Locked In

by Mary Squicciarini

Locked In – the newly found title of our latest film. The plot goes like this: It all happens when a charming family (Family 1) invites friends (Family 2) over for dinner, and after a pleasant stroll down to the “former playground”, a lovely dinner, a lively round or two of Catch Phrase, and some audience around the pool table, there’s talk of a taking a drive down to the Dairy Farm to go on a short walk down to the swinging bridge, which apparently is very authentic. So of course, Family 2 says yes, and they drive down just as the sun is starting to set. It gets dark fast, and by the time they’re about half-way, there’s not much light to speak of. By the time they actually reach the bridge, the end of it is a far-off haze in a mist of blackness. They take the adventure that lies before them, fearlessly, unconditionally, and run across two or three times. Then they start the dark journey back. It’s a short walk, all in all around 20 minutes, but by the time they turn back it’s already so dark they can’t see one another’s faces. The only light is the occasional flash of the camera, and two very faint street-lights near the parking lot. They do manage to get back to the car, and start driving home. However, they don’t actually get more than a couple yards when they come to a sudden stop, faced with an iron gate, blocking the car from the rest of the road by two padlocks with keys and combinations. After some work of genius, two of the party manage to get the gate unlocked and swing it open as everyone else gives a collective sigh of relief. The night air calms the crowd as they return to the rest of the party, and after another rousing game of pool, the two families part ways.

Based on a true story.

Deep in the Heart of Texas: Day 3

Well, we got another call from The Traveler today, and this time most of us got a chance to talk with her. Apparently everything is going extremely well, except for the fact that she doesn’t have any pictures of us, so I very sweetly posted a picture of the family on Facebook for her to show all her friends.

Morgan says that the adult seder was *so much fun*, and lasted until after 2:00am!! Admitedly ours didn’t last quite that long, but almost. It makes me think of a movie or something: “The Seder Wars: Who can have the most seders, stay up the latest, have the most guests, have the most fun, have as many new people as possible and win the Passover Prize!?”. Seriously, I think she’s winning. But don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we haven’t had a lot of fun too… (not to mention many attempts to get a hard-boiled egg through the neck of a grape juice bottle… okay, a *lot* of attempts.)

There have been rumors of 11 dogswhere they are staying, and she seems to be handling it just fine, since she’s still alive and well Also that the Schoenwalds are very much like us in that they use Organic Jason Soap and Tom’s Toothpaste. Both items we use.

Well, I didn’t hear anything like “…missing you guys…”, “…wish you were here…”, “…wish I was there…”, or anything like that, so it’s good to know everything is up to par over in the ‘Heart of Texas’, also evidently in the ‘Heart of Nowhere’, since it was at a remote location nearly 2 hours from the airport. But never fear, Morgan seems to be keeping in contact, and she’ll even have Internet access soon on someone’s computer. So if you’re missing her, please comment on this post (or an earlier one) and express yourself. I’m sure it will be greatly appreciated.

Face Your Fears

Well you’ve all heard about the wonderful and exciting time that was had at the Biltmore Estate for the last time with Julianna’s pass. Well, that was *nothing* compared to what was experienced at, yes, the United States National Whitewater Center located right here in Charlotte!!!! Wow!

So in a nutshell, here’s the deal: We (meaning the ‘fun crowd’) started the day with French toast, strawberries and maple syrup… I know, you’re envious already. After that we were told that we were driving to a remote location somewhere in NC, but we didn’t have any specifics. So after a quick cleanup and the brushing of teeth, we jumped into “Goose” er, the “Old Grey Goose” and set off. We were in the car for what seemed like minutes with the Beach Boys to accompany us, and in no time arrived at the USNWC and couldn’t wait to hear what we were doing. However, it seems that the main building of the whitewater center was at the end of a long, winding, tree-enclosed, deserted path down which we drove. During the bumpy ride we heard rumors and startling ideas of “build your own canoe”, “hide and seek wide-ranged”, “hiking up steep trails” and such-what. Pete and I didn’t exactly fall for this, but we were afraid that these suggestions would be close to the truth. Thankfully when we parked we were pleasantly surprised to hear that it was nothing of the sort. Not whitewater-rafting, not canoeing <sigh of relief>, no, we were going to do the zipline! Now, at first you may think we were disapointed, but I assure you this was not the case. Anyway, there are two ziplines: One is 100 feet long, 32 feet in the air, the other is 1100 feet long, 57 feet up. No elevators. We were slightly relieved when we were informed that we were to do the “baby one”… and it was not babyish I assure you. Actually, I was a little frightened when we were finally next to it.

Our assistants were Kelly and Amber, who were so sweet and helpful. Thank goodness this wasn’t the kind where you’re just hanging on (for dear life!) to the little handle thing… but, we were in harnesses <gasp!>. Yeah, they’re embarrassing because your pants get bunched up, and your shirt rides up your back making it look strained and pulled, and you have to keep pulling it down, and the straps are so tight (for safety, not by choice) that you look entirely too dweeby to be seen with a group of respected friends, but it’s really not so bad when you’re with your brother, and your sisters, and two people who see it all day long. Anyway, enough said about the harnesses, although it’s important to say that the two (I hate to say it) “wimps” (Morgan and Christine), were un-tastefully snapping pictures… mostly of us putting on the harness (and anyone who’s been rock-climbing or ziplining or any kind of hanging sport, knows that is the worst part to take pictures at).

So basically it’s this tree-house 32 feet in the air, supported by these HUGE trees which have those ‘rock-climbing grips’ attached to it, so Pete and I climbed up together (the whole time racing each other) and were instructed on how to do it. We sat down on the edge, and looked down. Down into the cleared forest where we saw the tiny specks of three people: Morgan, Christine, and Kelly. We waved, and there was some small hand-motion back which was so far away we could hardly see (at least that’s what it felt like). We then leaned forward and fell off the edge. It was a true test of manhood for us, because when you’re sitting down, your harness is completely slack, so when you fall, you really feel like you’re going to fall straight down and die. But a second after the lean-off, we sank into our harnesses and gripped the rope tightly as we swung down easily to the ground. It didn’t feel like as far as I had imagined, but it’s like you get double the fun because you get the entire hour that you’ve paid for. So after many successful and painless jumps, we did it with eyes closed, and hands free. It was *SO-MUCH-FUN*!!!

After an hour of ”zip-lining,” we got t-shirts at the main center, and walked away from the joys of the USNWC. As we were on the steps descending to “Goose”, it is notable that we saw our cousins the Stelzls who were there to take pictures of the water! So we departed and drove to Panera (Ballantyne) where we had a fantastic lunch and worked on editing a few pictures taken at the zipline. We have plans to make one into a big poster and framed or something.

Then we headed home, after a long, fun, dehydrating, exciting, eventful, profitable, and all in all FANTASTIC day at the US National Whitewater Center. Oh, and next time, we’re going for the big one.

Giving Thanks 2008

By Julianna Squicciarini

This past Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving with our extended family.  As our culture and tradition demand, we had decked our halls with fall decorations, like fruits and vegetables and colorful leaves.  Donning our gay apparel, we gathered together at around 3:30pm for appetizers and punch (no figgy pudding this time, though).  After our sumptuous meal of turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, and homemade pies (thanks to the Stelzl family!), some intrepid souls were actually considering a walk.  And, although most of us were heedless of the wind and weather, it was pitch black outside, so we decided to skip that

And now, with less than a month until Christmas, how fast away the old year passes!  Time is flying, but ’tis the season to be jolly, so start enjoying the holidays – Happy Thanksgiving!

A Tale of Two City-Girls: Day 13

Nothin’ doin’… or, doin’ nothin’…

A quiet day of relaxation and preparation for Shabbat – and no more updates from the girls.

A Tale of Two City-Girls: Day 11

After a detailed interview of Julianna and Mary Squicciarini, we’ve gotten a story that has made the news: their pasta-making extravaganza!

Some comments made were: “So it was overall pretty hard?” “Well that’s an understatement!”
“Wow! What a mess!” “Were we supposed to use cutting boards so it doesn’t get on the table?” ”It was really fun, and really messy.”

They said that it was amazing to watch the pasta come from a lump of dough not as big as your fist, and turn into a plate heaping with ravioli. To sum up their experience, the main process was:

Make Dough
Let Dough Sit
Roll Dough with Machine… 10 times
Continue Rolling
Roll Until Dough is Thinner Than Paper
Let Dough Sit
Make Filling
Use Machine to Make Ravioli
Separate Ravioli
Let Ravioli Sit
Cook Ravioli
Eat Ravioli

“Actually it’s a lot harder than it sounds, and also a lot more fun! Especially when you’ve got someone there to talk to the whole time.” “It seemed like we were sending that pasta through the machine (which you have to turn by hand) the whole time! Julianna actually said ‘We’ll be here all day!’”

No worries, even though it was hard work, they still ate it, and enjoyed it, and finished it.

P.S. – Did I forget to mention that Peter was an integral part on the first batch…
P.S.S. – no more updates on the girls.