Fa la la la la, la la la la!

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat. Please put a penny in the old man's hat. If you haven't got a penny, a Christmas song will do. If you haven't got a Christmas song, then God bless you! 


The Thanksgiving holiday is coming to a screeching halt, shoppers are out in full force in the malls and on line, there is a smattering of holiday tunes on the radio, and Christmas is less than one month away. It all points to one thing ...

It's time to make the annual Christmas playlist! YIPPEE!

Yes, my pink peeps, it is indeed that time of year again. I am in full Christmas song, holiday hits, fa la la la geeking mode. I spent hours this weekend combing through the iTunes store and my own song library for potential pieces to include. While listening, singing, humming, finding new options, listening some more, and toying with some possibilities, the proverbial light bulb finally clicked on.

*ON!*

Yep, just like that.

I have a mega iTunes collection with goo gobs of Christmas tunes -- not to brag; it's a little more embarrassing than that -- and would like to share the Christmas joy. In song. I have lots of favorites but what are YOUR favorites? Do you have an all-time favorite holiday tune? Does it matter who performs it, or does the tune of, say, Little Drummer Boy transcend the performer? Do you like the classical Christmas vibe a la Handel's Messiah, or something more modern and upbeat like Mary's Boy Child? Peaceful and quiet or big and bold? What song comes on the radio and makes you think "NOW it's Christmas?"

Don't go tell it on the mountain. Tell me instead! Leave a comment with your favorite Christmas song or songs and any other information you want to share about your holiday tune tastes.  Maybe, just maybe, your personal fave will make an appearance on the Christmas '10 mix.

God rest ye merry, gentle peeps!

Welcome, Olivia

We have a new member of the pink turkey household. She is a big softie with a firm core, has a bit of a muffin top, is an expensive date, and is a pain in the butt to get up the stairs.

Meet Olivia:

Olivia is now residing in my room. My old mattress -- un-named, by the way; we checked -- is now in Turkey's room. The Turkey's old mattress with coils poking through the fabric is hitch hiking its way to the county recycling center. I have it on good authority it will have a ride by 8 tomorrow morning.

While Turkey's old mattress waits for its ride we have been busy moving beds around, cleaning, washing dust ruffles and comforters, and generally getting ready for the first night with Olivia in the house. It is very safe to say the Turkey and I are both looking forward to tonight's journey to Dreamland on new and new-to-you beds.

Thanks to my parents for the early Christmas present for both of us! And welcome, Olivia. I sincerely hope you enjoy your new home.

P.S.  Um. When did mattress companies start naming their products?! Does anyone else find this just a tad bit weird?

Williamsburg

Picturesque. Everyone always describes the historic Williamsburg experience as picturesque.

I'd like to add quaint, charming, colorful, and fun to the adjective list.

However you describe it, here's a glimpse at a weekend in the very picturesque, quaint, charming, colorful, fun, and very historic Williamsburg, Virginia:

The first stop on our journey - The Capital. 

More shots of the Capital from the street. (Can you believe that sky is not even photoshopped? It was a gorgeous day.)

 This was the fencing in front of the Magazine and Guardhouse.While I wouldn't want to run into it, I'm not sure how effective it would be at keeping people out.

The Courthouse with a very gorgeous tree out front. I stood across the street for a while waiting for the hordes of picture takers to clear out from under the tree.

....and then I became a total tourist and took a picture, too! 

(Don't pay attention to the hair. It was a windy day.)

 The Governor's Palace. And, yes, that is indeed a nametag. It was my admission ticket for the historic buildings. I committed a major sin by forgetting to take it off for pictures. Twenty "Hail Letitia's" were said as pennance.

Believe it or not, I got in trouble for taking this picture. We were in the study on the 2nd floor of the Governor's Palace, and I moved the blinds just a fraction to be able to get this shot out the window.  The docent .... 'scuze me .... the historical interpreter got very angry with me for touching the blinds. I apologized in due course and mistakenly referred to another worker in the building as a docent. Lordy! You would have thought General Washington himself was walking through the property by the way she fussed at me! Needless to say, I was very quiet and didn't touch the furniture or the blinds for the rest of our tour.At least not that she could see. *wink*

This is the back yard at the Governor's Palace. There was a boxwood maze off to the right (which I navigated successfully. Thankyouverymuch.), formal gardens on the left, a stage in the way back, and we even saw General Lafayette taking a stroll. I wish my back yard would look this good. Sigh. 

From the Palace we meandered through the streets a little more, stopped at Trellis for some Death by Chocolate, picked up some cheese (see previous post), were very much alive after devouring the chocolate, and skipped back to the Visitor Center before heading to the airport. 

The good news is, after 46 hours together, we were still smiling on the trip home. 

See ya' next time, Williamsburg!

Say "cheese!"

Cheeeeese! 

Before I snapped this picture it was so crowded that I couldn't even SEE the cheese, much less pick out some to sample or purchase. That's when the friendly Brenda came to my rescue. She saw me looking sullen and asked if she could get me anything from the counter. Um, there's cheese involved -- OF COURSE you can get me something from the counter!

Brenda and I chatted for a minute and then she disappeared behind the wall of people. She emerged from behind the wall a few minutes later with a tray of cheese. MY cheese! *Squeeee!*

I said my thank you's and then, miraculously, the sea of people parted. It was then that I really and truly saw the holy grail: cheese. Stacks and wheels and packages of cheese. The soundtrack of life paused while the angels sang. I had to remind myself to breathe. It was a profound moment.

Four hunks of that cheese came home and are now camped out in my fridge, waiting for tonight:

Glass of Wine, meet Cheese.
Cheese, meet Glass of Wine.

I have a feeling you two will be fast friends. :-)

Apples, apples, and more apples

Those aren't leaves on the ground. Nope. Those are APPLES! 

The weekend brought some cooler weather so we decided to take advantage of it and headed north to the orchard. We weren't disappointed.

We wandered through the rows of trees, filling our bag with apples, tasting as we went. They had red delicious, golden delicious, staymen, ida red, and matsu. We adopted a few of each.

This was our transportation from the parking lot to the orchard. A tractor bed with old school bus seats, and a covering. Brilliant! Not comfortable by any means (shock absorbers, anyone?), but still brilliant.

It really was a pretty day and the apples were yummy. We even came away with some good pictures!

But I saved the best for last:  

See that guy behind the Turkey? Right there. Let's call him Big Grinner. Well, I have NO CLUE who he is, where he came from, or even recall him being on the bus-tractor contraption. But he has a cute grin and a great sense of humor! :-)

Thank you, Mr. Big Grinner, for being a part of our apple picking memories.

Weekend in Wally World

I spent the weekend with buddies from *gulp!* high school. Yep! Twenty five years after graduating and it felt like yesterday. We still ACTED like we were in high school, staying out after curfew, being rowdy, and then munching out on pizza at 3 a.m. at Frank's mom's house. Oh, yeah.

Well, maybe we were acting more like college kids. We were, after all, in the bar. 

I am working on stitching photos together to share with you. In the meantime, here's the alumni band video for your viewing pleasure:



Yes. Old people do indeed rock!

In addition to cheering my peeps and taking photos from the stands, we watched about 10 other bands perform on Saturday night before heading over to the bar to get warm and continue socializing. It was 3:41a.m. when I finally pulled into the garage at home. I might be rockin', but this old person just can't pull that off two nights in a row any more.

Yes, you read that right:  TWO nights in a row!

We had fun. :o) 

Ho, ho, h .... hmm?

September 23. It's the Autumnal Equinox. The 266th day of the year. A Thursday (this year, at least). It's the day Nintendo was founded, and the anniversary of the Concordat of Worms. (Who knew?)

September 23, with 99 days remaining in the year, is not the day I expected to find a fully stocked Christmas section at the hardware store.

Maybe they are celebrating the anniversary of the Concordat of Worms. Maybe?