Photo via vernacularlit.com

Well, thanks to all who joined in our little chat last night and a special thanks to my husband, who was kind enough to let us use him to experiment with the new “live chat” segment of the blog.  Very gentlemanly of him.  I had so much fun, though I felt a little bit like I was at a crowded party. I’d see somebody I knew, say hello, and then they’d be lost in the crowd.  Denis had fun too. Really!

Once the chat is over, it disappears, but my friend Steve had the foresight to copy some of it. Here’s a little bit of the end of last night’s conversation, for those who missed out. It’s not very easy to read, as it’s black and white. I think having the different colors for different people helped last night. Also, I really want to get rid of the announcements of who arrived and who left. Anyway, here’s a snippet:

)<tammy>: does ann want to blog things and you and your kids tell her no, dont put that up<denisleary>: yes. all the time<DanielB>: I was just watching The Ref.. do you think you’ll work with Kevin Spacey again? I saw you two in Recount and you guys were great there. I’d love to see another drama/comedy with you two.<TracyE>: you were amazing in recount btw<scituatebarrym>: Tougher on ice Tim Robbins or Scott Hamilton?<LindaS>: Are your kids funny? *** Kim joined #annleary<Gloria>: How do you pass your rich heritage to your children? It’s one in which you obviously take pride?<LindaS>: What’s next after RM? *** BlogVisitor_0517 joined #annleary<BlogVisitor_3395>: i need a drink after this<tammy>: does she sometimes do it anyway <denisleary>: i would work with kevin again in a heartbeat – we spend so much ltime laughing and improving that i think we drive the directors and producers nuts.*** Kim quit (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client)<Alan>: Two minute warning…<lisaclark>: any hockey types in season 6?<Angela_W>: Are you going to end RM by dropping a house on Sheila? please?<TracyE>: shut up alan!<Catherine>: Thanks for doing this chat Denis.<RTheFish>: Thanks for doing this Denis.<wendysimons>: the half hour just flew by!<Mary>: This is like watching my husband with the remote flipping thru the channels<Bsti>: If you and/or your wife ever need socks, I’ll set you up at SockDreams.com<suzie>: HI Denis, sorry on the phone with work…crazy blogger from Millbury<Sueso>: Would love to see outtakes*** BlogVisitor_5194 joined #annleary<MeganOMalley>: favorite area in Boston to live??<janjan0000>: this was awesome – thanks dennis and ann<TracyE>: i love sheila! shut up angela!<Christine>: Does your mom have a scrapbook of clippings of your career ? She is a cutie!<denisleary>: we lived in charlestown – which we loved.<barbara>: this has been great–thank you denis and ann…y<BlogVisitor_3395>: Outtakes needs to be a movie.<adriana>: Thank you for doing this chat! <Gloria>: I love your Mom<Mary>: Yes thank you Denis and Ann for doing this,, way cool<Pamela>: Great to hear from you, Denis!<pemdy>: I love Sheila too! Drop it on Janet!!!*** Kim joined #annleary<LindaS>: I love your Mom and her cadology! <case>: thanks very much for this Denis! *** berkshiregirl quit (Quit: http://www.mibbit.com ajax IRC Client)<tammy>: it did fly by thank you so much denis for putting up with us <megfromchicago>: Thank you Denis and Ann! Had a ball!

I occasionally receive emails from people who tell me they wish I would blog more about my husband.  They wish to hear more about his show and his book and his movies.  Amazingly, there are some people who think that this guy:

is more interesting than this:

or this:

I know, different strokes.

Well,  in order to assuage those quirky readers and also to test drive the new live chat element that I’ve added to the blog, I will be hosting a live chat tonight with none other than Denis Leary.

As many of you know, we will be doing a live chat with author Dan Chaon about his bestselling (and amazing) novel, Await Your Reply on Tuesday, January 12th and I’m nervous about trying out that chat for the first time with an author I don’t know. So tonight Denis, author of Why We Suck (also a bestseller,  also amazing) will be here at 9:00 p.m. (EST) to chat with you live for 30 minutes.  Then I plan to keep the chat open for another 30 just for fun.

You won’t be able to see us, but we will be dressed, as we are every night, in our evening wear.  We usually dine in something like this:

Then we pull our chairs up next to a blazing fire where Denis reads aloud to the children and me (you know, something fun like Tolstoy).  And then of course, evening vespers and song.

But tonight, we’re doing away with all the usual after-dinner stuff so that we may invite you into our home for a little chitchat. So come join us. Tonight, at 9:00.

If you live in or near Connecticut, I can’t urge you strongly enough to purchase tickets for MOMIX’s 30th Anniversary show at the Warner Theater, in Torrington, CT.  Momix, as most of you know, is the dance company of Moses Pendleton and Cynthia Quinn and this year marks their 30th anniversary.  The show, called “Momix Remix” will be running January 9th and 10th.  For more information or to order your tickets, click here.

I’ve been meaning to post a story about Tammy Harper, a dog hero that I met on Twitter.

Not long ago, I visited an area dog pound and was dismayed to see that some of the long-haired dogs were very matted and filthy.  I knew that if somebody could groom then they would be much more likely to be adopted, because underneath all those smelly tangles were some very cute little characters.

Very shortly thereafter, I saw a tweet on Twitter from a woman named Tammy Harper (@LVGroomer) who announced that she was going to be volunteering her time and skills, as a professional groomer, at a shelter in Las Vegas.  She and some of her friends were going to make over some scruffy strays in the hopes that they would be more presentable for an upcoming adoption day.
Here’s one of the dogs before Tammy got her clippers out:

That little guy was pretty cute before, but here he is after:

I asked Tammy to tell us a little about herself and here she is, in her own words:

“After working 10 years as a vet tech/office manager I decided that I had to make a career change in order to support my 2 kids and have the flexibility of taking care of a 2 & 6 year old.

After working for a groom shop for 4 years, I opened my own
business called Tammy Harper Grooming.  I am different than many
grooming facilities.  I schedule all my appointments like a regular
hairdresser.  If I have an appointment come at 9am, I start the pet at that time.  I do EVERYTHING myself!  No employees, assistance, etc.The pros of this type of philosophy outweigh the cons.  I have always been a QUALITY groomer, not a QUANTITY groomer.  By doing everything myself, I have the pride and joy of knowing that the complete product of the grooming has been done by me.  Most dogs are completed within an hour to 90 minutes, and they leave the facility calm, relaxed, and appear stress free.  That is my ideal goal with grooming.  I also allow ANY owner wishing to stay with their pet to do so, a practice many groomers cringe thinking about.  I have nothing to hide, and recommend that any groomer not allowing you to remain should be questioned why.

Happily I was able to have him scanned and returned him to his owners within 30 minutes.   The owner cried and hugged me, and I cried and hugged her.  God Bless Home Again & Avid Chips!  As I drove home from taking Frankie home, I was so relieved I did not have to take him to the shelter, or make alternate temporary arrangements because our animal shelter (as are every single one in the United States) is overflowing with animals!  I mentioned this worry to a few of my grooming friends, and we decided that the least we could do since our grooming businesses are so slow because of the economy is to donate groomings so that pets might have a chance to get adopted.  We made a pact and went yesterday to Lied Animal Shelter in Las Vegas.  We are going to now go on a regular basis and groom as many as possible.

We saw some wonderful dogs yesterday, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the shelter was very clean, had lots of blanketsand dog beds, and each and every dog had food and water.  We walked through 15 “mini houses” of adoptable dogs and I did not see one dog without food/water.  Nor did I see any dogs walking in urine or feces. Bravo Lied Animal Shelter, you are doing a fantastic job!  The least thing we can do (me, Cindy, Holly) is to continue to come back andgroom dogs and give them a chance at forever homes!

My business is suffering right now due to the economy, but I am moving with the veterinary clinic I work with called Caring Hands Animal Hospital and the great veterinarian Dr. Kimberly Daffner. (www.caringhandslv.com)  We are moving to a better facility and I will hopefully have more clientele. But I will continue to put the animal’sneeds before my profits!!!”

Thanks Tammy for all your great work and best of luck to you in the New Year.

The weather has been strange here in New England.  Last week it was beautiful and cold, which made Denis and the kids very happy because they play hockey.  That’s a hockey rink in the lower section of photo.   I know it looks like a horseback riding ring and that’s because it was a riding ring until my husband had the brilliant idea of turning it into a hockey rink.  Yes, our marriage survived this.

Beautiful Lake Waramaug was almost completely frozen last week:

And Denis in his kerchief and I in my cap (and bright blue Snuggie) had just settled down for a long winter’s nap, when suddenly it was spring again. Today the sun came out after several days of rain and our lawn was green again:

Well, all except this part:

Yes, that’s Holly above, taking a bit of exercise.  The older dogs feel they must constantly exude a calm, assertive manner while in her presence, in order to set the right example:

Yes, the sun is nice, but I like the snow.

Happy Holidays all! Forgive these photos.  They were taken last year.  Will post new photos later.  Promise!

I know that some of you don’t celebrate Christmas but it’s my favorite holiday, so I hope you won’t mind a Christmas post. A holiday centered around a baby and farm animals –  what’s not to love.  The warm manger, a bright  light in a world as cold and still as stone.  A promise of peace and redemption.  And angels.  Well, I always have tears streaming down my face, every year, when we sing the carols on Christmas eve.  Everybody knows the first verses of the carols, but in church we sing all the verses and I always notice some beautiful lines I hadn’t noticed before.  Last night they were these, from It Came Upon the Midnight Clear:

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!

For lo!, the days are hastening on,
By prophet bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.

Because so many of you have emailed me and commented here about how much you have loved reading Dan Chaon’s Await Your Reply, I decided to ask Mr. Chaon if he would be interested in doing some sort of Q & A with us.  He said that he would be happy to, and then I asked Steve Bennett, who owns AuthorBytes, my web design firm,  if he could find some way that we can do some sort of live chat right here on the blog and he said that he would be happy to.

So, now I’m happy. Very happy!

The chat with Dan Chaon is scheduled for Tuesday, January 12, at 8:00 p.m. (EST).

It will be a “live chat” meaning that you will be able to ask Dan Chaon your questions and he will answer them live, but it will all be in text format.  You won’t be able to see anyone.   But once I have the live chat element up and running, I plan to do chats with all of the authors whose books we read.  And I’ll do occasional chats with performers, dog rescuers, maybe even members of casts of television shows.  In fact, in order to make sure there aren’t any glitches for our author chat, I’m planning to ask Denis if he’ll do a chat with you all next week some time.

Well, that’s the news.  Very excited about our future chattiness!

I feel like I’m spreading myself too thin on the internet. I have not one, not two, but THREE Facebook pages. I’m not sure how this happened but I’m about to get rid of all but this one.  I like the “fan” page because anyone can be a member and they don’t have to ask to “friend” me, which has always made me feel so awkward.  I was the new kid too many times growing up.  I don’t ever want to ask to be anybody’s friend again, nor do I want to “accept” or “deny” friends.  Ick.

Anyway, please join this new(ish) page!  I’m going to be posting some of my favorite blog posts of 2009 over the next few days there. I’m also planning to disable other pages.  When I learn how.

I was in Marblehead, Massachusetts over the weekend, visiting my family, and Saturday night that big storm hit. On Sunday, the day we were supposed to return, my sister and brother-in-law and I were trying to see what the weather was like in western Massachusetts and Connecticut.  It was hard to get a good idea of what the roads were like, so on a whim, I “tweeted” the following on Twitter:

Can anybody tell me what the roads are like in northwestern CT? Must drive home from MA today.

And, very shortly, I received a response to my tweet, which said:

@annleary Roads are fine…and your driveway has been plowed.

And this is why I love living in a small town in the era of the global village.  I don’t know who the person is who posted that tweet but it was clear that they had either driven past, or up and down my driveway (there was hockey at our house this weekend – why D was not in Massachusetts).

I’ve been thinking a lot about the internet after reading the Dan Chaon book.  About how we leave these virtual fingerprints all over the web, and if somebody were to investigate us via our web searches and email correspondences, they might come away with a very skewed perspective of who we really are.  Or maybe it would be a clearer picture.  It’s all our inner world, the stuff of our thoughts and yearnings and our curious leanings that we leave here, and really that stuff used to be concealed within our psyches, and only shared when we chose to share it with others.  Now a person with a search warrant can delve into the darkest recesses of our virtual souls and it would be so easy to mistake a curious interest for a perverted desire.  It’s all so easily misconstrued, in the same way that a comment on a blog can be misinterpreted as snarky because you can’t see the person’s smile.  Or an email can come across as sarcastic, when the sender is actually being sincere.  I shudder to think what a person would presume about me if they were to track all the places I post, tweet, lurk, buy, view, etc.

Okay, I really have to stop thinking about that.

Well, it was a lovely weekend.  Marblehead is beautiful in the snow.  My mother and her husband Steve live next to Black Joe’s Pond and there were pickup hockey games that we could watch from their living room.  By the time I sent my nephew Tommy our to take some photos, the big guys had gone and the ankle biters had taken over. They start them young in New England:

Photo by Tom Seminara

Photo by Tom Seminara

On our way home we saw that there was a particularly high tide and the waves were lashing the shores of Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin.

It’s just an old rhyme. Lynn is lovely.  Really.