Tuesday, April 18, 2006

New Friends


"Yes'm, old friends is always best, 'less you can catch a new one that's fit to make an old one out of." - Sarah Orne Jewett

I think I've caught some new friends fit to make old friends out of. Thank you, blogland! Liz and Kelly came over for dinner on Saturday night with their husbands Jon and John, and with Liz it was once again, like the first time I met Kelly, not at all like meeting someone for the first time! I already knew she was a kindred spirit and it was just so easy and pleasant. I wish they lived in town rather than a few hours away, and I wish Kelly and John weren't moving away! Jim and I enjoyed ourselves so much drinking wine with them and talking and laughing. Alexandra came over a bit later, and it was a delighful Easter Eve. I look forward to seeing you all again soon! (Alexandra certainly tonight and perhaps Kelly too at the Anne Lamott event!)
Easter was also lovely, and piggy wasn't missed at all. The carrot soup turned into a carrot/yam/apple/butternut squash soup, as somehow every orange vegetable in the house leapt into the pot, and it was SO good I will try to put up the recipe, which I had better write down before I forget it. My mom also made an aperatif for between courses, a palate cleanser, if you will, of raspberries and gelatin and prosecco (dry Italian champagne) that was like a frizzante jello cocktail. So fun! My niece Izzy had asked that she please not be the only one to hunt eggs this year while we all stand around and watch her (she's growing up!) so we did a treasure hunt instead, with everyone having to track down their little present by deciphering clues in my parents' big house. We played a game, argued a little politics, ate dessert, and that was that.

Now this is completely off the subject but I feel compelled to repeat it because it is SO absurd. If you can't take another Tom Cruise freak story, this is not for you. Apparently, Tom stormed out of another interview, this time with a Swedish newspaper, but not until after the reporter asserted that Scientology cannot, in fact, cure dyslexia like Tom claims. This is what's so funny to me: Tom Cruise replied, "I'm going to admit you have the courage of a madman. This is something no journalist has dared say to me face-to-face." And then he drew his samurai sword and murdered the reporter. Okay, so he didn't, but if he wasn't going to, WTF? "Courage of a madman?" Huh? Who exactly does Tom Cruise think he is? Well, I've actually read that according to his Scientology "operating thetan" level, he can control animals with his mind, so maybe when the reporter went home that night his cats ate him in his sleep. Anyway, insanity can be SO diverting, especially when it involves famous short men. Just one last Tom Cruise freaktoid: when refuting the rumors that he and poor Katie are splitting up, he said something like, "I'm not going to let her get away." If somebody else had said it it might sound sweet, but coming from Tom Cruise, it just conjures images of leg shackles in the Scientology dungeon! Ick!

15 comments:

Deirdre said...

Sounds like a great Easter. I'd love the recipe. I'm a soup-making fiend. And as for the other, yes, I'm sick to death of whatshisface, but thanks for making me laugh out loud. I worry about that girl.

Deb R said...

What a great photo!

And speaking of the wee lunatic, did you hear?...In a bit of irony that proves the Universe has a sense of humor, Katie H and Brooke Shields both had their babies today...both girls and almost exactly the same size. If this were a movie of the week, a mix-up would be inevitable. Heh.

Kim G. said...

What a nice picture of your Easter day - sounded yummy! I like the idea of the treasure hunt as my kids are getting beyond the age of being excited by little plastic eggs. My mother-in-law did one at Christmas and they loved it but I never thought of one for Easter.

I saw the Anne Lamott event in the Sunday Oregonian but can't make it this time (a day when the figurative mommy-clone would come in handy). Can I make a request that you mention how it went in your blog?

kelly rae said...

oh laini, we had such a great time with you guys. and i've decided that up until 2 weeks before we move i'm going to pretend that everything is normal and we're not moving anywhere! so bring on the hanging out! i'm sorry to have missed anne lamott. i had a deadline i was working on for shower invites and just couldn't get myself out the door. please write about it!

Susannah Conway said...

How lovely to see a photo of you guys together! sounds like you had a blast.... as for poor old mr cruise, you'd think that the fact that that hubbard bloke was quoted as saying 'if you want to make money, start a religion' would give the scientologists a clue that perhaps, just perhaps, it's all deluded make-believe. tom 'midget' cruise thinks he's the head klingon (or is that travolta? LOL)
Sx

Anonymous said...

Tom Cruise, accusing someone else of being a madman, interesting.

I am so glad you had a good visit.:)

Shesawriter said...

Tom Cruise is nuttier than a chunky bar.

Annie Jeffries said...

Loved the Tom Cruise comments. He's so diverting and has become one of my guilty pleasures. What a great Easter you had. And HEY, I've met face-to-face some nice ladies through my on-line art groups. It didn't occur to me that f2f meet-ups might happen here too. Where WAS my mind??? LOL

hollibobolli said...

I totally agree with you - Tom Cruise thinks he is God - strike that - Alien King, or whatever the hell he thinks rules the planet. I'm just done with him. He's so arrogant.. his interviews are just a complete and total beatdown. I would actually love to bitch slap him. And I'm not the bitch slapping type.

He probably won't let Katie get away - that's the freaky part.

Your egg/treasure hunt and the food sounded like such a treat!!! I'm sorry - I got totally carried away with all the TomKat crap!!

kristen said...

Tom Cruise is a TOTAL freak and I'm glad that baby is born so we can stop hearing about them so much (or can only hope).
I adore proseco and it's what we always have when there's a holiday because we prefer it to champagne.

M said...

Love the pic of you lovely ladies! Wish we were all closer so we could have a picnic lunch in the sunshine somewhere. Glad the dinner went well, can't wait for the recipe!
And I'm with you- Tom always creeped me out, but now especially so. I'm just glad they had the baby, now maybe we won't here so much about them...then again, I doubt it!

liz elayne lamoreux said...

Two hours (when traffic isn't horrible) is not far at all! I can't wait to see you all again soon. I love how blog world invites people to feel such a deeper connection.
Your Easter sounds wonderful...love the idea of a treasure hunt!
And we are so on the same page about TomKat. Yikes. The things he says just scare me...How I miss the days of Top Gun and Risky Business and Dawson's Creek.

Amber said...

Oh, I just adore that line about friends! Just wonderful stuff. And your Easter sounds like it was really great. Do post that soup know-how. ;)

It is funny you mention this Tom stuff. My Aunt came to our house on Sunday, and she asked me what I know about Scientology. It seems she has a friend who is trying to get her into it. She is a sort of wealthy person, so I told her I am not surprised that they are interested in her, seeing that it is really a business. I actually had a friend in college, who was raised in Scientology, and it is some freaky-deaky shiznit. All her life she was told she wasn't to have children-- she wasn't "chosen" to reproduce, or some crap. Then when she got pregnant and chose to keep the baby, her whole family disowned her! She told me that celebrity types like Tommy boy, don't really know what the real life people go through. She said they are treated totally differently, so he probably believes all the rumors of it being a cult is just a lot of bunk because he really doesn't know any better. Ca-raaa-zy.
But if my aunt becomes a Scientologist after she wouldn't come to church with me all these years, I'm going to be pissed! LOL!

:)

Anonymous said...

I second the recipe request!
I usually don't comment about other people's religious beliefs, but
Scientology's made me more than a little nervous, ever since my best friend & I were literally chased down a full city block (we were 17 at the time) by a guy, who was "just wanting to invite us" to their meeting!?! He kept calling to us, then following us; then running after us when we wouldn't stop - till traffic forced us to wait at the light while we were looking frantically around for a cop...then he caught up to us & shoved literature at us & tried to "invite" us to come back with him! We ran when the light changed. It seemed rather cult-ish behavior to me.

Anonymous said...

Looks like a great time! I heard the "I won't let her get away" line, too...and had the same thought. :)