Happy Birthday: Wayne Haglund, Dan Jumper, Tina Sellers, Judy Dunn, Hannah Harris, Dorothy Dee Allen, Phyllis Royle, Betty Warren, Howard Daniel, Mary Duncan, Madeline Largent, Jill Platt Carswell, Josie Spivey, Ernest Bartlett, Diedra Harrison, Ruth Berry, Nelwyn Berry, Jill Pear Carswell, and Audie Brookshire.
Happy Anniversary: John and Cathy Thannisch celebrate 25 years, Mary and Doug Russell, Cherri and Clinton Teutsch, David and Virgia Walker.
This week my news is coming from New Canaan, Connecticut. My after Christmas adventure began by Patsy Hines taking me to Bush International Airport in Houston for my flight to New York LaGuardia airport where Nancy, Michael, Hannah, Isabelle, George and Sarah Herde met me at 4:30 p.m. Weather was 29 degrees in Lufkin when I left and 57 degrees in NYC when I arrived. Michael cooked steaks outside on the grill with vegetables cooked for dinner in the claret red Aga oven made in England. I had a mini lesson on the Aga an old time cast iron retained heat stove with four ovens. One is for roasting, one for baking, one for simmering and a warming oven. The top has two hot plates; one for boiling and one is a griddle. The Aga stays hot all of the time so the downstairs is heated from the stove. Hannah and I, in our chef hats, made chocolate treats for dessert. Isabelle gave up her bedroom for my stay. Of course, I loved the Victorian lace purple color of the room since my color is purple. Isabelle and Sarah came that first morning and snuggled with me.
I met Queenie, the Saint Bernard five month-old puppy that weighs 76.6 lbs. The vet suggested putting a bell on the back door and she rings the bell when she wants to go outside. No mistakes in the house in a while!!!!!
Wednesday for three hours, Michael put family pictures on my digital picture frame and on a 2.0 GB san disk plus pictures on my flash drive. I now have “Herde pictures” to my hearts content. The children and I left about 4:45 p.m. for downtown New Canaan to eat at the Taste of Asia. Everyone knew what they wanted to eat: beef & broccoli, sesame chicken, shrimp, egg rolls and dumplings. We went to the 6:30 p.m. movie at the Playhouse movie theater to see “Night at the Museum”. I recommend it for a light “historical” type movie. At the movie before it started, George was picking on his sisters. He got a shirt for Christmas that had “Are Sisters Really Necessary” on the front. I told the girls that I had a bratty brother when I was their age and George was getting a triple dose of sisters so he could be three times brattier. The sisters thought I should take up for them and not George. Michael and Nancy had a business dinner so I was really the “Nannie” with the children. That afternoon I helped Nancy and Michael clean out the “barn” so Nancy could park her car. Michael gave George and Isabelle a lesson in driving the John Deere tractor so they can snow plow the driveway. We opened boxes from Texas when we returned from the movie.
Thursday, we left New Cannan from Talmadge Hill Station on the Metro North train at 8:07 a.m. for the ride into New York City. We arrived at Grand Central Station an hour later. The cost for the seven of us was $67 at peak time. The return tickets were $38 non-peak. Our first stop was The American Girl Place for Sarah who has dolls Felicity, Elizabeth and Kit. We were looking for tea party food. There were girls and mothers looking amazed at all the dolls, clothes, furniture and accessories for the many dolls on the three floors. It reminded me of the men at the Bass Pro shop. From there we walked by Rockefeller Center ice rink, the big Christmas tree and NBC studio on our way to the Nintendo World for George. Nancy was photo documenting our every move. The items were sold out that George wanted at the Nintendo store. So from there we went to Toys “R” Us at Times Square where he found what he wanted. We walked through the Hershey Store but the line to check out was too long. Then it was across the street to the M&M Store. We had our picture made with the M&M character and stood on the M to be evaluated on our mood color. I was peanut butter and Nancy was green.
Lunch at 1 p.m. was at Baldoria in the Theatre District on 49th Street. The Wurlitzer was playing operas and Italian music. The children ordered meatballs with spaghetti. Nancy and I had giant shrimp with pasta plus appetizers of crabmeat and anti-pasta. Michael had rigatoni with capers, mushrooms and tomatoes. The wine was a Regaleali Sicilia, Tasca D'Almenta. Michael and Maitre de John were almost speaking Italian when we ordered. The Herdes spent their summer vacations in Italy and knew what to order. The motto written on the card said “A knife, a fork, a bottle and a corkŠThat's the way we spell New York”. The meal was very filling and good.
On our way to Grand Central Station, we walked through the Diamond District and the children were looking for an emerald and diamond ring for me. That is what I wanted in May for my big birthday. We compared emeralds, and all the children were helping me window shop for a ring. George spotted one like I had described, and we went into Ben Moses Fine Jewelry Designers on West 47th Street. He graciously let me try on several rings but the one that I saw and liked was an art deco design from 1910 to 1920. Nancy and Michael and the children surprised me by buying it for my birthday. Sarah, who is my birthday buddy, was watching intensely because emeralds are her birthstone too. George asked the son of the owner his favorite stone. He thought, and said diamonds and told George about a red diamond that was less than a carat that sold for a million dollars. He was telling George about different diamond colors. We caught the 3:40 p.m. train at Grand Central Station home and arrived in New Canaan at 5 p.m. Along the ride home, George lost a pre molar tooth. We wonder what the going rate on that tooth will be.
Friday, Sarah taught me to play Hearts by her rules. It was a hoot since it was the two of us playing with open hands and our opposition were “dudes” who lost each time.
That afternoon, Hannah, Isabelle, Sarah and I started a game of Monopoly. George joined us late in the game. Alliances were formed and properties were bargained and traded. Pretty “cut throat” for their ages. It became a long game and we wanted to watch the DVD “The Devil Wears Prada” so they declared no winners; but Hannah and Isabelle, who had joined forces against Sarah and me, had most of their property mortgaged. We roasted wieners and marshmallows in the fireplace and watched the movie.
Saturday, we went to the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium and saw marine life from Long Island Sound. The IMAX movie was “Hurricane in the Bayou”. It featured the loss of the Louisiana Wetlands from Katrina and showed Louisiana before and after Katrina. The Wetlands are vanishing at the rate of one acre every thirty minutes. Four musicians from New Orleans are doing benefits for saving the wetlands. Hannah would like to intern at the Aquarium in the summer since passion is marine life.
Stew Leonard's Grocery, the largest dairy store in the world, was the next stop where we bought over $100 in groceries along with 18 half gallons of milk which will last two weeks and pizza dough. For the $100 they gave a free ice cream cone. Norwalk is original location for the Raggedy Ann dolls. That night Michael served home made personal pizzas baked in the Aga with the choice of toppings (anchovies, artichoke hearts, pepperoni, parmesan cheese, home made sauce, black olives, mushrooms, and mozzarella cheese). Each of us rolled the pizza dough out on the surface of the 48-inch kitchen island covered in flour. Then olive oil was brushed on and meat sauce then the toppings. The pizzas were cooked directly on the floor of the Aga oven on bake-o-slide sheets for the Herdes and guests Peggy and Eric Dannemann and their children Will and Clara. Michael had a big pizza paddle to put the pizza in and take them out of the oven. It was an interesting night watching Chef Michael in action and the mess that we all made.
The ride to LaGuardia airport took us about 45 minutes on Sunday morning in Nancy's GMAC Suburban with On Star directions. The flight to Houston was 3 hours and 24 minutes. The movie on the plane was “The Queen”, about Queen Elizabeth at the time of Princess Diana's death.
As you can tell I had a busy six days with four of my grandchildren and their parents. The remodeling of Nancy and Michael's home in New Canaan is complete and I was able to see it for the first time and her Christmas decorations. The weather cooperated and we had a wonderful time. Now it is time to start 2007. Let me hear your news.
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