Sunday, December 20, 2015

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2007, in front of our family's first Christmas tree. Mattie of course did not get the whole concept of what was going on, but nonetheless, we captured many photos of Mattie to celebrate the occasion of his presence in our life. 




Quote of the day: Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. ~ Albert Einstein

Today we drove to New Hampshire to go antique shopping with Peter's parents. Here is a funny story! One time we took Mattie on a trip to New Hampshire. Mattie was intrigued by the sound of the name and tried to repeat it, however what came out was New Hamster! So to this day, the Granite State will always be known as New Hamster to us. While shopping today, I took out my camera and captured some sights that Mattie would have enjoyed or things that just made me laugh! 



The first Mattie sighting was this Santa train. Mattie loved Lionel trains and he most especially loved his Santa train that always went around our Christmas Tree. If Mattie were with us today, I have a feeling this train would have been added to his collection.  

There were cases and cases of Lionel trains all around us today! All of which reminded me of Mattie. In fact, when I saw the train above, I literally stopped and paused quite some time because I just did not know what to do with what I was observing. It wasn't like I could buy the train! So instead, like I always do I took a photo of it. 

Here was a great Circus Train!

Meanwhile, at the store, I noticed so many things about the people shopping with us. It was noteworthy. People were friendly, were in the Christmas spirit, were singing or whistling along to the Christmas music that was piped into the store, and just seemed to be united with similar interests and values. I mention this because in DC, this type of unity and spirit isn't really felt or seen. 

Okay, now for two funny things I saw. The first one was an Alligator bag made in the USA. To me this is a hoot. It included the head and the feet (on the back of the bag) of the alligator. Honestly I have to ask..... who used this or would buy it???? 

My all time laugh today came from the "Old Croak" Whiskey Bottle. Of course when you look at this you are troubled. Is it really embalming fluid like it says on the bottle or what??? It is the or what! If you look closely on the bottom of the bottle is says, Orange Blossom Honey from Florida.

Can you imagine honey in a whiskey bottle? Well it turns out that some people put orange blossom honey in Bourbon or Whiskey to give it a honey flavor without the sweetness. I DIDN'T know this, but with the help of Google I was able to put this dead crow into context! 

Now why this bottle intrigues me I am not sure! Maybe the name, the crow, and the fact that it is really honey in there!

We went to Joey's diner (Amherst, NH) for lunch today. It is a 50's type diner and what captures your attention right away are the antique toy ride-on cars that are on display all over the restaurant. Again it would have been another Mattie favorite!