Thanksgiving day festivities

Another year..another wonderful thanksgiving!

The Thanksgiving meal was awesome! As usual, there were so many delicious treats and hors d’oeuvres before, as well a fantastic soup, that by the time the main meal came, I had to take small portions, probably just as well…I still had to waddle back to the couch for football.  After a while, we had desert and played games. The deserts were incomparable, as always, but my favorite was a 3 layers chocolate pie and a tiramisu cheesecake. Qué rico postres!!!

For many years we’ve gone to Tracy’s Mom & Dad’s house on Wednesday afternoon and stayed until Saturday night or Sunday morning. That was back when we had less animals at home, the kids were babies, her sisters still lived at home and often, others stayed as well. We’re all older now, with responsibilities elsewhere, so the nomadic life is less spontaneous. This year we made the trip on Thursday morning and left on Friday, after lunch. A shorter visit, but still, great to see everybody and enjoy a fabulous meal!

The weekend in review…

Friday

Didn’t make it to the cinemas or even out on Friday night. We wanted to see 2012, I’ve gotten mixed reviews. the fall back was Saturday night.

Saturday

Did chores Saturday morning and then worked out. a big workout, new routine…very intense and now I’m still very sore. Raked leaves in the afternoon

Saturday night Tracy, the kids & I went to an open house/ coffee house cafe/ open mike thing at the new Waldorf High School in Keene.  What a great time! Kids and adults performed. There are a lot of talented people at our school. 

Things that stick out in my mind:  a song with acoustic guitar and accompaniment by one of the kids on violin.  It was awesome! Also, a girl in 9th grade, Lydia, my daughter’s “8th-grader”, kept coming back up and doing a “blond joke” routine…she of course is blond and a dead ringer for an older version of Grace. Grace was so inspired that at the end of the show, she got up and did a little something. Another kid, a 9th grader, had written a song, and after performing a couple times already, got up and did his own song.

I can’t believe this community at Waldorf. People are excited to get up and let it out. It makes me want to learn something well enough to get up and perform. I’d love to have the nuts to get up and play guitar and sing for everyone…provided it was good ;)

Sunday

I have had such a big to-do list….some stuff has been on it for a couple years, and this summer (well actually, all of 2009), I did so many things.  On Sunday, we finally raked all the leaves out of the driveway. It seems like, because it’s a low spot, that’s where all the leaves collect. I then took a pick and rake and re-graded the driveway…the center was getting way too high and our car was bottoming out all the time. That hump has been bothering me for over a year. Done!

I also transplanted the big quince bush to the other side of the driveway. One more quince and cut down the dying maple, and I can finish my split rail fence and plant two more apple trees.  The apples of course, maybe even the maple tree are going to have to wait till Spring.

Made a great soup/chili that cooked all day. Came in around 4 and settled in for the Patriots.  They won.

I’m still sore….or more sore in different places this morning. Luckily, I have a class all day, and more chili for supper tonight.

One of my favorite towns, Walpole, NH

Ok, I know…I’m from Westmoreland, and it took me a few years but I found my way back and now I have a great place on a quiet country road. So, in fact, Westmoreland, IS my favorite town.

That being said, there are a number of other cool places on my list (yes, I keep lists; these are on the “towns I would like to live in” or “favorite towns” lists…maybe I’ll go on about lists and the list game in a future blog, without naming any names to protect the innocent; and not so innocent); locally, Walpole & Keene, NH and Brattleboro, VT are on my favorite towns list. If I had the ducats, maybe I would pick someplace more exotic, tropical, mountainous or exciting, but I think I would always keep my place here as a retreat.

In reality (IF i had the ducats), I would love to live on a schooner; two masts, a couple of square sails too, a small kitchen, and an anchor to pull at any given time, like a small pirate ship. I would live on the boat and not have a “homeland” so to speak. It would be great to run a little tavern, eatery or Palapa on shore, serve whatever I was making that day, along with some tasty beers, and coffee. I’d keep the hours I felt, swim when it was hot, fish and grow vegetables, have chickens for the eggs. I would also hang out a sign as a surveyor and help people out with boundary problems, or laying out a water line or building or something.

Ideally, I’d be in a country that spoke Spanish, so I could use and better my Spanish skills and even help those unfortunates who showed up without a common phrases book and didn’t speak a lick of anything but English. I’d close shop every once in a while and disappear on an adventure, an escape, or to just visit home in New England. (See, even in my dream, I can’t escape calling HERE home).

So, I’ve gone way off track, folks.  I meant to talk about Walpole, NH.

Walpole is so beautiful, and there are all these cool places to shop or eat…Burdick's, The Walpole Village Tavern, the Walpole Village Market are just a few. I’ve been frequenting the Market and Burdick's recently, as I had planning board meetings in town for a subdivision that I did. The Market has an awesome deli and all kinds of imported and local epicurean delights. I found chorizo, made in house, last trip. Next door is Burdick’s, and I can’t seem to stop by without picking up some cocoa powder covered cocoa beans. They are so good, bitter and chocolate. Burdick's is also a fantastic gourmet restaurant. I’ll have to do some gustatory research and devote a future good eats to a dinner at Burdick's and a night at the Tavern, also a fine restaurant.

Until then, from my Favorite Town,  Ciao!

Monadnock Waldorf Craft Fair

 

http://www.monadnockwaldorfschool.org/

Halloween in Keene

Our New England Life ~ 3rd issue

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays. When we were kids, I lived in a subdivision neighborhood in Keene, 100’s of houses with candy to visit, within walking distance. Mom & Dad would take me & my brother around the neighborhood to collect candy. It was all magical. After trick or treating, we went and visited my grandparents and my uncle to show them our costumes and get the extra special candy they had saved for us.

We moved to Westmoreland when I was 10, where houses were few and far between…only 2 visible neighboring houses across the field at first. We would dress up and go to the old neighborhood for the candy and goodies. Once I hit High school, I stopped Trick or Treating for a while…it wasn’t cool…Halloween parties and mass quantities of beer and other Halloween treats were the preferred venue for the evening. Later I went to Keene State, and lo and behold, costumes were cool again…especially WITH the beer and unmentionables.   

I guess maybe guys always remain 10 at heart…I still love to dress up in costumes…I put on one and BECOME that character, so Halloween has remained my 2nd favorite Holiday after Thanksgiving.

Now, of course, I get to be the Dad, taking my kids around the neighborhoods. The first few years, we followed suit and hit the old neighborhood and then the grandparents and great grandparents houses, just like when I was a kid. Then for a few years, we traveled the haunted paths of Court Street. One of my best friends, Chris, lives in a huge house that looks like the mansion at the beginning of Scooby Doo. That was Halloween central, in our travels. That part of Keene really gets into it, so many people decorate and make their own haunted places. 

Last year, we let Jeremiah have all the boys from his Waldorf Class sleep over at our house and we took them to Trick or Treating around the Lincoln Street, Waldorf neighborhood. Another gold mine of candy, with the added bonus of so many parents from school, either in the houses giving out candy or on the streets with their kids. Kind of a big social event for everyone.

This year, Jeremiah went to a friends house and he and his boys went trick or treating based out of one of the guys mother’s house near the school. Jem forgot his candy gathering bag, so we showed up with it and then tagged along with some of the other parents. He didn't mind and the guys included Grace as part of the crew.  She loved it. 

Their costumes were something else! Grace wanted to be a Pilgrim/colonial girl and Jem wanted to be a 2nd Massachusetts Militia man from 1776. They had seen these costumes at Old Sturbridge Village. Tracy started making the costumes after supper Friday and finished Saturday Morning at 5 am, just before I woke to bring Jeremiah to Keene to his buddies for the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yup, I’m the cloaked figure…it actually was pretty scary after dark…

Keene Pumpkin-fest 2009, Cont.

Our New England Life ~ 2nd issue, part II

Usually we don't go to Pumpkin-fest, because of the huge crowds, but this year, we bit the bullet. It’s not  just the crowds, necessarily, both Tracy and I are kind of shy and anxious people, and maybe it’s the thought of meeting someone you know, what would you say?  Maybe its the dizzying crowds, making us all walk around like we’re half in the bag, disoriented and cranky. So many people, so much noise, its a little overwhelming…maybe that’s why I haven't spent much time in big cities (or really any city except Boston, which seems ok)

Anyway, I digress…this year, folks, we went to Pumpkin fest at the height of crazitude! AND, we had fun. we ate, (delicious fried dough) and walked, and took pictures and bought some super delicious pineapple/habenero jelly at a vendor’s stand.  So here are some pictures from a successful day. I don’t know if Keene beat the record or got back into the Guinness Book again. It was a perfect cool day, lots of music, food and crazies to watch.  Enjoy!