More Veteran stuff

Because really...our soldiers sacrifice A LOT. It's not just not sleeping in your own bed or not going to your favorite restaurant. It's missing time with families and pets - go check this out (thanks June for the original link).

Thank You

Like a lot of people, my Dad was in the service. He served during the Korean War - no heroics other than giving up his comfy life-style for 4 years and risking a chance at getting shot for the love of country. My grandfather was a Marine during WWI - I believe he did get shot at - he didn't talk about it to anyone when he was alive. I have always had the utmost respect for our troops, whether I agree with the war doesn't matter. So today - in my return to the blog world I don't want to bitch or moan or be snarky or try to be funny - I want to honor and say thank you to those who serve our country, my country, every day - in the US and around the world. I am TiVo'ing this show tonight on PBS - it looks great, go check out the trailer and read the reviews - I hope you get a chance to see it, too.

The Way We Get By - Trailer from The Way We Get By on Vimeo.

"Do you need a bawtenda?'

I have been living the life let me tell ya. Actually I have tried to stay off the computer and get some stuff down around the house, working on stealth Christmas projects canning 30 lbs of peaches and 40 lbs of pears and yes that is as much fun as you are imagining. But seriously, life has been good. We went to Baltimore to watch a Red Sox game and I think all of Boston was there. So, because posting pics on blogger is so much fun and so easy - I'll spend the next 2 hours sharing my photos of Baltimore & Annapolis with you. And I apologize for the formatting - blogger does tend to suck with formatting ...

This is left over crab cake(s) from our first dinner at the most amazing crab cake restaurant ever - Timbuktu - if you ever ever ever have to fly into BWI - this place is a cab ride away and worth the trip. We met an old friend for dinner & had a great time. You'll notice there is no breading in this cake - all crab meat, baby.

Our first breakfast in town involved more crab - my personal goal was to eat crab something at every meal. Breakfast did not disappoint at Miss Shirley's - another must and walking distance to all things downtown. My choice for breakfast both days we ate there was the Crab & Fried Green Tomatoes Benedict - need I say more?

The only bad thing I can say about this breakfast is, since I ate every last bite I didn't need to eat the rest of the day.

Hubby had the Smoked Salmon Benedict and of course we had mimosas - it was Friday morning but we were on vaca! We walked around the Inner Harbor - did some tourist stuff, had a few beers at the ESPN Zone ( it was the only outside seating bar open where you didn't have to eat something) and then around 6:00pm wandered over to Camden Yards Park. We walked everywhere since it was all pretty close and we had the big ol' breakfast.

The area we hung out at before the game- a sports bar called Pickles Pub was really like Cask n' Flagon South. It was packed, and I mean packed with Sox Nation. I was waiting at the bar to order a couple for beers and one of the patrons (pictured below), who I thought was a local, until he asked me "Do you need a bawtenda?" and when I answered affirmatively he and his buddy started yelling at the poor, unfortunately named bartender Amber. "Amba! Amba! Amba! We need a beer!" But she was good natured about all of it and took good care of us and that is me getting my beer. It was a little crazy out side so we stayed inside Pickles until game time then walked across the street to the game. We had club seats on the third base line - cheaper than most seats at Fenway. Clay Bucholtz was pitching & the Sox won. It was great fun!

Ten On Tuesday - Wednesday Edition

Ten Things That I Think are Cool - well it seems I might be a little out of step with popular culture but these are things that i definitely think are very cool - in no particular order....

1. My friends - I have the coolest, greatest friends ever. And that means all of you!

2. My cats - even Dillon who is in kitty heaven had an air of cool about him.

3. Hubby having a martini on ice waiting for me when I get home from work on a Friday night - so 50's cool.

4. Hand knit socks - nerdy but so fun. I am really almost done with my first pair - over 6 years in the making!

5. The first snow fall.

6. Hot spiced cider in the fall.

7. Christmas Eve - love it.

8. Traveling out of town to watch the Red Sox play - more on that later!

9. The library - again nerdy but man you can check out so many books for free!

10. Cooking a great meal - making good food is very cool!

I Gotta A Feeling.....I'm getting old

Until this morning, when I was watching my TiVo'd Oprah episodes I had not heard of this song. Now I have heard of the Black Eyed Peas - I'm not that old. But this clip (excuse the ad at the end but this clip had the best resolution) is so cool - really you have to watch it... and I gotta a feeling I am going to go buy this CD..

The Haddam Neck Fair and heads in freezers..

I was only going to post photos from our trip last night to the Haddam Neck Fair but then read one of my favorites blogs Bye Bye Pie and June posted about this great google image.. go here to Google Image 241543903 and then tell me if you understand what it's all about....

Growing up , we always enjoyed to Montana's Biggest Weekend and always went to the rodeo at least one day. The fairs in New England have their similarities: animals - check - carnivals - check - fair food - check but alas no rodeo. We now go to the fair to watch a tractor/truck or animal pull. It sort of feels like these things should only take place in the Deep South but there we were, last night watching the truck pull. A good time was had by all, The Training Buddy Family & Hubby & I. Here are some more photos...

Had to add the sheep since Training Buddy, Princess & I had visited the CT Yarn and Wool Company and helped them with their inventory problem by buying some great sock yarn.

The very horny, well endowed goats - photos posted at the request of Mr. Training Buddy and to the delite of Miss Nose Dive - a long story for another post...

The trucks hooked up to the trailer and then pulled it.. weights were added and whoever didn't blow out their engine and could still pull the trailer won. We did see a guy blow up - lots of sparks and black smoke but he was Ok - they had to tow the truck.

And Princess on her pony ride!

Peace & Quiet...

Hubby is out sailing with Mr. Training Buddy and me and the cats have the whole place to ourselves - YEA! I think I have wasted enough of this gorgeous day on line so this will be a short post - another random vaca shot so I can go sit on the deck with a cup of joe and chill...

This is a shot inside Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aries. You can go check out this web site & learn all about the place - very spiritual stuff going on inside and not all the spirits were happy ones...