Weekend highlights

We had a leisurely Sat morning. I made a cake in the shape of a Christmas tree, then decorated it to look like a Christmas tree, to take to our friends George & Steve's tree trimming party.
I used a chocolate cake mix and added orange extract, orange zest, and triple sec. The icing was a cream cheese base to which I added orange extract and orange zest. Spouse really loves the combination of chocolate and orange. Oddly, I couldn't find my rectangular cake transporter. I checked every closet and cabinet, to no avail. So Spouse & I went to a nearby kitchen store to buy another, but decided to pass on the $30. one they had. Next we went to Walmart, thinking we'd find a less expensive one there, but found only round ones! So I bought a $1.50 aluminum foil turkey roasting pan and turned it upside down over the take to transport it. Hopefully we'll find the rectangular cake transporter one day. I think we probably left it at someone's house.

We had a lovely time at the tree trimming party, chatting with friends, snacking, and admiring the 2 trees. On the way home we stopped at the grocery store. Later that evening we met up with Steven & Thad, 1 of the Bobs, and Jack and his friend John at the Frogg Pond for their customer appreciation party. (This is the place where we've played team trivia games and tournaments.) We enjoyed a free buffet dinner, talked, and listened to a couple play music and sing. There were door prizes given out throughout the night but we didn't stay to the end. We had a good time.

Sun morning Spouse & I had a few friends over for brunch. (Spouse chose the brunch over a party for my birthday.) We had french toast, a french toast casserole, egg casseroles, bacon, sausage, a fruit salad, coffee and juice. It was really nice and our friends stayed for 3 hours. When they left we cleaned up and Spouse took a nap while I stumbled upon a marathon of a show called "It Only Hurts When I Laugh". I don't know why, but I get positively giddy watching video clips of people hurting themselves! Seriously, I watched 3 hours of this show and was literally laughing out loud.

Then Thad called and invited us to meet them at the Long Neck Diner for dinner. I had a yummy cheesesteak with fries. Afterward we went to their house and helped them decorate their tree. When we returned home we watched "Ice Blues" and then went to bed. We did a lot this weekend but didn't feel like we were on a schedule.

Weekend highlights

We had a schizophrenic weekend: Sat we were on the go the entire day and Sun we didn't leave the house.

Sat was all about the parties:
Party #1: Mark's birthday breakfast, 9am-12noon
Spouse & I were up by 7am getting ready for my birthday breakfast party. We'd done most of the prep on Fri night, but needed to bake the sausage/egg/cheese casseroles and the french toast casseroles, pick up the bagels and scones from Surf Bagel, and put on the finishing touches. We had 14 for breakfast and had a terrific time! This really made up for my horrible day on my actual birthday.

Party #2: George & Steve's Tree Trimming, 1-4pm
They were the 1st people we met after moving to DE. Through their annual tree trimming party where everyone helps unpack and hang all their ornaments on their 2 trees we met several of the folks who are now our friends, too. They've been together nearly 30 years so they've collected a LOT of ornaments. Afterward there's food, drinks, and conversations; always a good time.

Party #3: Jason's birthday dinner, 6:30-11pm
Jason's birthday was 2 days after mine but his partner Chris arranged a birthday dinner on Sat at their home. The food was great and the friends we visited with were among our favorites. Kevin brought a home made chocolate chunk cake with chocolate icing that was practically orgasmic. We hated to leave at 9:30 but we still had another party to attend.

Party #4: Craig & Mike's Holiday Open House, 7-11pm
We arrived at about 9:30 and stayed about an hour. We could really feel our long day catching up with us, but it was nice of Craig & Mike to invite us. Since we'd been eating all day we didn't have any room left to sample their goodies, but you know I always have room for a pomegranate martini! Craig & Mike had 7 (yes, 7) theme-decorated Christmas trees in their house! We thought it might be because they have an 8 year old son who loves Christmas, but they confessed it was really all for them!

It was a really FUN day, but us old-timers were absolutely beat when we got home at 11pm.

Sun we slept in since we had no plans for the day, and because it was raining and very windy outside. We pretty much decided early on that we weren't leaving the house so neither of us got dressed. We stayed in our comfy flannel pj pants the entire day, which I consider to be one of life's under-rated luxuries. We snacked on left-overs from Saturday's breakfast.

We watched TV for a while, we spent a little time on the computer, I unloaded the dishwasher (from Saturday's breakfast) and then loaded it with the casserole dishes and coffee pots, wiped down the counters, then put on some Christmas music and finished writing/addressing/sealing/stamping the other 1/2 of our holiday cards. Spouse helped me with the last batch of cards. Then we ordered delivery pizza and ate it while watching 60 Minutes. Then I went upstairs to watch "White Christmas" (I love that movie) while Spouse watched crap. He later joined me for the last 1/3 of "White Christmas" and wished he would have watched the whole thing.

So Sun we never got dressed, never left the house, and didn't cook a thing. It was divine.

Crush du Jour: JC Vazquez

Memorial Day

Its been a great Memorial Day weekend: the official start of the summer season here at the beach. As I mentioned on Fri, this is the 1st Memorial Day weekend in years that we have not had company, but it has been a great long weekend none-the-less.

Sat morning after having our coffee and walking the dog, Spouse & I pulled all of the porch furniture (4 rockers, 2 love seats, 2 side tables, and a bistro table and chairs) into the yard and scrubbed them all down. Then we used the leaf blower to blow all the dust, dirt, leaves, cobwebs, and other assorted bug stuff off the porch. We discovered an easy way to clean dusty cushions: with a scrub brush.
Ours came from the Dollar store. It worked great and brought those cushions back to life. The weather was absolutely spectacular (warm but not hot, clear skies, no humidity, nice breeze) so it was a good day for doing this. When the furniture was dry, we put it all back on the porch and sat and rested for a few minutes.

Then it was on to the back/screened porch. We removed the furniture, used the leaf blower to blow the debris out, scrubbed the cushions, and wiped down the posts. Its a much smaller porch with less furniture so it went much quicker. It felt really good to get our porches and porch furniture cleaned up and ready for the summer season.

Then we put together our new convertible bench/picnic table. We saw it on one of those home shopping channels and couldn't resist it. Its a bench that converts into a picnic table in seconds! Here's an unflattering photo of me sitting on the bench:
Then, in mere seconds, with a simple lift, I convert it...

...into a picnic table for 4 adults or 6 children.

Pretty nifty, eh?

Later that evening we took the convertible car to an indoor/outdoor dinner party at our new friends' Kathy & Jill's. It was a gorgeous evening so we enjoyed assorted olives, cheese and crackers, and cocktails (Cosmos for me) outside on their deck and screened porch. Kathy & Jill are terrific hostesses and served a fabulous dinner of flank steak, salmon, grilled veggies, bow tie pasta with gorgonzola, and green salad with goat cheese. Everything was so tasty! We met lots of great/fun people too.

Sun morning after breakfast and walking the dog, I made 2 pans of Paula Deen's corn casserole to take to George & Steve's cook-out.

The weather was warm again but more humid, but we still drove to the cook-out with the top down. We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone, and the corn casserole was a real crowd pleaser as usual. Despite the fact that the invitation read "come at 2:00 and we'll eat at 3:00", they didn't get the burgers, hot dogs and chicken off the grill until 4:30, which meant we had to forfeit the cocktail party we were supposed to attend later that evening. But we had a lot of fun.

Today the weather was quite changeable. We had sunshine, humidity, sprinkles, clouds, rain, thunder and lightening, all within the last 8 hours. Spouse & I decided to do some much needed housecleaning before showering and heading out the door. We made a stop at Home Depot to look at some tile samples, then tried out a new place for lunch we heard about yesterday at the cook-out. Over lunch we discussed some of the details of our upcoming trip to NYC. It seems as if just overnight our roses started blooming, so before it started raining today I took these photos. (Click to enlarge.)

Here are some other cute things (the names of which I can't remember) we have blooming right now.

I hope all of these will survive when they are transplanted, in preparation for the addition. Spouse & I aren't 'good gays' in the sense that we don't love gardening and don't know much about caring for plants. But fortunately we have the internet and friends who know.

I find it curious that my 3-day Memorial Day weekend had nothing to do with remembering fallen soldiers.

I really do appreciate the sacrifice made by those brave men and women, but for some reason it seems to have nothing to do with my thoughts and behaviors during Memorial Day weekend.

Here's hoping that all of you had terrific Memorial Day long weekends!

Crush du Jour: Michael Churchill

Weekend highlights

I'm sick. I started getting a scratchy throat on Thurs. Fri morning I woke up very congested so I took Claritan-D and went about my task of writing and addressing my Christmas cards. Sat I felt and sounded worse, but I could feel the 24-hour Claritan-D kicking in on its wonderful, time-release schedule. Sun I sort felt like I was in a fog, but didn't let it stop me from what I wanted to do.

Sat afternoon we went to our friends' George & Steve's for their annual Christmas tree trimming party. They had a tall natural tree in their family room and a shorter artificial tree in their living room. They hauled down what seemed like an endless chain of plastic storage containers full of ornaments, old and new, from their attic and we unpacked them and hung them on the trees. Of course there was food and drinks, Christmas music, and friends to chat with. This is our 3rd year going, and we always have a nice time.

Spouse had made a beef stew in the crock pot before we left for the tree trimming party, so dinner was done when we got home. Rick & Nick came over for dinner, which was nice, simple, and easy. They noticed our crystal chandelier still in the box in the dining room and asked why we hadn't put it up yet. Spouse & I looked at each other and he said "We've been busy" while I simultaneously said "We've been lazy." We all laughed, and Nick volunteered to hang it for us so we said "Sure!". It was done in less than 5 minutes, which really made us feel stupid that we'd put it off. However, I'm sure if we had attempted it multiple things would have gone wrong and it would have taken us 3 hours.

Sun we did some light housecleaning, hand delivered Christmas cards to some neighbors, then made a trip to Lowes for more ornament hooks (we had about 8 ornaments still waiting to be hung) and two dimmer switches. When the chandelier was installed it seemed rather 'bright', so we are going to put it and the living room light on dimmers before our holiday party on Sat.

From Lowes we met Rick & Nick at Deb Appleby's glass blowing studio for 'Delaware by Hand', a collection of artists who show and sell their art/jewelry/pottery/glass/etc. We went to this lat year, too. We bought a beautiful vase from Deb's imperfect collection. From there the 4 of us went to Millsboro to the grand opening of BJ's Wholesale Club. It was fun to look around but we decided not to join, as we felt we can often do as good or sometimes better on prices by shopping the weekly sales at the grocery stores without having to purchase a membership.

When we got home I put up the last of the ornaments and unpacked Joe's Christmas cookie jar collection. We ate dinner and watched "The Poseidon Adventure" on cable. We love that movie! It was a great way to wrap up the weekend.

Crush du Jour: Matt Bushell

Holiday weekend highlights

Finally, I've got some time to share our holiday weekend highlights!

Fri afternoon our friends John & Marty came over to show us the landscaping plan John designed for our yard. Wow - it is amazing! John currently works as a florist and has a seemingly limitless knowledge of plants and flowers. He took our desire for a low-to-no maintenance yard, our favorite blooming plants and flowers, our desire for year-round color, and the soil and climate, and converted them all into a beautiful, casual garden.
There are some hardscapes, a water feature, outdoor art work, and a meandering path - all the things we said we liked. I was expecting a hand-drawn sketch with lots of notes, but John delivered a professional landscape plan made with computer software, and a list of what to buy. Needless to say we were extremely happy and impressed. I want to hire someone to purchase and install everything now, while Spouse wants to have it done in stages. Fortunately we agree that it will need to wait until the house in VA goes to settlement and we have time to meet with a landscape company.

Marty & John joined us for dinner with 'the usual suspects'. We had our largest dinner group so far with 16 people! In addition to John & Marty, there were 2 other visitors. Olivier & Francois are 2 French Canadians vacationing from Montreal. They were nice guys whose English was much better than my French. Occasionally I tossed in a word or simple phrase in French in an attempt to make our visitors feel welcomed. I asked them if they liked Poutine and they seemed a little surprised I knew of it. One of the Americans asked what it was, and I felt slightly superior since I was able to describe it and pronounce it correctly, thanks to Tornwordo.

We had such a fun time on our 'night out on the town' with Doug & Jim a few weeks ago we decided to do it again, sort of. As we drove into Rehoboth Beach it was quite apparent it was Labor Day weekend. The little seaside resort town was absolutely packed! We drove around for nearly 40 minutes looking for a parking place. We decided to skip cocktails at a bar and have them at the restaurant instead, while we (undoubtedly) waited for a table. Sure enough, there was a 30-40 minute wait, so we squeezed into the tight bar area and ordered cocktails.

After a brief conversation with these 2 guys from Pittsburgh who looked like Sopranos caricatures, we were eventually seated. Lupa di Mare is a great restaurant, as are the rest of Matt Haley's restaurants we've visited. The 4 of us had exceptional dinners and desserts.

Sun morning Rick & Nick came over for breakfast. Spouse made blueberry oatmeal pancakes and scrambled eggs with cheese and sausage.

We enjoyed chatting with them about vintage cars, politics, and made plans to meet at the beach the next day.

That afternoon Spouse & I went to a BBQ at George & Steve's in Dover. They are sweet guys who invite us to their BBQs every Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day, only we are never able to go because we always have company on those holiday weekends. So our company cancelling actually allowed us to finally join these friends for their famous BBQ.

Upon returning from Dover we fed and walked Jordan the dog, then walked to the canal where the charter boats are docked. Doug & Jim and Rick & Nick met us there for a evening boat cruise at 7:00. Until Doug suggested this, I didn't know they offered an evening cruise. I thought they only took fishermen out for saltwater fishing. The evening cruise was just $15. and lasted an hour and a 1/2, which we all agreed was a terrific bargain. We enjoyed seeing the Lewes canal and Delaware Bay from an entirely different perspective. We saw several lighthouses and the breakwater, which controls the tides from entering the bay from the ocean. And then there was the sunset. It seemed like one of the most beautiful ever, with its hot oranges, peaches, pinks and salmons against the steel blue-grey watery horizon.
After the cruise Rick & Nick went home and Doug & Jim asked us to join them for dinner at Beseme, just across the canal from the boat. I remembered a kumquat and soba noodle dish I'd seen the last time we ate there, but I ordered something else because I was afraid it might not be enough to satisfy me. But this time I wasn't as hungry so I thought the kumquat and soba noodle dish would be perfect. Unfortunately they were out of it! Guess I'll have to go back. A guy was playing the guitar and singing, so that was a nice treat with our meals.

On Mon Spouse & I met Rick & Nick on the beach around 12:30. It was a beautiful day, with a gentle breeze and not a cloud in the sky. Not surprising, there were a lot of people on the beach since it was Labor Day. We had a great time and stayed until 3:00. Spouse & I had angus burgers and Deitz & Watson hot dogs cooked on the grill for dinner, which we ate on the screened porch while listening to Bette Midler sing the Peggy Lee songbook. Delightful!

Spouse watched TV and I watched a Netflix DVD called 'Love Affair', the 1939 film starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer. Its about 2 people who meet and fall in love on a cruise ship, only both of them are engaged to other people. They decided to meet at the top of the Empire State Bldg in 6 months, after they've dis-engaged themselves from their respective fiances. But Irene Dunne's character is struck by a car on her way to meet her true love. I liked the film and Irene Dunne a lot. I don't recall having seen her in any other films, although she made a bunch of them and was nominated 5 times for an Oscar.

And finally, I must plead with everyone to STOP SAYING "summer is over" just because Labor Day has passed. I lost count of how many people I heard say this over the long weekend. I love summer and am not ready for it to be over yet. Our a/c is still turned on, I'm still driving with my convertible top down, and people are still coming to the beach. Here in the mid-Atlantic region we usually experience Indian Summer well into Sept. Last year we were still going to the beach in early Oct. You may begin saying "summer is over" when the leaves are changing colors, and no sooner.

Crush du Jour: Anderson Cooper