Friday, December 15, 2006

Let Me Introduce You

to a very special lady, Miss Claudia.
I met Miss Claudia through my friend Dian, she of the pimpilicious Cadillac. Dian and Miss Claudia are thick as thieves. Dian and I were in the habit of having lunch on a regular basis, and she had been telling me about her friend Claudia. One day she asked if I would mind if Claudia joined us for lunch. Since I had heard all these stories about Miss Claudia, I told Dian I'd love to meet her.

And that's how we became a fairly regular three-some for lunch. Sometimes we go to Ruby's Diner. It's an old fashioned diner {duh} on the town square. We usually have breakfast if we go to Ruby's, even tho we're there at lunchtime. Sometimes we go to a place down the street from where Dian's shop is. Mostly we go to a semi-swanky place called The Greenhouse. A Long Time Ago, it was a florist shop with an attached greenhouse, hence the name. We sit in the bar area so I can smoke and b/c there is a window wall and we can watch the world go by.
Whatever else we may order, I always get the sweet potato fries. They are about the size of fast food fries, but they are made from peeled sweet taters and deep fried 'til they're crispy. Yum-yum.
Sorry for the confusion...I hit the "publish" button when I meant to hit the "save as draft" button.

OK, back to Miss Claudia. She is just as cute as a bug in a rug. And style? Children, she has style for days. She had come into The Greenhouse one day with her sunglasses in her hand. Before she could put them up, Dian wanted her to show them to me. I looked at them. Couldn't help but notice...they were PRADA. Get Back! I told her the devil wears Prada. Well, the Devil and Anderson Cooper. But Miss Claudia has more style than Anderson Cooper.
She's just a little slip of a thing, too. She's not self-conscious about it, but she hates it when little kids point or stare in public. That's just RUDE. Their Mama's ought to teach them manners before they take them out. I agree 100%. My chirrens never did that.
She has a mink jacket that she had the sleeves removed from. It was too bulky to wear when she was driving with the sleeves in. She pulls it off with total panache. On me it would look awkward, on her it looks superb.
Miss Claudia has a birthday next week. I sincerely hope that I live to be her age, and that if I do, I look as good as she does. When she confided her age to me, which you could not pull from me with teams of wild horses, I was dumbfounded. She looks a good 15 - 20 years younger.
I am going to get her present tomorrow. I checked with Dian to make sure she likes candles. She does. While I was at St. David's hospital last July, visiting a sick family member, I dicovered Tyler candles in the gift shop there. To be more specific, I discovered the "High Maintenance" candle that Tyler makes. It has a lovely 'rich' smell.
And let's face it, Miss Claudia is high maintenance. Not as a friend. As a friend, she is a delight. But I betcha, as a wife, she was high maintenance. But I also betcha, any of her husbands {she's a widow} would gladly testify, if we could contact them, that she was more than worth it!
Happy Birthday!

4 comments:

Wayne said...

I can remember growing up with folks like Ms. Claudia. My Grandmother ran a beauty shop for close to 45 years and I spent alot of time after school there. Lots of elegent women in and out all day long.

Sounds like you have found a real treasure in Miss Claudia. Lucky you.

Tole

HollyB said...

Yes, Miss Claudia IS most definitely a treasure!
When I was a little bitty girl my Gr.granmtr's baby Sister, Lily, had a beauty shop. To me it was THE most exotic place in town.
And all the "wimmin" talk was fascinating, too.
As I got older, my grandmother would take me to Her beauty shop when she went to get her hair done on Saturdays. What a treat that was! All the sights and smells and more "wimmin" talk.
The smells and sounds of an old-fashioned "Beauty shop" can still bring back great Memories! Thanks for the reminder.

Anonymous said...

She sounds like the ringleader of what we referred to as 'the bluehair network' where I grew up. Smart, self-sufficient, independent. Always had the best gossip and news. You never wanted to be on their bad side and could count on them as *the* source of reliable intelligence information as to what was really going on around town.

It is to my benefit that I grew up around ladies like that.

Regards,
Rabbit.

phlegmfatale said...

Golly, I love Miss Claudia already - if I lived nearby, I suspect we'd make a foursome!