Peacefield

Hello and welcome to BCF, Harrison! Glad you could join us

Crash Test Dummies! It's been ages since I've listened to them. I saw them in concert, Frankie, and they are really good live. It's funny to think about it now, but Elvis Costello opened for them. I would have thought it'd be the other way around, I guess! Right now I'm listening to the soundtrack to the movie 'Pitch Perfect.' Never ever get tired of it!

I agree, Muggle, a lot of great dishes come out of the US! Practically every state has it's own unique type of food so you can drive all over and try all sorts of new things! I'm not Greek but I also LOVE spanikopita. I also love the dolmas. We have a similar dish but we just call them stuffed grape leaves. I'm in the US but my maternal grandpa was from Lebanon as was my maternal grandma's father. Needless to say we grew up eating a lot of fatyre, kibbi, tabbouleh, babaghanoush, cabbage rolls and hummus. Here is a photo of a small sampling of food we made for a dinner earlier this year:

Ditto, Muggle! Glad you came out okay and had a nice but busy day of driving and wine shopping. What is your top wine with which to be coming home? I agree, without those who have served in the military, we might not be here! My thanks to your niece as well . TGIF tomorrow, yahoo! And it's pay day, which makes it doubly good! I'll be buying supplies for my holiday gifts and also going out to dinner with a friend.

It's awful what's happening in the Philippines right now . One of my co-workers is originally from near Cebu City and her parents are still there. Luckily they are in the southern part of Cebu so they are okay and their home is intact. Her brother is still displaced from his home after the earthquake last month. It just breaks my heart, seeing all the elderly and children suffer, not to mention everyone else! It's Veteran's Day here in the US, so I want to express my deepest thanks and admiration to all those who've served or are serving in the military. I have a cousin in California who I called last night in thanks - he was a submarine commander at Pearl Harbor! I wish i could go to DC with you, Muggle! I love it there, and am itching to go back to the National Gallery. I was there a number of years ago to see a Sargent exhibit and it was the best collection I have ever seen .

Toronto?! Pfftt Did he get to go to a game when he was in Canada? That's great he's into American football too; does he have a favorite team? It's 27 degrees f here this morning (-2 celsius). I hate it.

Muggle, of course the Vikes make me grumpy, but I'm trying really hard to put them out of my mind and concentrate on the Wild and ice hockey. At least they're only in 3rd place in their division! The Penguins are doing well too. I know you don't have anything to be grumpy about, Pontalba, you're in the warm weather! Also, is it the bacon gouda sandwich at Starbucks? Lordy that's my favorite. I haven't had any Bison since I was young. I went out to dinner this past weekend however and had elk wellington and it was OH SO good! HBD next week, Emelee!

Echoing what one of my friends said to me a couple weeks ago, I'll be 'powering down' for the next 5 months or so. Winter makes me in an all-around grumpy mood so watch out! I only enjoy winter on Christmas Eve and that's it. Now if I didn't have to drive in the snow and ice I'd be practically giddy but ah, that's not the case when you live in the frozen upper-midwest USA like I do. Fair warning my BCF friends! Winter Marcia is about to go into hibernation Have fun on vacation, Raven! Suet pudding?! Is UK suet the same as US suet? Like the blocks of greasy stuff we put out for birds in the winter time? All's well on my end of things. We're starting to slow down a bit at work which is nice after a very hectic summer/autumn. I'm continuing work on my family tree, and starting doing research on my ancestor John Nutting, who was born in Kent UK and came to the US around 1650. I love getting into the origins of my England ancestors! I hope everyone has a great week!

Listening currently to the White House daily press briefing and trying not to lose my cool

I've only tried one Moscato, Muggle, and that was Barefoot from what I think is Argentina? I really disliked it though because it was just too sweet. Is the Italian Moscato better? Not as sweet?

Thanks for reminding me, Muggle! I really don't know why I remain a fan of our football team. Have fun in DC, Pontalba! I love it there . How was the Crescent? I used to book train travel and I know that train well. They still held the book sale, huh? I'm surprised those jerks didn't ruin your weekend by canceling the sale. I had a productive weekend and got lots done. This week will be busy with work and will hopefully go fast because this weekend I'm having one last hurrah up at the cabin with a few friends of mine. I won't be going up until again until next spring, unfortunately .

I love wine, Muggle! I'm not by any means an expert, however. I mostly drink Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling because I like my wine slightly sweet. I can drink dry white wines and any kind of red but only with paired food. I'm weird, but those types of wine taste really good to me with food but I can't stomach them alone. I drink a lot of Kim Crawford but I'm totally open to recommations on other types .

Snacks are always good for a party, gardengirl! Ditto to chips and hummus, and there's bruschetta too. The Wiki article Rachel gave you probably says this, but when you cut the hole in the top of the pumpkin in order to take out the insides, cut at an angle. If you cut straight up and down the 'lid' for the pumpkin will fall right in. Are people dressing up for your party? You could always have a costume contest . That was a big hit in my household growing up.

We have to pay for tabs every year, Muggle, is that the same kind of tax you mean for autos or is that on top of tabs? Favorable property taxes in NC I assume? How about the income tax rate? I walked outside today and it's a beautiful 72f degrees out! I love this kind of fall weather. Hopefully it'll stick around for a long time!

That's interesting to hear about Charlottesville, Muggle. Sounds like a very hip and happening place! How's the tax situation in NC? Is it more reasonable living there than in VA? What an amazing story about your relative!! I don't know much about the male witches that were hanged. I'm going to have to track down that book! I have a relative who was accused of being a witch too in Salem. Her name was Rebecca Blake Eames but luckily she was aquitted and not hanged. I'm always in awe when I think about the fact that if she had died, I probably wouldn't be here! Pontalba, I saw this band called Ra Ra Riot in Friday at a club called First Avenue. If you Google 'Prince' and First Ave you'll see that's where he used to play during his Purple Rain days!

Wow, that's great to hear, Brian! How exciting that you got to go to the game - I'm very jealous. Adrian Peterson is wildly popular with us and he did really well durinig that game. I also enjoyed watching Jared Allen sack the heck out of Roethlisberger. I think Cassel did a great job as QB but they're still saying Ponder is our starter which is a shame because he hasn't been able to do much this year!

Congrats on your anniversary, Pontalba! Boo on getting hit, Muggle! That's good it didn't get more expensive damage, though. It sounds like a lovely trip you had up to Virginia! Can I ask you, where you live, do you get any snow? Are you on the coast and live in danger of hurricanes? I've been thinking a lot lately about where I want to end up living eventually and would like to be nearer to the NE but not near any snow. I've been swearing to myself for about that last decade that I won't see old age in a state with snow I had a nice, productive weekend of getting things accomplished at home the last couple of days (except for Friday when I was out grooving my middle-aged rear at a concert). We put out lots of mum plants, gorgeous yellows and reds, and I made some progress on my family tree project. This week is busy with work things, including a potluck on Thursday and those are always fun. Have a great week, you guys!

I continue to cheer for my home teams even though we haven't won any championships in over a decade . With that being said, there's always next year, right? At least I can say that about baseball. Football and hockey are on now so I'm happy about that! NFL Football: Minnesota Vikings NHL Hockey: MN Wild Baseball: MN Twins The Vikings played against the Pittsburgh Steelers in London last week at Wembley Stadium, so that was pretty cool! I wondered how many American fans were in the stands since there was a lot of cheering going on, but hey, from the looks of it a lot of folks outside the US follow NFL football too, which is doubly cool!

Thanks, Pontalba! What does that make now, 5 books? 6? I have some work to do since I just finished #3. Sounds like Frankie has some work to do too! I think we just have some different reading tastes, Frankie. We should swap some time. You can read one of my faves and I can read one of yours! (null)

Really? Thanks for the news, Pontalba! Yeah, I can never really get enough of reading about Flavia. She's so funny not to mention smart and I love that she talks about her bike 'Gladys' like she's her best friend!

Love Franz Ferdinand, Kylie! Lucky girl Last year I saw Muse, Black Keys, Young the Giant, AWOLNation, The Dig and Two Door Cinema Club. This year, unfortunately, my show-going has been less. Only because there haven't been a ton of bands I want to see coming through town. I'm sad I missed the Killers in August but tickets sold out so fast plus I hate the venue they played in. In the early spring this year I saw Mika, and tomorrow night I'm seeing Ra Ra Riot. Then next week I'm seeing one of my favorite bands, The Dig. Yahoo!! They are opening for Leagues, with whom I'm not very familiar but it'll be a week night so I probably won't stay to watch them.

The rest of the series is The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood and Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood. It looks like there's even a fourth one coming out, Sisterhood Everlasting. I've only read the first three but I've really enjoyed them .

I saw The World's End in the theatre a couple of weeks ago and LOVED it! I also saw Despicable Me on DVD and laughed a lot. I'll have to see the sequel when it comes out.

How about Ann Brashares' Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Michelle? I loved those books.

Ugh, I watched the season finale of Under the Dome and boo! Not good. I finished A Red Herring Without Mustard and absolutely loved it. Really, Alan Bradley is such a superb author, and I love Flavia de Luce! Can't wait to read the next in the series. After that I picked up The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey, and am half-way through. After I finish I'll read the remaining 3 short stories in Full Dark, No Stars. Reading King around Halloween is pretty fitting! The Fifth Wave is extremely dark, intense and depressing. I can't take my eyes off the pages though because of Yancey's writing, so that's what's keeping me reading. The book picks up after the first, second and third Waves have hit and 97% of the earth's population has been destroyed by aliens (aka the 'Others'). Sounds like fun, huh?