7 Quick Takes Friday (vol. 37): traveling adventures and sugar glass

— 1 —

As I mentioned last week, I am in Connecticut this week with my family, and it was quite the adventure getting here.  It’s the first time I’ve ever had a flight cancelled after I’d checked in for it.  The airline was very apologetic, and within 3 hours, I had tickets for another flight the next day and a room at a very nice hotel.  They even handed me a bag full of biodegradable toiletries.  It was incredibly thoughtful, and much appreciated, considering my grand travel plan was “I’m not going to pack those sorts of things – I can just buy them in Connecticut.”

I am thinking about writing a letter to the airline, thanking them for their thoughtfulness (the biodegradable toothbrush was awesome) – but suggesting that as useful as a biodegradable container of shoe polish might be under circumstances I can’t really imagine, a small bottle of saline might be a more practical item.  I was fortunate enough to find one in the hotel gift shop – but it cost me seven dollars.  Which was better than throwing my contacts away – but still.

— 2 —

I also wonder what they were thinking when they booked that flight – seriously, I was already late; a layover wouldn’t have been awful.  My flight was a few minutes late getting into Dulles Airport, and I had ten minutes from the time I got off the plan until my next flight started boarding.  It was, of course, on the other side of the airport (but fortunately in the same terminal).  There was a really nice exchange student on my flight who was in the same circumstance, so we kept each other company as we sprinted through the airport.  We made it – exactly on time.  And then sat in the plane for half an hour waiting for the airline to bring a ramp for another passenger.  So that was fun.

— 3 —

I have watched more television in the past week than anyone really should, and I may have accidentally gotten hooked on Castle.   I’m not entirely sure I’m sorry.

— 4 —

I’ve also watched a ton of old movies, and learned something fascinating this evening from my mom.  I’ve always sort of vaguely wondered how it is that people can get thrown through plate glass windows in the movies and not end up bleeding all over everywhere.  It turns out that the windows in a lot of old movies were made out of spun sugar.

You can actually make sugar glass at home.  (I found directions on the internet.)  I know better than to try it – but I know some people who could probably pull it off.  I’m kind of hoping they’ll try…

— 5 —

I think the coolest thing about the fact that they used sugar glass for scenes in movies is that it was someone’s job to make them.  How cool would that be?  “What do you do for a living?”  “Oh, I make the windows that bad guys are thrown through in the movies.”

© Simple Felicity 2014

— 6 —

Today I took off for a few hours on my own and wandered through a few of the places I haven’t been in ages.  I spent part of the afternoon wandering thru Mystic Village – a charming little shopping center full of kitschy stores and rustic decor, remembering.   One of my favorite things to do as a kid was going to the general store and getting a huge piece of fried bread dough covered in powdered sugar.  That store moved to a new location and doesn’t sell it anymore, but it has a sister company that moved into the old building and still makes it.  The atmosphere just isn’t the same – I miss the smells of the old general store and the creak of the wood under my feet, and the crowded shelves – but that bread dough was amazing.

— 7 —

This may seem like a non-sequitur, but it’s on my list of “things I want to get done while I’m in Connecticut” – so it’s not.  😉  I’m thinking about adding a plugin to Simple Felicity to highlight books I’m currently reading.  Any recommendations?  (on books and/or plugins?)

Have a great weekend!

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