Comments on Comments

Hello Readers,

For some reason, it didn't occur to me that good netiquette dictates that bloggers reply to comments. The thing is, most of the comments Barbara and I receive are via email, and we've responded in kind. But from now on, I will be commenting on comments in a timely fashion, and Barbara and I will at least once a month sit down and report on the emails. Starting right now:

Here's a note from Julie, a reader in Winston-Salem:

I’m unofficially manning the southern desk of “Searching the Cosmos."

So far, results are dismal and I haven’t even thrown the gin curve ball yet!

I had high hopes for The Inn at Biltmore Estate as they pride themselves on top drawer everything. The price came out of the top drawer but the drink itself came out of the cranberry-lemonade pitcher – nicely presented, of course.

Recently, I spent a week with my sister on Hilton Head Island and we frequented one of our favorite hole-in-the-wall, right-by-the-water fresh seafood places (Hudson’s). I wasn’t expecting much - the place is much more suited to sweet tea and beer but a girl’s gotta try! You know you’re in trouble when they don’t list the drink prices on the menu and the drink they bring you is in a rather small (but stemmed!) glass. Good thing I was much more focused on the fresh, steamed shrimp and only ordered one. At $8.50. (For comparison: a whole order of shrimp was $14.)

I’m way behind on my issues of MORE (I pass them on to your sister after reading and I’m sure she hasn’t seen one in six months) but I’m sure to have my feathers ruffled by the “Does this drink make me look old?” article. [I bet the editors secretly drink Green Apple Martinis anyway. Eewww!]

Finally, I LOVE that you rated Nobody’s Fool above the other Richard Russo books. My personal fave.

As I wrote to Julie, she should have her own blog; great writing! Barbara and I will be doing a cost-based posting soon; we'll figure out how much it costs to make one at home. And by the way, an $8.50 cosmo would be a steal in Manhattan, where I (Mary) frequently see them for $15. Julie, we hope to hear more from you! (I will be visiting Winston-Salem, Julie's hometown, in May and we will be having a Southern cocktail party: cosmos, daiquiris and cheese straws. We will be indoctrinating my sister Kathleen, who has never had a cosmo of any stripe, let alone gin. There will be a report.)

Here's a recent comment from my sister-in-law Jean:

I see from your cosmos blog that you are still wearing your foot boot. Does it hurt? "Searching the Cosmos" always reminds me of the Clemmie quote, "Hey Mom, tell me again, whats the universe?" or some such quote words to that effect. I also love the thing you wrote about feeling your age. Great play of words there. Thanks for doing that!

Yes, the foot boot: I had to wonder what people who don't know me (which is way more than half of our readers, since Barbara is a much better promoter of it than I) thought about that. I broke my foot in early January. How, I don't know; I didn't turn my ankle or do anything noticeable. I was in that boot until this past Monday.) Thanks for the comments, Jean.

Here's one from my sister Carol to Barbara, since Barbara is who sent her the link:

Museum and Planetarium Director that I am, I see searching cosmos, and I am thinking telescopes and planetarium and billions and billions of stars. Shows where my head is at. Maybe it would be better off in your universe.

That's it for today. More to come. Here's a suggestion to everyone who sends email comments: think about commenting directly on the blog. All of your comments are so funny and interesting that everyone would enjoy reading them. You don't have to use your real or complete name, if that's a concern to you. It would be fun to have dialogues going on.

Barbara and I have just finished our Sunday afternoon cocktail. We thought we'd be doing it porch-side, but it turned cold all of sudden. So we're sitting in her family room, thinking about how bad it would be to spill a cosmo onto my brand new MacBook. So far so good.

xoxo

Barbara and Mary