Author Archives: Rebecca

Just Smile and Nod!

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I was out for a walk today with my cute twin cousins, Thomas and Christopher. Here’s the scene:

Characters: Rebecca (the cousin), Thomas and Christopher (non-identical twins), Lady in Red Coat (Strange Lady walking on the sidewalk)

Setting: A bright sunny afternoon. Boys are dressed in dark blue snow suits, dark blue and dark green hats, and are seated in a dark blue stroller. There is a blue blanket up to shade their eyes from the sun.

Rebecca: Hey boys! Don’t you love going for walks on lovely days like this?

T&C: (Simultaniously) MaMa, DaDa, EEEEEEE!!!, squeak!

LiRC: Oh my! Twins! I have two sets of twin grandchildren! Can I see them?

Rebecca: Um..okay. (Lifts blanket)

LiRC: Oh my! Two Girls!

Rebecca: (smiles) (nods)

LiRC: And they’re IDENTICAL! Oh!

Rebecca: (smiles) (nods)

LiRC: And they look just like you! How sweet!

Rebecca: (smiles) (nods)
(as LiRC walks away…Chuckles to herself)

Sometimes it is easier not to correct others and to let themselves be happy in their own little fantasies.

Birthday Tradition

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January the 10th has been my birthday for 25 years. It is a special day for me. I share my birthday with my Uncle Dave, Rod Stewart and George Foreman. Growing up there have always been some birthday traditions and memories that are important ot me. An angel food cake, an old, metallic, “Happy Birthday Rebecca” sign from Judy Mingus (which has not aged as well as I), being serenaded at breakfast by Dad singing, Sixteen Candles, and being wisked off to Portland, ME for my 24th by Peter. Good times, good times.

“But why?” you may ask, “are you bringing this up now, on the 19th of February?” That is a great question. And I have a great answer.

In addition to those mentioned earlier, I also share a birthday with Charlie Clough. He sits behind my parents in church, tells jokes before the service, taught my pre-school sunday school class AND for the past 13 years or so, has taken me out to dinner on our birthday.

The 58 years that separate us have never been a problem. I talk about school (middle, high, college and grad) and he tells stories from his rebellious teenage years (those poor teachers!) and from his time in the South Pacific fighting in World War Two.

Every year we eat at the “Riverside Resturaunt” in Brookline, New Hampshire. All the waitresses know Charlie and they recognize me…and the place has been the same for years and years. If you go there on your birthday they’ll put a sparkler in your dessert, get you to wear a funny crown and take your picture. I have a collection of Polaroids commemorating each year.

This year we diverged from tradition. Anyone who may have been in the Massachusetts area the first couple weeks of January will remember that it was bitterly, bone chillingly cold. Way to cold to bundle up and go to dinner even further north in NH. So we postponed until this afternoon and went for lunch instead.

We had a little scare having just heard that the Riverside had just been sold. Would they still be open? Yes! Phew! We walked in and were in for a bit of a shock. What had once been a cute country resturaunt chock-a-block full of antiques and knick knacks was now stripped down to the bare bones. We could actually see the walls and ceiling! {All, or most, will be sold at auction on March 6th at the Brookline Auction House aka. the Tin Can}

As fortune would have it, the food was just the same and we were treated to the yearly sparkler and photo. Here’s to 2005!

quiz results

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Just found a fun little quiz. Here are my results…



I am the sonnet, never quickly thrilled;
Not prone to overstated gushing praise
Nor yet to seething rants and anger, filled
With overstretched opinions to rephrase;
But on the other hand, not fond of fools,
And thus, not fond of people, on the whole;
And holding to the sound and useful rules,
Not those that seek unjustified control.
I’m balanced, measured, sensible (at least,
I think I am, and usually I’m right);
And when more ostentatious types have ceased,
I’m still around, and doing, still, alright.
In short, I’m calm and rational and stable –
Or, well, I am, as much as I am able.
What Poetry Form Are You?

Ahoy Matey!

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As I mentioned a few days ago I have been reading “Ahab’s Wife” by Sena Jeter Naslund. It’s a monster of a book and I have finished it, much to my despair. I love long books. I get into the story and when they finally end I am so dissapointed. I digress.

It was a great story. There are tales of whaling and sailing interspersed with the Kentucky frontier. The life of one woman is followed as she moves from stage to stage in her life. Woven throughout her stories are the themes of love, faith, freedom, sin and forgiveness.

Naslund also does an incredible job of mixing American literature genres. On one hand she has written an enthralling companion to Melville’s “Moby Dick” full of exciting sailing stories and tales of life on Nantucket in the early 1800’s. The reader’s mind is full of images of huge cresting waves and billowing sails. It is a classic sea story.

Almost seamlessly we are taken inland to Kentucky and we see the author’s devotion to her motherland and to the stories of the land. The strong influence of Harriet Beecher Stow echo through the stories of Kentucky farming, abolition and the lives of runaway slaves. We follow bounty hunters and are treated to the southern slave dialects found crossing the Ohio River. One almost wonders if we will stumble upon Uncle Tom’s Cabin along the way.

Have you read the book yet? If you have, let me know what you thought of it. Haven’t read it yet? (or just heard of it?) go ***here|http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0688177859/qid=1075071589/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/102-6832497-9165707*** or to your local library and check it out!

Updates

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I had a wonderful birthday. My very cute husband made me breakfast in bed and bought me Pirates of the Carribean. ARRRRR!!!! And I didn’t have to do anything all morning and it was nice. For lunch we went to this place called Chunky’s. Chunky’s is a movie theater and resturaunt. You sit on comfy leather seats from Lincoln Contenentials at tables and then you can order pub food from the waitress. YUM and COMFY! We saw Cheaper by the Dozen. If my memory serves me correctly, it wasn’t much like the book, but still cute and entertaining. A nice day.

I’ve been doing some reading lately. It has been nice because I have been on a bit of a hiatus… I borrowed “The Hours” from my aunt. It was a little hard to get into, but fairly good. I got the feeling that the author was writing simply for the sake of writing an intellectual book. Kind of like he was just doing it to prove that he could. Having done some extensive research on and reading of Virginia Woolf’s novels a few years back I found it interesting how he wove her personal life and her character’s into the lives of other women’s. Very deep.

I also read, on Peter’s recommendation, American Gods. I really got into this one. The author weaves together the lives of all the gods that have been brought to America or created here over the years, Odin, Horus, Easter, Johnny Appleseed… It was deep and philosophical without being too heady.

I am now engrossed in a book called, “Ahab’s Wife”. You guessed it, about Ahab’s wife. But I’m just a little ways in and I haven’t even met Ahab yet, so I’ll let you know how it goes later on 🙂

curious?

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For any of you who might be interested I received my final mark from Tufts. I got an ‘A’ for my gigantic final paper and an ‘A’ over all for my Internship. w00t!

Big Fish and Small (but Great) Hobbits

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Have you seen “Edward Scissorhands” or “Nightmare Before Christmas” ? Both of those films were directed by Tim Burton. He has a reputation for being quirky and odd and creepy, and all of those features are recognizable in many of his movies.

Being fortunate to live in tbe Boston area, we were able to see his newest movie, ***Big Fish|http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/bigfish*** during its select city early release. (it opens on Friday, January 9th for everyone else) This was an unusually eerie, creative, quirky and moving film.

The film follows a grown son’s gradual acceptance of his father, and the stories he tells of his life. The present scenes are frequently, and wonderfully interrupted by flashbacks to the father’s life as he tells it in stories. Through his stories we are introduced to giants, circus-folk, beautiful girls and witches. Every character seems strange and beautiful all at the same time.

I found the “weep level” to be an 8 on a scale of 1-10. The ending had me crying more than most movies do, although I did not find the conclusion of the film to be especially sad. In fact, I tried, with no avail, to discover exactly what drew the tears. Burton must have touched something so deep within me that even I don’t know what it was.

Another evening this week was spent with good friends Naomi and Chris. In keeping with annual tradition the four of us grabbed dinner then headed off to see the final installment of The Lord of the Rings; The Return of the King.

This third movie was long, but not excruciatingly so. The 3 hours and 20 minutes felt like nothing compared to the 13 month journey travelled by our heros in the story. I was captivated by the massive battle scenes at Minas Tirith and humored by the skeleton/pirate/Orlando Bloom similarities to Pirates of the Carribean.

Although the film ventured away from J.R.R. Tolkien’s original story I was easily drawn into the plot and longed for a conclusion. The scenes themselves were beautiful, even in their goriness/despair and the actors managed to pull our hearts right up into our throats. (yes, even the men!)

Two great movies, two late nights. Happy New Year!

What once was lost has now been found!

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It only took me two and a half hours and the minimal help of a bobcat to shovel our two cars out this afternoon. I’d say that isn’t too bad.

I have come to believe that shoveling snow (done correctly with your legs, not your back) is the ultimate and perfect form of exercise. It is aerobic, forcing your heart rate up. It is muscle conditioning, arms, legs and back, and best of all you gain a sense of purpose and a feeling of accomplishment as you start to see your car and the pavement again. I think that that is tons better than going to the gym and running for 30 minutes and getting nowhere 🙂

Speaking of shoveling… For all of you who have heard the saga of the shovel that walked away from outside our apartment door and thought never to been seen again… THE SHOVEL HAS BEEN FOUND!!! It had been seceretly locked away in the closet with the water heaters and the cable hook ups. I was able to sucker the keys away from Landlord Jr. while he was playing with the bobcat and there it was, all red and lonely. We are glad to have you home again, shovel!

what’cha think?

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I found this quiz on ***michelle’s site|http://www.mikao.blogspot.com***. Those of you who know me… do you think it is accurate?

you are paleturquoise
#AFEEEE

Your dominant hues are green and blue. You’re smart and you know it, and want to use your power to help people and relate to others. Even though you tend to battle with yourself, you solve other people’s conflicts well.

Your saturation level is low – You stay out of stressful situations and advise others to do the same. You may not be the go-to person when something really needs done, but you know never to blow things out of proportion.

Your outlook on life is bright. You see good things in situations where others may not be able to, and it frustrates you to see them get down on everything.
the spacefem.com html color quiz

jake

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I walked outside today and discovered a lovely winterwonderland in the parking lot. It made me very happy. And got me thinking more about Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas…Those of you in the Boston area may have noticed that a certain radio station (Oldies 103.3) is playing nothing but Christmas music until the 25th of December. yikes! and they started this the Monday before Thanksgiving. It may be just me, but I think that that is just a little bit extreem. What if I wanted to hear oldies music? The only distributor of Oldies music in Boston is now ONLY playing Christmas tunes. Too much, says I.

Please don’t think that I do not enjoy Christmas music. I have been know to play Christmas cd’s in the middle of the summer…or to force friends and family to watch White Christmas long before snow falls. It is just that I think a solid month of it may be just a little off the deep end.

And if you need more proof that I like Christmas music I will supply you with a link to hear a very lovely one. It is a Christmas gift to all from fellow Gordon Alumnus Jake Armerding. ***Here’s|http://www.jakearmerding.com*** a link to his version of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”. Enjoy with a hot mug of cocoa!