ONE MAN'S TRASH IS ANOTHER MAN'S TREASURE

Tabletop pic courtesy of Eddie Ross and Jaithan Kochar of www.EddieRoss.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Now that the temps have plunged into the teens it's time to look back at days not that long ago when they were in the nineties!

In August when we were down in Katonah packing up the house, my blog friends Eddie Ross and Jaithan Kochar came calling with a bottle of wine! Robert and I were so tired, hot and sweaty from our week of cleaning, packing and sorting and I wish we'd been able to host them with the panache that they well deserve. They'll have to come to Gloucester for that!

We'd spent days sorting thru what was still left in the house and we'd spent our nites sleeping on the floor. (Much to the bemusement of the pups!)

The upstairs den was all stuff for Bill to sell at his tag sale, our fabulous 60 year-old handmade down-stuffed gloriously upholstered living room couch was broken into pieces and the last of it was out in the front yard providing much needed seating trailer-trash style, downstairs we had some furniture set aside for auctioneers, outdoors we had a pile of garden tools laid out by the woodpile, along with other goodies destined for Gloucester, and in my childhood bedroom I'd set aside a pile for Eddie and Jaithan to go thru! Somehow I just knew they'd appreciate some of our treasures. And I know that my Dad would have loved the idea of them finding new homes with this creative duo! And he'd get an even bigger kick seeing glorious photos of our family treasures on blogs and in magazines!

Out in the driveway we had a big blue dump-truck which made daily trips to the dump filled with musty old stuff we'd tossed out of the attic. We had a fabulous few hours with Eddie and Jaithan indoors and indeed they found some fun treasures amongst the pile we'd set aside. And then we hit the driveway! I really wish i'd had enough stamina to get pics of Eddie as he dumpster dove; fishing out vintage shelter mags we were just too lazy to save and find good homes for! One man's trash is certainly another man's treasure!

I was delighted to see Eddie's end-of-year retrospective. http://www.eddieross.com/eddie_ross/2011/01/a-look-back-part-2.html Scroll all the way down to the bottom for a pic of their golden New Year's table! What fun to see our ornately banded plates featured! And i think there are more pics to come! I cannot wait!

SANTA SIGHTINGS

Christmas is 20 days away but we've already had two Santa sightings! Yesterday in Rockport. Today in Gloucester! All we needed was snow!

The dude in the Bearskin Neck window above was holding up a sign that said "moron". Scrooge! Bah humbag to you old man!Waiting for Santa's arrival by boat with a three year old (almost...her bday is on Xmas Day!) is very exciting!

The sun shone bright as soon as Santa's boat pulled up to Motif #1. Check him out at the stern.

Big fat Santa had to climb a ladder to get ashore!

And he traveled to Dock Square in a vintage firetruck....in a parade led by little scouts.

THE PROPOSAL was filmed in Rockport...but it was filling in for Sitka Alaska!

Lots of people, lots of cocoa as we all waited for the lighting of the tree in Dock Square.

What fun to be with BBB, EB, CW and JB---and singing carols while awaiting the lighting of the spectacular Dock Square tree!Santa left Dock Square in Rockport right before the tree was lit-but today he resurfaced a few miles down the road and JoJo got to meet him at Cape Ann Animal Aid's little fundraiser at the new Ace Hardware in Gloucester Crossing! She loves everyone-but she didn't love Santa! (i just realized i have not blogged about JoJo yet-eegads-i've got some catching up to do so i can introduce our new pup! We adopted her on Labor Day!)

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR A TRIATHLON aka GIRLS OVER FORTY RULE!

Big smiles before the race!

Our running Mayor!
Cousin AJ in blue and yellow shined bright all day!!
EB's fan club!
AJ's biggest fan!
My two heros!
AJ reaches the finish line in style!

I've always wanted to congratulate our Mayor, Carolyn Kirk, on a job well done and today i finally got the opportunity to tell her i'm her biggest fan.

Men in Plaid!

Don't worry...i didn't compete! I'm a gym rat these days but there's no way i could do a triathlon...bum knee or not. But I am in awe of my cousin and my friend who competed with style, grace and courage. I'm in awe of our fabulous mayor, Carolyn Kirk, who competed in the running portion. In fact, I'm in awe of everyone who competed...teenagers, old folks, military men and women and everyone else. But let's not forget that i'm especially proud of AJ and EB! They rocked it in the Women > 40 division! You go girls!!! It was a bit tough to drag our lazy bodies out of bed at such an early hour on a Sunday to go downtown and watch but we're really glad we did. Glosta...you did a darn good job putting on a good show! Kudos to all. I love it here all the time...but on days like this I'm especially proud to be a Glosta Girl!

MEMORIES

Today, Evie, the matriarch of our family passed away. She wasn't our grandmother. But she was. She had no children. But she had us. And we had her...in our lives forever. Until today. She will be missed immensely by me and my cousins, my Mom and her sibs, and by so many others. She was inspiration to each and every one of us. She was glamorous. She was a career woman. She had a fabulous sense of humor and loved to travel the world. She loved her extended family...and we loved her. She loved Welsh Rarebit and the Ritz Bar. She loved bright colors and fitness. She loved Boston. She took me to meet Julia Child the year I moved to Boston from LA. We could all count on Evie to tell us stories about our family way back when. There's no one left who knows those stories first hand. But tonite she's with Walter after so many years apart and there's certainly a big smile on her face.

As I looked thru pix to find the last one I ever took of Evie (actually RK took it--a bit over a year ago--before i lost all my weight) i also came across a nice pic of Robert with his beloved Dad and sister Kathy taken at a family reunion several years ago. And then I came across a photo of our dear friend John who passed away late last year. These photos help keep our memories alive. I have zillions of pix of Evie which show her in her usual glamorous state, but alas, they're not digital and I don't have a scanner. Someday i'll figure out a way to post those pix. She deserves better than this pic in a wheelchair and velour suit.

RIP dear Evie, John, Kathy and Ed. We love you. XO

OUR VIRGINIA FAMILY

The face of our Virginia family has changed alot in less than a year and half. In the Spring of 2009 we lost Robert's sister Kathy and last week we lost his father at age 89-1/2. The exact same age as my Dad when he passed away in 2006. Like my Dad, Ed served his country proudly in WWII, and until the month of his death he never left the home Robert, Steve and Kathy grew up in. He was a wonderful man and we will miss him.

We've just returned from VA, and on Saturday nite before we left we all gathered to have dinner in Richmond. There are two empty spots at the table now...but we all hold Kathy and Ed close in our hearts.

An interesting side note...it's not often that I'm one of the shortest in a large group!

THE PERFECT DAY FOR A TRIP TO GOOSE COVE

All weekend long the weather was perfect. On the Today Show this morning Matt called it "Chamber of Commerce weather"...all over the Mid-Atlantic! We were up early and had a great frittata breakfast at The Willow Rest (my new favorite go-to for everthing to do with food...and it's so close to us!). On the way home we headed to Goose Cove to pick up a few things for our windowboxes. A full-Subaru and empty bank account-later we left with more dahlias than we needed, gorgeous white geraniums, a single foxglove, peach-tinted verbena, vinca, 2 pineapple sage plants, coneflowers and more... and a great antique toolbox planted with all sorts of edibles. Needless to say, the rest of the morning was spent planting and watering. Pix taken with iphone so they don't do justice to the floral wonderland that is Goose Cove!

THE HOUSEGUESTS FROM NEW YORK CITY

It's hard to believe that LDE is looking at colleges. Eek. How time flies. Another good thing about living on Cape Ann is that we're on the college search route for friends and family! We had a very nice visit from the group from 29th Street as they went on the Boston circuit. We celebrated TFD's new hairdo and good health. We celebrated ME's birthday. We celebrated cousins! We had a nice dinner out at the new and improved Cala's with PGA and LDA. And most important...we laughed and smiled alot.

MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS, BUNNIES, CHICKS, AND A BABY...AND BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS

After a late afternoon visit to the knee doc at Mass General for my post-surgery check-up we took a lovely Good Friday stroll thru Beacon Hill and the Boston Public Gardens. On the way home we stopped in to say hi to Baby A and the rest of the family! I picked up several of these itty bitty boxes of truffles at the glorious Beacon Hill Chocolates. One for Asa's mom, one for us, one for my mom and one for my Auntie. What a spectacular Spring day.