yahoo.com)

2018 Christmas Letter

a few of our stylish and talented family members, 

each more lovely than the other 

Dear Friends and Others to whom we want to brag about our outstanding

2018,

   

     As you well remember, this letter has become an annual ritual from our cozy seaside home in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida.  Here we share activities, memorable quotations, anything we deem worthy and, boy howdy, are we full of worthy!  We begin:

Too many candidates are always running for election. Father  has a system all his own to pick one.  He is a graduate of E-bub's School of Feather Fluffing, so the family appreciates his wisdom. 

Miss Dental Flosser, the beauty queen, has crusty elbows and small feet. 

The olive oil turned rancid.

August 9th was on a Thursday.

Pink is a favorite color.

The librarian didn't do it.

Cousin Irk likes his toilet paper without splinters.

Mother got a new car and has doused it with perfume.  She feels they should give a discount for that dreadful new car smell.

A pillow is on the couch.

There are no spiders in the corner cupboard, but that can't be verified until Uncle Fug puts his hand in there.

Nasalin Fection warned she will never stay at a house with crooked tinsel.

It rained.  Then, it stopped.

Aunt Notsomuch said every hand should have five fingernails.  She can be most unreasonable.


"You got the wrong kind of pie."

Uncle Ree Moat had to quit his tree climbing job because he got his first pedicure and they sawed off his only means of getting up trunks.

Someone struck the middle C key on the piano.  The case is still under investigation.

The cat sniffed the celery a second time.

Mother buried some hair.

The TV tilts forward so the best seat in the house is on the floor. 

Seven and three is seventy-three.  Sister's detention is paying off.

There is more pepper than salt in the shakes.  Father is considering small claims court. 

Sister said her birthday present was hard to unwrap because it had too much tape on it. After a family meeting was called, a quorum of the group agreed to limit one roll of tape per gift. 

Someone should cut the grass.

Once again, we hope you all enjoyed our newsy letter.  Until next year, brush your teeth!

Hugs and Blisses

 from

 Amelia Island 

and

 May Good Times be Yours 
During the Holidays!
(and the rest of your days, too)

A Brother's Gift

     Just look at the very cool T-shirt my sweet brother, retired Navy Chief Bob Harkins, sent me for my birthday.  He knows me so well!  (Insert big smile here!) Thank you,  Bobby!

Goodbye Lie Diaries - Miss Ella's Simple Salad

Late 1800s

Fernandina on Amelia Island, Florida

    

     Miss Ella Dunnigan writes:  Everyone about town is aware I plan the menus for our Aqua Verde Passenger Line of ships.  My staff and I do our utmost to make our passengers' travels a safe yet exciting sea adventure and that, too, is the case with regard to their taste buds.  Sometimes, easy to prepare food is just as appetizing as elegant.  This is the case with my Simple Tomato Salad.  Four ingredients and you have a healthy delight to serve on board your personal boat or yacht, on a picnic or at your dinner table.

     As is the usual, I want to express my thanks to Jane Marie for photographing her version of my salad. It does look tempting. Find how she made it, below.

Miss Ella's Simple Tomato  Salad

You'll Need: 

(Guestimate the quantities of ingredients as to how many people you'll be serving.)

Tomatoes - chopped or Cherry Tomatoes- halved

Walnuts or Pecans- in pieces

Sharp Cheddar Cheese (jmm used 2% fat), Colby or your favorite cheese- in bite-sized pieces

Salad dressing - (jmm used Avacado Ranch)

Toss all the ingredients and serve chilled.  Individual servings may be prepared by the bowl or salad plate. If tomatoes are out of season where you are, tuck this recipe away or splurge.  (Cherry tomatoes were less expensive here in Florida this time of year.)

This would make an easy Valentine side, too!

***

Miss Ella Dunnigan

     Miss Ella, the Dunnigan family matriarch, and prominently featured player in Amelia Island's Goodbye Lie series, is the nearly perfect mother of  the family. Held in high esteem on Amelia Island, Miss Ella is gentle, loving and a thoughtful soul. She would rather turn and run than get "into it" with nosy, nasty Aunt Noreen who lives next door. But Miss Ella's backbone turns iron when need be. ( PLEASE don't tell Aunt Noreen I wrote this reality about her. )     -jmm



Fernandina Shocker

      May I recount a recent incident for you? Permission or not, I shall. There I am signing my historical romance books, aka, The Goodbye Lie series in e-book and paperback, on Centre Street in our charming downtown Fernandina, Amelia Island. Perched on the deck outside Sea Jade's old Florida souvenir shop, I am introducing my novels to new friends.  This is much fun for me and I hope for them as well. But wait, something tears our attention away from the topic of great literature. What is it that we spy across the street? Oh, cheese and crackers, where are binoculars when we need them? It looks to be some sort of partially clothed pointy faced creature, its appendages  bare.  Bold as I am, I volunteer to chance impact with the automobiles barreling toward me at 15 mph or whatever the excessive speed limit is that the law has set.  Do remember, those tourists can have feet of lead. A rowdy bunch, they even sip water directly from bottles.  What would Aunt Noreen think of such crass behavior? 
     Upon arrival on the sunny side of the street, I, once described as the prattling princess, am left speechless. My discovery is less than life threatening, dare I admit? Yes, I dare. My discovery is, well, comical for it is merely a pig playing a trombone. Good times.
    

The Pig aka Eric Wheeler of the Fernandina High School Band

Aunt Noreen is a sometimes less than beloved player in The Goodbye Lie series set in Fernandina on Amelia Island, Florida in the late 1800s.

Dog Brushes Own Teeth

     Abby is the spokesdog for this blog and just about anything else she wants to talk about because she can bark louder than I can. Well, she has mastered a new skill.  She can brush her own teeth!  Please refer to the photo for details of this feat.
     Being the independent sort, Abs prefers being self-taught vs learning to do the usual doggie tricks.  Oh, she can fetch her blue baby, which is code for her bringing any and every stuffed toy she owns to  me when she wants to play.  She will also come when I call treat! 
     However, this dental hygiene thing was a surprise to me.  Having recently been to the vet for a cleaning, I suppose she wanted her teefus to stay bright and shiny.  To that end, she discovered one of my old toothbrushes I use for cleaning those tiny spots around the house.  And she was off in her efforts to maintain that lovely grin she flashes at strangers to lure them in and then nip at their jeans and shoe laces.  Did I mention that Abby is a rescue doggie?  We don't know her history, but do know she is always up for the challenge we call Bite a Hole Through The Pants game, which, again, she invented.
     She let me shoot this picture to demonstrate her tooth-technique so you can share it with your small dog. I should have taken a photo of her with three toothbrushes in front of her.  I was surprised to learn she is also a part time thief, in this case, somehow retrieving our fresh toothbrushes and claiming them for her own.  
    So next time you come to visit us at Stately Martha (Bear) Manor, fear not.  Should you and your jeans and shoelaces make it past Abby and you find she's confiscated your personal toothbrush, I have begun buying the bristly things by the pound and have extras to spare.  

WARNING: ONLY ALLOW YOUR SMALL DOG TO CHEW ON THE TOOTHBRUSH BECAUSE A BIG DOG MIGHT SNAP IT IN TWO AND CHOKE!!!

Walla-What???

I've come across a few strange characters while book signing over the years. Two-legged and four-legged ... Do you remember the unicorn??? (If you missed it, click here: http://graciousjanemarie.blogspot.com/2015/11/unicorn-pays-visit.html)  Well, add this to the list. 
     There I was, outside Sea Jade, Amelia Island's favorite Old Florida souvenir shop on Centre Street in our historic town of Fernandina Beach.  Chatting with some very nice tourists, I interrupted myself to exclaim, " Holy moly!  Is that -?  Sure is!"  Not a kangaroo, but according to the owner carrying the precious critter around in a cloth pouch, it was a wallaby!   Much smaller than a kangaroo, she explained Oliver will get to two feet or a little more.  Like a dog, he is her pet.  At night, he sleeps in this pouch, which hangs from a door knob.  He has recently discovered he can jump out of the pouch. She and her husband are going to try a playpen to corral the little critter next.  Good luck.  Me thinks it won't be long before Oliver will be running the household and pretty much their whole world. 

     What fun it was for everyone who spied the sweet, gentle animal she's raised from a baby.  Her kindness has clearly rubbed off on it because anybody could pet it.

So next time you're on Amelia Island, keep a lookout and be prepared to be surprised in a wonderful way.




















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