Sunday Salon: December 21, 2014

The Scene: 9:45 am  - sitting on couch, coffee in hand, surveying the apartment and trying to remember what I have forgotten to pack. Prince is lounging next to me - he is down for the count after getting vaccinations on Friday.  The pics below sum up the before and after pretty accurately.

 Reading: I have a few books in progress right now (which is rare for me but it has to do with all the formats). In print, I am reading The Way Life Should Be by Christina Baker Kline - I am really enjoying it.  I never read her most famous novel - The Orphan Train - but likely will after this one.  On my reader, I am reading a Christmas book - Christmas at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan.  It is set in London, light and fluffy and perfect for this time of year! Finally, on audio, I am also transported to England by Jo Jo Moyes's One Plus One. I read The Girl You Left Behind (my review) by the author and loved it.  This book is also shaping up to be quite good!

Listening: See above for current audiobook. Need to queue up some others with a long flight coming up next week - any recommendations? I have been hearing a lot about Serial and will try that podcast while traveling too.

 Blogging: This week I posted my review of We Are Not Ourselves - this is easily my favorite read this year and based on feedback, it seems very popular with many of you too!  I also want to feature a post I did at last year at this time as part of the Virtual Advent series - review of Christmas on Jane Street.  I think about this story each time I walk past the tree vendors in the city.  If you are looking for a good read this time of year, I definitely recommend this! It reminds me a bit of a modern day Gift of the Magi.  And today, the ebook is only $1.99!

Watching : With holiday parties, year-end stuff at work and holiday prep miscellany, I haven't been watching much TV (which is really just fine).  But I have become fascinated by the holiday decorations on the buildings and townhouses throughout the city. I have been following a hashtag called #festivefacades on Instagram (follow me) which got me looking at all the #festivefacades in Manhattan!  Here is a sample from my wanderings while running errands yesterday.

Looking Forward To: So much to look forward to - heading to Texas to visit with family over Christmas and then on to Cape Town for New Year's (hence the packing stress right now - I am sure something will be forgotten).

Hope everyone has a relaxing Sunday!

Virtual Advent 2013: NYC Christmas Tree Stands

Kelly and Marg are once again hosting the Virtual Advent Tour for bloggers where each day a blogger (or 2 or 3) share a special holiday memory, tradition, story, etc. This is my third year participating - I love the run up to Christmas and this seems like a great way to lean into it! In the past I have written about my ornament collection and my favorite holiday movie, Love Actually. Today, I am writing about a NYC institution, the street Christmas tree vendors.

Pin

Each year, just after Thanksgiving, Christmas tree stands pop up and trees line the sidewalks creating these lovely alleys of Christmas spirit. I love the smell of freshly cut trees and it brightens my walk home from work. You see families and couples weighing up the trees and can imagine the scenes as they set them up in their city apartments. The arrival of the trees are quintessentially NY to me and signal the start of the season.

My neighborhood tree stand - Pin

This year I was introduced to the book Christmas on Jane Street; this short book chronicles the story of the Romp Family who come each year from Vermont and live in a trailer selling Christmas trees on Jane Street and 8th Avenue. The story is really not about the business of selling trees  - it is about giving joy at the holidays, about the special relationship between a father and daughter, and self-discovery through the observations of others. It is touching and the perfect accompaniment to the holiday season - I heartily recommend it and can see re-reading it each year.

Prior to reading the book, I had never given much thought to the stories behind those selling these trees or the little bits of people's traditions they become part of each year.  This book certainly brought that to light for me - I will think of it each time now as I stroll through the little wonderlands created on the street annually by these vendors.

The video below (produced by BBC) tells a little about the Romp Family and you can see their operation in action.




Please check out the other Virtual Advent stop today - Trish from Love, Laughter and a Touch of Insanity

Virtual Advent: Would You Like It Gift Wrapped?

Kaliana from The Written World and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader host The Virtual Advent Tour every year where participants post about the holidays - a favorite tradition, memory, food, whatever on their assigned day. Last year, I participated for the first time and blogged about my Christmas ornament collection. 

This year I am sharing a scene from a favorite Christmas movie - Love Actually. I first saw the movie in 2003 in a theatre in England - I spent Christmas with family there that year. For a lot of reasons, that Christmas was very special and I think the movie benefits from the halo effect of those memories. I just loved the connected stories, the music and the star-studded cast. There are many great scenes in the movie but perhaps my favorite is played by Rowan Atkinson - better known as "Mr. Bean". As a customer anxiously awaits his present which he is stealthily purchasing while his wife is in another department of the store, the shop clerk (Rowan Atkinson) painstakingly wraps the present unfazed by the urgency of his customer. It is a perfectly executed scene.

 I watch Love, Actually every year and remember that wonderful Christmas in England. I hope you enjoy the "Would You Like It Gift Wrapped?" scene! Check out the other Virtual Advent posts today:

Teri @ Henningsen Happenings
Cam @ epiBloguer
Jane @ Life @ Number 8

The Sunday Salon: Dec 9, 2012 - Challenges

It's been an overcast weekend here in NY and I am feeling a little under the weather which means I have accomplished very little over the past two days. This Christmas to-do list is looming next to me - I need to get a least a few things done! I have the cards out and am going to get those started today for sure. Do you have holiday tasks scheduled today?

As the end of the year nears, I am wrapping up my 2012 reading challenges. After three years of attempting challenges, I think this is the first where I have completed most of them (there are still some DNF's in there unfortunately).   I am also excited to see all the reviews people have linked to the challenge that I am hosting - The Immigrant Stories Challenge. You can check them out here.  I am going to host again in 2013 so look for the sign-up info soon!

Today I am going to wrap up two challenges for which all the reviews are posted (I have finished others but the reviews of some are still pending).

Ireland Reading Challenge  - This challenge is hosted by Carrie at Books and Movies.  My Mom is from Ireland and I have always enjoyed books set in Ireland so this is an easy one for me.  This year I joined at the Kiss the Blarney Stone level (6 books) and I read:

Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy
Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy (audio)
Solace by Belinda McKeon
When Summer Is In the Meadow by Niall Williams and Christine Breen
Lola's Secret by Monica McInerney
Recipes for a Perfect Marriage by Morag Prunty

South Asian Challenge is hosted by Swapna at S. Krishna's Books. I read a lot from this part of the world so I have joined this challenge for the past few years. This year I read five books:

The World We Found by Thrity Urmigar
Miss New India by Bharati Mukherjee
Little Princes by Conor Grennan
And Laughter Fell From The Sky by Jyotsna Sreenivasan
The Good Muslim by Tahmima Anam

Do you do reading challenges?  How have you done on yours so far?

Saturday Snapshot: December 8, 2012

Alyce of At Home With Books hosts Saturday Snapshot where participants share a photo they have taken (please don't post photos you find online). Stop by her blog and see what others have posted!

 Christmas 2010 - Letter to Santa

I am looking forward to Christmas and was going over pics from past years.  My nephew wrote this  cute note to Santa two years ago when he was about 6. Guess those notepads in the hotels do get used!

Audiobook Review: An Irish Country Christmas

An Irish Country Christmas gives us a glimpse into the town of Ballybucklebo in Ireland as its residents prepare for Christmas. Drs. Barry Laverty and Fingal Flahertie O’Reilly treat the various ailments of the townspeople by doling out traditional medicine alongside a healthy serving of common sense advice and counseling. Of course there are a few dramas with the arrival of a new doctor in town and trouble in the romance department for the two doctors but overall this is a happy, feel good holiday story.

In this installment, favorite characters from the Irish Country series are back - Dr. Barry Laverty has settled into country life in Ballybucklebo and is constantly learning from his mentor, Fingal O’Reilly. Barry has the medical expertise down but he learns how to listen to and speak to his patients which is a much more subtle, but essential, skill in primary care. Curmudgeonly Dr. Fingal O’Reilly is still rough around the edges but we see him soften as he shows respect for his younger colleague, Dr. Laverty. He also shows his softer side as he organizes a scheme to provide money to a young single mother without the resources to buy Christmas gifts for her children. Kinky Kincaid, Barry and Fingal’s housekeeper, is steady as ever and she does more than just clean house - she really mothers the two bachelors and tells them some hard truths when necessary. If Barry and Fingal ever needed advice, it is this year as they each struggle with the women in their lives. Barry anxiously awaits Patricia’s return from England for Christmas but fears she has found someone else while at Cambridge. Fingal has reignited a relationship with Kitty and hopes he doesn’t lose her as he did many years ago.

This audiobook is narrated by John Keating whose Northern Ireland accent for the book is spot-on even thought it took a little while to get used to it. He does an excellent job of switching tone and pacing for the different characters so it was easy to differentiate between them. He even does a great job with Kinky Kincaid’s Cork accent.

An Irish Country Christmas perfectly fit the bill for me for a holiday read - it is cozy, heartwarming and light. The stars of the story are the townspeople - these diverse personalities add real color to the village and certainly make it a place I would love to spend a Christmas! If only life were as easy and pleasant as it is in Ballybucklebo!

Virtual Advent: Ornaments from Around The World

My fascination with Christmas ornaments started young - I remember walking around the tree and fingering my favorite ornaments each year. As I grew older and started to decorate my own trees, I had ornaments but few had any special meaning. At that point in my life, I was also traveling extensively for work - I was fortunate enough to visit the Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, Spain and many places across the US. I was often tempted to bring home a memento from these countries but was loathe to clutter my small apartment with trinkets. On one visit to Amsterdam just before Christmas, I saw beautiful delft ornaments and an idea was born. I bought those ornaments and then began to buy an ornament in each country or city I visited. The tradition has continued now for more than 10 years and I have amassed quite a collection which reminds me every year of the wonderful places I have been fortunate to visit. Each year I virtually travel as I decorate the tree and the ornaments are often conversation pieces as people inspect my tree and I get to share my travels with them. Unfortunately I will not be putting up a tree this year because I will be out of town over the holidays but I did pull out a small sample of my ornaments to share here.

I am not a fan of Lladro generally but while in Spain I found these porcelain Lladro ornaments that are issued each year and because I went back there over a couple of years, I collected one for each year - some are balls like this one and others are bells.

As I have said here before, Ireland holds a special place in my heart so I had to have an ornament from there - I actually have quite a few but this delicate bell is one of my favorite. It made on bone china from Galway and I think it just looks like traditional Christmas and not at all kitschy.

I found this delicate leaf on a ski trip to Vail. I certainly have ornaments which just have the place name plastered across it but I also like to get ornaments which represent the place and where you have to ask where it is from. This one really sparkles on the tree with lights behind it.

This one from my alma mater was picked up on a visit to campus for my reunion. Williamsburg marks the beginning of the holidays with Grand Illumination which includes fireworks and other colonial holiday traditions. It always coincided with finals so we often missed it but my friends and I went back at Christastime a couple of years ago and enjoyed it without the stress of studying!

These two ornaments are less traditional but represent where I found them. The silk elephant on the left is from Cambodia and I found it in a handicraft shop run by a NGO to benefit and offer jobs to the disabled of Cambodia. Th ornament on the right was picked up in St. Petersburg and is reminiscent of the handmade traditional ornaments of Russia.

I am a bit disappointed that I am not decorating a tree this year but writing this post has given me the chance to enjoy them nonetheless! Thank you to the Virtual Advent crew! Check out their website or all the Virtual Advent posts. Do you have themes for your trees or ornaments with special meaning?