For infrequent readers this (below) used to be the dark matter of the blog. Not dark as in mood, but dark like the stuff which fills most of the universe. Then along came rakkity, Jennifer, smiling dan, pesky godson, Adam, BirdBrain, Matt and Co., and all the other contributors. Their interesting stories bumped out the daily chatter aspect of the blog.
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Diane’s been pleading with me for two years to schedule a vacation. Dan and Linda suggested a weekend at their families place in Boothbay Harbor (they were going to join us until, Paxie, their dog, got run over) and I acquiesced. As if money grows on trees Diane forced me to leave at noon on Friday.
Well, here we are sitting on the deck in Boothbay looking out over the harbor. I’m typing and Diane is reading “A Song I Knew By Heart,” by Bret Lott. She hates it (“I’m not sure I can read this, honey) and wouldn’t finish it if it weren’t for her book club. Most people know that Diane reads a book or more a week, and that our house is full of paperbacks. Would anyone like to come by and take a few?
Anyway, when we arrrived last night, the first thing we did was jump into the ocean. The water was almost too warm.
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This isn’t us but a family from, guessing by their accent, Australia.
Daryl, Hannah, Hil K, Debbie, Matt, Billy, Kyle, Cory, Drew, Joe, Mary, Martin, Cortney, Chris, Sarah T, Brett, Kathy, Adam, Michael and Rodd all went camping last weekend at rakkity’s place on Grok Hill in Gilsum, NH. The weather was crisp and clear, and because the nights were cool, we outnumbered the mosquitoes.
Saturday night Diane and I invited John Lewis to eat with us at The Cracker Barrel restaurant in Tyngesboro (Shirley’s treat). Diane ordered chicken and dumplings, fried okra and turnip greens while John raved about his open-face roast beef sandwich with gravy. We had enough money left from our gift certificate to buy a Cheyenne DVD with three episodes from the long running western. Those were hour long shows and Diane and I watched it for two successive nights. On the way home from the restaurant we listened to country and western music.
Episode 1
The Storm Riders (Feb 7, 1956)
From tv.com:
A rancher named John Dembro gives shelter to Cheyenne who’s been hurt in an “incident” on the adjoining ranch owned by Martin Storm. Both Dembro’s teenaged daughter, Johnny, and her stepmother, Sheila, are anxious to treat Cheyenne’s injuries and they become bitter rivals. Soon Dembro persuades the recovered Cheyenne to help him unite the other small ranchers to oppose Storm who maintains his authority through a hired “gun” named Swallow. Cheyenne kills Swallow in a shootout. Dembro becomes drunk in the ensuing celebration and dies in a fire, though Sheila could have saved him. Now free of her husband, Sheila makes a play for Cheyenne who spurns her. Hurt and angry, the increasingly-deranged Sheila has Cheyenne arrested, claiming he killed her husband. Sheila’s deemed too crazy to give credible testimony so Cheyenne is freed but townspeople, believing Cheyenne’s guilty, form a lynch mob, egged on by Storm. Johnny arrives on the scene and convinces the crowd of Cheyenne’s innocence. Storm now rides off, knocking down Sheila and killing her. The Sheriff then fires at the fleeing Storm and kills him.
Knowing how you like panos, I’m sending a link of 3 photos of Prague that I cobbled together into a near panoramic montage (not Photoshop quality, but reasonably good) while I was going through our shots of Eastern Europe.
Patrick has some good shots which we just digitized, and I’ll add them to the collection I’m assembling.
Sorry this is late, but we’ve been locked into calls to the West coast.
Mrs Rakkity confirmed my suspicions that she’d rather not have either high tech or diamonds. What she’d really want is a trip to Cinque Terre, Italy, or a dozen dinners at the Galileo Laboratorio (equivalent in price).
