Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Merry NPPS Christmas!

Christin and Denise received their NPPS Christmas presents this evening - Jane Austen scented candles.  What did Jane smell like, you might ask?  Apparently, gardenias.  I assume this was the living Jane, not the long deceased Jane.

Especially appreciated were The Hour tags  - Denise got Ben Whisaw as Freddie Lyon (http://www.bbcamerica.com/the-hour/characters/freddie-lyon/)  and Christin got Dominic West as Hector Madden (http://www.bbcamerica.com/the-hour/characters/hector-madden/).

Downton Abbey countdown...SIX DAYS!!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Pot Luck

Tonight was our annual festival holiday pot luck at Vicki's house.  Here's Vicki cutting a slice of her Bourbon Cake (make cake mix and substitute bourbon for water!)  
 Lucia assumed that the puffy ball on the end of a string was some sort of sex toy that Vicki left lying around the house.  Between that and a story of a Yankee Swap sperm hat, we were in rare form tonight.  
Meanwhile, back at the homestead, Bill is on the porch with his cigar and Son #1 is home from boot camp and visiting his friends at the tavern downtown.  The holiday week has officially begun!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

If it feels right, go with it

Joey's home!We did our Godfather impressions using a few grapes as props.  No reason... just felt right.

I tried on a pair of pink cords at JackWills in Boston.  No reason...  just felt right.  It wasn't right.  It was very wrong.

Newbury Street in Boston.  Very right... very Christmassy.  We went to a choral concert at the Old South Church.  Beautiful show.

Jennie is always the right choice... be it Christmas or otherwise.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Still angry 73 years later

Jen wraps while watching A Christmas in Connecticut.  It was a strange little movie from 1945.  Jen loved it.  I had to work to get past one of my movie rules - "Don't watch movies based totally upon a lie".
We ended the evening watching a bit of "The Wizard of Oz".  Oz was robbed in the 1939 Oscars.
Here is the list of movies nominated that year:


Gone With the Wind (Selznick International Pictures; MGM)
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (MGM)
Love Affair (RKO Radio)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Columbia)
Ninotchka (MGM)
Of Mice and Men (Hal Roach; United Artists)
Stagecoach (Walter Wanger; United Artists)
The Wizard of Oz (MGM)
Wuthering Heights (Goldwyn; United Artists)

Gone With the Wind won... total crap.

I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!

Looking forward to left over venison

Dinner out with Alison and Loren last night in downtown Newburyport.  Alison and I debated the pros and cons of moving to Atlanta (con!! con!!), Bill obsessed on square footage as Loren talked about the size of the houses on offer down south (who needs 9000 sq ft??)  and we firmly established that if you want to stay warm this winter, don't come to Atwood street where the thermostat is only moved up past 60 for special occasions.


Thursday, December 15, 2011

Head on a stick series # 27, plus a bloody leg

When you take the corner from the hallway toward my office you are met with heads on a stick.
Everyone asks me what those heads are for.
I want to say things like "These are the head of employees I have fired".  But, alas, even I know that is not going to be met with the intended humor all the time (I sit next to I.T. guys... not known for nuanced humor... too literal)
Jennie will not be happy to see that her scowling face greets my workmates every day.
Bret just sent me this fine photo of his leg... played in a game of flag football and dove at someone. Proud of him.  I can't remember having a raspberry so colorful in all my baseball sliding days.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Hen Night

Stacey, Di and I hit the Beacon Grille tonight for a good catch up.  We talked books quite a bit and  I gave a hearty endorsement to The Enthusasticast (in case they have a Google alert on their names - Happy holidays Mark and Jon!!)  Hopefully they now have two new listeners.
Joey is home and on Atwood but didn't make the blog tonight - sorry Fletch!  But there wil be many more opportunities for Joey sightings over the next three weeks.  Stay tuned.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Peeping Bill

Watching Jennie wrapping presents through the window....  

Monday, December 12, 2011

NPPS*

The *Newburyport Period Piece Society met tonight.  We are watching a Masterpiece Contemporary called The Last Enemy with Benedict Cumberbatch.  We all like Cumberbatch for his portrayal of autistic intellectualism but we REALLY like the intro by Matthew Goode.  And he likes me.  Just before he puckered up on screen he whispered my name....
But I think this sums up the NPPS better than anything - an essay written by Denise's son H.  He just forgot to mention the wine.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Brooklyn Breakfast

Breakfast was interesting on this trip.  When we first arrived at the B&B (which was really just a B and you had to pay extra for the other B) we were told how fabulous the breakfasts were and that they were worth the extra $10.  So Friday morning we ordered breakfast and ate with our two German friends.  We had eggs, bacon, toast, fruit, etc.  The owner was there, chatting it up with us and it was a great time.

Saturday we sign up again with Jeff.  It's just the three of us.  When we get there the table is all laid out with fruit, granola, various toppings and yoghurt.  After a few minutes, a woman comes in with hot biscuits.  That was it.  And the owner is no where to be found.  Obviously now that the cute German girls were gone, he had better things to do in the morning.  

Sunday morning we decided to venture out.  Jeff left early that morning so Bill and I hit Park Slope again and found a wonderful little cafe playing awesome music (Sam Cooke, some french music, blues, etc). The wall had a cool mural and there were funky chandeliers.  I sat in a window bench with the NYTimes. This is Bill ordering more tea.  
I was briefly convinced that Jimmy Fallon was having breakfast with a toddler in the other window seat (does Jimmy Falon have a kid?  Maybe it was a nephew?) but Bill thought the guy looked more like what Billy Joel's son would look like if he had one.  In other words - no celebrity sightings on this trip.