The Girls Visit St. Pete

Christmas Part Dos:  my three daughters (could be a TV sitcom) came to visit.  The time always goes too quickly, but we pack in a lot of stuff!  We started off with our "Christmas" gift exchange.  Always a fun time!  For dinner, we headed over to the Queenshead for fish and chips.  Voted the best in St. Pete!

The next day we took a walk along the Bay to downtown.  We stopped in the Vinoy for our annual Christmas Tree photo shoot.  Then we headed over to Meze for some shawarma after a couple appetizers.  About halfway on our walk home, it started raining.  We walked fast, then ran to make it before getting too soaked.  We had a few (?) moments of drama, but all ended well.  Hot cocoa with peppermint marshmallows and corn flake wreath for night time snacks.

We took a walk to the Saturday Morning Market.  It seemed like half the vendors were missing.  Was definitely a scaled back version between the holidays.  We then walked over to Three Birds Tavern on 4th Street North for mid afternoon lunch and ate out on the porch.

It was a warm day and no rain!  Seems like all we do is eat, doesn't it?  I enjoy when the girls come to visit and we get to stretch Christmas out a bit more!

I had to include a picture of my niece's twins.  We refer to them as the "Twinkies"!  Gabriella and Lucas.  Gabby looks just like her mom, and Lucas looks like his dad!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Orlando 2012

This Christmas marks the first Christmas in a long while, that I spent the actual Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family.  Joe and Joy and Ruby were originally going to come down, but were unable to make it as the day drew near.  I was excited to be invited to spend the holiday with my family.  Lucretia was kind to include me in their holiday plans.  I picked up some pastries at Mazzaro's and brought them by when I first arrived in Orlando in the early afternoon on Christmas Eve.  Lu and the girls had made pasta dough and were rolling it out on metal skewers.  It was initially a slow process so we went off to the hardware store to get some more skewers to roll the pasta around.  We ended up with wooden ones, so soaked them in olive oil so that once the pasta was rolled, we could slide it off!  Five of us sat around the table and had a pasta rolling party!  On Christmas Eve we went over to my cousin Robert's inlaws for a family and friends get together.  I enjoyed seeing Robert and Tiffany and meeting Tiffany's parents!

Midmorning on Christmas Day I headed over to Lu's.  We had a nice spread of pre-dinner snacks!  The pasta was delicious!  And the meatballs and sausage and braciole were mouth watering!  The best!!!

Adele had to take off mid afternoon to head over to Disney.  She had a few shows to do!  We got to Skype with Ruby and Joe and Joy before we had to head out to position ourselves in front of the castle to catch the castle lighting show and the Celebrate the Season show.  It was fun watching Ruby open some gifts and play with her toys!  She is growing so fast!  

Donald was our favorite part of the show!  After the show, we got our own private meet and greet with Donald!  We were lead to the door of the castle where Donald came out to greet us!  It was the best!

What a fun Christmas it was!  The Magic Kingdom was packed.  After the show we walked around the new expanded areas of Fantasyland.

We stayed for the Celebrate the Magic show where lights were projected onto the castle set to music.  It was amazing and very festive!

And then  we decided to catch the 10:00 fireworks show before heading out.  We took our time heading down Main Street and stopped in The Confectioners to pick up a few treats and to let the park empty out some more.   There was such a long line to get on the monorail back to the Transportation Center that we decided to walk over to the Contemporary Resort to catch the monorail there.  There were so many people that when the trains did stop there, only a handful of people could get onto the packed cars.

I used to think, "who would go to Disney on Christmas?", but must admit I had a blast!  It was fun when during one of the shows how the announcer was saying there was no place like home for the holidays.  And the first thought was, why were we all here then?  Gotta love it!

I left to return to St. Pete this morning around 10:30 AM.  There was a lot of traffic but it flowed very well.  That is, until I hit Tampa.  Naturally, right where I-4 ends and I-275 begins, as congested as it is usually, it was even worse because the sky decided to open up with a heavy downpour.  And traffic came to a standstill.  As we moved further through the city, we passed a four or five car accident.  After I passed it, the driving picked up and I was sailing across Tampa Bay.  Now I'm awaiting the girls arrival on Thursday.  We will be spending several days here in St. Pete celebrating!

Merry Christmas 2012!

Merry Christmas Bedford Falls!

Merry Christmas Eve!

The last door on the advent calendar.   Door 24 . . . do not open . . .

Christmas and Netflix Streaming on My Apple TV

I have been getting so sick of the "Countdown to Christmas" movies on the Hallmark Channel.  Maybe cute, albeit in an absolutely nauseating (OK, so "take a purge") sort of way, they seem to follow certain patterns.  Someone thinks they are in love with one person (usually a nose to the grindstone - yuppie - suit - shallow) but discover they are actually in love, but didn't realize it, with this other person (warm - kind - loving - artistically talented - loves the Christmas spirit).  Or this person (Santa's daughter - Santa Jr. - Mrs. Claus - event planner back as an angel) has to save the spirit of Christmas or it will be gone forever.  And, I mean, c'mon!  Where do they hold school pageants, pinewood derbies, save-the-town Christmas shows all on Christmas Eve?  And cashing in your lottery ticket at the lottery office before 11:00 pm on Christmas eve?  And how often do you find four or five carolers decked out like Dickens characters singing on a lonely almost deserted street near midnight on Christmas Eve when they should be home with their family or friends?

So, I find myself searching the Netflix streaming library for more obscure or out of the formula holiday movies. I've found several that I've really enjoyed.  Maybe not all totally devoid of schmaltz, but enjoyable.

From Finland, released in 2010, Rare Exports is a dark tale with a different take on the 'real' Santa.  It has me on the edge of my seat through much of it.  I highly recommend this movie.  Warning:  it's a bit creepy at times!

Trailer:  http://youtu.be/T5woAOEvuNI

From 2004, Noel has a nice ensemble cast with some big names.

The storyline:
Christmas Eve in New York, and the lonely divorced publisher, Rose Collins, needs a miracle to improve the health of her mother, interned in a hospital with Alzheimers. She feels sorry for another patient and meets his visitor. Meanwhile, Nina Vasquez breaks her engagement with her beloved fiancé Mike due to his suffocating jealousy, but misses him. Mike is stalked by a stranger, bartender Artie Venzuela. The poor Jules arranges to spend Christmas Eve in the hospital, where he spent the best Christmas of his life when he was a teenager. The lives of some of these characters cross with others along the night.

Emotional, but well done.  And no one has to save Christmas.
Trailer:  http://youtu.be/XfwW3w-vsvM

From Ireland in 2007, How About You is a heartwarming, touching, funny, bittersweet, feel good movie.

Storyline:
HOW ABOUT YOU tells the story of Ellie, a young woman left in charge of the residential home run by her older sister, over the Christmas period. Whilst most of the residents have left to spend the festive period with their families, four residents, known as 'the hardcore' remain. Their behavior is so terrible that the home faces closure as potential new residents are put off by their appalling antics.

Trailer:  http://youtu.be/8Ld-D3HiUj4




Christmas Angel, a TV movie from 2012 tends towards the Hallmark genre, but it's got Della Reese in it . . .  !

Storyline:  While writing an assignment for school about Christmas wishes, Olivia Mead begins to notice strange things happening around her. As her wishes start to come true, she becomes convinced that they are miracles linked to a woman she thinks is an angel.

Trailer:  http://youtu.be/mZuhDjLhGGE

OK.  So this isn't a Christmas movie.  I was in Toys R Us a couple weeks ago and ran into Julie, who I used to work with at the credit union.  (Julie is one of the few, ok the only other person that I know, besides my family, who can quote lines from Big Business!)  She told me about Bernie.  When I got home I checked it out and found it on Netflix.  And in checking it out, I saw where Jack Black was nominated for a Golden Globe for his work in it.  It's a bizarre tale based on a true story.  Worth a watch just to see the expressions on Shirley MacLaine's face!

Storyline:  We meet Bernie Tiede (1958- ), a chubby undertaker, who takes pride in his work. He's a Gospel-singing tenor. In a series of interviews with townspeople, mixed with flashbacks, we follow Bernie: he arrives in Carthage, Texas (pop. 7,000), where old ladies adore him; he befriends a wealthy, mean-spirited widow named Marjorie Nugent; they become companions in both daily routines and expensive vacations. Among those interviewed, only her stockbroker and Danny Buck, the local district attorney, are unsympathetic toward the sunny, sometimes saccharine Bernie. Marjorie changes from sour and alone to happy with Bernie; then she gets possessive. What will sweet Bernie do?

And I'm not a fan of Matthew MacConaughey, but him being from Texas, he's perfect in his part.  And his mother plays one of the townspeople being interviewed.

Trailer:  http://youtu.be/LEs7l6JTAc4

OK.  Back to searching the Netflix streaming data base . . .

Why Do We Do It?

In light of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School where 20 young children and 6 adults were murdered execution style, I, along with millions of others are attempting to understand how something like this can happen.  There is no simple one step way to fix it.  And, there already are heated arguments about what to do or not do.

In this season of 'magic', amid all the colored lights and tinsel and trappings, I ask myself, why do we do this?  Why do we subject ourselves to the stress and nonsense?  Why do we let ourselves be sucked into 'celebrating', now starting somewhere around when we hand out the last piece of Halloween candy?  Why does the Hallmark Channel broadcast the same sappy movies over and over again ad nauseam?  And, at the same time, I find myself watching some of them and find my eyes tearing up.  But I find it difficult to be in a celebratory mood when I think of these young innocent victims.

Some people celebrate the winter solstice.  Some celebrate Christmas in a very religious way while others celebrate it in a very non-religious way.  Some celebrate Hanukkah.  Others celebrate Kwanzaa.   And Festivus provides an alternative,  as a way to rebel against the pressures and commercialism which runs rampant.

So why do we do it?  I look at the plastic Santa with the bubble light that my father bought years ago.  I bring it out every December.  I've found myself trying to visualize him in a Woolworth's or Grant's maybe, picking it up and looking at it.  Maybe wondering whether or not to buy it.  And seeing him smiling as he may be thinking about how magical it will look to his three young children back in their flat on Oak Street.  And it was magical to us.  And to our children.  And probably will be to our grandchildren.  It serves as a reminder to us.

I can remember some (maybe it was only one?) Christmas mornings in that flat.  I remember my sister Linda writing my letter to Santa because I couldn't make the squiggle loops look like real writing.  I remember three puppets lined up under the tree in the corner:  Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck.  I remember a brightly painted metal Ferris Wheel that I had wanted so badly.  I remember my brother Raymond, standing at the dining room table eating an orange.  We always got an orange in our stockings.  And I remember my father finding a lump of coal in his stocking.

It was an age of innocence and magic.  But it lasted way too short a time.  Before long we get swallowed up in the 'real world'.

The lyrics to The Illogical Song come to my mind:

When I was youngIt seemed that life was so wonderfulA miracle, oh it was beautiful, magicalAnd all the birds in the treesWell they'd be singing so happilyJoyfully, playfully watching me
But then they send me awayTo teach me how to be sensibleLogical, responsible, practicalAnd then they showed me a worldWhere I could be so dependableClinical, intellectual, cynical
There are times when all the world's asleepThe questions run too deep for such a simple manWon't you please, please tell me what we've learned?I know it sounds absurd but please tell me who I am
I say, "Now what would you say for they calling you a radicalLiberal, fanatical, criminal?"Won't you sign up your name? We'd like to feel you'reAcceptable, respectable, presentable, a vegetableOh, ch-ch-check it out yeah
At night when all the world's asleepThe questions run so deep for such a simple manWon't you please, please tell me what we've learned?I know it sounds absurd but please tell me who I amWho I am, who I am, who I am

But it does come back.  When we see it once again, in the eyes of our children.  And now the cycle continues with another generation of family.  To Ruby and Baby Dos.  To magic and wonder.

So I'm hoping this post is a reminder of why we do it.  And to remember the innocence that was cut short in such a tragic and horrible way.  To the parents and families and friends and children, my heart goes out.  I cannot fathom the depth of grief to a parent when they have to say goodbye to a child.  Maybe for me this post is a way to overcome the melancholy I feel.  A remembrance to the children and a reminder of what was lost.  And I will continue to do it year after year.  To remember.

First Gift of Christmas 2012

I received a package the other day.  My first thought was 'what was in here that I had ordered?'  To my delight, it was a Christmas gift from Ruby!  And, Joe and Joy too!

It's so cute.  Ruby is the bookworm.  She loves books.  And I can't help not thinking about Joe when he was Joey and was soooooo into Star Wars!


I have been enjoying my ushering gigs at both the Palladium and the Mahaffey for the past several months.  And now I'm enjoying the Christmas parties they throw for us volunteers.  Last Friday night the Mahaffey extended an invite to the ushers to join with the paid staff for a dinner at the Vinoy Golf Club ballroom on Snell Island.  A wonderful dinner, cocktails, entertainment and door prizes for everyone!  [The ballroom picture below was the only one I could find online]


Tonight The Palladium had our party in the Side Door Cafe venue on the first floor.  It was a catered affair with a turkey dinner buffet and a spiral cut ham (with that hard brown sugar glaze that I LOVE!), wine, beer, punch and soda and two tables of desserts.  I wanted to camp out at the dessert tables and make love to the pastry cart.  :-)

And next Wednesday night the Mahaffey will be having our ushers party at the theater atrium.  I'd better add another notch to my belt.  

Old Northeast Candlelight Tour 2012

The 15th Annual Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood Association's Candlelight Tour of Homes took place on Sunday afternoon and evening.  This year was my fifth year taking the tour.  The eight homes included are different from year to year.  My sister Linda came up from Bradenton with her friend Betty to experience another great reason to call the Old Northeast neighborhood home.  We were joined by Lonnie.  Lonnie and Evan bought a home a couple of blocks from me a year ago and moved in just a week ago.  Evan had to head out of town for business so Lonnie took the opportunity to check out the homes for potential ideas for their new home.

It was a beautiful sunny day, almost bordering on the 'too warm' side!  But we had fun, first stopping to pick up our maps.  The maps show us which homes are included in this year's tour as well as the hospitality spots!  The chandelier above has Morano glass fruits from Italy.  The bottom three pictures above were taken at The Dickens House B & B.  We had delicious mulled tea and several flavors of pizzelles as well as corn chips and dips.  We had a nice chat with the owner as we were enjoying our treats.

We were treated to several carols from bell ringers at one home.  I didn't take many pictures inside the homes, nor attempted to snap photos of all the homes.

We began our tour route with the homes clustered on the southern part of the neighborhood, then worked our way to the hospitality treats at the Dickens House.  Betty was a bit tired from the walking, so we attempted to take the free "trolley".  As the driver was zooming past our stop at the B & B, we were shouting to stop, but since we were towards the back, neither he nor his shotgun heard us.  When he finally did stop, we said that we had wanted to get off back there, so he said, he was sorry and drove off with everyone still onboard.  He drove thru the streets to bring us right to the door.  The last home we visited was probably our favorite.  My pictures didn't come out too sharp, but that tree above and the pool shot are both in the backyard.  A nice place to hang out!

We then walked the two blocks back to my place.  Linda and Betty caught up on the football scores and then we headed out to the Queens head for some fish and chips.    YUM!!!

Here is a link to a video about the annual Candlelight Tour.  Enjoy!

Season of Lights

There are so many activities going on this month that I am a bit forgetful at times!  I almost missed the lighted boat parade downtown last night.  But, I did remember in time to catch some of it.  I walked around downtown and in my neighborhood to snap some pics of the decorations and lights and activities.

These pictures are not part of my Saturday night walkabout, but thought I'd include them in this post.  The food shot is my dinner on Thursday night at Little Greek.  Otto and I went there for dinner before attending the TIGLFF showing of "Scrooge and Marley" at the Muvico theater downtown.  Yet another take on A Christmas Carol.  I found it a bit amateurish and some bad acting.  The Muppets Christmas Carol is still the best!  :-)

And that's a shot of the cast of the 'Celebrate the Season' show at the Magic Kingdom.  That's Adele in front of Donald.  They are good friends!

A quick arc view from Straub Park in downtown St. Pete.

Happy Birthday Dad!

You live on with all of us!  Miss you much!  Love you!    

A Walk in Early December

The weather has been absolutely beautiful!  Sunny, mid 70s during the day and mid 60s at night.  Between ordering stuff online and picking up packages at the door (OK, I tend to overdo it!), I have been trying to not neglect my walks.  Especially since I've been having a little feast each night, a dish of Publix' Santa's White Christmas ice cream (Barney's Santa's White Christmas coffee flavor mixed with choco-espresso chips).  Oink!  Oink!



I took a walk yesterday over to 4th Ave North to check out a few of the stores for gifts.  And today I walked up to the Northeast Plaza, about a mile and a half north of me, to pick up a few things there.  It's the plaza where I do my grocery shopping. I decided to stop into Menchie's to have some frozen yogurt.  I picked mostly holiday flavors:  peppermint on the bottom (to cleanse the pallet), eggnog, cinnamon bun, then topped with chocolate devil's food and some coconut and sprinkles.  And the waffle was free today!


I then walked down to 30th Ave N, over to Coffee Pot Bayou, down to Tampa Bay and down to the Gizella Kopsick Palm Arboetum, then back to my apartment.  5.67 miles.

I spotted this on my walk.  I think maybe Captain Francesco Shettino is vacationing in St. Pete.

Santa Parade - December Starts in St. Pete

This is my sixth Christmas season in Saint Petersburg.  I find it difficult to believe that I have been here that long.  On Saturday the 84th Santa's Parade was held in downtown.  Since I had to work on the Saturdays in previous years I was not able to attend.  So, this year was my first.

It was a beautiful sunny day in the low 70s.  I left my apartment around 9:30 AM and headed downtown with my camera.  There was a lot of activity going on.  The parade began at 10 AM and reached the point where I positioned myself around 20 minutes later.  It was a fun parade, very festive and the participants were having fun throwing beads and candy to the viewers.

There were a lot of schools, churches and various dog rescue places in the parade.  I was disappointed that there were no full marching bands.  What's up with that?  There was music and a couple smaller percussion groups but I would have enjoyed some marching bands.

After the parade ended around noon, I walked down to the Saturday Morning Market which was in full swing.  It was even more crowded in that part of downtown because there was also a boat show in progress a block away on the water.

I had coffee before I left my apartment and was ready for a snack.  I headed right over to the empanada stand, my favorite!  I always have a difficult time deciding which one to choose.  I was in the mood for sweets, so selected the espresso, hazelnut, chocolate ganauche one.  YUMMMMM!!!  I browsed the booths and did end up with one purchase for a Christmas gift.  Then I headed back up to Straub Park to check out the Snowfest activities.

It was fun watching the kids and adults too, get all excited about "snow" and "ice".  It looked like everyone was having fun and were in a festive mood.  There was a long line to see Santa too!  After walking around the park for a while, I next headed over to Vinoy Park where one of the local radio stations was having a concert.  A lot of people were heading into the gated grounds.  (For festival and events that require tickets, the city puts up temporary fencing around the whole park.)  I'm not sure who was playing, but as I passed the ticket booth, I saw that the tickets were $60.  I did hang out for a short while in a under a tree nearby where other non-ticket payers were enjoying the band playing from the huge stage not too far away (smaller picture just above the 'ice fishing' photo).  I actually enjoyed the few numbers I heard!

Get Me the Mopine - Channelling Aunt Mary

Aunt Mary had a method for eating ice cream.  I can just hear her now, explaining to Aunt Madeline, the proper way to eat a half gallon of ice cream.

First you place a mopine on your lap.  Then, you begin by scooping the ice cream from around the edges because it's softer there.  Doing it this way will prevent your lips from getting cold and numb and cause you to bite them.  Aunt Madeline complained that this always happened to her.

So, tonight, in homage to Aunt Mary, I got my mopine, my half gallon of Publix' Santa's White Christmas premium ice cream and began.  Think I need an intervention?

But, nota bene:  I have been eating small dishes each night this week, so I'm only finishing off the bottom.  So there!

Thanksgiving - The Day After - Chillaxin' Friday

It was a very relaxing Thanksgiving!  I Skyped with Ruby and Joe and Joy and Gina (visiting for school break) in the morning before heading down to Bradenton to spend the day with Linda and Louie and Sandy and Mike.  Ruby was ready for a nap, but she waved to me and pointed out various parts of her head as Daddy asked her.  She has grown so much since I visited in September.

Louie and Linda prepared a delicious Thanksgiving meal!  We had a fun time with the feast, went a little comatose afterwards, then revived enough to play 'Shut The Box'.  I was the big loser.  But it was lots of fun!  We got to Skype with Mia, with Ruby and family, and with Andrea, Iz and Ray and the Twinkies, Gabriella and Lucas.  I'm glad that technology provides the opportunity to be in the same room with loved ones who are far away!
Side note:  I didn't really watch too much of the Macy's parade, but of what I did see, my favorite moment was when Matt was introducing the number from 'Nice Work If You Can Get It', saying "S. Wonderful".  Dolt.
Now to clean my apartment to prepare the way for the Christmas decorations.

November Morphs - Fall Moves Closer to Winter

November is flying by.  It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is in 2 days.  As a wise sage once said, "Life is like a roll of toilet paper.  The closer you get to the end, the quicker it goes."  In addition to my ushering at The Palladium and The Mahaffey, friends and neighbors, John and Mark asked me if I'd like to volunteer at the annual Florida Craftsmens street craft fair.  I worked at the beer truck for three hours on Sunday.  We couldn't sell beer until 11:00 AM, but I was surprised that once we started selling, we seemed to be selling a lot more than the soda truck on the other side of the street!  We sold four types of craft beers from the Cigar City Brewing, in Ybor City in Tampa.

That "Joey Brooklyn's" window sells 'New York style' pizza, which came highly recommended.  So on Saturday, I decided to give it a try.  It was very good.  Two large slices (one with pepperoni and one with meatball) and soda, for just over $6, which included the tax.  Although the pizza was good, I was thinking back to the amazing pizza I had with Joe and Joy and Ruby at Grimaldi's in Brooklyn when I went up there in May.  

After I got off duty, I walked towards the Bay.  I liked the angles as I was passing the Signature condominiums, so I snapped a few pictures.  Although the architecture is interesting, it's not a building I would like to live in.  Floor to ceiling windows is far too open for me, although I imagine the view is spectacular.

On Monday morning I met up with Otto and we went to see the Titanic Artifacts Exhibition at the Mahaffey.  It is such an amazing and tragic story and to view the items salvaged from the bottom of the ocean is tremendously moving.  On entering the exhibit, we were issued boarding passes and we 'became' the passenger whose name is on the back side.  I was 'Richard' and was in the 1st Class accommodations.  Otto was a 3rd Class passenger.  On the wall next to the exit were the names of all the passengers, those that survived and those that perished.  We learned our fate.  Fortunately, we both survived.

I snapped some pictures of the preparations being made for the holiday celebrations coming up in December.  The third row of pictures above are of a couple of the seating areas for the Chillounge event that was held on Saturday night.  It's a big to do, with lots of food and entertainment in the park.  The bottom two pictures were taken in the Granada Terrace neighborhood, just north of where I live in the Old Northeast.  I am still enjoying walking in shorts and a tee shirt!