Walking a fine line

I walked on a fine line yesterday.  It started with my son asking for leftover blackberry cobbler for breakfast, which is a kid after my own heart.  It was their next to the last day of school, with an early release at 12:30.  We were home for about five minutes, when our neighbor knocked on the door...


Did we want to go boating?
Tubbing?
Lake Iamonia?

Of course we did!

The boys couldn't put on their bathing suits fast enough.

Borderline between Southern and Red? 
Definitely!

Did we have a token black lab(alligator bait), on the boat? 
Absolutely!

FUN?  Hell yeah!


Summer?
Officially on.

                                                     Breakfast of Champions.

                                                                     I am free.

                                                 Heathrow showing us how it is done.

 

                                                                        Bella Bait

                                                                    Ready, Set

                                         
                                                              SUMMER!

                                                                        

Tempted by the fruit of another...

Now that I got your attention...

 I have been thinking about having a summer affair.  Light- very Light. Casual- very Casual. Fresh-very Fresh.  Nothing but a little fling.  Don't worry honey, you will  always be the ONE.  You are my constant, but sometimes, a girl just needs a change.  Besides, this affair might do us some good.  It might make me appreciate you a little more.   It just might make me realize what I have and that the grass is not always greener or filled with notes of pineapple, grapefruit, rum, coconut milk and cedar.  I think this will be fun and please know that you will always, always, be the ONE.  Adieu Mon Amour, Nan

 THE ONE!

                                                                       THE FLING!

Are you ready?

If you can't beat them, join them? OUI? OUI! I am a French Freak and I have an"Ou La La " Moment almost daily and it  always, almost always, comes back to something from France.  This week will be dedicated to all  things and places  that I love francais!  If I were a horse, a farm hand, or a field mouse, I would die and go to heaven here.  This is a great little blog that I feel you should know about, now on my blog list too.                  

Last summer we went all over Maine.  We paused and parked right by this charming shop, called The Marston House, in Wiscasset.  Well, let's just say, I had a few minor fits and could also have died and gone to heaven here.  The owner Sharon was lovely, as we talked "shop" and I bought some beautiful pottery that she had brought from a ceramiste in France.  I will definitely be going back to her lovely shop, and would love to rent one of her properties in France next summer.

 Here is one of the bowls I bought.  I left the other behind as a hostess gift.  If anyone wants to drop a hint to my husband, I would love another piece for our anniversary- blue and white stripes, s'il vous plait.
                                                                   

The PROPERTY!

                
I love this kitchen.  I love this kitchen. I love this kitchen.  I love this kitchen!  Doesn't this look like an interior Nancy Meyers would use? Au revoir, Nan

Slacker

I had a pact with myself that I would post Monday through Friday for six weeks...Well, I didn't do it Thursday or Friday, so here is one for Saturday.  I ran across this some time ago and I think it is  insightful, poignant, and beautiful.  This mother has "gotten it" and I think we all can learn from it.  Have a great weekend, Nan

P.S.-  This photo is by Esty artist,  Irene Suchocki.  I have to dash, my boys want to be the first ones in the pool, as it officially opens today...  How fun is that-simple pleasures!


WELCOME TO HOLLAND

By Emily Perl Kingsley, 1987, all rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome To Holland".
"Holland?!?" you say, "What do you mean "Holland"??? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy"
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills...Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy...and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned".
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.
But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things...about Holland.

© 1987, by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved.

F.F.F. (Few Fun Favorites)

I love a pretty label and I think this would be fun for a

garden party and the wine snobs would just have to trust me.

        

I watched this funny movie the other night.  I would definitely 

recommend it.

 I think this would be a fun trip for our Family, for a couple

of days along with something else.  Hmmm...

Read this great article on Keith McNally, the restaurant visionary of NYC.

The Happy Newlyweds arrive... 

    

Detail of favor boxes and the tables.

    Centerpiece at the Food Table

The "Guestbook"            

Meta, the proud niece and John.

Ben and brother of the bride, Stephane.

Karen, Desiree, and Michele (bride's sister-in-law).

It's all good in the hood, John and Bobby.

 

 Detail of the Bar flowers. 

We had a lovely time at the beach, celebrating the wedding of
 Jon and Claire.

Everything was just right.  Congratulations!  xo, Nan

T.G.I.F.

                                               

  

  I don't know why I find this so funny, but I do.  Go here to see

the whole series of what Storm Troppers do on their day off?

                               

       

This is THE shoe for my Moment.  Yes, after an hour I will

be barefoot, with my newly pedicured toes.

T.G.I.F.  I am not feeling that.  It is more like O.S.I.F., ( OH, SNAP IT'S FRIDAY)!@#$!!   Yes, I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off, and it is not my style, so I am a little frazzled.   A lot is going on this weekend. The store is especially busy with Mother's Day and Graduation.  I have to work a couple more hours in the morning, before we dash off to our neighbor's wedding at the beach. Her favorite beverage is Champagne and her father is French and a retired chef, so we will be drinking and eating very well.  If you haven't realized, I like to eat and drink, so I am excited.  I am ready for a little "moment", a pretty wedding, by a pretty pool, with the pretty ocean, with pretty food, sipping some yummy Champagne with pretty people.  I would like to have a pretty moment myself, a little Sarah Jessica Parker, ala Carrie  moment.  A moment, where if I was walking the streets of Soho, Scott Schuman might pause, not actually take my picture,  but just pause for a moment...that's all. Well, let me tell ya that isn't easy.  Who knew it was so much work to look natural; I have been working on looking natural for two weeks.  I have come to the conclusion, that it is not NATURAL to look this "NATURAL."  I have plucked, polished,whitened, exfoliated, exercised,lathered, slathered, and shaved my legs, where no Nan has shaved before, and never will again.  Crazy.  I even had a pedicure this morning, my third EVER.  It took over an hour, who has time for all that?  They look good, but GOOD GRIEF.  Anyway I am looking forward to a moment and a rare night away from the boys, but alot has to happen in between now and that moment, so have a great weekend, Nan

P.S.  Remember to fill up the blue bags for the Postman and the Food Drive tomorrow.

Improvising

Begrudgingly, the boys left me some SO that

I could make this!  The cobbler turned out great, the final photo of it, did not.  You get the picture- GOOD, very GOOD!

The bread was covered in fresh garlic, sea salt, and red pepper flakes.  Somebody had to sample it and that Somebody was ME.  In order to sample properly, I HAD to open a bottle of vino...

This is the spicy shrimp and you use the bread to SOP UP the yummy broth.

My later part of my day went like this.  I took the boys to choir  ( the last one for the school year), which means my last opportunity to work out  in the afternoon.  I called Himself, before I left, to confirm Mexican at Coyoacan; I made the fatal mistake of mentioning Cinco de Mayo.  Well, that killed it dead in the water.  Himself could not think of a worse time to go...Blah, Blah, Blah.  I replied, "Well, I'm going to work out.  We will have to figure it when I get home."  When I got home Himself had picked Dewberries (early, wild blackberries) at his warehouse.  They were insanely beautiful.  Himself had gotten a dough ball from our restaurant, and picked up two pounds of shrimp at  the seafood market.  Basically, Himself had come through, in a very impressive, improvisational way.  Himself then needed to go back to the restaurant, because they were shorted-handed and would return the minute there was a loll.  Himself quickly went and got the boys from choir and dropped them off.  I got busy. Himself and I enjoyed a relatively effortless meal.  Needless to say, I should have ran ten miles instead of two.  Oh well!

Cinco de Mayo

 

If I was in Portland, Maine,  I would be here.

 I would be eating this and then some.

                                              

I would definitely be drinking this.  We ate here last 

summer after a Portland Seadogs game.  We ate the below  before

the game, at outdoor picnic tables with an amazing view.  The

boys would come eat a little and then go explore alot.  

If in Maine, this is a family  MUST.

Now you might have missed this old post about my bottom, after 

this trip and my trip to Scotland... you'll laugh, I promise.

                         

Don't you worry, I will be celebrating, probably at my favorite

Mexican restaurant- Cocoaycan in Quitman, Georgia.  In honor of

Cinco de Mayo, they will have 2 for 1 Margaritas and free T-shirts 

to the first 50 customers who spend > than $15.  I need a D.D.

Any Volunteers?

                                   

                          

What do you think of this?  I think it is interesting, especially 

since it is made entirely of crayons.  For more go here.

                         

SOLD for 106.5 MILLION.  Now that is alot of PESOS!

Piscasso's "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" set a new

record for a work of art sold at auction.  Maybe, a Major

League Baseball Player bought it.   

        

Happy Cinco de Mayo, Nan