Ivy Champs!

Princeton Mens' Water Polo.  Tim Wenzlau. 

Game and Tournament  winning goal.

My cousin Julie's son.  Larger than life. 

Such a nice kid. I love that guy.

 I'm so proud.

Raven

More Halloween Cats

Ghost

Eleven Words

Four Words

One Thousand Words

Nine Hundred Sixty-Four Words

Indian Summer

October 24, 2010.  Still a decent amount of boats in the water,

though the next week or two will see a huge drop-off.  It was

positively balmy today with temps in the low 70's.  Hard to

believe Halloween is next weekend. 

Escapade, a Block Island 40, catches my eye every time we

motor by.  Turns out he grew up a couple miles from where we live.

Small world we live in, I often say.  He said he'd stop by the next

time he was in the area.  I'll be ready.

I know it's election season, but is nothing sacred?

You mean to tell me you've never fallen asleep in your drink before?

Ummm...can you bear off a touch so I'm in the sunlight again?

In the Spring and Fall, we like to sail back upriver rather than motor.

There's much less traffic, and it's just plain more peaceful.  We still

get some quizzical looks from powerboaters.  What do you think

sailboats did in the old days before engines, I feel like saying.

They're clueless, and will never get the satisfaction we do from

quietly winding our way back to the dock.  We had the Eagles-Titans

game on the radio and listened intently as Tennessee fought

back and won the game.  If the Giants beat Dallas tomorrow

night, things will be in order.  Sorry Phillies and Yankees.

I say go San Francisco Giants!

Speechless!

Steve from The Log of Spartina tried out the oyster dish from a post

of mine from way back in May.  Evidently, he cooked the oysters

perfectly, with a slight curl on the edges, taking extra care so as

to not rubberize these gorgeous gems.  Those Lynnhaven River

monsters looked positively obscene, and I'm sure they would be

just as satisfying on the half-shell as they were poached.  The

addition of wild rice and toasted cheese and garlic baguette were

icing on the cake.  I'm honored.  Well done my friend!  

Good Eats

Boneless Pork Loin Chops, grilled.  Marinade includes: Ketchup,

Yellow Mustard, Honey, Worcestershire, Soy, Onion Flakes,

Ginger Powder, Granulated Garlic, Sesame Oil, and Olive Oil

We-pick Green Beans, boiled in salted water til just

tender, strained, then hit with liberal amounts of Olive Oil.

We-pick Plum Tomatoes, with our CSA Farm's Green Peppers

and Onions, and We-pick off the shelf Ken's Ranch Dressing.

Blurry....... sorry.  CSA Acorn Squash, halved, scooped out, and

roasted face down in 1/2 inch of water at 400 for about 30

minutes.  Turn oven off, turn squash upright, throw in knob of

butter, squirt honey and sift mace, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Return to oven to melt.  Bring out last.

Then sit down with wine and hopefully have a meaningful

conversation with the family.  More often than not, it's just that.

Piece by Piece

Just plain cool

Turkey Day is coming

Don't ask. And whatever you do, don't tell.

It won't be long

Fewer of our dockmates are seen milling around this time of year. 

Most of the boats are still in the water, but I imagine the majority 

have haul-out dates chosen and their owners are sitting on their

couches watching football or, perish the thought, baseball playoffs. 

And some may even be walking around their local orchards, choosing

pumpkins for their front porches or watching their grandchildren

enjoying the hayride around the corn maze.  Mulled cider and cider

donuts.  Bluegrass bands and funnel cakes.  I'm pissed.

I'm not ready for summer to be over.  I never even put my

hammock out in the back yard!  We didn't once even sleep on

the boat.  Probably the reason for both of those complaints

is that it was so goddamn hot this year.  Waaaah.

We did , however, race the boat twice this season.  The 

second race was the most thrilling one I've been in for

probably thirty years.  We were solidly middle of the pack

and I am still pinching myself, wishing I had a camera 

mounted to my head so I could relive it every day.  We will

do much more of that next year, I swear.  I also would love

to get back into smaller one-design races, but that's

another bridge to be crossed. 

Emotions are mixed right now.  I still have the desire to

sail, but the fall brings new responsibilities. Yardwork,

family obligations, the realization that nobody wants to be

on the boat and shiver at the same time.  I can somehow

relate to that.  Plus, the state marina wants my butt (boat)

out around Halloween.  That's scary.  I've got two weeks

to come to terms with this.  Honey, another hot-buttered rum?

San Francisco Treat

That piano makes me feel young.

Jack and Diane

Here's a little ditty

bout me and John McPhee

two homegrown Americans

in the land of the free.

I said "Hey John!"

love your book about Jersey

Devil and Pine Barrens

he almost called security.

And Davey said,

Oh Yeah, life goes on

long after the thrill

of reading is gone.

Here's a little ditty

bout me and John McPhee

two homegrown Americans

in the land of the free.

Shopping for some food

in the local Acme

John said "hey where's the sauerkraut"

I said check aisle three

and I didn't call security

And Davey said,

Oh Yeah, life goes on

long after the thrill

of reading is gone.

Here's a little ditty

bout me and John McPhee

two homegrown Americans

in the land of the free.

True story

O Dock!

Where art thou, Brother?

Just Because

For Gary

The right thing to do

To all the parents of kids out there with Facebooks:

How about we do a little bit more monitoring of what

our offspring are posting on their public bulletin boards?

I personally do not have a Facebook account, but my

wife and older daughter do, and just like a bad car

wreck, or the "Real Housewives of New Jersey",

I cannot tear myself away from tuning in.  In defense

of my daughter, she shows good taste and restraint

when posting, which is more than I can say for some

of the younger kids with whom I am acquainted.

I mean, HELLO......are you parents reading what

your kids are writing?  I'm thinking not, I hope.

 I've been around the block more than a few times in

my almost 50 years, but some of this stuff even makes

me blush.  There were remedies for this kind of 

indescretion when I was young:  A wooden spoon.

A leather belt.  The bare hand.  The Phi Kappa Psi

fraternity paddle.  None of which are accepted forms

of discipline these days.  And that's okay,  I guess.

These parents about whom I speak probably don't 

read my blog. But if they do, I'm sorry.  We come 

from the same generation, but apparently not 

from the same cut of jib.  What our kids say, I feel, 

has a direct reflection on who we are as parents.

Call me old-fashioned.  I'll take that as a compliment.  

(thumbs up) one hundred people like this. 

The professionals know

Parts is parts, I guarantee.  Popeye's chicken is most definitely

the fried chicken for me.  And there's nothin like their chopped

cole slaw.  The mashed potatoes have a bit of white pepper in

them.  Delish. My wife has a problem with that. But I refuse

 to go to KFC.  Soggy and salty.  My opinion.

And Popeye's Laser masts tend not to bend too much. 

At least that's what the helpful gentleman from Laser

Performance Sail and Sport Rhode Island says.

And he should know.  I should think. 

More Reality

Why, it seems like just yesterday that I saw her spectating at the

World Ducks.  It has always fascinated me to see the bottoms

of familiar boats when they've been hauled.  I see them all summer

long cruising up and down the bay, their wealthy owners at the helm,

seemingly without a care in the world. But when their bottoms are

exposed for all the world to see, they're no different from yours

 or mine.  And actually, I couldn't believe how crappy Cat's

Whiskers bottom really was!  I can only assume that next spring,

the yard guys will be hard at work scraping the decades of 

Interlux from Whisker's hull.  We'll need to check next October

when she's hauled once again. 

This boat will always mean something special to me.  Mary Ann

allowed my Dad, fourth from the bow, to place his butt on her

deck all summer long in 2002.  Looks like she's the last A Cat to

be hauled this year. Regarding things like this, last is good.

Hold tight!  You'll all get your turn real soon.

Face it, summer's over

Stack the Duckboats wide at Beaton's in Brick.

Shove them under and let me work—

I am the shed; I cover all.