Geoff and I made the hotel room block reservation with the Holiday Inn in Brookline today. Please, before you call them, check out the details on the wedding web page. We got a special rate because of the number of expected guests, so this is not a rate that I can publish online. If you’d like to know the cost per night, please email one of us or call the hotel.
You can start making reservations as of tomorrow, 6/29/2011. Additional details are on our wedding site.
~Kelly
Geoff here – I had the chance to go to Fort Warren for some history programs and to meet with some of the staff and talk about Civil War history and living history. It was just me this time, but I hope to bring Kelly with me sometime because I think she would love it.
Especially since this year is the 150th anniversary of the outbreak and the first year of the Civil War, I have been trying to get back into the world of Civil War history. The people I spoke with at Fort Warren were really great, and several of them were highly encouraging. They seemed to be interested in possibly having me come out there sometime to do some talks. How awesome would that be?
It was particularly meaningful for me to be at Fort Warren this month. It was on June 13, 1861 that the 11th Massachusetts Infantry, the “Boston Volunteers”, were sworn into the Federal service there at Fort Warren. For those Beaulieus that may be reading this, this was the unit that Moses Beaulieu joined. So it was somewhat personal for me. For those of you who have never seen it, here is their recruiting poster that I found.
I took a lot of pictures, but I don’t want to put too many here. If you would like to see the rest of my photos (and the Harbor Islands are really beautiful if you have never seen them) from my day trip we will be putting them up in an album on Shutterfly. Once I have the link I will post it here.
A restaurant here in Massachusetts decided to turn away a group of diners because some of them had service dogs. At a restaurant called Bamboo in Dedham, staff decided that a group that included several people with service dogs could be refused service. The police were called in, and unfortunately, the police sided with the restaurant. How this is remotely compliant with the ADA is beyond me, but these days, businesses seem to be getting the benefit of the doubt when it comes to a lot of things. It will be interesting to see where something like this will go in the courts.
At any rate, this little local chain, like Upper Crust, will be one that Kelly and I avoid and encourage others to avoid.
-Geoff
The TSA, an organization rapidly on its way to becoming both a punchline and the most-hated Federal agency in the country, has committed yet another mind-bogglingly stupid act. This time, they have forced an elderly cancer patient to all sorts of humiliating search procedures, including forcing her to remove her adult diaper. How does this make anyone safer? It certainly does not make anyone’s travel experience more fun. This sort of thing is why I have decided I will not fly domestically anymore. It’s either driving or the train. And it is positively infuriating to see this sort of thing being condoned by so many people who should know better. This is security theater, in the truest sense of the term. it is an utter waste of time and resources, and it makes ordinary people mistrust the people entrusted to protect them. It does not make flying more safe, it makes airports more unbearable.
The answer is, and always has been, better intelligence. Have we made the creation of more interpreters in Arabic, Farsi, Pashtun, and other relevant languages a priority? Not really, no. In fact, until recently the policy of the government was to be more afraid of interpreters that might be gay than they were of the terrorists. And we continue to collect huge piles of raw data that sit sometimes for weeks or months with no one looking at it because there is simply too much for the overworked analysts to do. The data is useless unless someone can actually examine it. Most of the time, that sort of data can be used to show trends and patterns. It rarely if ever has everything all wrapped up in a neat little package like TV or the movies. Just grabbing all the e-mails and tapping all the cell phones the way was done with AT&T is such a colossal waste of time it makes my head hurt. It’s not like by grabbing all the Tweets in the country the government is suddenly going to find the one that says “Terrorists Abdul Johannsen and Ali Ibn Humperdink are going to bring a suitcase bomb onto U.S.A. Airways Flight 2112 on December 25th. Merry Christmas infidels!” And profiling of the most completely asinine sort has been policy, rather than behavior profiling, which is not only what is done in places like Ben Gurion airport in Israel, but is what we already do in the FBI and other crime analysis units around the country. And it works, people. IT WORKS. So stop trying to reinvent the wheel, and stop trying to insist for political expediency that the square wheel you invented really is better.
-Geoff
You decide.
This landed in my inbox today via my daily Etsy email. I have NO idea what the, um, artist? was thinking. Porcupine quills are dangerous even after they have been shed. Why on earth anyone would want to wear this around their neck is beyond me. Also, any guesses as to whether or not the TSA would let you get it on a plane?
From the Etsy page: A fringe of natural African porcupine quills radiates from a half circle of Australian peanutwood stone rondelles for this urban-gypsy, warrior-princess-with-a-little-bit-of-glam thrown in, statement necklace.
Each naturally-shed quill is approximately 4″ long. Their tips have been carefully filed down and are no longer sharp, but some care should still be taken when wearing this piece (i.e., remove prior to all amorous activity).
What? “Amorous activity?” Yep, this is why Regretsy exists.
~Kelly
Nope, this is not a post about me telling you what to do at the wedding. (That comes later… KIDDING!)
This is a post about a book. As you know if you’ve ever been to our house or seen photos, we have a lot of books. Many thousands of them. We collect books of various sorts and we have a vast reference library. We decided at Brimfield this year when we came up with some truly spectacular and funny finds that we’d take some time to share some of them with you from time to time. This may take the form of photos of really beautiful books or this may be by transcribing choice portions of really amusing texts.
This, is the the latter. Oh yes. This find was from Brimfield this year and was what sparked the idea. It is a gorgeous leather bound tome entitled Correct Wedding Customs. It is gorgeously put together and comes in its very own satin lined box. There is no copyright date or year listed, but it looks, in my estimation to be 1920’s- 30’s or so. It was published by Livermore & Knight Co. of Providence, R.I.
And if you’ve ever heard of these “correct customs” before, you’re doing better than me.
Page 54: “At a church wedding the wearing of hats by the bridesmaids is obligatory. These must be as carefully selected as the costumes themselves and must be in harmonious accord therewith. They may, without any risk of even an appearance of ostentation, take the form of a gift from the bride. At a home wedding, however, the maids may either appear with absolutely unadorned heads or with wreathes, crowns, aigrettes, ostrich tips or bows as may be preferred.”
Page 60: “Finally it is permissible, either in conjunction with these juvenile attendants or in lieu of them, to make use of the services of a “ring bearer,” a small boy in a page’s dress, who precedes the bride to the altar, carrying in both hands, at the level of his breast, a satin, flower-encircled cushion, on which rests the mystic ring of marriage, to be offered at the appropriate moment to the bridegroom preparatory to his placing it on the bride’s finger.”
Pages 117-120: “… the bride, following a pleasant old custom, is wont to throw her bridal bouquet, of which she has previously loosened the fastening, so that it falls more or less to pieces as she throws it. The maiden who is lucky enough to catch the largest portion is destined to marry before any of her companions. Then follow the hurried adieus, the bride’s last embrace of her mother, the front doors are flung open and the married pair step into the carriage which is to convey them to the station. At this point there too often takes place a scene or series of scenes which do rob of its gracious sentiment all that has gone before. Let it be said at once that the violent throwing of showers of rice in such a manner as to be a positive and intentional annoyance to the young couple, the hurling of ancient footgear with a strenuousness that approaches brutality, the beribboning of the carriage so as to attract the attention of the passer-by, the hand-cuffing together of bride and bridegroom, all or any of these acts of misplaced humor, can only be described as vulgarity of the most pronounced description. It is perfectly proper for the maid-of-honor to throw after the departing carriage a worn white satin slipper and thus preserve an ancient tradition which at least has antiquity to commend it.”
And that, I guess, is that. If you can read that, especially that last one, without laughing, you’re doing better than I am.
~Kelly
Ideeli is doing it again. They’re having a sale on Vera Wang porcelain. It just so happens that we’re registered for Vera Wang Wedgwood Imperial Scroll for our china pattern. You can get a place setting at Ideeli right now for $75. That’s a lot less than the price Macy’s is charging and that’s where we’re registered. Sales on Ideeli usually last for 3 days.
Shopping at Ideeli is by invitation only, so if you need an invite check the blogroll on the right hand side of the screen. There’s one right there.
~Kelly
Upper Crust, a well-known local pizza chain here in Massachusetts, has had all sorts of legal problems in the last year or so. I have never been a fan of their pizza anyway, since I think their sauce sucks and their pizza is shockingly overpriced, costing more than twice as much as pizza you might get from a local mom and pop place (where the pizza is better anyway). So why anyone continues to eat there is beyond me.
Now one of their franchises has been slapped with an $80,000 fine for committing the same kind of employee abuse that got the company in trouble. I guess that apple didn’t fall far from the corporate tree.
-Geoff
Looking for something to do with your teenager on Saturday July 9th from 6:30pm – 9:30pm? Send them to the Museum of Science!
For more information go to the Museum of Science website. This is a FREE event.
~Kelly
There always seems to be more wedding stuff to do, even when you think you’re done. I know that we won’t be done till after the wedding is over, but most stuff is finished.
Anyway… for those who are interested, the wedding website has been recently updated to include tuxedo rental information, new vendor info, and hopefully, by the end of the day today, all of the hotel rental information will be there as well. Geoff called to schedule an appointment with the hotel but we haven’t heard back yet whether or not the sales manager is available to meet with us today or later this week. Hopefully we’ll be able to get the room block info up there by the end of this week.
For those of you who might be looking to share a room at the hotel to cut down on expenses, please feel free to use the guest book feature on the wedding website to post that you are looking. Don’t post any personally identifiable information other than your name, I’ll know who you are. Cousins on my side of the family, you might want to talk it over on Facebook.
Some folks have asked if we have room at our apartment for guests for the weekend of the wedding. The answer to that is that as much as we all love you, no. The Inn is closed for the weekend. We are happy to match people up to share rooms, but that weekend is going to be too hectic to have house guests and pets underfoot.
Also, some folks have asked about the Save The Date Cards. I am still waiting on a couple of addresses. I am hoping those will go in the mail by this weekend.
Questions? Post them in the comments, please.
~Kelly
