What a beauty!

I sit here, in jeans and a sweatshirt, remembering our trip to the Keys. The warmth, the sun, the smell of the ocean. Yeah, it was only a month ago, but...it was also a world away!

When the Party's Over...

Just got back today from a 10 day dive trip to the Florida Keys. Had a slice of Key Lime Pie at every placed we stopped to eat. The best was actually at the Westin in Miami! You can order Key Lime pie on line for (get this) $69.95 for ONE PIE. And, that doesn't include shipping! I think I'll look up the recipe on line and try to make my own....$70 for a pie seems a little steep to me.

Celtic Festival

http://www.celticfest.org/

According to their website, the mission of the Celtic Cultural Alliance is to preserve and promote the Celtic culture, through education, musical presentations, and traditional competitions in athletics, piping and dance. The Celtic Classic (now in it's 28th year) historically attracts over 260,000 visitors to downtown Historic Bethlehem, Northeastern Pennsylvania. Residents of the Lehigh Valley comprise approximately forty percent (40%) of the patrons, while the remaining sixty percent (60%) are visitors from areas throughout the United States and abroad. The Ol' Man and I attended last night for the first time...What fun! We had haggis (which isn't nearly as awful as it's purported to be), bridies and chips, and Irish Stout (of course!). They had tons of vendors selling everything from pint glasses to stained glass, clothes (t-shirts to beautiful Irish sweaters), jewelry, kilts, shortbread and more. I bought the Ol' Man a Guiness rugby shirt for this birthday, and we found these wonderful, hand made wooden swords for the kids for a great Christmas present. They should have a blast whacking the crap out of each other. There might be a hospital trip in our future. The weather was perfect (nice and cool) and we got to see some Highland games (World Invitational Caber Championships - that's where they throw the telephone pole sized log!). Lots of guys in kilts. One of the kilt vendors was trying to talk a guy into buying a kilt...asking him why he would wear pants that "bind" when he could be wearing a comfortable kilt! When you think about it, it really makes sense....men should wear skirts and women are more suited to pants. We had a blast and will go again.

What I Did for My Summer Vacation

We made it back tonight from the family vacation. All went well! The boys had a blast swimming in Uncle D's pool, fishing in Uncle M's pond, eating junk food provided by the entire family, playing games with Great Grandma and Grandpa B...how wonderful to have such a loving family. Unfortunately, all my grandparents are dead, but the Ol' Man still has his grandma/pa on his mother's side (Great Grandparents for the boys!), and they are really great folks. I miss my grandmother and father, and it's really nice to have a grandma and grandpa again. Of course, the Ol' Man's mom is a perfect grandma...stuffing the boys full of cookies and cakes and letting them get away with murder...but I suppose that's the perks of being a grandma!

Summer Vacation

We're off today on the road trip to visit the Ol' Man's family. Hopefully, the weather up there is nicer than the weather down here. Hopefully, the kids sleep the entire way. His mom, bless her heart, will have ton's of food for us...that's what Grandma's do!

Quintessential Americana

Traveling through Pennsylvania, we met with, what I like to call, "quintessential Americana". We rode through many small towns that were just picture perfect. The town square, lined with shops on all sides, the big trees and bandstand in the middle, perfectly groomed lawns, flowers hanging from pots on the balcony's, American flags flying...just beautiful. That's something that you just don't get in the big cities. Very calming...it brought a smile to my face. The smells of the country side too...wildflowers, cow poo, the smell of dead animals on the side of the road, the warmth of the sun on your back, the sun playing hide and seek with the clouds...life doesn't get much better than that!

Tour Pennsylvania 2009

We made it! 1250 miles and 10 days later, we've seen God's Country. It was a great ride. Only one day of rain and the rest of the time, the weather was beautiful...as was the scenery. This is a picture of the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. We started out, and on the first day, rode through Coal Country. I couldn't pronounce half the names of the towns. Lots of the little towns looked worn down. Ragged. Tired. Like life has passed them by, the good old days were gone and, bewildered, they were wondering what happened, where did everyone go?