You may remember this line if you watched the series, Designing Women. On one of their later shows, one of the actresses commented, "This is the first day of the last decade of the entire 20th Century!" I can't believe it's been 20 years since I saw that show! Yikes!!
Oh well......better than the alternative!! So....how in Heaven's name are pirates invading Madison, Alabama you ask? Well, it's simple. They're coming in through Fursdon House, that's how!!
So here's the story, because I was advised by Nigel's "sister", Marian, in England that I hadn't written about them yet! And it's certainly worth hearing, if I do say so myself!
Nigel found this web site back in June or July of this year that sold life-sized pirate statues, and he LOVED them!!! He was so excited about them he could hardly wait to show me. Well, being the party-pooper I am, I told him I thought they were rather ridiculous, very ugly and way too expensive. However, Nigel was NOT to be discouraged and even went so far as to seriously suggest it would make a great birthday or Christmas present! To which I responded in no uncertain terms that I would NEVER spend MY money on such a useless object.
Lesson #1, which I've known all my life, but momentarily forgot: NEVER say you will NEVER do something, because that is EXACTLY what you WILL do, sooner or later!
Summer then progresses and Nigel starts building the "potting shed" which he eventually gives to me and turns into my very own studio!! Yea!!! And before you know it, Christmas is fast approaching. Thinking to myself that I really wanted to get Nigel a super nice Christmas present (because he was SO GENEROUS with the studio), I suddenly remembered how he went on and on (and on and on and on) about those blasted pirates!! UGH!!!
Well, you guessed it. I knew what I had to do, so I swallowed my pride, went to the web site and bought a male pirate! Within two weeks, a 6 foot plus, swashbuckling male (albeit a statue), with foot firmly planted on a cannon no less, arrived at our doorstep! We named him Blackbeard, after our favorite Walt Disney classic, Blackbeard's Ghost. That and the fact he had a long black beard helped! What do you think?
Yes, only at the Fursdon House are you likely to see such sights (unless of course you're at a theme park)! Blackbeard greeted everyone all evening long and was quite the topic of conversation! And I thought that was the end of our little adventure! Silly me!
About a week after Papa Blackbeard arrived, Isabel comes running down the stairs laughing and saying, "Gummy! Gummy! Grandpa just bought a lady pirate to keep Blackbeard company!!"
"Yeah, right. Sure he did." said I.
"No, Gummy. He really, really did! Come see!"
"No Sweetheart. Gummy's busy right now. I'll check with Grandpa later."
Isabel ran back upstairs, calling over her shoulder, "And I helped pick her out!"
"Okay." I respond absent mindedly, thinking that's probably the end of it. Why I thought that, I have no idea. I mean, you'd think I'd learn by now, but I'm obviously a little slow!! I even asked Nigel about it a day or so later. "Oh yeah. I bought a real cool female pirate, and Isabel helped me pick it out!"
"Yeah, right Nigel. Sure you did." La La La, I went, in my own little world, and dismissed the whole thing. Then, about a week later, I get a phone call, stating my shipment is in and asking if a tractor-trailer truck can turn around in our circle, or do they need to park on the outside street. I'm still clueless because I was actually expecting a package and I just figured it was being delivered in a truck full of other inventory. Okay, so I'm a LOT slow! Until......at the end of our conversation, the lady on the phone says something like, "Well, I hope you like your pirate!"
"My what?"
Yes, FINALLY it hit me! That rascal husband of mine actually bought another one!! And sure enough - SHE is a pirate, complete with musket, dagger and sword, and.............a cleavage from hither to yon!!! Funny that I don't remember seeing female pirates in history books, and CERTAINLY none who looked anything like her!! If there had been, there wouldn't have been much pirating going on!! See what I mean!!
You have to admit - she is lovely!! I named her Precious!
Wicked sense of humor that I have!
(By the way, I just photographed her in the rain a few minutes ago, which accounts for the little white "specs", but I wanted to get this posted now, rather than wait till later!)
So there you have it - the complete story of how pirates invaded Madison, Alabama!! As for me, I couldn't care less. I'm going to be inside my studio, working away, totally oblivious to everything around me!!
Post Script: In church on Christmas Eve, our neighbor's 8-year-old daughter leaned over the pew and said, "First a man pirate! Then a woman pirate! What's next? A CAT pirate?"
"Well you just never know at the Fursdon House!!" I responded. Then I got to thinking. Puss n' Boots was a cat pirate!! I wonder if they have a statue of him?! After all, the Fursdons LOVE cats!
Have a happy and blessed New Year 2011!
Jan
