Ricki-ticki-tembo

My brother is flying home today. To make it all the more entertaining the kid has/had to fly out of Newark (he lives in Harlem) at 6 am and there is a massive transit strike. I have images of Tom thinking it might be a good idea to walk or hitchhike there. He thinks like that. I shouldn't worry about him. He has lived in New York for awhile; this is a kid who has gone after his own mugger and chased him down so he has chutzpah and always manages to fall ass-backwards into good things. But I still worry. Because this is also the same kid that once thought it was a good idea to roller skate home from his school in the dark, while it was snowing, down and up steep hills. He was also re-learning how to skate. (he was in a play that called for the character to skate and sometimes he takes method acting too far)

To add to the excitement he is a poor actor so he can't pay his cell phone bill at the moment so the phone is turned off and I couldn't reach him yesterday.

I am such a Jewish Grandmother.

I get to go and pick him up in a couple of hours and take him home. My Mother is very excited to have all of her kids home in one place for Christmas.

.....

Last night I was intending to make macaroons but I did not have quite enough coconut so I thought these might be a bit runnier. They are a bit flatter than a typical macaroon but still quite good. I am going to dip half of them in chocolate and call it delicious. I have cookies to hand out to various family members. Time to tie things up in ribbon.

my lake wobegon impression

I was right. A girl did help Tom (aka the boy wonder) get to the airport. He spoke with a friend who lives in New Jersey and she said, "Just stay the night at my place and take the path train." He stayed up most of the night (he had to be at the airport at 4 freaking am) watching soft-core porn and eating pretzels. (his words) He caught his plane and came into Seattle on time. Oh happy day. Tom has a knack for having women help him in his life. Maybe all those years of being raised around strong women has left him with this impression that he merely turns on his charms to find some assistance.
I saw my Mother briefly today which was nice. We had a little chat and looked at vintage trim for a friend of mine. Then I briefly saw my other brother (Michel) and he told me about a board game he and my sister are playing right now and he said of her position in this game, "She is going all Margaret Thatcher on me at this point." They are playing Axis and Allies. He then told me he is bringing in Tom to bring her down.
We take our board games very seriously in the family as you can see.

Dahti (a lovely family friend) handed out some nice Christmas presents. We now have chocolate and bath salts. Weeee. She also showed me her Christmas tree. It is much smaller than usual but still very pretty. Typically the Blanchard-Wright family favors trees that are in the 12 foot range. But lately they are taking a slightly more humble approach to the size of the trees. Makes it easier to decorate I think.

And that is the news from Port Townsend. Where the men are often drunk, the women frustrated and the children are entertaining.