Buying the New Yorker 1986 - page 56

I think that this sets a new record for ad quantity on a page. I'm pretty sure that this is the first time I've needed four images to get all the ads in. I apologise in advance. This post is probably going to look horrific.

All I have to do is look at one of L.L. Bean's signature boots and I can feel my calves chafing. I think we have ten current Bean catalogs floating around the house now that it is the early (read: safe to order things that have to be shipped) holiday season. I would be interested to have a look at an old catalog, just to see how much it's changed. Somehow I think not so much.

The Andrews Hotel is still there, and they've done a little work on the front. Gone is the nice period canopy, and in it's place... well from the picture it looks like a slab. I don't like the new sign either. Man, I am a grump. Oh, and you youngsters in the audience: That car in the ad. It's not from 1986. Just so you know.

Generally the sign that a craft firm is really into their art is when their website has a bibliography. The James Robinson Company is just this hardcore. Their flatware is all hand-hammered, so, in addition to the quality, it can also be customized:

Most of our patterns can be altered to suit your particular taste and individuality. For instance, all three prong forks are also made with four prongs. All knives are offered with a choice of blades. Most patterns can be supplied in longer or shorter lengths to fit your needs. All patterns can have their handles turned up or down as you prefer.

I have no idea why I would need any of this, but I'm somehow quite happy that I can get it.

Yes, it's that Trapp Family. Honestly, I can't add anything to this. Go have a look for yourself.

Italia Adagio seems to currently be run by a moonlighting academic named Dr. Daniel Lesnick.

Dr. Lesnick has lived in Italy for over eight years since 1969, studying and conducting historical research on topics including Preaching in Medieval Florence, Criminal Activity in Medieval and Renaissance Todi, and Italian Microhistory.

I suspect that he's taken the business over from artist Frieda Yamins (she also seems to have done a similar setup with Hawaii) - I need to do more research than I'm really up to at the moment to find out for sure. Sorry.

What seems to go down is this: you write to Dr. Lesnick and tell him what bits of Italy you want to visit and learn about, and he whomps up a group of 15 or so people to take the trip. It sounds like good interesting fun unless one of the people on the trip has the personality of a rotting fish. Which you never see from tourists.

The Island City House hotel is the sort of Bed and Breakfast that needs to have a whole section on their website about their cats. Each cat has its own page. Here's the one for the cat named "Miss Snorkels." Don't say I didn't warn you.

Don't bother googling the phrase "canoe burgundy" if you are looking for this trip deal. You'll just get a bunch of burgundy colored canoes. I have so far found nothing on Connor Travel and their "Canoeing through France" set up, but I have to say that after all the hoity-toity barge tours I've seen in this project, the idea of doing the same routes in a canoe sounds like hilarious fun. The fact that my imagination is conjuring up images of early nineteenth-century French Canadian fur trappers is just a happy bonus.