Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Mary Poppins and Wine Bags




I can't take credit for constructing this one... or even thinking it up for that matter. A Tuesday night cocktail party materialized as carolers were circulating the neighborhood, and this clever wee wine bag was given to the hostess (my wife) by a friend.  On said friend's other arm was a bag of home-grown satsumas from her parent's property in California, and were better than the Whole Foods variety.


As fireplace season started up again, the chimneys were swept in preparation for the annual delivery of split hardwoods next week.  Speaking of chimney sweeps, Mrs. bought the DVD of Mary Poppins and had a movie night (late day) with several young ones over the weekend. The scenes are lovely and timeless, and among the many, these shots caught my drowsy eyes:


Notice the triple frog-closures.


When the actual chimney sweep arrived on Monday, the disappointment to my child was instantly visible and borderline heartbreaking.  The sweep arrived by van and not by nimbly-pranced rooftop.  He looked nothing like Dick Van Dyke and worse yet, he didn't sing, dance, or actually get inside the chimney.  

"Ev'ry thing looks good here" he said as the small extended fiber-optic camera scanned the interior of the stack.  Jr. sat patiently and waited for a wink, a Cockney colloquialism, or some aerial acrobatics.  Instead the sweep's loud shop-vacuum just hummed away as he watched the monitor.  "All set, buddy.  See you in two years" said the surprisingly clean sweep, and he packed his extending brushes and left.  I explained that life is nothing like movies, and that very often things are not what one expects.  It was either that or ask my wife to hold an opened umbrella and jump off the roof.





5 comments:

  1. You know, I actually passed a chimney sweep dressed in traditional black clothing and a top hat with the cable and wire brush coiled over his shoulder while walking down a snowy street one quiet afternoon in Luebeck, Germany during January 1986. One of the tallest, blondest young guys I've ever seen outside Holland or Denmark.

    Best Regards,

    Ulrich von B.

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  2. Great post and lots of fun to see the stills from Mary Poppins. What a clever idea for wrapping a bottle! Not sure I'd want to surrender the suit and shirt to make it possible, though...

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  3. That wine bag. Well, words fail me.

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  4. Thanks for putting this all out there. I've enjoyed following your thoughts this past year, and I appreciate the effort that you put into it. Have a restful Christmas.

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  5. Lovely wine bag. I wonder if they make a whisky or gin bag...?

    That last sentence made me 'LOL' ;-)

    Merry Christmas to you and yours!!

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