Traveling Mums

Most of what happened this week happened in the immediate neighborhood. Two pots of yellow mums, which Marina displayed on her steps for the month of October, until she returned to Switzerland, and which then moved to Daryn & John's house for the month of November, have, now that D&J are back in Tennessee, moved to Karen & Phil's, next door. We've not seen the flik about the traveling pants, so luckily we have this.

Finally. FINALLY our new door was delivered. Naturally, because measurements were only taken 37 times, it was too small by several inches. Nothing that Ronald & Leidy couldn't handle, but worthy of a half-hour of crepe-hanging on their part nonetheless. E very much hopes that this is the END of remodeling for a while, and S agrees that it's great to have it done for the holiday guests. This door is swanky, closes with authority, is designed to survive the battering it will inevitably take from the extreme conditions on the third floor. And best of all, there's absolutely NO WAY anybody can lock themselves out. In fact, figuring out how to lock it from the inside proved quite a challenge for S. For the first time, Squeaky got to see what was on the other side, and shouldered her way through the pickets in the railing to take a good look.

Because we were invited to Billye's for dinner (we thought) Thursday evening, and charged with bringing rolls, S spent a couple of days practicing to make some from scratch. E was a valiant crash-test dummy, for S is way out of practice in the dough department, and her good luck with pizza dough of late hasn't transferred to the more delicate sorts. The remains ultimately became a very tasty banana-rum-raisin bread pudding. S is at a crossroads, wondering if she's got the heart to teach herself how to make bread once again: the aroma is so amazing, it might just be worth it. Stay tuned.

Billye's dinner party turned out to be a mob scene, not the intimate little affair we thought we were in for. We met her three cats: Josh, Jake and Toby, whose Christmas stockings were already hung, in anticipation of KittySanta. The house is themed Sailboat. Turns out it's not Billye's taste at all, but a gesture toward the summer rental biz, and was all designed and executed by B's sister-in-law. Holiday decorations were abundant and lovely--and belonged to Susan (excluding the cats' stockings), who set them all up and planned to come back the next day and take them home again. B's actual personal taste is allegedly Asian/Modern/Minimalist. Twelve or so couples each brought a dish to accompany Billye's brisket and salad: the food put us in mind of our bunco party days. E was in a conversation about botox and we might be one step closer to getting together a local poker game--so a good night when all's said and done.

We spent part of a very blustery (and cold!) afternoon on the beach and our faithful Squeaky now ventures even further out onto the sand. Brave brave girl. S slayed the second of the giant squash and made a curry that received mixed reviews. We reorganized a closet and a set of dressers while watching the SEC championship game. Alas, our Tide was defeated, despite how loudly we yelled Stop Him, Stop Him, STOP HIM! One evening, while listening to TV in the office, waiting for Letterman to start, we caught the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, and heard music that we loved, by The Ting Tings. Alas, the group's own vivid video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UX0p7uAW2s) can't be embedded, but you can look at the cute PINK short shorts on the runway and hear the song below:

Out in the larger world, we tested another quick lunch option, at PJ's Coffee, where we got most unremarkable muffaletta/panini sandwiches. If you ask S, there ought to be a ban on the use of ciabatta anywhere but Italy for at least a year. On the tasty dough front, we made an excursion to Panama City on a day when the Bagel Maker was open, and voila! yes! they DO make good bagels, including salt bagels (S's fave), one of which E & S ate sitting on tall stools in the store before they went off to play romp'em-stomp'em bingo at Bingo Paradise.

Two things about which we marvel: 1) there seems to be a rupture in the time/space continuum here at B-A-R. When E comes to bed upstairs and turns on the TV, programming runs a half hour behind the TV in the office she's just left downstairs. So she hears Dave interview the same guests, crack the same jokes, etc. 2) when we wake up every morning, we're happy.