It's obviously photoshopped - take a close look at the head-to-body proportion.  Also, Ms. Parker can be seen in a bikini scene in the movie Race With the Devil, and, well, how to put this, while she has her own marvelous body, her "Tower Rooms" are not as, um, spacious, as in this photo.  Still, whomever did this has paid a very nice tribute to her, knowing that she was, is now, and always will be gorgeous.

Gerard

I'm picturing, Bob, Elizabeth taking everything into consideration and finally saying:  "Forget this.  We're all going out to eat at the Thanksgiving all-you-can-eat buffet at the Collinsport Inn coffee shop at $2.95 a person.  Grab your coats, everyone.  Yes, I'll pay."

Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful day!  It was in the sixties here in Wisconsin and we even had appetizers and liquid refreshments of the spirited kind out on our friends' back deck.  This morning (Friday), we woke up to 25 degrees and snow flurries with sharp winds.

Gerard

As I use to think about my parents, no one in Dark Shadows would ever do that!

Gerard

I am a teacher, too, Doctor/K9, and I was able to take the week off (with time around it) to go on my Berumda cruise and attend the DS Fest afterwards.  It took work, but I was able to do it.  I'm not saying all teachers can do it, but each should look into their time-off policy (there is a year's notice).  I'm glad I was able to do it - it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  Also, even though Bermuda is on the same parallel as North Carolina, the waters of the Atlantic keep it much warmer.  When I sailed to Bermuda in September, the water was like glass and the air temperature in the Atlantic was in the nineties.  It was unseasonably warm, but far different from what what was experienced of the Hatteras.

Teresa, a passport doesn't cost that much.  Besides, if one doesn't plan on travelling overseas, it's still a good document to have.  It can be used for a variety of reasons that have nothing to do with travelling that the government and even private industries require to prove your citizenship.  Also, as for it being too long, you spend Saturday afternoon through Monday morning (and you'll dock before you wake up) at sea, and not leave until Thursday afternoon.  Plus, there's lots to do on the ship, so much you'll wish you had spent more days at sea.  But boarding two dogs is a concern.  And so is wine!  Although, let me tell you, Teresa, wine is one of the cheapest hootches served on a ship, if one sticks to the "house brand."

You're right, Darren, that a passport isn't absolutely needed for an American port-return-to-port cruise to a foreign country, but without one a person needs lots of other documents, from birth certificates to official government photo ID (both would be required to go to Bermuda).  It's better to just get a passport; more covenient.

Go on the cruise, Cousins.  Go.  I'll nag you all until you're sick of me.

Gerard

It does seem pricey, that I'll admit.  But as a cruise fanatic, let me break the cost down, comparing the probably-once-ever DS festival event, as opposed to the typical weekend one.

If one books, with a travel companion, an inside stateroom, the fare comes to (rounding it off) $800.  That's for an eight-day/seven-night cruise, so that comes to about $100 a day/night.  What do you get for that?  You get:
-your room;
-transportation;
-all food (24 hours a day, including free room service);
-all non-soda/non-alcoholic beverages;
-festival attendance;
-a beautiful, exotic location with lots to see and do either for free or low cost with a lot of time to do it.

To stay at a three-day/two-night DS Fest hotel, one pays at least $100 a day/night.  What do you get for that?  You get:
-your room.

You pay extra for:
-all food (overpriced and not of the best quality according to many who have testified to the stuff the hotel restaurants/caterers provide);
-all beverages;
-festival attendance;
-being stuck in a local neighborhood with little time or ability to see anything, or - worst yet - being stuck in an airport-based hotel where the only thing is see and experience are the interstates.

Add everything together and dollar-for-dollar, the cruise is cheaper with much more to offer.  Plus, people have been given a year's advance notice, allowing time to book the downpayment, save the pennies, and schedule vacation time.  (Oh, and don't forget getting a passport - you need a passport, so if planning on going, get it now.)

I wish I could go.  I love DS, I love being on a cruise ship, and I love Bermuda.  Fortunately, I was once able to do all three at the same time (as I mentioned before; Robert Rodan [Adam] talked with us for 15 minutes about our Bermuda cruise after he saw our tans).

Seriously think about it, Cousins.  This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  You've got a year to save and plenty of time to put in for your vacation.  How would you rather spend next Halloween, a most appropriate day for a DS Fest?  Answering the doorbell, or spending time with DS stars in grand lounges and elegant dining rooms, and walking among palm trees and pristine beaches?  Once-in-a-lifetime comes only once.  Paying for sludgy food with stoppy service in gouging hotel "cafes" while surrounded by concrete roads and the sounds of screaming jets or in a Brooklyn neighborhood that, albeit nice, offers the same stuff over and over again with no time to do anything else comes every year for one over-priced weekend.  Year after year after year after year after year.....  You can continue to do that, or - once, just once - live and splurge.  And at a more affordable cost, everything put together.

Gerard

I loved watching those things growing up.  And in honor of them is one my favorite lines from Roseanne when her daughter, Darlene, gets stuck at a rock concert with no ride back, and some punk tries to pick her up and offer her some mary-jane:

Darlene:  "Oh, god, I feel like I'm in some really bad after-school special."

Gerard

When I wrote my first DS novel back in the late '90's (hoping to submit it to the HarperCollins series) and set it in that present day, one of the central parts of the plot was a full-force hurricane hitting the coast of Maine trapping the family in the estate while terrifying things happened around them from which they could not now escape.  Collinwood had been restored to its full former glory by Carolyn and David (she a never re-married widow; he married with two kids) along with Quentin (Carolyn, David and Quentin running the new family business of operating several resorts, along with the old industries) and a curmudgeonly Roger.  Barnabas and Willie lived "in retirement" in the Old House, also fully restored with electricity, plumbing, a satellite dish on the roof and Barnabas would spend time surfing the internet.  Maggie and Angelique were also there (too complicated to explain why, but it was all rather happy).  But the main point was that a hurricane did it make it that far north (a once-in-several-centuries event) and things didn't go well when it did.

Gerard