What's Happening...
For this year's events from January to now, see this year's archive page
|
06/04/11: Garrison Garage Sale and Dinner At The Williams
Finally! We participate in my first Garrison Garage Sale Saturday 06/04. What an ordeal! I will never do that again. What a huge pain in the ass getting ready for it and then it's just all day sitting in the sun hoping someone will buy a paperback
for a dollar or dvd for three or office desk for a hundred (which we did sell; nice desk, too....). But, please spare me of that again.
At least Sue and I had some fun playing backgammon between negioating the sale of unneeded powered glow night lights. Whew! But, it was all done by 2:00pm.
We relaxed for awhile, took showers, and then headed over to Scott and Linda Williams home in North Berwick, ME for dinner with them and some of their friends. It was a really nice evening and we enjoyed chatting with everyone in a more relaxed and less crowded environement than when we usually see everyone at the Williams' annual Christmas party.
|
06/11/11: Marissa and Gary Wedding
Saturday June 11th, Marissa and Gary had their big wedding day on the Sagamore Creek at the Portsmouth Elks. It was a good thing at Friday night's rehearsal
that we had planned for both an outside ceremony as well as inside one in case of rain because it poured most of the day. But that was okay. We had a wonderful get together at Dover's Blue Mermaid restaurant for all of the wedding party and relatives.
And as if getting married wasn't enough to flatten Gary, the best man and Marissa had cooked up a major plot to surprise Gary.
It turns out that Sig Hansen of the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch fame and his crew were performing down at the Hampton Beach Casino that evening.
Knowing this, they called Hansen's publicist to see if he made special appearances, explaining that life and the world stopped for Gary when Deadliest Catch
was on and that he was such a fan.
To their joy, Hansen said that he'd love to come up to the wedding! And Hansen totally surprised Gary by coming up behind him while the best man distracted him with a signed picture of Hansen. Quite an end to a wonderful day.
|
06/19/11: Father's Day On The Water
Our friend Roger invited us and Colin out on his 42' Duffy for a Father's Day Cruise out to the Isles of Shoals Sunday afternoon, June 19th.
And the weather was just perfect with a gentle breeze to keep the air moving. The ocean was calm under an almost cloudless sky.
We left the dock at around 12:30pm and had lunch out at the Isles of Shoals.
The trip back in, even against the tide, was less than an hour and a half. So, just a perfect day.
Sue and I got home around 6:30pm, had some wine and played some backgammon out on the deck after throwing a pizza into the oven.
We finished off the evening with the very funny and cute movie, Danny Deckchair.
|
06/25/11: The Great 2011 Seven Years At The Garrison Backgammon Tournament And Spaghetti Bolognese Celebration!
Every year I have had a backgammon dinner party get together to celebrate being here at The Garrison. This year marks my 7th year and so on June 25th I held The Great 2011 Seven Years At The Garrison Backgammon Tournament And Spaghetti Bolognese Celebration! And what a great time we all had! Lots of folks turned out for it,
and lots of games got played. And as You'll see from the pictures: lots of great food was had by all.
Not only is the Spaghetti Bolognese a tradition, but the movie of the night, Top Gun, is one of the highlights of the whole night - tiring for some who just-don't-get-it. But for those, we just smile and allow them their opinion.
|
06/26/11: Native American PowWow in Rocherster, NH
We had a really nice time visiting and wandering around the Native American PowWow at the Rochester Fair Grounds
on Sunday the 26th.
This was the first PowWow I have ever been to, and was impressed with the seriousness of their presentation of their culture.
Sure, there were it's commercialized aspects and the 'show' parts of it. But very nice.
I'm so glad that I was able to see this prior to our upcoming trip out to New Mexico. I've had a long standing interest in Native American culture and thought, and mix it into my martial arts teachings with the I-Ching and Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching.
|
06/27/11: Author Paul Doiron at Dover Library
Sue and I went to the Dover Public Library for a lecture by Maine author and Downeast Magazine editor, Paul Doiron, who talked about his new thriller, Trespasser. Doiron’s first Mike Bowditch novel, The Poacher’s Son, was nominated for an Edgar Award in 2010.
|
07/02/11: Boston Museum of Fine Arts: Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass
Sue wanted to see the Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass exhibit at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts,
and so Saturday 07/03 we drove down.
Chihuly's exhibit was astounding! That's an understatement that even the pictures that Sue took fall far short of.capturing.
After going through the Chihuly exhibit, we wandered around through many of the other exhibits that either we hadn't seen last time or were new. But by 4:30, I was 'museum'd out' and we headed for the car and road home.
|
07/10/11: Garrison Neighbors Over For Deck Party
Sue fixed 'Salty Chihuahua' and some great bruschetta that we enjoyed out on the deck from 3:00pm to 5:00pm with Nora, and Nancy. Ann was off to Florida, but we get to water her plants instead. So, that's a good thing too....
After everyone left, Sue proceeded to whip my ass in backgammon over 2 or 3 miserable sets. Grrrrr.... The saving grace after that was the great Clint Eastwood movie, Unforgiven - I mean, how can you go wrong with Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, and Richard Harris?
|
07/16/11: Vacation to New Mexico!
[***pictures coming!]Sue and I drove over to Manchester to catch a flight out to Albuquerque, NM via Baltimore on Saturday 07/16. We rented a car there and drove out to my long time karate disciple Carl Parker's and his girl friend Sheina's home just north west of Albuquerque at the base of the Sandia mountains.
They took us to a marvelous Mexican restaurant at the base of the Tramway, Sandiago's, for dinner Saturday night. We knew enough to take it easy as we were up 5,300 feet, so we were in bed at a reasonable time. Sunday, they took us on a tour of Albuquerque with a great visit to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center where we got to see Native American Zuni tribal dancers.
After checking out the Old Town section, we had lunch and a wine sampling at the St. Clair Winery on their back patio. For dinner Sunday night, we all went up in the Sandia Mountain Tramway to the High Finance restaurant. Though there was some haziness to the air from all of the recent forest fires, the views at 10,000 feet and sunset were spectacular!
Monday we took the back road over Rt. 14 up to Santa Fe. What could be an hour and a half or so drive took us six and a half because of all the great picture opportunities along the way as well as a couple of hour stop over in Madrid, really one of the highlights of our entire trip. After checking into our hotel and jumping into the pool for a cool-off, we went out to dinner to Dinner For Two and had one of the best meals I have ever had!
Tuesday we roamed around Santa Fe and then Wednesday we drove up the High Road to Taos, a spectacular drive for sure, for an over-nighter. We checked into the Historic Taos Inn and were just stunned as to how beautiful it was; one of the nicest, most relaxing places I have ever stayed at.
Thursday after checking out of the Inn, we took a drive out Rt. 64 to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, where Sue got some exceptional pictures, and then an amazing visit to the Native American Taos Pueblo. We took the highway, Rt. 25, back to Sante Fe, stopping along the way at a kayak launch along the Rio Grande so Sue could dip her toes in the water.
We had such a good time in Taos that we could have stayed in that area for the whole trip. And we both want to go back! Friday morning before heading back to Albuquerque to catch our flight, we wandered around Sante Fe's Canyon Road arts colony until late morning.
Unfortunately, our plane was delayed 2 hours and because we missed our connection in Baltimore, Southwest put us up in a hotel. However, we didn't get to the room until 12:30am Saturday morning! But that didn't stop me from calling down to room service to have some sandwiches and a couple of glasses of wine sent up!
|
07/29/11: Calm Summer Weekend
Got home Friday after work, opened a bottle of Chardonay, and headed out onto the deck with Sue to relax and play some backgammon.
Saturday morning I was so beat that I didn't get up until almost 10am! That's rare for even me! I guess the bustle of vacation and then back to work just caught up with me. After food shopping later that afternoon, it was back out onto the deck for more backgammon and then a relaxing dinner prep of balsamic chicken with curry basmati rice and a nice bottle of Pinot Noir.
Up early Sunday morning 07/31 for coffee and several hours work on my Shop programming project before heading out with Sue to her brother
Alan and his wife Joanne's camp on Ossipee Lake. It was just a spectacularly beautiful, warm day. I had brought a laptop with me so Sue could show everyone pictures from our trip to New Mexico.
We all gathered around it out on the enclosed porch while Sue narrated the entire trip for them. I was mah-vo-lous at clicking through the slide show....
Before we headed home, Sue took some great shots of her family. One of them (the shot shown) shows five generations of the family!
We ended up the evening back home with a couple sets of backgammon on the deck with a bottle of Fume Blanc and salad before winding down with the movie 84 Charing Cross Road (1987).
|
08/01/11: Kids Visit for Dinner and Pictures of NM Trip
Marissa and Gary, and Colin and Ren came over Monday eveing for a visit. While we sipped Midori Margaritas that Sue had made, Marissa fixed her special linguini and scallops in creamy pesto sauce for us. After dinner we ran the pictures of our New Mexico trip through the tv so they could see what we had been talking about. But it's really tough to convey the grandure of all of that in a two dimensional picture, though Sue got some really, really great shots.
|
08/05/11: Dinner and Seacoast Repretory Theater for Hairspray
Got out of work early and headed right home to pick Sue up so we could get into Portsmouth to the Harbor's Edge restaurant at the Sheraton for an early dinner.
It was a beautiful night, the sun staying up well past 8:00pm so our view from our window seats in the restaurant was just great. It was really nice to sit there and sip on the marvelous 2008 Louis Martini Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon we had ordered while looking out over the Piscataqua River. We even got to see the Isles of Sholes Steamship Company's Harbor Sunset Tour embark at 5:55pm and head down river.
After dinner, we took a leisurely stroll over to Seacoast Repretory Theater for the 8:00pm performance of Hairspray, a delightfully entertaining production.
|
08/06/11: Saturday Dinner Party For Two Instead of on Sunday
As I would be tied up until late Sunday giving pending black belt exams to some of our association students, we decided to have our party Saturday instead! I worked most of the morning on my Shop programming project and then Sue and I headed out to shop.
We got back in plenty of of time to open the wine and go out onto the deck where we played two full sets of backgammon (6 games) before coming in to start the dinner prep work. I had decided to cook my mom's version of Spanish Rice but, of course, with my own twist with the spices. It came out just great! We ended the night with the stunning movie The Fighter (2010).
|
08/07/11: Peter On Pending Black Belt Exam Board
I was up around 7:00am Sunday morning and ready to head out to Northwood, NH to participate in giving Pending Black Belt exams to several of our C&S Self Defense Association students.
My long time disciple Jim
Nancarrow had offered his club for the event, and my disciple Scott Williams picked me up at my place at 8:00am to drive up there - only about 25 minutes.
Though the exam was long - 9.5 hours - all three testing: Richard Mozier Jr., Sachem School, Scott Plessner, Sachem School, and Brian Serven, Rose School - came out just fine.
|
08/12/11: Friday Night Explore
I got out of work early Friday and picked Sue up so we
could get some errands done before heading out for another Friday Night Explore.
First up, we headed into Portsmouth to take a tour of the Moffatt-Ladd House. It's probably been 20 years since I've seen that and Sue had never been. It was a wonderful experience and we both really enjoyed it.
The weather was just perfect: bright, sunny, in the low 80's. We took full advantage of that and walked around downtown Portsmouth and then over to State Street where many of the art galleries are.
We went down by the water at Prescott Park before driving over to BG's Boat House on the water on Sagamore Creek. As the sun was just beginning to set, Sue suggested that we head over to Fort Stark for sunset so she could get some pictures.
|
08/17/11: Colin Closes On New House
Wednesday Aug 17 Colin closed on his new house! Sue and I went over after work to get the tour
and share pizza with everyone.
The day before, we had gone to Stratham and bought a bookcase at a yard sale for our library and I had picked up 3 bar stools for Colin.
They came in handy at the party as seating was sparse.
|
08/24/11: Sue's Great Michigan Adventure
Sue left at 5:30am Wednesday morning to get to Boston Logan International Airport for a flight out to Grand Rapids, Michigan where the photography company she works for sent 10 of their employees to assist with a series of major school shoots. She came back exhausted and and so sick Friday morning that I drove down to her office in Seabrook to meet her when one of the other employees drove her back. She was a hurtin' unit for a couple of days, so slow weekend for sure while she rested up and shook of whatever it was that had got her so sick.
|
08/27/11: Hurricane Irene Weekend
Hurricane Irene started impacting us up here in New Hampshire late on Saturday night the 27th. It howled all night,
but not so bad as to keep us awake. But even though we got very lucky right here, hundreds of thousands lost power for days.
Our lights started flickering around 10:00am Sunday morning, and I just figured it wouldn't be long before they went out. Since it was really starting to blow hard and rain steadily, I suggested to Sue that we grab some lunch at Burger King up the road from us and then head down to a spot she knows about in Rye to see the surf and get some pictures. Well, she was all over that and we were off!
The whole beach was gone; covered with water with three foot chop smashing against the far beach wall. And then there were the ten or twelve foot monsters that surged against the rocks along the roadway and sent sheets of spray 20 or 30 feet in the air only to be blown horizontally and down on us, soaking us like someone was dumping out a bathtub over our heads. Man, that was some spectacular stuff, and the heaviest storm waves I have ever seen. It was more than awesome.
|
08/29/11: Off To Chiropractor
Even though it's been over a year and a half since my hip replacement surgery, my spine and hips have still not come back into full alignment. I am constantly fighting lower back muscle issues and ended up really straining them Sunday as I was pulling the last of the screens out of the windows. I mean, I really must have torn the crap out of myself because Monday I could barely walk. I called Dr. Shulde and was able to get a 5:00pm appointment, so drove down to Hampton to get fixed up. It was better Tuesday, but still sore. No more screen pulling for me!
|
09/02/11: Labor Day Weekend Kicked off With B.B. King!
Sue and I both got out of work early and headed off to Hampton Beach for an early dinner at The Sea Ketch on the boardwalk. After walking the boardwalk for 40 minutes or so, we headed over to the Hampton Beach Casino for the 8:00pm B.B. King show. The guy is 85 years old and you'd never know it the way he still makes Lucille cry out The Blues! It's just an awesome honor to be able to witness such a legend demonstrate his craft.
|
09/03/11: Lunch at Great Bay Marine
Saturday 09/03, I took Sue over to Newington to show her Great Bay Marine and have lunch at the restaurant there.
It was a beautiful, bright, sunny day with a crisp breeze blowing in off of the water.
Just some 'tourist shots', but it's such a pretty view across the river.
|
09/04/11: Dover Greek Festival
Sunday 09/04, Sue and I went over to the Dover Greek Festival and had a marvelous time looking around and eating a full dinner of mixed Greek food. Sue had her first taste of Ouzo, but I couldn't finish mine as I had forgotten how liquorishy it was; don't care for it. Since the night was young, we stopped off on the way home at The Top of The Chop for a glass of wine at the bar. That just made us silly, so when we got home, I poured us shots of Dr. Jack Daniels and we sat down and watched Kill Bill Vol1 - a truly epic restraint on Sue's part. She was such a good sport about it that I'll be sure when the memories of it leave her to introduce her to Vol 2....
|
09/10/11: The Great Kayak Full Moon Adventure
Saturday night 09/10, Colin and Ren, and Sue and I packed up kayaks into the back of Colin's truck and headed over to the reservoir
off of Rt. 9 for The Great Kayak Full Moon Adventure. We launched them from the public launch area and were on the water by 6:30.
The idea behind this whole adventure was to be out on the water for the rising of the full moon. We paddled under the Rt. 9 bridge and into the other basin and then over to the little island.
We beached the kayaks, broke out the sandwiches and some beer and had a grand time until 7:45pm when the sun started to drop. We got back into the kayaks and paddled all over the place as the full moon rose over the pond.
|
09/11/11: Sunday Walk At Odiorne Park
Sunday afternoon 09/11, Sue and I drove over to Odiorne State Park to take a walk
along the shore.
We came at it up from the South to go past the Wallis Sands area where we had been not too long ago bracing against the fury of Hurricane Irene.
Things were much calmer there as we drove up to the park where Sue got some terrific pictures.
|
09/17/11: The Great 2011 Talk Like A Pirate Backgammon Tournament And Caribbean Party Stew!
Saturday 09/17, I held the 5th of what has become an
annual The Great 2011 Talk Like A Pirate Backgammon Tournament And Caribbean Party Stew!
14 showed up to see if this year's Caribbean Party Stew could beat last year's effort. I think it did!
And Sue ended up making 2 huge pitchers of her Pissin' Parrot Pirate Rum drink as it was such a hit. There was a lot of backgammon being played and we had to pull the plug on a couple of the games so that we could eat dinner.
8 of us stayed to see the creepy, but really entertaining, movie Priest that Steve Shackford contributed.
Sunday was just a relaxing day out on the deck. I got quite a bit of Drumond's Collapse read and am really enjoying it.
|
09/18/11: Apple Picking At Butternut Farm
Sunday 09/18, Sue took me out to Butternut Farm in Farmington, NH
to go apple picking. I don't think I have ever been apple picking before, and I had a blast.
We got a 9lb pumpkin for the front stoop as well. On the way back home, we stopped off at a farm stand in Lee, NH off of Rt. 4 at the circle with Rt 125 for smaller pumpkins for inside, mums for here as well as for Colin and Marissa, and a huge corn stalk for the front stoop.
|
09/19/11: Karate Analysis Meeting Dinner
I met my disciple 4th Degree Black Belt Tim House for dinner at The Olive Garden in Newington, NH after work Monday evening. Periodically, I meet with advanced students to discuss various aspects of their current study. And that's a marvelous time to slow down a little and do it with a nice glass of wine and dinner.
|
09/29/11: 2011 Disciple Retreat
[***pictures coming] My advanced students and I started my karate 2011 Disciple Retreat with class on Thursday 09/29. 3rd Degree Black Belt Carl Parker had planned to fly in from Albuquerque, NM in time for class, but severe weather in Boston held his plane in Baltimore such that he didn't make it to the house here until about 10:45pm. Several of the other students of at least 3rd Degree Black Belt had returned to the house with me after our little get together at Applebee's to view advanced forms videos, so Parker just caught them about mid way through. It was a late night; I didn't get to bed until after midnight because, after the others left, I kept 4th Degree Black Belt Yondan Russ Jones and Sandan Parker up discussing what we'll just call 'stuff'. Oh, and I pulled out the Kruskovac (a marvelous Yugoslavian pear liquor) so we could have a real excuse for staying up so late....
But, I was up at 6:45am Friday morning and into full swing with working breakfast carried in from Dunkin Donuts by Yondan Tim House and Nidan Rick Downs followed by the formal start of the morning session at 8:00am. It was such a nice day that we moved all of the deck chairs back outside and stayed out there until after 5:00pm. Before breaking for lunch (I had subs delivered), we had about an hour or so workout studying Rose Crane that left everyone limping and sore. Dinner was a home-bound Spaghetti feed, continuing discussions right through dinner until 11:00pm. But I kept 4th Degree Black Belt Russ Jones and Parker up until well after midnight as they were both staying here at the house and so I had a captive audience.
Up again Saturday morning at 6:45, patiently waiting for Nidan Scott Williams to bring in the coffee. Shortly after he arrived, Yondan House and Nidan Downs arrived with some extra food shopping items so that Sandan Parker could orchestrate a semi-southwest scrambled eggs and bacon breakfast.
The morning session proved to be pretty intense, with little time for much discussion as I was a behind in my presentation. Sue had done a lot of pre-prep work Thursday for a salad with ham, cherry tomatoes, cheese, onions, boiled eggs, and mushrooms so we did a quick break for that before continuing on until almost 6:30pm. I had made 7:15pm dinner reservations at the RiverWorks Tavern in Newmarket and we didn't get home from there until after 10:00. But there was still work to do so I didn't close the session until well after 11:00pm, and again, Jones, Parker, and I stayed at it until after midnight again.
Normally, the Sunday morning session goes until about noon and deals mostly with summarization and some goals setting. But because of the depth of material that I had undertaken for this retreat, I never got to the wrapup until 12:30, taking the retreat close until just after 1:00pm. Long, demanding session.
Sandan Parker and I settled into the afternoon with some discussion topics that he had wanted to cover in person as stuff like that is tough to do through cassette tape or email from Albuquerque, NM. We got so involved that to save time from going to the store and fixing a big dinner, I just had subs delivered, and we worked through until about 11:00pm that night. Though I felt bad that Carl had to get up early to drive up to a business meeting in Lewiston, ME, spend the night there, and then truck south to Boston's Logan International Airport Tuesday morning, I'm glad that we took the time to chat.
|
10/07/11: Columbus Day Weekend
Our main goal for the Columbus Day Weekend was to go
on a great explore over the back roads and around Bow Lake, which we planned to do on Sunday.
Saturday 10/07 I was up early programming until the Ross Furniture delivery guys came with our new mattress. We had lunch, went out to Wagon Hill Farm and hiked around for about an hour, and then did a Fall Explore around the Durham and Barrington areas before coming back to the house and getting ready for my disciple 2nd Degree Black Belt Rick Downs to pick us up to go to the Hampton Beach Casino and Ballroom for the George Thorogood concert.
Sunday morning Sue and I headed out on a Fall Foliage Adventure at 10:45 and didn't get back until 3:00pm. I had decided to fix a different kind of chicken piccata so did most of the food prep really quickly before Sue and I went out on the deck to play some backgammon over a glass of wine. We played 3 full sets, had dinner, and then watched one of my favorite movies: Jeremiah Johnson.
Monday, Columbus Day, Sue and I did some shopping and then took up with the backgammon again when we got back around 3:00pm, with a little Pinot Noir to soothe my ego from still being down 14. Through brute force and lots of trash talk I was able to get back to only 3 down. I have until Thursday, when scoring starts all over again, to get ahead. There will be no mercy....
|
10/14/11: Solo Weekend
Sue was off Saturday morning visiting her daughter in Westerly, RI for an early birthday celebration, so I just worked on some programming until 6pm when my long time karate disciple Rick Downs came over. He brought subs, which we ate while we played a set of backgammon before ending off the night with the movie Thor which I had borrowed from Steve Shackford for just that purpose.
Sunday, more programming and some reading out on the deck until mid afternoon. Then off to the store to shop. I fixed up a wicked broccoli and mushroom creole and then washed into the night with yet another viewing of Star Trek.
|
10/21/11: Fall Foliage Trip To Jackson, NH
I took Friday the 21st off so Sue and I could get an
early start on her 60th birthday celebration fall foliage adventure up to New Hampshire's White Mountains. We grabbed coffee and pastry on the way out Rt 4 from Dover.
We were able to check into the Eagle Mountain House when we arrived, and then went for a short walk along the river, played some backgammon on the veranda, and then I took Sue to The 1785 Inn again this year for a 60th birthday dinner.
Saturday morning we were up and down to breakfast so we could get a mid morning start on our great planned adventure drive to the Sugar Hill area. When we got back, we just changed out of our day clothes into dinner gear, grabbed the backgammon board, and headed downstairs main lobby by the fireplace. We got a glass of wine and played so many sets of backgammon I can't even remember it was such a blur, and then had a wonderful, leisurely dinner at the hotel.
Sunday morning we decided to take a short jaunt over to Echo Lake, and ended up walking around the entire shore before heading home the long way via 153 and then onto 202.
|
10/29/11: The Great 2011 Halloween Backgammon Tournament And Graveyard Maggot Stew Surprise!
What a great time to have The Great 2011 Halloween Backgammon Tournament And Graveyard Maggot Stew Surprise!
We had the first snow of the season (though we did get some heavy wet snow fall that didn't stick on Thursday night) and it was a huge snowstorm.
We got through dinner and two of the movies before the power went off. Most went home, but Sue, Rick, and I went over to Linda's to watch the movie of the night, The Night of The Living Dead.
We ended up getting about 2 inches of really wet heavy snow. The power was on when we got back home, but we could hear the sound of the heavy snow falling off of the tree limbs onto the roof.
|
11/05/11: Saturday Sunset Photography Excursion
[***pictures coming] I tried to get up early Saturday morning but having been sick most of the week I was really just beat. Didn't make it up until well after 9:00am so late start to programming. Around 3:30pm, Sue and I headed out to drive down Rt. 1 to Odiorne Point State Park for a walk and some picture taking.
Actually, the idea was to get positioned somewhere - wherever Sue felt we should be - just before sunset which was at 5:28pm. She just wasn't feeling it there, so after a brisk walk around the Seacoast Science Center there, we jumped in the car and headed for Rye Harbor.
We walked through the park and down onto the rocky shore but again, there just wasn't the shot. So, I climbed up onto the breakwater and said I'd be up for navigating the boulders out to the end where there is a harbor entrance light fixture. That was some pretty difficult walking and we only made it about two-thirds of the way out when I just said I didn't want to push it any further. On the walk back, however, Sue got a great shot of Rye Harbor just as the sun was setting in the distance.
That was the shot of the day, as far as I was concerned and suggested that maybe we should celebrate with dinner and a glass of wine somewhere. Sue suggested we head over to Renaldo's in North Hampton and we were quick to it, arriving there around 5:45 just ahead of the busy time. So much food, though! We did finish the wine, but ended up with enough for 2 full meals (4 servings!) of left overs. Before heading off to an early bed, we watched what I felt was a not so enjoyable movie, The Constant Gardner. Sorry, when I watch a movie I want to be entertained; not preached at or shown all the horrors of 'real life'.
|
11/06/11: Sunday Annual U.N.H. Walkabout
[***pictures coming] We did the clock set-back deal so got an extra hour of sleep Sunday, but was really groggy getting up. Still remnants of our colds. But once we got going and had some coffee, we seemed to be much better. While Sue fixed bacon and eggs, I started pulling all the Halloween decorations down, doing some laundry, and bringing up a couple of Thanksgiving decorations.
After breakfast, Sue and I spent almost 4 hours organizing a whole bunch of way overdue paperwork and doing other first of the month tasks - like me changing the water in the entryway fountain. We also discussed what sort of charity work we'd like to get involved with in the coming season as well as thinking about how to schedule a bunch of home projects that still need doing.
We headed out about 3:30pm and drove over to the University of New Hampshire's Durham campus for my annual U.N.H. Walkabout. I've been doing that every year at around this time for 38 or so years. In fact, if you look back in my archives, you'll probably see a picture I take every year of the same tree out front of the main adminsistration building; it's become sort of a ritual in the last 10 or 15 years.... This year was no different.
From there, we drove over to Hannaford's to do our food shopping and we both got flu shots. I didn't cook tonight because we've got so many different leftovers from the past week and a half that we were all set. So, after unpacking the groceries we did buy, I poured some wine, and Sue and I spent an hour or so chatting and playing a set of backgammon before we heated up dinner. We finished off the night with the entertaining movie Erasing David.
|
11/24/11: Thanksgiving
[***pictures coming] Sue and I were up early Thanksgiving morning to get a start on things; I had turkey prep to do and Sue had a bunch of projects she had lined up. She was a whirlwind of activity preparing a sweet potato casserole with a thick pecan crust, a rich home made cranberry sauce, and a great on-the-fly stuffing creation.
Marissa and Gary came over a little after 10:00am just as Sue was finishing up the stuffing. We chatted in the kitchen while I got the turkey prepped with a coating of butter, garlic, wine and other herbs and then stuffed with Sue's stuffing. It then went into a 525 degree oven for a searing as Chef James Haller of the old Blue Strawberry restaurant in Portsmouth taught me how to do.
Colin and Ren showed up a little after 11:00am or so, and everyone headed into the living room to watch the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on tv. Amazing that they actually seemed to like watching the parade! The last few years, all I got were moans and groans about watching the 'stupid parade'. Now that they're a little older, I guess the tradition and grandeur of it all has finally had an impact on them. I suspect that when they have kids, they'll all be around the tv watching that parade as well....
I kept a pretty busy schedule basting the turkey every half hour until we got within striking distance of eating and then cooked up a couple of pounds of green beans in shallots, garlic, wine, and some herbs. We ate just after 1:30pm as planned and it was great to have them all here, though Gary had to leave before we ate to be with his family at their dinner; we'll have to work something better out for all this now that the kids are, well... not kids anymore and have actual lives of their own.
Sue and I cleaned up after they left, went for a brisk walk out around the middle and high schools, and then just settled into some reading in the library. About 6:30 we grabbed some of Sue's apple-crisp and watched the last hour or so of Angels and Demons that I had recorded from the other day before calling it a success and heading off to bed.
|
11/25/11: Thanksgiving Weekend
Both Sue and I had Friday off from work but Sue got up early to troll the Black Friday online sales for awhile before we headed off to Portsmouth to look at a new commercial development. On the way in, we stopped off at Home Depot and bought Poinsettias for the condo and one each for the kids. Then we were back up to the bank in Dover for a meeting to refinance my condo - great 3.25 15 year rate that equals the payment I had at 6.25 30 year.
After taking care of some stuff around the condo, I popped a bottle of Cabernet and we played out 4 sets of backgammon where I was finally able to regain the lead - but only slightly.... The movie of the night was the awful The Boy With The Striped Pajamas that got over early enough that we just watched some HGTV House Hunters episodes in Costa Rica and another in Ecuador.
Saturday morning Sue was off to take a family portrait for one of my students, Tim House. When Sue got back, we took a short walk through the woods over by the high school to burn more calories from Thursday. After that, we drove over to Wentworth Gardens to buy Christmas wreaths for the door and for the kids doors. On the way back home we stopped off to get our wine stock back up as it was getting a little low.
We had a lot of fun playing several more sets of backgammon (Sue is getting way too competitive in this) before ordering out for Chinese food. We then closed out the evening with the movie Super 8.
|
12/11/11: Christmas Tree and Decorating
[***pictures coming] Sunday, Colin and Ren met Sue and I over at the tree farm where we picked out a nice tree for the condo. Before bringing it in, they helped us move an old couch out of the library and into temporary storage in the garage until we have time to get it over to Goodwill.
Then we had to move the recliner out of the living room into the new open space in the library so we had room for the tree. Whew! Colin got the tree into the stand and set up, and then installed the two new kitchen ceiling lights that Sue had picked out for us on one of our shopping adventures. Markedly more decorative then the really bad industrial lights that were in there. I just had never been able to find good replacements that matched the old world decor. Sue spotted these and they are just perfect.
While he was doing that, Sue and Ren got a start on the tree decorations while I shagged equipment, flipped breakers, etc. for Colin.
Sue and I spent the rest of the afternoon putting some electric candle in the front windows, arranging the furniture, and getting the basics of dinner ready. Then we played several sets of backgammon with a glass of Merlot and candles burning in the background. I ended up the evening, by the way, 5 points up.
|
12/21/11: Heading Into The Holidays
I had started my vacation Wednesday, though got up at 6am with Sue as she was trying to get into work early. That didn't happen at all because there had been an ice/sleet storm during the night and she ended up turning around about 40 minutes into her drive as it was just too dangerous; the roads were iced over with cars off to the side everywhere. In fact, parts of 95 and 93 were actually shut down for awhile.
So, we just spent the day working in the library here and she was running around doing whatever it was that she needed to do, But then around 1pm the roads had cleared and we used that opportunity to go out and do ALL the Christmas shopping - that's how far behind we are on this stuff. Didn't get back until around 4:30 and just had to relax a LITTLE. Poured a glass of wine and played some backgammon until, the power went out! Who knows why....
We just jumped into the car and headed up into Dover to The 99 restaurant for dinner. By the time we got back, the power was on. But we were both really beat. We just watched some tv and then to bed as she had to be up at 6 this morning.
Thursday, Sue rushed out the door at 7:15 o'dark clock in the morning, but it wasn't too long before I got a call from her that it had taken her 30 minutes to drive what is normally an 8 minute non-event; the traffic was just nuts. As a result, she ended up working late and didn't get home until about 6:30. We had a glass of wine with some leftovers, and then watched the really interesting and well done movie, The Ghost Writer.
Friday morning when we got up it was snowing lightly. We worked on some projects during the morning and then wrapped presents for a couple of hours in the afternoon before going food shopping for the weekend. The movie of the night
|
12/24/11: Christmas
[***pictures coming] Saturday, Christmas Eve day, one of Sue's friends, Gale, swung by to wish us well. Then, late morning, Sue's daughter Jill came up from RI to visit and have lunch with us. Sue took her hiking over at Kingman Farm for an hour or so, and by the time they got back I had started prep work on Cornish game hens for our holiday dinner - recipe from James Haller of the former Blue Strawberry restaurant in Portsmouth, NH.
Sadly, when I checked email my disciple Carl Parker's girlfriend, Sheina, in Albuquerque, NM notified me that Carl had been taken to the hospital and was in serious condition with severe pneumonia. We were in touch with her all weekend as the doctors worked to get him stabilized.
By the time we got done eating it was late, so I lit our first fire of the season in the fireplace and we just chatted and watched that before turning in.
Up early Christmas Day. Marissa and Colin came over at 8:30am and Marissa fixed us all breakfast. Unfortunately, because of other family commitments, neither Gary or Ren were able to join us. And because both Marissa and Colin had a similar situation, they left around noon.
Sue and I packed up presents and food and headed north to Ossipee, NH and Sue's brother Alan's house for their family gathering. What great fun with the snow sputtering outside and the 13 of us inside having a wonderful gathering. We didn't get home until around 7:30pm, but not ready to finish the day off so we watched the first of the Tom Cruise Mission Impossible movies, which was great fun as Sue had never seen it.
|
12/26/11: Vacation Week!
Both Sue and I had the week between Christmas and New Year off and so we just slept in Monday 26 morning until the smell of the brewing coffee that I had put on the night before drove us up. Unfortunately, more bad news when my former student David called to tell me that his wife Kerra (and former black belt student of mine) had been rushed to the hospital in serious condition. Sue and I drove down to Portsmouth Regional Hospital just to see him and take him to lunch.
At 3:15 Sue and I headed over Rt 4 to Rt 236 and up Rt 91 to The Nubble Lighthouse in York Beach, ME as Sue wanted to take pictures of the Christmas lights. Man, was it cold! That wind coming off the water was miserable as we stood out on the rocks for about an hour as the sun went down. After that, we drove up along the coast just a ways to take a picture of the lighthouse back across Cape Neddick Harbor.
Tuesday 27 I was up early to work on my research programming project. That got way more involved than I had anticipated and I didn't come up for air until about 1:00pm. Enough of that! We had lunch and then Sue wanted to check out a preserve area that she had seen coming back from York along Rt 91. What a neat place Highland Farm Preserve is! We did one of the longer hiking trails and, though pretty rough going with some steep rises and drops, had a good time exercising.
By the time we got home it was getting dark. So... the only thing to do was pour some wine, light a fire in the fireplace, and play enough backgammon that we were both sick of it by dinnertime. We had received a couple of movies from NetFlix, but they were both awful after just 10 minutes for each. I had just received a movie I had bought through Amazon, Margin Call so we watched that, and it was a terrific drama. So good, that we stayed up late to watch the special features and then about the first half of the movie with the director's commentary.
Wednesday 28 I was up early again and on the computer doing more project research for the morning. Sue and I played some backgammon, had leftovers for dinner, watched some recorded HGTV House Hunters episodes, and called it a day. Very relaxing.
Thursday 29 through the early afternoon I worked on my research project again and then we were off to Portsmouth to The Meat House to get 6lbs of ox tails for the New Year's Eve dinner that I planned to have - based on a recipe from my mom. Then on a real whim, we went to the early showing of the new Sherlock Holmes movie, A Game of Shadows and then to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner.
Friday 30 I completed a major piece of the Forex technical pricing analysis coding that I was working on. We were going to try to get Sue's Skype working but before we got a chance to do that, I got on and lo and behold but my nephew Dean was online at my brother's in Towson, MD., and so, we all chatted for awhile.
After that, Sue and I headed out for a hike through the woods at the Bellamy River Preserves before doing all of the food shopping. We got back in time for some backgammon in front of a warm fire and ended off the evening with the movie Atlas Shrugged.
Saturday, New Year's Eve Day, I started in on preparing dinner which was going to be my mom's recipe for ox tails. I know, I know... that sounds strange. But they are marvelous. Basically, I coat them with flour and sprinkle some spices on them and then brown them in a large baking pot. I then add beef broth, burgundy, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, oregano, tarragon, thyme, and other 'stuff' that then gets baked in the oven at 350 for 3 to 4 hours, getting stirred every 30 minutes or so just because I like to.
While that was all going on, Sue and I went at it over the backgammon board for I don't know how many sets - even playing another couple of sets after dinner while watching some of Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve broadcast on TV. Neither of us see much need in staying up late to watch the ball drop, so I just set the recorder on the cable, and we went to bed around 11:15pm.
Sunday, New Year's Day, we just slept in until about 9:00am. After putting the dishes away from the night before, we lazily sipped coffee until Sue happened to notice through the window the thin layer of ice glistening on the smaller tree branches and got all fired up to go on a picture taking explore. We had planned to go down to the Portsmouth Urban Forestry Preserve in the late afternoon anyway, and so we poured our coffees into travel mugs and were off.
It was good that we went early rather than waiting because the ground was still pretty frozen in the marshes where we hiked over to a promontory of wooded land on the Sagamore Creek. When we looked across the creek, Sue immediately realized that we were looking over at the Elk's Lodge in Portsmouth where Marissa had married Gary in June. We'll have to send them the picture Sue took.
|
01/06/11: Kerra Rhodes Passes Away
Sadly, Kerra Rhodes passed away Tuesday the 3rd and her service was today. It was nice to see old students John Cafarella and Charlie Arlington who were able to make it. David had asked me to speak as I had known Kerra for 35+ years. Though an honor, it was tough going. We just went home, had a quiet spaghetti dinner, and watched the movie The Fountainhead.
|
01/07/11: Tamworth Visit
[***pictures coming] Around 2:00pm Saturday afternoon, Sue and I headed north to Tamworth, NH to visit the grave site of her grandmother who would have been 100 years old today. It was a rather warm 47 degrees here in Dover, but by the time we got out of the car just an hour north it was a very bitter 35 degrees. Sues mom joined us at the cemetery and then we all went over to White Lake. It was too icy to walk all the way from the parking area to the lake, so Joanne drove us down to the last gate and stayed in the car while Sue and I walked down to the snow covered beach. We had wanted to get some pictures of sunset, but it was so cloudy that we just headed back home, stopping in Rochester, NH for a wonderful dinner at The Governor's Inn.
Dinner out was sort of a celebration as the 6th was my 2 year anniversary of The Great Hip Replacement Ordeal. I was going to have a party, but in light of Kerra's passing, decided to take it light.
After getting some work done on my research project in the morning, we had some lunch, and then went food shopping. Since it was early, I got some reading done before we took a break and played several sets of backgammon over a glass of wine. My dinner menu tonight was an off the cuff mixture of chicken, seasoned sweet sausages, wine, herbs, kale, scallions, and red pepper with garlic finger potatoes that Sue baked. Movie of the night was a hard sell for Sue: The Lord Of The Rings, Fellowship of the Ring. She was a good sport and took about 2 hours of that before throwing in the towel for the night. Maybe we'll finish it during the week; we'll have to see what she has to say about it tomorrow.... one of those things that either grabs you or it doesn't.
|
01/14/12: Columbus Day Weekend
Saturday 01/14 at noon, Jim and Chris Nancarrow came over and we all drove up to Portland, ME to the Merrill Auditorium for the 2:00pm performance of Mamma Mia. Though cold outside, the play was full of warmth and energy; a packed house!
After the show, we drove over to the Old Port to Cinque Terre at 36 Wharf Street for one of the best Northern Italian meals I have ever had; their Fettuccini ("Hand Cut Pasta, Shrimp, girasols, pancetta, pine nuts, chili flakes) as my 'Primi' was one of the best meals I have ever had. But then came the 'Secondi' of a pork loin that just blew me away. A great meal!.
Sunday, Sue and I went for a power walk in the zero degree over at Kingman Farm and then went food shopping on the way home. While she talke with her son in Lima, Peru, I worked on my research project. After that, we both went into the living room and read for awhile before I started working on the first part of the meal:a baked seseme and ginger chicken and butternut squash dish over basmatti rice cooked in a parsely, rosemary, and chive broth. The movie of the night was the interesting 2011 Jane Eyre.
Monday, Columbus Day, Sue and I headed out for a walk in the fridged weather over to Wagon Hill Park. We got back in time for a Skype call to my brother Alan, which we both enjoyed; what a great thing Skype has turned out to be. Anyway, it was great to chat for awhile. We ended off the day with some reading and then I cooked up an on the fly scallop dish sauted in garlic, sherry, and olive oil with a dash of thyme, red pepper, and some-thin else I can't remember - it really was on the fly! And we enjoyed a nice fire with the cute movie of the night recommended by my brother, A Family Thing.
|
01/28/12: Busy Friday Night
I left work early on Friday as I had a business meeting in Dover. From there, I drove up to Colin's work and dropped my car off for him to put my snow tires on, do an alignment, and all that. Sue had followed me up so on the drive back we decided to stop off at The 99 restaurant at the Weeks Crossing in Dover for dinner. Because it was early when we got home, we played some backgammon and then watched the Bourne Supremacy, the second in the series - we had watched the first one, the Bourne Identity the weekend before. Nice way to end up the week.
|
01/28/12: The Great 2012 Two Year Hip Replacement Ordeal Memorial Backgammon Tournament And Snowshoe Challenge!
[***pictures coming] Just Rick, Tim, Sue, and me at The Great 2012 Two Year Hip Replacement Ordeal Memorial Backgammon Tournament And Snowshoe Challenge! because of short notice and flukey weather. But we had fun! I fixed Italian herbed sweet sausage, mushroom, and broccoli in a thick yogurt and wine sauce and the movie of the night was Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) that none of us had seen; what great special effects.
Sue and I had planned to go on a snowshoe challenge hike over at Kingman Farm in Durham at 3:00pm with anyone wanting to join us. But because of the warm weather and no one available to do so, we decided to go on an explore out to Strafford, NH looking for an antique store Sue had heard about after running some morning errands. We were gone on that most of the day, not getting back home from food shopping for the party until late afternoon.
|
01/29/12: Sunday Tapas Party
[***pictures coming] Sue and I had decided to fix several tapas meals for our Sunday dinner party and extend the Two Year Hip Replacement Ordeal Memorial. We knew we were going to have to get a fairly early start to the prep work, but had at least acquired all of the food we would need during yesterday's shopping.
We did have to scoot out mid day to pick up a pair of matching white wicker 3 drawer dressers that Sue thought would go just great in the studio. Unfortunately, I had assumed that they would fit in my car, but not only didn't they both fit - neither one would fit. The woman was so kind about it and offered to load the stuff into her vehicle and bring it over to the condo for us!
I had a bunch of work to do on my research project, and so Sue headed out to go for a walk in the woods. When she got back, we poured out some wine, and got the pork tenerloin marinade put together and soaking into the meat. After that, we took glasses of wine and played 3 sets of backgammon resulting in a tie, of all things.... I was just not throwing good, and so it was fortunate that we ran out of time and had to go do all of the prep work at 5:00pm or I could possible have ended up with a negative score! No way!!
We did roasted pork tenderloin with adobo marinade, wine and herb sauteed mushrooms, and orange, ginger, cumin, and garlic marinated carrots with a Chilean Pinot Noir that smoothed out really nicely as it aired.
Sue also did a hot spinach salad sauteed with garlic, diced apples, pine nuts, and raisins. This being our first foray into fixing Tapas after first trying it while out in New Mexico this past summer, we wanted to make sure we could pull it all together before having guests over. Success!
While cooking, we listend to Cirque du Soleil Delirium and a CD by Enya, and then with dinner Adele's CD '21' with a nice fire crackling in the background. We finished off the night with the 2010 movie Fair Game.
|
Website design by Peter Rose, zzrose@yahoo.com
|
