Happy, Happy Friday everyone – and welcome to this week’s edition of ‘Friday’s at the Factory’!!
On behalf of our President of all things Quacky, Tim Bice, I would like to introduce you to our newest member of the Quacker Factory Team.
Ladies and Drakes – say hello to James!!!
Now before I go any further, I think it’s important to let you know that James isn’t just anyone we found in the ‘Help Wanted’ ads. Oh nooooo!! We ‘found’ him just a little bit closer to the duck pond. You might say that James has grown up IN the duck pond!! How could that be?! WELL, James just happens to be the grandson of the Head Quack, Jeanne Bice!!!!!!
It’s true – and here’s the picture to proof it. This was taken at Christmas time a few years ago in Jeanne’s beautiful kitchen. (I wonder what James said to make Jeanne laugh so much!! They look like they are both up to no good – what do you think?!?!)
James is the son of Tim & Karin Bice. Here’s a picture of the three of them – what a Quack-Tacular looking family they are! This was taken last year at Easter.
I recently spoke to James and he told me that the first ‘job’ Jeanne ever had him help her with was when he was 8 years old. Jeanne was sewing and working, and James just would NOT leave her alone and let her get to work. He was fascinated by everything she was doing and in his little 8-year old voice, he kept asking his Grammy what he could do to help her. Well, you KNOW that Jeanne loved family projects – so she looked around at her worktable and spotted the perfect project for him to do – help make button covers!! So just think ladies, if you still have button covers, they just might have been made with the help, and love, of James!!
I also asked James what it was like to have Jeanne Bice as his grandmother. Here’s what he told me:
“Jeanne was a great grandmother. Not the type to reprimand me or tell me what to do. She always let me be myself and she encouraged me to be whoever I wanted to be. She was always positive – never negative. Every now and then she would slip me a twenty dollar bill and tell me ‘this is funny money, now go have some fun!’ Oh yeah, and she would always let me stay up late and get away with little things behind my parents back!!”
When I asked James what his favorite memories were of Jeanne, this is what he said:
“My favorite memories of Jeanne were definitely the holidays! Often she would host the whole family on Christmas Eve – and she would prepare a hugeee dinner with everyone. I had not lived in Florida for many years because I went to college and worked in NYC so the holidays were my time to see everyone. I really loved that she did this!. Her house was always decorated to the T, every inch covered with beautiful decorations and colorful lights! It could put even the coldest of hearts into the holiday spirit. She would set up all the tables outside and we would eat dinner outdoors. The dinner was always an amazing spread of food, and trust me, I never went home with an empty stomach! And my favorite part of those Christmas Eve meals was that after dinner, we would break out the chorus books and sing ‘The 12 days of Christmas’ all together and laugh and joke.”
We all know that Jeanne had the BEST sense of humor – so when I asked James to tell me the funniest thing she ever said to him that he still laughs about today, here is what he said:
“A few years back, I went on a backpacking trip to Europe with a few of my buddies. Because I was young and on a backpackers budget for the summer, we were staying at random hotels, friends places, and some less than satisfactory youth hostels. I saw Jeanne right before I was leaving for my trip and her words of wisdom were:
“Now Jamie, when you stay in those hostiles, people may and steal your stuff – so when you go to bed and you’re sleeping, hide your passport and money in your underwear near your ‘family jewels’ – no one will ever look there!!”
Doesn’t that sound JUST like something our Jeanne would say?!?!? Ha, Ha!!!!
Here’s another picture of James when he was just a young boy. This was taken on the beach promenade on the 4th of July. Jeanne took him to the beach that day to see the parade and to watch the fireworks – she even gave him some sparklers to play with!
We all know how much Jeanne Bice loved to cook, so of course we wanted to know what James’ favorite “comfort” food was that she made for him! Here’s what he said:
“One of my favorite things Jeanne used to cook were these amazing little ‘English Muffin Cheddar Bites’. She would take an English muffin and scoop out the guts. Then, she would take chopped onions, mix it with Mayo, and spread it on the English muffin. She would then top it with cheddar and bake them in the oven till golden brown. I think whenever she would put them out as appetizers, I would eat so many before dinner I wasn’t even hungry for the main course! As you can imagine, this did not make my mom and dad too happy!!”
As mentioned above, James lived in New York City – where he studied Business Management with an emphasis around music and performance. When he finished school, he worked for Apple for a few years in their Teaching Division. After that he worked for a broadcast company helping produce and make commercials and music videos – he even helped make Shakira’s music video for the song ‘Waka Waka’ – which was her official song for the FIFA World Cup in 2010 – how neat is that?!
James comes to Quacker Factory with a multitude of great experience! So get ready to see some more content on our website – things like fun videos, and even more pictures! He’ll also be working with Tiago to increase our social and on-line presence and update the Quaker Community! And he’ll be helping Angel and me ‘bedazzle’ our blogs to you!!!!
Last summer James assisted with a photo session of Angel in the convertible for our Convertible Capris TSV. Here he is with Angel ‘on the set’. What a rough life, huh?!?!?
Please join Tim Bice and the rest of our team in welcoming James officially to the Quacker Factory –He’s going to be a Quack-Tabulous addition to the team!!!!
Quacker Hugs & Love from Across the Pond!!!
Patrick
Xoxo
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