Back in Delaware

Slowly, but surely, I am acquiring a social life. Not only are we friends with the University carpenters, who keep having to come fix things in our house, but we have our swim team buddies, with whom we chat more and more (there's a certain punchiness at 5:00 A.M.). Superman has his research group, and I have my friends at the co-op. We're going to a party next door on Friday, and to a research group party Sunday. I have plans to visit a contact at St. Andrew's, where they filmed Dead Poets Society, in January, and I have even enrolled in a class: History of Rock. I have high expectations for this academic experience. Will there be in-class performances? Will we study Wilco or Bob Mould? I chose the class based on the high recommendation of one of our movers, a student here, who raved about it. I've confirmed with other students that it's very popular, so it will be like shopping at Abercrombie--I will feel "in," even if I'm not. Other than choosing it 'cause it's cool, I was attracted by the fact that it's not too long (an hour a day would be preferable, but it's one hour, thirty minutes. I balked at the class that was three times a week for three hours. I'm too old to do that, and what would I do at the breaks? It did occur to me that there might be a final. But I figure since I got a 98% the last time I took a test for traffic school, I should be OK.

So all's well in Delaware. Poppette the Rockette may soon have a buddy other than her "mom"; we want to get another kitten after the holidays. We really want a lab puppy, but we need to wait till we're more mature. We have the advantage of regular phone and email contact with our families and friends, too, so we feel connected to those who know us best even as we forge new friendships, and we're looking forward to Christmas in California.

Merry, merry!

Holidays in the City

I'll take any excuse to go into New York City, particularly when I can write off the train ticket. I met my friend and creative director, Heather, at the StoreExpo conference last week, and got to enjoy her company, as well as the company of my college friend Amy and her husband and baby, and my college friend Laura, who hosted me most of the week. After a day in the Bronx with Amy and family (boy, that kid's a fast crawler!), I spent a day at Javits Convention Center, hearing a great keynote on marketing strategy and how retailing is changing, and visiting exhibitor booths. The best part was unexpected: We got to visit retail showrooms in New York City and meet with the salespeople there. We saw some amazing new products, met some great people, and got some ideas (mostly for Heather) about things to use for trade show booths, store design, and merchandising. They even fed us! We concluded our day with friends Laura, Amy L., Hao, and Inna at Shebeen in NoLIta, followed by dinner at Lombardi's, the best pizza place in Manhattan.

The conference also supplied us with a magazine featuring cool store spaces around the city. We spent the following day wandering around Fifth Avenue (after an important stop for brunch at Friend of A Farmer near Gramercy Park, and a walk around the park, thanks to Heather's friend Inna, whose building has a key). Our favorite store decorations were at Henri Bendel, with a whacked-out Alice in Wonderland and rabbit heads on mannequins, painted gold. Heather had been graciously invited to the Empire State Building office of Ronnette Riley, a famous architect whom she worked with on the design of the Apple store in SoHo, so we visited there before a party on the Upper West Side.

We spent Friday at the ABC Store in Union Square. They have have three restaurants there! The store is phenomenal. We went from there to Time Warner Center, where there's a Bouchon and a Bouchon Bakery (mmm), then to Lincoln Center for the New York City Ballet's Nutcracker. With visions of sugarplums dancing in our heads, we called it a night early.

Saturday, Superman met me in the city, and after brunch at Jane, we wandered around SoHo and the West Village, met Laura and her sister to shop at the Young Designer's Boutique, checked out the East Village, and finished Part A of the tour in Union Square. We headed uptown to Central Park, which is romantic and lovely during the holiday season. There's nothing quite like standing next to Wollman Rink, looking up at the bare branches of trees framed by tall buildings, with the lights from Tavern on the Green in the distance. Ahh.

We left the park reluctantly and entered the Fifth Avenue fray. We'll never do it again, but Superman had to see the holiday decorations once in his life. After a walk-by of the tree and ice rink at Rockefeller Center, we'd had enough, but took a fatigued jaunt through Times Square, just to give Superman the complete experience. We ended at Da Enzo, home of the best gelato in New York City, near Penn Station at 494 9th at 39th. After a lovely dinner, we sent Laura to a holiday party and settled into seats on the Wilmington-bound Amtrak, headed home to our cat and Christmas tree.

Welcoming the Holidays

As BostonErin's Fab Husband would say, "You can't swing a dead cat"...without hitting a holiday event in our area. On Saturday, after being awakened by a real, very alive cat still thrilled to be home from the vet (she appears to have learned how to meow; how delightful), Superman and I perused Spark, the free weekly newsmagazine available at newsstands around town, to determine which of the twenty nearby historical sites, decorated for the holidays, to visit. We decided upon the Hale-Byrnes house, whose only open house day was Saturday, the Chaddsford Winery (actually in Pennsylvania), and the Brandywine Museum (also in Pennsylvania). We figured we could also fit in a Christmas tree purchase and a trip to Trader Joe's. Aggressive, as Superbro would say.

Because we were planning to participate in the First Annual Reindeer Race in Newark at 6:30 P.M. we had to get a move on. We hit the Hale-Byrnes house first, as it is just a few miles from our house and on the way to our other attractions. We walked in as a fife and drum band, dressed in Revolutionary War style, began playing Christmas carols. Totally cute. We decided that if I need more activities in Delaware, I could play drums in the fife and drum corps. Matt got a real kick out of imagining himself saying to people, "Gosh, we'd love to come to dinner on Saturday, but Katie's got a gig with the fife and drum band at a Revolutionary War battle re-enactment." I must be clear; I am not making fun of battle re-enactments; they fascinate me. But the image of myself dressed like George Washington, spending Saturday at one, playing marches, just sends me into hysterics.

But I digress. The Hale Byrnes house is on the banks of the Delaware River and the site of George Washington's meeting with Captain Kirkwood and some of his other top officials prior to the Battle of the Brandywine. George was there, actually-well, someone was impersonating him. There were some other Revolutionary-era ladies, too. Everyone was very friendly; we had hot cider and cookies and chatted with folks. A woman about my age asked, "So, how did you hear about us?" I replied, "Oh, I found a flyer somewhere, and we live right near here." She said, "Cool. I live here." No way. She lives in the historic house! So cool. I was beside myself. She was thrilled to be talking to people her own age, and we were thrilled to meet a nice person...who lives in a historic house!

After a few fife and drum carols, we headed out for our next stop. Every Christmas tree farm we passed, we missed, due to late sign-spotting, so we gave up on that and headed to Chadds Ford. Unfortunately, we also saw Chaddsford Winery too late. We'll go back--maybe once our supply from Trader Joe's runs dry. There's a Brandywine Valley wine trail that could provide some entertainment in the cold winter months. Instead, we gave into our hunger pangs and had lunch at Hank's, "Where hungry people eat, and friendly people meet." We did make it to the Brandywine River Museum, home to works of art by the Wyeth family. They have a holiday train display that fills a room and is fabulous. They also have a dollhouse. The setting is on the banks of the Brandywine River, utilizing lots of brick, glass, and old wood, and it's just gorgeous.

We did hit Trader Joe's on the way back, but no Christmas tree was purchased. When we got home, we rested up for our run. We joined 200 of Newark's runners a half-block from our house, signed up, attached our race numbers and jingle bells, waved to YouDee, the UD mascot (a blue hen), and took off running. The 5K utilized a fantastic running and biking trail in town that we hadn't tried yet--now we have a great, car-free running route. It was a kick to be out with other runners enjoying the evening. When we finished, there were tons of snacks and drinks for the runners, and we wandered around Winterfest, drinking hot cider, watching ice sculptures being made, and listening to holiday carols played by a local brass band.

The next day, we went to Longwood Gardens to see the 400,000 lights all over the estate. Sublime. On the way, we bought our tree at a family-owned farm. It's a Frasier fir, and it's lovely! The season is officially in full swing!