Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Memorable Memorial Day

This will undoubtedly go down in history (or at least in my blog) as the best weather EVER on a Memorial Day weekend!

Very often the weather in the Mid-Atlantic region is cool and rainy on Memorial Day weekend. Its almost as if the weather gods repay us faulty humans for our sinfulness by messing with the weather on the long-awaited long weekend that officially starts the summer season. But not this year. This year it was sunny, warm and low humidity leading up to the weekend and throughout the entire 3-day weekend.

Fri evening Spouse & I went to a delightful 'cheap eats' place with the million dollar view of the Indian River. Its in Oak Orchard, which is a hefty drive from the beach so it never seems to be crowded. Joe had salmon and I had lemon pepper chicken, then we went for a walk on the long pier that reaches out into the River. The sun was starting to set, and I had a hard time thinking of many things that were more pretty than what we were seeing and experiencing. On the way home we stopped at the grocery store for some weekend provisions.

Our friends Bugsy & Roger (aka: Bugs & Rog) from VA arrived later Fri night. We were sitting on the screened porch talking and listening to Ella Fitzgerald when we saw them pull up. It was their first time here so we showed them around the house, and then all 4 of us went out onto the screened porch and enjoyed the lovely night.

Sat morning we all enjoyed our morning coffee on the porch. Then Spouse fixed us a hearty breakfast of special, secret recipe pancakes (I know Bugs is laughing as he reads this) and bacon. Then our quartet took Jordan for a walk in the park, around the pond. We sat in the living room and talked some more, then we walked down to Second St to browse through the grossly over-priced antique/collectibles shop. From there we walked across the canal and down to the bay. The sun was really bright and without any sunscreen I could feel my face starting to burn. The parking lot was full to the brim as families enjoyed a wonderfully sunny day.

On the way back from the bay we stopped in the quilt store, mostly because Bugs is a talented quilter, but partly because I needed some temporary shade. A woman was cutting some fabrics and assembling some quilting 'kits'. As the 4 of us walked into the small store she glanced at us and said "Hello gentlemen. Are you looking for sewing machines for your wives?" My 1st thought was "Do you need glasses? We are 4 homos. We don't have wives." But fortunately Bugs came up with a clever response before my sarcastic one could find a voice. "No, my sewing machine works just fine." "Oh, okay" the woman responded. I'm pretty sure she was scolding herself silently after realizing what she'd said and to whom she'd said it. We weren't offended or anything; just surprised. As it turned out, Bugs bought 2 pieces of fabric that coordinate with a quilt he has in progress.

When we returned to the house it was between lunch time and dinner time, but since we'd had such a filling (and late) breakfast, we decided to have our dinner early. We had Fritos and french onion dip as an 'appetizer' while we grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. I doctored up a can of baked beans and we had bought some potato salad at the grocery store. Nothing says "Summer" like hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans and potato salad! Rog made everyone margaritas. After dinner we talked for a while, then all took showers and got dressed for our big night of bingo.

We went to the Rehoboth Beach convention center for charity bingo. It cost $20. per person for 15 games of bingo. Prizes included cash and gift certificates, and proceeds went to AIDS Delaware and CAMP Rehoboth, and concession stand sales of donated food and drinks went to MCC. None of us had ever played bingo before, but fortunately our friends Paul & Steve were there to help us get up to speed. The number caller and a roaming drag queen named Claire Voyant exchanged jabs between the numbers. It was a lot of fun. Steve won a $75. gift certificate to a restaurant. Rog got a bingo but so did 2 others, and unfortunately he did not win the 'call off'. After returning home we enjoyed a new martini made of espresso flavored vodka and Godiva chocolate liqueur, courtesy of the Newlyweds who'd brought the ingredients on their last visit. Dee-lish!

Sat was mine & Spouse's 11th anniversary. We were happy that Bugs & Rog were here, since it we ran out of 'special' things to do for our anniversary about 4 years ago. But truthfully, the lovely weather, being with our friends, the cook out, and bingo made for a 'special' anniversary.

Sun morning we had coffee and special, secret recipe banana nut muffins (Bugs is laughing again) for breakfast, talked for awhile, then went out on some errands. We successfully got a new battery put into Rog's watch, got sunscreen, stopped by our fabulous dollar store, then had lunch at the Miltonian. We were going to go to the beach when we returned home, but everyone just kind of preferred to stay at home and relax. We did wind up going for a walk with Jordan, then had cocktails. For dinner we walked into town and ate at Striper Bites. Amazingly, Spouse & I had never eaten there before. I think we tried once, but there was a wait and we were too hungry. We all enjoyed great meals, Bugs and I enjoyed great mojitos, and we all shared a white chocolate brownie a la mode for dessert.

We'd planned to watch a DVD after dinner that Bugs & Rog had brought, but the walk home from Striper Bites was so delightful that we decided to sit in the rockers on the front porch instead. A light breeze was blowing and the sky was illuminated by a bazillion stars. What a treat it was.

Mon we walked to the Blue Plate Diner for breakfast, then returned to the house where we sat and talked until Bugs & Rog decided they'd better pack up and hit the road before the mass beach exodus began. We were sorry to see them go, but sure had a great time.

Drag Queen name of the day: Karen Concern

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