Ron put up a hat rack in our coat closet, thus removing two annoyances with a single honey-do.
I’ve been pelted by falling hats for a while, and the hat rack has been floating around in the basement for at least a year. It finally occurred to me to put one and one together, duh. I tried installing the rack myself, but to be honest, I stink at power tools and Ron is very good with them.
Once the hats were off the shelf, I found three cameras, a pair of gloves and three pairs of binoculars!
We had our annual get-together at Cathy’s house: bagels, lox, quiche, fruit salad, cherry pie. For the first time, Ron was invited. We won a little bit of money on scratch tickets and managed to fit in chores afterwards, including dropping off the remaining Christmas gifts, laundry, transfer station run and food shopping. We had a nice visit with the neighbor’s Rottweiler, a hulk of a dog with a sweet disposition. We picked up a ham for Christmas dinner and a few odds and ends for the recipes from Sid Wainer.
I barbecued the eel. It was okay but a little too greasy for our taste. Kind of disappointing, but Fluffles loved it. He had cod and tuna as well. His stomach hasn’t been good the last couple of days, poor little guy.
We’d made plans for some time to bring Emme to Sid Wainer on a Saturday before Christmas. They put out their big buffet on Saturday mornings, and I remember Carolyn’s saying that they really rev it up around the holidays.
Sid Wainer did not disappoint. The three of us collected recipes of the tastings we liked, and we ended up with several cheeses, sausage, smoked chicken, bacon, polenta and black rice.
We shopped at the fruit stand for produce, then made a quick trip to the Fall River Newport Creamery for Awful Awfuls. On the way back, we pulled off the road so Emme could see the Olympia Times building, and we stopped in to Kyler’s for eel, salmon and sole. Made a brief detour to Wareham for gas.
We went to the Osterville library for the Friends’ annual tea. Ron wanted to donate the library, so he bought three ornaments at a substantial discount to give to the brunch bunch tomorrow. We stopped for more fruit for tomorrow, and I picked up a wreath at 75% off for the shed.
Back in Mashpee, we had fish for supper, then went to Heritage to see the lights and hear a concert of Baroque and Renaissance music – which Emme, age 15, loved!
What a day….
One year when I was at college in Vermont, I was sure that I smelled the ocean on a breeze.
One of the so-called Beautiful People said angrily “That isn’t possible.”
Guess what, jerkoff – it is. I’m reading a story in the NYTimes that says that at Stevens Pass, Washington – some 125 miles from the Pacific Ocean – it is possible to catch the smell of the ocean.
Where we were in Vermont is less than 100 miles from the ocean. Landlocked, yes. Impermeable to salt air, no.
Ron just called from the airport; his plane landed at Logan a bit early.
I can’t believe where today went. I got a lot done, including meeting a friend for coffee, doing a big shop, cleaning out the frig and making apple crisp, but had planned one more appointment that I had to reschedule. I missed the Highfield party and a sing-along at the Cotuit Art Center: just too much to do and to be honest, not feeling especially like dressing up and going out to be in a big crowd.
Ron caught the bus from Bourne to Logan at 6:50 am last Thursday, almost a full week ago. I worked, put up the tree, paid bills, took care of Fluffles and the usual. The days were full, I guess, because it sure doesn’t seem that long ago that Ron left.
I’m looking forward to seeing Ron and hearing about his trip. I hope he took lots of pix.
Another side of the Sandy Hook shootings: those children will never know suffering or infirmity. They will never know the humiliation of poverty or the pain of hunger. They will never have their hearts broken by a lover or their spirits broken by a sadistic boss or their bodies crushed and maimed in an accident. I hope that their lives were happy and loving up to the time of their untimely deaths. Even if you don’t believe in heaven, they are certainly in a better place than here.
Used to be accounting firms; now it’s media companies:
Viacom
Time Warner
Disney
News Corp
CBS
Comcast
Oh, Obama was the top recipient of 5 of these company’s political largesse, and #3 at Viacom.
Spent a couple of hours today cleaning up the front at Edgewater. I can’t believe how many leaves there were; filled half the truck. Cleaned out the beds and picked up with the lawn mower. Finished as it started to rain a little. Wish we had one of those gigantic vacuum machines. Peter rearranged things in the shed. We rolled up the hammock and put it in the rafters.
Did the transfer station run with recyclables, leaves and trash, including the old grill cover.
Stopped off at the Fairgrounds for the last Farmer’s Market of the year. Got some tomatoes. Went to S&S for a script and to the bank to deposit a check for Ron. Stopped at the hardware store for an outdoor spotlight. Got to Hatchville Pottery for the final day of their winter open house: always delightful and always lots of good things to eat. Bought a Hollis Engley piece right off his outside studio wall; I love it!
The state of Connecticut has some of the toughest gun laws in the United States.
Anything can be a weapon: a screwdriver, a kitchen knife – even water and oxygen.
All of us are exposed to violence in the media, yet most of us don’t act out what we see on television or in video games.
The firearms used in the Newtown murders were legally purchased and registered.
The person who used those firearms had a history of mental disorder.
Why, then, isn’t there an outcry for more effective mental health services rather than the usual pleas for more (ineffective) government control of firearms purchase and more media censorship?