MEMED AGAIN!!!

Last night, I was "memed" the first time, thanks to being tagged by Moo, aka Angus Woodbury of Naperville, Ill.  I looked this afternoon, and Tony Marriott had gotten me again, AGAIN!!!  I had a hard enough time coming up with the first 5 things I wrote about......

I bet you're wondering just what on earth "meme" is.......I wondered the same thing when I first read about it, too.  Thanks to Mary McKnight explaining it on her blog, many of us now know what this strange word means.  Each of us who've been tagged have to tell 5 things about ourselves that very few other people know.

So, here goes a list for my SECOND set of 5 things:

  **  I sang soprano in my high school chorus

  **  I was Captain of the Color Guard in high school and I always carried our school flag when we marched in parades, games, etc.

  **  I am the oldest of 5 girls in my family.  We even had a girl dog and a girl cat while growing up....my poor dad - he was TOTALLY outnumbered!!

  **  I worked in retailing - juniors & misses upscale clothing & management - before I came into real estate 25 years ago.

  **  I rarely eat vegetables - there are very few I like enough to eat them - green beans, acorn squash, raw carrots, tomatoes, croutons, french fries - that's about it.  My favorite drinks are ice cold water, Diet Coke, and Coors Light.....yep, a beer-drinker!  ;-)

Well, now you know even more about me than you did from my first list, which was posted on my Active Rain blog!

It's now my turn to tag 3 more people, and I now tag:
             Sue Melhorn
             Real Estate Tomato
             Fred Salzer

    ANNUAL HOLIDAY HOUSE DECORATING  WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!

  This morning's Portsmouth Herald announced the winner's of the "Citywide Neighborhood Annual Holiday House Decorating Contest".

The top prizes went to the following Portsmouth homes:
~~ 1st place winner - 84 Blue Heron Drive, in the Osprey Landing neighborhood.
~~ 2nd place winner - 163 Rockingham Avenue, in the Frank Jones neighborhood.
~~ 3rd place winner - 1180 Ordiorne Point Road, in the Tuckers Cove neighborhood.

The Annual Decorating Contest is open to all Portsmouth residents in the various neighborhoods around town.  Each neighborhood submits their area winners, and then the judges of the contest drive through Portsmouth viewing the top entrants in each neighborhood.  They then make their final selections from that group of decorated homes.

The prizes awarded the top 3 winners were provided by various businesses around town - Atrezzi Fine Kitchen Accessories, Maine-ly New Hampshire, South Street and Vine, Home Depot, and Applebee's.

For something fun to do, take a drive through town and check out the top winners in the partipating neighborhoods around town:
 ** Little Harbor Area - 2 Brackett Lane
 ** Christian Shores Area - 276-278 Dennett Street
 ** Frank Jones Area - 163 Rockingham Avenue
                                          617 Woodbury Avenue                                                                          
                                          1050 Woodbury Avenue
                                          86 Farm Lane
                                          710 Woodbury Avenue
                                          900 Woodbury Avenue
 ** Stonegate Area - 200 Buckminster Way
                                      91 Buckminster Way
                                      66 Buckminster Way
 ** Osprey Landing Area - 64 Blue Heron Drive
                                                63 Blue Heron Drive
                                               109 Osprey Drive
 ** Tuckers Cove Area - 180 Ordiorne Point Road
                                             120 Gosport Road
                                             210 Ordiorne Point Road
                                             175 Ordiorne Point Road
 ** Woodlands Area - 115 FW Hartford Drive
                                        355 FW Hartford Drive
                                        490 FW Hartford Drive
 ** Atlantic Heights Area - 120 Crescent Way
                                                144 Raleigh Way
                                                115-117 Concord Way
 ** Cutts Cove Area - 414 Leslie Drive
 ** Elwyn Park Area - 302 McKinley Road
                                        2 Nixon Park
                                        9 Coolidge Drive
 ** Islington Creek Area - 230 McDonough Street
                                               311 Cabot Street
                                               98 Brewster Street
                                               13 McDonough Street
                                               71 Brewster Street 
 ** Richards Avenue Area - 361 Miller Avenue
                                                   239 Broad Street
 ** Aldrich/Thaxter Area - 50 Sunset Drive
                                                29 Sunset Drive
                                                337 Aldrich Road
                                                954 Islington Street
                                                1046 Islington Street

Congratulations to all the winners!!!  I can't wait to get out there and drive by and see all these great decorations!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Magical Mistletoe

Have you ever wondered about mistletoe - where it comes from, how it came to have the romantic magic it does?  I saw a bunch of it for sale somewhere recently around Portsmouth, and I got to wondering how a plant like that evolved into something with the magical powers that mistletoe symbolizes.

Did you know that mistletoe is really a parasite?  It is!  It's a parasitic shrub that's usually found in fruit trees, maples and sometimes in oaks.  And in North America, it's typically found in trees from New Jersey down to Florida.

Mistletoe has been associated with the holidays at this time of year going back for centuries, and has symbolized peace and love.

In ancient times, Druid priests thought mistletoe was a sacred plant because it grew in the air in oak trees, which was their sacred tree.  They would climb into oak trees and cut the mistletoe with golden sickles.  Worshippers below would catch it on white cloths before it touched the ground, because it was considered bad luck for even the tiniest piece of mistletoe to touch the ground.  It would then be hauled off for use in fertility rites and in cures for a variety of ailments.

In Norse mythology, the soldiers who met in battle under mistletoe would stop their fighting, kiss and make-up.  They had to put their weapons aside and exchange a kiss of peace, declaring a truce for that day.  The tradition of kissing under the mistletoe may have originated from this custom, and from the Druids, since both considered the mistletoe to be sacred.  Other beliefs in folklore say that a sprig of mistletoe placed over a baby's cradle would protect that child from goblins.  And another legend says that giving a sprig to the first cow calving after the New Year would protect the entire herd.

Greek mythology says that a bough of mistletoe plucked from an oak will guarantee safe passage to the Underworld.  In Swiss folkfore, it was shot out of trees with arrows for good luck, but had to be caught before it touched the ground.

Mistletoe has meant all kinds of things over the years.  The language of flowers shows it to be associated with overcoming difficulties.  It was believed to be a cure for epilepsy, since it doesn't ever touch the ground, it could prevent epileptics from falling during a seizure.  Native American tribes in the southwest drink a tea made from mistletoe to relax the muscles during childbirth.  Today, it's being researched as a drug to used to fight inflammation and cancer.  Who knows what it might be used for tomorrow......

In the 18th century, kissing balls made of mistletoe were popular, and continue to this day.  In the 1700's, the exchange of kisses between a man and a woman was seen as a promise to marry.  Getting caught under the mistletoe was supposed to increase a young lady's chances of marriage back then.  Their belief then was that a girl who wasn't kissed would still be single until the next Christmas.  I'm thinking "the times, they have a'changed"!!

Mistletoe was the state flower of Oklahoma until 2004, but it does still serve as the state's official floral emblem.

There's everything you could ever want to know about mistletoe!  And remember, if you're standing under the mistletoe, be mindful of what it COULD mean!!  ;-)

Here's another little snippet of Holiday History for you to read about!

Merry Christmas!!
Ann Cummings

Did you know that Thanksgiving actually began in the United Kingdom, as their Harvest Festival?  It was later brought to America by the early settlers, and from there it became a much more important holiday than it had been originally.  The first celebration in America took place in Plymouth in 1621 by the Pilgrims, which was actually a form of the UK's Harvest Festival.  The first official Thanksgiving was actually in the Virginia Colony on December 4, 1619.  The first national Thanksgiving Day was proclaimed by George Washington and celebrated on November 26, 1789.

Take a trip with the Pilgrims and see how they made it to America, how they lived once they got here, and what their Thanksgiving feasts were like back in the 1600s.

Want to learn more about Thanksgiving and the history and lore behind it?  Take this quiz and see how you do!

Want to have some fun with some turkey trivia and see how much (or not) you know about the good old Thanksgiving staple?  
 ~~  Tom the Turkey   ~~  Be a "Top Turkey"   ~~  Turkey Facts Trivia

Here's some fun things for the kids and grandkids!!
 ~~  Games, Screensavers & Storybooks    ~~    Turkey Crafts    ~~   Stories, Games, & More

What to do with all those leftovers???????
   Check out these sites for ideas for leftovers and some great recipes - lots of yummy ideas here!!
        Even those ice cream mogels, Ben and Jerrys, get into the Thanksgiving fun!

And don't forget that fabulous Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!!  My sisters and I so looked forward to watching this parade every Thanksgiving morning while my mom was putting together a fabulous meal for us.  As a matter of fact, I still watch this parade every Thanksgiving morning.....   ;-)

My wish to all of you is for a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

Ann Cummings
Portsmouth New Hampshire

Shop Till You Drop!!

If you love to shop, you'll love the Seacoast areas of New Hampshire and Southern Maine!!  We've got every kind of shopping you can imagine!

Shopping in New Hampshire is tax-free, but with all the outlet shopping in Kittery, Maine, you can save more at the outlets than the tax you'll pay there!!  And everyone likes to save money!! $$$$

If you take this bridge from downtown Portsmouth New Hampshire north, you'll cross over the Piscataqua River into Kittery Maine.  Kittery has about a 2 mile stretch on Route 1 where both sides are lined with outlet shopping of every kind you can imagine!  You can buy just about everything here in these outlets except groceries, but you can get food products at several shops.  Don't fear, you won't go hungry!

There's so much shopping, I can't imagine that everyone won't find something they've got to have.  The Maine Outlet plaza is the largest in the area.  Tanger Outlet Center in Kittery is loaded with great shops.  And there are several others as well.....plan to spend some time here and some money!

Don't forget to stop and enjoy some of the great area restaurants while doing all this shopping!  Fresh local seafood is everywhere, and some of the local favorites as well as favorites with visitors are Bob's Clam Hut and
The Weathervane Seafood Restaurant.  Both of these restaurants offer up the freshest of local seafood, including world famous Maine lobster served in a variety of ways. 

After all that shopping, you'll need to enjoy some sustenance, and what better way to do that than with our fresh local foods - lobster here is THE BEST!!  Fresh, sweet ....  oh I'm getting hungry as I write this!

Come to the Seacoast areas of New Hampshire and Southern Maine - I guarantee you'll have a fabulous visit and you'll leave wanting to come back for more.......perhaps you'll even want to make this slice of heaven your new home!!   ;-)

Ann Cummings