Easy livin' in the summertime

The routine appears to be underway again. Although I was home & working last week, Julia returned on Sunday, was home on Monday, more or less, and began caring for Miles on Tuesday. She had baby Julia along with Miles yesterday, although Mary was with them, also. Anyway, the white, sugary sand and the beach are just lovely memories now. Cecilia has been in the office a lot, and that makes the day OK for me.

Julia & I had dinner at Rick's last night. Nice. A little Veuve, a little Rutherford cab. Tonight, it will be hot dogs at the Hatch, at the waterfront. Looking forward to seeing Mike, who has been subterranean for months, it seems. Most of the other nuclear fam will be there, as well as others close to us. Buffalo in the summer is the best place on earth, and I like it in other seasons, also.

The office staff gave me a gift certificate to Napoli's, a fine mens store. I went to buy some socks, but their stuff is so nice, I picked out a few shirts... Slightly exceeding to amount I planned to spend, as I occasionally do. The shirts are super comfortable.

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the summer. My next post will probably come after our boy's nite trip to Yankee Stadium, from which there will be no pictures to post.

Friday night lights

Ah, Friday evening, the most relaxed and happy time. The office was fairly busy and I was grateful for it, but when we were done, I was grateful for that, too. I had enough time to go home and change, then I was to meet Ceil, Amy & Mary for a bite at Amaryllis. I was looking forward to this, having heard plenty but not having been there. I stopped to get some dry cleaning and didn't I get a call from Sisters. I changed into some of the stuff I picked up, and hit the hospital before dinner, and made it just about on time. The patient is almost 80, and was admitted for altered mental status but had apparently sustained facial trauma. He was a delightful, tiny little man who had no idea how his cheekbone got broken. He was quite gracious, but had no history to give, and didn't want anything I could offer him. He hadn't fallen, he told me, because he always wears his glasses, and they had not been broken. Fortunately, he had no functional deficits, and cosmetics issues have no role here. When I told him I did not think he needed my services, I made a new friend. I listened to him for about 30 minutes, and then left for dinner.

The girls were at the bar. We had a drink and then went to the table. Very pleasant, the food was quite good. Limited but OK wine list, reasonable glassware. The waitstaff was very good. We had a great time. The singer had been a patient quite a while ago, and I would perhaps not have recognized her except I got a heads up from Christine. It was very nice that she remembered me, even after all these years (and sedation meds).

Julia, my love, comes home in two days. I brought a bluefoot chicken up from the freezer ( with head & feet ). It will thaw slowly then become a delicious, romantic meal. We will see what the farmers have at the market in the morning, some lima beans, I hope. But whatever is really nice, and there is always something, we will have a fine dinner Sunday. Perhaps with a little wine.

Tomorrow, I will go to Little Deb's and Rob's wedding party in the country. Amy, Ceil & Mary will come along, as well as most of the office people. It will be fun , and we are all happy for the new couple, especially the blushing bride.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Stop by if you can, although you may get the impression that I am preoccupied if Julia is home.

Gimme forty acres to turn this plane around

It was a perfect respite, wonderfully relaxing and fun. Our flight into Atlanta was delayed such that we would have microseconds to catch the connection to Pensacola. We had to depart from a different terminal than we arrived at, and we were the last ones on, but we made it, along with our luggage. Again, God is good. Our drive from the airport to the beach was under a full moon on the Gulf, and the road from the rockin' Gulf Shores beaches to Fort Morgan was through undeveloped beach and sandy woods. It smelled so good, sounded soothing and was hot, hot. It was totally reminiscent of Gulf Shores back in the day.

Julia & Miles were perfect. We had such a good time with them. I'll bet we used ten gallons of sunscreen. They loved the pool, digging on the beach. Julia had mild trepidation about the surf, which got stronger as the storm Dolly made her way to Texas, probably to mess with it. The last day I was there, Nana Julia & I were in thigh deep water looking for nettable little fish or crabs to catch for the children's amusement, Julia's back was to the beach, and I was looking toward it.
She softly said "There is a big one.", which I thought was in reference to a fish until the wave knocked both of us right off our feet.

Food was just fine, generally fried seafood, at Lulu's, for instance. We had Royal Reds boiled in Zatarains, heads on and peeled on the balcony while drinking a little red wine on Saturday, my birthday. Who could ask for more? They put 59 candles on my cake, but we had no lighters or matches so we had to pretend. We did have fire for Esther Baugh's cake the next day, and the fire alarm really went off! Ha! Ha!

Julia took me to Pensacola on Monday, and I flew home uneventfully. I met John at the airport last evening, to pick up Esther, Mary & the children. Little Julia wanted to continue the vacation, very smart kid. I had dinner with Ceil & Amy earlier at Wasabi, very good.

Nana Julia will be home in a few days, she is visiting with Esther Baugh. Her high school reunion is Saturday, then she will come home. I will make it worth her while. I know she is having a great time in Alabama, but I miss her and can't wait to have her back.

Stars will fall on Alabama

We had cake & ice cream last night with the lovely Maeve, resplendent in a dress from Italy worn under a purple tutu. Mary Pat & Frank had great stories about their trip to Italy, making Julia & me long to take another trip there. Maybe with them, they know where to get good gelato, after all. Mike seems to be getting through the bar prep pretty well, probably because Lisa takes such good care of him.

We leave for Alabama this afternoon. I will try to behave lest we get kicked off the plane, an apparently common problem these days. I am finally beginning to understand the Reagan Bizarro World: the Republicans run the country, the airlines are going broke, so the solution is to degrade their customer service. All of this airline business began with Reagan deregulation, it used to actually be pleasant to fly.

Well, the beach is going to be terrific. I hope I can learn to post photos by the time I get back, because there will be plenty to share: Gulf shrimp, crab claws & drinks with umbrellas. I understand Miles is wild about the water, from his Connecticut visit, and I hope that we can take little Julia crabbing. Maybe she can show some nice lady strolling by "the bastard that bit my papa" as her mother did back in the day.

Hope you all have a fine weekend, I'll have some stories next time.

If every day was Sunday...

Sunday was what you might call my ideal day. Julia eucharistic ministered early Mass, and I had to flash to the Williamsville office, then Weg's, then home to let the wild rumpus begin. We surely missed Mike, but all the rest of the fam were together for Julia's incredible crawfish etouffe. The little ones were out and having fun. Plenty of just hanging out for the rest of us. Gina joined us, always a pleasure. Smokey stopped by for a quick visit, then Leonard appeared, both completely unexpected. A very happy birthday celebration for Lou.

Mimi went home today. I am sorry to see her leave, this has been an enjoyable visit. Our first meeting was at their house in Gulf Hills, almost forty years ago. She was sweet & gracious then, too. I miss her already. I know Julia does, also.

I was on call for one of the hospitals over the weekend. They called about a young man who sustained a pretty significant lower jaw fracture, in a fight, of course. The plan was for him to follow up with me in the office and have his broken jaw evaluated, anticipating the need to do this in the hospital He called about mid-morning, came to his appointment and then told us were are too far from the city. Cecilia asked if he would like to be seen, since he was already here, but we were still too far. He announced that he would return to the hospital and ask for an office closer to town. Ceil said he would probably just be sent back here, come on in and let the doc look. No, he will try a different hospital. Oh well, maybe the next time. I am pretty sure he will do this again, sometime.

I think we may go visit Louis at the Arriba, tonight. The Mexican food is tasty, but the margaritas are the best.

Archeologists of the future will find my tools

Last evening, we had a terrific fish dinner, with Mimi, GG, Mary, Neil, Julia and moi. I stopped at the Clarence Hayes, which was packed, reminded me of Yogi Berra: "no wonder no one comes here, it is so crowded". They had wild Alaska sockeye, and so did we. Along with some endangered Sea Bass & cocktail shrimp, it was quite tasty. Julia & I had planned to have a little champagne together upstairs, later in the evening, but we drank it all straightening the kitchen then fell asleep when we did go to bed. We are so romantic sometimes. The champagne was Krug Rose, which is why we were our usual moderate selves.

The farmers market was bustling this morning. We picked up some swell veggies for Sunday, Louis' birthday. A quick stop for coffee at the Starbucks, where we saw several people we enjoyed seeing, and one we kept the sunglasses on. We had some fresh shelled peas with little grilled chickens this evening, with a nice young cabernet. So good. Tomorrow is to be crawfish etoufee with peas, beets, and a farmers lettuce salad. Maybe a cold beer, too.

The womenfolk went to do some serious shopping. I did some equally serious maintainance of the colony. It seems like I spent more time trying to make stuff work than actually mowing, for instance. Louis was able to get the new weed whacker started, but I think the walk behind mower is dead & gone. This is a long standing curse of the Ponderosa, along with disappearing tools. However,I did not burn anything down, lose any fingers or kill any pets or neighbors. I did get to drive the truck to the hardware store, though,pretty Tim Taylor-like.

Tomorrow will be another great day. The little ones will be here, we'll celebrate Louis' birthday, and wish Mimi bon voyage. She is going home on Monday. Easier for us than usual, because some of us will see her in Gulf Shores next week.

I hope you are all enjoying the weekend. Even more I hope we see each other tomorrow.

A beautiful Buffalo summer night

On this beautiful Buffalo evening, we went to see the Bisons play Louisville, the Bats. Mary, Mimi, Julia & I parked across the street from the Washinton St. entrance, very convenient, and heard a truly enthusiatic rendition of the Anthem on our way to the BBQ stand. They have great BBQ sausage. Stopped by the good beer stand for a Murphy's and setled in for the game. Naturally we met some friends on the way in. There was a pretty good crowd, and all the crazy minor league promotions were in full swing, such as baseball bingo, in which bingo numbers are assigned to the hitting performance of various positions. We had a couple of cards which only needed one more number for bingo, but the tonsil recovering Mary had enough by the seventh inning stretch. We gave our cards to the people in the row ahead, they were really into it. They won the free Russer sandwiches, so their prize appetite had been whetted. So we had a great night, and got home in a flash.

There were several menacing seagulls flying pretty low, looking for peanuts, I guess. Mary tried to ignore them but they were very in your face birds.

Miles stood free in the den today. He is going to walk soon. Little Julia did a great dance to the Thank You For Letting me Be Mice Elf song at the end of Schrek, but then they had to go home. I plan to do some more standing & dancing soon.

The exterminators are coming tomorrow. Death to insects & other pests. (No birds, as far as I know.) The ladies , Julia & Mary will have to have a lengthy breakfast at Charlies, and then the AC guys are finally supposed to come by. I'll believe that when I see it. The carpet cleaners are coming, too, in case anyone wants to crawl on the floor. Those guys are reliable, so I'm sure the floors will be fine.

I see that Karl Rove ignored a congressional subpoena to testify about politicizing Justice Department activities. He is the third White House guy to do that. I hope he goes to jail. In San Francisco, some group is petitioning to name the sewage treatment plant in honor of "W". If they do, I'll be sure to use a toilet there.

Happy Birthday to Louis this weekend. The weekend is shaping up well. Hot weather & crawfish etoufee, maybe some cold beer. You know how good that is when Julia makes it. Come out if you can, I would love to visit.

Happy Trails to You

A really nice lol (little old lady) came in this afternoon. She had been in Utah visiting her daughter, took a spill in the dark, and sustained an injury. She was treated in Utah, and is just now home, needing follow up care. I mentioned that the only time I have been to Utah was a brief layover on the way to Anchorage, and she really lit up. She loves Alaska, and has been there many times because one of her children was stationed at Elmendorf, the big air base where I landed on the way to Viet Nam, with a record setting hangover. She & her husband drove there in an RV one time.

I mentioned this to Julia, which led to the "Where Would You Go With an RV, a Month and Some Money?" conversation. We began modestly, like to Maine for lobster, but eventually we visited Glacier National Park in Great Falls, Montana; Alaska, of course, and South America. We remembered that the highway from Guatemala City to the Mayan ruins at Tikal is a brand new road but cannot be traveled because of the banditos, and recalled the roadside caves we saw along some of the roads we did travel, in daylight, where rebels used to hide but now the banditos frequent. So maybe there are some RV constraints in addition to the ocean. We talked about the fam trip to DC and then on to Alabama, a really great memory.

So where would you go, who would you travel with? What would you take, in addition to cases of champagne? I would go with Julia, and I would not take a cell phone.

keep on the sunny side

It was another pretty busy day at the office, but I met some interesting people. An older lady came in for a consult, and I did not feel like I had her confidence. She had a cane that she kept pretty handy, just in case. Eventually, she made a remark about Ole Miss, which I thought might be a prelude to a cane whack. It turns out, however, that she was from Alabama and education at Mississippi was a very favorable attribute. By the time our conversation got to Gulf Shores, we were fast friends.

Miles spent the day in EA, and I got home in time to drive Nana and the young man home. We pulled up to their home just as Esther & Julia drove in. Julia was so excited to see Miles. Very cool. By the time John got home they were both quivering.

Not very cool at home, however, as the AC in the kitchen is still not working. We grilled some dogs and I had a beer, a good way to capitalize on the situation.

The Bisons are home for a few games this week. I hope we can see a game or two, even though they are playing rather substandard baseball these recent days. Oh well, as a Buffalo sports fan, I know how to capitalize on certain situations. We are thinking Thursday or Friday. There are plenty o' tix for anyone interested.

Nana Julia is tending to Rae's infected ear, outside, thankfully. Poor old Rae is way past her puppy days but she still obeys commands as well as ever.

Maureen's daughter had a little girl, by section, and all is well with them.

I hope it is all good with you all. Can't wait to see you.

The work day after an excellent holiday weekend always seems long, even though it is only a third of the length of the holiday. It was an active holiday, and a really good time. Good food & drink, of course. The fam was not together all at one time, but I got to visit with everyone at one point or another. The little ones, as always, were just great. A superb summery time together.

I was a little late getting out of the office tonight, and the kitchen air conditioner is broken. The great grandmothers prefer to sit in sweltering heat with their sweaters on, so Julia fed them nice plates of cold leftovers. Mary is still not eating much, so she took some pain med and Julia & I went into town for a quick bite. The den A/C is working, so Mary had a cool room to hang out in. (OK, in which to hang out, if you prefer)

We went to Tantalus, read the entire ludicrous large menu then ordered what we alway get. Nice bottle of red, too. Saw some friends, said hello to several others. The usual,delightful evening.

Got a busy day tomorrow. Hope you all have a good day, also.