What I love! | Peaches Prattlings

{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 11, 2015} My brother-in-law

Is pretty great.

I haven’t talked much about my b-I-l, that’s brother-in-law for those not in the know. I know I’ve mentioned him in posts, ACS, but I haven’t told you much about him and what he means to my family.

I remember when my sister first brought him home, I wasn’t sure about him, but come on, I’m the big sister and no one is ever good enough for my baby sister. We happen to be the same age, well, for a few months we are, born the same year, he’s January and I’m September, so same age for a few months, but I still call him my baby brother, he’s married to my baby sister, see how my logic works?

I have to tell you, he is a great father. He’s loving and silly with them and firm when he needs to be, he loves them and they adore him, you can see it on their faces and hear it in their voices.

When it comes to my sister, there is no one better to take care of her, after me and our dad, of course, wink wink, but he has been amazing, especially over the last year and a half. He went to every single doctors appointment, treatment, procedure, you name it, he was there, sitting by her side when he could and keeping the rest of us informed, a very important job.

He is a generous person and very popular with his friends, many of them from childhood. The joke is that everyone we meet went to camp with him, I always ask, but the reality, he lives in the town he grew up in and a lot of the people we meet, he went to camp with. He is someone who works hard and people know they can depend on.

The reason I am telling you all of this is, yesterday, he did something really nice, which he does, but it helped me out a lot. I had that appointment with the GI in the morning and it had been snowing and when I came outside, he had cleared off his car so I could take it. Even clearing it off before he left for work, moving the other car so I could get out and then he went back for MGS so they could leave for school and work.

He helps a lot of people and they appreciate it and yesterday, for me…props to him.

{February 8, 2015} Good old fashioned snail mail

I may have talked to you about snail mail before, but I am here I am doing it again, with a twist.

My dad is a great supporter of snail mail, he sends letters back and forth with EJS, I believe LaLa does as well. There have been times we’ve exchanged letters, the old fashioned way, and I enjoyed it and here and there we write, but not consistently.

I have a very dear friend, CGS, who is great at letter writing and I actually owe her a letter, which I will be completing very soon. We were great about writing back and forth for a while, then life gets in the way, then great about it, then…

Well, it’s a new year and I want to try something. Three years ago I set out to blog every day and except for one day last year, I have done it. They say, as I’ve said before, it takes twenty one days to form a habit and I would like to form a new one.

I was inspired a few weeks ago and bought a brand new box of stationary when I was at Barnes & Noble, hard to get out of there without buying something fun, this time was no different.

So…I have my new box of stationary and I want to use it. I want to send letters, it has 30 sheets and envelopes, let’s see who wants to help and exchange with me. I am going to put a post on Facebook to see who wants to become my pen pal.

There are two people who will have letters in the mail in the next two days, I hop they know who they are, daddy…wink wink.

{February 7, 2015} A day of culture!

Today I started with music and ended with murder!

Oooh, that sounded so ominous! Let me explain…

This morning I accompanied MGS, along with JS and the twins, N&E, to the Boston Symphony Orchestra for one of their Family Concert series, this was “Keeping Good Company” Musical Partnerships of Inspiration and Innovation, fabulous! Thomas Wilkins was the conductor and what a way he had with the audience, especially the kids! He was personable and witty and engaging and the kids enjoyed it all, I’m not sure if they enjoyed it as much as the adults, but it was a lot of fun.

The conductor talked about the pieces that we were listening to, made us think and questions and wonder and use our imaginations…what did this piece make you think of? What emotion did that piece elicit? How about thinking about this in this way or that. Inspiration and innovation, that pretty much sums it up. There were pieces we each liked and some we all agreed upon. There was even a piece from Star Wars: Phantom Menace, how cool is that?

All in all, a great morning. http://www.bso.org/brands/bso/education-community/children-families/family-concerts.aspx

We got home after a nice lunch and watched How to Train Your Dragon and Despicable Me 2, both renamed by MGS as Dragon [1 or 2] and Minions, which I am sure your children have done the same thing!

Later, GES, ACS and some friends went to their temple for a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater extravaganza! “Marriage Can Be Murder!”

The mother of the bride has planned for the perfect wedding, but before her beautiful daughter can even say “I do” a bloody killing mars the happy day.

It is up to you, the wedding guests, to find the motive, and make sure that love lives “happily ever after”.

As soon as you enter the Temple, you will become part of the mystery and the fun, do the chicken dance, catch the bouquet, question the suspects and solve the crime. You could even become the evening’s “super sleuth” and win a prize!

This was a lot of fun, we had to dress as if we were going to a wedding, so ‘no jeans and rock-n-roll’ t-shirts. I have to say, there were very few people who were not dressed as if they were going to a wedding, some people even pulled their fur coats out of the closet!

When we got there, we mingled in the lobby area and had hors d’oeuvres, drinks and cast members would come and interact with us, thanking us for coming all this way for the wedding, giving us background, doing some improv, it’s a great time.

I have done dinner theater before, murder mystery, in fact, both on the actor side as well as the patron. I always thought about getting back into it. I have also hosted many murder mystery dinners, I think I told you about the one in Boulder last year, so much fun! GES, myself and some of her friends there tonight talked about doing one…I’ve got a new one, unopened in the box, downstairs…

We started with the wedding, but there was a murder! Oh no! So, while they were figuring things out, we went into the fellowship hall for dinner, even had wedding cake for dessert!

One of the fun things was that they used attendees as part of the show, like bridesmaids, wedding planner, father of the bride and the rabbi, who was playing…go figure, the rabbi!

In the fellowship hall there was dinner, dancing and frivolity and towards the end of the evening, we were asked to submit our guess for who dunnit!

The first thing the detective did was to read the “bonehead” answers and call people out on them. Not to worry, almost everyone there was a member of the temple or new someone, so it was all in good fun.

Then there was a prize for the correct answer, problem was…there were a lot of us. [notice I said us] so she picked a name out of a hat for the grand prize, tickets to another murder mystery event put on by that company.

So…I started the day with music and ended with murder, what a day!

{February 6, 2015} The Adventures of Robin Hood

I heart Errol Flynn!

Last night, I watched part of one of my favorite movies, The Adventures of Robin Hood.

There are so many different versions of Robin Hood. Disney animated version from 1973,http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070608/?ref_=nv_sr_5, Russell Crowe in 2010, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0955308/?ref_=nv_sr_1, Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102798/?ref_=nv_sr_2.

But, I have to admit, my favorite, and I do love the ones I mentioned above, is still The Adventures of Robin Hood from 1938, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nIufsXSuB0. And it is probably because this was the first one I saw. Maybe it was a toss up between this and the animated version as to which I saw first, but I have more of an affinity for this one, Errol Flynn, swoon, as Robin Hood, Olivia de Havilland, lovely, as the Lady Marion, Basil Rathbone, one of the greatest film sword fighters ever as the twisted Guy of Guisbourne, Claude Raines as the evil Prince John and Alan Hale as Little John. If you’re not quite sure who Alan Hale is, his son, Alan Hale Jr, played The Skipper on Gilligan’s Island.

It is on my list of movies I would like to have in my collection and I am sure I will get it eventually.

There is something about this movie, every time it comes on tv, I must watch it, it makes me feel good. Robin Hood is such a good guy, true to his band of merry men, loves Maid Marion with all his heart, fiercely loyal to the king and all he holds dear. How can you fault a man for robbing the rich and giving it to the poor? Loving the girl next door, even if she is a Royal and he’s an outlaw, is there anything more romantic?

Black and white or color, this movie has it all…sword fights, romance, unrequited love, villainy, tyranny, justice, sibling rivalry, honor and a happy ending, what more could you want?

{February 5, 2015} Drunk Dialing

Drunk dialing is a bad idea.

I think you know I am not a drinker and if you didn’t, you know now. I won’t say never because I did go out on my 21st birthday with the intention of getting sloshed and once or twice a year I will have a drink, like sharing a pina colada I the Bahama with the family, but it doesn’t get any more wild than that.

So… I haven’t drunk dialed, drunk texted, drunk called, basically, no drunk anything. [One day I’ll tell you about one of my fantasies].

I have gotten drunk calls before, but it’s been a while. Tonight, I had a friend drunk dial me, he knew what he was doing by calling, but that’s as far as it went! We had a few conversations, some overlapping, some in circles, some were in a round, kind of like ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat’.

People, it’s fine if you drink, sometimes even if you over indulge, as long as you’re safe, but don’t drunk dial people! Wait until you’re sober and know what you’re talking about!

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