Oktoberfest

On Saturday, I attended an Oktoberfest at a friend's house. They went all out for the party.

There was a big tent in the yard.

                                
                                     And they hired an oompah band.
                                           

                                                    The band was really great!

They played throughout dinner.

                                                    There was a photo opportunity.

And they wore lederhosen.

Some pretty frauleins.

The pretzels were delicious.

                                         A fruit plate complete with German cheese.

                                     A sweet snack of chex mix and melted white chocolate.
                                        

           
                                         The oompah band assembled us at the beginning of the driveway and
                                         had us parade into the backyard.  Evidently Oktoberfest starts with a
                                         band leading a parade.

                                I was behind Duane during the parade. He was dressed appropriately.

                                          Our hosts Roger and Deborah officially opened Oktoberfest.

                                             Lots of authentic foood.

                                        Don't ask me to name it all but it was really good. I loved the
                                        noodle thing.
                                         

                                                    Duane was very happy with the food too! Or was it the beer?

                                    This couple was outfitted by the man's mother who makes costumes
                                    for a theatre group.  His shirt is from Transylvania, a gift from a Romanian
                                    exchange student.


                                    

                                           More frauleins!

                                   Here's an overview of the "beer hall".

                                         Black forest cake, of course!

                                       Apple streudel, yum!!

                                              Vanilla sauce for the streudel.

                        
                                                     Roger contemplates his beer.

                                        Our host's daughter carved this pumpkin.

                                       They have a gorgeous home with two decks.  One on the left
                                        and one on the right side of the house.

                                           It looked so beautiful with all the lights.

   
                                        The left deck.

This section connected the left and right decks. 

And here's the right deck.

Our host's son entertained us with the cello.  And yes, he is available for

weddings and parties. He has an impressive resume.

We all had a great time at Oktoberfest. The weather could not have been better for an

outdoor party.  It was unseasonably warm! When the sun went down it was nicely cool.

We were told this is going to be an annual party. What a fun tradition!

You are entering the twilight zone

Picture this:  a woman, asleep in her bed, is awakened by a shrill noise.  Startled and barely awake, she struggles to reach the cell phone on her nightstand. Surely, the noise must be the alarm she set on the phone for her 8:30 wake up.

Horrified, she discovers it is not the phone alarm but something much more sinister and it is coming from inside her condo!

The offending party? The hallway smoke detector. It's sound so deafening that it woke all occupants inside the condo unit.  The fully awake woman investigates for fire. No smell of smoke and earlier in the night, there were no signs of a malfunction or low battery on the device.

She grabs a battery and pulls a chair under the smoke detector.  She climbs the chair but she is not tall enough to reach the detector.  At this point, a second detector goes off. The first alarm set off a chain reaction.

The decibel level is unbearable and the woman's three cats run crazily around the condo.

All is not calm or bright.

The woman calls the fire department.  She could not chance the alarm continuing and waking up the other unit owners. It was now 4:45 in the morning.  She corrals the cats into the bedroom so they will not bolt out the front door when the firemen arrive. 

She grabs sweatpants and a jacket meant for outdoor wear and gets dressed.  The firemen arrive and determine there is no fire. One of the firemen stands on the chair and replaces the battery which powers the battery backup.  One alarm is silenced.  The firemen start to leave when the woman asks if they can silence the second alarm by also changing that battery.

One of the firemen snaps at the woman,"We are not a battery changing service!"  But the younger firemen takes pity on the woman and he climbs the chair and changes the battery.

The silence is a welcome sound. The firemen's footsteps are the only sound remaining in the building. The woman closes the door when they leave and lets the cats out of the bedroom. She makes one trip to the bathroom before retiring to bed. A quick check in the mirror reveals bedhead.  The woman is too exhausted to be embarrassed about the firemen seeing her with bedhead!

She retreats to her bed and finally falls asleep after the adrenaline rush wears off.  She awakens the next morning, feeling tired and jet lagged.

She wonders was it all a dream or did she enter the twilight zone?

Macaron Sweeterie, worth a visit

I drove by this shop many times on my way to Wilson Farms and I always thought it might make a cute tearoom.  It was vacant for a bit but now it has a tenant.

The sign outside made me investigate.  I love macarons!

Nice decor, clean, all of their offerings listed on a menu.  So far so good.

The owner ( I assume she was the owner) smiled and asked if she could help me.

I looked at the menu and then I spied these little pieces of heaven.  So colorful and delightfully diplayed. I contemplated all of the flavors. While I was thinking, a woman and two young boys entered the shop. "This is the best place ever!" exclaimed one of the boys.

Ok, after hearing that proclaimation I went for the six pack of macarons. I stayed with the safe flavors. I am not very adventurous but I don't care. Dark chocolate, espresso, lemon, caramel du sel, and 2 vanillas.

Another view of the showcase. At Macaron Sweeterie, you can also get gelato and cappucinos, mochas,etc.  They even have a macalato which is a macaron shell filled with gelato, your choice.

I opted to save the box of macarons for later and I ordered a mocha.  Not quite a European drinking chocolate but almost as rich and much lighter.  Oh my, I will need to go back for one of those again.

It really was the best I ever had.  The little boy was right! This is the best place ever!

Over the weekend, I enjoyed my macarons and I loved them so much I did not share.  Not a single one!

If you find yourself on  Massachusetts Ave in Lexington, you need to stop in.  You will not be disappointed.

Tonight's Dessert

One of my favorite desserts is apple pie.  Now that Fall is here and apples are in season, I was craving a good pie.

So I called my friend Mary, the best pie baker I know, and she made this beauty for me. It tasted as delicious as it looked.  And with only three people at dinner, there are leftovers! Fantastic!

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

Every season I try to make a photo mosaic. Then I can look back and see what I did and where I've been.

So here's my Summer 2011 recap:

Top row from left to right-  an evening at Fenway Park, daytrip to Rockport, spending time at the Winchester Farmer's Market, al fresco dining and a delicious gelato

Middle row from left to right:- discovered a new shop Brissonte in North Reading, chilling out with an ice coffee and one of my favorite reads, a second daytrip to Rockport, Miss Marble the kitty we fed most of the summer

Bottom row from left to right- daytrip to Kennebunkport, daytrip to Nubble Light, Melrose Victorian Fair, Percy admiring himself

I didn't take a Summer vacation this year but I have 18 vacation days to take by the end of the year. I see lots of daytrips or long weekends this Fall!

Random acts of kindness- flowers

 On Saturday, I was driving on Main Street in Reading and I passed by a house with this sign out front. Help yourself to the flowers, what a nice invitation!

What a glorious shrub,well, I guess it was a tree really. So lush and filled with the most gorgeous
hydrangea blossoms.

And such beautiful colors on the blossoms. The overexposed photo does not do it justice. There were pinks and greens and peaches woven oh so subtly into each flower.

The house was adorable too!  And I can only imagine really nice people live here. I drove home and got my flower cutting tools and returned to take some of the blooms off the back of the tree.

And here are the results! They look so pretty in the common area of the condo. I placed some on the bistro set .

They brighten up a little corner by the back door . All of my condo mates can see them when they are leaving for work in the morning or coming home at night.

And a second vase full of flowers for the other table in the foyer.  I have since taken the runner off this table. It was competing with the flowers and we can't have that, can we?

So, a simple random act of kindness can really make someone's day.  I plan to drop a note or card in the homeowner's mailbox to thank them.

Trolling Estate and Yard Sales

A forecast of Fall-like temperatures and a rare Saturday off made me decide this morning was a perfect time to go yard saling.  I checked online and set my GPS.  I added a few estate sales in the mix and I was off  to one estate sale and three yard sales in Wakefield and one estate sale and one yard sale in Melrose.

I set up a still life in my side yard to display my finds for you. The hydrangeas have a little story but that's for another post.

The estate sale in Wakefield was pretty good. It started at 9AM and I arrived after 10.  So I think a lot of the really good stuff was gone.  I got the small teapot, tea cup and 2 saucers there. I like to shop estate sales because you can often get a real bargain but they also bother me. I am conflicted.

I was conversing with a woman at the estate sale and I said although I love to go to estate sales I find them unsettling.  Think about it, the occupants of the house have died and throngs of people are walking through their home.Today at the estate sale, people were rifling through drawers and cabinets.  I saw a young man sifting through a woman's closet. I find it kind of creepy. The woman I was speaking to said she thinks of it as giving a second life to the deceased's possessions. I shall try to view it this way.

Here's a closeup of the teacup and one of the saucers.  They don't match but I don't care.

In Melrose, I went to an estate sale, nothing there of interest to me.  And I felt so bad because the granddaughter was there and she was crying.

I then went to a few yard sales in Melrose. At one yard sale, I got three fur pieces.  The first one was a small collar. The inside was satin and it was in excellent condition.

The second piece was a hat.  It's on the small side bur it will fit Vivienne, my dress form perfectly.

Here's the teapot from the estate sale in closeup.

The third piece from the same yard sale.  A fur muff.  If I ever go ice skating again I can use this!

Here's the cool satin lining on the fur collar.  This collar is so elegant.  I think I can probably tack it on to one of my cardigans.

The teacup and saucer don't match as you can see but they look good together.

 This saucer is from the estate sale.  The old keys are from an antique yard sale in Wakefield.

I guess I pretty much covered these chairs with my finds I got them in Melrose at another yard sale. They were a steal. Made by Burrowes, they are in almost pristine condition! They will serve as extra seating and I can also use them as props in photo shoots.  So cute!

Here's a closeup of the seat of the chair. I absolutely love the color of the wood.

I worked up an appetite after all that rummaging.  So I gave my friend Debbi a call and she and one of her friends met me for breakfast at Aroma Cafe in Reading. 

A nice day all around.  How about you? Any interesting weekend plans?