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The Stuff of Life

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged Knitting, Whole Grain Bread on August 19, 2011| 4 Comments »

“That was an expensive loaf of bread,” my English gentleman said as he pulled away from the newest bakery in town. Matt, the owner, had popped by the knitting circle a few weeks ago with lots of sweet and savory samples for our crew. I was wondering if they teach that merchandizing technique in business school while simultaneously being hooked on some cheesy/spinach rolls. So naturally, after picking up some Italian Malabrigo yarn this week to make a prayer shawl for a dear friend who is facing some rough times, I stopped in at Great Harvest Bread Company, right next door to Cville Coffee.

Warm gooey baked goods and soft wooly yarn are a match made in heaven.

Their mission statement: “…being loose and having fun, giving generously to others!” They grind fresh, whole grain flour every day and never use dough conditioners or chemicals. I parked my two day old AWD Honda in a safe place, in front of the bakery, and ordered a sandwich. The bread is so scrumptious and soft you almost resent the lettuce and turkey for infusing their flavors. The place was jumping with midday customers. I told Mark he needs to sell their catchy tee shirts about good carbs and looked all around before backing out, right into a Toyota. He was backing out too, from an obliquely angled parking space, dangerously close to the coffee shop. Honda 1 – Toyota 0.

His

It was a real accident, we didn’t see each other and nobody honked to warn us of our impending 2 mile per hour bump. In true Cville style, we decided to split the cost of repairs. I didn’t tell him to beware of coffee shops in the future, because then I’d have to explain to my noble new British friend that some Irish superstitions run deep. Forgive me Volvo, I still love you even though we can’t drive together anymore.

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Redhead Endangered

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged Hair, Redheads on August 15, 2011| 2 Comments »

Just sent my friend from high school, the only other redhead in our class, a Huffington Post article titled “Being a Redhead: Why it’s a Love-Hate Relationship.” It talks about the common theme of feeling different, even scorned by our peers.

For most of us Titian-types, we would have gladly dyed our hair a darker camouflage color. I can remember desperately wanting black hair in Sacred Heart School; I felt like a beacon for any nun’s wrath sitting there in my dark maroon (think blood colored) uniform, hands clasped together on desk, a bow tie at my neck, with my halo of strawberry blonde hair. The Post author, Katherine Bindley, takes the historic view: “…red hair is often the mark of sin. The roster of corrupted redheads includes Eve, after she had been seduced by Satan, Cain, after he offed his brother, and everyone’s favorite disciple, Judas. Redheaded Mary Magdalenes are also common, emphasizing what a harlot Jesus had the compassion to befriend.” There is even a term coined in the UK for hatred of redheaded people – gingerism.

Cut to today. It was my man, Bob, coming up out of anesthesia after yet another shoulder surgery, who turned to the recovery room nurse and asked for his wife, “The Redhead,” in the waiting room. At that point my golden highlights had pretty much morphed into an ashy grey white, and I decided to turn back the clock and embrace my redheadedness. I dove wantonly right into the depths of red high and lowlights, wanting to look more or less like myself for the wedding photos. Will the true Gingers among us please standup! Could we reds become extinct soon? I was the only child, out of six, to have red hair. My Mother, the Flapper, was a blonde. But my Grandmother was a redhead. Here is the genetic mumbo jumbo from the website How Stuff Works:

“Red hair is caused by a mutation in the MC1R gene. It’s also a recessive trait, so it takes both parents passing on a mutated version of the MC1R gene to produce a redheaded child. Because it’s a recessive trait, red hair can easily skip a generation. It can then reappear after skipping one or more generations if both parents, no matter their hair color, carry the red hair gene.” All is not lost! The Rocker’s beard is mahogany and the Groom, being part Irish…it’s time to take back our red roots. Claim the color ladies, bottle or not. Look at our cousin, the angelic redheaded Flower Girl. It’s time to teach our children that different=delightful.

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Facebook Fever

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged French Vogue, Music, Parlor Mob on August 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »

A quick good morning to ask a favor. My son, the Rocker’s band needs only 957 more “Likes” to make 10,000 by tomorrow, would you be kind enough to click “Like?” Thanks a bunch.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Parlor-Mob/5962064315

TPM in French Vogue

August 2011 in your local Barnes and Noble now folks!

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Cars and Congress

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged Afghanistan, freedom on August 11, 2011| 2 Comments »

Yesterday I got my car back. It was in the shop again, for four days, because it gave up the ghost in front of a coffee shop. Again. The first time it didn’t start, my ’99 navy Volvo was parked in front of a Starbucks. That was about a month ago. This time it was a Greenberry’s holding the blue baron captive; the local watering hole is the spot for town and gown to meet. The day my car was sprung, the day the mechanic told me to stay away from coffee shops and next time he’d bring a lighter so the old girl could go out in a blaze of glory, yesterday the humidity broke and it was an absolutely glorious day. I opened the sunroof along with the windows, and I felt like a teenager again, free – cocooned in my semi-safe, might stop at any moment jalopy.

Don’t ask me how I could jump from this seriously demented tale of a car and a coffee shop to the war in Afghanistan, but I’m going to try. I was listening to an ex-Marine, journalist speak at The Miller Center. This is their mission – “The Miller Center is a nonpartisan institute that seeks to expand understanding of the presidency, policy, and political history, providing critical insights for the nation’s governance challenges.” One of the most wonderful things about this town, is that these lectures are free to the public.

Matt Pottinger was working for the Wall Street Journal when he joined the Marines in 2005. He talked about how, contrary to what we might think, people who have had military experience of their own, are less likely to recommend going to war. But that when they do, they go all out. People who have not had any military experience, are more likely to want war….and then they want to go to war incrementally. Like hey, let’s order a no-fly zone, or a blockade. The guys with combat experience will go to war to win it! And we now have more legislators in DC without military experience than at any other time in history.

So here are my early morning thoughts. Can we actually win a war on terrorism? Isn’t it like saying we can win a war on drugs, or on crime? In my mind, I’d like to believe that the elite Seal and special ops troops, those 30 brave Americans shot down this past weekend, did not die in vain. If we truly want to make life better for the Afghan people, if we want to help nurture a free and open society, an alternative to the Taliban’s rule of law, we had better learn their language and their customs; we had better build wells and hospitals and schools.

“In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.” ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

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The Slow Goodbye

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged Charlottesville Derby Dames, Martha Jefferson hospital, Meatloaf on August 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The Bride has returned to her Groom. We had a fun and relaxing visit. She reconnected with her newly relocated Nashville friends…

I wonder how I got all 4 of them in the same shot; we all dreamed about being a Roller Derby Dame….The Bride’s name would be “Dee n Are,” Michelle’s would be “Nurse Hatchett” and mine would be “Mama P Jam.” Nice. Yesterday Dee n Are practiced yoga at her old studio, had dinner with her cousins (including 8 year old Zachary) and enjoyed the tax-free shopping weekend! All in all a most exciting, whirlwind trip, interspersed with major thunderstorms of course.

We all took a tour of the new Martha Jefferson Hospital. Specifically, we wanted to see the new Emergency Department. In just two days around 4,000 people toured the hospital’s Community Open House. On August 28th the whole shebang will move from its historic spot in town, to a hill on Pantops with a mountain view. Can you imagine? They said the ICU and Labor and Delivery patients will be the first escorted to the new facility on the morning of the move. Almost all county ambulance services will be employed ferrying patients – what a logistical accomplishment that will be! Good luck Martha Jeff, and I love the design and patient centered lay-out. Every room will have a sofa that turns into a bed for a family member.

Since I’m feeling the need for comfort food today, how about meat loaf? I make a mean Turkey Meat Loaf that is chuck full of veggies. It makes a great cold sandwich the next day too. If you have a child who turns up his or her nose at vegetables, give this a whirl. Just mix together:

1 pound package of dark meat ground turkey (we need a little fat)
one egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs and 1/2 cup oatmeal
2 T barbeque sauce and a little red wine
1 shallot chopped
2 carrots grated
1 package mushrooms chopped

This morning I was reminded of leaving my daughter for the first time at nursery school. My 3 year old would cling and cry for a good while, till one day the teacher told me it might be better to say goodbye outside, in the car. Now we do a two handed wave in the driveway till she’s out of sight, but never out of my heart.

So Long Cville

ps I adore my honorary grandkids!

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Blogolicious Part Deux

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged Art, Food, Psychology on August 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Welcome home to my Daughter, the Bride. She’s sleeping in her baby bed now (a New England full-size 4 poster), the one her Grandma tied a red ribbon around. We have a tight agenda, friends to see and a city market to explore tomorrow. Also heard it’s a tax-free weekend so some retail therapy may be in order. It’s the first time in three years of residency she’s had the ability to take a 3 day weekend for anything other than a wedding. But before we start the day, here are some of my random all-time favorite blogs – out of state (except for 1 or 2), family and friends as promised.

Famous and Not so Famous:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/ Ree Drummond was voted one of the top webcelebs on a Forbes survey last year, yet it’s hard to categorize her very professional blog. A Cali girl who married her cowboy (the Marlboro Man) and settled on a cattle ranch to raise her brood of beautiful children. Part food blog, part photo journalism/memoir, part homeschooling, she hits the right note of family in a virtual tone.

http://www.annleary.com/2011/08/mercury-wtf/ This is another professionally done blog by Ann Leary called “Wicked Good Life.” She wrote the novel “Outtakes from a Marriage,” and manages her farm complete with magnificent horses along with her celebrity husband, Dennis. Her byline is a kitchen sink of tags like: Art; City; Fear; Humor; and Writing. But if you’d like to see what the good life looks like, this is it!

The following are two foodie blogs I love. The first, “Relish This,” is from a writer cousin so not only are the recipes good, but they are delightfully fun to read. The second, “Food Porn,” is from my niece’s friend in MN. Full of seductively large, luscious photographs mixed with classic mid-western wholesomeness, this is a blog you’ll be drooling for.

http://doctorlynnsblog.wordpress.com/ And speaking of relatives, this is my brother the psychologist’s blog! Also from MN, it’s brandy new and I’m very excited about it. Its purpose is to help people find joy and meaning in life, so it is sprinkled with his compelling teachings and just plain good advice for strengthening our “psychological fitness.” He specializes in resilience. Think of Dr Phil, only much cuter. Speaking of which, spotted this artwork on a wall in our shopping center…..

Only in Cville

http://impactrichmond2007.blogspot.com/ Here is another relative I’m proud of, my cousin Anita in Richmond. She got the idea to start posting volunteer opportunities in her area for non-profits. Anyone can sign up and put their hearts and hands to good work! Bravo Ms Anita, and thanks for being my own personal Southern Welcome Wagon these last few years!

And now for two artsy Wedding Related blogs. First up is our beautiful pastry chef, Anita Gupta, who made the most yummy Guiness lager chocolate cupcakes with Bailey’s Irish Cream frosting, “Celtic Cupcakes” in honor of the Bride and Groom’s dogs. And second is the artistic and divine photography of Jack Looney. He just shot the Decemberists in concert and some killer takes of the brand new Martha Jeff Hospital that is about to open. Enjoy!

http://www.eyecandycville.blogspot.com/
http://jacklooney.com/blog/?p=3340

And how could I forget my son’s band?

http://www.theparlormob.com/ Album October 2011!

Water Play

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Blah Blah Blogolicious

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged Blogs, Hobby Farming. Business, Style on August 4, 2011| 2 Comments »

Yesterday I attended a book signing at a beautiful new salon in town, Avina Natural Nails. I had met the author of The Power of Slow at our town’s Blogville Conference in the Spring and got the invite via Facebook. All that interconnectedness got me thinking – why not blog about the blogs I love? So this is for my MIL, who asked me once, “Where does your blog go?” And for my NJ friend Eve, who was so excited to hear I started doing this since she’d been “…looking for a blog to follow.” And of course for my oldest friend Lee in MA, who started me on this writing journey by introducing me to her friend the newspaper editor, saying, “You have to read her stuff!”

Local Virginia Blogs:

http://powerofslow.wordpress.com/ Even though the above mentioned author actually lives in Germany, let’s start with Christine Louise Hohlbaum since she grew up here, and her inspiring Mom still lives here. Just talking with Christine makes your heart rate slow to a more even rhythm. She offers lots of strategies to break time-wasting habits and increase time for more purposeful pursuits.

http://www.cvillefashion.com/ Dana put together this beautiful, local style blog that keeps calling me back time after time. She featured the Bride’s vintage gown this year and also alerted me to a benefit sale at Scarpa, our town’s best shoe store. She finds the latest deals and trends long before other fashionistas, and I love her Foxfield summer dress contest! She is a style sleuth.

http://www.asthegoatworldturns.com/ I met Anna by chance at the checkout at Whole Foods. We started talking, one thing led to another and then I’m showing her my Facebook pic of me kissing a baby goat….it’s often occurred to me that I could be a character in an Anne Tyler novel because some of my most serendipitous encounters tend to be life changing. Well, if you’ve ever thought about hobby farming, and making your very own goat cheese, (hello?) this picturesque and perfect blog is for you!

http://www.deedeeslivingwill.com/ Denise Stewart wrote a play called “Dirty Barbie and Other Tales.” She will star in this one woman show at Live Arts this November. She also runs workshops for teen girls on how to live a healthy and meaningful life. This blog will make you laugh and make you cry since she touches on all our hot topics. I love a post she did recently on her friends. I met her, and Marijean Jaggers at Blogville and felt I’d known them all my life.

http://www.marijeanjaggers.com/ Marijean Jaggers is my blogging Yoda. She was an instructor at Blogville and anyone with a business who understands they must get out on the web in some compelling way should speak with her first. Her last workshop was titled: “Don’t be a Weiner-How to Use Twitter Like a Professional” Wednesday, July 20th. Love it!!

http://www.younghouselove.com/ A friend of the Bride and Groom went to UVA with the husband of this DIY blog from Richmond. This is an amazing story about a young couple, with a new baby, who buy mid-century modern houses and step by step turn them into beautiful and functional contemporary homes. This blog IS their work, it’s not something they dabble with at night. And it’s fantastic. I told Bob if they had such a thing as blogging, we could have done this type years ago.

http://latebloomerbride.com/ Speaking of love, did you find it after forty? Here is an excellent trip along the funny and never too late road to marital bliss. Or, “…consider this blog a memoir with a purpose. It is for all the late bloomers out there – especially the newly married kind who are trying to figure out how to take a fully formed life and merge it with someone who finally turned out to be Mr. Right.” Right!

Some are inspirational, some are instructive, but all are well written and worth your time. And because there are so many, I’ll have to save my other family and out-of-state favs for the next post! If you’re wondering if I got a manicure yesterday, a once or twice yearly indulgence, can you say “Pink Lemonade?”

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Sugar Coat That

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged Food, sandwich on August 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Morning all. It’s so good to wake up to a debt deal that nobody likes, including Rep Emanuel Cleaver, who called this hard bargain a sugar-coated “Satan Sandwich.” Being a curious type, I just had to google. Seems this could be anything from a red velvet take on the Southern Moon Pie – red devil’s food cake packed with gooey marshmallow filling – to a suggestive edible, one bite of which arouses the libido. Think of Tom Jones, or Jack Nicholson eating oysters. But no, wait, they’re getting up there…think Matt Damon digging into a fried oyster po’boy in NOLA! YUM.

Would you like to see the kind of bar-be-que (or was it a cheese steak) sandwich with ribbon fries we devour here during the dog days of county fair season?

Cholesterol Check

Yes Please

Actually, my idea of a sinfully delicious sandwich right now is heading out to the garden, picking a ripe juicy tomato, and slicing it onto white bread (maybe sourdough) with a stripe of this newfangled olive oil mayo by Kraft slithering over the top and some salt and pepper. I’d actually call this an “Angel Sandwich.” However, since it looks like we’ll all be pinching our pennies for the foreseeable future, this Tuesday’s recipe is the staple in banana republics everywhere – Rice and Beans! The Bride brought this simple dish back to me from a trip to Brazil, so it’s the real deal.

Chop up 2 cloves of garlic and half an onion. Saute in a few Ts of Evoo. Add 1 can of fire-roasted tomatoes, or Rotel tomatoes (hot). You could always poach, peel and chop fresh tomatoes and chilies from the garden. Add 1 cup of rice, any kind of rice you like, cover and simmer. Halfway through cooking, add a drained can of organic black beans. Check often and add water when needed. I also added some chopped yellow squash and pepper from Bob’s garden, but this is not necessary. I love this dish, very different from the kind of rice and beans one tends to find in Mexican restaurants. Ola!

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Did You Jump?

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged Guitar, Parlor Mob on August 1, 2011| 4 Comments »

Today is my son’s birthday. “Did you jump and have cookies?” was my toddler Rocker’s greeting to his Daddy. His little body was sailing jubilantly towards the ceiling, jumping on the bed as his Dad came home from the hospital. Bob would always begin the transition to home by taking off his tie and recounting his day to his young family. The Bride would invariably ask, “Who did you see who hurt demselves Daddy?” But the persistent younger brother would want to know just how much fun exactly did he have that day. Intuitively he knew, if work was fun then it wasn’t work at all. He was born in the middle of a heat wave in the Berkshire Mountains. Gladiolas were in bloom. While I was dreaming of flying on a trapeze at the Big Apple Circus, he began his descent into the Big Top of Life. He was loud and lovely, a delicious baby boy in every way. The kind you want to pretend to eat his arms of corn on the cob. I called him my perpetual motion machine. A baby who never looked back – who would let go of my hand and walk decisively into danger; an open stairwell, pre-school, or the ocean, it didn’t matter. Just as long as he kept moving. His Native American Indian name was, “Boy who ran before he could walk.” He took to the ocean like a knife cuts through butter, another metaphor he used about snowboarding. Rollerblades, ice skates and sticks littered our front hall. Anything to make him go faster. Summer beach birthdays included everyone at the beach, and one year we all wore Groucho masks! Maybe this is why he loves performing? His middle school haiku of note? “I love the summer, The summer is very hot, That’s why I like it.”

First job – Lifeguard
First school award – Writing
First love – the holy Guitar

The guitar that he rarely put down. One August day he was searching for lost treasure on the beach during a birthday treasure hunt, and then the next he’s playing in front of thousands at Lollapalooza when the crowd sings Happy Birthday to him. A loving and generous young man, one who was never afraid to hug me in public, he is always willing to help the next person coming up. “He’s living the Dream,” as Bob likes to say. The Rocker found out the secret to life, how to jump and have his cookies too.