Beer Day in Maine - Take Two

A second day of free wandering! Hurrah!! Overall, good day - lots and lots of driving. But as we know, that means lots of listening to The Wheel of Time series - currently listening to The Shadow Rising.

I did do some work on the puzzle as well. I plan to finish today - and I need to get cracking on that if it is to happen. I am getting a late start today. I hope I don't get as late a start tomorrow - long drive back to Geneva. Eeek!

Ok, yesterday. Got up, puttered and such - took a shower, worked on the puzzle, did my yoga and then headed out the door. It didn't take as long as my gps said for me to arrive in Booth Bay.

It is times like this that I wish I had a partner or at least a traveling companion - and though my mom is great and sweet and somewhat helpful in this regard, she isn't ideal - I would like someone who has strong interests of her own - is also inquisitive and interested - so that we could explore other things. I could make myself do it - I just don't. Anyway, I didn't see anything of the countryside or town - just homed in on the locale for the beer festival.

We had to park and walk along a trail - where they had put up signs for the brewing companies in attendance. Cute. There were a bunch of people waiting when I got there - they accepted my credit card and gave me a logo-less glass - because I bought my ticket the day of - poop on them - not that I need another dogfish head labeled glass, but still. Whatever. Allison was very nice and funny and made the whole day a little better.

There were a lot of breweries represented. I tasted maybe 36 beers - the high point of which was, of course, the dogfish head 120 minute. Wow! And this one was randalized as well. Awesome, awesome beer. Definitely not a session beer, unless you want your session to end up with your face in the dirt...So yummy! I had a lot of other good beers, talked with a lot of nice people, ate good food and generally had a great time! Yippee!! I did meet a couple of people with Brewpubs that I hadn't visited here in Maine. Everyone I spoke with thought the project sounded like a good idea. Yay Brewpub book. The working title isn't doing it for me, though. Any thoughts anyone?

Headed off to the Mexican restaurant. Silly me. I thought I would be greeted like a long lost brother because of the California (Mark, Nysa and Shauna) connection. Nope. It was like I was there everyday and it was no big deal. Whatever. The food was decent - nothing to write home about. Certainly not worth the hour and a half drive it took to get there. Then again, that could just be my soured experience talking.

Next stop, Bar Harbor. Wow, what a touristy little place. I found the Bar Harbor Brewing company - which I thought was a brewpub - but wasn't. I tasted their beers, and with the help of recently transplanted local Denianne, made my way to the homeship, Atlantic Brewing - which, sadly, was closed for the day. Oh well. So I toodled back to Juliet's house!

Paul, Juliet and Mom had gone out to dinner, so I worked on the puzzle. And continued to work on it until about midnight, after everyone else had called it a night. Oh well. It will get finished!

Pictures from July 30, 2011: (All the pictures from the trip will be posted on my Facebook account at some point...)


The Booth Bay Beer Festival Entrance.


Outside El El Frijoles


Bar Harbor taps

Life is like a jigsaw puzzle

Ok, it probably isn't. But jigsaw puzzles are fun and life is fun - so there are some similarities. I just wish I had a cover picture for life...Normally when I do puzzles, I refuse to look at the puzzle picture. I might sneak a peek every once in a while to make sure that I am at least making some progress, but I certainly don't stare at it. This go 'round, with limited time, I am making extensive use of the lid. It sure does make things easier. I didn't think that I would be able to finish a 2000 piece puzzle before I left, but after working on it almost incessantly yesterday, the end is in sight! Huzzah!

While I worked on the puzzle, mom went and had a visit with Laura Knox. Laura is a woman that Juliet has gotten to know over the years. She lives just up the street from her here in Belfast part of the year. She lives the other half of the year in Nashville, TN. Very nice, smart, personable. Every time we visit, she and mom get together for an hour or so to chat.

The high point of the day was a visit from Juliet and Paul's ex-landlords and dear friends. They came along and were a mini-horde - bringing their son and his family. All together we were 11 people for a sort of pot-luck dinner. Juliet lived in Char and Will's house for 20 years. Darren and Kelly and their three kids (Chaz, and the fraternal twins Stevie and Ellie (both 3 year old girls) rounded out the number. We had a lot of food and I acted as bartender. Yippee!

Today, another beer day!

Pictures from July 29, 2011:


I like to take a picture of this view every day when I am in Maine. Foggy start this morning...


There was also corn on the cob!


Not sure what percentage I am done, but I really do feel the end is in sight...

Beer Day in Maine - Take One

Juliet, my sister, said that she would help me to have time off by myself and she has been true to her word! Hurrah! Yesterday was, mostly, such a day. We all got up and did our morning things before heading off to see family friends - the Flory's. Jane has a house on beautiful Lake St. George - not too far from Belfast. I must admit, even with my much vaunted sense of direction, I did get a smidge lost. So I stopped and asked for directions. The people were very kind, finding a phone book and letting me use their phone to call information. Jane gave me the last bit of directioning that I needed. I just hadn't gone far enough around the lake. Sigh.

Susan, Jane's elder daughter, was up visiting, which was part of the reason that we chose to go when we did. I haven't seen Susan in years and years. She is great and I am glad that we got the chance to reconnect. She had lent three vintage pictures to Juliet from a time when we were all in Maine together - Susan, Sarah, Karl, I, Brunhilde and a man named Joe (who has, sadly, apparently passed away). I have scanned them and they will make an appearance somewhere. Anyway, we hung out for a while, met the next generation - Tim and Jack - and then I toddled off in search of adventure.

I did a lot of driving all over Maine yesterday. Seriously. I was in the car for about 5 hours would be my guess. Though it didn't seem that long. The roads were mostly back ones, the scenery was lovely and I got to listen to my book. I finally got through book 3 of The Wheel of Time (The Dragon Reborn). The great Robert Jordan slow down hasn't yet occurred in the books. I think that doesn't begin until book 7.

First stop, Agawam. Wow, what a blast from the past. Everyone was very friendly (almost children of the corn friendly) and the current "Chief" actually wandered the camp with me and told me all sorts of things - about buildings that had been changed, and changes in policy - they don't play gold bars anymore! Eeek!! And reminded me that naming all the campers was called the long walk. I did that at least two years that I was there. No more water skiing - which is a good thing, I think. I forgot to go to Nature Trail. Poop. Oh well - I went into all the cabins that I had inhabited and only one had a plaque from my year - and that was barely legible. Sigh. Couldn't or didn't find a ghost rock, which isn't surprising since they get shuffled every year. Lots of memories came back - mostly excellent. If I ever have boy children, they will have the opportunity to go to Camp Agawam. I wonder if Karl ever offered his boys that opportunity.

Next stop, Sunday River Brewing in Bethel ME. Kelley, our server at Sebago, had recommended this place. I was not thrilled over all. Don't get me wrong, I had a lovely time. Jennifer, my server, was sweet as sweet can be. Willow, the manager on duty was very nice - and she said she will vote for me in 2024 (I think I am up to 20 votes so far - only a few million to go!). I had their beers - nothing too exciting - and some lobster fritters - interesting thought and well executed - but I think that lobster needs a very light batter if you are going to do that - something like tempura - otherwise the delicate flavor of the lobster gets lost. Oh well.

Willow suggested Bray's in Naples, so I headed there. Yup, a little backtracking, but I was up for it. I was hoping for some better beers. I found the place and it was pretty well occupied. There was an open seat at the bar and I snagged it. Soon, a nice guy named Ron came and sat and we chatted a good bit. They only had four of their won beers on tap - the other two were not currently available. All were decent. That is a place I will have to go again, maybe later in the year if Juliet will have us - when the tourists are not so rife. I met a nice woman named Stephanie and gave her a card. Sigh.

Then I toodled home - and did not stop at Gritty's in Lewiston - though I probably should have. Maybe another day. Mom and Juliet and Paul were still up - so we chatted a bit - then they went to bed and I worked on the puzzle for an hour. I am doubting that I will finish it. Poop.

Ok, then, Pictures from July 28, 2011:


Jane, Susan and Mom.


A view of Agawam.


The Main(e) Entrance of Sunday River.


An entrance to Brays in Naples, ME.

Maine Day

What a beautiful day it was, too. After the cold and the rain on Monday and Tuesday, it was a sunny, warm, pleasant day. Yippee! And a relaxing day at that.

We ran some errands - mom needed to go shopping. We ended up buying her a few new to her sweaters - I think she was feeling bereft after giving so many to Betty - at the Goodwill Store. The good news is that we can always give them to the Center for Concern back in Geneva if we want to. We also looked in Reny's but found nothing - no floaty chair, no over-the-glasses-old-person style sunglasses and no sweater that appealed to mom's tastes. Juliet was very gracious and gave mom one of her two pairs - letting mom think that she had had time to purchase them for her. Go Juliet! (Juliet, by the way, is my sister - who we are visiting here in Maine).

Lunch was at Bell The Cat - a local lunch place that had good food. I had a chicken and avocado sandwich, Juliet had a salmon bagel and mom had a cup of yummy looking creamy chicken and rice soup and half of a turkey sandwich, which she ate, but didn't seem to like all that well.

Much of the day, for me, was spent working on a puzzle. I am somewhat compulsive when it comes to puzzles. It is a 2000 piece one - which I may not finish by the time we leave Monday morning - but it won't be for a lack of trying. I am cheating a good bit - by looking at the cover picture to figure out where bits go. I plan on putting together a time lapse series of photos about the progress of the puzzle at some point. Someday. Which is when I am going to do all the things that I planned on doing here - like working on the draft of Diary of a Plate Addict, cutting out more plates for Heather (the designer), getting the ISBN bar code, etc. And that is just DPA stuff. I also wanted to read a lot, get started on my FLCC application process, do some serious relaxing...sigh. Time just seems to evaporate here. Maybe Juliet will let us come back again later in the year...

Juliet and Paul went off to a Jazz concert, mom stayed home and read, and I went to do some research for the Brewpub Book (working title - Wanderer's Guide to Brewpubs). I went to a place I have been a couple times before - Three Tides and Marshall Wharf Brewing - this time with a goal in mind. I sampled five beers - all decent - my least favorite being the shellfish infused Porter. Sadly, the owner was not interested enough to come talk to me. Oh well. His loss.

It was a good meet-y day. I met Judd and Derrick and talked about beer and a little about politics - also briefly met David, a fellow long-hair, and Daniel. And met Orianna and Bridget. And the people doing some work for Juliet and Paul on the house - Ryan and his father Ralph.

Today is another day. Weird. :)

Pictures from July 27, 2011:


Lunch at Bell The Cat.


Mom shopping at Goodwill.


Some progress has been made on the puzzle...

Welcome Follower 29!

Hi Becky! How exciting is that? I hope you find enough to keep you interested, here in Augustus' blog space. Please know that I just plain enjoy writing it (except for those times that I don't enjoy writing it...) :)

It was another day of travel yesterday. But in the morning, I had an epiphany - we could, with every reason in the world, stop in a brewpub in Portland! Yippee! I had been thinking that we would just drive all the way through without much in the way of stopping. Boo. So I looked at the web and found that there were several different places in Portland that looked promising. I ended up picking Sebago Brewing Co. and am glad that I did. The Old Port Location is anything but old! It is done in a very modern, clean style. Gorgeous space.

The drive to Portland was all highway and though long, went past pretty quickly. Downtown, old Portland was very difficult to get around in - parking was hard, traffic moved slowly. Mom and I ended up walking several blocks to get back to the brewpub. Not too difficult for me, but turned out to be quite a challenge for her. Sigh. - Quick aside - I am thinking of signing us both up for the YMCA so that she can get some exercise - any thoughts? - We sat in the bar area and had Kelley for our server. Matt, a manager came out and chatted a bit - both about the possible book and the beer game I am turning over in my mind. We shared a Reuben (mom and I, that is) and I had the taster of beer. They were all quite good - mom drank the Hefeweizen! I joined one of the two loyalty programs they have - not that I will ever accomplish the goal of spending $100 there - but you never know...

Then on to Belfast - the GPS sent us a longer way than I thought we needed to go, but we went that way anyway. And followed some really slow, lame drivers. Poop on them! It hurts my motor to go so slow. :) But we arrived in a timely fashion, wished Juliet luck with her book group/class thing and started to unwind. I was exhausted! Even though I had had lots of sleep the night before, driving is getting really enervating. I need a chauffeur! We had a dinner of shrimp risotto and beet salad. And Juliet put out a puzzle for us to work on. I am, sadly, a bit compulsive when it comes to puzzles. This is a 2000 piece one which I hope to finish before leaving. It already feels like we are running out of time here. :(

Pictures from July 26, 2011: (By the way - there will be a whole album of pictures from this trip up on Facebook eventually...)


The Sebago Brewing Company Old Port location.


The view from Juliet and Paul's house in Maine.


2000 pieces in a pile - out of chaos emerges pattern - eventually...

Maineward Ho!

I just like saying things like that - Ho! First, we had to get out the door - which was pretty easy, all things considered. Everyone in the house got up and got their acts together and we hit the road by 10. E&B went to get breakfast and we started our drive by stopping at the ATM. Yay money! (No, I don't love money, but in a world where it takes money to do just about anything other than sit around, it is good to have a bit.)

The drive to our first stop, was, well, miserable. Not as terrible as it could have been, I mean, no accidents or major slow downs or anything. Just a good deal of rain - fluctuating from drizzle to deluge. Yay! And the GPS took us through a lot of little towns and back roads to get us to beautiful Glens Falls, NY.

It sure looked like a lovely town, at least the bit that I got to see on this trip. We stopped at Davidson Brother's Brewery and Restaurant, a brewpub. Yippee!

I liked Davidson's a lot. If I lived in the area, I am sure I would join their beer club - big glass, less expensively! Yippee! The food we had was good, not awesome - but we only had two little things - buffalo chips (tee hee) and a crab cake. I also tasted six of their 8 beers currently on offer. Most were good - the Scotch ale tasted a little too strongly of alcohol - the brewmaster, Jason, concurred. I liked the Oatmeal Porter a lot. If it were an imperial, I would have liked it even better. :) We got to have a nice long chat with Kerry Davidson, wife of one of the owners, a manager and a professional photographer. Our bartender, Jared, was great as well! I hope I haven't lost the little piece of paper with the url of his food blog...The beer sampler was a tad on the expensive side...

Back on the road, the rain had mostly disappeared - though it still drizzled off and on. We got to Longtrail Brewing in VT in a timely fashion. Almost missed it, though as it was down off the road. Beer garden sort of feel, which doesn't really appeal to me for some reason. Eric our server, was friendly. Our onion rings turned out to be onion strips and enough for an army! Mom and I tried to put a dent in them and didn't succeed. I had a sampler of their beers - mostly decent - the IPA was about the least hoppy IPA I think I have ever had. And the dark beers weren't very well represented - though it is summer time. Eric was kind and tossed the two brewer's choice beers on for free. Or maybe he just forgot to ring them in. In any case, yippee! There was a self guided beer tour which was, well, memorable only for its self guidedness...

I heard something disturbing. I hear that Otter Creek bought Wolavers. Then Otter Creek was bought by Longtrail. And then Longtrail was bought by one of the huge beverage companies. Does anyone know about any of this? I don't think I want to include large corporate beer in my brewpub book...

At Longtrail, I made reservations for the night at Quechee Gorge. Beautiful place! Easily a place to spend a full day walking in the area. But, alas, we have places to go and things to do and people to see, etc. So, adieu for now, dear blogettes!

Pictures from July 25, 2011:


Mom, Kerry and Me at Davidson Brother's!


A pin map of where people have come from in the US to get to Longtrail. Wow!


The Quechee Gorge is gorge-ous! :)

I was a bad teenage Buddhist

It wasn't quite 7 at one blow, but I was on a fly killing frenzy for part of the day. I seem to remember that mom had quite an infestation of flies last summer as well. I didn't do much about it last time as I was only around for 10 days or so - most of which were spent in Maine. It was not a pleasant thing, killing all those flies. Maybe 14 of them. Where they came from, I have no idea. It isn't like there are a lot of open windows for them to fly in from. Sigh. Bad Buddhist!

Packing was easy! I am taking four bags - one with clothes, one for the computer, one with books and a draft of Diary of a Plate Addict, one with shoes, Brian and Chuck, warm clothes and toiletries. Lots of bags but they are all small. I will probably have a picture of them all tomorrow.

Mom and I ate the rest of the leftovers from the refrigerator for lunch, so there shouldn't be anything too scary waiting for us when we return. Yippee!

Ernst and Betty did arrive about when they thought they would - always a good thing. We met them at the Ramada for dinner. A moderately expensive place, but the food is decent and there is a nice view of the lake. The Browns were already there when we arrived. A table for 8 that didn't seem at all crowded. Yippee! Mom had scallops, which I think she had when last we ate there - though I seem to recall that hers had something to do with chocolate last time. I had a steak salad, not wanting to get too much food. I still had leftovers (which I had as a midnight snack).

After dinner it was off to see a chamber music concert. Classical concerts are enjoyable, but for me they can be soporific. Good thing this one didn't cost anything. I did have my eyes closed for a good portion of it. Three pieces were presented - two Schubert and one by Greg Brown - one of the above mentioned Browns. The first two were classical and the third was definitely modern. Enjoyable, but not something I am going to rush to add to my iTunes playlist! :)

There were lots of locals at the concert. The Heatons, a Geneva Family for years, were well represented. They made my mom's day by reminding her that she had given Murray Heaton most of my father's old dress jackets after he died. Apparently one is still in good shape! I also ran into the mother of two kids who went to the Free School with me. She told me that both boys had died of cancer! They were 3 and 6 years younger than I am I think! Eeek! Ichiko and Popo. Very sad.

It is possible to meet very nice, attractive women in very random places and ways. Just saying.

Ok, really gotta go. We are heading towards Maine today!

Pictures from July 24, 2011:


Only three flies are visible in this picture, but there were lots that weren't in the shot! Most went to meet their maker and got an opportunity to move along the reincarnational path!


Betty and Ernst arrived at the Ramada just before we did.


Our dinner table.


A fuzzy picture of some of the musicians from the chamber music concert.

Welcome Follower 28

Hi Dana! Thank you for following! Scintillating blog, isn't it? :o)

I knew somewhere in the back of my brain - not the dinosaur part, but something a little higher functioning, that "blog" was short for Weblog. But had forgotten it in my fore-brain. See, reading is good for you. :)

Into the Woods last night was ok, not great. A wide range of talents which detracted from the good book and music. Sondheim is tough music generally. And it didn't help that the dimmer packs kept overheating and putting actors into shadow. The directing seemed good and the tech was decent. All in all, worth the $10 that we spent (each) to go see it.

The one major task on my plate for the day is packing. Which is why I like driving my car places, when I can. My packing can be a lot less exact. There is usually a place for last minute and bulky items. I can't, or haven't yet, decided whether or not to take my new sit-up pillow. Mostly I am just going to pack the same old stuff. Yippee!

The trip has morphed a bit. Originally I thought to stop in VT at a bunch of different, better known breweries. With the potential of actually doing a book about brewpubs, I decided to look for those along a northerly route to Maine instead. I found two along the correct trajectory which I am going to check out. One in NYS called Davidson Brothers and the other in VT called Long Trail Brewing. I am very excited.

I was letting the "fear" monster get the best of me regarding Diary of a Plate Addict. (By the way - if wouldn't be taken amiss if anyone wanted to "like" the Diary of a Plate Addict page on Facebook...) I just need to bull forward and get the thing done. It is, though, looking like it won't be until September that I will get the book printed and released. Sigh. Over the next week I hope to finish my go through of the book for edits. Get the bar code. And do some more plate pictures for Heather. All doable.

My thoughts on a beer game for the iPhone and iPad are progressing. Jeff, if you read this, I am going to need your expertise. I hope you will work for food. :) Also, what the heck is google+ - some sort of attempt by google to compete with Facebook? I signed up, but don't know what I am supposed to be doing with it...

Ernst and Betty are supposed to be arriving today. We shall see. Their room is prepared for their appearance, lest it occur.

Huh. When I woke up this morning, I didn't think that I would find 200 words in me. Silly bear.

Pictures from July 23, 2011:


Voila - the clean stove top thanks to mom!


Pretty sky!


The main drop for Into the Woods.

A Friday of Laziness

Well, for me at least. All I really did was read, play CODMW2, play Garden's of Time, and cook dinner. Oh, and made lunch. And did some food shopping. And had an opera meeting. Ok, not a totally lazy day, but certainly not chock full of excitement. Yippee! Need a few of those days mixed in with the others.

Mom, on the other hand, got into cleaning mode both yesterday and the day before. The day before she emptied a box of papers, throwing away a good third of them! And last night, around 11, she went into kitchen cleaning mode - and scrubbed the bejeebus out of the stove - it is shiny. I will take a picture of it today and will post it tomorrow. Anyway, go mom!

My books on podcasting came. Yippee!! I think I over bought - which is not a surprise. Oh well. I bought two books on podcasting, one on content and a novel that was recommended to me - about a character named Sharpe - historical fiction of some kind. I plan to take some of these to Maine with me and read them then. Yippee! The only downside to going to Maine when the weather is nice, is the lack of fires in the fireplace. C'est fromage!

The opera meeting was to chat with the technical director of the Smith Opera House, Mark. Turns out he was fairly agreeable, now that the other show has opened. Yay. And he really did have cool shoes. I need new shoes. Just saying...

When I restarted this blog back in January, the idea was to post a picture a day, which I have successfully accomplished. Yay. The motive behind that was twofold - one to get me to take the time to take at least a picture a day and two to get me to write at least 200 words a day, a la The Artist's Way. Successes are great!

A little about stats - since learning about them a month or so ago (Thank you Elizabeth) I have been watching them daily. Just recently, one of my more recent posts - July 10th's Zuper Zaturday - has eclipsed the previous most viewed page which was back in 2010 - Long Time No Post. Yippee!

Going to see the show tonight - Into the Woods. I saw it once at Raleigh Little Theatre and enjoyed it.

Pictures from July 22, 2011:


I don't know how long I have had this - or where it came from originally - but I have had it at least 20 years. And I use it sporadically - still like it a lot, though! Yay perpetual calendars!


The Lovely (and historic) Smith Opera House!


This picture was supposed to be rotated, but it wasn't, so I just put it up this way. I tried something new with the omelet - I used light cream instead of water...

It happened again

I got a wee depressed. I think it happens to most people sometimes. Some people most times. What triggered it last night was a note from the Saucer HQ saying that I needed to get permission from lots of people to use their pictures for the book. I am sure that to CMA I would be best protected to do that. But that is over 400 permissions and from a lot of people that I don't know that I could find again. If I lived in Raleigh still, it might be possible to get half of them accomplished pretty easily. But I don't live there. Grr and sigh. I came up with all sorts of plans to work this out - but none of them seems feasible. They rely too much on others and that rarely works, at least in my experience. There aren't a lot of reliable people out there. Well, I find I can rely on them to not be reliable, but that isn't all that helpful...Sam, my nephew, suggests I just go ahead and print the thing and see what happens. I am leaning in that direction myself.

Gardens of Time is almost over for me - all I want to do is upgrade all of my Wonders as far as they will go, neaten up my garden a bit and then probably not play except once a week or so to see if they have added anything new. Yippee!

It seems like it is Family month. Saw my brother last weekend. My other brother and my sister-in-law are probably coming on Sunday and then on Monday we head out to Maine to see my sister! Wow, all of them in one month! How lucky am I?

Met with the opera director yesterday. Goodness he is full of energy. At 60 (ish) he has more energy than I had when I was 2. Wow. Looks like I will be a stage hand for the show. That will be fun. It is only two performances and three or four days in the theatre. Easily doable.

Ran into the Turkish women again - they were heading downtown as I was heading home. Gulsun was posing in front of a cool older car!

Photos from July 21, 2011:


Hot and Hazy Seneca Lake!


McDaniel's House - a college residence for visiting people - where I met with the Opera director - Al Bergeret.


Gulsun posing with the car. My camera did not do an excellent job with this subject matter...probably operator error. :)

Laundry Day

Yesterday's chore was laundry - which entails not only doing the actual laundering and folding, but also stripping and making beds. We are currently having a smidgen of a heatwave - I don't think of it as a real heatwave because we haven't broken 100 degrees for more than three days in a row. But I guess it is hot enough for up here in Geneva, NY. Anyway, I don't really like making beds at the best of time - I like sleeping in clean sheets, but the actual bed making is not my most favorite task. I would rather wash dishes. Moving on - I did end up making both my own bed and my mom's. She did help with hers a bit. At least she provided some moral support. :)

The laundromat was pretty devoid of people. Which is ok. My hope springs eternal that I will meet someone interesting doing laundry. It could happen. Mom stayed home, so I rocked the laundry by myself. Easy Peasy! Next, food shopping at Wegman's! It seems that all of the women that I have come to know there have now left. What is up with that? I guess I just need to get to know the new people. Sigh.

I also ran a couple other errands. One was dropping off library books. The other was stopping in at The Smith Opera House to talk with their technical director, Mark. Wow, he is really good at saying "no." Sad. The director, Al, and I are supposed to meet up with Mark on Friday - he was reluctant to make a definite time. Why can't people make definite plans, rather than "I'll call you!" plans? Poop on those types of plans. Too nebulous for my taste.

Next stop, to visit Morgan! It was the last time that I will get to have her as a bartender here for the foreseeable future. :( Didn't get to see my crush. Also :(

At home, I cooked - it was a pretty yummy dinner - salmon, pasta al fredo, and french style artichokes - the last turned out decently but I forgot to add the lemon juice at the end. We have a few leftovers, so I will add lemon to those. Yay!

It was a night out for me, last night. I stopped in at Beef and Brew and was pretty much the only patron. Sigh. Worked on Diary of a Plate Addict a bit and then headed out to Halsey's. I haven't been to Halsey's since I came back this time. I have sort of been avoiding the place. But I went in and had a lovely time. I really liked the bartender (and pasty chef) Mary Jo. And Carol and Pete were dining there and came over and chatted for a while. I think I gained three more votes in my presidential bid. Not a dollar of financing yet - but that will come with time. :) Oh, and I saw the Turkish women walking past on the other side of the street. I waved, but they didn't see me... :)

All in all, it was a clean and happy day. We like those!

Photos from July 20, 2011:


All folded and ready to be put back in baskets for the trip home!


Yummy dinner!


I like the late evening light on the trees and buildings on the Hobart Quadrangle.

Circus Day!

I mean that literally! A large part of the day revolved around the Circus. First off, getting up pretty early - though that was in part to meet with mom's handyman to go over what we were looking at having done. I am guessing about $500 worth of work - a lot of painting - like the last wall in the kitchen, some railings in the attic, a hole in the roof or two - that sort of thing. When it will get done is anyone's guess.

Next it was off to watch the circus tent go up. Working for the circus is hard work! Everyone has at least three jobs if not more. And even the elephants helped. By the way, pictures from circus day will go up on Facebook. Yippee! I hung out there for a while, came back and made tuna salad for lunch. It was not exemplary, but was functional.

(I love my little desk, by the way)

Then it was nap time. I was exhausted for some reason. Oh, right, lack of sleep. And a lot of walking and standing about. At some point, I decided that instead of having more leftover quiche for dinner, we would go out to Eddie O'Brien's for half price appetizers. What a huge deal that is! We had Onion Rings, Shrimp platter and Chicken wings - all for $10!

Morgan was there and we got our "Photos with Facebook Friends" picture accomplished. (Note the alliteration...) She is so great. I couldn't remember some names and she quietly prompted me with them. Go her! I will miss her when she goes to PA. :(

Then to the circus. We got there in plenty of time and snagged front row seats! Yippee! The show was good - certainly entertaining. A very traditional American circus. Very happy to have gone. Yippee!

I get so excited for no real reasons. Yesterday I met a woman who I immediately got a crush on. Inappropriate of course. And Plenty of Fish told me that a woman was interested in meeting me. So I wrote her, as I thought I would be interested in knowing more about her. And now I will wait impatiently for a day or so before moving on with my life! Sometimes I think I am better off not being in a relationship. Ok, not that I am better off, but that the other person (whoever she may be) is probably better off without me in their life. I have kind of forgotten what it is like to be in a relationship. :(

We have more to look forward to this week - laundry today - Into the Woods at some point, meet the opera director and there is something else, but it is escaping me just this second...

Photos from July 19, 2011:


The William Smith Green littered with kids from the Hobart Lacrosse Camp!


Morgan and me - with mom looking on in the background - picture taken by Maria!


Our repast!


Heffalumps on parade!

Tired This Day

A Handyman promised to swing by to check out what we wanted to have done around the house, so I woke up really early. For me, at least. He came, we chatted and wandered around the property and then it was time to head downtown to watch the circus tent get raised. But that is all for tomorrow. This blog is about yesterday. Yippee for yesterday!

It was the big mental doctor appointment. We got there in time and only had to wait a couple of minutes. I had not met Dr. Rifai before - nice guy - but he needs to stop winking at me. We chatted for about ten minutes - mom was asked some basic questions - what day of the week, what day of the month, what month, what year. He also asked her to recall the three words he asked her at her last visit. Orange, Paper, Penny. I doubt I will remember them in six months. (Mom's next appointment.) At the end, he suggested going up to a higher dose of Aricept - to 23mg. Turns out that that dosage is not available in a generic and the insurance company might not cover it. We will find out tomorrow. If it isn't covered, we will stick with the 10mg that she is on now. He said that he didn't find any deterioration in her mental state and maybe a slight improvement. Hurrah!

After that, not a lot happened. I mailed some documents to Karl and chatted with Brittney at Eddie O'Brien's before coming home to make dinner. Leftover quiche! Which we will eat again tonight as well! Yippee! I like leftovers, as long as there aren't too many of them and they go away fairly rapidly.

I went out to the Beef and Brew and chatted with Matt the bartender for a while. He liked the idea of Diary of a Plate Addict. Heck, maybe he will buy a copy! If I sold ten in Geneva, that would be awesome! There is a woman at a printing house who has said she will make me up a couple of o-ring bound copies of the book for samples - and maybe I can take orders for them. That would be cool.

Pictures from July 18, 2011:


Cool downtown Geneva, NY building.


Cool clouds!

Lazyish Day

Gotta love 'em! Did not do a whole lot in some respects - though I actually, in retrospect, accomplished a good bit. Sadly, though, a lot of my accomplishments were in Gardens of Time! Currently, I have a mild obsession with a facebook hidden objects game. I play it way too much. Sigh. This too shall pass, though.

Yesterday also saw two new photo albums go up on Facebook - one was from the Ren Faire in Sterling, NY - a lot of not so great pictures - and one from the Connecticut jaunt last weekend. I was surprised at the dearth of people in the pictures. I ought to have had at least one of Karl and one of Candace. Oh well. Maybe next year. :(

And it was quiche day! I went to Wegman's (Yay Wegman's) and picked up exactly $30 worth of groceries. I wonder that there isn't a prize for getting a round dollar amount like that. There ought to be. Hmm. I was trying to think of stuff that I purchased that will last past the quiche and there isn't much. Some soda water. And some Nesquik. Milk, sadly, is in a few of the recipes that I make. And I can't buy as little as I often need, so I end up with milk - which I don't really like to drink. But I hate to see it go to waste - so I bought some Nesquik to make it more palatable when I do have to drink it. Yippee?

I got comments back from one of my proofreaders of Diary of a Plate Addict - one of the pictures that I thought had been taken with my camera, was, sadly, not. So out it goes from the book. And I haven't heard back from Keith yet about permission for using the calendar shoot pictures. Haven't heard back from the other proofreaders, yet. Hopefully soon.

Not a lot planned for today - mom gets to go see the Brain Doctor. We might go see the last Harry Potter. And we have a lot of quiche to eat! :)

Pictures from July 17, 2011:


Cleaner, happier trunk. It does need a vacuuming though...


Before cooking...


All done - yum!

Safely Sunday

I like alliteration. Yippee!

I didn't sleep particularly well Friday Night. Could have been the beer, could have been being on the road, could have been anxiety of the coming day. Who the heck knows. But I didn't. Oh well. Life goes on.

It was moving day for Karl and his family. He was making the move of the big stuff, and changing his abode from the old to the new. Mom and I were to bring some stuff back to the Geneva house, but most of what he wanted us to bring wasn't ready, so we only ended up bringing back Eleanor Cecile. Mom's childhood doll. Which, I believe, she gave to Kristen (Karl's eldest child). EC is an antique - and the size of a three year old child! I can understand how Kristen can't keep her just yet. Maybe one day. Or maybe not. Who knows.

Candace (my brother's current wife) and Mom do not get along. At all. I tried to keep them apart, but mom was like a homing missile and headed straight for her as soon as I was gone. There was a lot of screaming, mostly on Candace's part, apparently. Luckily, I was driving a van load of boxes to the new house and missed the histrionics. I am not a huge fan of histrionics, unless they are my own. :) So, soon after I got back, mom and I drove back to Geneva, Lickety split! And arrived home safely.

Dinner was at the new Mcdonald's - where my big mac had been put together hastily and incorrectly. I figure I will go back in a few months and have another one. Mom had a fish sandwich.

Welcome Follower 27! Sherree, I hope you enjoy it here. I am feeling a bit on the boring side, but I will persevere. If nothing else, I am feeling good about posting every day. Yippee!

Jeff, one of my longest term friends, had a brilliant idea - to make podcasts about beer. So I ordered some books from Amazon to help me see if this is something that I would like to do. We shall see.

Since part of what I am doing to keep myself moving forward is organizing my mom's house - I wanted to share some of my organizing thoughts. Step one - lump everything together in one place so that you know what you are dealing with. Step two - a quick once through the pile to see if there is a lot to throw away. Step three, much later, sorting into more distinct piles and putting things where they are supposed to live. It is a long process, but the first one gives a great sense of accomplishment. The second is liberating and the third just feels so good when all is quietly put away. It is so much easier doing this for someone else's crap! :)

Pictures from July 16, 2011: (more pictures will be going up on Facebook - later today perhaps)


Old house.


New house. (No Red House, Blue House...)


Mom and her granddaughter Skyelyn (Pronounced Skylynn)


The new Geneva McDonalds - functioning and happy!

Connecticut Ho!

Not "Ho" as in a prostitute - but "Ho!" as in Westward Ho! Hohohoho...hahahaha?

Moving on. We got on the road at 11 in the morning. Go us! What a civilized way to travel. Getting up, puttering around, doing whatever needed doing without hurrying, keeping stress to a minimum. Yay low stress!

The drive was uneventful. Yippee! There are some really bad drivers out there. Then again, some people may think that I am a bad driver. And I am sure we all have our bad driving moments. My GPS took us on an adventure, which I think it thinks I like. Which I do. Instead of taking the interstate from MA to CT, it took us on little back roads to beautiful Bloomfield, CT. Huzzah! Interesting scenery, less gas usage. Mom kept exclaiming over all the churches. That is a good thing.

We got to the Thomas Hooker Brewing Company about an hour early. I had been anticipating a lot of traffic that just never materialized. They were very kind and let us in early for their bi-weekly open house. Mom and I sat on the sofa and watched them prepare. The owner, Curt, kindly brought me a bottle of their IPA, fresh from their new bottling line. In fact just bottled a few minutes before he handed it to me - the label was still wet! Decent example of the style, too! I met Mike, one of the brewers, Stephen, a worker and Lisa, their sales and marketing person. All very nice. The deal was - $10 (some of which goes to charity) for a tasting glass - well, a tasting plastic cup. One can taste for 3 hours if one so desires. When you leave, you trade your plastic cup for a Thomas Hooker Pint glass. Not a bad deal. They also had pizza for sale.

I tasted all the styles they had available - I think there were seven. The standout was their watermelon ale! Yum city! Their Irish Red was pretty good too. Nothing really bad, which is good. I would definitely try anything they made.

We stayed for about an hour after the open house opened. Then off to our next destination - City Steam Brewery Cafe. Karl (my brother and the reason for our trip to CT) called as we were parking to check in. Turns out that he had frequented the City Steam BC when he was getting his nursing degree. Small world.

Caitlin was our server and was very personable (high praise, by the way). She acceded to our every whim and was never away for long without hovering. The manager didn't even come out to say hello when I asked to see him - which left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. Oh well, I don't have to include every brewpub that I go to in my book. I am sure there are other brewpubs in Connecticut that will be more eager. We shall see. Anyway, we had yummy food - mom had swordfish (though there was too much "glop" on it for her tastes) and I had prosciutto chicken which was tasty. And a taster of five of their seven beers. The standout here was their farmhouse ale. I even went so far as to have a pint of that. Very good!

Then, after a long day, we found our way to the Vernon Comfort Inn and went to bed. And to sleep almost immediately. Zzzzzzzz

Pictures from July 15, 2011:


Four of Thomas Hooker's taps - one of which was the watermelon ale!


The rings on the paper show which beers I got samples of. Yippee!


Our lovely room!