 Nostalgia, DVDs, old movies, television, OTR, fandom, good news and bad, picks, pans, cute budgie stories, cute terrier stories, and anything else I can think of. Contact me at theyoungfamily (at) earthlink (dot) net . . . . . . . . . .
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» Sunday, December 31, 2006
Happy Hogmanay!
 » Friday, December 29, 2006
"Fast Away the Old Year Passes..."
January 21 at 9 PM EST
Yay! The Dresden Files
Okay, so they changed Karrin Murphy to Connie Murphy...but Bob is now a guy? Too weird. Labels: television Books and Things
After running around all week, I took it a bit easier today and did a couple of errands, bought wrapping paper for next year (zowee, 75 cents for 100 square foot rolls!) and stopped at the library to see about getting an interlibrary loan (I'm planning to do a web page on The Five Little Peppers books and want to read the other four books that I don't have) before coming home to watch some Christmas movies and specials.
Yesterday I did a bunch of shopping for dinner, did laundry, cleaned the house and gave Willow a bath in the morning. Our guest arrived around 1:30 after a long drive from northern South Carolina and I finished patching some pants after taking him on "the nickel tour." We watched the two first features on the "Your Host, Walt Disney" Disney Treasures set, then I played the Get Smart reunion sequence for him. I think he got a big kick out of it. It's a super bit: 65 minutes recorded about two years before Don Adams died, featuring Don, Barbara Feldon, executive producer Leonard Stern, director Jay Sandrich, and producer Burt Nodella, and Bernie Kopell. Very funny. I made chicken cacciatore and a salad for supper, which we ate with a side of French bread, and pieces of a little chocolate cake that I got from Harry's. It looked like one of Mrs. Hewison's Christmas cakes in miniature; only 4 inches across. Then we watched Jeopardy and finally crammed in four episodes of Doctor Who, including the heartbreaking season finale. We saw Rodney off at eight this morning. It was a great visit. Labels: DVDs, friends, television » Wednesday, December 27, 2006
R.I.P. Gerald Ford
» Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Note to Our Upcoming Visitor...
Shopping After Christmas... » Monday, December 25, 2006
Ho-Ho-Ho Holidays...
...complete with birds, budgies, biscuits, bows, and a bishop in Holiday Harbour.
Labels: Christmas, Holiday Harbour » Sunday, December 24, 2006
"Christmas is Coming..."
...with birds Christmas feasting, budgie kisses, treats cooking for dinner, and a blast from the past in Holiday Harbour.
(Mike! Thanks again for the wonderful Christmas surprise!) » Saturday, December 23, 2006
An Old-Fashioned Tree...
» Friday, December 22, 2006
Christmas-y Goodness
 They sprung us an hour early today so I headed for Michael's; used a coupon on tape to wrap gifts. Withdrew some money to be able to present as a tip to the fellow who cuts our lawn, and also got a dozen Davidson eggs. These are pasteurized in the shell. I'm planning to make proper eggnog...eggs, milk, a little sugar, some cinnamon...like my mom made me for breakfast on school mornings so long ago.
"Jack Frost Nipping at Your Nose..."
...(not hardly, unless you're in Denver) and other winter solstice links in Holiday Harbour.
Labels: Holiday Harbour, online, winter A Mixed Bag Yesterday I got my teleworking equipment.I already had a security keyfob to be able to log on the network from home, and had gotten into the system, but had not yet done any work through it. I told the telework people I already had a computer system (with virus coverage and a firewall, and not wireless for security purposes). But everyone got the same setup as part of the telework pilot: a new Dell laptop, plus a separate keyboard, mouse, port station, four-in-one printer so we can receive faxes (the downside is you have to list your personal phone number as the fax number), and a 19-inch flatscreen monitor. (It's actually not our—PGO's—equipment: everything belongs to pandemic influenza. If there's an outbreak, we have to give everything back, so we've been told to keep the boxes.) The problem is that there's nowhere to put it. Ikea does have a pint-sized roll cart for computers and we can keep the setup in our room and then I can wheel it out and connect it to the DSL connection in the morning. (This means we have to go back to Ikea; ouch! twist my arm! <g>) Anyway, last night I brought three of my orders home and did them on my own computer. I had done all the backwork (sole source justifications, quotations from the vendor, Excluded Parties printout, etc.) to them, which is the hard part, and got in to see if I could enter all the info into ICE and then build the order. Well, everything works fine: the build is pretty slow in the part where it has to fill out the blocks in the cover sheet of the OF347—I figure it's because I'm working on the system through Internet Explorer, which is a pokey SOB. I did two orders and printed them out this morning; did another half order but waited until I got in and confirmed which was the correct vendor; they're listed in our database twice because the two different branches of the company have two different Dun & Bradstreet numbers and if you pick the wrong one you have to do a modification to the order. Every time we do a modification it costs the taxpayer money, so I want them right the first time. <wry g> We can start teleworking any time after the first of the year; will start on Thursdays at least, because Thursday is the most damnable day for traffic: last night I actually did fine until I entered the "sinkhole" area that surrounds Cumberland Mall—or maybe it's a whirlpool because everyone gets sucked in, but it doesn't move anywhere near that fast. (There's no way around it; I have to go past Cumberland Mall to get home. Even if I go out of the way two exits north the traffic is backed up. Everything stops at Cumberland, especially four days before Christmas.) It ended up taking me 75 minutes to get home, 35 minutes to go the last eight miles between the freeway and our house. My cousin Debbie got her Christmas card yesterday and called me with the startling news that my godmother had sold her house quite recently! She had lived there since 1929! It was her parents' house originally and they built it in time for her to attend the first classes at my old junior high, Hugh B. Bain. I didn't know all this until last summer, except that the area the house was on used to be a trotting track and fairgrounds from the mid-1800s to the early 1920s and then the trotting track became a race track in the late 20s, which is why the neighborhood was called "Speedway." She told me her family used to own all the land around the area, including the land across the street where the Angelones used to live and the Costas now live and on summer nights they would sit on "Eddie's front lawn" and the kids would play there. But gradually her mother sold off the parcels, one of which my parents bought. She ended up selling because her sister-in-law Dotty, who used to live upstairs in the house, passed away in the fall, and then my godmother broke her hip. Dotty's daughter didn't want my godmother alone in the house. She's now living at an assisted living place, but when Debbie saw her, she was back on her feet and said she could drive again soon. I hope so. The idea of my godmother having to sit still is rather daunting. She was always doing something. Even on the hottest or coldest days she would dress early in the morning and go out and tend her yard, and then go out: maybe just to walk around the mall or visit her sister-in-law Alvia. Can't imagine them being gone from that house. I wonder if my godmother was able to take her piano. It was just a cabinet piano. She would play it nights after supper and when the windows were open you could hear the pretty music floating from the living room windows. So sorry to hear about Dotty. I remember when my mom was so sick one night she came over with a little container of grape-nut pudding. She knew Mom's mouth hurt all the time as a byproduct of the radiation treatments and that some nice soft grape-nut pudding would be cold and comforting. She and her husband and daughter used to have a little black poodle, a mini, not a toy, named Suzette who adored my mother. She would come next to our back door and bark for my Mom to come out and rub her tummy, even in the coldest weather, and Mom would put on her coat and go outside to oblige her. So I'm feeling a bit blue today, plus it's raining and as dark as twilight out. It's 45 minutes until I can take my Prilosec because I took my thyroid pill at 6 a.m. and the heartburn is making me ill. (You can't take an antacid within 4 hours of a thyroid pill. I used to take the thyroid pill before bed to avoid this but my doctor said that was probably what was causing my insomnia, so I quit. So I can either not sleep or be sick to my stomach all morning. What fun.) Almost no one is here. A lot of folks have use or lose, and it's just absurd not to take leave between Christmas and New Year's because you sit at your desk and do absolutely nothing. All the end users you need to contact are on leave and most of the vendors have the week off. So I'm joining the crowd. I have a little list for next week: • First and foremostly, redistribute the photos in smaller boxes so that I can move the bookcase from the spare room into the craft room so that Rodney will be comfortable when he stays over (and also Shari, if she would like to come for Bill and Caran's New Year's Eve party). • Make arrangements for the after-a-year home inspection. • Do some reading. • Work on a new web page I have been outlining. • Do some cross-stitch. • Paint the "Wish" garden ornament for the nook in the yard. • Put up some photos and artwork in the master bedroom. • Dispose of some things we no longer have room for (does anybody want our set of Myriad issues?). • Put up the bookshelf wall decoration in the library so James can put up his magnetic boards. • Rearrange the closet in the guest room and take anything extra to Goodwill/the library for donation before end-of-year. At some point I also want James to mount some wire shelving in our bedroom closet and also in the laundry room and "Christmas closet." But I think that's a post-January 1 project. After that, it's back to work on the library. Maybe we could get the ceiling fans in the bedroom up, though... » Thursday, December 21, 2006
Everybody's Wild About Harry
LOL. I got home to find the news of Book 7's title on both my Borders e-mail and my Borders Rewards e-mail.
Labels: books, Harry Potter Yes, But When Will It Be PUBLISHED?
...she asked testily, with hands on hips. :-)
Harry Potter 7 Title is Revealed Interesting...the American Heritage Dictionary defines "hallows" as hal·low tr.v. hal·lowed, hal·low·ing, hal·lows 1. To make or set apart as holy. 2. To respect or honor greatly; revere. And of course the named "Hallowe'en" comes from "All Hallows Eve," since it is the day before All Saints Day. (Tip of the hat to Alice.) Labels: books, Harry Potter
Thursday Threesome
From the Holiday Series Onesome: Plenty-- of time, take a deep breath. Overnight/Saturday delivery could work for you... So could a trip a few hundred miles away if you're into shopping on Sunday! How are you doing? Do you have it together? Actually, yes. Wrapped James' gifts last night and they are under the tree and he wrapped mine. Need to get the rest of the stuff wrapped and go out for a couple of gift cards, and finish a craft project. (The craft project was a bit of a rush because I didn't think I needed the gifts until the 31st. Turns out I will need them Sunday. No sweat.) Twosome: of-- all the states, I'm hearing the worst reports from Ohio! It has no snow! No snow, no Christmas! What's to be done? Is it looking like the normal Christmas weather there for you? Yep, supposed to be fifties and raining. Ugh. Threesome: Time--Time? Good grief, the 24th is days away, and most men haven't even awakened a sense of urgency as yet <g>. Is anyone done, finished, wrapped and resting? Nope, but that's the fun of it. » Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Picture John-Boy With a Smoke...
...a new (old) wrinkle on a familiar Christmas story in Holiday Harbour.
Labels: books, Christmas, Holiday Harbour We'll Miss You, Joe
Yogi Bear's Co-Creator Dies at 95
Not to mention the creator of what was the best kids' animated adventure series ever, Jonny Quest. Labels: animation, obituary, television » Monday, December 18, 2006
Monday Madness
1. I get about 1 telemarketer phone calls on a daily basis. The phone's calmed down from before Election Day, when every idiot politician was phoning "Vote for me; I'll change everything." Yes, the graft will then go in your pocket rather than the other guy's. 2. I never call anyone after nine o'clock at night. 3. I never call anyone before eight in the morning. 4. I (please choose one) DO screen my phone calls via caller ID. Actually, through the answering machine. 5. I really should call my godmother more often. But I don't want to depress her by crying. She was upset enough when my mother died and then when I had to sell the house. She and my mom were friends for fifty-four years. Labels: meme Comings, Goings and On the Road... » Saturday, December 16, 2006
Cool News
The friend of ours who we visited while on vacation last month is going to be in the area visiting his mom and some old friends for Christmas. If he can work the schedule, he's going to drive down from his mom's on Thursday (the 28th) and stay overnight, then head to his friends' homes on Friday. That will be fun!
» Friday, December 15, 2006
Baking Brings Memories Home...
Wow, I didn't realize I hadn't done Friday Five in that long.
This week: Crushes 1) Who was your first crush? (Celebrity or average) Celebrity crush was Don Adams. I was almost ten and Get Smart had just premiered on NBC. My first guy crush was about the same time. His name also was Don; his parents bowled with my parents on Sunday night and he also came along with his folks, along with the daughter of another couple that my parents bowled with, Jeanne Miller. (Jeanne went to Catholic school and learned cool stuff, like anatomy. I was always envious.) Don was a couple of years older than I was, and the minute he was old enough to drive, he didn't come to the bowling alley any longer. 2) Who do you currently have a crush on now? James, of course! 3) Have you ever become so obsessed with a crush, you went to extreme measures to find out everything about him/her? Well, I bought movie magazines with Don Adams' stories in them and wrote to NBC and got an autographed photo, but that was about it. :-) 4) Has your crush ever turned out to be your future girlfriend/boyfriend? No, despite what the Ouija board said. (Short story: Best friend Sherrye, another girl—I think it was Lisa Alhaverdian—and I didn't get invited to a school dance, so we had a party on our own. Either Sherrye or Lisa brought a Ouija board, which said I was going to marry Don.) 5) Did a best friend ever turn into more than just a friend? Well, yes. James was a best friend. Last week: 1. If you could, would you be a movie star or a rock star? Which one, and why? Neither. I'm not interested in being famous as an actor. Might be interesting to be a radio star, but those are a bit of an extinct species. 2. Have you ever been in the media (TV, radio, papers)? I was interviewed once on WSB after a bunch of us went to see Dick Tracy. I told them my favorite part of the movie was Charlie Korsmo (sp?), who played the little boy. I was once interviewed by the television/radio editor of the Providence Journal in eleventh grade. I had done a survey of television-watching habits among high schoolers for my journalism class and sent him the results, so he did a column about it. (The girls' favorite program was The Waltons; the boys' favorite was Kung Fu.) I was also interviewed in 1998 for the Marietta Daily Journal about my Remember WENN website. 3. Do you know anyone who's been on a reality TV show? No. 4. Have you ever met anyone famous? Sure, most of the cast of Remember WENN: Melinda Mullins, Kevin O'Rourke, George Hall, Amanda Naughton, Tom Beckett, Carolee Carmello and Hugh O'Gorman, plus the crew including director Juan Campanella. Carolee took us backstage at the Fox Theatre when Scarlet Pimpernel came to Atlanta, and Tom came out to talk to us after the performance of Thumbs that we saw in Nyack. Kevin used to show up in our chat room occasionally when WENN was still on the air. I've also met comedian Dave Allen when he did a show in Boston in 1981; Steve, Liz and I went to the stage door and he invited us inside to talk. He was fascinated because Liz worked at the Witch House in Salem, MA, and he loved ghost stories. Also met Nick Tate of Space: 1999 and James and I had breakfast with Peter David at one DragonCon (we were with a friend of mine, Mary Bloemker, who knew Peter back when he was writing Doctor Who fanfiction). Had a near miss, too: James Doohan came to our room party during "Snowcon" (February of 1979) at the Hotel Pennsylvania (then the Statler Hilton), but none of us were in the room. :-) (Mary had a migraine and Ann just wanted to be quiet, Rosie and Gail had gone to supper, and Alice and I wanted to watch Backstairs at the White House.) The nicest and best famous person I've ever met is Rupert Holmes: consummate writer and musician, funny as all get out, and a gentleman to boot. 5. Who would play you in a movie? This question again? Someone boring, I'm sure. Thanksgiving weekend: 1. What are you most thankful for? Being alive. :-) (When you've had cancer, you think about that a lot.) 2. Think back one year, have the things you are thankful for changed? Er, no, thank God. :-) 3. What did you feast on yesterday? James made turkey, carrots, and a sweet potato souffle without the marshmallows (it was a recipe from Cooks Illustrated and thankfully not sweet). James' mom brought mashed potatoes and some green beans. For dessert we had pumpkin bread and apple pie. 4. This time of year is filled with parties, gifts, friends, and family, what are you looking forward to the most? Well, we already went to one: the tour of homes. I've wanted to do that for years. And our Twelfth Night party. And giving out gifts. I love to give gifts. 5. Christmas is coming up, what if anything do you want for it? Good company. *BONUS: How do you like to cook your turkey? Well, James cooked the turkey; he's the chef in the house. He brined it overnight just like Alton Brown is always recommending (for the sweet he used a cup of the dark maple syrup my cousin Donna brought us back from Vermont; thanks, Donna!). Then he cooked it and basted it with red wine. Heavenly... » Thursday, December 14, 2006
The "Real Sam Johnson's" Christmas Meme
Okay, Brent, I'll bite:
I gotta Christmas meme for everyone and it's very simple. Santa Claus has sent out an X-mas Genie to only the super good boys and girls out there and he's come to your house. Genies only give out three wishes, but X-mas Genies give four for Christmas. What do you ask for and remember, nothing is off bounds. 1. Well, if nothing is off bounds, I want everyone to be well: Colin and Robin and Juanita and anyone else who has serious or recurring illnesses. And if the Christmas Genie can only do that if he withdraws the other three wishes, that's fine with me. But I have a feeling even Christmas Genies can only go so far. So 1. I'd like to be able to give large grants to research organizations for things like cancer and cystic fibrosis...so maybe in the future I won't need the original wish #1. 2. I still want that house in New Hampshire (with a gourmet kitchen and airstrip for James and a bay window for the Christmas tree and hardwood floors and a reproduction Hoosier cabinet and pre-installed network cable—did I mention hardwood floors?). 3. And the Cessna Citation and flying lessons for James so we can fly back and visit our friends (maybe go to Alaska?). 4. Enough money to support all this so I can form a small business doing web pages and James can go back to school for his history degree if he wants (LOL, and we can still afford medical insurance). Oh, yeah, and enough money to get Remember WENN out of AMC's hands and release it on DVD. (Hey, Ivan, if I get the rights to Remember WENN will you show it on your TV station? Uncut? Along with Lassie and He and She and My World and Welcome to It and Ellery Queen and Brooklyn Bridge? <g>) Labels: Christmas, meme, television
Thursday Threesome
Last week's: From the Holiday Series Onesome: Christmas-- shopping: done deal? Haven't started? "Oh, man! Yeah, I need to make a list!" (I'm thinking this one may sort out by gender...) It's done. Now that the tree's up I need to wrap the gifts and that will give me a last look at what I may need. I know I have two crafts projects I need to sit down to do, but I don't need the gifts until New Year's Eve. Twosome: is-- it time to decorate yet? ...or do you still have another week or two to go? The tree goes up on the weekend nearest my birthday, which was Monday. We were going to put it all up on Sunday, but got in so late that we just assembled it and put on the lights. Monday I did the ornaments and all the tinseling. It took a while to finish. :-) (Contrary to what James says, I do not put icicles on one at the time. Three at the time, maybe.) Next year will be better, I hope. Threesome: Coming-- or going? ...or staying home? Are you visiting or hosting this Christmas? ...or both? No idea yet. We usually are invited to dine with friends, but they may have other plans this year. If we're on our own, we'll buy strictly dark meat turkey, add some carrots and potatoes and the stuffing from Thanksgiving, and have a good time on our own. Wil and Pidge would certainly love it! This week's: From the Holiday Series Onesome: Holly-- Hmmm... Do you have holly where you are? Is it used for decorating? ...and if not, what types of greenery are used to show off the season? Inquiring minds and all that... We used to have holly in the bushes around our porch. There used to be a big holly bush outside my work building, but they tore it up for smaller bushes. Several varieties grow around here. We use artificial greens for decorating due to my allergies. The one time we had a live Christmas tree I had bronchitis the entire time the tree was up. Twosome: Jolly-- Jolly Elf or The Grinch? How is your Christmas experience going so far? Not too bad. Getting used to the new tree was a bit daunting since we've always had a small tree (4 1/2 feet) and I decorated it myself. Also, all the decorations had a certain spot in the old house. This year I had to figure out the new space where each thing would go. And making the 1940s village was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the Historic Home Tour very much. This weekend (cross fingers) we are driving out to Birmingham for a Christmas party and next weekend we are planning to attend the Atlanta Radio Theatre performance at the Stage Door Players. A week later we will drive down to see James' family and the next weekend is our annual Twelfth Night party. I also hope to get to the Monastery in Conyers sometime during the season (maybe before the ARTC performance). Threesome: Christmas-- Hey, I miss ol' Burl Ives singing the song in this header: who does your favorite Christmas song? ...and which song is that? Yes, yes, you're allowed more than one <g>... I have so many versions of favorite Christmas songs. My favorite Christmas song is "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Of course Judy Garland does the definitive version. My favorite Christmas carol is "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen." I think I like Nat King Cole's version the best. Other favorites: Bruce Mitchell's "Joy to the World" (smashing instrumental version), Mannheim Steamroller's "Deck the Halls" and also "Silent Night" (a heartbreaking arrangement), Karen Carpenter singing "It's Christmas Time/Sleep Well, Little Children," and of course Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas." • Listening to: Christmas at King's (King's College Choir from Cambridge, England). Remembering
I was thinking about my mom this morning; about what I called "our last good day" before the pain overtook her. We went to St. Anne's. I actually ended up there by accident, but sometimes with God there aren't any accidents. I vividly remember Mom looking up at me—the rheumatoid arthritis has shrunk her down to under five feet tall and bowed her right shoulder permanently—and whispering "I'm glad we came."
Me, too. Saint Anne Parish and Shrine Here are some pictures of the church but they don't really do it justice. It's very comforting to walk through the doors when the church is quiet, the candles glowing near the altar and from the little vaulted chapels in the rear, looking up to the beautiful arched ceiling and surrounded by the faint overlay of incense, walking past the straight-backed darkly stained pews and the solemn statues pockmarked with age. A History of the Church » Wednesday, December 13, 2006
A Visit With Addie (and Jim and Elizabeth)...
Limping Convincingly
We have a shower stall in our master bath. Of course it has a lip to prevent water from spilling on the floor. This lip is hard plastic with a metal edge.
Monday night when I was getting in the shower I was in a hurry and didn't lift my left foot high enough, with the result that I gave all my toes a hard whap against this metal edge right across about where the joint on the big toe is, all the way from end to end, big toe to little. YOW! The bad pain abated after about five minutes, but the darn thing still hurt. I could walk to the bathroom only slighly favoring the foot next morning and I was getting dressed for work when I went to put my shoes on. Ouch. The pressure of the top of the shoe put a stop to that. I stayed home yesterday with my foot up and taking regular anti-inflammatory OTC stuff, except the few times I couldn't bear the floor anymore and wielded a broom or the little Shark while standing flamingo-like on one leg. There is a bruise near the nail of the toe next to the big one, but otherwise no real swelling. I'm sitting at my desk right now and the pressure from the top of my shoe is making me squirm. I may try relacing the shoe. If I had to wear high heels to work I'd be sunk for the rest of the week. Anyway, I'm walking a bit lopsided for one day and already my right hip and knee and ankle are protesting. I don't know how Hugh Laurie does it from week to week. Labels: sickness » Tuesday, December 12, 2006
A Bunch of Photos of the House...
» Monday, December 11, 2006
Birthday Blues
Been feeling down most of the day. Had a little cry getting dressed this morning. Wish I could phone my mom.
Monday Madness
From last week: 1. I wish people would just be nice to one another . 2. My biggest pet peeve where other drivers are concerned, is those damn cell phones attached to their ears . Does anyone else think people with those Bluetooth phones look odd? Like the Lobot in Empire Strikes Back? 3. I will probably spend about somewhat more than usual on decorations on holidays this season. Almost all the gifts were bought during the year, so I don't know. 4. I really hope to get some more sleep! by the end of this calendar year. 5. I make about 0 resolutions each year. This week: 1. What song gives you the most holiday cheer? Hmn. My favorite Christmas carol is "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen." My favorite Christmas song is "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." But I think the one that makes me laugh the most—holiday cheer, no?—is "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." Wicked bizarre! (If you can count dialog as a "song," then it's Stan Freberg's "Christmas Dragnet.") 2. Who is the hardest person to shop for on your holiday list? Depends on the year. Some years I don't see anything for a certain person's interests. So it changes. 3. When do you start your holiday shopping? December 26! (Seriously, I once bought a Christmas present for someone on December 24 for the following Christmas.) 4. What food or drink do you love when it's cold out? (Recipes and recommendations, please!) Chicken soup with rice! For a sweet, gingerbread. (No recipe needed. Just buy a package of Dromedary and add water. Bake. Mnnnn...gingerbread!) 5. What do you do to get rid of a cold or flu? Suffer through it for a week, get a bacterial infection, then go to the doctor for drugs. <wry grin> Labels: meme » Sunday, December 10, 2006
Making a Start on the Christmas Tree...
...is part of a very long day in Holiday Harbour. This is a new tree, so we had much work with it. We are planning to get either a tree bag or some cheap sheets and just wrap it up after Christmas and put it into the closet. This is what my dad always did; it went downstairs into "the wine cellar," the small room he built in the corner of the basement where, when I was a little girl, he had a press and made wine, just like his dad. Later we used it as a pantry and a place to keep stuff like the tree and the equipment for Mom to make tomato preserves for "the gravy."
People who know I always name our trees will wonder what this one's name is. The last tree was "Serendipity" because I found it by accident. This tree is "Hope," because we found her last year after having to say goodbye to my mom. We needed some hope then. Labels: Christmas, decorating, Holiday Harbour » Saturday, December 09, 2006
Still No Tree Trimming Yet...
...but there's a lot of Christmas work going on at Holiday Harbour.
Labels: Christmas, decorating, Holiday Harbour » Friday, December 08, 2006
Baby, It's Cold Outside
18°F to be specific, with the wind chill setting it as 7°F. In New England that's a typical winter day, but it's pretty cold for around here. (Actually, according to the Weather Channel, it's warmer in Rhode Island than it is here.)
The funniest thing is that some of these idiots still have their automatic lawn sprinklers set to go on in the middle of the night, so I drove past several places this morning where there were sheets of ice over the grass and the pavement from the sprinklers running last night. » Thursday, December 07, 2006
Walking Weather
It's so pretty out: only about 47°F with a stiff breeze. Excellent walking weather; I took a short walk at lunch. Supposed to be the same tomorrow. :-) Of course this couldn't happen on a Friday I'm off. It will probably be icky 60s again by next Friday.
By the time I get home it will be dark (traffic's already backed up 18-20 minutes to go the five miles between I-75 and the traffic sign on I-285 westbound and I don't leave for 30 minutes yet). Darn, no chance to enjoy it. Holiday Diversion... Some Stories for the Day
My dad was working as a knife polisher back then, at Colonial Knife, where his older brother was employed. He was also in the National Guard, so on December 7 he was immediately called up. He served in Europe, however, not in the Pacific, in Germany and Austria. At one point he was in the Black Forest and always commented how beautiful the countryside was. My favorite photo of Dad from the war is this one of him holding a fawn. The fawn had been separated from his mother during a battle and all the boys in his company cuddled it and had photos taken with it, a respite from carnage. Later the doe returned and they released their temporary pet.
Some more of Dad's war pics here. My Uncle Sammy, my mother's younger brother, served in the Pacific. Mom said when he came home my grandmother burst into tears because he looked "like an old man," although he was only 27. The combination of the Pacific heat and the friction had worn most of the hair off his head. The soldiers still wore puttees when they first were shipped out there and again the combination of friction and heat rubbed all the hair from his legs. He was painfully thin and suffered from nightmares; my mother said although he didn't talk about any hardships when he was awake, in his sleep he muttered and cried out about men being killed and rats. He never liked rice a lot and then in the Pacific a lot of what they served in the mess was rice. From then on he loathed the stuff and when I talked about loving chicken soup with rice he would make horrible faces. My uncle Ralph (married to Dad's sister) was also in the Pacific, on the USS Muskogee. It served in the Aleutians and also near New Guinea. Almost all my uncles on both sides and most of my older male cousins served. My cousin Raymond, who passed away this year, was stationed in California, loved it there, and went out to live. I have some photos that my mother kept of her nephew, my cousin Skippy (his real name is John; the oldest son of her older sister) from the service. I've never asked my other relatives what Pearl Harbor and World War II was like for them; I guess I was too shy. I wish now that I had. The only story I have is my mother's. She and her mother were doing the time-honored Sunday afternoon ritual of visiting after Sunday dinner. They were walking up to a friend's house and could hear shouting from inside the house; then the friend threw the window open and told them the news. They went to church, she told me. The church was jammed with people. I can't remember if she said the priest just led them in prayer or actually said a Mass. The image haunts me: the old-fashioned Catholic church with its big stained glass windows, the vigil candles glowing row by row next to the altar—and more of them being lighted as more people came in to pray, the sharp scent of incense and perhaps of Christmas greens that had been put up for Advent, the muted light, the people in their Sunday best crying or with sad, angry faces... Pearl Harbor Survivors Gather for "Final Reunion" A different story about the final reunion SAN FRANCISCO: Pearl Harbor Was a Close Thing for the City in 1941 An Indiana Survivor's Memories A Pennsylvania Survivor's Memories An Ohio Survivor's Memories A Storm Saved Them from Carnage Arizona's Final Mission James Kim A DVD Box Set Worth Thinking About » Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Christmas Cards, St. Nicholas, and Mr. Moore's Poem...
Farewell to Jason Fox » Tuesday, December 05, 2006
A Saddlebag Full of Toys and St. Nicholas, Too...
Not Clear Sailing
We saw Intrepid several years (in fact it was 1998, on the same trip when we visited the WENN set). Cool museum and relatively easy to get to considering it's on the island of Manhattan! Would love to go back someday when I can enjoy it, since I had a migraine that day.
Tugboats to Try Again to Pull USS Intrepid Out of Mud It made me smile when they talked about the aircraft being shrink-wrapped. I noticed when we moved that I need not have masking-taped the furniture drawers and doors shut; the movers now wrap your furniture in shrink wrap so it doesn't get scratched. Labels: news » Monday, December 04, 2006
"And Now, For Our Regularly Scheduled Program..."
"People believe what their heart tells their eyes,Recreating radio station WENN (or, rather, its building), in Holiday Harbour. Labels: Christmas, decorating, Holiday Harbour, television » Sunday, December 03, 2006
Louisa May Alcott and the American Girls...
...chats about two books with her Christmas tales and how they relate to the modern American Girl novels in Holiday Harbour.
We Tour Homes and Hearths...
...an activity for the First Sunday of Advent in Holiday Harbour.
I really enjoyed this and hope we can go again in the future. They say they don't repeat the homes any more than every six years, so we'd see six different homes each for the next five years. I always wonder if some of the big homes on Whitlock Avenue are on the tours. Labels: Christmas, decorating, travel » Saturday, December 02, 2006
Vintage Christmas Music...
Christmas Lights... » Friday, December 01, 2006
Daylog
• Publix to recycle plastic bags
• Pike Nursery to indulge in heavenly scents from live Christmas trees • Books-a-Million, where I bought the Christmas issue of Cottage Living; lovely Christmas things; also found a little volume on remainder about Miracle on 34th Street • Longhorn for lunch—was good and had a sweet potato instead of baked • Michaels; they're all out of churches for their Christmas villages; did get some "iced" branches to decorate the doll-sized sled I bought at A.C. Moore for the porch • Walmart (needed oatmeal); found a topper for the mini-tree and also bought myself a snuggly blue bathrobe and the Christmas Birds and Blooms • Brandsmart, where I discovered the lack of Cyberhome players • Garden Ridge, where I bought the last church building they had Came home past downtown Marietta to stop at the Post Awful for Christmas stamps and decided to do something I'd planned to do ever since we moved to Marietta eleven years ago: go on the Marietta Pilgrimage Christmas Home Tour. Each year six historic homes are toured: you learn the history of each house and they are decorated for the season. We can either go tomorrow or Sunday. Labels: journal Electronics'R'Funny, DVD Edition
"When last we met," I reported our original Cyberhome DVD player (let's call it "Fred") had apparently given up the ghost. We got up one morning to find that our Hi-Def TV feed had gone haywire on the color and "Fred" was only giving us a vertical blue line.
The Hi-Def feed was okay by the next day, but "Fred" seemed shot, with the same blue line. So while I was out today, I went to see if Brandsmart had any more and what they were selling it for. I didn't find any Cyberhomes. When I got home and checked online, I could find the brand on Amazon, but not at any "box" stores. Doing a bit more searching, I found Best Buy had apparently quit carrying them since they were getting so many complaints. Well, whatever. I would just swap out the nonworking unit with the one in the guest room (let's call the bedroom unit "Barney"). Brandsmart has another little DVD player, an eTEC, that we could buy instead. Meanwhile, we really aren't expecting any guests who will want to watch DVDs (we had bought the DVD player in the guest room for my mom anyway). So I pulled out "Fred" and installed "Barney" under the television. I had wondered if something was wrong with the S-video cable leading into the unit, but "Barney" worked flawlessly. Just to see, I set up "Fred" up in the bedroom and turned it on. Darned if "Fred" didn't work fine now. So either perhaps the S-video cable was loose in "Fred" or perhaps the S-video connection in the unit was bad, since it is hitched up to the television in the bedroom with RCA cables instead. Who knows? :-) Labels: technology » Thursday, November 30, 2006
Thursday Threesome
From the Music and Food Center Onesome: Sweet-- or sour? What type of sauces do you like on your dishes when you 'do Chinese'? Soy and teriyaki sauce. James likes duck sauce which he mixes with Chinese mustard to make a dip. Twosome: Baby-- back ribs? ...or steak? Tofu? Chicken? It's your choice; what would you like for your next meal "out"? No one except the expensive places have T-bones any longer (well, and the IHOP and I ain't havin' steak there anymore). Baby back ribs do sound good right now. Not sure the indigestion would be worth it, though. Even the Prilosec doesn't help with salad dressing and barbecue sauce. Threesome: James-- town flood? What do flood your mashed potatoes with, gravy or butter? ...or do you like them plain? With butter. James...funny you should say that...likes gravy on his potatoes. Actually, I'd prefer a baked potato to mashed. Labels: meme The End of the "Katy" Saga
For those of you who have asked me about this, here are links to Susan Coolidge's Clover and In the High Valley.
Labels: books » Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Last Night's Supper
James made something cool from a cookbook he found at JoAnn in the dollar bin. You mix lean ground pork with a few spices (he left out the pepper but added curry powder) and crunchy peanut butter, then you brown it. While it browns you make little cup shapes from phillo dough (since the phillo dough wasn't thawed enough, James used wonton wrappers instead) and then place a little of the pork mixture in each cup. Then you put it in the oven until the dough is brown.
He also made some that looked like little apple tarts. Very delicious! Labels: food Heat, Heat, Go Away
I can't wait for this warm spell to end. It's not that it's warm in the daytime so much but that it makes my joints ache so badly that it's hard to sleep. When this happens in the spring when it gets warm, the doctor tells me it's allergens, which can cause symptoms similar to arthritis pain. What goes now? There are flowers still blooming, but they didn't bother me when it was cold.
Sleeping last night was hard. I hurt and it was too warm, even with the fan aimed directly on me. Sheesh. Labels: weather » Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Revolutions
Oh. Dear. God.
Apparently this is the script that is in consideration for the Get Smart movie. Don Adams must be whirling in his grave so fast he could supply the entire city of New York with electricity for the next millenium... (Warning [if you care]: All is spoiled.) Labels: movies, television Hollyberry Memories
Monday Madness has wandered over to Holiday Harbour, since it's questions about holidays. Warning: I'm waxing nostalgic again and doing a thorough Harlow Wilcox job. :-)
Labels: Christmas, Holiday Harbour » Monday, November 27, 2006
Would You Believe...
...it's finally here?
I'd peeked out on the porch between medication bouts and not seen a box; that's because, as I discovered when Willow persuaded me she needed to go out, the mailman left it on the driveway next to the garbage can! Get Smart had arrived. (Well, there's two of my three "series-on-DVD" "Grade A" wants. I already have America. Now where are season sets of Lassie, Classic Media?) The set is done in a clever box in which you have to open a couple of "doors" before getting to the "phone booth" and the individual season packs. They are decorated in "mod" 1960s colors and decor and each set has a bunch of extras on it, like clips of Don Adams on The Bill Dana Show or bloopers or special featurettes done for the set. I had time for only two episodes before having to deal with my part of dinner, so of course I chose my favorites: "Island of the Darned" (the Most Dangerous Game spoof) and "99 Loses CONTROL." I always loved "Island" because it had more dramatic moments than most GS episodes and back as a kid I had fantasies of Max as action hero, not bumbling boob. After seeing "Island" I always wished Don Adams had done some dramatic turns. Would have been cool to see him in a dramatic role in one of the Quinn Martin dramas of the early 70s, like Cannon or Barnaby Jones. Or maybe on 1975's Ellery Queen, which featured so many classic television actors. The "99 Loses CONTROL" episode would today be called "a 'shipper story" by the fans. It certainly made the fans of Max getting together with 99 grin, especially the opening scene, where Max's hurt feelings are played straight and very palpable. Great stuff. Back in 1965 when the series premiered, I knew Adams mostly as the voice of Tennessee Tuxedo, although my parents watched The Bill Dana Show on which he played Byron Glick, the house detective (and did several Max-like routines). I was nine years old at the time and my getting to watch Get Smart was not without its obstacles. My parents bowled on Saturday nights and I was always taken along. I could bowl if I liked, but I was never very good at it, even though it was duckpins and I could easily lift the small bowling balls. I could either throw hard with bad aim or aim well and not throw the ball with force enough to knock down more than a couple of pins. Usually what I did was either sit at the tables behind the alleys writing or illustrating a story I had written (if the place wasn't crowded I would go in the ladies' room and act out one of the stories I'd written) or see what was on the television that was behind the counter. We usually went to Garden City Lanes, which is long gone and now replaced with a strip shopping center. This was the largest bowling alley in Rhode Island, 36 lanes, and owned by "the Zarella boys," Tommy and Ray, who had also owned the Speedway Lanes within walking distance of our house. (This was the new Garden City building, not the old one, which I vaguely remember because the waitress at the snack bar, Cecilia, could always be counted on to give me a glass of milk, which was supposed to be reserved for the coffee.) Dad was great friends with Tom and Ray and eventually they knew me, too, so they usually would comply when I walked shyly up to the counter and asked if they could change the channel to Get Smart; the other employees, which included Bobby, Vinnie, and Teddy (the latter who later became a state trooper), also granted me this privilege. So I watched most of the first three seasons of Get Smart leaning over the counter of the front desk of Garden City Lanes watching a black and white portable television. Well, except when there was a Providence College Friars basketball game. I learned to hate basketball at an early age. :-) (I had constant problems with basketball. Because of the Boston Celtics, I missed a lot of Dr. Simon Locke episodes, too. Phooey.) Of course there was the time we went to Legion Bowladrome instead and I settled down to watch part two of "Ship of Spies," only to have an older man come over to change the channel to The Lawrence Welk Show! Arrrgh! It was a little better when Get Smart moved to 8 p.m. with The Ghost and Mrs. Muir following, and easier still when the show moved to CBS and Fridays. Despite the basketball games and the fact that my dad had his car stolen from in front of Garden City Lanes, I still remember those Saturday nights at the bowling alley—and that clunky old television on which I watched my first episodes of Get Smart—with great affection. It was fun, guys... Labels: memories, television A History of Trimming the Tree... Undone
Sleep was crowded with bad dreams last night: a house with entrances I didn't know about (and water flooding them) and a bizarre sequence where someone dripped iodine (yes, iodine) on my left thumb and it shrank to the size of a baby's, with a point on top. Very strange. Woke up headachy and with my throat raspy, but dutifully got dressed and checked on Pidgie. He blinked at me like the owl he's named after. I was still worried.
My solution was to go back to bed. If he was okay still while James puttered around getting ready for work, I'd go in late. Except when I got up again the headache was worse, I was becoming "better acquainted with" the hall bathroom, and worst of all, I couldn't get warm. The house temp was steady at 67°F and I was ice cold and shaking uncontrollably, which was really weird after constant hot flashes. So Pidge returned last night's care by singing to me most of the day while I huddled on the sofa trying to keep warm, even as it went up into the low 70s this afternoon. I slept most of the afternoon between bouts of ibuprofin (from the new bottle of caplets from BJs; the pills are fluorescent orange—yow!). I wish I knew what happened. All I can thing of is what with it being warm the past few days and my wretched hot flashes and the windows being wide open, he got a draft on Friday or Saturday and it finally hit him. Budgies can take a bit of cold but drafts hurt them. I'm still a bit headachy but at least the "Little Room" visits and sore throat are gone. » Sunday, November 26, 2006
Something Odd...
Pidge was a little quiet when I got him up this morning, but we'd had a late night last night and I figured he was still tired. He took a few bites of seed and stared out eagerly at me as I ate some oatmeal; pretty normal.
We had the shopping to do today and also stopped at Lowe's and Target. When we'd finally put the milk up, it was about three o'clock. Pidge was ensconced near his mirror and looking sleepy, which is his wont in the afternoon; it's when he usually has his nap. We ran to Michael's and checked out the new Costco, then came home. I was immediately concerned because Pidge usually perks up the minute we get in and he didn't. I was planning to wash clothes, but instead I took him out of his cage along with his little toy, "Girlfriend." Instead of pecking at it like he usually does, he gave it a halfhearted nudge and then jumped on my shoulder. Uh-oh. Pidgie is not a snuggly bird like Bandit was. He wants to be doing stuff or in his cage, except when he sits on James' shoulder and makes pleats in his shirts with his beak. He only snuggles when he isn't feeling well. I even sent James to get dressed when suddenly he began gagging and then raising his wings—he seemed to be having some problems breathing, although he wasn't gasping. It was an hour before our vet closed, so I called them, but they told me the vet had already left. Pidge had settled down by then and the advice nurse told me it might be better to keep an eye on him and take him to the emergency vet if necessary. So I settled down with him on my finger. He was very lethargic and only occasionally pecked at "Girlfriend." James made me some oatmeal, which I tried to feed to him, but he didn't want more than a bite. So I sat with him there while I ate my dinner. I knew he wasn't feeling well because he didn't try to share it. The best thing to do with birds when they get sick is to keep them warm, so I cleaned out his little carry box, set "Girlfriend" in it, and him with it and half covered the box with the heating pad on medium. I have a little thermometer that told me the temp was about 80°F. He sat there, eyes half closed and ignoring everything except me checking the thermometer occasionally. Every once in a while he'd try a bite of seed or peck at the mirror, but his heart wasn't in it. So there we sat, through a load of clothes and all of the Molly movie, probably a little over two hours. Then all of a sudden he perked up, started bouncing around, and didn't want to stay in the box anymore. I lowered the heating pad temp gradually, then took it off, then let him out because he was bouncing around so. He flew back to his cage and promptly tossed one of his toys off the top. He's back in there now, having eaten prodigious amounts of seed (I gave him completely new seed) and fruit pellets (new too) and several drinks of water, and now he's singing like he would have when we came home had he felt good. I have no idea what just happened. I just hope it's not a sucker hole... (A sucker hole is when it clears up briefly in the middle of a storm, like the eye of a hurricane.) » Saturday, November 25, 2006
The Early Bird Catches...
...the big electric bill?
We went to an open house held by the sister of a friend of ours tonight and came home through an alternate route spotting all the homes already decorated for Christmas. While I was out at Hallmark today I saw a father and son stringing lighted garland along their fencing. Nothing spectacular yet. :-) Food Network repeated the wonderful special from last year about the Italian foods, starting with torrone and working through the seven fishes on Christmas Eve. Hard to keep from salivating. :-) Afterwards Raven Symon hosted a special about food at Walt Disney World, primarily about edible decorations. My question is: if these decorations are edible, after Christmas does anyone eat this stuff? And if not, why on earth do they make it? All those eggs, sugar, chocolate, honey, ginger...used to be thrown away afterward? Talk about wasteful! » Friday, November 24, 2006
The Black Friday Report...
» Thursday, November 23, 2006
Thanksgiving Day "Snapshots"
A sunny day...up to get a newspaper...as always, had to go to two or three places to actually find one...what the heck? No Michael's flyer?...Macy's parade...balloons are flying...not much parade left any longer...mostly acts...rainy; almost looks like snow...gets warmer outside...as James starts cooking open more windows...a quick vacuum...clothes in the washer...rack we bought doesn't fit in the turkey roaster!...James brined the turkey last night, now it emerges from the brining bag into the roaster...basted with merlot...heavenly scent comes from the kitchen...birds darting at the feeder: woodpeckers, the nuthatches of both varieties...rain seems to let up a little in New York...here's Santa Claus...Pidgie is singing...Willow wants to know What's Going On?...here's the dog show...terriers are first!...perusing the sale flyers...turkey's out of the oven, perfectly browned...James makes a killer gravy...here's his mom, sister, and niece...Nicki has a new laptop...the nickel tour...table is set...James finishes dinner...we sit down to eat...using Mom's china at least for the main course...it was up in the attic for 51 years and needs to see the world...I have a wing; yum!...talk over the table and watching the birds eat their Thanksgiving dinner, too: the woodpeckers again, "Greedy Guts" the white-breasted nuthatch (since he chases the other birds away), the brown-headed nuthatches, something that I think is a female goldfinch, a sparrow, and the little chickadees trilling "dee-dee-dee"...Pidgie entertains the family...Willow cleans plates...turn on the fire and chat...dessert: apple pie and pumpkin bread with cream...finally a family picture and they're off...cleanup...bye-bye fire...Lighting of the Great Tree at Lenox Mall...cool star; changes colors...This Old House in East Boston continues...perusing the sale papers again...complication: one sugar-free candy and one sugar-free slice of apple pie equals unhappy elimination system; urgh—paging Pepto Bismol...tryptophan effect during Ask This Old House; even slept through "What is This?"...close the windows again...only thing on now is CSI (still liked Petersen better with the beard)...Pidgie's on my head...
Labels: birds, celebrations, holidays, shopping, Thanksgiving » Wednesday, November 22, 2006
"We Gather Together..."
...in song in Holiday Harbour (with a twist of Tom Lehrer).
Labels: Holiday Harbour, music, Thanksgiving Farewell to Spot
I hadn't mentioned it previously, but since I did mention Leia in the "Tame Fire" post, I should add that we lost a member of the family last week.
When I moved up to Atlanta in 1988, James moved in with our friends Ann and Clay, who had a black cat named Buttercup. A week after Leia was born, Buttercup had a litter of kittens: two black, a tabby-pointed Siamese, and a grey tabby. (I mention this only because when Buttercup managed to have another litter before the needed visit to the vet, she had exactly the same color combination: two black, a tabby-pointed Siamese, and a grey tabby, which led to the comment, "That's not a cat, it's a Xerox machine.") James brought Leia home six weeks later and she grew up with the kittens. For a long time she thought she was a cat and was very confused when she got too big to disappear under the sofa with them! Both James and Leia got very attached to the little striped grey tabby. Because she was striped James called her "Spot" (or "Spotte" as Ann has always spelled it). So when the time came to give away the kittens, only the black ones found new homes (Mackie went to Sue Phillips and the other kitten to Kay Teems.) The tabby-pointed Siamese was named Camber and stayed with Ann and Clay while Spot was officially James' (or maybe she was Leia's) cat. He said it was the funniest thing when Spot would come up to Leia and bump her head. Leia would obligingly drop open her lower jaw to "her sister" and Spot would scratch her head on one of Leia's canine teeth. Amusingly, Spot's stripes, which won her her antonymic name, eventually broke up into mottled spots. Ann used to call her the "tweed kitty." Unfortunately I am super-allergic to cats, had a bird, and James' allergy was doing none too well itself with constant cat exposure. So when we were married and he moved to Atlanta, we left Spot behind "in fosterage." She broke in a succession of dogs, but none was ever her buddy the way Leia was. And Leia looked all her life for "her cat." We surprised a big grey tabby one night during a walk around the apartment; a delighted Leia was sniffing him before he knew she was there. He looked terrified but was about to defend himself when Leia, after a quick sniff, had the expression, "That's not my cat" and trotted off, leaving the strange tabby bewildered. Well, Miss Spot died at age 18 last week, having had a long happy cat life. I like to think of her somewhere at Rainbow Bridge, finally rubbing her head on Leia's teeth again, and Leia happy because she's finally found her own cat at last. Labels: pets [doing Snoopy dance]
The Get Smart set was shipped yesterday! I haven't seen these things intact since the first syndication run in 1971. (These days they chop 'em up right off the bad, but back then the first rerun cycle was always uncut.) Forsythe in the decoding room will be back! The final gag in "99 Loses Control" won't be cut off! We'll see what Hans Hunter intends for Max! And the extras sound marvelous.
Labels: DVDs, television » Tuesday, November 21, 2006
For Prairie Home Companion Fans
» Monday, November 20, 2006
The "Tame Fire" Story
Well, we are finally with gas log. We got the last flexible connection that the Home Depot near us had (this one set up to bend properly) and connected it, checked it for leaks, then spread the crackling ash and "glowing embers," added the grate and the "logs," and turned it on. It crackles and spits quite nicely. I have another bag of glowing embers and need to add them around the edges where I'm still seeing blue gas flame.
We had a gas log in the old place courtesy a sale at Home Depot Expo Center and a well-timed housewarming gift card. We had trouble installing that one as well because John and Juanita, who'd had the house before us, liked real fires and had used the gas starter. After dozens of fires, the pipes were pretty well melded together. Having installed his own gas log, Jerry came over to help us with this one. It basically had to be cut out of the fireplace with the blade of a mototool. The first thing he had to do was take the metal plates off the sides of the firebox to work in there. Our dog at the time, Leia, was at once suspicious. You could read this dog's face like a book. She watched Jerry in bewilderment, then looked at James. "Daddy, why is that man taking our house apart?" But if that was puzzling for her, the look of astonishment on her face the first time Jerry lit the flame was priceless. She kept looking from Jerry to James to me with this wide-eyed stare. "Daddy—that's a fire. I know what that is and it's a fire. Is there supposed to be a fire in the house?" To reassure her I petted her and told her soothingly but jokingly "It's okay, Leia. It's a tame fire." (This later became a running gag.) Finally everything was reassembled, the ash and embers and logs on the grate, and the fire crackling merrily. Doglike, Leia noticed it was also warm there and settled down in front of the hearth. Part of what makes the gas log resemble a real fire is the presence of crackling ash or little pumice stones that lay over the gas jets. They pop and crackle and sometimes one will get hot enough to pop out of the fireplace. One did and plunked Leia right on the flank. It didn't burn her, but the sting added insult to injury. She never lay down in front of the fire again. I'll tidy up in front of the fireplace tomorrow, so for now Willow can't lie on her bed in front of it. So we don't know yet whether she'll like the "tame fire" or not. Pilgrims' Pride...
...Desperate Crossing and Thanksgiving history in Holiday Harbour.
Labels: Holiday Harbour, holidays, television, Thanksgiving Callahans at Christmas... A Typical November Day
Which means, of course, that it is cloudy and cold with a fairly good breeze scudding the leaves around (they are not flying about like they were this Sunday and last, however—I can't be in a "veritable whirlwind of [golden leaves]" any longer without thinking of Miss Emily Baldwin and Ashley Longworth!). I am working through various orders and peeking out the window in envy; it would be a nice day to work on the nook in the back yard. By the weekend it is supposed to be warm again—WSB was even saying yucky <g> things last night like 70°F for Thanksgiving (Weather Channel is only saying 65°). Ah, well, I risk sounding like Phoebe (but that's a post for Cozy Nook).
After dinner tonight (and hurrah, James is back on his old schedule; the only thing better would be to have made it starting one hour earlier) we are supposed to go to Lowe's to see if we can easily salvage the fireplace project. The hard salvage will be if we have to call the company up to get the part. No fun. I have a project for Christmas that James is going to help me with that I'm particularly interested in starting, but I won't mention it until it's done. :-) Labels: Autumn Hollow, house
Monday Madness
1. In order to protect my computer from viruses, I use AVG Virus Protection from Grisoft . Which is free at free.grisoft.com. This is recommended by the computer guy who writes for our newspaper. It's so funny because every week he gets a letter saying "I went to 'www.grisoft.com' and I don't see a link for any free software!" and every week he repeats that it's "free.grisoft.com." Of course if you go to the main site they're going to try to sell you the paid version! 2. I also use Ad-Aware for protection from spyware. Which reminds me I haven't run it in a while. 3. I don't spend nearly enough time sleeping . 4. The first person I usually talk to in the morning is Pidge, even though his cage is still covered . Oh, you mean a human? Varies. Sometimes I just wave at the security guard and show him my badge, so it could be anyone coming my way as I walk into the office. 5. It takes me about 20 minutes to get ready in the morning. I take a shower before bed, have my clothes all laid out, don't do anything fancy to my hair but brush it out, wash my face, get my lunch (it's packed the night before by James when he packs his own lunch), check the traffic and the weather and then shut the computer off, and go. (Okay. This morning it took a little longer because I had to get my coat out of the downstairs closet. It was downright nippy for Georgia this morning, thirty-something with the windchill making it feel like high twenties. It's the first time I haven't had to put my fan on in my cubicle since last winter.) 6. I keep all my appointments in/on my PDA . Including the nice alarm that goes off when I have to take my heart pill. 7. It takes me about to fall asleep at night. Talk about an "it depends." Weekends when we go to bed late and I am actually sleepy, it can be just after my head hits the pillow. Weeknights are bad because I'm just not sleepy at 11 p.m. Even after a nice hot shower and reading for 15 minutes, it sometimes takes me up to a half hour to fall asleep, longer on Sunday nights. Labels: meme » Sunday, November 19, 2006
Well, Bother...
We picked up the last of the food for Thanksgiving this afternoon, stopped at Borders, and also went to Home Depot to pick up a gas log. We had hoped to have it installed for Thanksgiving Day, when James' mom, sister and niece come for dinner.
He had trouble from the start. When the house was built, they pre-installed a gas starter. We asked them not to, but it never got put into writing, so they didn't know not to do it. James got the starter itself off okay, but the pipe leading from the starter into the wall had an S-bend (I guess that's what they call it) and there was no way to unscrew it. If you turned it more than 180°, it would hit the bricks and not turn the rest of the way. (I have no idea how they screwed it on!!!) James got his mototool and cut it off, and then was able to unscrew the rest of the pipe. So far, so good. I had pre-assembled the burner and the pan and James used the joint compound included to attach the joint to this part, and again to attach the valve to the gas pipe from the wall. To connect the burner and the pipe in the wall is a flexible pipe which has to be bent gently in order that it won't kink and block the gas flow. The video that comes with the gas log showed the man doing the demo bending it easily. Like us, he had to bend it in a complete circle to fit it into the space in the fireplace. James worked it as gently as he could, but it was tougher to turn than it looked on the DVD. Eventually it kinked in the middle. When he tried to unkink it, it kinked on the opposite side. So we need another pipe, dammit. If we try to unbend the one now, it looks like it might break. The DVD said it should take about an hour to install. Hah! Labels: house Well, How Interesting
James turned the television on this morning and lo and behold, the Component 2 feed was coming in as well as ever. Yes, we did have the television off for some time yesterday (during most of the party), so it wasn't as if we hadn't tried that. I wonder if it were the HD feed after all.
On the other hand, I think Rodney was right last night: the Cyberhome is shot. Still showing a vertical blue line this morning. I think I'll unplug it all and try the one from the spare bedroom there and see if that works. Labels: electronics » Saturday, November 18, 2006
Electronic Weirdness
Incidentally, we have something weird going on at the entertainment center, but we're not sure what it is.
Quick setup explanation: Channel 3 is the television tuner input; it receives the satellite input, but is not in HD. We have had some trouble with it lately; the picture gets snowy. If you jostle the television slightly, the picture gets clear again. We figure something in the tuner is loose and need to call Circuit City before the warranty runs out. Component 1 filters the satellite signal through the DVD recorder/VCR. Component 2 is the direct HD signal from the satellite box. Video 1 is the input we have set up with the Cyberhome, our Region 2 DVD player. We were watching television through 1 a.m. this morning on Component 2. Before James came home from work, I had watched two British DVDs on Video 1. Everything played fine. When we went to bed, as always unless I am recording something during the night, I switched off the satellite box, the television, and the DVD machines. This morning when I turned the television on the picture was ... bizarre. The only two colors really showing were red and green. I tried turning the television and the satellite box on and off, but it was still like that. It reminded me of the old color Christmas story I described watching a few nights ago, which had faded so much all you saw was red and green. I was very upset, and even more intrigued when I switched the video inputs. The color to Channel 3 comes in fine. So does the color signal in Component 1. It's just Component 2 that looked bad. So I wondered if something had gone wrong with the HD feed. However, tonight, on a wild hair, I turned on Video 1 and the Cyberhome player. Usually you get a big blue screen with the Cyberhome logo on it. Instead there was just a blue bar to the right of the screen. I put a DVD in the player and it started to load, but the logo at the beginning of the DVD was scrambled against a black screen. And oddly, a black shadow at the lower left part of the screen kept moving up and down to obscure part of the logo. I opened the player, then closed it again. This time either the disk didn't load at all or we had lost the picture completely. So it can't be the HD feed, can it? Can the Component 2 cable and the Video 1 cable have both suddenly gone bad (one is a component cable and one is an S-video cable)? Or have the Component 2 electronics and the Video 1 gone west at the same time? Both of them? At once? Very strange. Anyone got any ideas what's gone wrong here? Rodney? Jerry? And if it is the television, what do I tell Circuit City when I call them? Any idea what to call the situation? Labels: electronics In the Bosom of Friends
We had "Hair Day" this morning—mass hair trims and lunch (a wonderful chicken stew made by Phyllis) at the Butlers—then off to BJs for the fixings for Thanksgiving as well as the mover's party tonight. We have a nice 12-pound turkey thawing in the fridge, makings for sweet potato casserole and a side of carrots, and bought honey barbecue chicken wings and Swedish meatballs for the party.
The house was filled with talk and laughter for four lovely hours. Thanks again to everyone who helped us move—we enjoyed having you over! Labels: celebrations, family, friends » Friday, November 17, 2006
Getting Ready for ... Everything
We're finally having the mover's party tomorrow night, so it's been a busy day doing both the usual weekly housework, doing some Christmas shopping, and making sure things are prepared for both the party and our Thanksgiving guests next week.
Feel free to skip list of where I went today (I'll make it brief): Walgreen's (Brawny on sale) Target (looking at Christmas trees on sale, but just bought a welcome sign for the front yard with a jinglebell on it) Books-a-Million (Country Extra with wonderful fall photos, two Christmas Good Old Days, and—O frabjous day!—a crosspatch puzzle book!!!; plus a book on remainder I've been wanting to read and a book of Christmas short stories) Home Depot (looking for Christmas village houses; bought a set of trees and some figures instead) Michael's (some boxes for crafting, poster tape, and—grrr!—more floral wire, plus two village buildings, the grocery and a house) CVS (small Christmas tree on sale which I want for the front porch; it has the most wretched plastic ornaments on it you've ever seen, but that doesn't matter since I'm going to cut them off, because the tree itself is actually nice) Hallmark (just to look) Borders (just to look since the November issue of the British Country Living isn't out yet) Costco (to "feed the car" and then "have lunch" on the samples at the store; I bought lobster spread for Hair Day tomorrow and a copy of the new Lassie movie) Cost Plus World Market (I had a coupon and was going to spend it on a special dessert for Thanksgiving—and then I saw some small things that reminded me I had a rather tough Christmas gift that I needed to buy, so like Mary Clancy in The Trouble With Angels, I had a "scathingly brilliant idea" and assembled the contents for the gift—yay!) Hobbytown (final fillip for aforementioned gift) Sears (they had their villages on sale; I bought a post office building and some figures) Garden Ridge (to look at their villages; I like one of the churches, but they have a movie theatre that's kinda keen, too; I'm planning to put this on the mantel and I don't think more than four buildings will fit) And by then I was pooped and swung by Dragon 168 for pork fried rice for supper. Since I'd been Christmas shopping and listening to "Holly," I was in a Yuletide mood and put on "Silly, But It's Fun" (the Good Life Christmas episode) and "Merry Gentlemen" (the All Creatures Great and Small episode). If it sounds like I spent a ton, I didn't. Ain't coupons and half-price sales wonderful? What I'm planning to do with the village stuff is make a 1940s era village. There are some 1940s figures at Lowe's (I thought it was Home Depot, and I did get 1940s figures from Home Depot last week, but James swears it was Lowe's) and it gave me the idea to try it. I'm looking for small copies of WWII posters online and will print them out and put them on appropriate buildings (like "Do With Less So They'll Have Enough" with a soldier on it for the grocery store and a "Buy War Bonds" poster for the post office). Labels: Christmas, holidays, Thanksgiving
Friday Five
Oh Internet, how we crave thee... 1. How much time do you spend on the Internet daily? A lot, because I have to use the Internet as part of my job. I e-mail all my request for quotations, I have to look vendors up in the excluded vendor list and in the CCR (Central Contractor Registration), I have to look on GSA Advantage to find vendors, etc. 2. What are your favorite 3 websites? Amazon.com, e-Bay, and Yahoo Groups. 3. Do you eat at your computer? Yes, at work, and when I'm constructing a new web page. 4. Pick one and why - Reading the news online or in a newspaper? Er, that's a tossup. I prefer reading the news online, but the newspaper is good because you get all those interesting feature articles that never turn up on news websites. 5. How many people are on your instant messenger buddy list? Over a dozen, but none of them are really in use anymore. I haven't IM'd anyone in ... wow, it's probably been a year. I IM'd Laura and that was in the old house. Last week's was about travel; how funny! 1) If you had to move 100 miles or more to the north, east, west, or south, which would you choose, where would you end up, and what's so great about there? Oh, I always head north. East would be nice because of the ocean, but at this latitude it's too humid by the ocean. Too hot south or west. 2) Do you have a favorite stretch of highway or byway for driving, touring, or wandering? I'm mighty fond of the route up to Helen, GA. My favorite route of all time was this one point on I-80 in Pennsylvania. I'm not certain where it was, although I can tell you it wasn't as far west as Pittsburgh, where the land starts to get flat. At this point on the freeway, you have nothing but the side of the mountain at your left and trees on your right, and then you round a corner and there is a big beautiful valley in front of you and to your right. Last time I was through there (1978) it was full of lovely farmland. Probably all houses now. When God was giving out scenery, that part of Pennsylvania got in line twice. :-) 3) Are you happier to start a trip or return home? Oh, starting it, definitely. I always go into a post trip depression on the way home. 4) Plane, train, automobile, bicycle, or foot? Flying is nice if you have money, or you're going a long distance in a short time. I like to fly, but the airport is horror city these days. I used to love taking the train to New York. I'd considered the train on several occasions, but it's so expensive. But I confess my first love is car trips. Loved 'em as a kid and still do. Reminds me of Mom and Dad and summer vacation and Lake George... 5) Do you overplan or underplan your travels? (Assume that "no" is not a valid answer.) I always overplan what we will need after a day doing things. I don't know why I bring books since we always end up going somewhere where we buy them anyway! This time I brought my cross-stitch and Scrabble Scramble in case time held heavy at night (since the Smithsonian closes at 5:30), but by the time we ate and I updated my blog and looked through new books, I never needed them. Labels: meme » Thursday, November 16, 2006
Rhode Island Mystery
Foul Play Suspected In a Death Once Ruled a Suicide
Ya think? Seriously—is this gentleman related to the DeFuscos who have/had (?) the bakery on Federal Hill? Donna, is it the same folks? Labels: news, Rhode Island
Thursday Threesome
From the Weather Service Onesome: A Day--or so ago? Oops, wrong meme. Wait, that might be cool... "A Day or So Ago, I saw......." You fill it in <g>! Christmas lights! We saw them riding home on Saturday night. Yesterday when I drove past the house they didn't have the lights on, but they did have the tree lighted. It was quite cheery on such a dismal rainy day. Twosome: in-- case of rain, do you carry an umbrella? ...or do you just hoof it in a hat? I have an umbrella, but I usually forget it. I can't tell you how many free umbrellas I treated RIPTA (the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority) buses to! Threesome: the Rain-- in Spain? Nah, how about locally: has the rainy season kicked in for you yet? Snow? Nothing? Come on, it's almost Thanksgiving here in the States! No snow, just rain. Of course, given the amount of rain we had yesterday, if we'd had snow I wouldn't be at work today. The entire city of Atlanta would have come to a stop with two feet of snow. (Heck, two inches of snow bogs it down.) Labels: meme » Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Thank God for Holly!
"It was cold, bleak, biting weather: foggy withal: and he could hear the people in the court outside go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement stones to warm them. The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already -- it had not been light all day: and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air... [m]eanwhile the fog and darkness thickened so, that people ran about with flaring links, proffering their services to go before horses in carriages, and conduct them on their way."I thought of these lines from A Christmas Carol as I was driving home tonight. We had a day of complete rain, light this morning, heavy this afternoon, a taste of what the poor folks in Washington state and Oregon have been going through for the past couple of weeks. It wasn't very cold—it stood about mid-50s all afternoon—but made up for it by being damp, drear and miserable. By three o'clock, as in imitation of Dickens' prose, it was as dark as twilight and I drove home in a steady gloom that darkened after an hour. The streets were quite awash and even at slower speed I frequently raised great gouts of "propwash" to either side of me. Mabry Street and Windsor Parkway, with their beautiful homes and lovely trees, respectively, were even dismal, although a few bright trees, flame tipped or ruddy, managed to still command attention. (So many homes didn't have lights lit; they looked so lonely! I'm glad I have Mama's lamp lit in the foyer to greet us in the evening!) The others so engaged in traffic navigation in this mess clotted intersections, including the one at Mount Paran and Cobb Parkway, which is usually okay. On Cobb Parkway, Borders' big sign lit up its area like a warm literary mecca, but I continued home. I put XM's "Holly" station on and slogged through the 90 minutes on an even keel of mistletoe, snow, and red berries. A great lift on a sodden day. Labels: weather Winding Down a Beloved Comic Strip
Lynn Johnston talks about ending her strip in "Better, Worse" Creator Ready For Last Laughs.
Glad to know that had she gone on April would become a vet. Labels: comics » Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Wha?
People have been waiting in line in front of stores for over four days to get a Playstation 3? For a game system? Man, and they talk about science fiction fans not having a life...
Labels: news 1950s Christmas Television... Not A Good Day
Had a "crash and burn" today, having woken up with the beginnings of a migraine. I took some medication, intending to wake up in a hour and go to work.
I slept through not only my alarm, but James' as well. Slept for about half a day as well and kept it easy on the tummy with oatmeal and bread and milk. Not much else to say. Still sleepy... Labels: sickness Christmas Music... » Monday, November 13, 2006
Monday Madness
1. From ch'i: If you could only read one blog every day- which one blog would be on your daily list? Er. Probably James Lileks. I love the way he writes. 2. From kat: What do you do to de-stress from a hectic day? Play "retrieve 'Girlfriend'" with Pidgie. 3. From paxil princess: What is your favorite piece of clothing to wear in the winter? Ah, nice, warm snuggly sweatshirts. So perfect to snuggle into. 4. From sherle: Do you prefer discussing problems with a sibling, a parent, a significant other, a psychologist, or a total stranger? My husband. Mom isn't there to share with anymore, though. 5. From trista: How long have you been blogging? Since January of 2002, when I tore the ligaments in my right foot. There wasn't much else I could do. 6. From lisa e: Which side of the bed? As you look at it, left. From my POV, right. 7. From elton: How often do you pig out when you eat? Not often. I don't even do that at buffets. 8. From karen: Do you watch the space shuttle launches? Yes, I've been watching space launches since John Glenn. I remember Ed White's spacewalk and the "angry alligator" and the Apollo 1 fire. 9. From dawn: What's your favorite leisure-time activity? Reading! 10. From sherle: When is the last time you said, 'I love you' and to whom? What about hugs? Who is the last person you hugged? Last night, to James. Unless we're really tired, we always say "I love you" before going to sleep. I hugged James while he was fixing dinner tonight. Labels: meme » Sunday, November 12, 2006
Routine Is Good
Couldn't stay awake last night and crawled into bed around 12:30. Woke once with a disorientation nightmare and once with a call of nature; otherwise was in bed 10 hours. It's wonderful how much energy you have when you get enough sleep! We got the suitcases put up and the rest of the clothes in the washer, then went to BJ's for the necessities of life, including more milk! I kept wandering around last night thinking I would feel better if I had some milk, but that would have involved getting dressed and, even worse, getting in the car again. Ugh! :-)
When we had the groceries put away we drove out to Lithia Springs High School for Christmas in Lithia. Regrettably small like last year, and again, no "cow lady." ::sigh:: I did get a cute ceramic turkey and a leaf plate, also some inexpensive novelty Christmas ornaments and one of those wooden reindeer; I've always wanted one, but we never had a good place to put one. This has antlers that detach from the head and a head that detaches from the body and is finished on both sides, so you can have the reindeer face right or left. I looked rather regretfully at quilts, especially a beautiful autumn-themed one in a log cabin pattern. But no...$240...need other things. Came home to relax—and drink more milk! Aieee!
BTW, guess what we saw driving home last night, about five minutes from home.
A house decorated for Christmas already! Labels: Christmas » Saturday, November 11, 2006
Tired, Hungry, and Queasy
Gad, what a day. It was pretty through Virginia, with mare's tails all over a pale blue sky, but it was hellishly hot for November, in the mid-70s. The drive was fine, but Willow threw up twice and it was quite messy (and that's all the details I will impart). I've just finished bathing her and am headachy and a bit dizzy from getting up at 6:30 a.m., although we didn't leave until 8:30. Part of the headache is from getting both sunburned and windburned. (Sunburned and windburned in November. Gah.) The wind picked up quite a clip as we were passing through the pretty valley just north of the North Carolina line. By the time we hit the South Carolina welcome center (which was already closed, which tells you what time we got there) it was clouding over, and it was raining in earnest when we reached the Georgia welcome center and changed drivers from me to James.
But once we got close to the metro center it wasn't raining and it hadn't rained here at home at all. A load of clothes has just finished. Need to wash a second one. Need to eat something besides dry K cereal (since there is no milk). I'm sick to my stomach because we stopped in Commerce and I had two plain pups (small hot dogs). Urgh. Maybe oatmeal. We stopped at the Russell Stover outlet in Hickory, NC, for James to get some sugarless candy and he found out they made a maple cream equivalent of their maple cream Easter eggs for Hallowe'en; it's called a Buzzard's Egg. So now I have enough to have a once-a-week treat. Ark Awaiting » Friday, November 10, 2006
The Last Day
It was a quiet one. We visited a well-reviewed hobby shop near the hotel we had been in last time. It didn't open until eleven, so we went into a small newstand until it was time. This had an excellent cross-stitch sampler book about 60 percent off the original price, so I grabbed it. While James was in the hobby shop, I went into the used bookstore next door. A bit pricey, but I did find an old Ideals Christmas album that had some stories I hadn't read.
The rest of the day we spent with Rodney. He treated us to lunch at Bertucci's on account of our anniversary (THANK YOU AGAIN, RODNEY!)—excellent, excellent meal, with great bread!—and we also stopped at a book warehouse called Daedalus Books. Found several goodies including what I think is the newest William Safire linguistic book and also the second season Joey Bishop Show DVD set for only $10! Then we enjoyed Rodney's media room, watching three Doctor Who Confidential programs which we don't see over here, plus the episode showing on Sci-Fi tonight, "The Idiot's Lantern." Unfortunately it was getting late, so we had to pass on the first episode of Torchwood to get back to the hotel and start to pack. BTW...
...Happy Anniversary to us! It's sixteen years today.
Labels: celebrations Tree'd
We were up this morning in time to see the Christmas tree arrive at Rockefeller Center on Today. They had a funny story about the couple who owned the property on which the tree was found; the man was, as Mom would have termed it, a "hot sketch." He had grown up in the house and the tree was in the background of most of the photos.
This was funnier because we caught the news report last night about the tree having been found and cut down. Labels: Christmas » Thursday, November 09, 2006
You Won't Believe This...
The desk clerk got the plunger, wrapped in a plastic bag, from a cart that has been left next to the rear entry door (nice way to greet your guests, guys).
Obviously the hotel has other guests, as well, because after we got done using the plunger, there were ants in the bathroom. Geez. Return to the Sky
We "chose wisely," as the knight in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade intones; we picked today to go to the Udvar-Hazy Center, which is subtitled "America's Hangar," where the big aircraft, and more aircraft, are now displayed rather than being shown cheek-by-jowl in the Air and Space building downtown on the Mall. Air and Space is still crowded, but compared to the way it looked before the new building was opened, it looks downright bare. Anyway, it was a beautiful day, cloudless, the sky that "blue bowl overhead." The wind was blowing briskly, but that lessened as the day progressed.
I pretty much described the Udvar-Hazy Center in my blog entry two years ago, so for details on the place, just follow the link. More aircraft have been added; the vertical flight gallery is now there, but there is still space where they used to have the tables and the Subway stand. (There is now a McDonald's restaurant and a "McCafe" permanently installed, so Subway is no longer needed.) James says some airplanes have been moved, but I couldn't really tell. And there were some additional airplanes added, including one that he told me used to ferry spies into occupied France (so that ties back to the Spy Museum from Sunday; cool). James goes through these places taking photos of the airplanes, the rockets, the missiles, and occasionally the satellites. I like to look at the airplanes and the space equipment (like the Gemini capsules), but mostly I want to see the memorabilia: the flyers' outfits, the things they carried, the gadgets they used, their journals. There is a wonderful display case filled with space toys from the 1950s and 1960s, for example. Another has dishes and plates, furniture, and other things influenced in style by the balloon craze that occurred after the Montgolfier brothers flew their first hot-air balloon in the 1700s. (I was amused by the timeline that talks about the first American to fly in a balloon being a 13-year-old boy. Timmy mentions this fact in an episode of Lassie.) There were two new historical displays this year. One was an assortment of memorabilia having to do with zeppelins. Two struts from the crashed Hindenburg were here, along with a surviving cup and saucer. There was also a tank used in an exploration vessel, Norge, which was lost. Roald Admunsen, the first man to reach the South Pole, and a partner disappeared while looking for the Norge. The second display was three big multi-shelf glass cabinets holding items to do with Charles Lindbergh. Some were items Lindbergh (and his wife Anne in a couple of cases) had used, but the majority of them, over 90 percent, were items that had been issued to celebrate—and capitalize—on Lindbergh's historic flight across the Atlantic. If you think merchandising over movies and celebrities is something new, think again. There were games, drinking glasses, statues, toys, inkwells, watches, bracelets, photos, frames, and other things too numerous to list. After we'd walked the main level we had lunch. I tried the McDonald's Asian salad, which wasn't bad, except they were out of the sesame ginger dressing. I had balsamic vinegarette instead, which gave me roaring indigestion despite two Prilosec. We then visited the Gift Shop (it's a State Law) and I bought a book about World War II homefront propaganda posters and also a postcard book of them. I'm going to frame a few of them and dot them around the house. Afterwards we walked the second and third floor catwalks so James could get more photos, then went up to the tower, which overlooks the landing path for Dulles Airport. Last time James had gotten rather foggy pics because of the weather; tonight he snapped photo after photo while I just sat and enjoyed the view. It was so clear you could see the spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains, 23 miles away. We left about four o'clock. Well, a couple of nights ago I discovered there was an A.C. Moore about seven miles away from us. I asked James if we could make a stop there before visiting Rodney tomorrow and he had agreed, but since we had time tonight we went tonight instead. I found some inexpensive (less than $3.00 in most cases) decorations for the front porch for Christmas and for the winter, got some iron-ons for my new sweatshirts, and a couple of other things. Not worth trucking up to Chattanooga for, but nice since the store was nearby. We also stopped at Borders in the vain hope that this one might still stock Best of British, but, alas, no. I did get a couple of cross-stitch magazines, the new Yankee—gad, they're going to magazine-size format in January, after seventy years!, the Ideal Home Christmas volume, the December Early American Life, and from the remainder rack, Life's Christmas Around the World, which was $25 last year. Borders remainder price: three bucks. I love Borders' remainder tables. We also had a great meal at the Golden Corral near the Borders. The breakfast bar here at the hotel is heavily starches, I had salad at lunch, so I did an Atkins thing at supper. :-) I did have a small slice of apple pie and was very surprised: most commercially served apple pie is overly sweet, but this was just sweet enough and very strongly spices, and my favorite part, the crust, was terrific! So it was a lovely day, except for the toilet doing its thing again when we got back. [eyes roll] Need to let James have a turn at the laptop and go have a game of "peck" with Pidgie. Ta! |
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