I received a lot of nice gifts from folks over the holidays and want to thank everyone for their generosity. Today, being a Twofer Tuesday, here are some of the gifts I received that seemed to come in pairs as follows:
First up, pre-Christmas I received a couple pairs of food-related gifts as my sister Donna gave Pam and me a stash of her excellent homemade cookies. My sister Lila then passed along to us fruitcake and some of Trossbach’s delicious country sausage.
Another round of food pairing presents saw Caitie and Brady giving us sausage and several pounds of the Bowes’ excellent stuffed ham. In keeping with the overall food theme, Lisa Mercure then gave me a pair of Gift Cards to one of my favorite lunch time restaurants the Green Turtle. Thank you Donna. Lila, Caitie, Brady and Lisa for all the good things to eat!
As for drinking, a couple bottles of wine ended up under our tree and ultimately in our bellies.
Our friends Carol and Gary Kurtz gave Pam and me a nice bottle of Josh Cellars Sav Blanc with a label photo of us from our Alaska tour several years ago.
Here is that photo on the label. Note that I was too cold to smile as we were outside viewing the glaciers in Prince William Sound.
Terri Yates also gave us a nice bottle of Kendall-Jackson wine making that another pair of presents as in two bottles of wine. Eating and drinking, isn’t that what the holidays are all about?
Terri then gave me one of two Buzzy Country Store-themed gifts that I received as follows:
Ned Pratt very thoughtfully gave me a nice coffee mug that he had someone make for me. It features a photo of his Challenger in front of Buzzy’s Country Store. Ned may just have launched a good idea of having a collection of coffee mug classic cars photographed in front of Buzzy’s!
As stated, a second Buzzy-related gift was given to me by Terri who had this Buzzy Snow Glove made:
In keeping with Buzzy’s Country Store theme for presents, Tracey Buckler made me this nice Good Times oyster shell present that includes a photo of her and Terri:
My friend Brother Billy Fitzgerald continued the oyster shell present idea when he gave me this one very appropriately labeled Buzzed.
And as if that wasn’t enough gift giving for one season, the pairing of gifts continued this past Sunday when I was presented with a couple of other uniquely special gifts as follows:
Andy is shown here presenting me with the annual gift that he and Dee Duffy have presented to Buzzy’s for several years now – the 2024 edition of Jeff Foxworthy’s “You Might Be a Redneck Calendar.”
Sadly, Dee passed recently (click here) but Andy said that he wanted to continue the tradition in her memory. I am very touched that he did so because when I heard of Dee’s passing, it did cross my mind “Well, guess there won’t be any more Foxworthy Redneck Calendars from her on the Buzzy counter.” Thank you Andy for keeping Dee’s memory alive and well in Buzzy’s every day. (Last Friday’s calendar entry read “You might be a redneck if you thought that Elon Musk was a men’s cologne” was exactly what I thought when I first heard of him!)
Later Sunday afternoon, my friend Bruce Stauton presented me with this old time wood planer that he refinished complete with a Buzzy plaque on it. Thank you Bruce!
Note that there is an interesting story and history about these antique wood planers made by Auburn Tool Company that I will relate in a followup post.
Music-wise, check out this twofer where Rick, with assistance from Mary Spender, nails two of my all time favorite tunes here “Dreams” and “Horse With No Name.” I was never aware of the 2 chord simplicity behind them. Shows how much lyrics and harmonies (another pairing!) can make a simple song great.