cb strike

Posted on January 2, 2019 by is there any more pie?

cb strike

This is a British detective series based on the novels by J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame.  Only she uses Robert Galbraith as her pen name for the series.

I loved the first three books.  I’m on a waiting list–a lonnnnnnng waiting list–for the fourth book, but I’m too frugal to buy the Kindle edition for $14.99.   So I wait.  Patience is good for me.

Anyway…when I discovered there was actually a tv series I was thrilled.  When I learned it was only shown on Cinemax, I was not so thrilled.  What to do, what to do…

Luckily Cinemax offers a free 7-day trial, which leaves Banjo Man and I plenty of time to watch the seven installments.  Heck, we watched the first two last night when we were tired of college football.

We’ve agreed to meet in the living room at 6:30 tonight to watch two or three more episodes.  It’s a cold night, but we have a warm living room and leftover fried dumplings and Spicy Chicken from yesterday’s trip to the Chinese restaurant near Home Depot for dinner.  So, as my dad would say, life is good.

And do you know what other good thing happened today?  We called a plumber to fix our kitchen sink (I’ve been washing dishes in the bathroom since the day after Thanksgiving) and he is coming on Friday!!!!

Let me repeat that:  he is coming on Friday.

My joy spilleth over.

Washing dishes in the bathroom sink was way too much like camping for my taste.  I detest camping.  I can find nothing good to say about the experiences I’ve had in a tent in the Great Outdoors.  “Hell” is a good word to describe camping.

Hell. On. Earth.

So…back to my torn up kitchen…I’m sure the insurance company’s contractors will arrive some day to install a cabinet and put in a new, huge floor, but as long as I have a working sink and faucet I can wait for that February day to arrive without getting hostile.

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I showed my mother this picture over lunch today.  We went for a drive and ended up at Denny’s, in Coventry (the waitress remembered us and once again bent over backwards to make sure my frail, 92-year old mother was comfortable and well fed) where we ate turkey and stuffing and potatoes.

Mom was very happy about the plumber coming on Friday, too.  Though I’m not sure she really understood this picture at all.

So now it’s time to leave the office and get ready for Episode 3 of “CB Strike”.  If you’ve seen it, let me know what you thought!

For more info on the books, click here:  https://robert-galbraith.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

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happy ’19

Posted on January 1, 2019 by is there any more pie?

It is an unseasonably warm day here, in the 50’s.  Rainy and wet.  Gray.  The first mug of coffee tastes really, really good.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Did anyone stay up until midnight?  We certainly didn’t!  After a cozy dinner with old friends down the street, we drove the few hundred yards home and crawled into bed.  Once again the ball dropped without us.

And today is football.  Lots and lots of football, though I have to say I’ve found the bowl games pretty disappointing.  As Will says, there’s not much excitement this year.  Do you feel that way, too?

But first, before Banjo Man settles onto the couch and I start assembling fabric for a future quilt (I have an idea in my head but I’m not sure yet, so it’s time to spread a lot of fabric around the room and see what fits the vision), we’re heading down the road to–wait for it–Home Depot.  Yes, again.  My husband has been waiting for days for me to go to good ol’ HD to get more flooring samples.  And I’ve been stalling, due to a bad case of post-Christmas exhaustion.  I just cannot get up the energy to load myself in the car and drive anywhere or do anything.

Banjo Man is frustrated by my inertia.  So this morning he suggested we both go to Home Depot!  And go to our favorite Chinese restaurant and eat dumplings!

Well, that’s one way to get me in the car.  He’s a devious man.

I’m listening to my new Rosanne Cash cd, which is my main New Year’s resolution:  listen to more music, play more music, learn more music.

Oh, yeah, there’s also the treadmill and the yoga dvd’s and the vow to eat salad, blah, blah, blah, but this year I’m mostly filling my little world with more music in every way possible.

(I’ve also vowed to reduce the amount of plastic in my life and now have a recipe to make my own laundry detergent, so stand by for the future eco-saga.)

Here’s to a new year filled with whatever brings you joy!  We all need more of that.

 

 

 

 

Posted in books & music, family, music, rhode island | 2 Comments

where’s the hole?

Posted on December 31, 2018 by is there any more pie?

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Yes, this is a photo of a roll of toilet paper.  Maybe I’m the only one who hasn’t seen this eco-friendly or budget-friendly or something-friendly innovation in toilet paper, but just in case you don’t know about it, here it is.

You push the center tube out.

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And voila!

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As Will explained, “Now you have a small roll of toilet paper to take with you.”

Me:  Take with you where?

Will:  Camping.

Camping?  They’ve reinvented toilet paper so people can more easily take toilet paper with them???

I don’t think so.  But maybe there are more campers in the world than I realize.

 

 

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hurry up and wait

Posted on December 29, 2018 by is there any more pie?

“Hurry up and wait” was the theme of our travel experience this Christmas.  From being delayed by a contractor’s visit and rushing to the airport last week only to find out the flight was delayed to yesterday’s issue with our cab not showing up to take us to the Austin airport and then, after son Will raced from work to pick us up at the condo, we arrived at the Southwest counter to discover our flight was delayed.  By almost two hours.

Hurrying off the plane in Baltimore we discovered we did not have to worry about racing to our flight to Providence, because it was delayed two hours, until 1 AM.

Oh, my.

We were relieved that we would be heading home eventually and not spending the night in a hotel by the airport.

The only place serving food was McDonalds.  And after a long day in an airport stuffed with storm-delayed, hungry travelers, McD’s was down to a midnight menu of three kinds of sandwiches, with fries.

Honestly?  We didn’t care.  We ate what we were given and were grateful to have it.

Arriving in Providence at 2:30 or so, we discovered it was only 51 degrees out.  So much better than our previous arrivals of 8 degrees and wind chill.  The parking lot shuttle arrived, the car started right up and we were home by 4 AM.

Bed never felt so good.

I slept until 12:30 and, though I fully intend to shower and dress, I still haven’t managed to accomplish that.  It’s almost 4 PM now and I’m tempted not to bother.  But don’t tell anybody.

This has nothing to do with our flights home, but here’s a photo our waitress took of us at the Saxon Pub Wednesday night.  We bought tickets to hear Johnny Nicholas and it was a great show.  Pay no attention to those empty margarita glasses.

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Oh, I can’t forget to show you what I saw at the airport in Baltimore.  Terminal C is fairly new and while we were sitting waiting for a yet another delayed (what else?) flight on the 20th, we noticed this.

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Doggie bathroom.

I had to peek inside.

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And that was our laugh in Baltimore.  You see all sorts of things when you spend three or four hours in one airport!

So I am presently defrosting a chicken pot pie (I tried a new recipe which should be interesting) for dinner while Banjo Man has gone to the grocery store for milk and vegetables.  We intend to spend the rest of this long holiday weekend on the couch watching football.

What are you doing?

 

 

 

 

Posted in austin, family, rhode island, travel | 2 Comments

merry christmas from Austin 2018

Posted on December 23, 2018 by is there any more pie?

It took quite a few hours to get out of Baltimore, but it happened!  Here is the view from the window as we were about to land in Austin.  It was a welcome sight.

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The airport baggage claim area was decorated beautifully.  A nice surprise!

IMG_2221IMG_2220Will picked us up, in the midst of a midnight airport traffic jam, and we headed to the Magnolia Cafe for a late night meal before falling into bed at 2 AM.

We are so glad to be here.

I have a giant pot roast cooking in the crock pot this morning, just in case anyone gets hungry later on.  We’ll be next door at C’Boys bar at 3:30 for some country music and Chicken Sh** Bingo.  Daughter Nancy is eying a piece of art in a store down the street.  I think she’ll be buying it today as her holiday souvenir.

And now it’s time to wrap presents!  I can’t believe Christmas is the day after tomorrow, can you?

 

Posted in austin, family, texas, travel | 1 Comment

christmas past, 1949 style

Posted on December 20, 2018 by is there any more pie?

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We are presently delayed in Baltimore as we head to Texas for Christmas.   It has been a day of delays, from being late leaving the house because the contractor from the insurance company arrived to look at the job ten minutes before we intended to walk out the door.  The flight to Baltimore was delayed by almost two  hours .And now the flight to Austin has been rescheduled twice.

There is a lot of bad weather in the Southeast.

We could end up stuck here tonight.  I wouldn’t be surprised.

In honor of the holiday, I wanted to share Banjo Man’s favorite childhood gift from Santa.  He was eight.

Once in a while the grown up Banjo Man likes to put it under our tree.

I think it looks good there, don’t you?

 

 

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a few november photos

Posted on December 19, 2018 by is there any more pie?

Before we jet off to Texas for Christmas, I thought I’d share a few November pictures with you.  Before the Funny Grandson became ill.  Before the kitchen flood.

Here’s a small version of the Dunkin’ Donut birthday cake, which I invented for Son #1 in 1988 and became a family tradition.

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Always a hit.

Here we are waiting in line at Allie’s Donuts.  After fifteen minutes spent shivering outside in the cold and the wind, we came to our senses and drove to a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts.

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You can’t see the 20+ people in line inside the building.

Nothing says Thanksgiving like pumpkins.

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The Funny Grandson helped make the place cards.  We had a “random number” pick decide the seating, which he thought was a great game.

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A very welcome hug.

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One of Ginny’s elegant homemade desserts.

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The Texans keeping warm on the couch.

I don’t know when I’ve enjoyed a November more.

 

 

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the disaster guys

Posted on December 18, 2018 by is there any more pie?

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My “disaster guys” arrived yesterday!  Right on schedule, too.  They ripped up my floor and found water and mold and wallboard that had to be removed.  So they removed it and were incredibly neat and clean about it, too.

I thanked them very much and fed them cookies.

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The electrician came also, to fix a dangerous situation in our basement ceiling.  He brought his son to be his assistant and I learned that they like cookies, too.

The boss of the disaster guys arrived, but he didn’t stay long enough to eat any cookies.  He’s a very busy man.

So here is a picture of my kitchen:

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You are looking at three fans and one dehumidifier.  These fans could rival jet engines when it comes to decibel levels.   We had to turn them off to watch a couple of episodes of “Living Alaska” on tv last night.

Today I ran to town to get my hair cut and returned with pizza for the electricians and the carpenter.  I am so grateful that they are here I can’t stop feeding them.

Pepperoni = gratitude.

 

 

Posted in rhode island | 2 Comments

it’s not christmas without a banjo

Posted on December 17, 2018 by is there any more pie?

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I think his head was cold.

We went out last night to one of our favorite restaurants, the Wood River Inn, for some music and dinner.

You’ve have to love the banjo player.  He was great.  In fact, the whole band was great.  As was the food.

We needed some holiday cheer.   And some live music!  There will be plenty of music in Austin next week, but we just couldn’t wait for Texas.

 

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a little italian lunch

Posted on December 15, 2018 by is there any more pie?

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I thought I’d take advantage of the lull between construction and deconstruction here and show you pictures of our lunch on Federal Hill, in Providence.

My daughter-in-law wanted to eat in a “real” Italian restaurant, so we found one with a Mafia history and a Frank Sinatra soundtrack.

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My happy Texans.

My son is known for his large appetite.  He ordered chicken parm.

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He was very happy.

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And he finished every bite.

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And because it was his birthday celebration, he had dessert.

We picked out all sorts of special pastries at the Italian bakery and then trudged through the rain to Venda Ravioli, the best and biggest deli in Rhode Island.  We bought ravioli at Venda’s to cook for dinner–I had meatballs and sauce waiting in the crock pot–but no one was hungry!  Imagine that!

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Post-martini shopping.

Last stop?  Gasbarro’s liquor store to buy the wine for Thanksgiving.  One of the owners offered us doughnuts from a huge Dunkin Donuts box on the counter.  The Funny Grandson took him up on it, of course.  The kid is a doughnut freak, but more about that in another post.

FG slept all the way home, to the shock and awe of his parents.  It did eventually stop raining, which made the drive home easier.

Banjo Man had stayed home to monitor a particularly dreadful day in the stock market, but we brought him cookies and pasta and sauce and bread so he didn’t feel too left out.

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Posted in family, food, rhode island | 1 Comment