Are you ready?

For some footballllll!!! yeah the Patriots were on last night. Granted, it was only a preseason game, but it's good to see the season starting again. Unfortunately, this means summer is coming to an end. It's taken a solid 11 years since I stopped having a summer vacation period to realize that the school break for summer isn't really that long. I remember lazing about for what seemed like months and then begrudgingly heading back to see friends that had suddently gotten huge and were full of stories of summer adventures. Now? This summer has flown by. I don't see why kids need a whole new 'back to school' wardrobe for 10 weeks off. The more I think about it, summer vacation is ridiculous. I understand the old school famrers needed their hands to help with the crops, but I see a lot of tubby non-farmers wandering around, forgetting what they learned and trying to look tough. I'm sorry in advance, but M and I have some un-fun plans for our summer kids. Tough nuts sonny.

Summer also means a little bit of cooking outdoors and enjoying the longer days. It stopped raining for the last part of July and first part of August, and while I haven't been able to do any super-long smoke cooking, I have done some nice burgers, corn, and even a steak or two. There's still plenty of time.

Golf - Last weekend I got to play at the local course and hit them pretty well. I got to play with a 14 year old who's dad spent $350 for the summer so he could drop this kid off in the morning and pick him up at night. He played at least 18 holes, sometimes 36 holes a day. This is a great idea! This is a pretty cheap way to ditch the kid for the day, and if they get great at golf, college is paid for. If they're really good, you can cash out the 401k and get a boat and start collecting an allowance. Or something like that. Anyway, this kid was good. Not quite pro material, but he has some growing to do. When I got home, M was not interested in dinner, so I fended for myself. I have this bag of chipotle peppers that I try to incorporate into meals without burning M's mouth out. They have a nice smoky flavor and a little bit of heat. They'd have more heat, but I usually cut out the seeds and ribs since that's where all the heat is. Right in the middle of my cooking, I started to feel a slight burning sensation around my groin area. It started like an itch or something, but gradually gained intensity, finally making it hard to move or breathe. I was standing in the kitchen, food on the stove, and I wanted to tear my clothes off and hose myself down. I'm not a sailor. I don't frequent houses of ill repute. What's with the sudden fire down below? Turns out at some point in the middle of my cooking, I had to use the bathroom. Who thinks to wash their hands BEFORE they go in there? If you're cutting hot peppers, maybe that's a good idea? I wasn't going to touch my eyes or nose, I had enough sense for that. The peppers were a good 20 minutes beforethe bathroom. Who knew they carried on for so long?About 30 minutes later things returned to normal. Not the best way to enjoy your dinner, but it was not dull.

Nuts, Flowers and a Crazy Pink Lady

HowdareyouignoremewhodoyouthinkyouareLookatmewhenIamtalkingIcannotbeleiveblahblahblah!!!! This is what I heard coming from a car while I was walking through the commuter rail parking lot this morning. As the car got closer, the ranting got louder. People turned and looked. I saw a green Ford Explorer with an indifferent looking man driving and the screamer in a pink shirt sitting next to him. The sound went quiet as I walked away and then got louder as the truck pulled up and let this individual out. She seemed normal enough, but clearly had some anger issues. I don’t know if the guy deserved it or not, but it made my day? Why? Because I knew, whatever else happened, my day was starting better than his was and would probably end better as well. So thank you, O lady in pink, for making my morning a little brighter with your howl at the moon insanity.

I’ve been sort of busy lately. With all my recent book purchases, I started to go back to olden forms of entertainment. So far my selections merit about a B-minus. I have another monster sitting in my bag that I’ve been a little unwilling to start. I haven’t read this much consecutively in a long time, at least since I was being forced to read for school or something. There have been some big family doings as well. Not so much for M and myself, but the extended family counts, too. I am an uncle to a baby girl now. M and I went to visit her and the happy parents last weekend. Seems at this stage it’s a lot of sleeping, eating, crying and diaper changing. Not a bad existence. M and I also headed out to Martha’s Vineyard for the passing of her Grandmother. This of course stirred up feelings about the beginning / end circle of life thing. I guess this is what happens when you’re 30-plus. In another ten years these events will happen more often until I freak out and buy a morotcycle or 1965 Shelby Cobra to soothe my anxieties.

This picture here is of my new bags of nuts. Sick of paying ridiculous per pound prices, even at Trader Joe’s, I went in on a wholesale bundle with a guy here at work. That’s 10 lbs of almonds you’re looking at. I’ve been happily munching them for a few weeks now.

So far it’s been a pretty bad summer for the grill. An extraordinarily wet June and July made extended cookout sessions impossible. We’ve had some nice weekends here and there, but we’ve also been out and about a little bit. The rain has had some upside, though. The plants we put in are growing like crazy. I don’t do anything more than knock bugs off them and sprinkle some miracle-gro on things occasionally and check out these flowers. The front of the condo smells like a florist shop. The added bonus is that since we don’t get the same sun as other people, our flowers are just blooming now, and everyone else’s are long shed and gone. We received a basil plant as a gift not so long ago and it has to be 30 inches tall at this point. We’ve been trying to eat as much basil as possible and this thing only grows faster. Can’t complain about that.