Beating the Christmas Blizzard to Japan

Our luck held out on Christmas Day and we escaped being stranded in JFK airport. Our flight to Japan left New York at 11:35 just hours before all flights were canceled due to the encroaching storm. We were even luckier that our earlier flight from Raleigh-Durham left at 6am bound for New York only an hour or so before flights were canceled there. We had the good fortune to be in that very narrow window of opportunity!
We arrived safely in Japan and have been enjoying everyone there and the good food and sights. The children have boundless energy and are making our adjusting to the time change easier as they wear us out on our excursions into Tokyo.
We have watched a coffee roasting expert fresh roast our coffee, ate our fill of a variety of oysters at an oyster bar with our friend Chie, enjoyed a Korean lunch, walked around Ginza, played in the park, filled up on conveyor belt sushi and had crickets for breakfast!
Today we are taking the Shinkansen( bullet train) to an onsen ( hot springs ) about an hour out of Tokyo.
Here are some images to enjoy. More to come.


Anna and Myron

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
We enjoyed a Christmas Dinner gift from Oma and Opa at the fine dining restaurant, Herons, in Cary, NC. We had a wonderful dining adventure. Myron wore the new tie Paul sent him for Christmas!!! The Mission fig ice cream, was delicious.

Wishing you love, peace and joy.
Anna and Myron

And the fire was crackling...

About 2 weeks ago I started bidding on Charles Dicken's Victorian Village houses on Ebay. I got a bit carried away but they were all a steal. They bring in the Christmas spirit with their windows all aglow. My favorite is the Firehouse with the buckets and ladders on the side and of course the Music Box Shoppe which is making the music you hear in the video.

The fireplace is warming and the baking scents permeate the house.

May the Christmas spirit find you at peace and with joy. To all our family and friends.
Anna and Myron

December in North Carolina

Welcome Winter Wonderland in North Carolina.
Anna is making cookies and cakes to send to sons around the country and putting the roses to bed for the winter. The house smells great and it sure feels like Christmas is around the corner watching the snow fall!
Love
Anna and Myron

Our Weekend in Asheville, NC

We had a fabulous weekend in Asheville, NC and visited the famous Biltmore Estate. The weather was brisk and blustery but the mountains were beautiful and the Biltmore was all decked out for Christmas . We stayed in a beautiful B&B, The Cedar Crest Inn, also known as the Victorian Pink Lady. It stood proud and pink on a hilltop only a mile from the estate. Our room was called the Queen Anne and was decorated in true Victorian fashion. The pictures speak for themselves. View the badge of images on the right. The estate was magnificent, the dining elegant and the beauty of the mountains and the uniqueness of the crafts brought back to life a bygone age. We had a wonderful relaxing weekend and another terrific adventure.

Love Anna and Myron

Pied Piper of Pinestraw Way!

Ok, because the weekend had been so calm, I felt compelled to join the neighborhood kids on our cul de sac at just before dusk. They were riding their bikes so I thought I would join them on my blades! We had a blast.

October in NC

Friends and Family, We can not be happier in North Carolina. The weather remains sunny and warm in the 70's. My flowers continue to bloom. Here is a picture of my hybrid Firefighter Rose (in honor of Paul and Jeff ) and my festooning bougainvillea. This weekend was much calmer than last. I did not jump out of any airplanes but we enjoyed dinner at the Bonefish Grille on Friday night, had a blast at Whole Foods, visited my parents, took in the new "Hereafter" movie ( very good btw) and cooked up shrimp scampi and sweet potato soup. We went to the gym both days and I did Pilates one day and Spinning class the next. My core aches!! Congratulations to Alaina and Nick on the birth of their new daughter Alexa Nicole.
Love, Myron and Anna

Skydiving!

I have always wanted to skydive and Myron got me a skydiving event for our anniversary.
The weather was perfect. It was sunny with not a cloud in the sky and around 68-70 degrees.
The video says it all!!!
I love you Myron... we still have adventures on our "bucket list"!!!!
View the video here!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtqnMg-BEbE

Yellow Hibiscus with 9 Blossoms!

It is a record according to Myron. 9 blossoms on our Yellow Hibiscus. It must be the great North Carolina weather.


Anna and Myron

OBX Summer 2010

There was fabulous weather, wonderful turquoise water, terrific people and great food and drink.
For 2 weeks we frolicked in the sand, jumped on the trampoline, ate local seafood, drank homemade margaritas, walked on the beach, kayaked on the surf, attended bonfires at night, ate ice cream and laughed a lot!!!
At first Jim and Lynne, Jeff, Cindy and Chris and Jackson, Oma and Opa, Anna and Myron and of course Evan the lifeguard enjoyed a few days together. Various departures and new people showed up off and on for the rest of the vacation. Chris and Kieran came the second week and everyone simply fell into the rhythm of warm sunshine and warm water and the relaxation of being in the sand without a care in the world.
The pictures speak for themselves. They are in a badge on the right!

Love
Anna and Myron

Midsummer Milonga

Midsummer Milonga We had a most amazing Milonga on Saturday the 23rd of July from 8pm till 2 am at our house. At least 40 people arrived and danced Tango till the wee hours. Thank you Cecil for terrific DJ'ing.
View the pictures on the right!

Blooming Roses in Chapel Hill

We took Oma and Opa to Witherspoon Rose Garden on Saturday. The roses were beautiful!
I can not wait till my garden looks like this one!
After walking around the gardens, listening to violin and piano from the gazebo, we drove to Gugelhopf Bakery and enjoyed coffee and pastries.

1902 Denzel Carousel

When I first met Myron , he told me a story, as he was and remains apt to do. He told me a wonderful story of riding the carousel at Coney Island with his Grandfather. The story went something like this:

His grandfather would take him to the old wooden carousel for a ride. They would hold onto the horses and ride the carousel around and around. Myron was perhaps 5 years old at the time. In those days, the carousel hung rings to snatch as you revolved and on the last revolution a brass ring would be suspended and the one rider who could capture the brass ring would get a free ride. The carousel was a pretty big ride for such a little kid and holding onto the horse and not falling off as it went up and down was no small feat for Myron. But his rather short grandfather, who was also on a horse, would stretch to the limit of his frame to attempt to reach the brass ring. Such daring would frighten little Myron for fear his grandfather would fall of the horse. But when the ride was done, and his grandfather had failed to capture the brass ring, Myron would ask why his grandfather would do such a dangerous thing. His reply was always thus: " Life is like a carousel and you only get one chance at it. You have to try with all your might to make it worth the ride."

The story remained with Myron and influenced his decisions in his life. I have always followed a similar philosophy. Around 3 years ago, Myron took me to Coney Island so we could ride the same carousel, but the carousel had been recently dismantled and sent to Disneyworld. So today, I took Myron to a 1902 Denzel wooden carousel that is in Burlington, NC. Though it didn't offer any brass rings, it provided us with the joy in riding a carousel and the paths of life.

I hope you like our pictures.
Love
Anna and Myron

Herb Garden

Alright... so here we are in April in NC and the weather is spectacular and my 3 bareroot roses I planted 2 weeks ago are sprouting and I think it is time to put in the herb garden.
I love herbs... fresh herbs in cooking is so much better than the dried variety. However, NC soil is virtually clay and a boxed raised garden is the way to go. I purchased a Ryobi circular saw with a laser guide...very cool, bought 3 6X6 common pine boards, some box nails and proceeded to build my box for the herb garden. I bought 6 cu feet of garden soil ( Myron and my father did the math), a bunch of herb starters and spent a few hours digging, cutting and planting. The pix tell the story.
BTW after that work, Myron said something about liking gladiolas so we purchased for a mere 9.95 a bag of 70 gladiola bulbs and proceeded to plant them! We were very ready for margaritas on the porch.
Enjoy the pix on the right in the Flash badge.
Love
Anna and Myron

Sean and Boomba at OBX

Last week Sean drove his intrepid 92 Toyota truck with 185,000 miles on it to the Outer Banks of North Carolina with his trusty dog, Boomba, at his side. Leaving Vermont early in the morning, he braved horrific Connecticut traffic and witnessed an accident immediately in front of him. Being the hero he is and wearing his brother Paul's firefighter t-shirt, he got the woman out of the smoking car and waited with her until the EMT's and police arrived. Of course he had to make statements to the police which only delayed his getting back on the road again. With that behind him, the rest of the 800 mile trip was a breeze?!?! He arrived at the beach house at 2am Friday but Boomba only gave him puppy dog eyes the entire trip. She was quite the trooper. We arrived on Friday at 6pm just in time to take Sean to Dirty Dicks for all you can eat Dungeness Crab! We all three at 6 full crab orders. Gluttons!

Sean started working on Saturday painting the ceilings and putting holes in the ceilings where the fans were to hang. We ran the beach with Boomba and viewed the devastation that the storm, Ida, caused in November. A few houses had been washed away and others hung on precariously but of course are condemned and need to come down. The private road next to our house was awash with 2 feet of sand and our neighbor was bemoaning the fact. It doesn't effect us at all because our driveway comes off the main road. About 1/2-1 mile south of us the damage was quite extensive. Apparently the erosion there is much worse than by us.

The weather was terrific. 70 with constant sunshine. A beautiful change for Sean from Vermont harsh weather. Boomba was a wonderful dog. She loved the ocean and chased the birds when we took her off the leash. She ran into the surf and I didn't know that she had webbed feet. Apparently black labs do. She was a real water dog. Myron enjoyed her as well even though if on the leash she saw a shore bird, she would rip your arm out pulling on the leash!

Sean came over to Durham on Thursday after finishing the work at the beach house and spent the night after having dinner with us and Oma and Opa. He left at 5am to head back to Vermont and had traffic issues in Washington DC but got back home at 9pm. A bit easier going back this time.

Oh btw, when Sean was wiring the fans in the attic, his foot fell asleep and it went through the ceiling. He put up the sheet rock to fix it but I will tape and mud the 3x3 section next weekend. There is always something!
Enjoy the pictures in the badge to the right.
Love you all and can't wait to get back next weekend to the beach.
Anna and Myron

Utah Winter Vacation March 2010

We had a tremendous time skiing with the boys and their girls this year at Snowbird and Brighton in Utah. All the flights from Vermont, North Carolina and Denver were on time and easy! What a change.

The pictures are in the Flickr badge to the right.
The sun was warm, the snow was plentiful, the slopes challenging, the boys and girls hysterical and the Myron only fell off the lift once!

Anna caused one flat tire on Day 1 because she saw a rock in the road that she thought was a clod of snow. Oops! blew the tire right there and then. Thanks to the fine work of Sean and Jeff, they changed the tire in 20 minutes after finding where it was and how to get it down from the bottom of the car. The manual helped.

We skied 5 days out of the 6 we were there. Our house had a hot tub and it was used it to soothe our sore muscles and drink wine after a long day on the slopes.
Paul, Jeff and Myron and I skied. Sean, Liz, Chris and Keiran snowboarded. Julianne sad to say, had to work that week but joined us in the evenings for food, drink, chatter and merriment. We shared the cooking and ate like kings. Liz made her famous fajitas, Chris his pizza and Anna her brisket and chicken parm!
The last day snowed 12 inches or so and Jeff and Keiran made this incredible snowman and entitled it the Inebriated Snowman because they couldn't get the middle and top snowball on top.
Enjoy the pictures!

Love
Anna and Myron

Opa's 80th Birthday Party in Chapel Hill

Opa was 80 on March 4th. Leslie and Siegi flew down from Connecticut to surprise him. It was a surprise for sure. We all went out to dinner at Il Palio in Chapel Hill and had an amazing meal. The service was superb; the food sublime. On Saturday we took them to Saffron, an Indian restaurant, touted by the local Indian population as the best! It was an adventure for Opa and Oma because they have never been to an Indian restaurant before. It was fun to watch Opa inhale the Tandoori Chicken and Lentil and Rice balls and Oma enjoy the Chicken Tikka Masala.
Enjoy the pictures.

Love
Anna and Myron

Girl's Doll Day in Raleigh, NC

We went to Zareen and Kevin's house for Girl's Day Celebration, a Japanese holiday on March 3rd . They have a fantastic collection of a Japanese Girl's Day Dolls that symbolize the emperor and empress and the court. These dolls are displayed to take away the bad spirits and they displayed them all in their home in Raleigh. Both Zareen and Kevin lived in Japan when they were younger and taught English in the JET program. They met Ren there and hence the relationship.
Please enjoy the images and share in the tradition.

Everyday is Valentine's Day Milonga

We hosted a Tango Milonga on February 20th and we had a spectacular time dancing and socializing with the Triangle Tango Community. Tim Hall did a great job DJ'ing with a terrific selection of nuevo and traditional Tango tunes. We intend to continue hosting such events ... one idea is a Tango Milonga-que.... a barbecue and Milonga on our fabulous deck that Sean built.

Here is Myron showing off his Tango moves on our dance floor! Don't knock her over!

Love Anna and Myron

Happy Valentine's Day

"Everyday is Valentine's Day Milonga"
is scheduled for February 20th at our house on
22 Pinestraw Way, Durham.
Come and enjoy a night of Tango and camaraderie with the Triangle Tango community.
Bring a dish to share and enjoy the music provided by DJ Tim Hall. We will supply the wine!

Dance from 8:30-1:30 or until your feet give out.

Love
Anna and Myron

Tango Canceled tonight due to Snow!

Snow has brought a halt to our Tango tonight. Here is a pix of us from last weekends live music Tango!

Snowing down South!

We have no snow shovel, no sand, no snowblower! The gym closed at 10am and the shelves at the grocery stores are empty. We stopped at the supermarket yesterday and couldn't find a cart! The place was jammed with people buying eggs, milk, fireplace wood etc... Hysterical. We aren't supposed to have snow here in the South! But the electricity is on and I am making homemade soup and hot chocolate. So far around 6 inches has fallen and hopefully the ice that is forecast will not happen! Oma and Opa are fine watching the snowflakes fall wondering if they brought it with them from Vermont! Anyway we got dressed up in the ski clothes and went outside on the deck to make a snowman, but the snow was too dry to stick together. We then traipsed down our cul de sac to the main road. NO CARS in sight anywhere.... so the pics will demonstrate what happens when the "white stuff" falls from the sky in the South! Love Anna and Myron

NYC January 2010

Another whirlwind weekend in NY!
We arrived on time via Jet Blue flight to JFK on January 7th. After circling the terminals twice on the AirTrain ( terrible directions) we arrived at Federal Circle to rent our car. We had a very funny shuttle bus driver who could easily compete with Robin Williams and Sean Story for stand up comedy! The manager met us at the door and customer service was spectacular with an upgrade to a Chrysler and off we drove without any traffic to Myron's birthday dinner at a great White Plains restaurant and a free night at the Summerfield Suites.
On Friday morning we headed out to West New York, New Jersey to visit Erdem, Hale and little Melis. Once again, despite our protestations, we were served a tremendous Turkish lunch. After our visit there, we headed to the NYC for a Pete's Tavern visit with Lee and Charity G., friends of Ren. Charity was about to pop out her first child. The baby was due 2 days earlier so getting together at all was lucky.... btw they had baby Leigton Thomas Guzofski the very next day.
Then we hoofed to a restaurant to dine with Charlie Cante and his girlfriend. The wind was biting, the cold fierce and the drinks and food and friendship warmed us thoroughly.
We left NYC at 11:30pm and drove to Huntington Long Island and stayed at the Hilton to ready ourselves for the renewal wedding the next day.
Stephanie and Mike Iannone were married 40 years ago and to celebrate, they renewed vows in a church with the original bridal party and then we were all bused over to Leonard's of Great Neck for the mother of all receptions .....cocktail hour, dinner, dancing, open bar and a Viennese Dessert Table that took up the entire dance floor... what a great time and a real joy to see such happy people.....
Sunday we got up late, suffered from sore feet, and headed over to visit Grandma Esther at the Arbors. We gave her a vertical calendar that provided her an opportunity to keep better track of visits and appointments. It was a pleasure to see her so safe and so happy.

We are now back home and looking forward to more Tango this weekend.
Happy New Year all of you....

Anna and Myron