Bonni Brodnick Blog

Peace in the Middle East. Snow in the North East. Be happy. Be cool. Be yourself. Be. Live your dream. Peace. Peace. Peace. In your heart. In your home. In your town. In your country. In our world.

We put the children on the ferry to the mainland this afternoon. So nice to have the family all together on the Vineyard for the holidays. David is headed back to Brooklyn and life in the fast-lane in NYC. Annie can't quite shake the sand out of her shoes and has been invited to spend a few days with a best friend from high school and her family in Flah (how nice the sun will be). More planes, trains, and automobiles for that girl. As David and Annie walked onto the boat, they looked back at us (Ma and Pa Brodnick) and jested with under age-23 authority, " Parrrrrrty time for us! " Little did they know that we (Ma and Pa Brodnick) said the same exact thing when we thought they weren't looking. You know that Disneyland commercial with the kids bemoaning, "I hope mom and dad aren't too bored in Disneyland. They're probably missing us so-o-o-o much." Next frame shows the parents on a wild ride at Snow Mountain, arms flailing and hysterically laughing. T...

Too splooshed to shop for serious stuff this holiday season? Go for the jugular and aim for the humor vein. Who couldn't use pickle toothpaste? Does one ever have enough whoopee cushions? How about that packet of pink lady mustaches (a style for every day of the week). You can always dial it up with some bacon soap. Nun Gum, anyone? How about the homemade pizza ice cream kit? Or the new lip chapper product that chaps your lips in minutes so that you look like you just skied in from Telluride. (There's also Nose Burn cream, if you want to couple the cracked lip look.) I am on a personal quest to bring back the dickie. NOT the mock-turtle collar, but the full-fledged fashion statement of the dickie. (Please act surprised when you open my gift.) Message of this missive? Don't forget to have fun this holiday season. Try not to stress from the shopping and baking and cooking and family stuff. Take a break. Or two. If that pickle toothpaste is beckoning, forget giving it ...

There aren't a ton of activities to do on Martha's Vineyard in the winter, which is precisely why I love it so much here at this time of year. There is a sense of clarity without all of the traffic and summer hub-bub. Parking spaces are suddenly ubiquitous on Main Street and "See you in 2012" signs in shops closed for winter. During the holiday season, there is something evocative about barren beaches and lighthouses donned with wreaths. A Santa Claus was walking down the street in Vineyard Haven. I did all I could not to blurt out, "I love your boots." (Manolo, maybe?) The other big excitement for the day was getting elastic at Shirley's Hardware, which is more like a general store. Along with serious tool-y kinds of things, there are aisles of supplies for crafts, home decorating, office supplies, door knobs, widgets, thingamajigs, doodillies, jumblins, faplotonics, jitzywhats, dingopopplers and zingaloops. Lose a button? check aisle 4. Snap ... she...

Annie is home from her semester abroad in Florence. It's great to have her back in the nest, and I really looked forward to sacred drive time to the Cape for Christmas since we hadn't been together since the fall. Any parent will attest: talking with your kids while driving can bring forth delectable conversations that would never be obtained sitting face-to-face. Cheek-to-cheek brings out the best in us. Once the car was packed up, we headed towards the highway. As we drove north on I-95 and over the Sikorsky Bridge in Stratford, Connecticut, I mentioned that once her brother and I were driving up to the Cape and got so entrenched in conversation that I forgot to bear right on 95 towards New Haven, and instead followed the road left and ended up in Hartford, which is too far west. "I couldn't believe it," I told Annie. "We were so into our discussion that I hadn't noticed we were going in the wrong direction. Can you imagine??" Well, no need t...

... And now, a word from The Pound Ridge Daily: http://www.thedailypoundridge.com/neighbors/local-writer-chronicles-pound-ridge-history

Okay, peops. So many have written in asking if I made those perfect little pigs in a blanket in the photo below. I'm not telling.

  There is a running joke about Pigs in Blankets. While the image sounds fuzzy and cozy, is it kosher to wrap up a barn animal and eat it as an hors d'oeuvre?  I say yes. Red dye no. 2 and all. Bring it on. (And  pass the French's mustard.)