Hobo Brig goes to Boston.

Boston is only 2 hours away and a pretty straight shot from Windsor which is really exciting because in just 2 hours we can be in a great city. I mean I have driven longer than 2 hours to get to a movie before (I once drove with Mom and Dad 3 hours one way to see a movie in Tucson but we needed out of Morenci so you can't blame us) We took advantage of Alicia and Phil being here and went down with Chelle and Hobo Brig. According to Wikipedia,

Hobo is a term that refers to a subculture of wandering homeless people,^[1] particularly those who make a habit of hopping freight trains. The iconic image of a hobo is that of a downtrodden, shabbily-dressed and perhaps drunken male, one that was solidified in American culture during the Great Depression. Hoboes differentiate themselves as travelers who are homeless and willing to do work, whereas a tramp travels but will not work and a bum does neither.

Meet Hobo Brig.

We don't know when we are going to see Hobo Brig. Right when we think there is rhythm, say Tuesdays, he becomes unpredictable and we don't see him for awhile and then one day he wanders back into our lives. We were lucky enough to be accompanied by Hobo Brig to Boston.

We parked outside the city and took the T into the Holocaust Monument which is new since I was last in the city and is a very well done installation. We went to Quincy Market for some slices of pizza and Mike tried his first Polska Kielbasa sausage grinder thing. As we were walking towards the Common outside the Market we caught these street performers and if you look closely at the pictures you can see the man jumped over the line of kids....whoa. Hobo Brig liked that.Chelle had Boston down and we followed her around although it is such a manageable city and easy to walk around. It was a bit nippy, however.

After walking around for a bit past some of the sites on the Freedom Trail and where the Boston Tea Party Began, we made our way to the top of the Prudential Building where we took a tour of the city from above. It was clear day and cool to actually be able to see the whole city from above. Later, we went to see 'Jumper' which totally bit in a royal kind of way. Here are some pictures.

Valentine Sledding.

Over the past week we have had quite a few snow storms alternating with ice/rain/sleet storms so if one were do make a cross section of a snow bank you could map out our winter from the layers like the rings of a tree. Yesterday it rained all day, over the 6 inches we had received that night so there was a thick crust of ice over a nice blanket of powder = sledding at Keighty and Jordan's house! First we had to break through the ice crust to make trails and then away we went. It was a beautiful, sunny Winter day in Vermont. Alicia is here visiting with your friend (wink wink) Phil so they tried a little snowboarding out which resulted in Alicia face planting and getting ice burns (see photos later) but she looked really cool doing it so they are just like war wounds...awesome. Wyatt loved watching them on their boards. Anders loved eating snow. Max loved sledding with his mom. Sydnie loved sitting still for nearly 30 minutes as she watched everyone else (she could have fallen asleep for real) and Maddie loved watching her mom and brother go down the hill but wasn't so sure herself. After we went inside for hot chocolate, hot banana bread, and cupcakes. Pretty good Valentines day if you ask me.

Happy Valentines.

Weekly Ad.

Within the first few days of being open, a man came into the Merc with a project his father had done in 1926 by collecting the weekly ads that his father put into the paper advertising their Grocery/Dry Goods store here in Windsor. This is one of the ads. They are absolutely fantastic. I scanned it in and had to do a bit of fussing to get it to look clean enough but that is straight from the February 5th paper of 1926 here in Windsor. I have about 20 of them and we will scatter them through out the year. You just can't get any better than this really. 82 years old!

The Diner.

No Boston.

Well we didn't make it to Boston. It started snowing just as we were leaving and didn't stop so the roads were a mess. It took us nearly 3 hours to get to Manchester, New Hampshire and the thought of continuing on didn't make sense. So instead we went to one of the top ten diners in the states visited by the likes of Paul Newman and Adam Sandler. We had a blast catching up and eating diner goodness. We are thinking Boston this is next weekend.

Off to Boston.

One of my favorite people is coming to visit. I don't think I have seen Alicia since we got married in 2004 but could that be correct? Why did we miss her the roadtrip summer of 2005? My brain hasn't been working well recently unlike Brig over at his new blog. Anyway Mike, Chelle, and I are headed down to Manchester, NH in the next few hours to pick her up at the airport and then we are heading into Boston for the evening/day tomorrow. We are going to meet up with another great friend of mine from back in the day who has settled down there and meet her at the branch she goes to in Cambridge. Chelle has made the trip to Boston with quite a few people since living here this year so she has pulled out the maps and is ready to perfect any past meaderings that went awry. I am just so excited for Mike to see something new (even though he's been to Boston) but enjoy New England a bit more and I can't wait to reconnect with good friends. Reports upon our return.

Rambo boys. SuperBowl.Snow.

The other night, the boys went out to see 'Rambo'. They got into character before even leaving the house and wore their lil Rambo scarves the whole evening and they didn't even get a discount on their tickets. Sadly, Brig isn't pictured but he was also there. They came back changed men. Mike also got to watch his first SuperBowl this last week. It wasn't very interesting but really picked up in the last quarter when the Giants really made some exciting plays...and that says a lot coming from me. I always like when the losing team pulls ahead. We keep planning on a Girls night out but the weather seems to be against us. Last weekend we had a big icy rain storm and the weather is predicted to bring more of that, 8-12 inches in the next 24 hours apparently. I must say, the joy of living so close to town/work/everyone is so great. It takes so much stress out of Vermont winters when you don't actually have to to go anywhere if you don't want because it is all so close.

Weekly Ads.

It's that time of the year.

In my family we have always watched the Award shows with keen interest in the movies but more particularly in what they are going to wear. Then we ooooh and awwwww or ugggh. It's fun and I have always looked forward to it. When I was 15 I loved Nicole Kidman's Asian inspired chartreuse Versace dress a lot (I went through an odd retro color phase teen fashion sense) and that year for Christmas mom bought the exact color fabric to make the dress. It sat in her closet for many a year and then came out to be a table cloth at our wedding reception and this Christmas when I was home she made it into a robe for me. Its very soft and yummy and I think I will get a lot more use out of it as a robe and not a formal gown (imagine that.) Anyway, we really like watching the Award shows and its been very anticlimactic for us this year. On Sunday night, McKay and I jumped at the fact the SAG awards were happening WITH celebrities. We devoured every minute of the red carpet (thank heavens for TIVO so we didn't have to listen to the inane jabber of the E! people) and the show itself. Then traditionally, we talk about what we've seen. I think our commentary is right up there with the Fugs themselves and very articulate. Sometimes we agree and sometimes we don't but its good fun. You can go here if you are interested at all in reading my complete report about this. I am very excited for the writers to wrap this baby up so we can see some action on the red carpet for the Oscars.
Can I hear a yip yip!

Ads.

I've been on the Ad Job since setting foot in Windsor. With the new store (The Merc) we wanted to jump in and brand it right away as a cool place. So far we've had the ads in 2 weeks and there is already a small following (or at least interest) for the Ads and people have mentioned seeing them when they come in which means people are actually recognizing that they are there. Our Ad Man at the Valley News actually told me that his fellow Ad people look forward to seeing what will be next; exactly what we wanted, get 'em hooked. My process thus far is type whatever comes to my head. Rarely, do you get to do a job where you get to present yourself (your humor) so forwardly but that is our brand philosophy thus far and its pretty fun. I also worked up and Ad for Nate's other store that is carrying Patagonia now and one for Upper Valley Life magazine. I honestly did this one as a joke because I tend to send Nate a real one and one that is a joke but they always go for the joke! We have the same reported that came and did a story on us a couple weeks ago coming again to talk with all of us about Sibling Development for a longer article in the paper. Yep.

The Diner.

Somewhere along the trip with Mike (probably while we were on a train somewhere and starving) I told him about American small town diners. He couldn't wait to try so last night after workMcKay and Max joined us and we went to the Stubbs & Lauras Diner right herein Windsor. It's 5 minutes down the road and as we arrived at 6:30PM, there were lotsof cars in the park (good sign). More good signs upon entrance: blue walls,small space, a chalkboard with specials of Homemade Macaroni & Cheese, and homemade breads, random framed Maxfield Parrish prints (an incredible American artist from the area) whom I really really like.

McKay and I took the lead on this one ordering those things onemust try at a new diner,Chocolate Milkshake. Mike caught right on when he ordered the Bacon Cheeseburger but opted for the Breakfast all day option and got aBacon, Egg, Cheese Biscuit (a weakness) and some homefries (how long since I have seen that word?). McKay, having been to the other diner in town, ascertained that the french fries weren't as good but the burger was better. Good stuff.

Max seemed to have a great time crawling over Mike and along the booth and then he really enjoyed a chocolate icecream with sprinkles.We had a good 10 minutes of uninterrupted conversation as Max ate thewhole thing! As we left Max told the waitress, "Hey, Thanks for the dinner!" I would agree with Max on that one.