More Vay-Kay Photos

Several clay pigeons died for our recreational pleasure.


Q-ball rides.

So Much to Write About

We went to South Carolina for Thanksgiving, and the environs were not conducive to blogging, i.e. I was too busy/tired/surrounded by people to sit down and compose a thought. I have so much to blog about that I made notes for myself yesterday, and spent much of the early morning hours (2;30-4:00 a.m.) pondering what may be the most boring blog post ever to be composed. It's upcoming. But first, some vacation photos:

The plane ride there.
At the stables.L doing god-knows-what on the back of a horse.

What We Did

Ten days may be a wee too long to spend in Williamsburg Virginia when you don't intend to pay to take the full-blown Colonial Tour. The kids had a great time, and it was nice to spend time with my family. It was basically the Tour of Lesser Attractions. The "pirate ships" at the Jamestown Settlement, the Living Museum, the Portsmouth Children's Museum, the Hampton Naval Museum (free!), the USS Wisconsin (also free!), Prime Outlets coming out the wazoo and the various municipal parks of James City County. All of them deserve a B+ for fun. The highlight for me was the "adventure" Liam and I had "exploring" the swamp behind my mom's house. Freshwater clams and rotted stills abound.

The only attraction I am sorry we missed is the much-hated Presidents' Park. Much-hated by the residents of Billsburg, is what I mean. I am sure hipsters and ironic-iphiliacs will love the place. This dude thought the world needed gigantic busts of all the presidents but the good citizens of Williamsburg most assuredly disagree. Its the sort of thing you just don't do. Colonial Williamsburg (tm) sued the guy to stop him, but he shrewedly built on county land, so they can't touch him. I love when cases get resolved on jurisdictional grounds.

What Did I Missed While I Was Away?

The preliminary answer to that question is, not much. Our block did have its first Neighborhood Watch meeting while I was away, but I am not sure I would have attended that if I was here. The post-meeting email to the rest of the block did contain this advice, in the context of areas of concern:

Gas. I would also expect an increase in people siphoning gasoline from our cars as the price of fuel continually rises.

Really? I was skeptical, so I did a Google News search on this topic. It does appear to be a problem in York County, SC. How about here in CA? So far, its just a problem in Modesto. But Mo' is like the meth capital of the Central Valley, so it probably has some industrial use and isn't actually a widespread problem.

Here on Thomas Avenue, there don't appear to be any meth labs (knock wood), and the houses are literally less than 10 feet apart, and there are lots of them. It seems to me gas siphoning takes more than a few seconds, and requires some dubious, not to mention obvious, acrobatics to get it done. I promise that if I see anyone with a funnel and tubing and their car backed up to another, I will call the police. Til then, I am seriously not going to worry about this problem.

This reminds me of a joke that I knew when I was young. I left one part blank because I have heard at least three iterations of the joke, referring to different ethnicities.

Did you hear about the _______ who tried to blow up a car? He burned his lips on the tail pipe.

Funny stuff.

Props

A friend sent me this website. Apparently weight loss blogs are all the rage, but when you actually see a good one, it makes you want to run out and, well, run. Ryan is pretty inspiring.

And now, a couple of corrections:

To say that Fran Boyd spirals into drug addiction in The Corner is almost totally inaccurate, because Fran Boyd, at the beginning of the book and mini-series, is already deep in the throes of addiction. The spiralling is over and she's in the rabbit hole. ("Deep in the hole, in the hole, in the hole....").

Second, I understand that technically one cannot "quaff" a lobster. And yet I cannot think of a more descriptive term for when you basically inhale a pound-and-a-half insect's innards from its butt and arms.

My First Wine Review

We had the "good" fortune to try to Longball Winery's Manny Being Merlot last night and I have this review: Manny's red socks. That's essentially what it tastes likes. The post-game footwear of a major league baseball player, albeit one who stargazes/navelgazes for much of each game.

Otherwise, our trip to Boston has been action-packed. We have driven all over God's own northeast (Western Mass, New Hampshire, the Noh-th Sho-ah, Maine this weekend) and visited all the summer camp field trip hot spots, with B and I playing the role of testy camp counselors (Science Museum, Childrens Museum, Aquarium, Faneuil Hall, Fenway). Not much to report, other than my kids' temperament is controlled less by genetics or environment, and more by proximity to a meal. Which is technically environment, I guess, but strongly genetic, given how cranky their parents get when they don't eat.

More soon, I am sure. I have managed to take some pictures on this outing, mirabile dictu.