(.)_(.)
Friday, September 30, 2005
they're back
This one snuck up on me, but there's a new Wallace and Gromit movie coming out next week. Sweeeeet. 0 comments
This one snuck up on me, but there's a new Wallace and Gromit movie coming out next week. Sweeeeet. 0 comments
Thursday, September 29, 2005
fun in the sun
Matt and Kristen flew up here last Wednesday after work and the 4 of us went over to the Vineyard for 4 days. When we scheduled this little trip in March, the thought of late September on the water seemed to be a crap shoot as far as the weather is concerned. Well we lucked out on that front with warm days and cool nights.
Matt brought a ton of fishing gear and Kristen brought her 7 months along belly. The Derby is currently underway and typically the early fall on MV is some of the best fishing anywhere, any time. So when there were albacore breaking all around the pond and Matt lands one from the beach a few hours into a first day, well things were looking bright.
Although it is too painful to recount in detail, let me simply say that over the balance of our time there, we spent a fair collection of time driving the beach or in the boat trying to build on the success of those first fateful hours. We fished at night and during sunrise and most moments in between. We looked North and we looked South. And Matt caught a rat blue on Sunday afternoon. That was it. I had 2 strikes and one short hookup but lost the lure and fish straight away. What made this more maddening was that the albies were in the pond each day. We were consistently close enough to see their blitzes but they seldom came up near us. Through shear force of will, Matt manufactured about 2 more decent shots at breaking fish over the four days but was never as lucky as his first.
Undeterred by our lack of success with the fin fish, and buoyed by the love of our womenfolk, we turned our attentions to various other edible selections from the pelagic pickings that were available.
The slower and dumber the better. And so a great scourge befell the bivalves. Fingers dug and dislodged and rake tines probed and plucked from the marine sands relentlessly. Fueled by our fishy frustrations and the recurring habit of drinking beer at 9:30 in the morning, a great harvest was collected. We used the big quahogs to make a chowder and ate the steamers and cherrystones straight up and served with butter.
When not in hunter-gatherer mode there was bocce played (Crossett’s won) and horseshoes (Mark and Kristen won) and Yahtzee (Matt won). The girls perfected the art of the 2pm nap. In all we had a wonderful time. If you’ve ever had guests who do more than their share of work around the house, are great fun to be with and completely maintenance free then you have some idea of what our vacation with Matt and Kristen was like. Here’s to hoping that we can make it an annual event. And may the Good Lord please see that the fishing is better next year.
1 comments
Matt and Kristen flew up here last Wednesday after work and the 4 of us went over to the Vineyard for 4 days. When we scheduled this little trip in March, the thought of late September on the water seemed to be a crap shoot as far as the weather is concerned. Well we lucked out on that front with warm days and cool nights.
Matt brought a ton of fishing gear and Kristen brought her 7 months along belly. The Derby is currently underway and typically the early fall on MV is some of the best fishing anywhere, any time. So when there were albacore breaking all around the pond and Matt lands one from the beach a few hours into a first day, well things were looking bright.
Although it is too painful to recount in detail, let me simply say that over the balance of our time there, we spent a fair collection of time driving the beach or in the boat trying to build on the success of those first fateful hours. We fished at night and during sunrise and most moments in between. We looked North and we looked South. And Matt caught a rat blue on Sunday afternoon. That was it. I had 2 strikes and one short hookup but lost the lure and fish straight away. What made this more maddening was that the albies were in the pond each day. We were consistently close enough to see their blitzes but they seldom came up near us. Through shear force of will, Matt manufactured about 2 more decent shots at breaking fish over the four days but was never as lucky as his first.
Undeterred by our lack of success with the fin fish, and buoyed by the love of our womenfolk, we turned our attentions to various other edible selections from the pelagic pickings that were available.
The slower and dumber the better. And so a great scourge befell the bivalves. Fingers dug and dislodged and rake tines probed and plucked from the marine sands relentlessly. Fueled by our fishy frustrations and the recurring habit of drinking beer at 9:30 in the morning, a great harvest was collected. We used the big quahogs to make a chowder and ate the steamers and cherrystones straight up and served with butter.When not in hunter-gatherer mode there was bocce played (Crossett’s won) and horseshoes (Mark and Kristen won) and Yahtzee (Matt won). The girls perfected the art of the 2pm nap. In all we had a wonderful time. If you’ve ever had guests who do more than their share of work around the house, are great fun to be with and completely maintenance free then you have some idea of what our vacation with Matt and Kristen was like. Here’s to hoping that we can make it an annual event. And may the Good Lord please see that the fishing is better next year.
1 comments
Monday, September 19, 2005
house sweet home
Ophelia was a bust and worse yet, she scared away Fiona and her parents. Oh how a weather forecast can change is just 24 hours. At least everyone is safe and sound.
OslerWurst ’05 is officially on the calendar and I’m excited about that. Aside from bratwurst and hotwurst I’m going to try my hand at some kielbasa. I’m a bit nervous about this one because I love it so much. If I get it wrong I’ll be bummed. I’d like to make at least one more style but am having trouble deciding. Any suggestions are welcome. P.S. If you’re reading this, aren't a complete stranger and haven’t received an invite let me know and sorry for the oversight.
The Kris-Crossett’s are coming up on Wednesday night for a 5 day fishing extravaganza on the Vineyard. Looking forward to seeing them and catching some fishies. Kris is 7 months along with the first baby Crossett. So exciting!
The new house is starting to feel like our home slowly but surely. We even went to a neighborhood association meeting on Saturday morning. We were the youngest people there by 15 years easy, which was a shade disappointing. Maybe there are younger people around but they are just not interested in their community. Super! 0 comments
Ophelia was a bust and worse yet, she scared away Fiona and her parents. Oh how a weather forecast can change is just 24 hours. At least everyone is safe and sound.
OslerWurst ’05 is officially on the calendar and I’m excited about that. Aside from bratwurst and hotwurst I’m going to try my hand at some kielbasa. I’m a bit nervous about this one because I love it so much. If I get it wrong I’ll be bummed. I’d like to make at least one more style but am having trouble deciding. Any suggestions are welcome. P.S. If you’re reading this, aren't a complete stranger and haven’t received an invite let me know and sorry for the oversight.
The Kris-Crossett’s are coming up on Wednesday night for a 5 day fishing extravaganza on the Vineyard. Looking forward to seeing them and catching some fishies. Kris is 7 months along with the first baby Crossett. So exciting!
The new house is starting to feel like our home slowly but surely. We even went to a neighborhood association meeting on Saturday morning. We were the youngest people there by 15 years easy, which was a shade disappointing. Maybe there are younger people around but they are just not interested in their community. Super! 0 comments
Thursday, September 08, 2005
alemania 2006
Viva Estados Unidos! The US beat Mexico 2-0 in Columbus Ohio Saturday night to clinch a berth in the next World Cup. They were the first to clinch a berth from our region (although Mexico also qualified on Wednesday night by pounding Panama 5-0), and did so on US soil, against Mexico and by the same score that the US beat Mexico in the Round of 16 in the 2002 WC. Life is good. Just for the record, this was the first time the clinching game for the US was shown on live TV. The previous 3 (for the ’90, ’98 and ’02 World Cups) were not shown live for one reason or another (Tape Delay, Tape Delay, Live coverage on ABC is preempted by coverage of the invasion of Afganistan, game is shown on Tape Delay later).
Qualifying this early leaves the US with 3 games remaining where Coach Arena can experiment with the fringe players who are all competing for a spot on the final 23 man roster. Oh what luxury. It also means that the top US players in Europe won’t have to pull any of the 3 games in 8 days including a 72 hour visit to the US (or worse, Panama or Costa Rica) and then back to the home club for a match. Really good stuff for everyone involved.
Our Spanish lesson for today is that Alemania means Germany. Do you find it at all humorous that the word for Germany is ‘ale mania’? I didn’t think so….neither did I.
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Viva Estados Unidos! The US beat Mexico 2-0 in Columbus Ohio Saturday night to clinch a berth in the next World Cup. They were the first to clinch a berth from our region (although Mexico also qualified on Wednesday night by pounding Panama 5-0), and did so on US soil, against Mexico and by the same score that the US beat Mexico in the Round of 16 in the 2002 WC. Life is good. Just for the record, this was the first time the clinching game for the US was shown on live TV. The previous 3 (for the ’90, ’98 and ’02 World Cups) were not shown live for one reason or another (Tape Delay, Tape Delay, Live coverage on ABC is preempted by coverage of the invasion of Afganistan, game is shown on Tape Delay later).
Qualifying this early leaves the US with 3 games remaining where Coach Arena can experiment with the fringe players who are all competing for a spot on the final 23 man roster. Oh what luxury. It also means that the top US players in Europe won’t have to pull any of the 3 games in 8 days including a 72 hour visit to the US (or worse, Panama or Costa Rica) and then back to the home club for a match. Really good stuff for everyone involved.
Our Spanish lesson for today is that Alemania means Germany. Do you find it at all humorous that the word for Germany is ‘ale mania’? I didn’t think so….neither did I.
0 comments
