Mama Mia!

A few weeks ago I was feeling blue and bored and it was a million degrees and the obvious solution was to take myself off to the movie theater. There I would be not bored, chilled like a popsicle possibly very cheered up. Opening that day were The Dark Knight and Mama Mia! Yeah, that's not even a toss-up I hate those stupid Batman/Spiderman/Fantastic Four movies. I have never seen Mama Mia! as a musical and I don't know ABBA, but it looked fun and seemed perfect.

It was. It was not good. It was fun. See, there's a difference.

The acting was so-so, the singing also mostly so-so, but the spirit was fun. And that ABBA music, that shit is unrelentingly upbeat- you can not be in the least bit sad with that music around. You can be silly and dramatic but only in the most comical and over-the-top way not genuinely sad.

The music and the story were fun. But for me, the women in the movie were the real focus, their relationships with each other made the movie sparkle. Having Julie Waters and Christine Baranski egging on Meryl, dragging her kicking and screaming into having fun and letting go, those are my kind of friends. I have friends like that, they're the ones who stop by with a pint of ice cream or a bottle of wine and let you whine and complain about your latest woes. Then somehow you are hysterical with laughter, all the mundane drops away and you just enjoy the moment.

Celebrating those friendships. The ones that start out when you're a kid, or a drunk college student or just because you work in the same office but that stick, grow, stay and get better over time, that seemed to be the whole point of this movie. Or if not the point, than the soul of this movie. What our friends, and specifically, what our girlfriends do for us is the key. They know the worst, bring out the best, let us be silly, share our burdens and sometimes dance around to ABBA in funny outfits.

Amen, sisters, amen.

The photo is from the LA Times.

New York Trip- Yankees Game And A Flat

As part of the celebrations of Brooklyn and Ruth's birthdays we took in a Yankee game. Now, let's pause for a second and just admire my wide circle of friends, the diversity and charm. Yes, it's true, I'm friends with Yankee fans. More than one!

Ruth has a job with connections (of the non-mob variety) and as a perk she can go to Yankees games a few times a year. It is always a crap-shoot as to what kind of seats you will get. Last time we were along the 3rd base line and about 25 rows up. Pretty good. But that was nothing compared to this time! This time we were spoiled rotten. A fitting final visit to the hallowed halls of Yankee Stadium before they tear it down this winter. This time we were ushered behind the barricades to a private entrance. We didn't have wait in line, get stepped on, wind through long security lines and up the endless concourse ramps. Nope, no riff-raff mingling for us- we got a private entrance with friendly staff greeting us, a brief wait in a plush lobby before a ride up a private elevator- with an operator. Seriously, we had an operator for our elevator. Ha!Our seats were just over from where the press sits, directly beside home plate on the 3rd base line. This photo was taken using no zoom. That's our view. Also, our seats were cushioned and we had a waitress who brought us our orders of bad-for-us food and treats. A waitress- we were fancy-pants indeed.

The Yankees won- no good for me, but a nice birthday present for Ruth. And then we headed back towards Queens. This is where our night took a little detour.

While driving at speed along the Cross Bronx a little before midnight Ruth's tire blew. We were right by an exit and opted to ride on the flat to the top of the ramp rather than risk death on the Cross Bronx. There are worse places to break down, but you'd be hard pressed to name one. I am very glad that there were three of us together and that Ruth wasn't on her own.

We called for roadside assistance, but it was going to be an hour. Great. We were at a good spot, off the ramp, beside the road, protected from traffic. Morrigan, a champion tire changer, decided to try changing the tire rather than wait. We agreed and set to work. As Morrigan began to work her tire-changing mojo we were approached by a man who did not have a reassuring appearance. He politely asked if we needed a hand and proceeded to wrench the last lug nut loose for us. He wished us good luck and wandered away. Several cars, a mini van and a motorcycle stopped to ask if we were OK and offer advice about 24-hour tire places, gas stations and delis in the area. The rest of the cars just rolled by not bothering us in any way. The only surprise about who didn't stop? The Episcopal Church van- thanks, guys. At least they weren't from the Good Samaritan church... geez. As usual, the good and best of the human nature and New York in particular was on display rather than the worst.

Morrigan got the flat changed out in about 30 minutes. It would have probably taken her about 10 but we had the world's worst jack. Ever.

Wanna see where we broke down?Irony, thy name is Bronx.

New York Trip- The Met

Lordy, Lordy, people, it was a crazy awesome week this past seven days. First, Morrigan and I went down to New York to visit Ruth and Brooklyn for their birthdays. Keeping my nearly unemployed budget in mind we went to The Met. I had never been - I know, shocking!- and we had a blast. The art was amazing- of course. The place is huuuuge, and the architecture of the actual Met is pretty cool.

We saw the Greek and Roman sculptures and then went across to the Temple of Dendur. It was very, very, very cool. I love Egyptology and it was very amazing to see all of the artifacts and the temple and tombs. The mummies were fascinating, and the blue hippo was so darn cute I wanted to take him home. The temple has all sorts of carved grafitti from where people visited the temple over the last 300 years. Napoleon's troops and wealthy Brits and other Europeans on holiday carved their names and dates into the temple.

It is sort of weirdly cool to see someone took the time to carve- quite nicely I might add- their name and date into a piece of stone in Egypt so far from home. On the other hand, they defaced this gorgeous temple. Caring not at all that to scratch their own name into stone they obliterated a history deeper and more important than theirs could ever be.

I even found a poem about it by Shane George. He, too came to The Met and saw the Temple and was both fascinated and annoyed by these graffiti artists of another era.

Next we took a spin through the Superhero Fashion exhibit which was nothing of what I expected. Cool, but I wasn't dying to linger there.

We did a quick sprint through the American wing, but it was mostly under construction. Then we toured the modern art section. It was a mix of things that were amazing and things that make me say, is that art? Seriously, art? There was a giant, two-storey high painting of Chairman Mao. It was very impressive. This is me as Chairman Mao's tie. Unfortunately taken with Ruth's blackberry, so it's teeny. But funny.





They had an exhibit of Jeff Koons work- on the roof of The Met. So up we went. Did you know they have a little cafe up there and you can enjoy a beer or a glass of wine on the roof of the Met, surrounded by art and with a view of New York skyline and with Central Park laid out below your feet? Yeah, you can.









Jeff Koons work was very funky and cool. Definitely the kind of thing where I'm not totally sold on it, but the balloon dog was incredible. I loved that. And my favorite arty photo of the trip was the skyline of New York reflected in the red heart with the couple posing in front of it caught in reflection.

Then we did a quick turn through the Turner exhibit. I am a fan of Turner, but the other ladies were not lovin' it. We tried to see as much as we could of the European masters, but by far it was the most crowded wing. We couldn't get anywhere near Degas or Monet, but we did see part of the exhibit and it felt surreal. I always feel that way when I see paintings that are so familiar but you've never actually seen them. Van Gogh's sunflowers and self portrait and haystacks, Monet's waterlillies, Matisse's dancing figures, a greatest hits of dorm posters and framed posters from early apartments. Sometimes its downright difficult to comprehend that you are seeing the original, the one that was lovingly create by the artist and not just another print.

It can also be hard to see because I'm 5'3" on a good day and often wind up being stepped on and elbowed in the head in large crowds. Blargh.

At that point we had to pack it in for the day because we had tickets to the Yankees game that night. More on that later!

Some Berkshires Summer Fun

On Saturday Darcel and I took a little day trip up into the Berkshires. We got our culture on by paying a visit to the Norman Rockwell Museum. The museum was pretty interesting and a nice size- not huge, but not small. There were a lot of visitors and there was a lot of bumping into people and having them trod on your toes as they checked out various paintings, but since its a Saturday in the summer we couldn't complain too much. It was amazing how many of the Rockwell paintings you know without ever making a study of it. They really are a part of the subconscious, a part of American culture that is familiar to so many.

They had an art installation of garden gates on the grounds. Various artists created fantastical garden gates and you strolled the grounds and saw them along the way. They were very cool and many of them were available for sale. You could have your own awesome garden gate at home!

We then drove into the town of Stockbridge for a little luncheon. A nice lunch at a local pub, some window shopping downtown and a wine tasting followed by a bit more window and book shopping and we were ready to go.

We headed further out into the hills to the Furnace Brook Winery. It is a stone's throw to the New York border, just about as far west as you can go in Massachusetts. We each wound up buying a bottle of the sparkling cider, it's a little different and incredibly delicious. It will come in handy for this weekend's Tour de France celebrations with Roma.

Finally we made a little stop at the Lee Outlets. A total bust, there was nothing, nothing, nothing, except a Coach bag I couldn't afford at all anyway. Heh.

It was a great, relaxing Saturday and we had a lot of fun. It was also kind to my budget which I love. A full day with unlimited fun but that fun not being based on spending a bunch of cash.

Here are some of the garden gates from the Rockwell Museum:

Happy Hallo- Wait, What?

Dude. People, I went to get Ruth and another friend, Brooklyn, birthday cards and when I walked into Hallmark they were decorating it for Halloween. Not kidding. Halloween. Stuffed cauldrons, plush witches, ceramic pumpkins, all sorts of All Hallow's Eve brick-a-brac.

It is three months, MORE than three months to Halloween. This is just obnoxious. I mean, could we sport a little 'Back to School' and then some 'Fall' before we break out the candy corn?

I am picking up Morrigan and then heading to NYC to celebrate the birthdays of Ruth and Brooklyn. We will make merry, maybe take in a museum, definitely hit the beach and take in a Yankees game. Clearly I will be rooting for the Twins. I am going to try and work up a post or two to leave you while I am gone. I won't be back until Friday, but I am sure you will survive without me. :)

A Belated Post On The Fourth

So this is whole post is late, but since I never promised anything approaching a timely chronology you will just have to suffer the indignity of the tardy post.

On the 4th of July I met up with my friend Morrigan, her husband Thor, her dad (McDad) and daughter Pixie, at a local farm. We have a membership and get all sorts of goodies grown fresh and local. In addition, you get a chance to pick flowers, visit the chickens and farm dogs, and shop in the little farm store.

Morrigan spent a few years working in a floral shop in high school and that has really paid off. Check out this knock-out bouquet she put together while wandering the pick-your-own flower section!

It was a chilly, damp day with showers in the morning, but they had cleared up enough that we could wander the farm without getting soaked. It made for a few pretty pictures with the flowers having raindrops on them, even if it made for more mucky ground to walk on. It's only dirt and we all know how to shower. Later that evening the big thunderstorms would roll through and wipe out our fireworks display. But they're rescheduled for next week, so while not as timely or festive it is a great chance to get together with friends and the community anyway. They've taken the rain delay as a chance to plan something special and there is going to be a whole town festival with game booths and food and competitions for the kids- that's taking lemons and making lemonade for sure!




Another fleur. I just love the bright colors!














Pixie is awesome. She is a girly mcsuper girly who likes pink dresses, fancy, sparkly shoes and jewelry who also climbs trees, catches newts, hikes and eats all her veggies. What a delightful combo. Here, she can be seen demonstrating a little of both sides of her personality. She's got on her pink sun dress, along with clear sparkly jellie shoes that I bought her, and she's covered in mud from her enthusiastic strawberry, flower and bean picking efforts. Mussed, but with no fuss.

It was a great way to spend a couple of hours with friends without a lot of hustle and bustle. We got lots of goodies and we had beautiful bouquets of flowers to show for our efforts.

Dreamy Twilight

Last night I babysat Zo so that his parents could go have a date. He's a baby, well 13 month old, who is either on, or off, happy or mad, there is no fussy in between. You never know what you'll get, and last night the cards came up trump. Not only was he an easy peasy baby, it was a delightful night.

He very cheerfully waved his parents 'b-b-b-b-bye '(He's starting to talk!) and didn't fuss a bit as they left. It was pretty late and I hadn't had dinner yet, so I put Zo in his tricked out all-terrain stroller and headed out. We strolled the two blocks along the main street to the pizza place where I ordered a small pizza and they said it would be 15 minutes or so. I seized the opportunity to take Zo for an evening walk.

The Three Zs live in a typical New England small town with a main street, a few shops and churches some closely clustered streets with houses but with farm fields mixed in lending a patchwork quality to the layout. The world before subdivisions and houses that are all identical covered the land.

So we turned left out of the pizza parlor and headed down a long side street. The sky in the east was the softest, haziest pink that faded into layers of blue and violet while the sky in the west was glowing a sweet golden honey yellow. The air that had been so hot and humid for days was cooler and drier with a teeny breeze to ensure comfort.

The sidewalk winds under huge maple trees and the leaves were moving in a very gentle breeze making a whispering noise. As we passed tiny farmhouse with a sprawling porch the crying of a baby wafted out the windows. Zo didn't seem to mind at all and I thought, 'Don't get any ideas, baby!'. But he just lifted up his bottle and lay back in his seat and drank while waving his hand at the leaves passing over his head.

The perfect rows of corn stretched out on the left, a red barn in the distance. We walked past a colonial saltbox house, tiny with a huge back yard surrounded by hydrangeas in full bloom the windows warm yellow squares of light. Another house, with the sound of a tv competing with the wails of a pre-schooler who 'No want bath!'. The colors of the sky continued to deepen as we passed overgown lawns and perfectly tended vegetable gardens. I waved at the folks eating outside and Zo started to drift off to sleep.

By the time we had turned back Zo was sound asleep. He slept through the noise and bright lights when I stopped to pick up the pizza. He slept through the barking dog and the loud stereo that blared from a passing car. And miracles or miracles he slept through the transfer from stroller to crib with just a little fussing that was solved by my patting his back.

I was able to eat two slices of delicious pizza and watch Phil and Paul narrate one of my favorite summer events, The Tour de France.

Sweet Treat

I got a little care package in the mail the other day. Inside was a t-shirt from a very unlikely place, and some candy from a friend. The candy was Skittles. I can't remember the last time I bought myself a package of Skittles. I'm just not that much of a candy person. Ice cream is an entirely different story, but candy, eh. Perhaps it is the irony of growing up where the streetlights are shaped like Kisses- I don't care about candy...


In any case, I smuggled my care package treat into the movies and noshed away while watching Wall-E. Yuuuuum. I loved the green and yellow ones best. The citrus is always my favorite, even if its that funky fake citrus taste unique to candy.

I forgot how delicious these are!

Fun, Crazy Weekend

Sorry I haven't posted- A friend came in from out of town this last weekend. We spent three days running around like nuts and having a blast. We tooled around the Berkshires and wandered the little shops and galleries in Lenox, visited the only winery in Western Massachusetts and took the back roads everywhere. We went to the movies, played mini-golf, shopped and hid in the air conditioning a lot.

Ruth is a crazy woman who is also the most down to earth and upstanding human around. What an awesome combination. We always have a blast and I miss her like crazycakes when shes gone. Good thing we chat on IM about four hours a day. Good use of my time, yes?

Also, I am watching I Survived A Japanese Gameshow right now. I'm so going to television hell in a handbasket. It's the heat, it makes my brain incapable of watching the Masterpiece Theater I DVR'd.

Fields Of Flowers

In a perfect moment of overlapping needs, my friends needed a hand with their little boy and their shop and I had free time and a need for finances! Don't you just love it when that happens?

Anyway, it was a gorgeous, gorgeous day here today. The sky was a blue bowl, the air was cooler and less humid and the sun was bright. My friend, Zeb, came to pick me up and we took a short drive through the countryside to a farm. There we did a little shopping and picked strawberries and flowers.

The strawberries are the very last of the season, but so delicious. We ate more than a few while we picked. The strawberries were hot from the sun and so sweet they tasted like jam rather than just the berries.

The flowers were beautiful with vivid colors and the rows seemed to stretch endlessly towards the horizon . There were several that I did not know the name of as well as; Bachelor's Buttons, Snapdragons, a few early Zinnias - and I could see buds on many plants- more flowers to come!

The bees were busy, buzzing around from flower to flower. Given the horrible colony collapse problems, I'm always glad to see one of these guys doing their job. In this case there were lots of bees around, all intent on their jobs and not in the least interested in the humans wandering the fields.

I also spotted a few ladybugs climbing around the flowers. They were mostly quite shy and not excited to get their pictures taken. Figures, you know girls.

After we gathered up all our goodies Zeb and I headed back to his house. His wife, Zippy, was entirely happy to hand over her munchkin, Zo. He is just a year and a total handful. He has the temper of a Irish redhead! He can be quite the temperamental handful, but today he was an angel. We played and laughed all afternoon (no more ticklish baby ever existed). When he fought his nap and was cranky-pants I popped him in the stroller and went for a nice long, shady walk.

I finished the day off with a totally local dinner! I had an omlette (sort of- I'm not so swift with the omlette) made of local eggs, local asparagus, local dill, local goat cheese and local hothouse tomatoes! So delicious!

Make A Wish, Say A Prayer, Send A Vibe

I got some news earlier this week about an old friend. She was in a very bad car accident and she's in critical condition at a hospital far, far away. The doctors are keeping her in a medically induced coma and we're all waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

I just saw this woman. We danced and laughed at our college reunion just two weeks ago. We ate cider donuts and laughed hysterically about things that happened 14 years ago. We marveled at how our classmates looked amazing and were doing even more amazing things with their lives.

Now she's in a hospital bed. I am not pleased. The Universe just poked me in the eye and I'm not amused. I am making wishes, saying prayers, thinking good thoughts and sending the best vibes I've got. If you can, you do the same.

Girl's Night! SATC

This evening I hit the theater with six loverly ladies to take in Sex And The City. Now, I actually barely ever saw the show and couldn't tell you that much about it apart from the cultural phenomenon parts that everyone knows. I only found it fun when in the company of others and never got into watching repeats on my own, especially not in their super abbreviated/edited TBS form. So, I had no big expectations of the movie.

I did get nervous when Darcel casually mentioned, just before the lights went down, "Oh, this is 2.5 hours by the way." Turns out that I never noticed the time passing. There was plenty of funny and the over-the-top bits were just in keeping with the style of the show. They didn't get bogged down in minute details from the show itself so could just figure out what was happening along the way without any trouble. They even did a quasi-mini-recap at the very beginning of the movie for those who weren't devotees of the show.

Some people had claimed it was unwitty, but I found that there were plenty of those moments where they made up a term or just so captured one of those moments you have with your girlfriends that you burst out laughing and poke the person sitting next to you.

Thereby entering the lexicon to be overused and abused in the coming weeks:

"Coloring."
"I gotta get out of my Mexicoma"
"I'm an emotional cutter."

Leaving the theater in a flutter of girly laughter and good will I felt very Sex And The City, if by 'city' you mean a decidedly small town in semi-rural New England...

Weekend Improvements

Despite the whole stupid car fiasco (more on that shiz later), I had a most excellent weekend. Apart from drinks with rarely seen friends I got to enjoy a marvelous Sunday.

First up, the flea market. Oh man, who does not love a flea market? Stop, I'm sure someone out there just hates them, but me, I am not one of those people. I flea market whenever humanly possible for the sheer joy of wandering around looking at all the trash and treasures. This particular flea market is pretty sizable, takes place in a big field and offers the full range of trash and treasures.

Myself, I showed all sorts of restraint this week and did not buy a single thing. Not even the cool mirrored tray that made a nifty photo. But Darcel was on a roll. She's still a little sad that we restrained her from purchasing the giant Elvis bust/lawn ornament/monstrosity. But she did buy a cool old Replogle globe from around 1949. It's black and awesome despite some minor rust issues that will be addressed.

There are several stalls that offer cheap modern stuff from wholesale heaven, wherever that may be. Here you can obtain your lifetime supply of socks, pencils, kitchen scrubbies, and back scratchers. You don't want too many of these stalls because they're all basically the same, but no flea market is complete without them.

We are lucky enough to have several stalls that sell plants, flowers, vegetables, fruit, mostly local produce and things like home made olive oil, soaps, vinegars, salad dressings, spice mixes and more. This is where you turn the corner and see the sign that says 'Limes 5 for $1' and turn to your friends and say, "Mothereffer, please note that we need to save our lime buying for this place next week and spare ourselves the high cost of shopping at Stop & Steal." When you make as much guacamole and drink as much Corona as we do it's best to find the best lime price in town.

We also have lots of food at this flea market. Far more than I have found at most places, there is a huge amount of food available for consumption. We have your standard truck full of fried everything, sausage and peppers, slushies/snowcones and ice cream novelties, Chinese (I know!), hot dogs, and a few little lemonade stands. I could just eat my way through the whole process. But this week we restrained ourselves so that we could go to a local ice cream stand for a treat after the flea market trek.

I have no idea what makes this 'New York Style' since it tasted exactly like regular soft serve, but yum. I love ice cream. It is my favorite food ever and I could eat it every single day. Every. Single. Day. (Wait, I'm sure I've said that before, but it bears repeating because it is so true.) If every you need me to do anything for you such as, "Can you help me move my 400 pound T.V. and futon?" Just tack on the words, "And we'll stop for ice cream." and I'll follow like a sheep right after you into the manual labor.

And then, as if that weren't enough I got to get together with some of the same friends plus some others for cocktails and delicious treats followed by a Rilo Kiley concert. It was excellent. I love me some Rilo and Jenny Lewis in particular. So good.

Rotten, Rotten, Spoiled Rotten!

Sometimes (Often!) people are lovely and incredible and generous and fun. They are! They counter all the times that people are petty and mean and boring. For example...

Yesterday I was chatting with Gigi. I was playing shopgirl in my friend's store* and simultaneously watching Fiddle and Faddle who had an unexpected half day and needed emergency child care. It was an overly busy and super committed day in week (and month) of the same.

I have my 10 year college reunion this weekend and I had squeezed in the errands that needed to be done, except one. I really wanted a haircut but I just was out of time. My hair was fine, nothing major in the land of disaster, but I'm growing it out and it had been months since it had seen any scissors. It could use some shape to make it purty.

So, when Gigi said she would be late the next day for the shop because she was getting a haircut, I told her I was jealous. Not in a snarky mean way, but in a genuine envy way.

Fast forward to today and Gigi came into the shop looking totally lovely with a brand new do! She had chopped significant amounts off for a gorgeous bob and looked glamorous indeed. Stopping in front of the counter she said, "I asked and they have an appointment at 1:45- you must go! I will cover the shop. Go, go, go, call them now!"

So I called and booked the appointment and then ran down to the salon where the receptionist greeted me and declared, "You're all set, all you need to do is take care of the tip."

Wow! How insanely generous is that? Gigi had remembered that I wanted a haircut from one off-hand comment that I made in 2 hours of conversation. She then secured me a time, covered for me at the shop, and then called and paid for it! Holy smokes!

I made a quick stop at the florist downstairs from the salon and got a little bouquet of spring flowers. Nothing extravagant, but just a little 'thank you'.

I am spoiled rotten, rotten, rotten.

And, I have fabulous hair that is ready for reunion!

*My friends own a little store and I work there when they need extra help or go on vacation. I usually wind up taking one shift a week to give them some extra help and availability.

Wednesday Evening Adventchas

Last evening I had a chance to catch the band Bishop Allen when they played in town. My friend, Darcel, is a fan having seen them before in a little venue in San Francisco, so she got the cheapo tickets and we headed out. The crowd was small even for a mid-week concert in our not-very-large town, but such is the glamorous life of rock and roll. We were mildly impressed with the first opening band and fled the scene during the second band's set in an effort to preserve our hearing and sanity. We passed the time enjoying some beers and watched the dancing antics of the very young fans in the audience. Finally Bishop Allen took the stage and they were well worth the wait. Skinny, geeky guys who play some serious guitar, the overall sound is pop but not annoyingly so. If you get the chance- check 'em out when they're in a town near you.