In with the new

Ana ringing in the new year a little early, as she had to fly back to L.A. today. Check out her band's new Myspace page at http://myspace.com/bluegamine. Ana and Janelle, aka Blue Gamine, are looking for Myspace "friends." Could you be one?

Ana and I ski the all-purpose Norwottuck Rail Trail earlier today.

Cross country skiiers.

Ben Havener, of Northampton, entertains the masses with huge bubbles outside the Academy of Music at First Night Northampton this afternoon. He gave the recipe for the bubble concoction --1 gallon distilled water, 1 cup of Joy or Dawn dishwashing liquid, 1/4 cup of glycerin.

Goodbye, 2007.

Second and final beer tasting of 2007

Eight beer drinkers, 10 beers.
1) Young's Double Chocolate Stout (Wells & Young Brewing Co., UK)
2) Raspberry Lambic (Belgium)
3) People's Pint Slippery Slope
4) Holy Grail Ale (Black Sheep Brewery, UK)
5) Kill Ugly Radio Ale (Lagunitas Brewing Co., Calif.)
6) Wells Banana Bread (Charles Wells, UK)
7) Fischer Ale (France)
8) Criminally Bad Elf (Ridgeway Brewing, UK)
9) Sheriff's IPA (Sherwood Forest Brewers, Marlborough, Mass.)
10) Ommegang Abbey Ale (Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown, NY)

And the winner...Young's Double Chocolate Stout, again! A perennial favorite despite there always being beer purists among us who dismiss flavored beers, most notably, this time, my co-worker Phyllis Lehrer. Second was the Sheriff's IPA from Marlborough, Mass. and tying for third was the Killy Ugly Radio Ale (aka Zappa, after the picture of Frank Zappa on the label) from Lagunitas, Calif., and the Holy Grail Ale from England. The purists ensured the Raspberry Lambic which won this year's Christmas beer tasting competition would not retain the crown. Brian managed to find out its alcohol content online: a wimpy 4 percent.
As for the Criminally Bad Elf, as Paul put it, "If there was ever a reason for the death penalty, this is it."

We visit breweries and a winery in southern Vermont

We began a short tour of Southern Vermont breweries and a winery in Brattleboro, where we kept crossing paths with this guy seeking to have Bush indicted -- for "crimes against (the) Constitution." I see in an Associated Press story that Brattleboro Town Meeting may consider a question seeking to have Bush AND Cheney arrested if they visit Brattleboro (excerpt below).

"A group in Brattleboro is petitioning to put an item on the Town Meeting agenda in March that would make Bush - who's been to every state except Vermont as president - and Vice President Cheney subject to arrest and indictment if they visit the southeastern Vermont town.

'This petition is as radical as the Declaration of Independence, and it draws on that tradition in claiming a universal jurisdiction when governments fail to do what they're supposed to do,' said Kurt Daims, 54, a retired machinist leading the drive.

The White House didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the drive Friday." --AP
Ana, Paul and Nicky at an overlook between Brattleboro, where we stopped at McNeill's Brewery, and Wilmington where we ate at the Maple Leaf Malt & Brewing restaurant, which had a delicious IPA.

Wine tasting at North River Winery in Jacksonville, Vt. We tried a selection of apple-based wine and bought a bottle of blueberry apple, which was more expensive than the rest, because it was not a good year for blueberries, we learned. The most distinctive flavor was rhubarb which tasted just like the real thing.

People's Pint (of Greenfield) ginger ale float. ( I'd had enough beer for the day). Saw "Charlie Wilson's War" at Greenfield Garden Cinema, a kind of classic joint. The movie was well done, but an obscure congressman's role in promoting the covert war against the Soviets in Afghanistan is not exactly blockbuster feature material. Some great exchanges between Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman. I found "Margot at the Wedding," which we saw at Amherst Cinema the night before, MUCH more thought provoking.

Top Ten Movies of 2007

Jogging on the Norwottuck Rail Trail with Brian today.
My Top 10 Movies of 2007
I didn't realize "The Lives of Others" was in this year's line-up, or I definitely would have included it, and I think if I had seen "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" it would be one of my favorites. I cry every time I see the preview. Tonight, I hope to see "Margot at the Wedding."
1) "Once" Low budget and authentic feeling, this unusual Irish musical is an old-fashioned love story that breaks your heart. Glen Hansard, lead singer for the Frames, a popular Irish folk rock group, looks like your typical guy playing the guitar on the streets for change; and you can't take your eyes off Marketa Irglova, a teenage Czech singer-songwriter as the fan who believes in him. If "Ray" and "Walk the Line" are musical odysseys, "Once" is a poem. Magical.
2) "Bourne Ultimatum" A hypnotic existential journey with Matt Damon as directed by Paul Greengrass ("United 93"), the third movie about CIA assassin Jason Bourne, an international hitman who can't remember who he really is. We experience car chases, crashes, explosions, gunfights and fistfights as if they're part of a continuous nightmare from which we and Bourne cannot awaken.
3) "Into the Wild" I was fully prepared to be irritated by Sean Penn's adapt ation of the 1996 bestseller by Jon Krakauer about young Chris McCandless's bid to shed the shackles of society and go it alone in the wilds of outer Alaska. I came out chastising myself for my mindless cynicism. Scenic and heartwrenching with a soaring soundtrack by Eddie Vedder, the lead singer of Pearl Jam.
4) "A Mighty Heart" Karachi, Pakistan, where the late Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl lost his life, upstages the powerful presence of Angelina Jolie as Pearl's wife Mariane in this gripping political thriller. We know how it ends, but the documentary-style scenes of the streets of Karachi, where Pearl was kidnapped on his way to a supposed interview with an al Qaeda sympathizer, are irresistibly suspenseful.
5) "310 to Yuma" A lean remake of a 1957 movie by the same name, based on a short story by Elmore Leonard, starring two actors who never disappoint -- Russell Crowe, as the bad guy and Christian Bale as the good guy. It feels like an ;archetypal morality tale played out against an existential old West.
6) "La Vie en Rose" A haunting biopic about Edith Piaf (1915-1963), one of France's most beloved and iconic singers, thanks to Marion Cotillard's soulful performance. It leaves out significant facts of her life -- that she was helpful to the French Resistance, for instance -- but I felt as though I got to know the essential Piaf, because -- AND, somehow, in spite -- of the movie.
7) "In the Valley of Elah" I do not relish seeing any more movies about the Iraq War in my lifetime. But the power of this one is undeniable, thanks to Tommy Lee Jones' intense performance as a father and a military man whose son has gone missing after returning from Iraq. The scenes of the atrocities committed there as reconstructed from videos from a cell phone camera are chilling.
8) "I'm Not There" Yes, there were times this strange, um -- what to call it? -- biopic about Bob Dylan by the daring director Todd Haynes dragged, but I can't stop thinking about Cate Blanchett's interpretation of the great singer-poet.. It's as if she momentarily captured his elusive genius like a firefly in a bottle.
9) "Lars and the Real Girl" On the surface, this is a sweet, quirky ensemble piece about a community in some frozen outpost somewhere near Lake Wobegon, involving a shy man, his brother and sister-in-law and a blow-up doll. But the more you think about it, you realize it's got an intriguing intellectual premise about how reality is a group projection.
10) "Sicko" Believe me, I'm no Michael Moore apologist; he's often annoying. But the guy can make a powerful and entertaining documentary. I laughed -- especially at the part where we see the slovenly Moore walking near the Eiffel Tower, while a breathy French songstress sings the words "Je T'aime." I cried at the tales of outrageous acts perpetrated by insurance companies. Someone do something about our health care system. Please.

Post-Christmas 2007

Wildwood Cemetary
I heard the writer of the song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" on the radio saying he doesn't like Christmas anymore. He's in his 90s now, and he remembers them as being so much nicer a long time ago. I hope I don't feel that way when I get older. I do always feel a little melancholy after Christmas has come and gone again, but I think this is natural and inevitable -- like winter.

Me, my cousin Davey and my Uncle Stuart in 1968 after my grandmother's funeral. Both Stuart and my father died this year.

Wildwood pond, Dec. 27, 2007. Today's "after pic" will be tomorrow's "before pic."

BEFORE pic: Wildwood pond, Oct. 20, 2007.

Onetime after pic: Wildwood pond, Oct. 28, 2007.

Love these natural decorations on Amity Street.

Christmas Eve 2007

A tricky day for walking, especially along shortcuts through fields. Deep puddles were concealed beneath thin layers of crusty snow.

The incomparable Phyllis Lehrer gave me the heads up about a holiday tradition in Pelham: the DPW chief cooks dinner for about two dozen in the highway garage. Rick Adamcek, the roads chief, carving the venison, which he cooked at the garage and also shot. There was Quabbin Reservoir salmon and lake trout cooked in the smoker out back.







The scene outside my kitchen window shortly after sunset.

It was Tofurkey at our house for Christmas Eve dinner.









YAY. Ana is home for a few days from L.A. We plan to see "Juno" at Amherst Cinema today. First, though, I'm going to make some Tiramisu.

Long live the Patriots

This is the first year in many years most of the siblings won't be gathering in Pittsfield for Christmas, as our dad died in April and we ended up making other arrangements. Happily, four of six of us (the ones in this photo from Christmas 1967, as it turns out) got together at my sister's house in Waltham, before my brothers' and their friends' annual pilgrimage to see the Patriots play the Miami Dophins in Foxboro. My brother Eddie who lives in Fort Lauderdale gets the tickets.

Kathy, Billy, me and Eddie (left to right). Missing are Mike and Maureen, but we are scheming to get them to Waltham before the Patriots meet the Dolphins next year.

We pile into Kathy's van to go to my niece Zena's hockey game.

We may adopt this song, "Little Chief Red Feather" as played by Cora, as our theme song. Cora, you perhaps remember, is named after a character from the movie "Last of the Mohicans."

Brian and I stopped at an upscale mall in Natick on the way back where I saw this impressive tree.

I do some local buying

This is where I always stop to take a photo on my running route. I did a little shopping along the way. (For me, to shop locally is to buy locally.)

Got this at Faces in Northampton last week for a niece or nephew. Or maybe I'll give it to Hester. (Just wanted to post this pic somewhere.)

Locally handmade city- and country-scape pillows in the window at Food For Thought Books.
Glass chocolates at The Blue Marble gift shop at 191 North Pleasant Street. I knew I was going to buy SOMEthing here.
I pays my money to Cathie Walz, Blue Marble's proprietor.










Couldn't resist buying this frog on a lily pad soap and soap dish for my sister. Why not? She has recently renovated her bathroom.

Christmas cards. Sent.

Got some Christmas cards in the mail. It's pretty much the only time I write to people anymore except for the occasional birthday or thank you card. I've managed, so far, to send out a couple of dozen or so every year, although some years I thought I wasn't going to make it. Every year, since Nicky was born, I've included a photo of him and Ana, so that's 16 years. Ana says people are probably wondering how long I'll continue to send a photo of the two of them, now that she's in her mid-20s.
This year's photo: Ana and Nicky in California.







Former Bulletin staff (left to right) Sandi Nowak, Sherry Wilson and Patty Appelbaum keeping the Bulletin Christmas party tradition alive today.
Speaking of keeping in touch, got a great email last night from Lily, a wonderful journalism student from Taiwan, with photos from last semester. Lily (left) and Miryung, of Japan, also wonderful.

School day 2

One of many engaging works of art at the high school's South Amherst campus, an alternative school for students for whom a more intimate setting is beneficial.
Yes, I'm the schools reporter as of shortly before my 50th birthday -- Who'd have thought the 3-month anniversary of THAT day (Sept. 19 for those of you, yes you who have blocked it out, Larry) would have arrived so soon? -- and I'm just starting to realize how MUCH is going on not to mention how many schools there actually are. Today, I visit the South Amherst campus for the first time and learn there is ANOTHER campus called the East Campus. I'll have to get back to you on THAT campus another time.

Diane Chamberlain, of San Francisco, coordinator of the South Campus, in the all-purpose gym/study. I forgot to ask her whether she's enjoying this classic New England winter.

Student Matthew Kulp was cooking shrimp scampi. Next time, I think I'll stick around for lunch.

School day

Busy day on the Amherst schools beat today. These Fort River Elementary School Kindergarteners are selling Christmas ornaments they made with their sixth grade "buddies." They're going to donate the proceeds to an organization that buys goats, chickens, pigs and cows for Third World families, so the families can feed themselves and also sell the eggs, goat milk and pork etc.

At the high school, students are selling gingerbread houses they made in their culinary arts class.

Math students are generating these fabulous psychedelic patterns with math formulas.

I'm impressed.

Big turnout at School Committee tonight. Parents said they want their and all kids challenged more.

Cold Winter

Yesterday, I was going to blog about shoveling out my car, which I didn't need to use until Monday night, complete with photos of a clock to show how long it took.
But as it took over an hour and did not end happily-- got stuck backing out of the driveway, my new running shoes were soaked and I was FREEZING, I started thinking it might be the kind of winter that requires boots.
I checked out Zappos online. This is from their fur-lined collection. I don't think so.


Aha! From the "pointy toe" selection, just like a (glass) boot I got at the Hitching Post-- make that, Trading Post -- a used furniture and vintage knick-knack store connected to Larry Kelley's gym.
On second thought, maybe we'll have a warm spell soon and the snow will go away...