It is exciting!

Around here things are exciting. I mean there's the World Series and the area is abuzz with excitement. Now I won't be going to the game but I'm sure almost any television set in the area will be watching the game. About 10 years Arlene and I took a tour of Fenway Park. Here are 4 pictures that I took back then.

 

The company that I worked for had a store quite close to the park and it was quite chaotic when there was a game but it was fun and exciting. Oddly enough it was much easier going home on the day of a game because everybody was heading into the city not out of it. Still if the game ended around the end of your shift you weren't going anywhere for a while. This was back in the 80's. The Sox had good teams but they hadn't won the big one until the 2000's. These two teams set up the east coast, west coast scenario. Just another way of selling the whole deal.  Still it's only sports and I don't take it all that serious. 

 

If I had a machine gun I would shoot my phone. It has been ringing the whole day. All the calls have not been for me, they have been for my vote or my money. The phone, at least for me, has gone from a tremendous convenience to a major annoyance. Some days are worse than others

Alright that's enough whining, I'm outta her.

Go Sox!   

We looked back

Arlene and I were sitting around thinking about how much we missed the few days on the island. We always went before or after the tourist season. This passed year we went at the end of June very close to the 4th of July, and there were many more people. It just made us realize how quiet it was during the times we've gone. We looked at some pictures and watched a few video. Below was a video from Sept. 2013. Arlene was content to sit and read and I wandered around the exterior of the hotel and down a couple of side streets. It was a beautiful day and oh so quiet. It's no academy award winner.   



Here are a few of our favorite shots.

Sunrise at the end of Pequot Ave.

Sunset

Llama or alpaca, maybe it was edpaca. They were soft, gentle and really goofy looking.  

The Pequot Hotel in the evening.

I guess this was sort of a cheap excuse of a post but I just felt compelled to write something. As Arlene and I talked about things we remember we both had wistful smiles. The picture just above was one of those lovely evenings. A wonderful meal as we watched the sun go down over Oak Bluffs Harbor. 

In reality we are both very lucky to have this little gem of a place only two or three hours away. We'll give it another go next spring.

As I write this the Red Sox are on the verge of going to another World Series. They have been a lot of fun this year. Go Sox!
I'm outta here.  

"Fact - 5 out of 4 people have trouble understanding mathehatics." according to a M.I.T. study..

Disclaimer-Most of what is written below was done about a month ago.

Ok it has been a while since I've been here. It has been a very warm sometimes hot and humid summer. I suppose the best news of the summer so far is that one of Arlene's daughters got engaged. Her husband to be is a school teacher/magician. The couple flew out to California to visit some of Allison's relatives who were originally from around here. Then they flew to Las Vegas for a bit of what you do in Vegas plus they went to a magic show in one of the hotels. The magician performing there was a friend of Jim's. Long story short, while the magician was performing, he called Jim up on stage along with Alison, to help with a trick. Before you know it Jim drops to one knee a proposes to Allison.
 
In other news there have been a few shark sightings along the Massachusetts coast. Now I haven't taken a dip in the ocean in a few years ago when I did it on the Vineyard. I suppose that sounds really pompous but that's the truth and I only did it so I could say I went swimming on the island. However there have been several shark sightings and they all seemed to have been featured on the news. You don't screw around with sharks!  



Let's see what else is happening. So as I said it has been hot and humid around here not to mention some of the rainstorms we've had. As I write this particular sentence it is Aug. 14, at around 11pm. We had very heavy rainstorm this afternoon but aside from a couple of local problems it's been minor compared to what I saw concerning Pennsylvania. Some locales down there had it rough. 

It's been a year and eight months since I have been completely retired. I can see me entering my "You kids get off my lawn!" stage of life. Arlene has had some health issues but she is doing much better. My brother in law however has not been so lucky. He fell and hit his head and has been in a facility and it looks like he won't be going home anytime soon.

So now it's Sunday Oct. 14. Arlene and I are getting ready, well I'm ready anyway, to go out for an early supper at Raso's. Were going a bit early because of the sporting events that are happening this evening. Both the Red Sox and the Patriots are on national television tonight and I'm sure by 8 this evening the restaurant and bar will be packed. So now I will end this disjointed mess.
I'm outta here.


         

This is kinda disjointed

Ya know I don't blog the way I used to. By that I mean I don't jot down little thoughts. While I was still working somebody would  say something, funny, smart. thought provoking, stupid, ridiculous and so on. I'd make a note of it. The same stuff happened just in the daily passage of life. Now I have been completely retired from working. And I was lucky I worked for a company that went through many changes and owners over a 46  year span including the layoff of 700 people in the early 2000's. I sweated that one out but I still hung on to my job. I have been lucky in my life and at this point I have to accept how things turned out for me so far. I don't mean that in a negative way. I guess in this passed year I've finally realized how old I'm getting to be. I am in good health not that I work at it. I know I'm not breaking any new ground here. Everybody goes through this in some way shape or form.

Sometimes I like watching the news and watch all the drama that's going on locally and in the world  as if it's a form of entertainment.  And of course other times it's like, "Blah blah blah explosion blah blah blah dead blah blah blah cold blah blah blah Ooo that musta' hurt!" 

Being retired is a new way of life. It's not bad but it's different. As I write this I have witnessed the defeat of the hated New York Yankees by the hometown Boston Red Sox. You have to live around here to truly understand. So the Sox advance one more step to the World Series. Anyway as I was saying I am still adjusting to not working. I wish I could flit off to here, there but I guess that's just whining. Yeah that's whining.

Ok, all the above was written within the last week. As I write this particular paragraph It's Oct. 11, at about 5pm and I will be stopping to make some supper. I'm thinking of having chicken, broccoli, yellow squash with linguini. I really haven't had an ideal diet today. I was out earlier, running some errands and doing some food shopping. This is something I really dislike but you gotta eat. All those years working in a supermarket meant I didn't have to go food shopping because I was at a supermarket.

Anyway as I said somewhere in the above paragraph I haven't had an ideal diet today. After I came home from my errands I pioneered the banana and beer diet. Also, totally unrelated to my dietary habits, it's raining quite hard at the moment. And totally unrelated to the weather forecast, my friend and I were talking about things that we used to do. Ya know, old fart talk. We both grew up within walking distance of Tufts University. And both of us instantly brought up Jumbo the elephant. P.T. Barnum was one of the early benefactors to Tufts University and he donated some or all, I'm not sure, of his wild animals, stuffed of course. They were on display at the "P.T. Barnum Museum of Natural History". We both had seen Jumbo the Elephant, stuffed of course. There were other animals as well. It all went up in smoke in April 1975.

   

      

April 14, 1975

So ya know, "Voglio mangare." That's I want to eat, in Italian. I might have spelled it all wrong, but I do want to eat. Oh I have to shut up! 

I'm outtah here.

I got nuthin'

As I write this I am watching the Patriots game. More than likely I will not finish this tonight. It's big time sports around here as the Red Sox are awaiting a playoff series with the New York Yankees. That's always a big deal. Still as much as I enjoy sports it's only sports, like a movie or television show. I know other cities hate our local sports teams because the local teams have won 10 championships since 2002. Still it's only sports.

In other local news it seems that Dunkin' Donuts will be changing their name to jess plain Dunkin'. Now they are all over the place around here. Their coffee is alright but the donuts stink. Nothing but air, no substance. If I'm craving a donut, and it's been known to happen, I will go to a local ma and pa shop. The coffee is just as good and the donuts are superior. Then again they're only donuts. And calling yourself Dunkin' implies that you have something to dunk. You do! Donuts! They will spend all their time pushing all their various beverages. In the grand scheme of things it's really unimportant.

It's now the next morning and I feel like ranting about something but I don't think I will as I haven't had any coffee yet. It's another nice day. The leaves haven't really started to turn yet. I suppose it's because of all the rain we've had.

Alrighty then I've now had my coffee and I've thought of something to rant about. If I had a gun, and I don't, I'd shoot my phone. My landline. It just rings all day. My cell phone doesn't ring very often because it's only for my use and only family and Arlene have the number. I think all the fancy cell phones are fantastic items, however all I see are people walking down the street with their heads down, transfixed by their phones. Even worse are the people who are occupied by their phones while driving. Stopped at a light and waiting for the person in front of you to realize that they are behind the wheel of a car. Though I do get a bit of satisfaction when everyone in line behind them lean on their horns when the light changes!

I changed my header picture. I had a folder on my computer that had various pictures from the Vineyard. That's what we trendy people call it. Anyway I looked at them again and wished I was there. Arlene and I have so many wonderful memories particularly of the night that I took that picture. Actually that was 3 pictures stitched together. The temperature was quite comfortable and the food was wonderful! We couldn't make it back this Fall but we hope to visit again late in the Spring.

Anyway, I'm out of gas. I'm done and I'm outta here.