still unsure of what i want to do with this blogging thing. please note that when i don't capitalize things it is because i'm doing this one handed and i hate wasting time hitting the caps lock button so much.

i've been watching one of my fav british comedies, keeping up appearances. the family of sisters reminds me of my own family since we have grown up and especially  since daddy has been diagnosed with dementia.

the eldest is hyacinth ............sandra, the eldest in our family
next is daisy...............but she is more like my little sis debbie
then there is violet......that is nancy, she is next to the oldest and a year older than me
finally rose............alas, she is me, barbara

hyacinth lives in a world of her own and ashamed of her lower middle class/or lower class upbringing. she is also ashamed of how daisy, rose and her father live together in the "projects". she often brags of violet's wealth and affluent lifestyle. the storyline revolves around hyacinth and the hilarious things that happen as she tries to keep up a good front with her candlelight suppers and various other experiences with family, friends and the locals. she is always bossing everyone and they all seem to feel giving in to her whims/demands is easier than the slightest confrontation. she never takes no for an answer or really listens to what other people say. she is married to richard. poor henpecked richard. everyone feels sorry for him and they state it frequently. when they ask him how he copes he always say, "you just get use to it i guess." they all shudder at the thought of having to get used to it. lots of folks hide from her and she them which leads to some funny happenings. hyacinth has a so, tarquin, who is gay and away at university. hyacinth is oblivious to the situation with her son's sexuality. he constantly calls home for money to make curtains or buy silk pj's or some such nonsense. the next door neighbor, elizabeth, is at hyacinth's beck and call as is elizabeth's  newly divorced brother, emmet, who just moved in with his sister. no one is safe from the dreaded "bucket" (pronounced "boo-kay") woman. not the vicar, the postman, the town council, the ladies at the church, or the dogs walked in front of her home. all alien shoes must be removed at the doorstep  prior to entering. everyone gets a lesson in etiquette and manners except the social climbing hyacinth. when she answers her slim line phone hyacinth always says, "the boo-kay residence! lady of the house speaking."

daisy is sweet. she is married to onslow. they don't work. they admit to being bone idle. they either sit in the living room eating crisps, watching tv and drinking beer or they lie in bed till late morning or early afternoon. they usually only get up when it is discovered that the senile father is missing yet again or he has brought another woman home with the promise of marriage. onslow never wears a shirt only a "vest" or as i call it a knitted v-neck sleeveless sweater. hyacinth comments that the area where they live is like the third world. it is pretty run down  inside and out. when hyacinth comes over it is treated like a "royal visit." daisy is a romantic and reads romance paperbacks constantly. she will occasionally be seen sucking her thumb while reading. daisy is very much in love with onslo and constantly tries to get him romantically interested in her. she says this romantic interlude happens maybe once every four months or so.  they live with rose and the sisters father in a run down area of town that has rows of apartments that offer a living room and kitchen downstairs and 3 bedrooms and one bath upstairs. it is a "pig sty." i don't think they ever clean anything. their shaggy and seemingly smelly ( i believe i can smell it thru the tv screen) dog lives in a junk car that sits in their tiny front yard and it never misses an opportunity to lunge out and bark at hyacinth as she cautiously goes by.

rose. geesh what can be said about rose that wouldn't make a vicar blush. nothing. she loves men, usually married men, hyacinth's neighbor's newly divorced brother and "dishy new vicars." rose is always dressed  in a mini skirt, lingerie, or tight leggings. one time she calls hyacinth and wants their mother's wedding dress to be buried in after she kills herself over one of her boyfriends has gone back to his wife, again. she is always "suffering" over the loss of some great love yet has several gents standing in the wings ready and willing to take their place. she often juggles more than one relationship at a time. she even goes so far as to go to the vicar wanting to be a nun after hyacinth has forbidden it. of course she falls back into her ways immediately and starts flirting with the vicar just as his wife walks in on them. the vicar's wife is very jealous and suspicious of him. she often says, "watch out for the ladies!" i never liked her character. rose is always going off men, but just long enough to bump into another one and then pounce!

violet. she is the sister that hyacinth introduces as being "married a turf accountant, has room for a pool and a pony and drives a mercedes." we don't see violet very often, but she calls hyacinth very frequently on the phone. bruce is violet's husband. violet usually calls hyacinth when she is upset with bruce because he wants to wear her clothes or to see if hyacinth has a girdle o bikini that will fit bruce. the calls always seem to come when hyacinth is entertaining elizabeth. violet tells hyacinth she wants a divorce but hyacinth tells her she needs to be more tolerant of bruce for the sake of keeping  the "house with room for a pool and pony and the mercedes."

keep in mind these descriptions follow very closely the lives of my sisters and myself.