The Christmas Shoppe at the Merwinsville Hotel

Cynthia and I drove up to Merwinsville on Friday, the opening day of its Christmas Shoppe--a kind of combination Christmas display and holiday sale. 

One room on the main level has a railroad running through a village as well as World's Fair miniatures of various amusement rides. A collection of Santas were in a corner of another room. The Nutcracker collection was on the second floor. 

Then there were all the things for sale: jewelry, pottery, glassware, dolls, knitted mittens and hats, scarves, ornaments, paintings, and plants. 

I only bought a few things this year. The first is a beagle ornament. Now we have several beagle ornaments already, but this was different. I also got a wooden gift tag that says "Merry Christmas." I thought this would look nice hanging on our door and for $3, why not? 

I have three Merwinsville wine glasses that are starting to lose their logos. I decided to get replacements. Each glass was $5, but I got four for $18. Sounds frugal to me. 

It's been a year since I've been to the hotel. It felt good to see it again

It's Never Too Late...

 ...to be thankful. 

We hand a nice Thanksgiving. My brother Jim and our friend Cynthia joined Jeff, Jace and me. As I previously said, I was organized. I even decided to make a special cocktail: a vodka gimlet with fresh lime juice. I made two drinks but planned to serve four mini drinks in cordial glasses shaped like mini-martini glasses. Jim wasn't interested, so more for the rest of us. 

I served shrimp cocktail and Boursin cheese with Trader Joe's pumpkin cranberry crackers as appetizers. Our dinner from Whole Foods consisted of turkey breast, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green beans. I added Pillsbury crescent rolls. For dessert, we had pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. 

The only problem was that even though all the food had been defrosted (according to Whole Foods, it was chilled not frozen) the turkey and mashed potatoes took about twice as long as the instructions indicated. I took the stuffing and green beans out of the oven while the turkey and potatoes continued to cook. It was annoying, and I got teased about the delay, but we didn't really mind. 

After dinner, I took Jace for a short walk and then vegged on the couch after I found The Godfather on TV. 

Here's the list I might have made if I had posted on Thanksgiving night. 

What I'm thankful for:

1.    Jeff

We've had many heatlh challenges over the past few years, but we're still here and we still love each other.

2.    Jace

To be honest, there are times Jace wouldn't make this list. But he is fun and loving and sweet and loyal. And cute too. 

3.    Friends and Family

Sometimes it's hard to stay in contact with others. We all seem to get bogged down in our day-to-day bullshit. But the effort is well worth it.

4.    My Health

Seeing Jeff's health problems, as well as those of other friends, makes me appreciate how lucky I am to be healthy. It keeps me going to the gym too. 

5.    Our Home

Yes, it's true, I want to move out of our condo, out of Norwalk, out of Connecticut. But it's nice to have a place of our own with no mortgage. It's a good size for us in a good location.

6.    Good Weather (for the most part)

Most of the fall has been mild. As Fitzgerald said: "Life starts over again when it gets crisp in the fall." Already, many mornings are cold. I'll enjoy the crispness when I can. 

Thanksgiving Eve

I think I should be in bed but feel too awake. I am very organized for our dinner tomorrow.  And when I use "very" I mean "very." So, part of me asks, "What are your forgetting?" I have a list I made last week. I washed the china and the flatware. I still need to wash the glasses and make cocktail sauce. 

Can that be it? I guess I can do some kind of quick touch-up somewhere. 

Maybe I can just relax.

And reheat.

Book 27: The Sisters The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary S. Lovell

Years ago, I read a reference to the Mitford sisters--I think it was a book review in Ingenue magazine, which I'll remember forever for introducing me to I Capture the Castle. I'm not sure I would have heard of the Mitfords otherwise, except maybe for Jessica Mitford's book, The American Way of Death. 

It took me a while to get through this book. I didn't find the early years of the sisters all that interesting. Then we got into the thirties and forties. It was as if the sisters existed at a perfect place in a perfect time to capture an era: a Communist, a fascist, a novelist, a gentlewoman farmer, a duchess, and a friend of Hitler. 

It seems like the Mitfords are people my mother would have been interested in. But maybe she was a little young: graduated from high school in 1944. They would still make fascinating subjects for a mini-series.

Monday Miscellanea

After Jeff and I went to the gym, I went to ShopRite--I didn't have to get Thanksgiving stuff (except my complimentary turkey breast) but I needed fruits and vegetables and cleaning products. It was crazy. I can't imagine how bad it will be on Wednesday. I spent a whole half-hour just waiting in the cashier line. 

After lunch, I was walking Jace down Prospect Avenue. A policeman came out of his parked car to meet Jace. He even knew Jace was a lemon beagle. He had a beagle, foxhound, coonhound mix at home and showed me a photo. 

A few people have put up their Christmas decorations--I even saw a Christmas tree. It seems way too early for me. A few houses have Thanksgiving decor--an inflatable turkey here and there--and one house had two signs from the Peanuts Thanksgiving TV special. Very cute. Of course, lots of Halloween decorations remain. A new kind of changing of the seasons.

Countdown to Thanksgiving

When someone asked me if I'm cooking for Thanksgiving, I said, "I'm reheating." This will be our fourth year getting our dinner from Whole Foods. This year I'm picking up the food on Wednesday instead of Thursday to make sure the food is properly defrosted. Last year the meal was practically frozen and took too long to heat up. That's one stressor I can avoid.

We're having two guests: my brother Jim and our friend Cynthia. Both were scheduled for last year, but Cynthia got sick and had to cancel.

I'm very organized this year. I've already bought the items I need (except for the meal and shrimp which I pick up Wednesday afternoon.) I'm serving shrimp cocktail because it's one of Jim's favorites, and his birthday falls on Thanksgiving this year. I personally think it's overrated and kind of boring. But, whatever. I also have cheese with pumpkin and cranberry crackers. 

I've been in cleaning mode for a week: doing some work each day instead of one big cleaning binge. By Wednesday afternoon, I'll have washed the good china and glasses, sharpened the knives, selected pots, pans, and serving dishes, and set the table.

Sounds like a good plan.

Halfway Through November

If I had been participating properly in NaNoWriMo, I woiuld have written about 26,000 words by now. Spoiler Alert: I wrote just over 1,000.  

With about a half month to go, it's too soon to label myself an abject failure, but I'm well on my way. 

I wrote about my fear of losing Nano: it's not a big deal. I'm going to keep writing. 

Besides my normal problem of not sticking to a writing schedule, the hour-long review of notes on Halloween night wasn't enough prep to get back into the Merwinville concept--I kept referring to notes, handouts, and the Internet. I actually stopped writing a scene to look up if people in Connecticut drank coffee in the 1830s. 

After I finished the first draft of the first chaper, I went back to add details. Later I moved material from Chapter One to Chapter Two. These are all things you're not supposed to do in Nano. The only way to get to 50,000 words in a month is to explicitly not edit anything. Save that for later. That is true of all writing.

Today I wrote a bit about Sylvanus seeing opportunities and then some background about railroad/transportation from 1800-1850. I called the file Pre-Chapter One. As I think about it, it's probably not in the best place, but I'm not going to worry about that now. 

I previously used my Ancestry.com membership to research Sylvanus Merwin's descendants but didn't get very far. I had wanted to cancel my membership because the monthly charges are too high. So I spent several hours of the last few days of access to do more research. I found an interesting connection that may be very important in my book. 

At least I'm learning in my failure.

A Photo Post

A few weeks ago, my cousin Deb sent us a few goodies, including a stuffed dog for Jace. I texted her that Jace was playing with it, and she asked for a photo. This was the closest I could get. 

The week of Halloween Jace was dealing with a scratched cornea and needed to wear the dreaded cone for five days. 

Here's a more restful sleep.

Finally, here's Mort a black vulture who's come to live at the New Canaan Nature Center. He has an injured wing and is missing a few toes. He always seems hungry. 

Halloween Movie Catchup

We don't decorate or dress up for Halloween, and we don't get any trick or treaters. But we do watch scary movies. We caught Horror Of Dracula at least three times, plus another Hammer Dracula movie. I watched The Wolf Man Halloween night. 

These other films, we recorded and saved.

The Uninvited--while on holiday, a brother and sister find a beautiful, abandoned cliffside house and impulsively buy it. The only catch: it's haunted. One room is deadly cold; the pets won't go upstairs. TCM described this as the first film to treat ghosts seriously. Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey (I remember her from The Philadelphia Story) star with Donald Crisp. It's a good film with strong performances especially from Gail Russell and Cornelia Otis Skinner. 

The Conqueror Worm--this is a confusing title; it was chosen for US audiences. The original title, Witchfinder General, makes sense. Vincent Price plays Matthew Hopkings the traveling witchfinder who tortures and executes witches for a fee and sexual favors during the British Civil War. After he targets a priest and his beautiful niece, a Roundhead solder engaged to the niece seeks revenge. The revenge subplot takes over the film. In the final scenes the soldier is watching his fiancee being tortured. The soldier's friends rescue them and kill Hopkins. As the fiancee screams, the solder ignores her to complain that he didn't get to kill Hopkins himself. Way to make it about himself.

House of Usher--A man visits his fiancee in a crumbling mansion and wants to take her away from her creepy brother Roderick Usher (Vincent Price.)  The film has good production values and is suitably gruesome--Roderick buries his sister alive--but I just didn't get into it. 

The Blackening--I heard some college professors on NPR discussing horror movies. One mentioned this movie and it happened to be on TV that night. A group of eight college friends rent a house to celebrate Juneteenth. The film was funnier than it was scary. I liked the joke that none of them admitted to watching Friends but knew all the black guest stars.

House of the Seven Gables--this is more of a gothic romance with a hint of the supernatural than a horror movie. Jaffrey Pynchon (George Sanders) secures the murder conviction of his brother Clifford (Vincent Price) while Clifford's fiance Hepzibah (Margaret Lindsay) waits for his release. I teared up when the lovers were reunited and appreciated the happy ending. According to TCM, Margaret Lindsay considered this her best performance. I have to agree: she was fantastic.

Mondays

Mondays get a bad rap. I understand--for most people it's the first day of the work or school week. Now that I'm retired, I look forward to the start of a new week. I tend to be optimistic about each new week. I'll have all the time I need to write, work out, clean, run errands, whatever I need to do. 

It can be disheartening to get off to a slow start to the week as I did today. I only accomplished a few things: I went to the gym, and I took Jace to Rowayton Dog Park. That park is completely fenced in, so it's the only place I feel comfortable letting Jace off leash. Otherwise, I just did some light cleaning and made dinner.

Let's try again tomorrow. 

NaNoWriMo

I had been thinking about doing NaNoWriMo this year. I was hesitating; I realize that I was afraid. But of what? I had failed before (failed NaNo twice before) I could fail again. It wouldn't be that big of a deal.

I signed up on Halloween night. Officially NaNoWriMo starts at 12:01 on November 1st. I stayed up and watched The Wolf Man and then started writing at the official time. I wrote until 12:48 (though I may have dozed off a time or two) and wrote 277 words. As I went to bed, I realized that what I had written was useless. It was a recap of what I had read about Sylvanus Merwin. It wouldn't work in a novel. I decided instead that I should start the story with a dialog between Sylvanus and his wife Flora. So, I did the next morning--I wrote 476 words. Then I got up to walk Jace, go to the gym, etc.

Later I realized that I had to help Jeff with a complicated government form, and between that and all of my other chores, etc. I didn't get back to writing. (Still haven't.)

It's still early in the month, so there's hope for me. For now, I need to go to bed and get some rest.