#ShopLocal – Small Business Weekend Shows

This weekend isn’t all about Turkey, Black Friday, and football.  It’s also about Small Business Saturday & Sunday, sometimes called Plaid Saturday & Sunday.  These days are the exact opposite of what Black Friday is all about.  They’re about shopping at local stores, shopping handmade, and keeping your holiday spending in your local economy where it will do the most good.

As it so happens, I have two Small Business Weekend shows this weekend, and they’re going to be a wonderful antidote to Black Friday insanity, indigestion from eating too much, and Forced Family Fun Time.

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Old Schwamb Mill Craft Show & Sale Saturday 11am-7pm Arlington, MA

For the second year in a row I am proud to participate in the Old Schwamb Mill Craft Show and Sale.  This Saturday from 11am-7pm, thirteen artisans will be on site at the Old Schwamb Mill to sell hand-made arts and crafts.  The Mill will be open to the public and a portion of all proceeds will go toward the preservation and conservation of the historic mill building.

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Notes and Open Letters Regarding the Election

These are things that have been rattling around in my head since the horror began to reveal itself last night.  Some of them are fully formed letters, other are just too long to be tweets.  Read them, share them, do what you will (with credit of course).  Fair warning, I don’t have the tolerance or patience to argue with Trump supporters, anyone who opted out of voting yesterday or who voted 3rd party.  If you show up here spouting crap that in any way irritates or stresses me I’ll bring down the ban hammer so fast it won’t just be the door hitting you in the ass on the way out.

Oh, yeah, and I’m probably gonna break my own rules and swear.  It’s the apocalypse.  I think my mom will understand.

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More thoughts on this historic election day: part two

Bear with me, because this post is a LOT longer.  I just have too much of a need to vent.

After I picked Kelly up from work, we pahked the cah in our driveway and walked (in my case, limped/hobbled) down to our polling place here in Winthrop.  We had never been there before, but luckily it was even closer than we thought it was.  There was a line, but it wasn’t that bad, and we were fortunate in that we got through the line and voted pretty quickly.  I know other people around the greater Boston area (and around the country, for that matter) had to wait for hours.  So we walked home and I made some dinner so we could settle in for the evening and watch the returns.

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Some thoughts on this historic election day, part one

Yes, historic.  No, I am not being overly dramatic.

I have plenty to say, but as an introduction I want all of you to hear what Samantha Bee has to say because she puts it in its proper perspective and frankly, it’s something I think we all need to hear.

She’s right.  As Kelly pointed out on our Twitter feed earlier today, a lot of people (particularly women) see this election in its proper context as (quite probably*) the first election of a woman to the office of President of the United States.  And that is absolutely HUGE.

More to follow soon, I promise.

-Geoff

*Unless this turns into another too-close-to-call nail biter like 2000, we’ll probably know soon enough, won’t we?

Friday November 11th, 2016 7:00pm @BU CFA – A FREE Concert Featuring Me!

It’s that time of year again.  The When Patients Heal You concert is back.  Only this year we’ve moved out of the lecture hall at the BU Medical Center and we’re back at my alma mater, Boston University.  In fact, we’ll be performing in the concert hall where I did my undergraduate recital lo these many years ago.

patients-heal-you-2016-ad

 

It will be much like years past, all the performers will be neurology patients of Boston Medical Center and many of them will be epileptics like me.  We’ll all get to perform two pieces and probably bring the house down at the end with big sing a long with Denise at the keyboard.

There’s usually a reception afterward with tasty food and a chance to mingle with the performers and the medical staff who not only provide us with excellent care, they sometimes even perform with us.  Please join us on Friday night for a great concert and a lot of fun.  This is a free event.  Tell your friends.

~Kelly

Our new kitty Violet seems to be adjusting

As we have been adjusting to the new place, arranging everything and getting things unpacked, so have the animals.  And the adjustment is particularly eventful for Violet, who is also getting used to Kelly and me and the dogs.   And of course, the dogs are still getting used to her.  Especially Dash, who often seems quite obsessed with her.

A blurry Dash makes a running leap towards Violet, who is sitting in Scratch's favorite cat bed in the basement window.
A blurry Dash makes a running leap towards Violet, who is sitting in Scratch’s favorite cat bed in the basement window.

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Meravelha’s at it again – Daydreams & Desires

If you haven’t actually gotten it together to go see Meravelha perform yet, well, I have no idea what you’re waiting for.  They’re reprising their signature concert for two performances this month.  Do your best to go and see, you don’t want to miss this.

meravelha-header

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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Reupholster

Even semi-regular visitors around here know that Geoff and I like old stuff.  And by old stuff I mean antiques.  We have a lot of them around the house.  (To be fair we have a reasonable amount of old rocks too, but most of them are set into jewelry.)  Some of the antiques we own come to us in rough shape.  Some of it we’re good at restoring ourselves, but sometimes we need to involve a professional.  Note that you’ll never see an antique piece of furniture painted “shabby chic” or with chalkboard paint in our home.  NEVER.

But, you will see furniture with good bones get reupholstered.  Reupholstery is part of restoration, sometimes the fabric on a piece isn’t original or is but is too badly damaged to salvage.  That’s where a really good upholsterer comes in.

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So, we adopted a ninja

After losing Bucky back at the end of May, and then going through the insanity of buying a house and moving, Geoff and I talked about getting another cat.  It was especially evident that this was a good idea once we moved in here as this place has a lot of room and Scratch turned into a SUPER cling monster.  Yesterday, after searching on multiple websites here and there for a couple of weeks, we went to the MSPCA with a couple of kitties in mind as possible contenders.

Our only criteria was that the cat was female, not a kitten, had lived with other cats, and could get used to other cats.  We were not planning on getting a ninja in the bargain.

Presenting Dame Violet Crawley Hopkins-Michael, KBE*.

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