Sacred Cows Make the Best Hamburger - Mark Twain

We capped a great weekend by vacationing in Newburyport. We caught the end of the Memorial Day parade and then had a pint at the Black Cow. Dinner on the deck while watching a show on the laptop will be a nice ending to our holiday.

a day on the battlefield

"At my signal, unleash hell!"

Victory tattoos.

Four Generations and a Ferret

Nanny, Heather and Lily arrived today for the annual Memorial Day pilgrimage east. Lily discovered the ferret hand puppet and the plastic poo. A good time was had by all.

Queen for a Day

Birthday dinner on the deck with Bill and Joey and QEII - the much desired pillow of the queen in felt on canvas.

Eric's ball game

A beautiful night of baseball turned into a lighting storm.

Mom, Tina and I saw a fun inning of baseball.

Coach Hue did a great job encouraging his team. Meanwhile the Mets Manager was a dick to his kids.

Third times a charm

My Mom had a hard time fitting Joey into the picture the first couple of takes.

Joey received High Honors and came up to the stage three times at Ipswich High Schools Honors nights.

We couldn't be prouder of him.

I have the funniest husband

Bill tried to augment our British DVD night by sneaking in one of George Elliot's lesser known dvds, Paul Blart Mall Cop, into my Middlemarch case.

so close....

I parked my little beach chair on our almost-done deck and read until dark.

Jen and Bill blog readers are sick of our deck updates I'm sure...

Jen is in her happy place

Wine, cheese and a book. She's a simple woman.

If Jen were on Lost

Hurley, go back to the hatch and get me more of my English Breakfast tea and a raspberry scone.

If Joey were on Lost

For my next draft choice I'm going with Hurley. He's deceivingly quick, sets a killer screen and will be the big body we need to push around Echo.

smokin' hot

Bill still looks Buena Vista hot in his Scottish whiskers, smokin' a cuban with his new Havana Club ashtray.

you wouldn't like me when I'm angry

With my awful new facial hair I can play the a bad guy in a Bruce Willis movie.

I'd be one of the guys who gets shot and killed four seconds after I'm first seen on screen.

We're back to our simple routines

English DVD night for D, K and J. I watched Dexter outside on the computer while having a beer and a cigar.

Everyone happy....

Below are the top five British movies as selected by the British Film Institute. My contribution to Jennie's DVD night future selections.

1. The Third Man (1949), directed by Carol Reed
After half a century, The Third Man remains a bona fide British classic: rich on atmosphere, strong on suspense and blessed with quite wonderful performances. A true collaboration between director Carol Reed and screenwriter Graham Greene, it is the story of a simple American (Cotten) who arrives in post-war Vienna to meet his old friend Harry Lime (Welles, evil and extraordinary), only to learn that Lime has been killed in an accident. But, as he unravels the truth, he is also drawn into the decadent and corrupt world in which Lime existed. Beautifully shot by cinematographer Robert Krasker (who won an Oscar for his work), the film is full of sequences that linger in the mind, while the acclaimed zither rendition of 'The Harry Lime Theme' by Anton Karas helps to create a rare, haunting movie atmosphere.

2. Brief Encounter (1946), directed by David Lean
A rightly celebrated tear-jerker which movingly recreates a little England on a northern railway platform (location: Carnforth, Lancashire). It shows that even the repressed British can display emotion (in a very understated manner, of course) when true love comes along. David Lean directed this expansion of Noel Coward's one-act play Still Life; Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard are the respectable middle-class couple who fall deeply in love but ultimately agree not to meet again and to return to their real lives. They do so with such dignity and restraint that it makes their ultimate parting all the more moving. The atmospheric music is Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2.

3. Lawrence of Arabia (1962), directed by David Lean
A truly epic film which won the Best Picture Oscar and BAFTA awards. Staggering in its scope, execution and impact, it remains a moving and memorable film-going experience. Director David Lean and screenwriters Robert Bolt and (originally uncredited) Michael Wilson combined to craft a story that seems to have two central characters - Lawrence himself (played with charismatic brilliance by 30 year-old Peter O'Toole) and the shifting desert so superbly photographed in glorious 70mm by Freddie Young. British eccentric T.E. Lawrence set about inspiring the Arabs to fight alongside the British against the Turks in the 1914-17 campaign. The film is full of scenes and performances to treasure, though perhaps the best remembered is the arrival at the isolated well of Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif) and the long shot of his ride across the shimmering sand.

4. The 39 Steps (1935), directed by Alfred Hitchcock
One of the greatest Hitchcock films and by far the best of the three big-screen versions of John Buchan's romping adventure novel, written in 1915. The excellent Robert Donat is the innocent engineer caught up in a web of intrigue when a female spy is killed in his apartment. A wanted man, he escapes by train and eventually on foot into the Scottish Highlands, before returning to London to solve the mystery. Heightened sexual chemistry comes from the scenes of Donat handcuffed to the heroine (played with icy charm by Madeleine Carroll) and having to spend the night with her. Hitchcock directs with a sure sense of pace and wit, and is always ready to add that extra jolt to surprise audiences of the day. At the time he said: "I am out to give the public good, healthy, mental shake-ups". He succeeded.

5. Great Expectations (1946), directed by David Lean
A masterly adaptation of Dickens' much-loved story, which fluently blends excitement, suspense and emotion. The memorable opening sequence of young Pip meeting Magwitch in the graveyard brilliantly sets the film in motion, and director David Lean handles the transitions from fear to drama and on to comedy with extraordinary ease. The cast is superb - John Mills as the older Pip and Jean Simmons as the young Estella are both excellent, as are Martita Hunt as the crumbling Miss Havisham and Francis L. Sullivan (who played the same role in the 1934 Hollywood version) as the lawyer Jaggers. A deserved Oscar for the stunning camera-work of Guy Green and another for John Bryan and Wilfred Shingleton for Art Direction and Set Decoration.

Family Warhol

Haven't seen Mom and Joey in a couple of weeks.... we celebrated our reuniting by taking goofy pictures...

Revenge of the Succulents

We let our succulent plants go about their business unattended. Now they are perilously close to taking over the house.

(first full day home since our vacation.... daily picture is lame today)

Last night in the UK

I look like hell, while Jennie is looking fantastic... must be the age gap.

I can't keep up.

What the ...?

"don't make any sudden moves ... the Queen is staring at you again...."

Scenes from Portobello Market - London

We spent the morning at Portobello Market. Think about Todd Farms in Rowley and multiply it by thousands in terms of volume and diversity of people.

As I get older I get worse and worse in large crowds.... I hate people touching me and hate when people stop in front of me so I can't pass.

Jen, meanwhile, flourished in the melee. She even double back a mile through the crowd like pigeon after a breadcrumb. She scored a few trinkets for herself and walked away a happy warrior.

Queen Elizabeth is still following us!

She's angry..... back off QE2!

waiting for a plane to London

Nobody's cooler than Bill.....

The unshaven look is really a chick magnet....

Happy AnniWitchery

Ten years later Jen and Bill return to the scene where we had our wedding reception. This time there was only two of us, not 14, so chances of us getting kicked out for rowdiness were less. We drank less this time, but had fun making up nonsensical ways in which the Witchery could Americanize their approach. Won't go into it, but we had some laughs. Which is why I look forward to the next ten and the ten after that, etc....

we may have to extend our Edinburgh stay

Until the heat clears....

Stop Staring at me, Queen!

Bill ignores the icy stare of Queen Elizabeth as he enjoys his afternoon cuppa.

over-rated! over-rated!

Yeah, yeah... gorgeous architecture in Edinburgh...blah blah blah.

But more importantly I have a delicious beer

...and Jen has a cute tiny little lamb burger! Who needs centuries of history and beauty when you can have beer and little burgers?!

Monday in Edinburgh

Bill in Edinburgh cemetery.

Jen and Andrea buying Scottish books. Or American books with a Scottish cover. Or just books....

Like this doorway. Amazing architecture in Edinburgh.

Are we really married?

Ten years ago Jen and I took wedding photos in this cemetery. The registry where we got married is no longer there, though.

We've long ago made the assumption that our wedding in Edinburgh was legal. The fact that the registry is no longer there doesn't give us satisfaction that our marriage wasn't a sham.

We are Hooligans!!

These are the Celtic fans - they were rowdy and fun and sang songs thru the whole game...unfortunately we were there as Hearts fans. It was a Celtics win (2-1) but Bill won a bet on the first goal scored. Pints on him after the game!

at the airport

with my favorite travel buddy..... on our way to Scotland

Packing for Scotland!!