Remembering Grandma

Before I get into talking about grandma, I'd like to welcome back everyone.
Welcome back Mark, michelle, Bob, Peter (Holtsie), Karen, and Simon just to mention a few.

Well, this post has to be about my mother's mother, because my father's mother passed away just weeks before I was born, so I never knew her.

My Grandmother had some very unique things about her, but one is.. her maiden name was Fortier, and she married a man named Fortier! (of course no relation)

We lived in a two family house, with our family on the second and third floor and grandma and grandpa on the first floor. She was an AMAZING cook, and the matriarch of the family. What she said, WENT!

She came from a big family in Vermont (and before that Montreal, Canada), and at least once a year, most of the family came down to her house during the summer to visit.

When family came to visit, she pulled the padded cover off of her mahogany dining room table that would seat about 12 people (but of course, the kids were relegated to the smaller kitchen table).

She's the inspiration for the meat stuffing (not dressing) I made for this past Thanksgiving.

She also made the absolute best coffee cake I'd ever had. When my friends and I used to play in our basement, I used to sneak up and cut off a piece to share with my friends. Even they knew the sweetness of her coffee cake.

But I digress. When her family used to come down from Vermont, they always brought down cases of maple syrup as some of them owned sugar farms. She had a full size upright freezer, that at times, was almost full with just maple syrup! I never knew there was such thing as artificial syrup until after I was much older.

In the winter, she used to open a dozen or so cans, and boil it down slowly to make... well, I can't spell it, but phonetically it would sound like "tsear" (and roll the r). You could pour a spoonful of it over snow, and it would harden into almost a taffy. Best of all, you put it in a small bowl in the fridge, then when the urge hit, take a spoon and very slowly, wrap it around and around, then take the spoon with you and kinda suck on it. It was highly sugary, but hey, I was a kid!

More on her another time.

We have 2 parties to go to this weekend (one for our wine tasting club, another for a college graduation party for very close friends of ours.

That's it for now...(and I know not to make posts too long)... on to the news:

Female burglar discovers hidden office key, spends hours burglarizing office and putting items in her car, then accidentally locks herself out of the building...with her purse left in the office she just burglarized

What do you call a moose stumbling drunk on fermented crabapples in front of a dive bar with christmas lights tangled in its antlers? Buzzwinkle, of course (with pic goodness)

Scotland spends six months and $250,000 before unveiling their brilliant new slogan: "Welcome to Scotland"

Chilean prostitute pledges 27 hours of sex to charity, telethon ratings skyrocket

Here's a math problem that'll drive you nuts! (but it's SO fun!)

That's it for today... have a wonderful weekend!

Pre-Christmas Concerns....

Well, now we all have to wonder what to get all of our loved ones for Christmas. Personally, I have no idea what to get my wife this year. Normally, I know exactly what to get.

My daughter, she'll be easy because of the condo.. my son, almost as easy (he needs clothes badly).

Me.... hmm, I'm going to pick stuff out of catalogs this year, and make it easy on everyone so they can order by phone or Internet.  (why does the word internet show up as a spelling error because it wants a cap???)

Does anyone want anything special for Christmas? G-Whiz Karen... I wonder what you want! *LOL*

Hey Mark, one other cool thing about this Windows Live Writer. You can tell it you're posting it for Wednesday, and ACTUALLY post it on Tuesday night and it shows up like it's posted on Wednesday! I'm starting to like this software more and more!

Well, not too much to say today/tonight.. so I'll move on to the news:

 

Actual headline: "Flaming lingerie prompts K-Mart evacuation." This could only happen in one state

Armor-plated ticket camera is no match for a Southerner with a .30-06

I love this one.. the top things that Ron Popeil Sells!  But Wait, there's more!

1. While teaching yourself HTML, put up a fake Web site that sells tumbleweeds for $25 each.
2. When idiots start submitting orders on your fake site, shrug and fulfill them.
3. Profit: $40,000 a year and counting

 

That's it for today... enjoy your Hump-Day!

It's Sunday Night, and I'm STILL full!

Yeah, Thursday's turkey was so good, and there was so much food, (of course I ate too much), that I'm still full today. Ok Ok, sure I've eaten since then, but I've not really been too hungry.

The 21 pound turkey came out fantastic.. juicy and tender, all the sides were great including my home-made meat stuffing (trying to make something my grandmother used to make when I was younger).

The whole family came to our house, and everyone had a great time. We ate, drank and gave thanks. I hope your day went as well.

(Black) Friday, my daughter was up and out by 3am to go shopping with her friend. By 11am, they were at my house trying to catch their second wind. They had to go to another mall's JC Penny for something that wasn't at the first one they went to, and I (stupidly) offered to go (not thinking of what day it was).

Ok, it wasn't as bad as I thought.. I was kind of surprised that there weren't nearly as many people at the mall as I thought there'd be, but there sure were a l0t of cars. After picking up what she needed, we headed home.

Later in the afternoon, I made a trip to Home Depot to pick up some stuff she needed, and made a trip to drop some stuff off at her condo.

Saturday was spent relaxing. We were all pooped (probably from eating too much 2 days before), so nothing special went on.

Today (Sunday), we visited mom, went to Wal-Mart to get some pictures made for my wife's family (old family pictures), and daughter and I went to look for a flat screen TV for her. After one more trip to Home Depot to order an area rug (looks like an oriental rug but not oriental pattern), and get a few other odds and ends including a new kitchen faucet.

Tonight.. I'm pooped. We're going to relax for a bit, and hopefully get to bed early.

On to the news:

Cop who told the media that there was "really, really strong physical evidence" in Duke lacrosse case just got promoted.

Time Magazine poses a "Morality Quiz" for you with several "Kobayashi Maru Test" type questions

Prince Charles and his royal handlers attempt to exorcise the ugly out of Camilla by "rebranding" her

That's it for tonight/today all.. have a great week..!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year, I have (as I have had for a long time) plenty to be thankful for.

My wonderful family, my friends, and all aspects of my life that seem to be going quite well lately.

We're having 8 people here for Thanksgiving, my family (wife, son and daughter), brother and sister in law, and mom and mother in law. We have a 21 pound turkey to make sure everyone has leftovers!

This year, I'm making my best approximation of my grandmother's meat stuffing (not in the bird, made separately). I made it a few years ago and it went over real well, but for some reason didn't make it the last 2 or so. (I'll let you know how it came out!)

I'm not sure I mentioned it before, but I'm using a new tool, called Microsoft Live Writer to write this blog. It's a free tool from Microsoft and it's very powerful.

I'm going to try something I haven't done yet, and that's embed a YouTube video. Lets see if it works.

The video is of Metallica singing "Nothing Else Matters" (one of my favorite songs) unplugged. I hope you like it as much as I do!

Either way, have a Wonderful Holiday, and there will be no blog again until next Monday.

Dave

Forecast: COLD!

I apologize if this post is a duplicate....

Wow, it was about 30 degrees this morning when I came in, and I hear parts of Pennsylvania are buried already under 5-10 inches of snow!! *groan*
Now, I do remember some "white Thanksgivings" as a kid... but I thought that was very rare.

This past weekend was busy.. Saturday morning, my son and I went out for breakfast then to get some wood for my wood stove. The place we went, originally the guy said he had nothing to sell me as all he had was sold, but then must have felt bad as he pointed us to a pile off to the side and said to fill up with that and he'd charge me when he saw what we took. Well, I took about the same amount I took the year before (where I was charged $60) and this year, he came and looked at the wood in my SUV and said "Just give me twenty bucks". I wished him a Happy Thanksgiving and was on my way with a smile (then had to stack it at home).

In the afternoon we went to a wine tasting at a wine store and I bought 6 bottles of a 2000 Bordeaux that I had tried from the week before called Chateau De La Vergnee. Excellent wine, and an outstanding price, and Bordeaux only gets better with age (not to mention the fact that 2000 was the best year for Bordeaux since 1969).
Sunday, my daughter and I went to see my mom as we always do, then to mom-in-law's house to put the cover on the Vette, then went to a store to get me some new sneakers, and she got a few things for herself, then to Linnen's N Things for her to get a few things for her new Condo.

After unloading at home and a quick lunch, we went to Home Depot to get more paint, some mini-blinds, insulation for her wall A/C, and other odds and ends. Seems I was on the go all weekend!

What'd everyone else do?

On to the news:

Boston University professor allows students to drink beer in class. What could possibly go wrong?

Man in car accident attempts self-defense with pocketknife, loses pinkie, gets rushed to hospital but emergency room loses his pinkie. Still gets hospital bill for $3000

Ok, coolness scale of 1-10, this is a 1000! Someone thought it would be a good idea to model their home theatre after the Enterprise NCC-1701D. Still can't bring a woman over to see it

And my headline of the day:
Dairy gets busted by food inspectors for not saying there is egg in their egg nog despite the label reading "egg nog"

Have a great day!

Friday Night Update

Well, I just got back from helping my daughter out at her condo.. there's a lot of cleaning to do, and there were a few of us there working. Two painting, my daughter and wife cleaning, and me doing odd jobs (including taking out the trash of course).

Last week, there was an article in our local newspaper about a fruit, found in the Amazon area of South America, named "Acai". It looks like a cross between a blueberry and a grape, and is what doctors are now calling the next "Miracle Food".

Here's some great information about the Acai fruit.

Here's another good link with information.

It has the highest antioxidant value of any food, and LOTS of other good things for people. People can't quite put their finger on the flavor of it but everyone seems to love it.
It also said (the newspaper) that it was available in our local stores, so I had my wife pick up a bottle.
I was amazed... it was DELICIOUS! (when was the last time you had something REALLY GOOD for you, and it tasted good???)
Decide for yourself... I loved it. Taste like a cross between blueberry juice and grape juice. I really do like it! If you get a chance, try it.

Other than that, lets give you some news:

"Government inspectors come down hard on penis pasta"

Worst car dealership name.. EVER!

And my MUST read of the day:
Proof that 1977 was the WORST. CLOTHING. YEAR. EVER!

Have a great weekend!

More on Satan's Kingdom, New Hartford, CT

If you missed Part 1 about Satan's Kingdom with pictures, click here to read it first.

I had a few great comments on Satan's Kingdom, and here's some more information about it:

According to legend, Satan once used the rocky gorge of the Farmington River bearing his name as his exclusive playground. Here, he and his band of lesser demons gamboled away their days and nights, until the day finally came when the Angel Gabriel blew them all away with one blast from his golden trumpet. Gabriel and the good angels had decided that the rugged area was just too lovely to be cluttered up with demonic denizens.
Whether the tale of Gabriel's environmental beautification program is true or not is hard to say, but according to the historical record, the Satan's Kingdom district did, in fact, once serve as a refuge for a scattering of human beings who might easily have been mistaken for devils. Either attracted by the place's name, or -- more likely -- its isolated and inaccessible location, a notorious group of "Indians, Negroes and renegade whites" settled in the Kingdom, in the last years of the eighteenth century.
Using their settlement as both home and hideout, the inhabitants ranged the region far and wide, begging, robbing, vandalizing and stealing anything that wasn't nailed down. Before the nest of thieves was finally cleared by law enforcement officers -- Gabriel was not available -- they say that Satan's Kingdom had grown so evil that it was even giving the Devil a bad name. Anyway, the raid may have marked the beginning of the end for the Devil in Connecticut. This excerpt is from this website.

Ok, that's one interpretation of how Satan's Kingdom got it's name, here's another:

In the eastern part of this town there is a rough and mountainous district, formerly designated Satan's Kingdom, and the few inhabitants who lived here were in a measure shut out from the rest of mankind. An inhabitant of the town invited one of his neighbors, who lived within the limits of this district, to go and hear Mr. Marsh, the first minister who was settled in the town. He was prevailed upon to go to church in the forenoon. In the course of his prayer, Mr. Marsh, among other things, prayed that Satan's kingdom might be destroyed. It appears that the inhabitant of this district, took the expression in a literal and tangible sense, having probably never heard the expression used but in reference to the district wherin he resided. Being asked to go to meeting in the afternoon, he refused, stating that Mr. Marsh had insulted him; "for blast him," said he, "when he prayed for the destruction of Satan's kingdom, he very well knew all my interests lay there."  This excerpt was taken from this website.

Check out this post card of Satan's Kingdom.

 

Well, hope you enjoyed this bit about a place not too far from me!

Visit to Satan's Kingdom, New Hartford, CT

Last Saturday, when going to breakfast with my friends from my former employer (The Torrington Company), I was early and driving by Satan's Kingdom, so I decided to stop and take a few pictures.

Click on any picture to 'embiggen'.

Satan's Kingdom is a State Recreation Area (as the sign says) that sits on the Farmington River, which is a very hot place for tubing in the summer.

Here's a picture of the river as it approaches the park. The leaves, as you can see, are mostly off the trees. Fall, is truly here in Connecticut.

 

The next picture (above) is looking down-river. It's a beautiful place in the spring and summer, but in the fall, it's so desolate and quiet. The Farmington river winds it's way down through central Connecticut from Massachusetts for 81 miles.

This next picture is a bit more of a close up. The river is just perfect for tubing as it's no wider than a hundred feet or so, and for a few miles in this area, no more than 4-5 feet deep.

This picture, shows the picnic tables that, during the earlier parts of the season, are always full of people enjoying snacks before, and after tubing. There's also great fishing in the river.

Lastly, looking even more down-river, I passed over this bridge getting here. 

 

I hope you enjoyed this small journey into Satan's Kingdom!