Who Knew - I do windows

Well, I am in IT, but not that kind of windows.  I'm talking about real windows.  You know, the kind you should be able to see out clearly.  Key word there, clearly.  

Let me explain.  Sally and I bought our house a little over five years ago.  There were three things Sally really didn't like about the house:  

1. The wall-to-wall carpet
   
2. The draperies in the living room
3. The draperies in the bedroom

Well, we took care of #1 immediately after the closing.  Started in the living room, then the dining room, took a look upstairs and with Sally's best "can we?" look we pulled them up from upstairs and the stairwell.  I guess that's what happens when you have beautiful hardwood floors under the old dingy carpet.  Anyway, check-off #1

Sally has looked for the last five years for just the right drapes for the living room.  We've gone through two, maybe three sets in the dining room, but she never found anything just right in the living room.  Cleaning the drapes, as well as the shears, didn't help.  Well, Thursday Sally found just the right drapes.  Yesterday, she, Una  and Nana set out for shears and rods.  In the infamous words of GW "Mission Accomplished".  

So, this morning was 'let's install the drapes' morning.  Down come the old drapes, shears, and hardware (in these tough economic times we were thrilled to find out that our old hardware would work just fine ($140 savings)).  Now with the drapes and shears down what should appear?  Those crystal clear windows, right?  Well, drop the two adjectives and you'd be correct.  

So, while Sally pressed all the drape panels, as well as the shears, and then hemmed the shears with her bright and shiny new sewing machine, I tackled the windows, inside and out.  I picked one of the coldest days of the year to open windows for cleaning, but eh, what the heck, I got it done.  

We've now got new drapes and shears in the living room, and crystal clear windows, too.  Check-off #2 on the list.

Gotta run.  Off to see Arlo Guthrie at the Ziterion Theatre in New Bedford.

P.S.  Do you do windows?

Meet the Grandparents

I'm a little late with this blog, but vacations have a way of putting you behind in lots of things.

We had a very nice visit with my Mom and Dad in the Philadelphia area recently. They were there as part of a "Historic America" tour. Sally, Una and I drove down from RI on October 27th.

We got to join my folks for a late dinner at Maggiano's, followed by a rainy windy visit of historic Philadelphia, and then a tour of Valley Forge. We wrapped up our short visit with a relaxing stay at home evening. It was a fun, but too short, visit.


We have some great memories to share with Una.










Since Sally's grandmother lives in the area we stopped in for homemade brunch with Grammie and Uncle Ted. Fun time, which included a trip to the Farmer's Market for some great Lancaster Valley treats (Sweet Lebanon Bologna...mmmmmmm. Oh, and a terrific peach pie)

As I said, a fun time, but too short.

Halloween 2008

I just have to share some photos from Una's Halloween 2008. This is the first year she really appreciated Halloween and she had a blast. She did things with Mom (made costume, carved pumpkin) during the day, visited friends for a little pre-Halloween party, then it was Trick or Treating in Westport with Nana. Here are just a few pics. We'll put more up on Picasa later. Enjoy...




Mommy and I carved a pumpkin. Isn't my Halloween dress cute, too?




Here I am with my friends. Dadda says we're all very cute.




Nana, me and Mommy (Lucy)Trick or Treat in Westport Point, MA

Barre Run 2008

We made our annual run to Barre, MA on Sunday. This is something Sally's family has been doing for many many years. I've joined in for the last four (Una three).

Barre, MA is where Sally's great grandparents settled after her great grandfather completed medical school. He and his wife lived the rest of their lives in Barre. He, Merle, was the local doctor, his wife Blanche was an artist.

Annually in October we make the hour or so trek northwest to this quaint New England town. We drive by the old homes that Nana recalls fondly (one is where her father was born). We stop in the town center, walk past the WWII memorial pointing out Buppa's name, snap pictures, and this year let Una run around playing with leaves. It really is a beautiful town square. We grab a copy of The Barre Gazette and the next stop is the cemetery where both of Sally's great grandparents are buried. We carry on the tradition of leaving shells from Westport at the grave site, as Sally's great grandparents were summer residents of Westport and enjoyed the beach there.

The final stop is the Barre Mill Restaurant for lunch/dinner (I guess that would be supper to some). Three years ago when we did this run, it was Una's restaurant debut. Sally was recalling how fearful she was that little two-week old Una would disturb the locals. She did fine, as she did last year. Now this year...well, if the service hadn't been slower than molasses perhaps Una would not have lost patience with sitting quietly at the table. Oh, well. I guess some waitresses just aren't accustomed to serving families with children. Seeing that 80% of the people entering for the Sunday noon to 4pm specials walked with canes, maybe that's understandable.

After Barre, it time to drive back home, but with one stop. It's late October and we need pumpkins. Annually we stop at Howe's Farm in Paxton, MA. This year, after rousing Una for a nap in the car seat (she tends to like sleeping in the car) we picked out 72 pounds of pumpkins for Nana and Gramps, as well as for us.

They have some of the largest pumpkins in the area, and even have one that Una posed on. Isn't she the cutest!!!


Another wonderful run to Barre. We're already looking forward to next year's adventure.

Five Wonderful Years

We reached another milestone yesterday. Five terrific years. The best ever.

Thank you Sally for being my best friend and my wife. You make my life complete.

Here's a little clip of how it all started:

Smith Castle

On Saturday after a couple of trips to the dump to continue our cleaning of the garage, we wanted to enjoy a nice Fall afternoon outside. Sally had seen listed in a "What's Going On" section of the paper or online, the fact that there was to be a Colonial Harvest Festival at The Smith Castle in Wickford. Sounded like a great idea, but what the heck is Smith Castle in Wickford. I know Wickford as a quaint little village in North Kingstown. I don't recall a "castle" there. Hmmm, let's take a look.

We packed up and headed out. Of course, it being about 12:30pm Una decided that the car seat was a wonderful place to take a nap. Rather than proceed right to Smith Castle we decided to cruise around Quonset Point. Wow! What a wonderful job they (Quonset Development Corporation) are doing in developing the old Naval Air Station into a fine industrial park. I've only been to Quonset once and that was to pickup an Admiral arriving at the terminal. We drove around and saw the marina, the beach, golf course, O'Club, and various companies doing business there. Quonset must be the off-load spot for thousands of Audi and VWs. There were acres and acres of new wrapped autos, and plenty of car carriers waiting to be loaded for delivery of the autos.

I was impressed. If you haven't driven around Quonset it's worth a couple of hours on a nice afternoon. Enough about Quonset. This is about Smith Castle.

We arrived at the signage along Rt 1 and immediately said, "UtOh" as there seemed to quite a few cars. Well, it was just that they had only a small parking lot along Route 1. The crowd when were were there was not overwhelming which made it kind of nice. What we did see was many docents dressed in period clothing ready to discuss what harvest life in the 1700s was like. We viewed spinners, outdoor cooking, candle making, large manual looms, a blacksmith. Oh, and the guy to the left with all his muskets. The Smith House was fun to stroll through. I know Sally and I will certainly go back for a more detailed tour.

We followed-up our visit to Smith Castle with a further drive South along Rt 1 to Wakefield. Sally was in need of a Mew's fix and I'm never one to shy away from one of their 69 microbrews on tap.

In case you haven't guessed it, it was a great day. Oh, more pictures of our time at Smith Castle can be seen on the slideshow on the upper right of our blog site (or linked here.)

Oktoberfest at Redlefsen's

On Thursday Sally and I joined her parents to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. It's actually today, but Redlefsen's (located in Bristol, RI) has this great Oktoberfest dinner only on Wednesday and Thursdays in September and October.


It really was a traditional Oktoberfest with all the German food, German beers, OOM-PAH PAH Band, and Bavarian Dancers. It was a wonderful evening. Sally and I reminisced about our 2004 trip to The Christmas Markets of Europe which allowed us to visit much of Bavaria and experience this type of evening first hand.

The evening was really special. I've added to my stein collection with a nice Warsteiner "Das Boot" complete with neck lanyard.


Thanks Nana and Gramps, we had a great time.