Those Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

Well, here we are folks.  Right in the middle of the hazy, crazy days of summer.  

The photo above I took last night as I was returning from my early evening bike ride just as the sun was setting in my development. Oh how I do love my evening bike rides.

The heaving hand of heat and humidity continues to oppress this southern Delmarva peninsula where I live.  One the one side if the Delaware Bay and the other the Chesapeake Bay.  No wonder we have major humidity most of the summer.  Just like the Florida peninsula experiences hum ditty most of the summer.  We do too folks!

So what's up with Ron today? Well, I tend to stay in my air condition manse on days like this.  I think Bill is outside doing something, who knows what.  I took my early morning walk at 7 am this morning, before the sun was totally high in the sky.  Once that sun is up there, the heat and humidity is almost unbearable.  At least it is for me, the old codger I have become.  75 years old this year folks!  Can you believe it?  Just about every day I think "how is it I have survived when most of my friends and relatives has passed on to the Great Beyond?"  

If you had asked me back in my foolish youth "How long are you going to live Ron?" I would probably have answered "Oh, fifty or sixty."  Never in a million years would I have ever believe I would still be going strong in my seventy fifth year on this planet.  

As I sit here in front my my 27 inch, iMac computer listening to my Bose radio playing my Internet Pandora Antiques Beat radio, in the air conditioned comfort of my home office, I think of all those places in the world that are undergoing almost unthinkable suffering right now.  From the failed coup attempt in Turkey last night to the truck driven mowing down hundreds of Bastille Day celebrators in Nice France, I consider myself so fortunate to be in my safe and comfortable home.  My only worry now (and I hate to admit this) is that this country would truly go to hell in a hand basket if the Ultimate Con Artist (he's bamboozled literally millions of voters) is elected president.  My concern is not only Supreme Court nominations which would roll back so many advances man in justice but to the uncertainty of a Trump presidency.  Not to go on a rant, which I am sorely tempted to do, but a Trump presidency would destroy this county.  Did I make that perfectly clear?  Trump is only interested in winning, he isn't actually interested in governing.  He's too lazy to do that.  He has the attention span of a gnat.  Stop it Ron!  I just stopped myself from gong on a rant.

So folks, stay cool.  I just did.

Casa Tipton-Kelly Garden Tour August 2014

By popular demand, here is the complete video tour of the floral extravaganza that is Casa Tipton-Kelly.  Actually, one blogger suggested that I post such a video but you know me, I jump on any opportunity to show off our wonderful home here on the coastal plain of southern Delaware.

We live on a lot that is just under an acre.  We are surrounded on both sides by wonderful neighbors and across the street by another wonderful neighbor.  He live in a development called Covington Chase, a grouping of thirty-seven houses with 3/4 acre lots.  We purchased one of the bigger lots that is bordered by a farm field in the back and our aforementioned fantastic neighbors on either side.  I purposely was looking for a lot that did not border houses in the back.  Bill and I need that privacy in back of our house.  

Casa Tipton-Kelly August 2014

We moved here in November of 2006.  We had the house built from scratch.  We are the only ones who have lived in this house.  We also built out house in Pennsylvania from scratch, on a 6.875 lot.  We couldn't quite afford a "lot" that big here in Washington D.C.'s summertime capital, AKA "Gayberry" because of the large lesbian and gay man couple population.  Lots of us Old Gays down here folks.  

So enjoy the tour while I go and take a shower.  It's hot and humid this morning, a typical August day here on the Delmarva peninsula surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Chesapeake bay on the left.  We may be uncomfortable sometimes in these temperatures folks but the vegetation and flowers love it!  We do too.  Bill often sits on the back deck and just soaks in the colors and sounds of our wonderful, living back yard.  

Enjoy!

Laurel Flea Market

That's me in the red pullover and tan shorts - do I look like I belong?

Yesterday I received a sad and long vitriolic comment on a long ago posting I had on the Laurel Flea Market.  Sad because my original posting was a tongue in cheek posting but apparently my attempt at dry humor was lost on the commenter.  Sometimes, nuance doesn't come through on blog postings.  

Sad because I was actually extolling the virtues of the Laurel Flea Market.  I did make the point that there are two main cultures here in southern Delaware.  The "natives", that is basically the "good old Southern boys" culture.  The skinny guys almost always missing a couple of teeth, either from meth or lack of money for regular dental visits.  You takes your choice.  

Mr. Reds caught our eye - standard "uniform" - pullover, with pants down his ass   - I think they're shorts but they could also be "high water pants"

After a long diatribe, the commenter told me I was a "snob" and to "go back from where you came from."  Yeah, take my money too?  

Me on the prowl looking for that bargain - notice the rainbow umbrella - we're everywhere!

Nope, the folks you see at the Laurel Flea market are a cross section of the diverse cultures here in Sessex County.  Hispanics, old biker guys with gray, ratty pony tails and bulging beer bellies, some orientals and just maybe a smattering of "snobs" like me who are looking for a bargain or just a chance to experience life in Southern Delaware.  

I DO look out of place don't I?

Bill asked me this morning if I wanted to go to the Laurel Flea Market.  An interesting coincidence because I hadn't even mentioned the sad and hateful comment I received on my blog posting about the Laurel Flea Market.  At first I didn't want to go, not in the mood.  Then I thought "Why not?"  Today is a nice day.  Low humidity (thank God) and temperatures in the 80's.  Actually really summertime weather instead of the "someone left the oven door open" weather we've been having the past two weeks.

Wouldn't you know it.  I'm standing underneath the dresses!

So we took a ride down to Laurel.  It was packed.  Couldn't find a parking place.  I wanted to go home.  Bill wanted to stay.  I hate driving around a dusty, dirt parking lot looking for a slot.  I just know I'll get another dent in my car.  Lots of pickup trucks and dented vans at the Laurel Flea Market.

Do my pants make me look fat?

We got lucky and found a parking spot on macadam.  Only thing we were next to one of THOSE VANS with the suspicious looking characters in it.  Looked like dope dealers to me. And hold off sending me any nasty comments.  I know when someone is dealing dope.  No reason for that many young guys to be hanging around the van, going in and out the back rustling through their "paper bags."  Give me a break.

Bill and I walk around.  Interesting characters to say the least.  Of course we're interesting characters to others too.  

I bought a pink Crepe Myrtle.  I saw a Royal Doulton figurine of a lady in a gown that caught my eye.  It said "Please rescue me!"  I walked by but before I got to the end of the row I told Bill "I have to go back and see how much that cost."  I go back, pick up the delicate figurine (I could almost see a smile appear on the figurine's face) and asked the grizzled, pony-tailed biker type "How much?"  "Fifty!" he spits at me.  I gently place her back on the worn table with her trashy friends and leave without a word.  $25 ......maybe but not $50.  

Bill buys a watermelon.  Has trouble getting change.  The lady who took his $10.00 bill for the $3.00 watermelon probably "forgot" she was to give Bill change.  Bill had to chase her down then she professed not to understand what he was saying.  Bill got his change after much arm waving and shouting.  You don't short change Bill.

That's Bill on the left in the plaid shirt - fondling the watermelons

Bill said "Let's go.  I'm tired.  I had enough."

We went back to our car.  I see the dusty, white, dented van with the suspicious looking characters in the back has gone too.  Gots to keep moving fellas.  

We head home down Rt. 9 through Georgetown on this summer Saturday morning, admiring the many different colors of Crepe Myrtle trees lining our route.

We get home.  Unload our car.  Just before I go into the house I check the side panel door to see if I have a "souvenir" from the Laurel Flea Market.  Sure enough, I do.  My door now has a "Laurel Flea Market" ding with paint scraped off.  Only about an inch but enough to draw my eye to it every time in the future when I go to my car.  

I got my touch up paint out and touched it up.  I can still see where the ding was but at least my eyes won't be drawn to it every time I get into my car.  

Thus ended our Saturday Morning Adventure to the Laurel Flea Market.  Bill said "Want to go again tomorrow?"  Um.....no, one ding is enough.

My "buy" of the day, a pink crepe myrtle bush! $9.50!

Potato Salad Recipe

The Beginning of a great potato salad recipe - red potatoes and hard boiled eggs

If it's summertime it's potato salad time!

I never used to like potato salad.  That's because the only potato salad I had growing up was my Mother's potato salad.  It was God awful.  Hey, I loved my Mother and she took good care of me and my two younger brothers but I didn't like most of her cooking.  My father and brothers liked it good enough.  They always cleaned up their plates and it showed.  Both my brothers hover around three hundred pounds today.  I weigh half that.

It wasn't until I joined the Army (at 18 years of age) and had meals away from home that I realized that food could taste good.  I realized there were culinary possibilities.  Then when I got out of the Army and met Bill and set up house, I began experimenting with cooking myself.

Over the years I have developed recipes that I love.  Now granted, I understand some others may not love them as much as I do (which I have also found out over the years witnessing many screwed up faces of guests when they ate some of my concoctions) but be that as it may.  I cook for myself and Bill.

Here is one of my several recipes for potato salad that gets me through the dog days of summer.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

OLD-FASHION POTATO SALAD

• 4 cups cubed red potatoes (with skins on)
• 3 hard-cooked eggs, sliced
• 1 celery rib, finely chopped
• 1 cup chopped fresh chives
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup mayonaise 
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

DIRECTIONS:

• Place potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until tender; drain. 
• Chop the potatoes and place in a large bowl.  Sprinkle white wine vinegar over the still warm potatoes.  Sprinkle with freshly ground salt and pepper.
• Add eggs, chives, dill and celery.  Mix.
• In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Pour over the potato mixture and toss to coat. 
• Place in a container and put in refrigerator overnight to chill.

Fresh chives from my garden

Chop those chives

Fresh dill from my garden

Cut the cooked red potatoes with skins on

Cut those potatoes while they're hot

Sprinkle still warm potatoes with white wine vinegar

Mix all together

Finely chop one stalk celery

Mix mayonnaise, sour cream and mustard with veggies

Put in container and place in refrigerator overnight to properly chill

The next day take out that potato salad and enjoy!  This is the best accompaniment for grilled chicken or hamburger.  Although it is not low calorie, I only eat a table spoon or two at a meal.  That is enough to satisfy my appetite for summer food.  Delicious!

Ooops!  I forgot a small detail.  While this potato salad is good making it does generate a LOT OF DIRTY utensils, pans and dishes.  It is well worth the trouble though.

Wilting!

Bill in his sauna this morning

Oh yeah, we're sweltering under this heat wave like much of the country.  No break for us here on the coastal shores of southern Delaware.   Usually when the rest of the country get slapped with a heat wave, we lucky folks here on the Atlantic coast smugly bask in ocean breezes.  Not this summer folks.  Oh no, we are wilting.


Bill upped the time our backyard irrigation system is on from 25 minutes to an hour.  The birds love it!  You know this hot weather is hard on our critter friends?  I feel so bad when I see at the birds at my planter oval panting, waiting for their turn at one of my three bird baths.  I even put out extra saucers of water that the birds now use to relief from the heat.  I have to change the water five and six times a day.  I love doing this.  This is my volunteer effort.

The days are starting to get shorter.  I noticed it tonight when I took my walk in the Oyster Rocks development behind where we live.  Usually I can walk until 9 o'clock until the moon shines in the sky above.  Tonight that old moon showed up at about 8:40 pm.  Won't be long now until the Purple Martins in our backyard raise the last of their young this season and take off for their long journey to South America to spend the winter.  I'm sort of looking forward to fall and winter.  Not that I don't love summer, I do but I appreciate the change in seasons.  I don't think I would ever be happy living in part of the country where the seasons didn't change.

Tomorrow the temps are forecast to hit 104 degrees.  Bill and I made our Walmart Run early this morning so we don't have to go out tomorrow at all.  The only reason I have to go out tomorrow is to change the bird baths.  By the way, why do the birds always poop in their birdbaths?  Just asking.

Stay cool!

More Ruminations on a Summer Day

Totem poles for sale at Tiki (up the road from Casa Tipton-Kelly)

Hey folks!  Haven't been blogging for a few days.  Did you notice?

Don't worry, the well hasn't run dry.  It's just that there is so much to do.  For one thing I was called into work AGAIN yesterday because my co-worker had a family emergency.  Almost every week she asks me to either switch times with her or work her shift.  I feel like a fireman, I can't plan anything because I'm always expecting a text message from her with her latest emergency.  I understand every family, and I HAVE a family too folks, has emergencies but every week?  I told my boss I would like to work at least one month just my shift.  You know, for a change, a novelty.  He wasn't to encouraging.

I don't mind filling in for my coworkers occasionally but not every week.  I have a life too.  Yep, I sure do.

I write all this knowing that my co-workers read my blog.  Maybe this needs to be said.

The weather the past few days has been absolutely gorgeous!  Man oh man, I could take this kind of weather all summer.  Won't last though.  This morning I felt the humidity creep in our coastal haven.  The heat and humidity are returning this weekend, according to the weather forecasts.  Oh I can't wait.

I work two more days then I have Friday off.  My friend Lar is coming down and we're celebrating his birthday with lunch and some Olde Time Photos.  Yep, all part of my life.

This afternoon I'm attending a viewing for the mother of a good friend of mine.  I'm out of sympathy cards again.  Every year I stock up on sympathy cards for this year's deaths.  Here it is June and I'm out already. Just another facet of being an Oldie Goldie as I am now.  Friends, former classmates, relatives, parents of friends and neighbors....all dropping off with alarming regularity.  Soon it will be my time.  Oh yes, I'm going down that road not too long in the future and I'm all right with that because I won't know anything.

My friend Lar (yes, the same one that is visiting me this Friday to celebrate his birthday) just put his parents (94 and 92 respectively) in a "care facility" or whatever they call nursing homes today.  Hey folks, I'm not going there.  First of all I can't imagine myself being in my 90's.  Then again I couldn't imagine myself in my 70's, which is where I am now.  I never thought I would make it past 60 years of age.  But here I am, an official Old Man.  Actually, it's not too bad other than when I get up in the boring everything seems to ache.  I'm not too ugly yet but getting there.  My brain is still functioning, I think my job helps keep me focused and not degenerate into dementia like my good and longtime friend Big Bob.  But 90 years old?  Can you imagine yourself at 90 and living in a living care facility?  I can't and I won't.  For one thing I'm just too damn fussy.  If I didn't die a week after I enter a nursing home someone would kill me.

So there you go folks.  Another stream of consciousness from your friend Ron.  Got that off my chest.

Have a great day!

Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

Roadside vegetable stand - Milton, DE

Well folks, we're officially into the lazy, hazy days of summer.  I just got back from Panera Bread.  I figured it was safe to go out on Route 1 this time of evening.  The Saturday logjam of traffic was pretty well dissipated by this hour of the day.

Bill checking out our neighbors' garage sale items this morning

It was SO HOT today, that we just lazed and hazed our day around the house here today.  Some of our neighbors has a garage sale.  We are asked to participate but I just couldn't get up the enthusiasm for getting some of my junk collectibles together to put on display to possibly sell for 25 or 50 cents.  Not for me folks.

I'm trying to think of what I did today and my mind is drawing a blank.  How about this for a blog posting?  I'm coming up empty folks!

Francis Scott Key

Oh, how about this?  On Wednesday and Thursday at the hotel I checked in a couple of distinguished guests. On Wednesday it was Francis Scott Key.  You remember Francis don't you?  He wrote our national anthem, "The Stars Bungled Banner".  The one that is so hard to sing and remember the lyrics to.  The gentleman was quite a pleasure to meet.

Dolly Madison

Thursday Dolly Madison herself checked in the hotel.  I asked "Dolly" if I could take her picture.  She said "Well, I'm a bit dewey ( I think she meant she was sweaty) but alright." The heat and humidity of the past week left no one untouched folks, even the wife of the fourth president of these United States, Dolly Madison.  Seriously though folks, these fine individuals were actors in town for historical reenactments of the Lewes Historical Society.  The hotel where I work was generous enough to provide them with room and board.  That's just the kind of fine gentleman I work for.

At the top of this blog is a picture of the roadside fruit and veggie stand in Milton.  Summer doesn't officially begin for me until this stand opens.  It opened this week and I got my first ears of fresh corn.  Delicious!

I hope you're enjoying your summer as much as I am.

Sweltering Heat Wave

I took this photo a few minutes ago - see how I'm "enjoying" this heat? Oh man.

Oh my God.  OMG!  Is it ever hot here in good old Slower Lower Delaware.  This is Miami weather.

Heat index 105 with maximum humidity.  I feel like I'm walking in the bottom of a warm pool with the oven door open.  What is going on here?

As regular readers of this superior blog know, I like to include current photos with my blog postings.  Not for me the generic photos that are the realm of the lazy and still in the closet bloggers.  So it was some challenge this morning to venture out our garage door to look for a suitable subject to convey the heat and humidity of this day at Casa Tipton-Kelly.  NO ONE IS OUTSIDE!  Even the birds are keeping a low profile.  I trudged (and "trudged" is the appropriate description of how I walked to the other end of my back yard) to see if there was any insect activity in my perennial border.  Ah ha!  I captured an engineer bee working on my recently bloomed oregano plants. Oh how the insects love my herb plants.  Bill doesn't like them because they don't display big blooms but the insects thrive on them and that's why I plant herbs (lavender, dill, oregano, sage, thyme) in my perennial border.

So back to my Daily Photo.  I looked around and saw no other suitable subject so I go back to.....ME!  Yep, here is a photo of me a few minutes ago wilting under this heat and humidity. And, if I do say so myself, I don't look too bad for a 70 year old geezer on his way out do I?  It's the lighting folks.  A little trick I learned from Joan Crawford.

So here we go folks.  I worked last night at the hotel.  Sold a lot of rooms.  I am working again tonight.  Then I'm off until next Wednesday.  This working two nights a week suits me very well.  Gets me out of the house, gives Bill a little breathing room, reinforces my self-esteem that I still matter in this world and I get to meet a lot of new cool folks.  You would be surprised at the variety of folks who check in our little boutique hotel here in Lewes, Delaware...the First Town in the First State.  Yep, no one else can say that folks and believe me, I saw it a LOT when checking in guests for the first time at our comfy, cozy hotel in downtown Lewes.

I have a little headache now just from that short sojourn outside to take a few photos.  I can't take this heat folks.  I can't breath.  Now I see why they always warn the old folks to stay inside during heat waves like we're having now.

That's about it for now.  I'm on this computer this morning staying cool until lunch time, then a nappy nap before I go to work this afternoon.  And as someone from my past often says when he ends his posting:  "and so it goes".  Or was that Walter Cronkite?

Summertime

Me (the tall kid in the middle with legs crossed) with my friends Billy Smith, Pee Wee Mack, Chubby Shores and my brother Isasc (with the baseball mitt) at 120 Washington Avenue. Downingtown, PA 1951

This is my favorite time of year, summertime.  My second favorite time of year is fall but my all time favorite time is summertime.


The hot, long day of summer remind me of growing up on Washington Avenue in Downingtown, PA in the Fifties.  Like most families, mine was very poor although we didn't think all that much about it at that time.  We were too busy having fun with the other kids on our block.

Me (the big kid holding a grasshopper in my finger near my eye) and my brothers John and Isaac and some other kids from the block - we were ready for our big adventure of the day

Summer always seemed to go by so fast.  From the first daylight we would bust out of our apartment to meet with our playmates who lived in the other apartments and houses nearby.  We always had something to do.  We were never bored.

Too soon summer was over and we were headed back to school.  I remember the smell of our new school clothes that my Mother would order from Montgomery Ward.  No more long days, no more playing hide and seek, no more exploring around the railroad yard behind our house.  No more long bike trips to nowhere.  No more exploring abandoned farm house.

Every now and then I got real lucky and was asked to spend a couple of weeks at a farm or house "out in the country."  Those trips for me were better than a visit to Disneyland!

My Mom with me (she has her hand on my neck) and my brothers Isaac and John and my step aunt Mary (long black coat) and my Mother's half sister Ruthie (squatting) at their place in Compass, PA - 1948

My Mother's step-sister, Aunt Mary, and step-mother (Margaret - I was always afraid of her.) lived in a house in Compass, PA.  The house didn't have electricity or indoor plumbing but that wasn't a concern of this 10 year old who was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks of summer "in the country." I loved it!  I remember the smell of the county being so different from the smell of Washington Avenue.

Me and my baby brother John in front of Aunt Mary's bathroom (a working outhouse) -1949

 I remember at nighttime, when everyone was in bed, lying in my bed listening to the sound of the clocks ticking in the modest wood frame house in the field.  I remember using the outhouse and looking down that black hole to the glistening mass below.  Believe it or not, I wasn't freaked out by using an outhouse unlike now where I am so spoiled by the conveniences of modern living I would never consider using such bathroom facilities.

Me with my "Aunt" Mildred and her children Peggy and Duckie (I don't remember the baby's name) -  1951 - by the way Duckie and I were the same age - guess who was big for his age? I think this is why I was so serious - I was very conscious of my height and "big" nose and skinniness - 1952

A couple of times I was asked to go to the Vances farm.  George and Mildred Vance was the brother-in-law and sister of my Aunt Margaret who lived in the apartment above us on Washington Avenue.  They had two children, a son called "Duckie" and a daughter (Peggy).  Duckie was my age.  I was asked to visit them to keep Duckie company.  His family lived on a real farm.  They had a barn with a hay loft.  Lots of pigs.  It was so much fun to swill the pigs with garbage collected from nearby houses.  I can still remember the happy squeals of the pigs as we dumped bucket fuels of stinky garbage in the pig troughs.

Another fun thing Duckie and I did was to play in the corn fields.  We would crawl on our hands and knees through the dirt to create mazes.  I'm surprised at myself now that I was that destructive of those corn fields.  I have cornfields near me now and I would never do something like that.  But when you're a 11 year old kid, you don't think of such things.

Another fun thing Duckie and I used to do was to go into the hayloft and jump into the piles of hay below.  Oh what fun!  I can still remember the smell of that dried hay.  That to me is the smell of summer.  At night we would catch lightening bugs and put them in a Mason jar.

Oh the wonderful times I had in summertime when I was a kid.  We didn't have any money but that didn't seem to matter.  Once in a while we would get a treat to a Tastee Freeze, which today is known as soft ice cream.  My father would pile me and my brothers in the back of his pickup truck and we were off to the Tastee Freeze stand in Thorndale, PA.  Every now and then I would get a root beer float.  Delicious!  The taste of summer.

One of my favorite pictures - me and my brothers (and our dog Sam) at the Old Swimming Hole - again I'm the Big Kid on the right - 1952

Another really favorite treat was when my father would load us up in the car (or pickup truck) and take us to the Old Swimming Hole.  Yep, we had our very own swimming hole.  I don't know who liked that swimming hole more; me and my brothers or our Chesapeake Bay retriever dog Sam.

Me talking to Sam while my brother Isaac looks on - check out that swimming suit, it was yellow! It got a lot of use at that swimming hole - 1952

This was the only swimming me and my brothers ever did when we were growing up.  We never set foot in a swimming pool or the ocean.  The first time I got into a real swimming pool was when I was stationed at Ft. Meade, in Maryland in the early Sixties.  I didn't see the ocean until I was twenty-two years old and Bill took me to Rehoboth Beach which is where I am now.  Ironically since I moved down here in 2006, I have yet to put my foot in the surf of the Atlantic Ocean which is just a few feet away from the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk, where I usually spend my time when I do go to the beach.  Ah yes, my absolute favorite swimming days were back in the Fifties.

A different swimming hole - we took a dip on a hot summer evening after picking a couple of buckets of raspberries for Mom - this was our treat - we all had ice cream cones after the swim - who needs a pool?  

These are just some of my memories of summer.  These days I'm creating new memories of summer.

Yes, summertime is the best time of the year.

Me at summertime these days here in Delaware

Butterflies in the Oregano

Oh how I love summer days.  This is a short video I took of my herb garden which borders my backyard.  If you turn the music off you'll hear my happy birds chirping away, see the many butterflies gracefully landing on the blooming oregano plants and hear the traffic roar down Rt. 1, which is the main artery from northern Delaware and Pennsylvania to Rehoboth Beach and points south like Ocean City, Maryland.

Bill and I drove around most of the morning through our neighboring developments to see the landscaping designs of our neighbors and also to visit a couple of landscapers to see what kind of stone they have for sale.  Southern Delware has NO STONE, unlike southeastern Pennsylvania where we used to live where there was PLENTY OF STONE.  In fact we lived practically on top of stone quarries.

One of the landscapers that we stopped in to visit this morning was bragging about his stone being "imported" from Arizona.  Well... LA DE DAH!  I thought all they had in Arizona was cactus and 120 degree dry heat.  Stone?

We decided to do nothing today.  It is just too hot and humid to do anything.  The hot weather doesn't stop all the activity of nature in my backyard though.  There is a new batch of baby bluebirds (sweltering in their non-airconditioned bluebird house) and another batch of swallows that are about to leave their nest.  Some sad news, one of the baby swallows got caught in the open ventilating space in top of the bluebird house that they are occupying and died.  So sad.  I'm always sad when I see any of the baby birds that are born in my back yard not make it out of the nest.  But that is nature taking its course.

Enjoy the video!

Oyster Rocks Retention Pond

As regular followers of this blog now, yesterday I had a reunion with an old school classmate of mine.  I traveled to northern Delaware (not a long haul in this small state) to my other friend Larry's house in Claymont, Delaware.  I had never visited his house before and I wanted to see where his blog originated form.  We talk often on FaceTime and I can see his room but it's always interesting to see the place in person.  Plus I wanted to meet his cats.  He has a house full of them.

I was reluctant to drive to my friend's house because of the heavily congested area but I figured Sunday would be the best time and it was.  I didn't have too much trouble finding his house.  After a short visit he took me to one of his walking trails.  Northern Delaware has many beautiful walking trails, way more than I am used to either here in southern Delaware (the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk is my main walking trail) or Pennsylvania where I used to live before I moved to Delaware in 2006.

Afterwards he drove me to Broomall, Pennsylvania and we met our friend Stuart.  Stuart's daughter Leslie arranged the meeting.  Larry and Stuart haven't seen each other for over forty years.  I last saw Stuart at our 40th class reunion which was in 1999.  However, over the years we have all talked not the phone many times.  It was a good meeting.  Lots of video and pictures were taken.  I will post those pictures in a future blog.  But for now I want to post this short video of the retention pond in the development behind where I live now.  It is called the Oyster Rocks development.  It is where I go almost every evening for my daily walk.  This is my therapy.  Other than my blog, I don't need any other therapy to clear my mind and make me one with my environment.  I don't need to pay anyone to listen to me (not that there is anything wrong with that).  For me, to pay someone to listen to me wouldn't work for me.  I'm happy that it works for others but for me?  Doesn't work.  However, I have received some valuable advice from one of my blogger friends (Dr. Spo) which I appreciate very much.  So maybe there is some value for that kind of therapy but I never went that route.  My "route" from my earliest memory has always been a long walk.

This evening as I was taking my walk I stopped by the retention pond just to soak up the sounds of this summer evening.  Before I could get my iPhone out of my pocket to take a video, a huge crane whooshed from the reeds from where it was hiding and took off into the summer evening sky.  Then two strange birds in the reeds to my right flew out in my direction, squawking at me.  By the time I got the video on my iPhone going there were only the red winged blackbirds having a late day snack and getting things sorted out before the sun set for the day.  So here is the video.  Enjoy.

Rehoboth Beach Summer

I said I wouldn't go back into Rehoboth Beach on a summer weekend but I did just that this morning.  I had to stop by the Old Time Photo place and have a reprint made of the cowboy desperado picture of me and my friend Larry.  Tomorrow Larry and I are meeting our good friend from our school days from sixty years ago!  Our friend's name is Stuart and he lives in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  Recently two of his very good friends died which caused him to reassess his mortality.  He called both me and Larry and wanted us to assure him that we wouldn't die on him anytime soon.  We assured him we plan to be around a long time.

Stuart's daughter heard about her dad's concern for us so she arrange a meeting with the three of us which will take place tomorrow in Broomall, Pennsylvania.  Stuart is staying there at his cousin's home.  Tomorrow we have our reunion.  I am looking forward to it very much.  Pictures will follow!

In the meantime, while I was at the beach this morning I thought since I put all that money into the parking meter I might as well make some good use of my time.  I took a stroll down the beach and took many pictures and several videos.  The videos will show the sights and sounds of the beach this summer.  The one thing the video misses is the smells of the beach which is the salt air, and the oily coconut smell of sun tan lotion.

I love summer at the beach!  I like hearing the waves roll onto the sand. I like hearing the seagulls screech for the fallen french fry.  I even like the sounds of the children screaming with delight and I don't mind hearing the occasional kid throwing a hissy fit for whatever reason.  It does my heart good to see all the families and friends enjoying this greatest of our national pastime, a day at the beach.

This is something the terrorists can never take away from us.  This is freedom.

Note:

No need to turn my music off when watching the video.  Any one of my musical selection is a perfect accompaniment for the beach video.

Trapped at the Restaurant

For the second time this week I was trapped in a restaurant by a sudden thunderstorm.  What are the odds? We've had very little rain this spring and summer here in southern Delaware.  The fields of corn and soybean are burning up from the lack of rain.  Clouds of golden dust swirl up on unpaved roads as vehicles race to their destinations.  Route 1 is clogged with various modes of transportation as the hordes of tourists descend upon the sandy beaches of Rehoboth for relief by way of ocean breezes from the sweltering, energy sapping humid heat of these summer days.

Tuesday I joined friends for lunch at Stripper Bites in Lewes.  During our lunch the skies darkened and the heavens opened to a downpour of much needed rain on our sun baked soil.  So there we were; Jack and Judy and me and the other Judy.  Oh well, we had a chance to get better acquainted.  At least we got some rain and it was fun watching from our vantage point inside the diners on the patio make a hasty retreat from their cafe dining experience to the dry interior of the restaurant.  Actually, it was quite funny but then I enjoy watching things like that.

So tonight our Friday Night Dine Out Group meets at the Ocean Point Gill in Lewes.  As I arrived (I was the first), at 6:45 I noticed the skies darken.  Thunderstorm coming!  By the time the rest of the guys arrived the skies were almost black.  Someone brought up the subject of the giant sandstorm in Phoenix, Arizona earlier in the week.  I mentioned that one of my blogger friends was there and had taken pictures.  I brought the pictures up on my iPhone and passed it around for all to see.  All were predictably impressed.  Just as my iPhone was handed back to me, the heavens opened up and the downpour began.  The monsoons have arrived!  Well, at least it wasn't a giant sandstorm like they had in Phoenix.  But here it was, yet another downpour during my Dining Experience.  What are the odds?  No complaints from anyone at our table though.  We all know that we need the rain...bad.

During a momentary lull in the rain I made my getaway.  I had to get out of there before darkness.  I have a hard enough time as it is driving in the dark, but to drive in the dark with the rain and all those headlights coming at me....too much.

Actually, this was sort of fun tonight. There was a friendly camaraderie with my fellow diners as we were Trapped in the Restaurant.  Just another Day in the Life.

The Fourth at the Beach

Celebrating "The Fourth" on Rehoboth Beach boardwalk this morning

This morning I took an early morning walk on the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach.  The air was already heavy with heat and humidity but that was okay, this is summertime.  I love it!

I walked the length of the boardwalk back and forth which is a total of two miles.  During my walk I captured this image of a group of young guys headed to the beach with the flag.  I had to be quick with my iPhone to capture this image.  This is the flavor of the weekend, The Fourth.

After my walk on the boardwalk I took a long and leisurely walk through some of the neighborhoods, including going past one of my former friend's house (he was there).  That's another whole story that I won't go into here, maybe another time.  He used to come down with his friend but I just found out his friend died late last year from colon cancer.  I would like to express my sympathy but I don't want to renew the friendship because there is nothing there.

After my morning sojourn in Rehoboth I headed out to Rt. 1 to do some shopping at Walmart.  Already Rt. 1 was heaving with southbound traffic of folks coming down "to the beach for the Fourth."  God bless 'em!  That's our bread and butter.  We have no industry here in southern Delaware other than the Atlantic Ocean and all the ancillary services that we can provide to make the tourists and day trippers happy and hopefully leave a lot of money behind to get us through the winter.

I have off today and tomorrow but I do go to work on Monday, which I'm not looking forward to mainly because parking will be a bitch in Lewes.  Parking is always difficult in Lewes but on the Fourth it is almost impossible.  That's the trouble with small towns likes Lewes, they want the tourists and the business but the parking is abysmal.

Some good news, I just got a call from a fellow blogger.  He would like to stop by late tomorrow afternoon  with his partner to hang out with me and Bill.  Tomorrow is our 47th anniversary.  Yep, forty-seven years ago I walked over to the other side of the Westbury Bar on 15th and Spruce Streets in Philadelphia and thanked that handsome man who had been sending me drinks for the past month or so.  I figured after all that expense the least I could do was thank him.  Little did I know that I would be spending the rest of my life with him!  Just goes to show you how fate works.  I wonder where I would be today if I hadn't gone over and thanked Bill on that warm summer night in the city.  Something to think about for sure.

Larry's Birthday in Rehoboth Beach

My friend Lar at at the boardwalk yesterday taking in the 'sights'

(Note: Blogger is having problems and I can't upload pictures to this blog.  I'm posting it anyway and when Blogger gets its act together, I'll upload the pictures which will make this posting much more interesting.  And yes, I did open up a Word Press blog this morning.  I think it is time.)

Yesterday I invited my long time friend Larry down to Rehoboth Beach and Old Time Photo to celebrate his birthday which is June 27th. Larry will be 70 years told on that day.  It's hard to believe that we've been friends for sixty years (since 3rd grade when we were both nine years old).

Larry and I were Best Friends until his family moved out of the Downingtown school district when we were in ninth grade.  We maintained our friendship over the year, having become much closer after 9/11 when Larry lost his banking job shortly after I also lost my banking job.

Larry and I have an interesting history.  We both had truck driver fathers who were not close to us.  We were both told by our parents that they were not going to send us to college.  We both made our own way in the world, eventually ending with jobs in banks (mine Mellon Bank and Larry Wilmington Trust).  Coincidentally we both lost our jobs due to the Great Downsizing Fever of the post Reagan years.  We now both work at part-time jobs which are  far removed from our previous managerial banking jobs.  I work as a hotel front desk clerk in an upscale boutique hotel in Lewes, DE.  Larry works as a stock clerk (he opens the boxes of clothiers and puts them on hangers) at Coldwater Creek in the upscale town of Greenville, DE.  Even though our jobs are far from glamorous or prestigious, we both love our jobs because we're not managing people, dealing with corporate bureaucracy (and meetings), and working the full-time grind.  We both like working because that's the way we were raised and we (let's be honest here) like the extra money a part-time job affords to supplement our modest, fixed Social Security and pension payments.  The extra money not only helps us to keep up with the ever increasing costs of living but enables us to occasionally splurge on doing something that is just fun for us.

Interestingly, given our similar histories with the distant father close relationship with our mothers; Larry is straight and I am gay.  There goes the urban myth that all gay men are that way because they were Momma's Boys who had absentee fathers.  We are who we are, no "choices" were made as to whether we would be straight or gay.  Larry is happily married to a wonderful woman (Lois) and has three delightful children, two girls and a boy.  Larry and his family are also the home to fourteen cats from the local animal shelter plus a few kitties who showed up on their doorstep when they heard about the cat friendly home on Olympia Drive in Claymont, Delaware.

So this is a brief history of our friendship.  Like me, Larry loves to take pictures although he isn't as brazen as I am about taking "in your face" pictures.  Yesterday Larry brought his new Flip Video camera with him.  As those who have  Flip Video camera know, the camera not only takes videos but you can take still images off of the camera just as if they were individual photos.  Thus this is the origin of the photos in this blog.  I took them with Larry's Flip video camera and he captured the images for me and sent them back to me this morning by e-mail.  Larry has given me permission to post some of those pictures on this blog.  Now, for the first time on THIS blog the reader will see the boardwalk from the view of a straight man.  My gay friends, please do not be alarmed.  I'm not going straight and I will return to my usual practice of occasionally posting some Beefcake to this blog.  Of course it is much more difficult for me to take those pictures than it is for me (or Larry) to take a picture of a beautiful girl in a bikini.  By the way, this is just a sampling of Beautiful Girls in Bikini shots.  As we were walking down Rehoboth Avenue yesterday, Larry was frequently distracted by all the Lovely Young Things in skimpy bathing attire.  Now that was a different experience for me, walking on Rehoboth Avenue and the boardwalk with a friend and seeing him catch his breath every time a lovely young lady walked by.  I'm used to walking with my gay friends sneaking a sideways look at a hunky young man (or older man) and whispering to me "Take a look at THAT!"  Oh, yes it definitely was a different experience for me yesterday.  And one that I enjoyed I might add.  We will do it again.

Summer Solstice

Today is Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year.  Below is the definition that I glommed off of Huff Post.

Today, June 21, is the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, which means it's the longest day of the year in 2011.

According to USA Today, the summer solstice occurs when the sun is the farthest north in the sky, directly above the Tropic of Cancer. The exact moment of the solstice today will occur at 1:16 p.m. ET.

While some consider the summer solstice as the beginning of summer, many actually regard it as midsummer, though the definition varies between different regions and cultures. In the Southern Hemisphere, today actually marks the 2011 winter solstice. These seasons will again be flipped between the hemispheres on December 22, when the second solstice of the year occurs (winter for Northern Hemisphere, and summer for Southern Hemisphere).

I love summertime.  It is my favorite time of the year.  Summer reminds me of the days when I went to grade school in the small Pennsylvania town of Downingtown.  Summer meant the end of stifling school classrooms and the beginning of long, warm days of play and adventure with my friends on Washington Avenue.  I will always remember summer that way.

When I was young I thought each summer day was longer until daylight abruptly changed with the leaves turning color and the chill winds slowly descending upon us.  Now that I'm older I know that early in summer with the Summer Solstice the days begin to get shorter.  This is always sad for me.  In not too many weeks my Purple Martins will have raised their last batch of baby Purple Martins and they too will be gone along with the warm winds and long days of summer.

But in the meantime, my friend Lar is on his way down from Claymont (he'll be here in about an hour) and we will have an adventure like we did when we were childhood friends lo these many years ago (the Fifties) on Washington Avenue in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.  

Today our adventure is getting our pictures taken at the Olde Time Photo Studio in Rehoboth Beach.  Yeah, yeah, I know these "Olde Time Photo places are tourist traps.  We're doing it anyway.

Hey, Larry's here!

Aaron Tippin

Aaron Tippin

Yesterday my friend Don V. suggested that I attend the 8th Annual Summer Bash in Milton, Delaware.  I've heard of these 'summer bashes', but never attended one before.  I'm a Curious George and I always like to try something AT LEAST ONCE so I thought "why not?"  The day was hot and humid and I've heard in years past these 'summer bashes" were also HOT in more ways than one.  So, normally where I would take a nap on a hot and humid Saturday afternoon in the summer, I instead plunked down a $35.00 donation to attend this event which is a combination of a birthday party for a local gay activist and raising money for the Delaware Food Bank.  Another item that piqued my interest was the country music star Aaron Tippin.

I didn't know anything about Aaron Tippin other than our last names are similar (mine is "Tipton" and we're both from hillbilly roots; his name may very well be an alliteration of my family last name that was misspelled somewhere along the way in the misty history of those hillbilly mountains and hollers of yesteryear).

What I did know about Aaron was the picture that was posted on Facebook advertising the Summer Bash. Take a look.  Wow.  Uh huh.  Yes indeedy.  Nice biceps if I do say so myself.

Well folks, I wasn't disappointed.  Yes, the crowds were there.  Yes, the air has warm and heavy with humidity.  Yes, the parking was a bitch.  But it was all worth it because Aaron was great!  This man is a good singer and an entertainer par excellence.  I've never attended a rock concert in my life.  In fact, I've never attended any concert by a music star in my life.  The only concerts I've ever attended in my life were the ones I participated in when I was in high school (I was a member of my high school band) and one memorable visit in 1966 to the Philadelphia Academy of Music to see Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66. I don't count that visit because my seat was so far up in the balcony all I could see were dots on the stage.  I could say I was there but I really didn't see anything.

Yesterday I would have liked to have gotten closer to Mr. Tippin but alas it was not to be.  I did get a video at closer range but it came out dark because of the lighting.  However, I did experience Aaron's mellifluous voice and his very entertaining personality.  Plus he has some kind of biceps.  Man oh man.  Who wants to see the likes of Mick Jagger or Steven Tyler after seeing a hunk (and I mean HUNK) like this.  Obviously a lady in the audience thought so too.  Listen to this short video I posted of Aaron yodeling.  Right in the middle Aaron take a short pause to bring the song to an end and the lady's beer takes over with a yell. Funny stuff but it all ended well.  Mr. Tippin, you are some showman.