ending the season

Posted on December 28, 2024 by is there any more pie?

Well, here we are watching a Bowl Game at the Austin condo.

There are snacks and tacos and high hopes as five fans munch, cheer and fight moments of despair here in the first quarter.

The last time we watched Nebraska play a Bowl game was in 2016. The power went out, the condo grew cold (as did the chili) and the boys went to a restaurant to catch the 4th quarter while Banjo Man huddled in a blanket and watched the game on his phone.

It was the worst football party ever.

But today? Nebraska has scored and, despite an intense thunderstorm, the electricity is still on.

We are heading home tomorrow morning. Our two-week vacation has been great fun. We ate all the New Orleans food we could manage, loved our days with the family, and celebrated Christmas with gusto.

The Funny Grandson loved his gift. He says he’s wearing it to school on his first day back.

The next day we went with Will to the Bullock History of Texas museum to see an Imax production about caves. It was great.

Rhode Island is going to feel very, very quiet.

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

merry Christmas eve

Posted on December 24, 2024 by is there any more pie?

Here’s the house across the street from the condo. Pretty, isn’t it?

We spent the afternoon with Ben, Amber and the Funny Grandson and arrived back in Austin in time to admire the local decorations.

Speaking of decorations, here are some of this year’s cookies.

An unbiased guest picked Banjo Man’s creation as the winner.

Can you guess which one it is?

Posted in austin, family, texas | 1 Comment

so very true

Posted on December 18, 2024 by is there any more pie?

I saw this online and had to share.

I have seen other lists, but I like this one most of all.

We are having one of those lovely “slow mornings” here in New Orleans. Eventually we will stroll down to Cafe during Monde for coffee and beignets.

At 1:00 we’ll be in the audience for one of our favorite jazz pianists, Richard Scott, followed by a late lunch at Mr.B’s and then a concert at the St Louis Cathedral at 6:00.

I have yet to do any Christmas shopping, unless a jar of spices for the annual Christmas gumbo counts.

I am having trouble writing this post. Oh, the internet! So I will leave it here and get on with my quiet morning.

The French Quarter is undergoing a badly needed facelift of some streets and sidewalks. There is a lot more to do. I cannot believe the disintegration of the sidewalks on Decatur and Royal. Bourbon Street is being “repaired”, supposedly for the benefit of the Superbowl visitors.

This special historic area of the city has been neglected and has lost a lot of its charm.

We still love it, having experienced its better days.

But I find it sad.

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we may never eat again

Posted on December 17, 2024 by is there any more pie?

Eating fried chicken at the famous Treme restaurant “Dooky Chase” has been on Banjo Man’s bucket list for a very long time.

Or so he says. It was news to me when he declared he needed to eat there this week.

We both ordered gumbo. I had the stuffed shrimp with a side of green beans. Banjo Man wolfed down red beans and rice and, of course, fried chicken. We shared a helping of peach cobbler and declared that we wouldn’t be able to eat another thing for the rest of the day.

It was 12:30.

Here’s the hotel courtyard.

We locked ourselves out of our room yesterday morning. Catch 22: we needed an I.D. to get a new key and naturally those were locked inside the room.

The maintenance man fixed the faulty door knob while we were at a cooking class.

I learned some new tips for making gumbo and Banjo Man took notes on the creation of his favorite, red beans and rice.

Then we took a nap.

Aren’t vacations wonderful?

Posted in family, food, travel | 2 Comments

now to NOLA

Posted on December 15, 2024 by is there any more pie?

Yes, we’re “leaving on a jet plane” in a few hours to head to New Orleans, land of gumbo and music and All Things Shrimp.

It’s an experiment to check our travel mojo. Banjo Man doesn’t want to fly much at all, I want to spend three days in the British Museum in London, so this was our compromise.

And it’s a great one!!! We love New Orleans, especially at Christmas.

First stop: Coop’s.

This picture was from our last French Quarter adventure in 2019. Fresh off radiation I didn’t have a lot of energy, but I did manage to eat all the gumbo I could find.

Then it’s on to Texas for Christmas.

Oh, I’ll have my phone in my lap at all times during the flights in case one of these mysterious, frightening drones appears outside the window.

We’re very, very nervous here on the East Coast. The drones are the size of cars and have been seen in packs of fifty flying over homes, military bases, etc.

Other than Santa and his sleigh, these aren’t what anyone wants to see in the sky.

Time to zip up the suitcase…

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number 73

Posted on December 9, 2024 by is there any more pie?

Yes, it’s my birthday and that’s how old I am! Am I going to party? Yes, I am!

The coffee tastes especially good this morning.

So, what is this old party girl going to do to celebrate? Should I tell you???

I’m going to Costco. Yes, Costco. There’s one less than an hour away now, in Connecticut, and daughter Nancy, Banjo Man and I are going on a little road trip this morning to check it out.

I mean, really, who doesn’t want 48 rolls of toilet paper for their birthday?

Actually, I do have a thing about NEVER running out of toilet paper. This started a long time before Covid shortages and the world-hoarding of paper products. So buying a massive amount of toilet paper will be great fun for me.

Thrilling, even.

And because I have gotten rid of so much “stuff” over the last couple of years, there is plenty of space on the storage room shelves in which to store it. Yay me.

Assuming my birthday was all about thrifty spending, Banjo Man quite seriously asked if I wanted the $1.50 Costco hot dog for my birthday lunch.

Think again, pal. We’re going to our favorite Italian restaurant and I am ordering pizza.

Posted in family | 3 Comments

see you next year, chuck

Posted on December 8, 2024 by is there any more pie?

Poor Chuck. His holiday is over and he has been relegated to the “Thanksgiving Bin” for the next ten and a half months.

We will miss his goofy, cheerful presence.

So it’s on to winter…

My childhood creche sat in its place of honor under the Christmas tree for many years. I would rearrange the figures daily. About ten years ago, when my mother asked me to clean out her attic, I was thrilled to discover the creche and all of its components still existed.

But I had forgotten (had I ever known?) that the precious childhood decoration was…cardboard.

I can’t believe it has held up for at least sixty-five years. The mice must have eaten the straw from the roof of the stable and the chalk figurines are worn and chipped, but I still get such a kick out of moving everyone around at least once a day. The twine tree was purchased in Shipshewana in 2023 and the green horse was added by my ten-year-old-horse-collecting self. The train of camels was a souvenir from one of my father’s Navy travels and was always part of the display (even though it was prone to tipping over several times a day).

The trees are back on the mantel. I found a new one at the Dollar Store last week. Can you have too many bottle-brush trees?

I think not.

My grandmother’s ceramic tree is on the pie safe next to the creche, which adds some Christmas cheer.

We are heading to Texas on Sunday, so we are not putting up our tree and hauling out red bins packed with ornaments.

Son Ben informed us that Amber and the Funny Grandson have put up their tree and decorated everything for the season. I look forward to enjoying it!

Son Will has a tiny artificial table-top tree at the condo, and I just bought a pair of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer earrings.

Texas will be festive and we can’t wait.

Posted in rhode island | 6 Comments

can you hear me now?

Posted on December 4, 2024 by is there any more pie?

It’s December! Can you believe it? My shopping is in total freefall and as I sit here making lists (gotta love lists!) at my desk I am praying for inspiration…and maybe some texted hints from the family in Texas.

What to do, what to do…

I bought myself a new I-phone (the 15 to be exact). Yesterday I spent HOURS trying to set it up. Over an hour was spent “chatting” with the Visible helper and, eventually, I was able to overcome all the issues.

By the way, have you ever heard of eSims?

I hadn’t.

Now I am faced with trying to operate a new phone that doesn’t have a Home button (my previous phone was an old SE). I don’t have the energy or patience to do anything today, though, so I am addressing Christmas cards.

Yes, there will be cards this year! And I love them. I hope you do, too.

Just to complicate an already frazzled brain, I have an ear infection. It was a painful weekend, so Banjo Man took me to the Minute Clinic at CVS first thing Monday morning. I now have antibiotics and Flonase and am feeling much better.

My inner child is fussing.

Remember the days when the children looked like this? Daughter Nancy came down with an ear infection every December. Son Will had his ear infections every time we step foot in Nebraska. Son Ben ended up with tubes in his ears.

I guess it runs in the family.

I shall leave you with some happy Thanksgiving photos from our 2024 extravaganza. A good time was had by all!

My favorite helper.
Ginny’s desserts.
Together again!!!!

There is a nasty rumor that we could get a little snow tonight.

I refuse to believe it.

What about you? Is there snow on your lawn? On your mountain? On top of your car?

Say it isn’t so.

Posted in family | 3 Comments

the “bad grandma” christmas movie

Posted on November 27, 2024 by is there any more pie?

In 2019, when my grandson was nine years old, I thought Die Hard would be a great Christmas movie to watch for his annual pre-Christmas condo sleepover. The Funny Grandson loved–and still does–to come down to Austin and camp out on the living room floor for a few days. We walk to the Magnolia Cafe for breakfast, go grocery shopping for party treats and gumbo-making, slurp root beer floats and watch football and movies and play chess and go for walks.

You get the idea. It’s a happening.

His parents like the free time to get ready for Christmas. Win, win.

So five years ago I had the bright idea to buy “Die Hard” dvd and party one night with Bruce. BUT I had to buy the special anniversary edition with all three Die Hards together in one package.

Of course I told the Funny Grandson that I had a special animated reindeer movie for him and he did his best to hide his lack of enthusiasm.

And then Uncle Will put DIE HARD in the dvd player…

EPIC.

The evening was such a success that the next night the FG had the bright idea to watch DIE HARD 2. And that’s where the whole “Bad Grandma” thing kicked in, because the language was HORRENDOUS.

Grandpa, Uncle Will and I looked at each other with equally horrified expressions. We let it go on for a short while longer in hopes that somehow Bruce Willis and the Bad Guys would find religion and change their ways.

Nope.

There had been a few “swears” in the original movie, but the four of us agreed that we would never, ever say those words. But this one? Oh, my God. I apologized over and over again to his parents.

I am now trying to find a Christmas movie for this year’s overnight, sleeping bag, root beer float, popcorn, movie extravaganza.

Do you have any suggestions?

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES come to mind, but I don’t know if he’s seen it. There’s a serious-but-true film called JOYEUX NOEL about Christmas Eve during WWI.

We’ve watched ELF and THE CHRISTMAS STORY many, many times.

Is THE SANTA CLAUSE any good?

Help me.

Posted in family | 3 Comments

new kid in town

Posted on November 26, 2024 by is there any more pie?

This guy was an early birthday gift from Retired Mountain Lady. As you can see, he has a lot of personality and fits right in with velvet pumpkins and mums.

He makes me smile every time I look at him. I’ve moved him around the room and he looks good sitting on every surface. Where will he be Thanksgiving Day? I haven’t decided yet!

I call him “Chuck”.

Thank you, Retired Mountain Lady.

I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving!

Posted in family, rhode island | 3 Comments