Andy Smallman

Twice recently, I became a winner, the most recent being today. In an email this afternoon, a colleague told me that I won the adjective contest, using an unusual adjective to describe a person I was recommending for a speaking engagement. The adjective? Sparkling.

Then about a week ago, I was the high bidder of these brand new running shoes on eBay. When you are the high bidder of an auction, you are the winner, right? Melinda gets a BIG kick out of this. I win something on eBay and then have to pay for it. She tells me that she wants to run down to Nordstrom and “win” something.

Anyway, these new shoes are the brand new Merrell Bare Access shoes, version 2.0. They retail for $90 and I lucked out on eBay, as sometimes happens, “winning” them for $46 including shipping. As the weather gets better this spring, they’ll be my new running shoes.

Give me the blue ribbon!

One of our favorite grocery stores in Seattle is named Trader Joe’s. We like it for a number of reasons, including decent prices and a variety of products you can’t get elsewhere. But we also like it because a number of the products have a French connection.

A couple months after returning from France back in 2011 I wrote about this, specific to the French lentils I buy regularly at Trader Joe’s (and included as a side dish the other night with my French duck).

So how fun it was a couple of days ago when Melinda and I stopped by Trader Joe’s and found not only this salted caramel sauce, but the label referring to the store as Trader Jacques! When we feel at home both in Seattle and in Nantes, things like this are interestingly reassuring.

So Chloe and Alex left this afternoon, returning to British Columbia for the resumption of college. Things start up for them again at Quest University tomorrow. It will likely be a little while before we see them again.

Over the break, while Alex was in Japan visiting his family, Chloe took the time during her busy babysitting schedule to knit Alex a scarf as a holiday present. It came out very, very nice. The last little bit involved some help from Melinda, captured by me a couple of days ago with today’s photo. A big question was whether or not the scarf for a 20 year-old young man should have fringe or no fringe. Then, once it was decided to have fringe, how much fringe and how long should it be?

This is a matter of consequence.

Frédérique & Laurent,

Tonight was the night, at last. I told Greg back in December that I wanted to share the duck you gave to me last summer with him some time the over the holiday. With Greg and Perrin having traveled to the east coast to be with Greg’s family, we had to wait a little bit. But like I said, tonight was the night.

I made a lentil side dish and an asparagus side dish. Melinda made a salad and provided the wine (we started with cocktails that I made). Brenda provided the after dinner chocolates and a movie for Perrin that Ella watched with her.

The duck was delicious. Thank you.

In appreciation,

-Andy

Last Saturday night, after our delicious dinner of Indian food, the family stopped in at Half Price Books on Roosevelt in Seattle. As part of her work over the break, Chloe had agreed to try to sell some used books for a family, which was the impetus for the visit. But get me in a used book store, let alone one that sells DVDs, CDs, and, gasp, records, and the time can just fly by.

First, the store had several copies of Kurt Vonnegut books in hardcover (one of my secret wishes is to have a hardback copy of each of Vonnegut’s books). And despite the 20% post-holiday sale on every item in the store, I resisted the urge to buy any.

Then I spotted the records, specifically the one in today’s photo (see above) that was sitting so prominently, talking to me, in the Pop/Rock C section. It’s from 1977 and is Elvis Costello’s first record.

Given this post, I don’t think I need to say anything more…

This post is for my friend Tom Burlingame, someone I haven’t seen in a long time but who recently found me on Facebook. I have multiple “Tom” stories to tell, all of which involve significant laughter. My favorite has to do with a jockey named José Corrales who was a great rider but known to not always give a horse his best effort. Tom, who was training thoroughbreds at Longacres at the time, told me, “You just don’t know if you’re going to get José or Jos-B.”

Get it?! Jos-A or Jos-B?! That’s funny!

Anyway, back when we were in high school, Tom and I regularly drove down to Portland to go to the racetrack there. About 3/4’s of the way to Portland from Seattle is a little town called Kalama. And EVERY time we went to Portland, Tom and I would have to stop in Kalama at the Burger Bar for what we called a Kalama Burger.

I took this photo from the freeway on our way down to Portland on December 23rd. I was pleased to see the Burger Bar, with its exact same sign, is still there.

Chloe (and Melinda) just got back from Costco where she picked up a pair of glasses, her first with prescription lenses. I asked if she’d pose for a picture so I could memorialize the occasion. After some gentle persuasion (arm-twisting), she agreed. I took three photos and she approved, barely, this one.

For you prescription lens wearers, do you remember getting your first pair of glasses? I sure do. I was in 7th grade and needed glasses to read the chalkboard at school. I remember being in the car with my mom, pulling out of the optician’s with my glasses on and being stunned that a person could actually see the leaves on a tree. Incredible.

Chloe’s eyesight is still pretty good. She only needs her glasses occasionally for distance. But I think she’s secretly hoping her eyes get a little worse so she qualifies for contacts…

Here we all are, Melinda, Ella, Chloe, and me, having a little toast, what makes this seem like an appropriate photo for the first day of the new year. But if you must know, the photo comes from Christmas Eve and was taken soon after the Shaw & Somers families had arrived. Greg, Melinda’s brother-in-law, caught the four of us together.

So what are you looking forward to in 2013? For Melinda and me it promises to be an important year, if for no other reason than we both turn 50 in May. We have another trip to Nantes planned for July, this time for just two weeks. And like last year when the Boudeaus came back from Nantes to Seattle, this year Christine & Bernard Bertail will be coming home with us for a couple of weeks.

For Chloe, she turns 20 in February and will be halfway through with college a couple of months after that. Ella’s big event just took place, turning 16 on December 18th and getting her driver’s license.

So here’s to a great 2013!

That’s 22 to the French-impaired and it represents the number of years Melinda and I have been married. Yes, 22 years ago we tied the knot (an expression I’ve not ever really liked so why I’m using it here, I’m not sure). How about that?!

To celebrate we went out and had a delicious Japanese dinner at Nashino, a restaurant to which my brother Steve and his wife Deb gave us a gift certificate. It was delicious, to say the least, beginning as it did with fresh oysters and ending with seared halibut.

Now we’re back home playing with our shared anniversary gift, the Sonos wireless music player. As I write we’re streaming to our built-in speakers our favorite album from 2012, “The Lion’s Roar” by First Aid Kit, from the Amazon Cloud Player. Earlier we listened to French radio (interestingly, the station I first linked to was playing a Tom Waits album), a Seattle police frequency, and public radio from Omaha.

How are you spending our anniversary, err, I mean New Year’s Eve??

So a week ago we spent the night in Portland and did some last minute Christmas shopping. While Melinda and the girls were in some store (Forever 21, I think, if it matters) in some mall, I sat on a bench overlooking an open area and discovered this entire “Get Your Picture Taken With Santa Claus” scene.

It made me wonder how many scenes just like this were taking place all over the country at the same time. It’s quite an industry, the mall Santa. This operation appeared to employ 5 people, including the Santa, and they were kept busy, busy, busy.

I don’t have some deep philosophical musing to spring on you. I just found the scene to be an interesting thing to watch and to consider.