Memory Lane

For whatever blog reader may not know this…Whitney and I met in Junior High.  Whitney now lives in the house she grew up in while I moved north.  I don't get to our home town much and it's changed a lot.  Every house on my old street has been torn down and an enormous mansion is in it's place.  

Except for my old house.

This weekend I asked Whitney to do a drive by. It's looks the same only GREENER.  

We live on the far side.  The landlords lived in the near side.

We went to another childhood landmark - Volante's Farm.  This was where we would buy corn out of a bin a little hut.  Now it's a farm emporium!  With it's own cafe area and outdoor seating!

Mom, did you know how much it's changed??

Shopping for dinner.

Even Whitney's house has been updated - the blue addition on the right was added on a few years ago to expand the kitchen and give them a larger family room

The addition from the front.

Inside the addition.  They created such a great new space. 

This area was the old kitchen.

Of course, I really love the old space.  Whitney's daughter Julia was nice enough to give up her room for us.  That meant we were sleeping in Whitney's old room - where I spent many many weekend and summer nights in my teens.  That's even the same brass bed.  

There's a Bill original hanging in the dining room.
(We had steak and salmon for dinner along with lots of veggies from the farm)

Whitney loves trees.  We talked a lot about trees because they have a lot of them.

They are currently renovating the carriage house for Whitney's mom to move in.  
(Mom, if I had a carriage house I would renovate it for you.  Right now all we have is a crumbling garage that we use in the fire pit when we run out of kindling. )

Air BnB - Whitney and Aaron Edition

We spent a lovely weekend with Whitney and Aaron. It had been BL (before London) since the four of us got together.

The best part was we didn't make the plans complicated.  We lived as Whitney and Aaron would.  Lunch at the local farmers market. Sitting around a fire and bragging about our great kids.  Lazy Sunday breakfast.  And a walk in the gardens at the MA Horticultural Society.

A perfect 24 hours.

Throwback Thursday

This is a little late but I couldn't bare to skip a day when we've been so good about posting Monday thru Friday…

The Happy J-Team on the beach. Joey and I never met a camera we didn't like. 

How old does Joey look here?  6? 7?  8?  It's from late 90's or early 00's when I could jump in the air and not worry about injury.

Happy Thursday,  Everyone!!

Fiddling at the Tavern

Bret surprised me with the news that Wyatte and Malikai would bring their intsruments to the tavern to play in the Irish music.  I went down for pint and to hear them jam

Alas, Malikai didn't want to play in front of people. He said he's not ready. 

Look at that sad face!

But Wyatte sure was ready.  He even did s solo.  The Irish music circle was super nice to him

Zoe showed him the ropes. 

Meanwhile, Malikai turned his frown upside down. We played a game where he hid a sticker and I had to find it. He's terrible at that game, as he couldn't help looking at the spot where he his it. 

Nice raspberry.  

I've said it before, but this is why it's great to be home with the family. To catch a stolen moment like this. 

The Skeleton Crew

skeleton crew (plural skeleton crews)

1. (idiomatic) The minimum number of personnel needed to operate and maintain an item at its most simple operating requirements, such as a ship or business, during an emergency or shut down, and at the same time, to keep vital functions operating.

Tonight we had the minimum number of personnel to operate and maintain the Quiz.  No Christin.  She's on her way to Sweden.  Weak excuse.  Denise and Pete were no shows.  Bret caught a cold and was with the kids.  No reason why Zoe couldn't have come, I think.  Allie was watching the kids version of Hercules with a friend.  She's in danger of being excommunicated from the family.  And Quiz fanatic Jen was wiped out with her sciatica.  (My having to live with her prevents me from criticizing this feeble excuse.)

That left Derek, Joey and I.  Joey is now my favorite son.  Derek has replaced Bret as number two.

We took no pictures tonight so I pulled one from a couple weeks ago of Joey and Derek doing a belly bump.

A few questions:

- Where did Tiger Woods go to college?

- What two states do the Chesapeake Bay touch?

- What movie did Eddie Murphy get his only Oscar nomination in 1996?

- What 1983 movie was a remake of a Sly Stallone 1979? movie called 'Staying Alive'?

- Who was the Speaker of the House from CA for the 110th and 111th congress?

- What was the surname of the sitcom family for Rosanne?

- What was Alfred Hitchock's fifth and final Oscar nominated movie?

Answers:

- Where did Tiger Woods go to college?  Stanford

- What two states do the Chesapeake Bay touch?  Maryland and Virginai

- What movie did Eddie Murphy get his only Oscar nomination in 1996? Dream Girls

- What 1983 movie was a remake of a Sly Stallone 1979? movie called 'Staying Alive'? Saturday Night Fever

- Who was the Speaker of the House from CA for the 110th and 111th congress? Nancy Pelosi

- What was the surname of the sitcom family for Rosanne? The Connor Family

- What was Alfred Hitchock's fifth and final Oscar nominated movie?  Psycho

Book Launch Brunch

Sunday morning was a beauty - warm, sunny and clear.  It was made even better because I got to spend it sitting in Vicki's garden.  

She actually calls it her Farm.  I did not take adequate pictures to show the extensive plantings she has going on in her yard.  Everything from fruit trees to potatoes to flowers to lettuce to strawberries!  But we weren't there to focus on the foliage - we gathered to celebrate our friend's first published book!

Of course to kick the day off I needed a selfie with the Vic-ster.

One of our old festival planning pals published a children's book and we all gathered at Vicki's for a celebratory reading.  Vicki set up a tent in the back and we all settled in to hear Lucia read.

The story sounded great - based on her own experience building a tunnel in the woods one summer with her cousins and crawling through it with candles.  It makes my childhood summers sound a little dull.  Why wasn't I tunneling under ground with lit torches?

So nice to catch up with my festival friends without having to talk about the festival (although, of course we did but it was nice knowing we didn't have to.)  I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the food because it was delicious and there was a lot of it. A beautiful setting for an event - a real summer treat!

Perfect Strangers

I don't even really know how I heard about this but a magazine called Oh Comely! coordinates an annual package swap called Perfect Strangers.  They match you up with another swapper and you send each other a package.   I was matched with a girl from the UK but she's currently traveling in South America.

The package itself was a work of art.  My swap mate has talent!

My package included South American candies, tea, a native handicraft (dream catcher), a bracelet and postcards.  She wrote me a lovely letter…unfortunately she won't be back in the UK to get my package until September!  I sent all things Newburyport - postcards, t-shirt, a lit fest bag…if she knew what was waiting for her I'm sure she would cut her trip short and rush back to get it.