So, I called the two blow-dry bars I use in emergencies.\u00a0 My only possibility was a \u201cdry-style\u201d which meant I had to wash AND DRY my hair myself. This is no easy task for me with a shoulder that needs replacement, and for which I cancelled surgery because I couldn\u2019t miss my granddaughter\u2019s choral solo in Chicago. When she heard I put off my surgery, the 10-year old admonished me: \u201cGrandma, you shouldn\u2019t put off surgery. That\u2019s more important than my singing.\u201d I was beginning to agree with her\u2013as I\u00a0 lay awake that night with her precious head squished against my painfully arthritic shoulder.\u00a0 But after sharing our last way-past-her-bedtime-bout of giggles, she drifted off to sleep, and her soft rhythmic breath played a symphony on my heartstrings, lulling me into a sweet slumber.<\/p>\n
After 10 wasted minutes ruminating, I came to and jumped in the shower, painfully scrubbed the goo out of my hair, gave my dryer a quick sip on my remaining 200 hairs,\u00a0 and wiped on some make-up. Glancing at my watch, I made a frantic search in my closet for a Queen Elizabeth-like suit. I did have one that looked the part, but did not have the matching prop-purse to go with it. Deciding it was too hot for a suit anyway, I settled on a sleeveless red dress and hurried over. I was proud to be only 10 minutes late\u2013beating my usual tardiness by 5 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry, she can\u2019t take you. She has another client at 10:00.\u201d It was 9:40 and I was desperate.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh please, would you reconsider? I have very little hair, and I\u2019ll take anything she can do with it in 20 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wasting 2 of my 20, she finally sauntered back to me with the begrudging hairdresser, who magically did my do with 8 minutes to spare.\u00a0 Ten minutes to do what normally is a\u00a0 45 to 60 minute styling\u2013and I still had to pay the full price! Then, feeling guilty that I was late and put her out, I gave her a huge tip as an apology! That\u2019s the kind of price I dutifully pay for my chronic lateness.<\/p>\n
I am sure most sane women would not even have considered Mary\u2019s invitation, as spontaneously inconvenient as it was.\u00a0 But this was one of the rare weekends that I wasn\u2019t needed by grandchildren out of town, and Mary is a rare person. So, I had to attend this event that I knew could only be \u201coverboard.\u201d Besides, my daughter-in-law had just told me that today was \u201cNational Twin Day.\u201d\u00a0 For twins Mary & Nancy, this was truly a day to celebrate.<\/p>\n
My husband escorted me to my carriage, happy to talk to Nancy. You see, he had dated her in high school, long before he had met me. As I looked at her tiny size 2 frame, (compared to my \u201caverage\u201d size) and her flawless skin and full, long, wavy hair (most of\u00a0 mine sat limp in the shower drain) she turned a beautiful smile up to him, sporting the whitest of teeth (I would try whitening, but can\u2019t go that long without talking).\u00a0 I actually felt sorry for my husband that he ended up with plan B.<\/p>\n
He bade us a \u201cCheerio\u201d and off we went in her carriage\u2013for the long drive to her sister Mary\u2019s country estate.<\/p>\n
Nancy\u00a0 and I chatted incessantly the whole delightful drive, catching up quickly on too many lost years. We\u00a0 became friends shortly after our wedding\u2013my introduction to her being a phone call jarring us awake in the middle of the night. It was Nancy calling from Paris to congratulate Ted on his marriage. The Pillsbury twins have a penchant for these \u201cawakening phone calls.\u201d Anyway, I ended up working with her in her Pillsbury Marketing Company.\u00a0 I was still one of her sales reps the day I found out I was pregnant with my first child. I remember hurrying back to the office to tell Nancy the good news. \u201cCongratulations to you and Edward (Nancy, being a very \u201cFancy Nancy\u201d always uses Ted\u2019s more formal name). And then, \u201cThis calls for a toast!\u201d With a mischievous smile on her face,\u00a0 Nancy popped open a bottle of Moet & Chandon that she just happened to have chilling in her office refrigerator.<\/p>\n
As twins so often share the same tastes, Mary also had champagne chilling for us when we arrived at her estate.<\/p>\n
We rolled up the driveway lined with lush overhanging trees, looking so like \u201cTara\u201d that\u00a0 when I saw the back of a tall man in a black suit lingering at the door, I thought it might have been Rhett Butler\u2013pining after Scarlett who had just slammed the door in his face. Pulling me from my reverie, Nancy quipped\u2013\u201cLook at her horses!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re beautiful. Does she ride?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes her husband ride them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, does she\u00a0boar<\/em>d them for someone?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo. I think she just has them for show.\u201d<\/p>\n I laughed. It was such a twin sister thing to say. Nancy and Mary are always putting each other in their place.<\/p>\n She pulled up to the circle drive which revealed a vista of endless trees and\u00a0 more lush greenery in every direction. We had arrived at Mary\u2019s Beau-Ciel\u2013which was definitely a chateau. Getting out of the car, we stopped for pictures with the other guests around Mary\u2019s angel statue\u2014made in her likeness (except for the wings) by artist\u00a0 Jamie Anderson of Rolla, Missouri as a gift from loving husband, Don, and unveiled years ago by her friend, the late Governor Mel Carnahan.<\/p>\n Thankfully, due to the intense heat, we were relieved that our hostess met us at the door and in her typical Mari-steria, insisted we all come inside because she had \u201cJust pulled my homemade scones from the oven, and my English butler and French maid are ready to serve.\u201d So there was a \u201cButler\u201d at the door\u2013just not the Rhett variety.<\/p>\n We were seated at a luxuriously set table, with a sparkling crystal chandelier above\u2013of which Mary announced\u00a0she cleaned every prism herself because\u2013\u201cwell, no one can do it better! I\u00a0\u00a0am a jeweler after all.\u201d To take in the full scintillating brilliance of this total eclipse of her heart, I donned my sunglasses.\u00a0 Staring up at it, I had to squint my eyes at the sun\u2019s rays which darted colors like fireworks in every direction.<\/p>\n As her English Butler began pouring pink champagne in our crystal flutes, Mary drew our attention to the real \u201cguest of honor.\u201d \u201cLook up\u201d she said\u2026.\u201dYou are the first to sit beneath this canopy of hospitality\u2013my personally designed stained glass ceiling.\u201d Mary directed all of us to look up higher, at the real purpose of our visit. \u201cLook,\u201d she almost shouted with the unabashed excitement of a five-year-old, \u201cI designed every piece of glass myself. These are all my favorite flowers: Roses, Gardenias and Orchids.\u201d The flowers were jewels of red, lavender and white set with rubies and aquamarines.<\/p>\n Exquisite is the word that comes to mind when walking through Versailles. And, after one glass of champagne beneath this magnificent stained glass \u201ccanopy,\u201d I felt the Sun King himself was about to appear. Between sips of champagne, and orders to her butler and lady-in-waiting, Mary pointed out everything French in the room\u2013including the gold-flecked draperies that shimmered in the early afternoon sun.<\/p>\n Perhaps like King Louis XIV spoke of Versailles, Mary\u2019s words are laced with euphuism\u2013not to be confused with euph-EMISM which folds an insult into a form of compliment\u2013her euphUisms are ornate flowery disguises that would be deemed bragging by an average woman. But since Mary is anything BUT average, hearing her polished descriptions of her sparkling crystal and precious stones set so precisely in her ceiling felt as natural as hearing a docent give a museum tour.<\/p>\n And her orders to her \u201cEnglish Butler\u201d and to us, her ladies in waiting, to \u201cMake sure the flower on the plate goes at 9 O\u2019clock,\u201d were given with such assiduous assurance of her regal role as hostess of the castle, that we all deigned to bow our heads in unison to \u201cmake sure our flower was at 9 O\u2019clock,\u201d as if we might get sent to the royal guillotine had we not obeyed.<\/p>\n Heart-shaped scone on her porcelain plate with flower at 9 o\u2019clock.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Yet, you must know, this was not at all upsetting to any of us.<\/p>\n Mary is nothing if not a perfectionist, and, in addition to her superb knowledge of architecture and every kind of crystal and jewel that can be mined in what is left over of our earth after the ravages of global-warming, she is an archetypal history buff.\u00a0 As much French as I have studied in my life, and even enjoy reading and speaking, my knowledge of the French Kings and the wives they discarded, and the heirs from their assignations with mistresses along with the furniture they inspired is \u201cnulle,\u201d as the French say, compared to Mary\u2019s. In fact, if we were ever pitted against each other in a game of Jeopardy, I would\u2014as much as I love to be on television\u2014concede to her as \u201cLe Champion\u201d before even hearing the first question. And, that\u2019s OK, because Mary would have no problem filling the lack of air time. She could easily and at length wax poetic on just about any subject that host Alex Trebek might conjure up.\u00a0 NOTE: Look for my upcoming interview with Mary and twin sister Nancy on my soon (don\u2019t hold your breath) to be released podcast\u2013also known by the name: WomanOverboard.<\/p>\n Our hostess put together an auspicious group of women (I think somebody got sick and I was a fill-in). We had Mary\u2019s other half, my \u201cchauffeur,\u201d the lovely and petite marketing genius, Nancy,\u00a0 President of Pillsbury Marketing. As twins, Nancy & Mary must have tussled in the womb, for they pepper every get-together with lively verbal combat that, when dissected seems vicious but, when said in their mellifluous pearl-shaped tones, takes on a rather light and humorous air.\u00a0 They are both opera singers after all. Nancy is President of the Winter Opera in St. Louis, and in March feted me and many of my family members with the treat of\u00a0L\u2019Elisir d\u2019Amore\u2013a marvelous comedic Italian opera by the Italian composer Donizetti.<\/p>\n Sunday brought me back to reality and another opera. After a gourmet Imo\u2019s pizza dinner at home (on Kevin\u2019s list of must-have St. Louis foods when he\u2019s visiting from Thailand), I finished off the weekend with the Muny\u2019s final show of its 100th season:\u00a0Meet Me In St. Louis.<\/p>\n What better musical for the finale. A \u201cShow within a show,\u201d I thought as my sister, cousin and I sat amidst 12,000 people on the very grounds of that World\u2019s fair site that 114 years ago was aglow with the newest \u201cElectric Lights\u2019 Pavilion\u201d and teeming with millions of people from all over the world dressed in their finest top hats and high button shoes. \u201cClang-Clang-Clang went the trolley, and ding, ding, ding went\u00a0my<\/em>\u00a0heartstrings as I wistfully thought back to my childhood when I had seen the same show on this very stage. At intermission, I walked the long walk from my box seats up to the \u201cfree seats,\u201d and the view from there was as magnificent as I remembered it at age eight\u2014sitting tall and proud next to my mother, my crinoline sticking to my skin under my gingham dress on that hot August night. I swung my black patented-covered feet in time to the beat of the \u201cTrolley\u201d, and clapped my white-gloved hands as hard as I could at the end of each wonderful song.<\/p>\n Standing for the final ovation, my eyes brimmed over at those fond recollections with my mother.\u00a0 I thought about the strange passage of time, and how if back then someone would have said: \u201cyou will stand for this same finale some 55 years later\u201d\u2026..I would have thought them crazy.<\/p>\n And we were crazy old ladies that night. For after the show, it took us at least 30 hungry minutes to make our way out of the park, and I felt a gnawing in my stomach that could only be filled by one thing:\u00a0 A \u201cCrave\u201d bag at White Castle. After dropping my sister, I chatted to my cousin who lived another 20 minutes away. She is closer in age to my mother than to me\u2013and since my mother\u2019s untimely death shortly after my marriage, I have taken my mother\u2019s place as her friend, and she has taken my mother\u2019s place as both Mother AND friend.\u00a0 \u201cMaryAnn, what would you say to stopping at White Castle? I am awfully hungry.\u201d \u201cSure, sounds good to me,\u201d she said without hesitation. That\u2019s one thing MaryAnn & I have in common\u2013that I inherited from my mother\u2013we are both night owls.<\/p>\n There is something so deliciously wicked about being out after midnight, owning the road and having all the wonders of the dark night to yourself and your imagination.<\/p>\n As I pulled into White Castle and gave my order to the young female attendant, I almost expected her to chastise me for being out so late. She seemed to be peering into the backseat like she was looking for some teenagers hiding in back, too embarrassed to be seen with us old ladies.\u00a0 She looked askance at me when I ordered two dozen white castles and two large cokes\u2013plus one large order of fries and one order of onion rings.<\/p>\n![\"IMG_3027\"](\"https:\/\/nancyscanlonkoplar.files.wordpress.com\/2018\/08\/img_3027.jpg?w=640\")
<\/p>\n![\"img_3009.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/nancyscanlonkoplar.files.wordpress.com\/2018\/08\/img_3009-e1536550550482.jpg?w=640\")
<\/p>\n![\"IMG_3010\"](\"https:\/\/nancyscanlonkoplar.files.wordpress.com\/2018\/08\/img_3010.jpg?w=640\")
<\/p>\n![\"IMG_2985\"](\"https:\/\/nancyscanlonkoplar.files.wordpress.com\/2018\/08\/img_2985.jpg?w=640\")
<\/p>\n![\"IMG_2998\"](\"https:\/\/nancyscanlonkoplar.files.wordpress.com\/2018\/08\/img_2998-e1536529846527.jpg?w=640\")
<\/p>\n![\"IMG_3032\"](\"https:\/\/nancyscanlonkoplar.files.wordpress.com\/2018\/08\/img_3032.jpg?w=640\")
<\/p>\n
![\"IMG_3318\"](\"https:\/\/nancyscanlonkoplar.files.wordpress.com\/2018\/09\/img_3318.jpg?w=166&h=222\" "\\"IMG_3318\\"")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"IMG_3313\"](\"https:\/\/nancyscanlonkoplar.files.wordpress.com\/2018\/09\/img_3313.jpg?w=296&h=222\" "\\"IMG_3313\\"")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"IMG_3312\"](\"https:\/\/nancyscanlonkoplar.files.wordpress.com\/2018\/09\/img_3312.jpg?w=166&h=222\" "\\"IMG_3312\\"")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"IMG_3323\"](\"https:\/\/nancyscanlonkoplar.files.wordpress.com\/2018\/09\/img_3323.jpg?w=640\")
<\/p>\n