COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG.........A Mini Tour.

Earlier in the month we drove the girls back to Jersey after their visit to Georgia.....Knowing we had an 18 hour car trip and a toddler to deal with daughter suggested we break up the drive with a stop at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia......We had not been there in many years and we love a good road trip detour so daughter got us reservations at the Williamsburg Lodge which is located right on the grounds of the historic site......We also made dinner reservations at one of the many original Inns for a late dinner.....We arrived on a Thursday night just in time to check in...buy our tickets for the next day and walk over to the Shield's Tavern......

If you ever the chance to visit Williamsburg one of the must stops is dinner at one of the Inns...
Good food....entertainment by men in period costumes.....the place oozed ambiance....

Miss "B" was even impressed and applauded when the music was over...

The next day was spent walking the grounds.....more eating.....lot's of great shopping and ofcourse picture taking.....

Below are some of the shots I took.....No commentary....just enjoy a little step back into the past....

I hope you enjoyed the mini-tour of this wonderful slice of Americana....

it's certainly a must see on your "Life's List".....of things to do...

VINGENZO'S ......of Woodstock Georgia...a Review.

We have been looking for the past 26 years for an authentic Italian restaurant down here in Georgia and by gosh we Finally Found One!! and who would have thunk....it's in the middle of Woodstock....

You know Woodstock....no not that Woodstock.....the Woodstock where someone left a live baby lamb inside the front seat of the Boss' pick up at One in the morning in the parking lot of the open all night Walmart....Yes, that Woodstock.

Back to the restaurant review.....

This is Vingenzo's for all you Georgia readers out there in the Blogisphere.... Worth the drive from anywhere in the Greater Atlanta Area it is one good Italian restaurant....

It advertises itself as being

Hand Crafted

Neopolitan Cuisine

and it does not disappoint.....

We stumbled upon it one weekday when daughter was visiting....we parked out in front while she ran into the yarn shop down a few steps....Wondering why it wasn't open the Boss got out to see it's hours....

Open only for lunch on Friday and Saturday from 11:00-2:00

and opened for dinner from Monday-Thursday 5:00 - 9:00

and Friday and Saturday from 5:00 until 10:00

It peaked our interest and we made a point of saying we would come back one Friday for lunch...

We started with the above Pizza Margharita which was fabulous......Then I got the sausage and pepper Panini....not expecting the sausage to be served this way it was delicious...the foccacia bread was fresh and I loved the one large piece of roasted red pepper on the sandwich....

It was served with these great little roasted potatoes with Parmesan...Cut to a fine dice they are the perfect size to get great cheesy taste with each little bite....They are like eating a well buttered piece of popcorn....You know, you only want to eat one piece at a time to get it's full flavor jolt....

A nice touch from the usual lunch menu of putting fries with a chicken parm sandwich.....Infact you won't find that type of Italian food here....I think the only meat listed on the menu was sausage and Proscuitto...

Simple interior but very comfortable.....

an enjoyable environment....

Jimmy our congenial waiter.....
I commented to the Boss how nice all the staff were that were working there...Just a nice bunch of "All American" looking young adults....
We discovered tonight when we went back for dinner that the Chef/Owner is an instructor at the local Culinary College and some of the employees attend the school...

The brick oven where all that magic happens....

The very freshest of ingredients.....They make their own pasta daily and available on the dinner menu.......and you know there is nothing better then fresh pasta....and you can even take home with you the fresh homemade Mozzarella cheese among other Italian treats....
This is all about simple fresh ingredients......

Being Italians and spending our entire day discussing our next meal I can say this place is the real thing....
It is not the typical Italian restaurant that you usually go to with frozen Veal Marsala and packaged pasta....generic salads and bad Cannoli's
This is as authentic as it gets...
I commented to husband that it's like sitting in any of the many little restaurants in Little Italy
New York City.

we finished up our meal this evening with some Pistachio Gelato.....and we went home very satisfied and very full...

Vingenzo's is located right across from the railroad tracks in Downtown Old Woodstock...
It's in a shopping center next to the park and gazebo.....
For you ladies if you go during the day the yarn shop
"The Whole Nine Yarns"
is a wonderful shop if you are a knitter.....
There is also an adorable little independent book shop called
"Foxtale Books"
And you know they are a dying breed.....
SO....

Enjoy your lunch or dinner and if Jimmy is there tell him you read about them on the blog.......
Mangia!!!

RAGTIME...the Musical..........Coming back to Broadway!!!

One of the highlights in my life was seeing "Ragtime" on Broadway....I rank the experience right up there with seeing Pavarotti sing in front of the Eiffel Tower...

So when daughter called the other night and asked if I would like to go see it (my 5th time!!)

as a Christmas present I couldn't say yes fast enough....

It's coming back to Broadway on October 23rd. at the Neil Simon theater and I recommend that if your in NYC for the holidays that you don't miss this magnificent musical.......

I put the poor child through the ringer getting the tickets because I'm one of those people that has to have an "end" seat anywhere I go....You know the type....

She couldn't see the seating chart of the theater online and because she was pre-ordering the tickets the box office wouldn't help her.....

So thanks daughter for going that extra mile to get the Mom that end seat....

My favorite play of all time....I have seen it at the Ford Theatre in NYC.....and twice down here at the Fox...and the neighbor just reminded me that I dragged her up to a local production in Gainesville......

I have the movie version......3 variations of the book by E.L. Doctorow.....and two CD's...one for the movie and one for the play.....

I know "every word to every song" and told daughter the only way I would go is if she realizes ahead of time I will be singing along with the cast!!

The show at the Fox here in Atlanta was wonderful for the music but had next to none scenery on the stage......The Broadway version was unbelievable with it's visuals....and if you get the chance to see it try to rent the movie first then see what a wonderful job they did at turning the story into a musical.....It will not disappoint....

What I think they should have is a Senior Citizen version of

"The Make a Wish Foundation"

Hey, I'm a card carrying member of AARP!!

What I wouldn't do to be in the opening "group" scene singing my little heart out...just once....A Matinee show would be fine......

You know just an extra....if I missed a note who would notice....

I would even dress up like one of the "immigrants" instead of one of the "Upper Class"....after all Grandfather Augustin Lacki came thru Ellis Island in 1906....the same year that the play begins.

Oh well..... I can dream can't I........

Thanks from now Daughter .....it's the best gift ever!!

DEATH OF A TABLESCAPE........And One Dead Chicken.

I hadn't done a Tablescape in awhile so last week I put together a table design I was going to call

"Lobster For Two"

Getting out from hiding all my lobster related plates and cups and such..... I layed down layers of newspaper as my table covering......propped up my favorite Maine license plate and took lots of pictures....For some reason after taking the shots I promptly put everything back where they came from...I usually keep the table set for a couple of days to enjoy the tablescape but this time I didn't......You know the old saying...

"Everything happens for a reason"

This is how my table looks when not set.....I have since added 2 more chickens to the coop and gave them all lovely names....

There was Charlotte and Maude.....Maxine and Millie....

Notice I say "there was".....

A preview of what my "Lobster for Two" table looked like.....All I have to say is Boy am I glad something made me put all the dishes and glassware and stuff away...Because at 5:45 A.M. on Monday morning we heard a HUGE crash and the sound of lots of broken glass....

Enough to jump start your heart my first reaction was to bolt up in bed and shout out

"The Dog!!!"

It sounded like an explosion.....the sound that I can only assume you hear when a drunken driver loses control of a car and drives into some one's living room.....

Me and the Boss jumped up and ran into the Great Room......we have a two story cathedral ceiling and up above my dining room table......where all my creations come to life.....hangs a very large ceiling fan on a long poll with a big light fixture attached......

NO LONGER.....

This is what we found....

ceiling fan fell right out of the ceiling....see the broken blades....see all the broken glass....but most of all see poor Maxine......that's her minus her legs in the forefront of the photo....

Yes......Who knew that a ceiling fan.....Oh, weighing about 50 pounds per the Boss' estimate....would just decide that it didn't want to hang and spin any longer and just call it a day.

Held up by a special "ball and socket" bracket because of the angle of the ceiling the cast iron bracket just broke in two causing it to pull the wires out of the ceiling and crash to the table....

Poor Maxine......luckily Charlotte.... Maude and Millie only took a slight hit although Millie did land on the floor but she's one tough bird.....she survived without a scratch....

For those of you who remember I recently had a small birthday gathering for Necie the neighbor and had 7 ladies sitting under that fan.....

Miss "B" also toddled all around that table riding on Boo's back just a few weeks ago......

So....just incase any of you ladies has a fan like this or knows someone who does......if it's been up for awhile....

Go Buy a new one Today!!!

Who would ever think that something like this could happen and possibly cause a

tragedy......

When we told the man over at the Home Depot...... where we went tonight to buy a new fan..... what had happened..... his only response was

"Well, that would have given someone a big headache"

It was like a 50 pound bowling ball falling out of the sky....

I think he missed the point.....

We are so fortunate to have only lost poor Maxine....

May she Rest in Peace....

Stop over at our host Susan's for today's hopefully Happy Tablescapes!!

http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

LATE NIGHT UPDATE......

I just heard from my friend Ellen over at Nouveau Stitch and thinking that all this wacky stuff can't just be happening to us she Googled "Ceiling Fan Recalls"......

Yup....defective fan part causing the fans to fall from the ceiling...

many different brands...millions of fans have been recalled....How come this is something you never hear about....Have you ever heard of celing fans being recalled...

Who would have thought??

This problem has caused injuries...

So go Google-ling and see if you have one of the fans listed..

better to be safe then sorry.

But we still stand alone in having a live lamb left inside our car in the Walmart parking lot!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BOO DOG........

11 Years...deserves 2 cupcakes !!! Enjoying the frosting first........

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks!! Miss "B" thought he was a pony....never being near children he was so tolerant of her riding all around the house on his back....

11 years ago today a new breed of dog came into this world..... On a farm in the mountains of North Georgia the "Boo Dog" was born.......He was soon after adopted and became a member of our family.....It was October 31st.....our wedding anniversary....when we drove back up to the farm to pick him up and bring him home...we had gone the previous weekend and the conditions of the farm and his parents were pretty bad.....Being Great Pyrenees with their long white fur we found two horribly matted "herding" dogs living outside in a dirt run.....Boo was only one of two puppies left....The owner offered us a "good deal" if we took both....."Cash Only" we don't take no checks......... So we drove all the way back to Marietta dogless but something told us all week long that we really needed to go back and get that dog....

So the following weekend we drove the two hours to find Boo waiting for us.....
I kneeled down in the run and as he came over to me he rested his head on my shoulder....

the other puppy didn't even come close....

So one cash sale later in the back of daughter's Jeep home we went....

We stopped at Hardee's and got him some mashed potatoes and gravy....He looked hungry...

He loved those potatoes.........

His name...well that was a no brainer...after all it was Halloween !!

So here we are 11 years later......He still thinks in the grand scheme of things that he is second in command in the family pecking order.....

I come in somewhere around 4th. place behind the Fedex guy....

He got his usual birthday cupcake this year.....I gave it to him early in the day because as Mr. Roper over at the Sleepy Hollow Kennel says......

"You know when they get to be this age everyday is just touch an go...."

Mr. Roper calls him "Son" and we are happy to report on what is really his 77th. birthday that he is in wonderful health.....(we have to tell this to Mr. Roper everytime we drop him off at the kennel....Mr. R. gets a little nervous as the years go by)

SO.........

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOO......

We think your Boopalicous!