While everyone else is still shopping....

We have our decorated our tree, strung lights outdoors, and have finished our shopping, so our days before Christmas will be putting together the pieces of the upstairs bathroom renovation puzzle. The walls turn blue and green tonight, stay tuned for updates, provided we survive the impending storm (we haven't bought eggs, milk or bread!).

Texas Turkey

In between work trips to LA, Puerto Rico, and back Puerto Rico again Sheri spent a week in Texas celebrating Thanksgiving her extended family. She stayed with Mimi in her brand new apartment in Kruse Village in Brenham, and also spent time in Industry where Aunt Cindy and Uncle John live. Others traveled to the Texas country-side including Kerry (Sheri's sister) and Brandon (Fort Collins, CO) Michael (Sheri's brother) and Janel (Bozeman, MT), DiAnn and Mike (Pittsburgh, via their new home Raleigh, NC), cousins Sara and Chris came from Houston along with their families. It was crazy, and SOO much fun all at the same time. The festivities included plenty of food, a few long walks with Dixie and Iggy, the traditional white elephant gift exchange and of course a grand Thanksgiving buffet .

To see more photos of the visit in Texas click here.

First Snowfall

After an all day rain on Saturday, the temperatures dropped and we received our first snowfall! It was not enough for us to snap on skis, but it was a beautiful sunny morning. We are well on the road to catching up to Texas for snowfall for the year!

Happy Hangman Hill Thanksgiving

Its a perfect autumn day in Connecticut, and we'll be heading out to the garden to do some end-of-year harvesting after our breakfast of tea and oatmeal. Wherever you are on this Thanksgiving holiday, have a fantastic day and dont forget to eat some turkey!

Bathroom rennovations

After just a few weeks of being without a major rennovation project 'in-process' we have embarked upon a major rennovation of our upstairs bathroom. Last weekend, between back-to-back work trips to Los Angeles and Puerto Rico, we disassembled the vanity, sink, toilet, and ripped up the existing vinyl floor. This week the re-building process started with the installation of a new marble tile floor. So far so good, despite the help of several cranky cats. The next step is to re-wire the lights and start to make a new vanity.....wish us luck!

Sacred Shakers and Eilen Jewell

On Friday night we headed west to Middleton, CT for dinner at ION (It's Only Natural) and then on to Weslyan University to see the Sacred Shakers and Eilen Jewell. We got hooked on the Sacred Shakers last year when their CD arrived in our Christmas stockings. According to the bio on their website "For The Sacred Shakers, there's nothing finer than old-time, country and blues-influenced gospel music. Think Hank Williams, The Carter Family, The Stanley Brothers, Son House, and Mississippi Fred McDowell. Beginning in 2005, that music drew a small but ever-widening circle of some of Boston's finest musicians and vocalists together at the Country Gospel Brunch concert series. In short order, The Boston Globe described the group as "a local Who's Who of all-star roots musicians." "

We couldn't miss the chance to see them live, and we were NOT disappointed! Seeing them live was a real treat. Listen to them perform "I'm Gonna Do My Best".

Eilen Jewell who sings with the Shakers played the second set with the Eilen Jewell Band. The contrast of the American roots music (Eilen Jewell) to the Gospel music (Sacred Shakers) was interesting. Also, it was fun to recognize Jerry Miller (guitar) and Johnny Sciascia (bass) who we have seen play music with Mark Erelli. The roots music scene in New England these days draws a lot of local talent and we are pleased to be able to see such great music so close to home. We couldn't leave without buying the Eilen Jewell CD "Sea of Tears", check out a live performance of the title track "Sea of Tears"

Surf Dog Rip Curl Ricki

I read about Patrick Ivison and Surf Dog Ricki this weekend and was intrigued. The photos were amazing, but I suspected the video would be better. I was right!

Surf dog Rip Curl Ricki (Ricochet) and Patrick Ivison, a quadraplegic adaptive surfer got together to tandem surf on August 20 at Del Mar beach. Surf Dog Ricochet & Quadriplegic surfer Patrick do tandems & Party waves