Dinner

SN1, Grandson Sean, and I* journeyed into beautiful downtown Hampton this evening to dine on raw fish and other delicacies at Musasi restaurant. Like this:

The first pic is SN1 and Sean, the second pic is my entree, about which we had already done considerable damage by the time I took that pic.  I have to mention the fact that Sean's taste has broadened considerably since his first encounter with sushi.  This time out he ate the tuna and the salmon roe with considerable gusto.  The last time?  Not so much.

So.  We got back over an hour ago but I took an hour off to sit out on the verandah, have a cigar, and drink three fingers (x2) o' SN1's Macallan stash.  Let me say this about that: the good weather I brought with me from New Mexico has vanished into the ether, replaced by what's usual, customary and quite UNreasonable for this part o' the world, which is to say 80 degrees and 85% relative humidity at 2200 hrs, Gentle Reader.  That's like the dead o' night and it's frickin' STIFLING outdoors.  But, Hey!  It what it is and what it is... is GOOD.

* Where's DIL Erma, you may ask?  She's in NM, attending to granddaughter Monique who had an ultrasound today.  It's a boy!  That would be great-grandchild number five, but who's counting?  Not me.

Saturday: Water Baby!

How cool is that?  I remember when DIL Alisa and granddaughters Anastasia and Amanda came to visit with The Second Mrs. Pennington and I in Dee-troit while Dad was under the Atlantic for 90 days at a time.  Alisa and TSMP enrolled the girls in swim classes one summer, Anastasia was about three and Amanda wasn't much older... if she was older at all... than the water baby in that video.  Both girls have kids of their own now.  My, how time does fly!

Anastasia & Puppies, c.1987

Amanda & Anastasia, Summer 2000

My Car Is Officially Old (And So Am I)

Cadillac unveiled the New! Improved! 2014 CTS this past Tuesday, making The Dowager Tart officially obsolescent, if not obsolete.  There's this about that...

 

Cadillac generated a lot o' press with this unveiling, with articles here, here, and here.

So, here we are... our Tart bein' less than a year old and already out o' date.  This isn't the first time this has happened; we bought our 1983 Baby Beemer which was upstaged by an all-new platform in 1984 and our 1996 Impala SS was discontinued the year we bought it.  History repeats itself... always and ever.  That said... we love our Tart and will continue to love her even as she's been pushed aside by the New! and Improved! model.  (sigh)

Tuesday was also my birthday, wherein we turned 68 years of age.  That ol' cliché that goes "if I knew I was gonna live this long I'd have taken better care o' myself" certainly applies here.  That said, we don't look all THAT bad... witness this cheesy cellphone pic from Monday evening:

We... Diego (who took this pic), Felicity, great-granddaughter Mya, great-grandson DJ (not pictured), Buck, grandson Sean, and me... celebrated my birthday with drinks and dinner at El Pinto in ABQ, an establishment I've gone on about in the past.  El Pinto could very aptly be described as "the Restaurant At the End o' the Universe" when it comes to quality... there are none better as far as Mexican restaurants go and precious few restaurants, in general, that exceed El Pinto's quality.  They make damned fine salsa, too.

We split our actual birth date between family and friends, more specifically the SN1 family in the morning and Blog-Bud Lin and her friend (and house renovation contractor) Kyle in the afternoon.  I arrived at Lin's place early Tuesday afternoon at which time we proceeded to drink copious quantities o' beer and smoke cigars, plural.  I let it slip that Tuesday... this day... was my birthday and Kyle immediately responded with "Well, if today's yer birthday, then you need a present.  Wait here, I'll be right back."  Kyle went out to his car and returned with this:

That, Gentle Reader, is a Ruger 22/45 target pistol.  My mouth fell open and I sputtered protestations that I couldn't accept the gift but Kyle wouldn't be denied.  So, there you... and me... have it.  Is that cool, or what?

Our evening ended with a scrumptious dinner of Salmon Almondine accompanied with prodigious quantities of fresh asparagus.  We would have topped off the evening with tumblers o' Johnnie Walker Green but, alas.  I hit the wall and fell into bed at 2230 hrs.  We'll save the scotch for another time.

So.  We're home and it was a wonderful week away, spent with family and friends.  It was almost TOO much fun, Gentle Reader.  Almost.

It Was a Beautiful Wedding

Congratulations, Felicity and Diego... you're a fine looking couple with much happiness in your future. 

More pics may follow.

Update, 1345 hours:  We've been reviewing and sharing pics at the SN1 house today. Here's one taken by Uncle Phil...

I got drunk happy enough to actually light the thing before the end of the evening.

Happy Birthday Sean!

Sixteen today... driver's license to follow.

Bouncy Girl

That would be great-granddaughter Mya...

... with Grandson Sean spotting.  Taken in ABQ a while back, after a cooling rain shower.  As always, click to embiggen.

A Mind Like a Steel Trap

I'm wearing one of my favorite tee shirts (pic at right), and I was reminded of a story as I put it on today.

I wore this shirt while I was up in Leavenworth this past April and I asked grandson Sean if he knew what the logo/diagram was.  "No," he replied.  So I told him... it's a capsaicin molecule and he sez "Oh, yeah... chiles!"  

Now fast forward to last week when I was up in ABQ.  Sean sez to me "You'll like this, Grandpa."  "What?" sez I.  "You know your capsaicin tee shirt?" sez he.  "Yup," sez I.  And then he sez... "Well my chemistry teacher had the molecular diagram of capsaicin on the board on our first day of class and he asked the class if anyone knew what it was.  I raised my hand and said 'Yep... it's a capsaicin molecule.'"

I'm bettin' the chemistry teacher was floored.  As the title sez: A Mind Like a Steel Trap.

The boy takes after his father (AND his Mom).  His grandfather, too. 

In Today's Mail

This, from SN1:

Hey dad…

Just a quick story for you that goes with this pic:

Apparently this shirt isn't allowed to be worn by the forensics team now…

It seems one of the mothers on the team was shocked when she saw the back…she thought it said: fornicate.

So…because one woman can't read and has a dirty mind (not that that's a bad thing!), the kids can't wear what I think is a really cool shirt that Sean says is extremely comfortable.

Don't you just hate it when that happens?

Thought you'd appreciate this...

Isn't that SPECIAL?

Update:  Frickin' Blogger.  You'd THINK Blogger and g-mail, both bein' horses from the same stable, would be able to talk to each other.  But noooo...

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack (And Some Miscellaneous Ramblings)

The musical equivalent o' Comfort Food (The Wiki, she has EVERYthang)...

Take it easy, take it easy
Don't let the sound of your own wheels
Drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
Don't even try to understand
Just find a place to take your stand
and take it easy

Comfort Food...which is easy to eat and it makes ya feel good.... and I suppose it's the same with Comfort Music.  I actually heard the Eagles version o' this tune earlier but I much prefer Mr. Browne's original version, seein' as how I'm one of those Sensitive Seventies Kinda Guys (the comments to that post are pretty interesting, btw).  Or I used to be, at any rate.  Not so much, today.

But.  Comfort Music are the sorta tunes where ya know ALL the words and ya have this tendency to sing along, which we did, of course.  And the Eagles version of the tune ain't half bad, all things considered.  Ya pays yore money and ya makes yore choice.  I LOVE this tune, as it seems to remain relevant after all these years.  Time was when I really had "seven women on my mind" but that's not quite the case any longer.  But I've found a place to make my stand and I'm definitely takin' it easy these days.  More so than I prolly should, actually.

―:☺:―

 

A few Random Notes...  We spent the better part of our day cleaning house before adjourning to the verandah for Happy Hour this afternoon.  Which was mainly because we were graced with a three and a half hour visit yesterday with Isabel, the two-year old daughter of our neighbor.  And her babysitter, of course.  Our living space is not quite child-proof, which necessitated extreme vigilance on my and the babysitter's part(s) lest Young Isabel cause damage to herself on the many sharp glass-and-chrome edges that abound in El Casa Inmóvil de Pennington, and there are many.   Said glass and chrome is also very susceptible to lil fingerprints and other such tarnishing, and that was what we spent some time cleaning up today.  It must also be said that Young Isabel, despite all our attentiveness, managed to whack herself on the noggin by spinning one of my bar stools on its axis and not QUITE getting out o' the way when the bar stool was in close proximity to her head... which resulted in a fairly large bump on the young girl's head and much wailing and crying.  But no serious damage was done and I managed to make it better with a kiss or two.  Imagine that, if you will.

 

I think I've acquired a surrogate grand-daughter.  Imagine that, yet again.  Imagine also that her mom might come along.  Yeah... there's a fantasy I can live with!

 

―:☺:―

 

So... I noticed Miller Lite has a new ad they're running and it begins with words to the effect of "there's a place for strong dark beer but on the other six days when you want sumthin' lighter..."   Wrong.  I can sorta relate, from a cigar perspective, coz there ARE days when I want sumthin' other than a full-flavored, robust maduro or the like.  But BEER?  Frickin' NEVER.  I'd rather drink Perrier than Miller Lite or its bros-in-arms.  As a s'matter o' fact I'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between Perrier and "light" beers with the possible exception of Blue Light, but there's an exception to every rule.  Miller makes some pretty cool ads, but this ain't one of 'em. 

Wherein I Play the Proud Grandpa

Grandson Sean in his first public performance... at his high school's talent show:

As captioned by SN1 on The Tube O' You:

Jack, Caitlyn and Sean play Norwegian Wood...Starts out kinda rough, but gets better after they start singing. Focus is restored quickly. First video...let me know what you think!

Sean is sitting, on guitar and vocals.  The performance took place on the evening of 1/19/2012.

I'm Just So Danged Proud o' Myself...

... mainly because I got up waaay before the crack o' noon, drank half a pot o' coffee, ran over to The Big(ger) City™ to exchange those wrong readers for the right ones (which were in stock, thank The Deity At Hand), made a beer run, and I'm back home just barely after 1000 hrs.  This kinda reminds me of that ol' Groundpounder commercial: "We do more before 0800 than most people do all day"... which is entirely relative these days, of course.

―:☺:―

And then there's this:

I saw that yesterday and shoulda posted it then.  But better late, yadda, yadda...  Ramirez is right about all that, I suppose, but I have HOPE that The One will be a one-termer.

Along those same lines, here's a lil sumthin' an Occasional Correspondent sent along yesterday:

Some people have the vocabulary to sum up things in a way you can understand them. This quote came from the Czech Republic. Someone over there has it figured out. We have a lot of work to do.
 
"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr.Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president."  

And there are some people who STILL don't geddit. 

―:☺:―

A couple o' weeks ago I made mention that I'd cruised up to Tucumcari for lunch with DIL Alisa, the grandkids, and the great-grandbabies; I also said I'd post a pic when I received one.  Well, I got a couple o' pics but I've been sitting on 'em for over a week, vacillating back and forth about posting them, or not.  DIL Erma and SN1 think the pics aren't all THAT bad, so... well, OK then.  Here's one (left to right: granddaughters Ava and Angelina, great-grandson Taurean, great-granddaughter Aria):

We prolly shouldn't have stuck that hat pin in great-granddaughter Aria's butt.

In Which We Combine Happy and After Dinner Whiskey Hours

I got back from a day trip up to Tucumcari... slightly under 200 miles, round-trip... earlier this evening and immediately adjourned to the verandah to savor a few fingers of that loverly JW Gold and burn a small cigar.  I took a page out of the reviewer's comments I linked (above) and put three fingers of the Gold in the freezer yesterday afternoon, the object bein' to freeze the spirit as suggested by the Johnnie Walker folks on their web site.  Well, sorta.  Mr. Walker's heirs and descendents... or the Diageo folks, acting on their behalf... recommend freezing the entire bottle for 24 hours before drinking.  I'm not willing to go THAT far but I'm all for tryin' new stuff, so we froze a small amount of the Gold before imbibing.  Here's what it looked like after coming out of the freezer:

The results?  Not too shabby!  Freezing seems to enhance the pepper/spice flavors in the drink while not taking a thing away from that wonderful nose.  Freezing also reduces the spirit to a syrupy sorta texture and increases the intensity of the flavors on the palate.  I really liked the latter effect and I might have to do this again in the near future.  The drink stayed pretty danged cold for a rather longish time, all the more surprising considerin' it was 90 degrees out when I took to the verandah.

About that day trip... the object of said trip was to mosey on up to Tucumcari and have a late lunch with DIL Alisa; grand-daughters Anastasia (and husband Alex), Amanda, Ava, and Angelina; and great-grand-offspring Taurean and Aria.  The trip was a great success: we got to spend some quality time (however brief) with all involved and I got to sharpen up my grand-parenting skills, which aren't as rusty as I might think... mainly because I succeeded in making the grandbabies laugh a lot, and that's no mean feat.  DIL Alisa and grand-daughter Amanda took photos of the event and I have it on good authority those should appear in my e-mail box sometime in the near future.  We shall post a couple o' same upon receipt.

So: a fun day.  I only wish I lived closer to the kids... ALL the kids... so this sorta thang could happen more often.  (sigh)

Heh and Feelin' the Love

The usual source has all sorts o' toons about The One and his new-found bellicosity, mostly centered around his latest Obamateurism: "kinetic military action."  But this is the toon that caught my eye and made me grin:

Heh.  I really like Mr. Kelley.

―:☺:―

Lest you go off thinkin' all is lost with our younger generation, let me share this cool lil note I received from Grandson Sean this morning:

I read your post about Alligator Records and immediately went to Grooveshark and found an album similar. It isn't the 40th anniversary but it's the 30th so it's close enough. I think it's great so far. I haven't listened to the whole set yet but I think I'll like it.

See?  All is NOT lost!

―:☺:―

Amazon loves me, too.  I wish they didn't love me as quite as much as they do, tho, coz this crap could get expensive after a while: 

I'm thinkin' the Big Head Todd album looks pretty good...  God help me.

Your Perspective Changes

My Buddy Ed In Florida sends along one of those typical "grandparent" e-mails chock full o' cuteness, such as this: 

13. A 6-year-old was asked where his grandma lived. "Oh," he said, "she lives at the airport, and when we want her, we just go get her. Then, when we're done having her visit, we take her back to the airport."

My reply?  "My favorite granddaughter quote of late (just this past July, as a matter of fact)... 'Hey Grandpapa... ready for another beer?"'

They're all grown up now, with kids of their own.  These two, anyway.

But not ALL of 'em.  There are more, too.  This is just the SN2 side o' the house.

More From the Archives

Just for posterity's sake... some family shots taken in Ferndale, Michigan in 1989 and 1990.

Left to Right: DIL Alisa, Granddaughter Anastasia (age 18 mos or so), The Second Mrs. Pennington; SN2 and YrHmblScrb in back.

Sam, Alisa, and Anastasia

TSMP and Me

Sam and Alisa came to visit in the Spring of 1989.  If I'm not mistaken they were on their way down to Charleston, SC where Sam reported in for his first fleet assignment as an A-Ganger on the USS James K. Polk.  Don't we ALL look so very young?  Well... some of us do.

Speaking of young... The Major dropped in for a visit in the Spring of the following year (1990) on his way to RAF Lakenheath.  Here's an informal shot of the young man:

That was back in the day when he was on the E-side of the house and was allowed to have hair.  TSMP and I returned his visit in December of that year for the infamous UK Christmas Tour of 1990.  We shall have more pics of that adventure at a later date but in the meantime here's the three of us in some London pub:

I think this might have been taken the day of our arrival in Ol' Blighty but I'm not sure.  There were so MANY pubs to visit, yanno?

It Sure Is QUIET In Here

I slept the sleep of The Just last night or mebbe the dead, which is prolly the better metaphor considering my age.  (Minor digression: I'm always wonderin' if I should use "metaphor" or "simile" at times like these.  Fortunately there's an app answer for that.  Gotta love the inner-nets.)  We exercised Option Two immediately after putting up yesterday's post, followed by Option Two yet again, then Option Three, followed by another Option Two as we exercised Option One.  We then made what passed for dinner, followed by Option 2A, a couple o' fingers of single malt and a small cigar.  It was then we realized we were tired, despite the fact we'd done Option Three just a couple o' few hours earlier.  Now it might could have been all that Option Two and 2A stuff, but I doubt it.  Driving is mentally taxing, yanno?  And so to bed, lulled into sleep by the gentle pitty-pat of rain on my roof... and there's only ONE other way to fall asleep that's better.  But rain-on-the-roof had to do in the absence of (a significant) other.

So.  Early to bed and early to rise.  Oh-dark-thirty early, before the sunrise early.  We made the coffee, poured our first cup, sweetened it with newly free-flowing sugar (after repeatedly stabbing a surprisingly resistant solid block of sugar in my sugar dispenser), and lightened it with half-and-half that expired two days ago.  It smelled OK and tastes OK, but I'll prolly get beriberi or the bends or some other rare and excruciating disease for disregarding the expiration date.  Coz the FDA, the Department of Agriculture, and several State regulatory agencies know better than me or my nose.  Right?

And did you know you can grow a FINE crop of mold in about an inch and a half of left-over coffee left sitting in a pot for over three weeks?  Yes, you CAN.  We took great care to remove all potential science experiments from the fridge prior to our departure and even remembered to take out the garbage, the fetid memory of unattended garbage from our last road trip still fresh in our mind after all these years.  But we did not empty the coffee pot.  So we had to sterilize it before making the morning coffee, and I HATE doing anything before I'm caffeinated.

So, again.  We finally got caught up with our Daily Reads this morning (sorta), which was an enjoyable but  long and time consuming process.  Some of my reads are prolific posters and it takes some time to work through the backlog.  Others of you are turning into real slackers, if I may say so.  But Hey!  It's summer; you're authorized.  Pretty soon we'll be off to Wally-World to restock our consumables, that being second choice to a full-blown commissary run.  Wally-World is a mere three miles from the house and the base is about 20.  That's something of a testament about my revulsion at the thought of driving even that short distance.  We are getting old.

Finally... about the post title.  I spent the last ten days or so in the company of these beautiful children:

Beauty also can be loud.  Pleasantly so, I should add, the pitter-patter of lil feet and all that.  I miss 'em already.

Cheesy Videos XX - Summertime Kids

It ain't all military pomp and circumstance and male bonding on this trip... there are the grandkids, too.  Earlier this evening:

SN2 has a great lot with a verdant grass-covered hill that's just perfect for rolling down.  I have it on good authority that this same hill also does double-duty as an excellent sledding hill in winter.  But there are some things we'll accept on faith and do not have to witness in person.  I don't DO "winter" anymore.

Actors appearing in this edition of "Cheesy Videos:"  Grandson Sean, Granddaughter Ava (in the pink top) and brief cameos by Granddaughter Angelina (with the kite) and Great-granddaughter Aria... in the white dress.

Sushi...

...it's what's for lunch.

Round One

Round Two 

Note Round One is completely gone... every last tasty morsel consumed by YrHmblScrb, and him alone.  Sushi is what's for dinner, too, seeing as how I couldn't eat it all.  I made the mistake of thinking Grandson Sean would like sushi as much as I do, and I ordered about twice as much as I would eat.  Well, I was wrong on a couple of levels.  Capital "W" wrong.  Today was Sean's first sushi encounter and he did NOT like it.  At all.  I'd bet good money today will be his first and last such experience... at least for the foreseeable future.

In the "Time Marches On" Category...

Great-grandson Taurean turned two yesterday.  I received the formal second birthday portraits last evening from Mom Amanda and wowzers! ... are they ever cute!  A sample:

Dontcha love the hat?

Major cuteness is a family trait when it comes to SN2 and DIL Alisa's offspring... witness this collection of newborn Taurean snaps with Aunts Ava and Angelina.  It's hard to believe that was only two short years ago.  Time does fly, indeed.

Rock Star

Well, not yet. Technically. But the term is true in other usages. That would be Grandson Sean above, noodling on his new Telecaster. We never did get to those Beatles tunes yesterday; it was more fun for me to listen to Sean pick out a lil bit of 12-bar blues and other such things, and he was quite alright with that. Sean also spent a bit of time picking my brain about rock 'n' roll and r'n'r guitarists... what did I listen to most, who's my favorite, what did I think of this guy and that guy, and so on and so forth.

It occurred to me... and we discussed this at some length... just how lucky kids are today. Sean has access to a WORLD of music on YouTube. Name a guitarist, any guitarist, and one can find clips of that guy's work... and lots of 'em, too... just sitting there waiting for you to come by and take 'em. It wasn't so when Townshend, Clapton, Santana, and SRV first picked up their guitars, now... was it? We DO live in such wonderful times...