Blow Horn update

I wish I had known this before Christmas, but artist and photographer Lee Schlingmann just told me that her note cards and prints of the pre-October Blow Horn corner (that is, before the "Blow Horn" sign was erased) are on sale at Tender Touch Gifts, the shop next to Triple Fresh in Ercildoun.
Also, I couldn't help but think of the Blow Horn controversy when I came across this verse in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer: "Cursed is he that removeth his neighbour's landmark."

My true love gave to me

Our demon-in-human-form instructor at the Y celebrates Christmas each year by wearing a series of increasingly outlandish hats to class, bringing in little treat bags of healthy snacks for us, and making us do an appalling series of exercises using the "Twelve Days of Christmas" structure. For instance, you start with one pushup; then you do two shoulder presses and one pushup; then three chest presses, two shoulder presses and one pushup ... and up to twelve burpees (squat-thrusts), eleven medicine-ball slams, etc. It takes a full half-hour. For the lower-body version we alternated 12 reps of an exercise (squats against an exercise ball, say) with lunges back and forth across the room while holding 12-pound hand weights (note the elegant echo of the "12" motif).
She told us the sum total of exercises and reps involved but I blocked it out.

Every four years

A woman and her little boy, John, were sitting next to me in a waiting room this morning. The mom told me that although John was 4 years old, he hadn't had his first official birthday party yet because he was born in a Leap Year. She said that a woman she knows, another Feb. 29 baby, was treated to a Sweet 16 birthday by her daughters -- on her 64th birthday.

On the cover

The cover art on the Dec. 12 issue of "The Chronicle of the Horse" is by Unionville artist and horsewoman Susan Tuckerman. Her artwork, "On Course," shows Buck Davidson and Ballynoe Castle RM ("Reggie") competing at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

Grounded

I was at my favorite shipping store today mailing Christmas presents. Not surprisingly for Dec. 19, the place was swamped, with boxes and mailing bags stacked everywhere ready for the UPS and FedEx pickup.

The two young clerks seemed remarkably calm and poised, even though they were both downing large cans of Red Bull, the caffeine-packed "energy drink." When I remarked on their choice of beverage, my clerk read aloud the wording on the back of the can: "Improves performance, especially during times of stress." He said the drink seems to help when he's confronted with difficult customers, and indeed he was very patient with the demanding fellow in front of me. 

Shopping

What a delightful little open house/craft sale at Inverbrook Farm in West Marlborough on Saturday! Claire Murray invited several local artisans and vendors to the Lofting family farm; there were cheeses by Talula's Table, jewelry by Whitney Marsden, adorable hand-made bags and aprons by Bessie, "inspired orchids" by Chansonette, herb rubs by Happy Cat Organics, stoneware by Lyla Kaplan, beeswax candles and even rain barrels. The dining room was full of wonderful quiches, ham, latkes and desserts.

I bought some fancy salami and cheeses for my sister and her family, and a sweet little toiletries bag for my teenage niece. I used a credit card to pay and the woman from Bessie's used her smart phone to swipe it (she had to stand by the window to get a signal). Instead of a receipt I received a text message while I was still standing there: very cool!

Food by Trader Joe's

I've been to two Christmas parties this month where most of the food has come from Trader Joe's. As a frequent party-goer, this is a trend I definitely like. Not only is it much less work for the hosts, but it's also delicious: on Friday night the buffet spread included those yummy little hot dogs wrapped in pastry and chicken satay on skewers as appetizers, and then baked ham for dinner.
At a party postmortem this hostess told me that her guests stayed much later than usual: more than coincidence?