Countdown to T Day

I drove out to Rehoboth last night, where my friend Jane lives, and we went to go pick up our turkey.  Its funny to drive 20 minutes out of Providence and be in this little, sweet farming community.  Well, it used to be mostly farms, but it sounds like its quickly becoming just a suburb, with lots of sprawling developments.  Anyhow it looked like the country, and it was so close.   Sunny Meadow Farms is technically the fenced in field behind Linda and Richard King's house.  They used to have sheep as well, but afore mentioned housing developments have encroached on that, so now they just raise turkeys:

Our turkeys are raised on the finest grains, and receive no medication or Hormones or any other additives... We have raised turkeys at this location since 1980 as a 4 H project for our youngest daughter Jaimie.  The love for fine food free to additives has kept us raising them ever since.

After welcoming us into their house and giving us lots of cooking advice (much needed!) they hefted over my 25 pound turkey, who was "walking around earlier" that morning.  

I love this.  After being a vegetarian for ten years, I try to remember to not take eating meat lightly.  I think this is one of the best ways to do it:  Supporting your community farmer, who takes good care of the animal.   Obviously, I haven't even tried yet, but the King's were so friendly and helpful, I'm sure I'll be going back to them for all my other turkey needs.

The mister and I got up early (ish) to salt it.  Oh man, those spices smelled amazing...

I ♥ Maple Syrup

I completely forgot about my fondness for maple syrup until yesterday.  The mister and I went out for brunch and I ordered french toast.  Three huge, thick pieces and a little bowl full of syrup. I keep picking at the leftovers. gah.   We had such a fun weekend!  It started on Friday with a free screening of Kid Blue at the weekly Cinematheque Film Series at Brown, run by our new friend Colleen (who was accompanied by the talented painter, Buck.)  Then a late dinner and drinks with said new friends, where it was discovered that during their time at RISD they lived in the building where I was born?!  What the--?

Magically, after little sleep, we managed to get ourselves over to the farmer's market before it closed. And then to the gym.  Also magic.  Then a yummy lunch with my parents followed by Mad Men episodes, crocheting and not much of anything else.  

Sunday, we resolved to hang up some art work.  We promise to do this every weekend and it gets eclipsed by laundry, or dishes, or watching The Office.  We procrastinated by going to brunch (where I got the afore mentioned delicious french toast.)  

While waiting outside for our table, I absentmindedly pointed out a large dog walking by (we have a serious case of large-dog envy.)  It, insanely, happened to belong to one of my very best friends from grade school who I haven't seen in years.  She just got married! To a chef!  She has a huge dog!  And she lives two blocks away!   After exchanging numbers, she had to run, but I spent the whole day grinning about it.  

We did get around to hanging up art, mostly in the living room.  

Its coming along.  

Plus, we even did laundry.  But left the dishes till today.  Actually they're probably still waiting for me.   

 

I know I missed the last Cricket Thursday.  With all the election excitement I failed to take the photographs early and then Thursday was filled with rain.  --Making it a very dark and icky day for photo-taking.  It'll be back this week!

Fingers Crossed

Just got back from voting.  Our district uses a paper ballot, completing the arrow with a magic marker.  It was a little weird to me, but maybe that's just because I'm used to the huge, hulking machines with the switches and the big lever to pull across.  I like that lever. Clunk. It feels more official than magic markering in a line.

But whatever.  I voted!  And it was breezy-- no lines, no hitches! I'm thankful for that.

Now off to compulsively check the news, squeezing in some  work before heading off to an Election Night Party.  Its going to be the most stressful party ever.

Halloween was fun...

We had such a good time trick-or-treating!  The night began with a pre-halloween Adoption Day Anniversary Party, which meant, among other things, a humongous, delicious cake!  Matilda sized, it was noted.  I felt so lucky to be there and to get to see such a happy family.  

Then, all sugared up, they scrambled into their costumes. I really tried to get cute photos, but mysteriously no one could hold still.  And we were out the door!  

Our friends' neighborhood is apparently a trick-or-treating hot spot.  People were arriving in cars!  Needless to say, there were some very impressive decorations.  This photo does not do this house justice:

Then it was back home to admire the piles of candy.  

 

         

 

Everybody ready to vote tomorrow....?

Weekend

    

My sister and I were supposed to spend the weekend in Martha's Vineyard visiting our Aunt. Unfortunately our Aunt was feeling not so great, so, much to everyone's disappointment, the trip was postponed.  Happily the weekend was redeemed by a trip to the farmer's market --during which flowers were purchased, a massage, an overnight visit from my sister, then Sunday brunch with all of us, plus a friend, ending with a dinner of grilled burgers and apple bread. Then I worked until 1 am, but never mind that.

Ok, so not as great as Martha's Vineyard, but pretty darn good.

       

Aren't those flowers pretty?  I love the woman from the nursery who sells them. She always finds an excuse to throw in one for free-- " Those petals look a little bent," or "You look so serious picking out flowers-- have this one!"  I appreciate it.  And I am serious picking out flowers.  

My massage included cupping on the advice of the masseuse, who was concerned about the tightness of my neck and shoulders.  What do you do? she asked. In some sick way, I was glad my back was so messed up she seemed worried.  --I always feel guilty spending money on a massage. But apparently I don't get them enough!  Which means I get to get them more!  My sister's New Years resolution last year was to get a massage every month.  Which is such a great resolution in so many ways.  I should adopt it.  

Back to cupping. I'd never done it before.   "It might leave a slight red mark for a day or two."  Um.  It looks like I got it on with a bottom feeder fish.  (Or, as my sister said, like someone hit me with a baseball bat.)  Then she said "...Oh some celebrity got it and then wore some backless dress to the Emmys and made a big fuss.  Who was it..?"  I was too embarrassed to say I knew exactly was she was talking about: Gwyneth Paltrow. NY film premiere.  Strapless top.  I feigned ignorance.  Anyhow, It felt great.  And its cold, so scarves should take care of it.  No problem.  

On the work front, I finished the animation project I've been working on!  I'll post some stills as soon as its approved by the client!

Weekend Reminisce

We had such a good weekend.  Well, Sunday anyway.  Saturday was a lot of cleaning and putting away.  (Yes, still.) But Sunday:  Yummy (though a bit monochromatic) breakfast!  Homemade playdough! A walk through a seaside bird sanctuary! Antique stores!  Then home to a yummy dinner, the beginnings a crocheted necklace and some Coupling watching!  Such a good day.

The playdough is part of a gift package I'm working on for two little girls back in Brooklyn, who I miss miss miss.

    

 I took the advice of several of the comments on the Apartment Therapy site and used boiling water instead of cooking the whole thing on the stove.  My water to flour measurements may have been off-- I wasn't being too careful-- but it was too wet at first.  But this was solved by micro-waving batches for a minute at a time. ( Still probably easier than cooking the whole thing on the stove?)  Then as they cooled I kneaded in the colors.  The other tip was adding lotion!  Sounds weird, but surely this was the secret ingredient.  And make sure to add more than you think-- ie 5 Tablespoons was not going overboard.  Not only does my playdough smell lovely, but it stays soft for hours-- I know, I left an extra bit out all day.

My camera died a few steps  into the bird sanctuary walk, but I got a few shots in.  

    

Man, it was so gorgeous.  This is one of the things I want to take advantage of while living here.  Its hard to believe this spot is just 20 minutes away from our Providence neighborhood. 

    

 I can't wait to find more lovely spots like this one.

We Made It!

    We're here!  At first I really didn't think we could fill this place up-- I mean after living in relatively tiny Brooklyn apartments (give or take those few lofts) for the last 11 years-- how much stuff could we have?  But after today's trip to Lowes, Kmart and my parent's attic and basement, I've decided I'm never moving again.  Seriously.  If I have to lug one more heavy piece of awkward furniture up that flight of stairs...  

The unpacking is still going on.  And the settling in. But its getting there. 

Things I like about my new neighborhood:

• There's a park!  (With a dog park where I can bring my imaginary dog. and a farmer's market!!) 

• The little store around the corner has great sandwiches, and the New York Times, and is helping with the Brooklyn bodega withdrawl.

• There are TREES!  My desk faces a window now and I keep looking out into leaves...

• We have a huge apartment and happily that translates into a huge studio/workspace for me!

• There's a window seat!

• There's a community garden next door!

Things I don't like so much...

• Where is the subway? Driving is a pain.  Though having a humongous mini van to borrow did come in handy today .

• Did you know that the Sunday NY Times does not have the NY real estate section?? Whaa? But why not?? I found myself sputtering.  Surely it is not only the New Yorkers actually in the city that find all those stories fascinating.  There must be other displaced New Yorkers who mysteriously are attached to that section as well?  very upsetting.  

• I can't really get a fix on how safe this neighborhood is.  Its certainly prettier than I'm used to...There have been conflicting comments from neighbors as to the safety of walking around at night.  Can you do that by yourself?  I think feeling this out is kind of part of settling in and becoming more familiar with everything.

• Our apartment is riddled with screws and left over nails from the last tenants.  On the other hand, I guess that means I can add as many as I want of my own.

• The back and front stairwells of the house badly need vacuuming.  Frankly, there are a bunch of little things like that.  Its an old house, the owner isn't here, the "super" seems to be really busy.  None of it is a huge problem, more just basic upkeep.  Is this the sort of thing we do ourselves? Or just let go? Or actually be those people who complain about a lot of (albeit warranted) stuff right after they move in? sigh...

I'll post some apartment pics soon.

A New Camera!

I'm going to bite the bullet and buy this camera tomorrow:

A Panasonic Lumix that has a fancy Leica lense.  Best Buy has one with 8 mega pixels for under $200 so I'm gonna go for it. Starting tomorrow, hopefully, I can have pretty pictures on here again. yay.

Just in time for...packing.

Yep, me and the mister are headed back to my homeland, Providence RI.  But I'll be back to Brooklyn so much I figure it will be more like splitting our time between the two cities, rather than hunkering down and never leaving Rhody.  Its just that now my home base will be A. bigger, and B. cheaper. I cannot wait for an actual --gasp-- office space of my own.

Last weekend was all about good friends and good food

Last weekend we went up to Providence.  Not only is it so nice to get out of Brooklyn every once and a while, but Providence is such a nice destination.  But we were no slackers on our "vacation" weekend that's for sure.  We packed in visits with friends, an afternoon at the Atheneum Library, a screening of Juno, lots of food outings, a cookout and even a trip to the YMCA.  
One of the highlights was getting to explore Nina's textile studio at RISD, which also involved a trip to the "yarn room": 

 yarn room yarn room2 

It was amazing. Colors and textures everywhere.  Fabric and string and buttons and looms.  The best part was we got to touch everything.  Almost everything.  I even got some fluffy silver yarn from Nina's stash.   
Did I mention we ate really well that weekend?  Besides the dinner we made at my parents house, which was pretty impressive-- hamburgers, hotdogs, assorted veggies grilled outside, plus salads etc--and the bagel and lox brunch we had with Alissa and Gretchen, and the Meeting Street Cafe cookies Gerald and Skip picked up for us, we went to two great restaurants.  The first was this little place on Benefit Street, Solomon's Korean Market, and the other was far down Atwells Ave, west side territory, called Chilangos. Both were pretty cheap, the food was great and you got tons of it.  And on the way to catch the bus home, my Dad was kind enough to wait in the car while we ran into Geoff's, the sandwich eatery of my childhood.  I'm happy to report that not much has changed, though the pickles seemed smaller and the staff considerably nicer. 
Oh Providence, you are so good to me.  Sigh....