Since the weather was absolutely gorgeous Fri night the 4 of us decided to go for a walk once we'd returned from dinner. We walked into town, then across the canal bridge and down to the bay, stopping at the Dairy Queen for dessert. I didn't order anything, since I am trying not to expose my tooth to cold foods. My tooth doesn't hurt, but I'm afraid that ice cream might make it hurt, so I've been abstaining since last Mon. We sat on a bench overlooking the bay, dug our feet into the cool sand, and the 3 of them ate their ice cream before we headed back home. It was an incredibly beautiful night!
Sat we had breakfast and then caught up on each others lives. Greg & Gerry told us all about the 12 day Mediterranean cruise they went on in May, which reminded me yet again that Spouse & I really haven't traveled together much at all. Both of us have wanted to, but our money always seems to be tied up in real estate.
1996-2000 we spent fixing and painting our 1st house and updating our condo that was a rental. 2000-2004 we spent fixing and painting our 2nd house, selling the condo, buying another condo, and remodeling it before renting it, and furnishing our vintage mobile home at the beach. In 2005 we sold the mobile home at the beach and bought the townhouse at the beach. In 2006 we remodeled the kitchen and bath and and refinished the wood floors in our house. In 2007 we moved to the beach and made our former house a rental. There never seemed to be any money for travelling. Hopefully that will change in a few months!
After lunch the 4 of us went to the beach where we were joined by Rick & Nick. It was a beautiful day! There was a great breeze and the humidity was very low. I couldn't believe how quickly the time passed.
We all took showers and then drove into Rehoboth Beach for dinner at Shag. Shag just opened Memorial Day weekend and none of the 4 of us had been there before. Their tag line reads "Hip Food, Groovy Cocktails". The inside dining area is extremely small but is decorated with wonderfully funky 70s decor. Think Austin Powers meets Saturday Night Fever. The courtyard dining area is likely 4 times the size of the inside dining area, and since it was a beautiful evening we chose to dine outside. They play all the great 70s songs you remember, and some you'd forgotten you knew. Someone at nearly every table was bobbing their head or shimmy-shaking to the infectious disco beats. Being lovers of the disco age, the 4 of us were in hog heaven! Shag's menu contains mostly 1/2 portions so you can order 2 or 3 different things and not be stuffed. The lagostino macaroni and cheese was far out! So were the 'Atomic Age' cocktails I had. (Yes, that was plural, as in cocktails.) The prices were surprisingly reasonable for downtown Rehoboth standards, and we really liked it a lot. I can definitely see Spouse & I returning there.
After dinner we went for a great stroll along the boardwalk, then met up with Rick & Nick at the Purple Parrot for karaoke. However, it was already 10:30 (karaoke starts at 9:00) and the place was jam-packed. Spouse really didn't want to go in since he hates being squished in crowds, so we waited outside while Greg checked to see if there were a lot of people waiting to sing. There were, so we decided not to go in. I was rather disappointed, since I'd been eager to sing all week.
Rick suggested we try the new dance club Ovations, which also opened very recently, since there is no cover charge. (That will likely change once the club is open a while.) Its in the basement of a huge old church, but you'd never know it once inside. Some of the guys ordered drinks, we all danced at some point or another, but mostly watched others dance. It was way too loud to have any kind of conversation. We stayed about an hour, until Greg & Gerry appeared ready to go.
Sun Spouse made a big breakfast and, again, we sat around most of the morning talking. About 1:30 Greg & Gerry left for the beach and Spouse & I got ready to go to a cookout. The sky looked threatening, but it didn't begin to rain until nearly 5:00. We got a brief shower as we drove back home to meet Greg & Gerry. Then at 6:30 after Spouse had taken the dog outside, he informed them they had '2 minutes until the rain was gonna hit'. But instead of heeding his warming, they stood at the door talking to us for several more minutes. Just as they were about to walk out the door to load their junk into their car, the sky opened up and it poured. They left, and it rained rather hard for about 2 hours while I watched TV and Spouse surfed the internet.
Here's the weird thing about Greg & Gerry: They're really nice guys and we like them, but they kind of drive us crazy! Often their 'stories' are full of details that no one cares about, and if 1 of them thinks the other has made a mistake recounting a detail, the other will correct him. Here's an example:
Greg: "...and then my aunt Jean got offended and hit my cousin over the head with her crocodile purse!"
Gerry: "Not over the head, she hit him on the shoulder."
Greg: "I thought she hit him on the head. She swung that big old crocodile purse and hit him on the head."
Gerry: "No, she hit him on the shoulder. Remember? He had stood up by then and aunt Jean was still sitting down. There's no way she could have hit him on the head if he was standing up and she was sitting down. She hit him on the shoulder. And it wasn't her crocodile purse, it was that god-ugly lime green bag."
Greg: "But she always carries that crocodile purse..."
Gerry: "Not this time. She had that god-ugly lime green bag that looks like a beach bag."
Honestly, we really don't care. It was mildly funny to hear that his aunt hit his cousin with a purse. It became less and less funny as they debated where she hit him and what color the purse was. It doesn't matter. But they seem intent on representing the facts (as they respectively recall them) as accurately as possible.
Here's another thing they do that drives me nuts: they start a 2nd conversation while the primary conversation is still in progress. Just the 4 of us were together and Gerry was telling some hideously long story. He looked at both Spouse & me at some point, but then looked at Spouse as he continued. While Gerry is still talking, Greg starts talking and looking at me! He seems completely unaware that Gerry is still talking and that I was listening to him. So although there are only 4 people in the room, there are 2 simultaneous conversations going on, and I can't pay attention to either one of them. I can't imagine why neither of them thinks this is rude or annoying. This happened a few times, and finally I put my hands up in the air and said "Whoa, whoa, whoa - I can't listen to both of you at the same time. You (pointing at Gerry) go ahead." Gerry edited the rest of his story down to just 2 more sentences, and then I pointed to Greg and said "Okay, now you."
Another weird thing Greg did was ask me on Sun if Jordan and Pouncer (our dog and cat) got along. I wanted to say "You've been to our house for birthday parties, holiday parties, and dinner parties many times over the last 10 years, and have interacted with both Jordan and Pouncer nearly every time. You've commented about how much you like the photo on the mantel of Jordan and Pouncer sharing a pet bed. You've seen them both in the same room at the same time and pet them both within the last two days. Why on earth would you ask me now if they get along?" But instead I simply said "Oh yes, they've been buddies for years."
When Spouse & I talked about them we decided that we really like them, but in smaller doses. Ideally we would meet them for dinner on 1 of our weekends back in VA rather than having them stay with us for an entire weekend. But they wanted to go to the beach so it made sense to have them stay with us.
Crush du Jour: Drew Fuller
5 comments:
Totally random comment- my new liscens plate has the letter DQV in it, and all I can think of is Dairy Queen when I see it.
Good luck with the tooth!
Sorry to hear that Pouncer and Jordann were hitting each other with a flaming hot pink alligator! Wow! Those two really don't like each other!
;-)
ooohhhh, the DQ, eh? yummy. and one of my favorites. and, say, that drew character isn't so bad, is he?
mmhmmm....
we used to know a couple like that. to add insult to injury, they would retell the same stories all the time--with the same interruptions!
poodle likes me to get in all the details of a tale, but i always try to 'trim the fat'. sometimes yes, sometimes no. but i try to remember the stories I've told.
for example, mmhmmm....
we used to know a couple like that would retell the same stories all the time--with the same interruptions!
gosh, it's annoying...
I loved the bit about your friends talking over each other. Evidently they are so accustomed to each other and comfortable in each other's company that they don't notice what they are doing.
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