Red Nose

Heading Upstate

Well damn! The Habs just tied it up with 36 seconds left, and I do not like this turn of events AT ALL. I mean, Ovie does have a hat trick, but geez. Oh well -- on to overtime.

Wait a sec... WOOO! Ovie scored the winner in overtime! That's his fourth goal of the game and his 43rd of the season and a critical two points for my boys.

But hockey is not the subject of this entry. The subject of this entry is that I am going travelling up to Saratoga Springs, New York tomorrow to speak at Saratoga Reads! Winterfest. Saratoga Reads! is a very cool community program wherein the whole community, using the resources of Skidmore College, reads a novel and discusses it.

Well, wouldn't you just know it? The winning novel is Water for Elephants, the lovely circus novel by Sarah Gruen. My great good friend Phylise is on the board for Saratoga Reads! and knows of my sordid past. So... she invited me to come on up and speak and juggle (badly) and clown around at Border's for an hour or so. And, of course I agreed, because I am stupid always willing to help out a pal, especially when they pay my airfare, which is really cheap on Southwest.

Little did I know that the local media would leap all over the thought of a former clown coming up to speak, so I've had two interviews from local newspapers and I'll be going to a local radio station before the event to talk about whatever they want to talk about!

And! When I was talking to one of the reporters, he told me that he saw a big stack of my book at Borders, awaiting the hordes who will no doubt stampede the table to acquire a signed copy. Then, a traditional publisher will see the bestselling potential of my cheesy chicklit novel and then sales will skyrocket and I will have to kick back a substantial portion of my newly earned millions to Saratoga Reads!.

Well, if you're gonna hallucinate dream, dream big.

Meatacon: It's What's For Dinner

So to continue the recap, here are 10 things about Meatacon!

1. Sleigh rides in the snow are pretty magical. Cold, but magical.

2. Of course, The Doctor is there to help warm you up.

3. You can always sit on the throne at the Green Bay Winter Carnival.

4. The food: brats, booyah, fluff! Steaks you grill all by yourself! Texas Toast that I burnt all by myself! (And then I did it right.)

5. Cherry wine and cream sherry, thanks to Tom and Susan.

6. The people are amazing! Old friends, new friends, young friends, true friends.

7. Raffle! We raised $410.00 for a local soup kitchen. What a great way to spread the joy. I donated a copy of Girl Clown -- I will admit that I was nervous that no one would want it, but what a silly feeling that was -- and Susan won it! Yay!

8. The proper footwear is important.

9. As is the proper headwear.

10. And, of course, there was the Vibrator Race at that very very very Bad Bar.

Um... Yeah.

Really -- I'm not asleep. Honest.

Love List In The Snow

Friday!

Here's a very specific Love List. I love:

• cold weather
• lots of snow
• sleigh rides in the cold and snow
• The Doctor (McGillicuddy, that is)
• brats
• booyah
• The Bad Bar
• dancing at the Bad Bar
• the $10 rule
• St. Brendan's Inn
• a whole bunch of lovely people
• our host and hostess
• ice sculpture
• chili cook-offs
• kettle corn
• cheese curds
• The One True Wine
• rainforest showers
• Irish pubs
• big breakfasts
• pretzel fluff
• Ward and June
• high-maintenance hamburgers
• frozen custard

And that, my friends, is why I am off to Green Bay this morning. See you Tuesday!

The Puck Stops Here

My God, am I tired! I have been tired all damn day, because I worked very hard all night long trying to meet up with the woman who wants to buy my mother's car. Four separate times I tried to meet up with her! Four separate times I woke up frustrated because I had failed. Four separate times I reminded myself to put the title in my purse in case our planned meeting this evening actually happened. (It didn't, but that's okay. It would have been too work, and I was already tired.)

Yeah. Dreams. Heh.

Now, though, I am getting ready to watch my Caps beat up on the Maple Leafs. I have been so excited to watch my boys win lately! I love it when Ovie scores -- he's just so joyous! It's like every goal is his first. Even better, he's just as joyous when one of his teammates scores. And Nicklas Backstrom? I just want to pick him and put him in my pocket. He looks like he's about 12 (he's actually 19), but boy! Can he play hockey!

I leapt off the sofa when Matt Bradley scored the first goal in the twelfth round of the shootout against the Oilers and clenched my teeth together as the Oilers player (the name is irrelevant) skated up to shoot. I mean, the Caps are terrible in the shootout, right?

Ah, me of little faith! Olie the Goalie came through and stopped the shot; the Caps won and earned two more points.

Then we beat the Panthers -- oh hell yes! My membership in the Optimilitia seemed more and more justified.

But I will admit to a tremor of trepidation as I tuned in the Pens game. Our nemesis, the Pittsburgh Penguins! They seemed to have our number like we had the Ottawa Senators' number. But I needn't have worried, because the boys came from behind to tie it up and once again outshot the Pens in the shootout to win.

And no cracks about pretty boy Sidney Crosby being hurt. Boo-fucking-hoo!

Must dash; the puck's about to drop.

(Are you happy now???)

Snocean City

Thank you all for your lovely birthday wishes!

This weekend was lovely; the nicest present I could have gotten.

And butt cold.

But lovely. I love the beach in the winter. It's quiet, first of all, so quiet. Maybe the cold has something to do with that, but it sure is nice.

It actually snowed, too. We got about an inch, which made some of the odd characters in Ocean City look even odder.

Cold duck? Thanks, I'd rather have champagne.

We had a nice long visit with SonnyeBoy, and we ate a lot of beef. I mean, heck! We went to a rib joint for a prime rib dinner on Saturday, then we had steak and eggs for brunch on Sunday, and then my sister and her husband had us over for roast beef on Sunday evening!

So I had a salad for dinner tonight. Just another indication that I was back to reality.

Birthday Love List

Hey! It's my birthday! And it's Friday, and it's a long weekend, and so -- what better reasons for the Meg Fowler Friday Love List?

I love the StoryCorps/NPR interview with Mom. It came out beautifully! If you missed hearing it live, you can go here or here to listen. Let me know what you think!

 

I love that we're going to Ocean City this evening for the weekend! I even love the fact that I told Mom, and she didn't fuss about not going along. Yay!

I love the fact that it's my birthday, and I am old-ish, and I don't care. I am okay with being 56. Really. I am. Honest.

I love good food, and there is lots of it in Ocean City, even in January. Jules, I'm looking at you.

I love looking at the ocean in winter. The beach is deserted, except for the other hardy souls who love looking at the ocean in winter and for the sea birds. The shells are always better in winter.

I love the smell of Joe's favorite cigars.

I love the longer days. I can really tell! In fact, Joe came home the other day and said  "Hey! It's six o'clock and it's not fully dark yet!" and I kissed him because it's true, and soon it will be light and warm at 8:30 pm. And then I will complain about the heat.

Two Minutes of Fame!

I just got word that part of the StoryCorps interview that I did with Mom will be aired tomorrow, January 18, at 6:20 am and 8:20 am. So if you're up and you'd like to listen, tune in to your local NPR station. The snippet will also be on the NPR website, if you don't get a chance to listen "live." (If you want to listen to the whole thing, go here.)

What a great birthday present!!

Que Sera, Sera

Ronni, over at the most excellent Time Goes By, got tagged to do the When I Was Young meme, wherein you think back to when you were 25 and list five things you never thought you would be or that would happen. With my 56th birthday fast approaching, I thought it was only right that I jump on it.

I turned 25 on January 18, 1977. When I was 25, I never thought that I would:

• Be anything other than a circus clown, or perhaps an ack-tore. I thought I had found my life's work, that I would do what I loved and the money would follow. Hah! Turns out that I hadn't and it didn't.

• Have a child who grew up to be a cop. My children (plural, mind you) would be hippie clowns just like me. Hah! I did live up to my internal promise to let my child follow his bliss, and his bliss led him right into the police academy.

• Be so into computers and high technology. At 25, I cherished the thought that I would go back to nature, live in a teepee in the wilderness, and eat of the fruit of the land with flowers in my hair. Hah! I am currently lusting after the new MacBook Air, a suite at the Ritz Carlton, room service, and a dye job.

• Lose my two best friends -- one to cancer; one to AIDS. Hell, AIDS wasn't even on the horizon yet. On the other hand, I never thought that my mother would still be alive at 96.

• Vote Republican. Oh wait! That still hasn't happened! Scratch that.

• Earn what I'm earning. Then again, I never though gasoline would cost $3.00 a gallon, either.

Overall, though, I'm glad that things turned out the way they did. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll get to do this meme again in another 30 years!

Snow, Briefly

Rest in peace -- or maybe pieces -- Vampira.

The weather was cold and clear this morning. I went outside to get the paper and breathed deep, just to get some fresh air into my lungs, and admired the sunrise and said hello to Venus, still bright in the southeastern sky.

I was glad to see the day. I had a restless night last night. I fell asleep too early and then woke up, wide awake, at 2:00. After rolling around for awhile, I got up and went into the guest room to watch (or rather, to fall back to sleep to) TV. I found the movie Twins on one of the myriad HBOs, and sure enough! I made it  through the first half-hour or so before descending into sleep.

Unfortunately, I had a nightmare, wherein I was screaming at Mom. In the dream she had decided to move home, and I was terribly, terribly frustrated and angry that she would do that, that she would think that she could live on her own again. I kept trying to make her understand that we couldn't help her if she moved home, but she wouldn't listen.

I was very glad to wake up from that particular instance of hopes and fears, to realize it was only a dream.

By that point, the credits for Twins were rolling, so I turned off the TV and went back to sleep for the remaining two hours before the alarm would end my night.

At lunch, it was snowing like mad! Just a brief squall, mind you, but actually fun to walk through. The flakes stuck to my coat and hair, and I quite enjoyed the block-long walk. By the time I finished eating, the sun was back.

A few hours later, Mother Nature let me know it was time to go home with a lovely sunset over the National Presbyterian Church.

 And now it's time for supper, relaxing, and -- I hope -- a better night.