365-3 | Peaches Prattlings

{February 22, 2015} Kingsman: The Secret Service

Let’s say…I HEART this movie!

I went to see Kingsman: The Secret Service today and O M G! I la la la loved it. Did I say I loved it? Just in case…I LOVED it!

Now…why did I love it? Let me tell you…First, the cast, wow! Colin Firth was Fabulous did you like how I did that? as Galahad, he is a well dressed, well, spy, part of a secret organization and he brings in an unrefined potential recruit in, the actor I don’t remember seeing before, but was fantastic, Taron Egerton. Mark Strong was Merlin, he played a good guy, very unusual, but a great character, part of me kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but he was a good guy throughout.

Michael Caine was Arthur, think there was a Round Table, knights, defenders of the realm feel? I love Jack Davenport, who was Lancelot and not in the film very long, but I love him, loved him in the original Coupling and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I promise I am not glancing over Michael Caine, but what could I say about Michael Caine that hasn’t been said about the man, the genius, the legend.

Mark Hamill was not part of the Kingsman, but who doesn’t love to see him in movies? Sofia Boutella, who I didn’t know, was an assassin of sorts, with the most wicked prosthetic feet, very sharp, let’s just say. Samuel L Jackson was, well, really bad, but what was comical was his lisp throughout the entire movie, hard to focus or take him seriously.

There were a bunch of actors I was not familiar with, but still quite enjoyable. Then there were fist fights, umbrella fights, gun fights, gee a lot of fighting! Really cool spy gear and wear, bullet proof suits, transmitting glasses, lethal fountain pens, just to name a few of the items you would receive if you were invited and passed the test to join the Kingsman.

There were a few really grody moments, but now you know so you can decide for yourself. I look forward to hearing what you think!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2802144/?ref_=nv_sr_1

{February 21, 2015} Goodgies

Goodgies are for good luck.

This is something that my family does to wish each other luck, for whatever. It could be for an exam, a presentation, an interview, competition, whatever you could use a little extra mojo for. You wish each other good luck, we give goodgies.

It started with my parents when we were kids, I don’t know if it was my mom or dad who started the tradition, but they both did it and it’s something we have come to value, still doing it for each other and now, with the girls, better known as my nieces.

You start by standing in front of the person, put your pointer fingers on the temples of the person you are wishing well and then the important part…you make this weird noise with the back of your throat.

Now, it’s always better to have the person on front of you you are giving goodgies to, but it can still be done over the phone.

The important thing is to announce “ok, it’s time for goodgies” and then you do your thing.

It is a wonderful tradition I hope never ends and to all my friends and family, if you have something coming up that you need a little extra luck for, let me know and I’ll be happy to “give you goodgies”

{February 20, 2015} Kiss the boo boo

This is an age old tradition that is the responsibility of the parent, grandparent, auntie or uncle.

I am inspired to write this post based on the ouchie, yes, I said ouchie, on my head as a result of my miscalculation of the attic door opening and hitting me on the forehead, ouch! that would be putting it mildly!

As I sat there reeling from the shock of the door hitting me and the intense pain of the moment all I kept thinking was, “ouch!” and “who is going to kiss my boo boo? ” and lastly…”I want my daddy! ”

Why do we want our mommies and daddies to kiss the boo boos? Well, from early childhood when you have an ouchie, mommy or daddy will kiss the boo boo and make it all better…there’s is magic in those kisses.

Muwah (that is a kiss noise)..all better.

{February 20, 2015} Mother Nature, did we make you mad?

As I have been in Boston for a while now, I have experienced snow.

I know I talked about this already, but I wanted to talk about it again, so there.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I grew up in NYC, it snowed. I went to college in Western NY, it snowed and I mean…a lot. It would snow in October and might not melt until May sometimes, crazy, I know.

Yesterday it was about 26, oh my, a heat wave! And some flurries, but there has been snow almost every day, some days more than others.

I just wanted to share what it was like, the streets are built up, there are pathways down the sidewalks, some people can’t see out of the end of their driveways, the snow is so high, same at the end of the street, getting out onto the main roads, tricky.

People have made the best of a bad situation, clearing the paths, making snow forts and even skiing to work, it’s been entertaining,

The icicles are amazing! Some are out of control, taking over the houses, but oh some of them do look so dreamy!

There was a swing set in the backyard, I promise! And the thing on the right, a hammock! Oh well, Spring will be here eventually!

Stay warm my friends!

{February 18, 2015} Skiing with EJS!

What an experience this was! Oh my goodness!

EJS has been taking ski lessons since she was about three years old and each year, she just keeps getting stronger and better at it. She takes lessons each season on Saturdays and MGS is doing the same.

This week, the schools are out for mid-winter break and today, I was EJS’ play date! We drove up to Nashoba, http://www.skinashoba.com/, where she takes lessons and she’s very comfortable with each run.

We got up there about 11:30, found a place to stash our stuff, get her a hot chocolate, which was too hot, btw, so we left it with our stuff and when we came back at lunch, it was just right, sweet!

Then it was on to purchase lift tickets for both of us and away we went! GES has been telling me what a great skier EJS is and today I got to see it!

The runs there are a little shorter, so it gave us the opportunity to do a great deal of them and we did. We probably skied at least 8 runs before we went in for lunch, about an hour later.

She is, as GES says, a very good technical skier, she did the chair lift on her own, didn’t want me on the chair, ok, just wait for me so I can see where you’re going!

Watching her was so much fun, I had pride “There was my niece, skiing on her own, no poles, no fear, just go!” Then there was…where is the little girl I played with? She’s in there somewhere.

I wish I could show you the video, but I’m in it!

After skiing the second half, after lunch of course, we packed it in, grabbed our gear and away we went. We did stop to have some fried dough with powdered sugar, yum! And on the way out “Thank you, JJ” for what? “For the funnel cake and spending the day with me” Did my heart melt or what? So very proud!!! Shows she was raised right!

Sleepy time!

{February 17, 2015} Opinions are like…

I’ll finish the quote in a bit.

So, tonight I was talking with BG about opinions and I mentioned one of my favorite quotes and he had never heard it before, so thanks BG for the inspiration. He did laugh his arse off when I told him the quote.

I first heard during a Monty Python skit they were performing live, I saw the recorded version, thank you very much, as much as I would have loved to have seen them live at the time.

Now, I heard it on Monty Python, but it’s been in a few memorable movies and the quote is, sorry for the language…

“Opinions are like assholes. Everybody’s got one and everyone thinks everyone else’s stinks.”

Have you heard a better quote? I am sure you have, but I am saying this with all sincerity, it’s bloody brilliant! And isn’t it true? Everyone has their own opinions and everyone is entitled to them, even if we don’t agree and just because you’re passionate about your opinion doesn’t mean I have to agree or change my way of thinking to yours.

Case in point, I was having a heated discussion with a neighbor years ago and he kept getting louder and louder and louder and I finally said “J, the louder you get the more clear your opinion does not become.” I wish I could say it ended there, I eventually just had to walk away, it was safer for everyone involved!

There you have it, we all have opinions and you are entitled to yours just as I am entitled to mine, and in the end, come on, my opinion is going to be right, so shouldn’t you just agree with me? Ha ha ha

{February 16, 2015} A trip down museum lane…

I love museums, practically raised in them.

I am inspired to write to you today because the family went to the Boston Museum of Science today, thanks PM for the suggestion.

Different museums have different meanings to different people and are seen in different ways, as you can imagine, just like everything, right? Going to a museum by yourself is enjoyable, if you are into museums, for the same reasons as going with others, but sometimes it’s just more fun to go with others, to enjoy, admire even, be inspired, learn from each other and what you see and maybe even laugh a little. The last one I do with my dad often when we go to the modern art sections of museums and scratch our heads and think…hmmm…really?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love modern art, there are some artists that some people don’t get, like a Rothko or Stella, even a Pollack but I really love them, their paintings may look like gibberish to some, but I am moved and see meaning when I look at them. What I’m talking about are the things that don’t make sense to us, like a black dot on a blue canvas or a pile of insulation on the floor, maybe they are about the struggle to stand out in a sea of people or how to stay focused when there is chaos all around, I don’t know! But my dad and I wonder often and laugh often, but that’s alright. The point of art is to elicit a response and that’s just what it does and tell you the truth, it doesn’t matter what we think, it matters what the artist who created it thinks, right? Ok, moving on.

Going to museums with kids is another experience entirely, to see things through their eyes is a feeling like no other…the wonder, the fascination, the excitement, the boredom, the laughter, the enthusiasm, the interest. I’ve been to art museums with them, The Museum of Natural History in New York City, http://www.amnh.org/, and this was the second time I was with them at the Boston Museum of Science, http://www.mos.org/, and they didn’t disappoint. It’s interesting the things you think they will find interesting and maybe they don’t and then there are things you never thought they would be interested in and bam! MGS and I had some fun laying on a bed of nails, didn’t hurt and she loved it, remembered it from the last time and wanted me to do it with her again, it was great!

I’ve loved experiences I have had at different museums, dad and I go to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, http://www.mfa.org/, when we are in Boston together, we have a similar technique of touring exhibits and different galleries, another one we have enjoyed together is the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, http://www.metmuseum.org/. You could get lost in there, walking around for days, doesn’t that sound wonderful?

I remember an art class I took in high school, he went with me to the Met and The Guggenheim, http://www.guggenheim.org/, and the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, http://www.moma.org/, to research particular artists. Going with my dad was a different experience than with my mom, a memory I will treasure and I would love to share with you, but not tonight. But I will tell you that that is probably one of the greatest gifts they ever gave me, a love and appreciation for art and museums. Maybe one day I’ll give you my personal guided tour of my favorite museums.

Living in Atlanta, I joined the High Museum of Art, http://www.high.org/, they had some great exhibits that would come through, it was never enough pieces, but it was nice to be able to go whenever I wanted. The best part was that sometimes I would go with a friend or two, but sometimes…if there was a really special exhibit, a large group of us would go.

My two favorite museums in Paris, France, not Texas, just for clarification, are Musee D’Orsay, http://www.musee-orsay.fr/, which houses one of the biggest Impressionist collection and L’ouvre, http://www.louvre.fr/en, where “To see each of the 35,000 art objects in the L’ouvre, taking 60 seconds for each, would take roughly 25 days each of a full 24 hours.”

There is so much more I want to tell you, so many more museums to talk about and I promise that I will, go into greater detail about the museums that I have visited, the museums that I have loved and museums I have not loved, [and I almost got carried away and posted works by a slew of artists I love, but I will leave you with pieces by the artists I named earlier, Pollack, Rothko and Stella. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Pollack, Rothko, Stella

{February 15, 2015} Rummikub

Tonight we played a few rousing games of Rummikub.

Let me start with a why…Rummikub is a game that I have played with my family since GES and I were kids.

Now, a what…The synopsis, if you check out the Wikipedia link, it will give you more details, of course, Rummikub was invented by a Romanian-born Jew, who hand made the first sets with his family in the backyard, then sold the first sets door-to-door and on consignments at small shops. It has become Israel’s #1 export game and in 1977, it became the best selling game in the United States.

Yes, I do play games that were invented after 1980, but these are games from my childhood, classics.

Rummikub is a combination of Rummy and Mahjong, I don’t know if you’ve played either, but Rummy is played with a deck of cards and Mahjong is played with tiles. If you have ever played Rummy, it’s played with seven cards and Gin-Rummy is played with ten cards.

Rummikub is similar to Rummy in that you have to make runs and groupings. You start with fourteen tiles and put them on the stand. Each player turns a tile over to see who goes first, then, technically, you are supposed to open with tiles totaling 30 points, but we play that you have to have a run when you open.

So…a run is when you have three of a kind or three in a row. There are four colors in the game, red, orange, blue and black, if the light is not bright enough the two colors each look very similar! Just as in Rummy, three of a kind have to be all different colors and a run would be all the same color, for example, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc. Now, you can have more than 3 in a row, no limit.

Then, there are other things you can do, break up sets and make new ones, as long as you don’t leave less thank three tiles together. If you can’t put anything out, pick a tile.

It may sound confusing, I know, but once you sit down and play, after a few minutes, you’re in it to win it! And look out if you play with EJS or MGS, they are good! Tonight, the whole family played, lots of fun!

Tonight, something happened that almost never happens, a run of one through 13! Picture proof!

The object, go figure, is to go out first and most important…have a good time!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rummikub

{February 14, 2015} Gotcha Day

Today is Gotcha Day! And Valentine’s Day! Could anything be more wonderful?

What is Gotcha Day you ask, well, I’ll tell you. That is the day that Miss A and SDL became official!

SDL has wanted kids for a long time and started the adoption process many moons ago. Finally, it was getting closer and I remember getting an email from her, “Auntie G…how would you like to see a picture of your niece?” Let’s just say, I had tears in my eyes when I opened the attachment and I couldn’t say anything to anyone! Not fair! I wanted to shout it to the world, but my lips were sealed!

SDL started going to a far off land, Kazakhstan, to meet the little one who would soon be her pride and joy.

She had set up a blog so that some friends and family could keep up with their progress. It was great! Every day she would post so we would know what was going on and on the days she visited with Miss A, pictures of the two of them. Soooo cute!

What a doll baby! She was adorable and wonderfully fat (only when children are babies is it ok to tell a mother her baby is beautiful and fat!) and she smiled like crazy. Simply wonderful.

There were multiple trips to Kazakhstan for bonding and paperwork. Finally…the day had come…it was going to be official!

Mother and daughter were officially a family, it’s called Gotcha Day and what a wonderful coincidence that their Gotcha Day was February 14th, Valentine’s Day.

As you know, Miss A is not only the light in her mother’s life, she is so very precious to me and I love spending time with her, watching her grow and blossom into a bright, precocious, soon to be five year old, I cannot believe it!

What better day to become a family. Happy Gotcha Day to SDL and Miss A and Happy Valentine’s Day to them and everyone out there!

{February 13, 2015} Nicknames

What is a nickname? What’s in a nickname?

Nicknames are names, duh, that we give each other, even give ourselves sometimes, although, is it pretentious to give yourself a nickname? Does it matter? Go for it, it’s your name, it’s what represents you, have at it!

When I was a kid, in school, I was friends with a girl named RJ and we were inseparable, we used to giggle like crazy, they called us the Giggle Twins, sometimes having to be separated. In high school, I had three nicknames, all in my youth group, one carried over to high school. One was Giggles, what a stretch…the funny thing about that is when I went to see one of my closest friends, her daughter, five at the time and was in speech therapy, had trouble with her G’s, called me Diddles, I loved it and I will forever be known to her as Diddles, I’ll take it!

Another nickname was Lennon, I had John Lennon round glasses, [I am so glad my Sally Jesse Raphael glasses didn’t inspire anyone!] so, I became known as Lennon and I have to tell you, there were a lot of people who didn’t know my real name, even when we saw each other in college, just Lennon. It’s alright, I’d rather be remembered as Lennon than not remembered at all.

And isn’t that the point of a nickname? Makes you more memorable, and there you go.

The last nickname, which has stuck to this day is George. I know, or think I know, you’ve figured out what my name is and there are so many of us, you would remember a girl named George first, right?

Enough about me, what do you think about me? ha ha ha.

The inspiration for this post…I was talking to PM and he got a voice mail with someone shouting his nickname, Boo. It stemmed from a story from college and stuck, now everyone calls him Boo and he answers. My neighbor in Atlanta, CA, he has bear tattoos on his forearms, so his nickname is Boo Boo.

So…what’s your nickname? Where did it come from? How long have you had it?

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