Infiltrating the Greenwich Croquet Club

I stumbled upon the most amazing thing yesterday: REAL CROQUET.


We were leaving Bruce Park Playground in Greenwich, and rather than hop directly on the highway to go back to Stamford, I drove through Bruce Park to show it to my visiting sister and parents. Once we spotted the fancy green lawn and people in fancy white clothes playing what looked to be a very serious match, I pulled over to investigate.

“Is this a croquet league?” I asked a lady sitting off to the side.

I ended up doing an impromptu interview with the woman, Donna Dixon, who, in addition to being one of the top women croquet players in the US (she’s from Houston), was a great source of info.

She told me that some of the players were from California and Canada, and that the croquet match was run by the Greenwich Croquet Club. There are other tournaments in Locust Valley NY, Palm Beach FL, and California, but the Greenwich Invitational is known as being on of the best, both player-wise and for the social aspect.

“Where’s the wine?” I asked. Donna looked at me bemusedly, and I realized I was insulting her sport. “Oh- I guess you wouldn’t drink during a match, but I expected to see people sipping white wine at something like this.”

“Well, some of the younger players were drinking beer in the afternoon while they were playing yesterday, but we save that for later!”

Thank you Donna, for being so willing to talk to me!

You can see more of my photos after the jump. Or, click here to see last year's Greenwich Invitational photos for some good closeups of what the wickets look like.

You can also read this article about the tournament from the Greenwich Time (or it newstimes? I can't keep track of who owns what paper), or see the Greenwich Time's short blog entry about it. There's also a United States Croquet Association website.






Click here to read more.

Celeb Gossip: Near Napa Sightings 'n Awkward Stuff

I LOVE "The Dish" by Susie Costaregni. I hope I am spelling her name right. I refuse to spellcheck it, because if an excellent speller like me can't get your name right, well, there is something wrong with your name.

First cool tidbit from Susie:

Scene ... Actor Michael Douglas, his wife, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, and their two children, son Dylan and daughter Carys, who are renting a home in Bedford, N.Y., were seen last Sunday night in downtown Stamford near Napa & Co. Zeta-Jones won a Tony Award last week for Best Actress in a Musical for her role of Desiree in "A Little Night Music" on Broadway.

What the hey! Why couldn't I have spotted them? I wonder what they were doing. Were they at Napa and Co?

Second tidbit:

Scene ... Riverside residents and TV personalities Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford and son Cody were recently seen having dinner at Terra Ristorante on Greenwich Avenue. On the other side of the restaurant were TV personalities Regis and Joy Philbin, who came in for dinner but left shortly after being seated.

Toooootally awkward. I love it. I love awkward stuff.

Oh and also? Is Terra really that great? I've been there once and it was OK... but that was for lunch. Maybe for dinner, with the wine flowing, it's a beautiful romantic little space. Because really, the appeal of Italian food, no matter how good... is the wine that goes with it!

Click here to read more.

Laura Linney Blocks Off Long Ridge...

For her Showtime series "The Big C" (C as in cancer) filming in Stamford.

And I'm totally ok with it even though it was tooootally the evening rush hour!

Tuesday, as I was picking up the kid from daycare, the light at Roxbury and Long Ridge was blocked by cops. I figured it was an accident, knowing how fast people drive on that road, but a friend told me via a comment on the blog that she had actually seen a blond woman being filmed in a car that was on a flatbed truck and that it was probably Laura Linney... cool!

So this is a probably, not definitely Laura Linney, but I bet it's right, because none of the characters in the Kevin movie are blond.

Plus Suzy what's her name from the Advocate gossip column said Laura Linney was spotted at- where else?- Napa recently!

I don't want to trash talk Laura Linney in case I actually get to meet her in my set stalking this summer, so I'm just gonna say I could not STAND her character in Love, Actually, which is otherwise the best chick flick/Christmas movie ever. Click here to read more.

Stamford Police Publicly Endorse Glenn Beck: I Wish I Were Joking

I read on the Advocate's 411 blog that SPD chose Glenn Beck to speak at their Officer of the Year ceremony. What's even more absurd is their stated reason why. Keep reading.

I don't know much about Glenn Beck, but here's what Wikipedia says:

In response to the president's remarks on the Henry Louis Gates controversy, Beck argued that President Barack Obama has repeatedly shown "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture," saying "I'm not saying he doesn't like white people. I'm saying he has a problem. This guy is, I believe, a racist."

Here's what the SPD has to say about why they chose him as a speaker:

Sgt. Joseph Kennedy, president of the Stamford Police Association, said the choice of Beck as a keynote speaker makes the awards ceremony appeal to a broader base of people, and also his membership.

“Most police officers are conservative by nature,” Kennedy said. “I can’t say everyone is a Republican but we seem to have more conservative views when it comes to global issues.”

“We know from people we’ve spoken to and from hearing Beck in the past, he has a good appreciation for law enforcement,” Kennedy said.

THAT MAKES NO SENSE. Police are civil servants, just like teachers. I keep my political views out of the classroom (my students don't have the choice to avoid me), and my police should keep their political views out of my face (I don't have the choice to pick and choose who protects me and my fellow Stamfordites). When you have chosen, like teachers and police officers have, to serve a community, you also give up a little bit of how much of your politics you can express. That's because to do your job well, you have to have the full respect of the community, and to do that, you need to not publicly endorse people who many people find terribly offensive.

I believe the police have a responsibility to portray themselves as fair-minded, caring people. Having Beck as a speaker suggests that he's their role model, and I prefer to think my police aspire to a higher model of balanced thinking- don't they need that to make good decisions in their daily task of protecting us? I hope the SPD cares enough about its reputation enough to cancel this guy's speaking engagement.

I'm gonna have to give this whole situation a big Stamford Talk "DUH."

Click read more to see excerpts of Advocate readers’ comments that prove that the SPD’s choice of speaker offends the community:

geez with all the problems in the Stamford Police Department–A cop slugging a woman in the face, another showing photos of his genitals and not too long ago another buying fenced goods perhaps the SPA would find someone less controversial and dare i say progressive. The recent problems are a sign of arrogance

I served the City of Stamford for 32 years as a police officer and lived and raised my family in this beautiful City my children attended and graduated from Stamford Public Schools and very proud of it….not in my wildest dreams would I be a part to honoring the officer of the year by bringing a racist, anti-social bigot individual as guest speaker. The Stamford Police Association is sending the multicultural community of Stamford the WRONG message….but, then again what else is new. Shame on you SPA.

No matter how you slice it, this does not make the STP look good. They are a professional organization. They should not be promoting a speaker who is perceived as a divisive political demagogue by a significant percent of the population that they serve. It is bad community relations, and makes them look very unprofessional. It is an uneeded public distraction to any good work they do.

Click here to read more.

John C. Reilly Mentions Stamford Karaoke on Daily Show!

I was pleasantly surprised last night during dinner (I wasn't feeling good so was letting John Stewart entertain the toddler) to see John C. Reilly stroll onto the show... and shocked when he mentioned doing karaoke in Stamford CT. It seems like he likes Stamford, if you ask me! Maybe the karaoke crowd was cool, like they let him do his thing and didn't act like a bunch of dorks.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
John C. Reilly
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Click here to read more.

Butterfield 8 Stamford: Date Night, Bacon

Whoa. On News 12, I just saw the chef at Butterfield 8 and he said they have macaroni and cheese... with jalapeno and bacon. I am so there!!!!
(Is this a good time to mention that my friend's friends make Bakon Vodka? Random, but they do, out of Seattle, where I visited last summer before the ill-fated California leg of the trip where the baby puked for a week straight and I had to syringe-feed him around the clock for several days, find a pediatrician, and go to the ER twice.)

The chef, Masekela Jones, also said they have date night Thurs- 50 bucks for appetizer, entrees and dessert, PLUS a bottle of wine. I am also- SO THERE.

He said they get their seafood from New Wave Seafood in Stamford so it's always fresh.

This is why I love News 12 for local news. It's such a great idea to have local chefs come in and show off a few dishes.

Ooh- Butterfield 8 also got Best Singles Scene in the Fairfield County Weekly, as well as Best New Bar. See text below, from Butterfield8's press page.

Best of Fairfield Weekly 2010
BEST SINGLES SCENE
Whether it's happy hour or late night, there's always big groups of young women and big groups of young men at Butterfield 8. There's lots of room, so you can roam and mingle, says Doug Newhook, regional manager. On Thursday nights, guys have been known to invite girls they've just met to join them right away for the Date Night special, a shared appetizer, individual appetizer, shared dessert and a bottle of wine for $50.

Best of Fairfield Weekly 2010
Date: 05.14.10
The bartenders are friendly and energetic at Butterfield 8. The bar area is spacious and attractive, with planks of Brazilian chestnut rising seven feet up the wall. Adding to the comfortable feeling are the specials on food and drinks, $3 beers, $4 wine glasses, $5 mixed drinks, and $8 appetizers during the lively happy hour (5 to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday). The place draws people in their 20s and 30s who work at the corporate headquarters in downtown Stamford. Click here to read more.

Greek Festival This Weekend!

Sounds totally awesome and I am going to try my darnedest to get there. It's on Newfield Ave. Food, alcohol, sounds good to me! I'd say more but I've got a tired punchy baby throwing his milk cup at my laptop! Just threw it so he could fetch, so now I have a second to give you the link to the church's homepage with info about the festival! It's rain or shine. I like that spirit. Click here to read more.

Photos: Tilda Swinton on "Kevin" Movie Set

Thank you to reader Tim, who sent some great photos of the Springdale movie set of "We Need to Talk about Kevin." I can't believe we may see our very own Dairy Inn (which I've never been to) in a movie! And I am dying to know what they used Vinny's for. Tilda's hair looks long in one of the photos, as opposed to the short cut I saw in some movie stills online.



Click read more to see three more photos.




Click here to read more.

More Movie News: JCR on Vinny's Roof

My friend reports via text that her husband reports that John C. Reilly was filming on the roof of Vinny's. He's not sure if JCR is still there, but they are still filming. Sigh. I'm stuck here trying to get a toddler to sleep who's climbing all over the furniture while eating Goldfish.

I cannot believe they chose that humble shopping center for this movie shoot. Pretty cool. Click here to read more.

Stamford Movie News: We Need to Talk About Kevin

I got emails from readers and friends yesterday letting me know that there was "We Need to Talk About Kevin" movie action in Springdale, but I was way too busy with work and baby to post. (OK, I also squeezed a jog in since I'm doing the C25K program with the iPhone app, then friends came over to watch the Bigger Loser finale on TiVo, then baby was of course a raging lunatic until 10pm because he's working on another ear infection and having friends over had him totally wired. In any case, I never sat down at a computer, and Lord knows Blogger makes it IMPOSSIBLE to blog from your iPhone.)

Anyway, here's the scoop, plus timeline:

Tues 730 pm: Kevin of Always Home and Uncool let me know that Tilda Swinton was filming a scene in front of Dairy Inn in the Springdale shopping center about 6:30 p.m. Evidently they had been there all day. Here's a really terrible pic he sent me. Hey, it's better than nothing!

(My phone was actually screwing up that night. I'm bummed I missed his message because I might have headed over there.)

Wed 8am: My friend emailed me this pic of a fake travel store front RIGHT beside Vinny's, the go-to burger place for people with young kids.


Wed 10:30am: a friend posted on facebook that they were filming INSIDE Vinny's! I'll have to ask them about it next time I go there.

Wed 1:25 pm: Kevin let me know that they were still filming out by the Dairy Inn as of 1 p.m. He didn't see Tilde or JCR. They were setting up a shot with a guy in a wheelchair.

Wed 9pm: a reader posted a link yesterday afternoon on my previous post about my botched attempt to stalk the movie set at it's location at Wright Tech, letting me know they were filming inside CVS Springdale.

It really stinks that I have a JOB, or else I could properly stalk this movie and report back to you! You know, like when I first started this blog. That was an idyllic time. Now I have a JOB, which I love, but it keep me really busy. I'm doing a major (and really cool) writing project with my students, so I'm busy at work keeping track of them, and I need to get myself into bathing suit shape for a friend's wedding in late summer- oh and plus there's my BABY, who can now CLIMB ONTO ALMOST ANYTHING, and he's really fast, so virtually nowhere is safe. I'd be OK with that, but I'm afraid he's going to break his arm like one of our baby friends did. I didn't know that babies could like, break their arms.

Looking forward to this summer, when I'll have a little more brain space for blogging, and the baby and I are going to be out and about a lot, so we should be able to have some adventures.

Just 5 more weeks of school left! It's been a great half-year with my students, actually. They've done some excellent writing, and that always makes me very, very happy. Click here to read more.

Whole Foods Darien: Good Stuff, Traffic

I can cheerfully predict that Whole Foods Darien will continue the traffic tradition of Whole Foods Greenwich. At the sneak peek I attended tonight at 5:20 pm, traffic was backed all the way up onto Route 1. Whatever. Whole Foods just means traffic, and we need to accept it. (I was at Whole Foods Columbus Circle in NYC in Saturday, and that was a wreck too. We got Brownie Bites, though, so it was all good.)

Anyway, the baby and I, along with a boatload of other mothers with kids aged 8 and under, perused the Whole Foods Darien, which opens officially on Wednesday. I was most interested in the baby items, since that's my latest obsession. I was happy to see that WFD carries two of my favorite Skip Hop items: the Pronto and the Wipes Case, which is the best wipes case you will EVER lay your hands on. I bought another one today, so now I own two. This way, I don't have to keep switching it from my fancy diaper bag to my Skip Hop backpack when I need a different diaper bag for my different outing purpose (look cute or be hands free). I cannot risk forgetting wipes, because while I CAN wipe snot and food off the kid with my sweater, I certainly do not want to try and change a poopy diaper like that.

If you go check out WFD, so be sure to leave lots of time, so you are not grumpy when you encounter crowds. The parking lot was completely full when I left just before 6pm this evening. All I can say is, they should have built a slightly bigger lot. It is gonna be a mess. I mean that in the nicest way possible.

The event tonight was fun but crowded. I got some freebies on the way out the door, but I'm too tired to post about them. I also ran into two fellow bloggers, which is always awesome.

See more photos after the jump.


One side of deli area.


Check out area.



Wide open area in back of store.



The "Whole Body" aisle.
Click here to read more.

John C. Reilly Really Sang Karaoke at Black Bear Stamford!!!

Oh my goooooood if I didn't have a really bad cough, I'd laugh out loud.

I am so thankful to the reader who took time out of his day to send me this.

I mean, really, what else is there to say. This picture is fantastic!

I am SO BUMMED I was not there. I think the karaoke might be even cooler than watching DeNiro. I'd trade my DeNiro scene watching for John C. Reilly karaoke singing watching. Click here to read more.

I Am Watching You, Stamford.

My world is getting small.

I seem to see someone I know everywhere I go, and I blame the baby. In a good way. I feel like, especially in the mall/Target/Cove/Bull's Head/SMNC cicuit- you know, where the parents hang- I had better be on my best behavior, because chances are, I'm gonna see someone I know.

This feeling actually makes me DRIVE better, because I'm afraid that if I drive like a punk, that person is gonna pull into daycare RIGHT BEHIND ME, and I'm going to be revealed as a jerk to this other parent- a parent who I'll see regularly for the next several years. I see my good behavior as an investment in future karma- and a good reputation.

I've got a good memory for faces, and I like talking to people, and I'm always looking at people, so obviously this makes me more likely to spot people. It's sort of a hobby of mine, actually.

But having the baby in daycare, and taking baby yoga and other classes, really has caused me to be connected with many, many more adults who live in the same area I do.

I just ran into a woman I recognized at a playground, and we puzzled for several minutes over where we knew each other from. Stamford Hospital Mom's Group? Attachment Parenting Group of Fairfield County? Baby Yoga? La Leche League? No... I realized later that night that I knew her from the one toddler yoga class I tried out at Elements Yoga in Darien.

Don't have kids? Well, maybe you go to my GYM, so I might know your face any way.

So hey, even if you don't recognize me... I might recognize you, so YOU better be on good behavior!

That's right, Stamford, keep on your TOES, 'cause I am out there... watching you.

List of just some of my random sightings:

• A Stamford Hospital Moms Group friend at Capriccio.
• A baby yoga friend at Stamford Museum and Nature Center.
• A coworker and her kids at Target.
• A Stamford Hospital Mom at Cove.
• A Stamford Hospital Mom at the grocery store.
• A mom I know from our walks at the grocery store.
• Another Stamford Hospital Mom at the grocery store (who I avoided).
• A lady I recognized but couldn't place at a playground.
• A coworker's friend (who I'd met at a playdate) at Target.
• Also, lots and lots of other people I see but avoid.

You see what I am talking about?

I should really make an effort to DRESS better since I seem to see people I know a lot, but a lady can't do it all... especially when she is STILL not quite back into her pre-pregnancy wardrobe. Click here to read more.