Category — Mary

The snow sure is pretty though, isn’t it?

I spent quite a bit of time shoveling the driveway. Except for losing this time to other, more satisfying tasks, I don’t really mind clearing the driveway. Scraping away chunks of snow has that same sort of satisfaction one might get from more personal grooming endeavors. Plus I’m listening to music. And while not an actual workout, it’s a little fresh air and activity.

Now, I share a driveway with Mary, so she watches out the window and feels guilty. Which she shouldn’t. In fact, I was actually thinking to myself that clearing the driveway for our neighbors as well as ourselves makes it much more satisfying, because I feel like I’m doing a good deed. Plus I’m more careful and conscientious, because we don’t want anybody breaking a hip! Although, frankly, I’d have to be conscientious, anyway, because Cute W is a bit OCD about the driveway (and the house, and maintenance issues in general). If I do a less-than-stellar shoveling job, he’s been known to head outside after work and dinner, wearing a head flashlight and tidying up my messy edges. Which, in turn, makes me a little bit nutty, because if I’d known he was going to go out anyway, I could have skipped the whole thing and stayed inside nice & cozy.

So, today, Mary waved me down (between the music blasting and the snow blower, this was a job) to tell me that they didn’t need to go anywhere. Really, never. They were just fine. No need to clear anything at all. Spring would come eventually. And then I had to tell her that of course there’s always Cute W. And she had to laugh, because she’s noticed that he comes out and “fixes” my driveway clearing. We like to chuckle about our husbands. We ladies have to be patient, of course, but the men do, too!

Mary called later to say that she’d made dinner. No cooking for me, because I must be exhausted. But, she warned. It was nothing much. Shamefully simple. Not worthy of sharing, really. But we wouldn’t go hungry. Just a little something. Shameful. I ended up running over just as Gene was about to lug over this basket.

Mary is the queen of what we call in the customer service biz “managing expectations”. She had convinced me that I was getting nothing much. I told her that Cute W was out of town, anyway, so we weren’t being fancy. In fact, I’d pretty much planned to let the girls gnaw on crusts of stale bread while listlessly poking at unidentified containers in the freezer. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but not by much.

Anyway, here’s what we got:

Shameful!

Notice that the decent-sized pot of chowder is dwarfed by the basket of ginormous salad with homemade dressing and extra mandarin oranges (fought over by children), extra cheese for soup garnish, a loaf of bread, homemade brownies, and some fresh flowers for the table.

It almost makes me hope for more snow on Friday. Well, you know, almost.

I know what you’re thinking!  Katie’s not a shopper!  And she’s cheap!  She’s always saying that!  And, yes, it’s true.  But by chance I’ve stumbled on two more shopping destinations, so I’m doing one more post.  And then, I’m done.  No really:  I’m serious.  So if you have a store to tell me about, I don’t want to hear it unless you are also hosting a completely free family-friendly event.  With food, a bouncey-bounce, face painting, pumpkin slingshots, and alpacas.  I’m kidding!  Ummm, mostly.

A friend was inspired by the Upper Union Street post to write me about her neighbor’s business, Beastly Buddies.   Its creator Anee Teekle makes “boutique quality” costumes for children, and, my friend gushes,  she “genuinely loves what she does and making kids happy with her costumes.  I thought it would be a perfect time of year to help her get the word out on your site, with Halloween coming”.

The Beastly Buddies warehouse is located  at 301 Nott Street at Erie Boulevard in Schenectady, on the third floor.  My friend reports:

The warehouse is open Thursday and Friday 3:30 to 6:30pm, Saturday 10-3 and Sunday 12-3 (closed MTW).  The warehouse is 20% off regular priced inventory.  I recently went there and was blown away by how big it was.  There are tons of costumes and all kinds of dress-up clothes, wings, hats, wands, headbands, capes, accessories, etc.  It’s definitely worth the trip!

I thought I’d pass the word around for those of you who haven’t pulled together a costume yet.  If you check the website, check out the Accessories, which could practicall make an entire costume.  In case you happen to be, like me, cheap.  And if you are super-craftily making your kids’ costumes, way to go!  I salute you! And  I would never mock your efforts like some people.

Speaking of celebrating important seasonal events, you may recall that I had a birthday recently.   Now, if you’re a regular, you know my neighbor Mary.  Of course, she was too thoughtful and generous, and she’d gotten me a lovely sweater because I admired one of hers.  It was one of those ginormous sweaters made by someone in South America, with a bunch of pretty colors.  It was very nice.  I was happy with it.  No:  Mary thought it was too big.  It was a little too big, but it’s rare to feel like a super-hotty in a warm sweater, anyway, so I was okay with it.  There was more discussion and pondering, and it was decided that we’d go on a shopping expedition together to weigh the multitude of options at The Sweater Venture in East Greenbush.

There were a ton of sweaters, ranging from the ginormous multicolored numbers to items that were light and dressy and elegant.  In fact, if you go to the website, it looks like just a ton of ski sweaters, but there’s actually much more variety than that, as well as some pretty jewelry.  Oh, and it seemed a little bit cheaper at the store, plus there was a nice selection of clearance items, and they weren’t the kind of clearance things where you say, “Well, no wonder nobody wanted this!”

They also had cutey-patootie kids’ sweaters and slippers.

I also always appreciate it when a store has some space and/or toys set aside for little kids:  it just feels more welcoming, even if my kids are getting over this stage.

They’re also big into fair trade,  so once again I can contribute to world peace through delightful self-indulgence!!  Yippee!!

I wasn’t entirely convinced that I needed to come along with Mary (and her husband, too:  he acted as chauffeur and then read a book in the car!  apparently this is a typical day for them).  But I’m glad that I went.  We enjoyed chatting. I really liked the first sweater, but I love-love-love the new one that I picked out, which had been on Mary’s “short list” when she’d gone on her own.

I had already gotten a gorgeous hand-knit sweater from my parents for my birthday, so if you’re trying to find me sometime this winter, just look for the chick who’s looking fabulous and toasty warm!

I love our neighborhood.  It’s not just that we can walk to schools and businesses or that the trees stretch over the streets to make those beautiful dappled-green tunnels in the summertime.  Although, you know, that’s all awesome.   It’s our freakishly wonderful neighbors. Would you believe that in the last month each of my next-door neighbors has come over within five minutes when I asked them to babysit so that I could run out of the house without my kids?  I know! I promise that it was quick and that I don’t do this all the time.

Anyway,  Mary is perhaps the jewel in the crown of neighborly fabulousness.  Exhibit A:

Ah, you say.  Lovely, sure, but perhaps Katie is overly impressed with the presentation of a few cupcakes.  Mais non, dear reader.  This is the pink-frosted tip of the proverbial iceberg.  First, before I was clever enough to take a picture for the blog, I had already re-gifted half of the cupcakes to another neighbor with young children.  Because I am trying to spread the neighborly karma.  But also because Mary had given each of us girls a box of chocolates in addition to the basket of cupcakes. Because she is out-of-control generous.  But, wait, there’s more!  We couldn’t eat any of these lovely items because we were too stuffed from having a fancy tea party at her house!

This was actually the Second Annual Valentine’s Day Honey Tea Party.  Last year I was completely surprised by this event.  The girls had had tea in Mary’s kitchen while playing with her grandchildren, so when they were invited over, I schlepped them next door without much thought.  And she opened the door in full old-lady-dressed-for-tea regalia, including a wide-brimmed hat with flowers.  And then she proceeded to invite my (underdressed, unprepared, undeserving) little girls into her living room, replete with antique furniture, fragile knick knacks, Oriental carpeting, and a beautiful china tea set overflowing with pink cookies and candies.  Even a pink floral tea cozy.  I mean, if the woman wanted to open a business, she could charge $30 a child for tea party-themed birthday events.

This year, we were slightly more prepared.  We dressed for the occasion and brought a gift.

This is one of W’s favorites, a yummy crusty-whipped-creamy-and-fruit pie that we had to make because we have so many mangoes.  Which, by the way, I didn’t see at Mohawk Commons, but the Eastern Parkway Price Chopper’s still got them for $1 each.

Anyway, I was feeling better that we were more emotionally prepared for the splendor this time, but of course Mary had kicked it up a notch.  First, her lovely husband (who is every bit as delightful and over-generous as she is) had made tea sandwiches.  Such a kind idea from an 83-year-old man.  Our choices were traditional-style cucumber or tuna fish, which does not scream out “eat me!” to young children.  So M did an excellent job of taking one and nibbling a corner, but J pretty much had her face buried in the dish of chocolate truffles and barely managed to look up–just as well, since she might have said, “Ewww!”  We discussed this when we got home, of course.  I ate approximately 3 times as many sandwiches as I wanted in order to make a three-peoples’-worth dent in the platter.  Meanwhile, Mary had laid out her most tremendously glamorous dress-up items for us to adorn ourselves–netted gloves, fancy scarves, and hats that I think she should consider donating to a museum–you know, with feathers and ribbons and little net veils– one had been her grandmother’s.  And she just laid it all out there for the girls.  Leaving me feeling both grateful and anxious.

In any case, we had a lovely time.  Until the girls got restless, moving around and threatening to break everything within reach.   So we said our good-byes and thank yous and returned home to do spelling homework.

I’ve had the title of this post in my head for more than a month.  I was thinking that it would go along with the story of How Mary Taught Me to Use a Clothesline in the spring.  For me, having Mary is like having a grandmother who is also my girlfriend.  And, better yet, also my neighbor.  Our main living areas open to each other and we share a driveway, so we keep an eye on each other, but in the winter it’s just not the same.  Ice is the enemy of old folks, for sure.   In a few short months, the girls will be bringing Mary bunches of flowers while we admire each others’ gardens, and we’ll sit on her porch drinking lemonade while Mary exclaims extravagantly over the girls’ chalk drawings.   Seeing more of all of our neighbors is yet another reason that I crave spring.