There And Back Again

Hello World, Well, what better way to start the new year off right, than to celebrate a merry Christmas II The Sequel at the log cabin? As they say down on Old Macdonald's Farm, "HOE HOE HOE!" So when the first Saturday in January rolled around, we packed up the sleigh - I mean, car - with all of our goodies, and headed over the river and through the woods, then over the ground like a hunting hound, for the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh - or should I say, the GPS surely does. The weather was beautiful for traveling, and not being any sort of holiday, there was no traffic to speak of along the way. It was chillier up north, and "countryside covered with snow," as the song goes, but we received a warm welcome from the cabin elves, and some home-made soup and sandwiches soon revived our spirits. There's nothing like presents to lend cheer to any proceedings, so we hunkered down and tucked into ours in earnest, uncovering hidden gems of apparel, snacks, entertainment, jewelry and even cat toys among the gaily wrapped bags and boxes. Hours later, we finally had to stop for dinner, and even better, topped that off with desserts like gingerbread cake, peach cobbler and chocolate mousse. Now, that's what I call Kringle-jingle yum-yum! It may not have been actually Christmas day, but we could not have been more merry and jolly if we tried. We had a nice enough stay at the Quality Inn when we were there for Thanksgiving, but Kingston (as they like to tell everyone, the original capital of New York State) is chockful of hotels on every side, so I thought it might be interesting to cast a wider net and try some place different this time around. That was how we ended up at the SuperLodge across the street from the Quality Inn, so it was certainly easy to find, and almost 30% cheaper besides. Alert readers may recall our experiences the previous winter at the nearby SkyTop, where we found that the rooms were in a condition reminiscent of a Siberian gulag, and the grouchy Russian staff made us reluctant to complain. We spotted no Russians at the SuperLodge, but the rooms were just as frigid - only this time, we outsmarted them by showing up in the middle of the day to check in, so we had plenty of time to turn on the heat and warm the place up, rather than checking in at midnight, and trying to sleep in a deep freeze after a long and busy day. It never did get to what I would describe as "balmy," but it was a lot better than when we first got there, that's for sure. We expected that our "Christmas II" weekend would be too busy for a splash in their pool, which was just as well, because we found out from the desk clerk that even though the pool is indoors, they close it for the winter so they don't have to keep the room warm enough for swimmers. (I had a nagging suspicion that in the summer, they would have another excuse why the pool wasn't open, but I bit back that thought before it sprang from my lips.) Somewhere, Vladimir Lenin is having a big laugh, comrade. In the morning, we scooted back over to the log cabin bright and early, for French toast and cinnamon buns, and they did not disappoint, believe me. A normal person might think it would be impossible for us to follow that with even more dessert, but it was back to the gingerbread, cobbler and mousse all over again, and we did not go at it in half-measures, I can assure you. Our hosts had plans in the afternoon to cheer on the Marist women's basketball team (go, Red Foxes!) so we stuffed all of our booty in the car, and bid them a fond farewell. This left us with plenty of time on our hands in the middle of the day, and we all know what they say about idle hands and the devil's playthings, which is bound to be just nothing but trouble in the making, and plenty of it. So instead, we lit out for Newburgh at a trot, and arrived there just in time for the early show of "The Hobbit," which we had wanted to see when it first came out, but never got around to it. Having this free block of time gave us the perfect opportunity, and we leaped at it with our pointy ears and furry feet flying, as it were. The movie is all they claim, and the special effects are nothing short of stupendous, from the tiniest woodland creatures to the brawniest mythical monsters, and everything in between. For a very long movie, it certainly never lags, and you really get your money's worth out of it, as it drags you along pell-mell from one rollicking misadventure to the next. I can tell you that the one thing you will never hear is snoring, because there's no way that anybody could fall asleep during this crowded and boisterous journey, and that's not just a lot of dragon fire, believe me. Our chief interest in the film was Martin Freeman as the unlikely hero Bilbo Baggins, who makes up in courage what he lacks in stature. We admired his work as Watson in the new PBS series, "Sherlock," which brings A. Conan Doyle's iconic detective into the modern era, with a level of intelligence and craftsmanship that is almost unheard of in television nowadays. His multi-faceted Watson to the prickly Sherlock adds a dimension to the show that is both powerful and endearing. The earnest and methodical Watson seemed an odd choice for the latest hobbit to hit the big screen, so we had been curious to see how it would all work out, since we first heard the announcement that he would be starring in the new movie. (Although truth to tell, anyone in the film, no matter how significant, is only playing second fiddle to the computer wizardry of the post-production effects masters - maybe even third or fourth fiddle, the way things turned out.) We were suitably impressed with his thoughtful performance, occasionally offset with some welcome comic relief, and felt that he was just as much at home in Middle Earth as in the heart of 221b Baker Street after all. And while we're on the topic of what the Sherlock Holmes Museum immodestly refers to as "the most famous address in the world," it was also no secret that the versatile Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Sherlock to Martin Freeman's Watson on TV, would be in the new "Star Trek Into Darkness" flick coming out this year, which might be considered another odd casting choice, although perhaps in a different way. But for all of you trivia buffs out there (and you know who you are) the one thing that I never heard one single solitary soul breathe a whisper of, from beginning to end, was that he also appears in "The Hobbit," of all things - which you would expect to have made a bigger splash, after they've basically been connected at the hip for 3 seasons in "Sherlock." It's true that they have no scenes together, and Cumberbatch only materializes as the sinister shadowy silhouette of The Necromancer in a different subplot altogether, but even still, of all the English actors in the whole wide world, I thought it was a remarkable coincidence that they both showed up in the same movie, after being in the same mini-series all these years. In fact, I would say that it could be considered something of a mystery, but then again, that would be elementary, my dear Watson. Elle