A Video with Duke and Chuckie

 Last time they were here, my Latvian houseguests made a video about Duke and Charlie.

We lost Chuckie this past August (at the age of 10), and we lost Duke this week (he was 13). But since I never take video myself, I'm so glad my houseguests made this, so I can see both of them together and happy.

FOOD: New England Seafood

I spent last week seeing the sights of New England with my family. Being that it's my family, it included a lot of stops for noshing.  (And a few stops for shopping.)

Pictured on the left is a really awesome tie that I totally wish I'd bought at Building 19--(which is a New England cross between Goodwill, the dollar store and a scratch and dent joint--but the glory that is Building 19 deserves a blog post of its own!)

Here are a few of the places where we went last week on our quest to eat our way through New England:


Red's Eats

While I'm partial to the lobster roll joint on the bridge in Kennebunkport I realize that there are other places you can eat this delicacy.

Red's Eats is one of the other top places where you can get lobster on a bun, with nothing but mayo and butter to set it off. I love a lobster shack far more than a fancy lobster place!

It looked like Red's Eats might have been included in the book,  "1000 Places To See Before You Die."






One of the things you may not know about my home life is that my sweetie is addicted to fried clams. And when I say addiction, I mean addiction. On one trip up north, we had to pay a visit to a real ER. The diagnoses: an overdose of fried clams. Honest.

As a result of this addiction, we often pilgrimage to what is often considered to be the best friend clam in the world: The Clam Box. (It's quality over volume these days for my sweetie.)



But of course, these weren't the only seafood places we ate. Here are some other seafood pic's after the jump:

FILM: Madness at the Movies

Recently, I've watched both the French film Seraphine (2008) and the most recent cinematic version of Jane Eyre.

The representation of madness in these films couldn't be much different.

In Seraphine--based on the real life of primitive artist "Séraphine de Senlis"--we watch as the painter slowly goes madder and madder, and is later committed to the asylum where she dies. At no point is her madness is she attractive. She is a peasant who paints her way out of poverty, only to leave the world of sense and reality.

In the current Jane Eyre, the madwoman in the attic is crazily beautiful, passionately attached to her husband, vile to Jane, and beautiful in an eerie and otherworldly way. She's a heiress fallen on bad times.

What does the difference between these two versions of madness mean? Heck if I know.

Sometimes I just observe, without having an answer for everything.

Yankeeland: Tips for the Southerner

For the last week, I've been in Yankeeland with my family.
I've hung out with my extended family in a grouping that's too complex to try and detail to anyone who doesn't already know them. Let's just say that ages range from 2.5 to over 70...and we like to book a nice early table for dinner.
This trip has included both the northern and southern branches of my family.
It's strange, because I forget how different things were to adjust to when I first started coming north many years ago.

So, as a primer, here are some of the things that I've been explaining to my southern family:

10 Tips for a Southerner Visiting the Northeast in the "Summer."

1. If you want a Southern milkshake, order a frappe.
2. People here actually eat baked beans...and they are actually served for breakfast in a few places.
3. It's June, but school is still in session.
4. The concept of "Summer" really gets rolling around July 4th.
5. Noon is the hottest part of the day. (In Texas, it's at 4 p.m.)
6. Chowder, Lobster and Revere are said without an "r" and with a short "a" at the end.
7. It's taken me nearly 20 years to get close to the right way to pronounce the towns North of Boston. I'm still iffy. Don't be surprised when people can't understand where you mean!
8. Dunkin' Donuts coffee is nearly a religion.
9. Just pretend agree with the locals when they tell you it's hot.
10. A "Water Fountain" is sometimes known as a "Bubbler."

A few more pictures, after the jump

I'm in Yankeeland!

Originally uploaded by annainaustin

I love this picture, taken just outside of Freeport Maine.