Saturday, April 19th, 2008
I think it’s actually after shave. I don’t shave with a blade, so it doesn’t go on my face. I think cologne and after shave are the same thing anyway. They smell the same.
Well, it’s official. I finished my first bottle of cologne…in my life. I think Laura got this for me a few years ago. I have been working on it every day. Am I the first male on the globe to actually finish a bottle of cologne? I think the tradition is to just keep getting them for birthdays and holidays, but I’m not sure what happens after that.
I fell in love with Aspen a long time ago while in my teenage years. It’s one of those colognes that you can pick up in Rite Aid for a few bucks. It has a nice smell. Now, onto my bottle of Cool Water. Oh, how cool it will be.
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Friday, December 28th, 2007
I took some videos with my digital camera of the Red Lion Inn, in Stockbridge, MA while we were up there over Christmas. The camera did a pretty good job, but ran out of room for any real video.
For what I got, I think it did a nice job. If you will notice, I am not the best narrator or video taker. Oh well.
This was just a little bit of the Inn. The place is huge, but people would probably think I was a nut, walking around taking video. I tried to get it while no one was around.
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Wednesday, December 26th, 2007
Well, we got back from the Red Lion Inn just a few hours ago. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas night there. It was a pretty nice little getaway. What was especially nice was actually staying at the inn, at last.
We have been there so many times before for dinner or just stopping by, but never for an actual stay, so that was exciting. After we checked in, we went up to our room on the third floor. There are 101 rooms at the inn, so finding it needed some direction. What caught me immediately after entering the room was the fact that the old inn was showing its age. Let’s just say that things have “settled” over the years. It gives the place its character. I think people like that because the place is always very busy.
Back when I called to make the reservations just a few weeks ago, I asked if the dining room and tavern had dress codes for the nights we would be eating there. The front desk informed me that men didn’t have to wear jackets in the dining room on Christmas Eve, because dinner was for guests only, no outsiders. Also, on Christmas night, I didn’t have to wear a jacket because we were eating in the Tavern and there was no dress code in there. As it turns out, I was supposed to wear a jacket for Christmas dinner, no matter where we were eating. This took me by surprise, because I didn’t bring a jacket.
We got in the car and shot up to “Prime Outlets” in Lee, MA. We went in a few store looking for a sport coat. No one had any…until we saw Brooks Brothers. We went in there to find a bunch of sport coats. I picked one out and bought it on the fly. By the way, I had other (nicer) clothes for dinner, not the ones I was wearing. Whoa, that was close.
So, one of the main reasons we went up to the Red Lion Inn for Christmas was to visit Williamstown, MA. We wanted to check out the town as a potential place to live. We are always doing that. It’s part of me being annoying.
We decided to drive North on Rt.7, through Pittsfield, MA to Rt.9 West and onto Rt.8 North. We drove through Adams, MA and into North Adams, MA. This was a good thing, because I always wanted to visit these towns too. I hear a lot about them while listening to NPR. One big famous thing we saw was Mass MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) (Blog) up in North Adams. We didn’t go in, but we did pass by to grab a few good shots of the place. This one was the best one.
It was a good thing we visited these areas, because we were able to cross them off our list of places to live. I am sure there are a bunch of nice people and some good culture, but it wasn’t for us.
We took Rt.2 West into Williamstown, MA. I have to say, this is a very nice town. Everything was really clean and neat. We drove down Spring Street and around a few roads. I did notice that the whole town was empty. It was Christmas, but we only saw one other person in the whole entire town. This creeped us out a little bit. As we were driving down Rt.7 back into Pittsfield, Laura turned to me and said, “We would really have to like one another to live in that town.” Not that it wasn’t very nice, it just seemed lonely when college wasn’t in session. Take a look at the photos of Spring Street.
There was one last thing I wanted to see on the way back to the inn. It was Pontoosuc Lake. On Google Earth, someone posted a really cool photo of the lake through some pine trees on the south side. There is a little park off Hancock Rd. This is a really pretty lake, so I got a nice shot too.
The Berkshires are a nice backdrop.
We made it back to the inn for another dinner. As usual, it was delicious. I did manage to grab a few nice photos throughout the time we were there. Some of them came out blurry, but others didn’t. Here they are.
At the inn, there is a store called, “Country Curtains.” They have a very nice display in one of the hallways.
This is me sitting in a nice chair near the rear entrance. I thought I looked hot, so I made Laura take a picture.
And that’s it. Overall, it was a very nice vacation.
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Posted in Food & Drink, Travels, Winter | 3 Comments »
Saturday, November 10th, 2007
This is getting pretty bad. I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I noticed there was snow on the ground and immediately thought about writing a blog post about it. Yes, I probably should pursue therapy.
In any event, yes, it did snow last night. It was the first snow of the season for us in this part of New York. It actually hasn’t been cold really and there are still leaves on the trees…green ones on some. That strikes me as weird. Laura keeps telling me they are on the trees until after Thanksgiving. It’s nice to have a little brain so closeby.
When I woke up in the middle of the night, there was more snow on the ground. I guess some of it melted. I have to say, the sight of snow does give you a nice feeling. With all the Christmas commercials on TV these days, it is starting to feel like the season. Also, just a word of warning, these are the days that I start dreaming. These are the days of reflection on what I want to do with the rest of my life. I probably think this way because snow calms me down and gives me some breathing room.
We have had the pellet stove burning for most of the month of November and some of October. I am so happy we got this stove. It’s clean and very easy to operate. Gone are the days of splitting wood, dust and a mess in the house. I don’t think I will ever forget all the bark in the living room when I was a kid. I did like burning it though.
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Tuesday, October 16th, 2007
Well, what do you think? Laura did this over the weekend. I like to see her all motivated like that.
I was busy installing her new car stereo for her and she was setting up the Halloween lights. It really can’t get any better than that. Like I have said, it’s the little things in life.
I took Monday off and hung around the house with her. I told her that I had a great weekend and meant it. I really can do that every day, especially if it’s sunny and about 62 degrees.
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Saturday, April 21st, 2007
I almost totally forgot about this picture. I was so busy the other day posting about our Easter hike at Bull’s Bridge in Kent, I completely overlooked the most important part of the morning - coloring Easter Eggs!
I was informed that this is “Laura’s” gig, so I wasn’t invited to participate. Can you believe it? Well, me keeping my mouth shut is how I maintain a smooth running relationship, so I just continued to go about my business. Laura made some fabulous looking eggs, but I want you to pay particular attention to her hands…yes, hmmm, her hands. Those weird little gloves come out every so often and they kind of freak me out. Just seeing her little fingers wiggle around in them give me the creeps. You be the judge.
By the way, for those of you who are still waiting for the 3rd funniest thing that ever happened in my life, I am still putting it together in my head. Thank you for your patience.
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Sunday, December 17th, 2006
Believe it or not, this is the first year Laura and I actually went out with the intention of bringing back a Christmas tree. I am not sure why we never had one before…probably because we just never got around to it. Well, that all changed today.
I spoke to Paul yesterday and happened to mention today’s agenda (Christmas tree). I said we would probably go to Home Depot or something and just grab one. He said, “No, you less than intelligent, but well intentioned friend. Go to Bell’s Christmas Trees and cut down your own.” Well, I hadn’t thought of actually cutting down our own tree. Somehow, and I do mean somehow, the thought of driving my “kill” home on the roof of my car was a little weird, but I got over it as soon as I pictured myself walking around thousands of pine trees with a saw in my hand.
We woke up nice and early this morning with the goal of beating the crowd up there in Accord. We made it out of the house by 9:30AM and were at the farm a little after 10AM. Like Paul said, there was hot chocolate, a saw and a little sled to drag the tree back to the car with.
The tree farm was better than I expected. You kind of never know what you are going to get up in these parts, but the trees were in great shape and there were plenty of them. The acreage was very clean and the employees very helpful. It was so nice to take our time and stroll around in the great weather (50s) for a while before stumbling across “the one.”
She was a Blue Spruce. She towered over me. She was a beauty and stood about ten feet tall. We thought for a few minutes about how we would fit a ten foot tall tree in the house. I kind of wasn’t listening because my mouth was already watering at the prospect of me putting a picture of me standing next to a ten foot tall tree on my blog. We agreed that a taller tree is better than a shorter one because we could always cut it if we needed to. But, my friends, don’t forget that we have thirteen foot vaulted ceiling in our living room. I cut her down and fastened it to our sled.
Let me give you a small peek into my mind right as soon as I tied it to the sled. “Man, I have about ten puncture wounds on my left hand from these needles.” That’s right, the needles were like little razors on a mission.
Now, let me give you another little peek into my mind as soon as I started dragging the tree back to the car. “Man, this is a very heavy ten foot tree.” Yes, again, that’s right, the weight of the tree created a magnified friction effect between the sled and the ground which, in turn, created a slower and more painful half-mile walk back to the car than if we had no tree at all. Laura helped pull during this agonizing trip and mentioned something about how mules felt. I told her this was no time for jokes and silence would be appreciated. Just kidding, I would never, ever talk to someone like that, especially Laura, my queen.
During our trip back, we paused for a moment to snap a photo of one of the hillsides. This was taken for the blog too. Ok, you know my secret. I take pictures for blogs, now forget about it. When we made it back to the home base, we paid the extra dollar for the nice men to tighten up the tree for us through their machine. Then, some generous guy in the parking lot helped me load the tree on top of my car.
I have no pictures of me dragging the tree up out front porch steps and into the house because I was too busy being maimed by the pine needles, but Laura took a few nice ones after we stood the tree up in the stand.
Not bad huh? She’s giant. We already put some lights up on it but need some more. I am going to grab them tomorrow and then I will post a picture of the final product. All I need now is some Egg Nog.
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Posted in Trees & Shrubs, Winter | No Comments »
