For Worse...

I wasn't supposed to come home from vacation yet.

I am home, and glad to be here. Val is in VA learning even more about books. Right until I got on to my connecting flight from Philly yesterday, all was well.

First the flight crew was late getting in from another flight. Then they got us all boarded and we were delayed taking off, due to thunderstorms, FOR THREE HOURS! We all stayed on the plane (they said they'd go back to the terminal if any of us asked them to) and finally took off. My ride home from the airport was waiting for about three hours as well, but she had thought to bring a book, and she is very patient. Then, on the way home from the airport, there was an extreme downpour just as we were driving through Hartford and one by one the dashboard gauges stopped working. Just as we exited CT 9 in Middletown, the car stalled and wouldn't start again. I hopped out and push-rolled the car out of the intersection (don't tell my cardiologist!) and we called AAA. They came and towed the car a block away to Precision Auto Body and I just walked home from there, not wanting to take any more chances on motorized transportation.

Me thinks I shoulda sailed home. Yarrrr!



Still more of last week to come! Stay tuned!

"new" CDs

...from Half Price Books in St. Paul...

Johnny Cash Collection, Vol. 3 - Johnny Cash (Sun recordings)
At The Organ - The Minus 5
The Best Of - Ben E. King & The Drifters
Tyrannosaurus Hives - The Hives
Remix Album:Happy End Of You - Pizzicato 5
Terroir Blues - Jay Farrar

"At The Organ" is on the Yep Roc label, located in NC. Artists on the 10 year old label include:

Big Sandy & His Flyrite Boys
Billy Bragg
Chatham County Line
The Comas
The Go-Betweens
Kristin Hersh
Robyn Hitchcock
Laika & The Cosmonauts
Legendary Shack*Shakers
Los Straitjackets
Nick Lowe
The Minus 5
Bob Mould
The Reverend Horton Heat
Southern Culture On The Skids
Two Dollar Pistols

They have good company in the Chapel Hill music scene, and along with good ol' Merge Records and other indy outfits in that area are recording and releasing really great stuff.

We had a pile o' holiday cards awaiting us upon our return to CT, and we have a few more things to mail out if you never got one of our cards. Sit tight!

Tonight we have a small NYE gathering to attend. The "theme" is food fit for a King and/or Queen. Mrs. Cupcakes has prepared a "King Arthur Flour Chocolate Indulgence Cake". I have secured a small quantity of red and black caviar, smoked oysters, and as a royal joke, a few tins of "King Oscar" sardines. I wanted to go get a bag of Whoppers™ from Burger King, and some of those paper crowns they give to kids, but the timing wasn't right.