or more boredom than the brain can handle featuring a butt load of photos
(Oh hey, look. There's that jump thing again to read on)
Moving on...
1. Sisters Pelini Weekend at the Beach
Once again we Pelino girls traveled to Long Beach Island to spend several days at my sister's little house by the lagoon. We love this place, and although Big Mar cannot venture to the beach anymore, she enjoys being with her girls. The feeling is mutual. We eat, yak, drink, tan, drink, yak, eat, yak, yak, yak... You know, the usual girl stuff that is impossible to share with spouses because you just can't. You just have to be there. And be a girl and/or sister. It's a gender-specific phenom. Trust me on this.
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| fresh caught seafood daily |
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| fresh made mojito daily |
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| fresh cut blooms daily okay, not these. their owners would be pissed |
2. Flying on Amelia Earhart Airlines
As has become our tradition over the past couple years, Big Mar and I buzzed on up to the Hudson Valley (New Paltz, NY to be exact) to spend some time with my Brother and his wife. This past summer, Big Mar and I flew to Newark instead of driving. Being in the car that long is tough on the old bird. Big Mar has difficulty, too. Hey-OOoooooo!!
Anywho, I swear to God somewhere between our front door and the airport gate we inadvertently stepped into a freaking time machine dialed to 1930, because Dude, our plane had a propeller.
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| hello 1930 |
And non-retractable landing gear.
What the EF?
Welcome to Amelia Earhart Airlines, Muthas.
Meanwhile, back in the 21st century, we had a terrific weekend with the Bro and SIL. Buddy took Friday off so we could hang on the Hudson in his boat, drinking beers, soaking up he sun and watching Big Mar tear it up.
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| Chug Chug Chug |
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| Big G is so gangsta, yo |
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| relaxing on the hudson like a wealthy person |
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| look at him he's so happy on the water |
Our last full day in New Paltz started off with a long walk through the rail trail near the center of town.
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| a quiet morning near wallkill |
It was beautiful, serene and full of some weird shit stuck on trees.
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| "will you be my friend?" |
and this popular favorite tag...
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| yaaaaaaay.... |
In the center of this tiny hamlet was a music and street fair. By afternoon it poured just enough to make it sticky and hot as hell. So, Leslie (my SIL) and I are casually strolling from booth to booth when I look up...and almost Al Rokered. There before us is none other than...
Rhett Miller
...AND his progeny
*gulp*
Rhett, on his own turf. And I wasn't even trying to stalk him. Honest. Pinky swear.
He was perfectly lovely and kind. His children were beautiful and sweet. Me? I was a bumbling, sweat-stained, incoherent boob.
*Sigh*
On the upside, he was a special add-on guest performer, so we got to see a bonus mini concert by the lovely blue-eyed one.
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| le sigh |
Yeah. He really has to stop phoning these short performances in. ;)
4. Hobo Road Trip
Geo and I only get two full weeks off together in the year. Generally we spend Labor Day week at LBI with my sister and a week in December in the NJ/NYC area. I've been blessed (okay, maybe more like spoiled) to travel quite a bit in 2012, so it only seemed fair to have Geo pick what we would do for our seven day hiatus from the world. He chose a driving adventure starting at Princeton with a Francis Dunnery show at the Community Center, and no other concrete plans after that. We had a list of places we wanted to hit, but for the most part we kept our itinerary fluid and winged it.
And thus began our Hobo Road Trip.
4a. At Princeton (the only stop we actually planned), we met up with our friends (and Francis' staff) Tony and Kate before the show. They are delightful, open, and warm-hearted people with whom we always have a great time. We were able to stop by backstage to say hello and firm up plans to visit Francis at his home on our travels north to the Finger Lakes later in the week. The show was terrific, as usual. It was a hoot to watch Francis (known for us excessive use of the f-bomb) attempt to curtail his swearing until he could contain himself no longer and finally let fly.
4b. On our way to our friends, The Healeys' home north of Philly, we decided to stop in Hamilton, NJ at Grounds For Sculpture. I had been there years earlier with my sisters, but this was the first time for Geo. It's this great parcel of land that used to be a race car track. Now it's filled with 42 acres of over 270 sculptures, some of which are 3D versions of classic paintings from Renoir, Matisse and Degas. Very cool.
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| "does this umbrella make my bustle look big?" |
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| insinuating myself into the ahrt |
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| matisse's dancers avec perv some of the classical replicas have additions, like this creeper |
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| renoir's luncheon of the boating party in life-sized 3D, yo |
4c. After catching up with our friends, we decided to head south to Longwood Gardens owned and operated by the Dupont Estate. Our old neighbor, Marney is the marketing director of the conservatory, and she and her family live on the grounds. This place is ginormous. The conservatory is massive, gorgeous and filled to the brim with unique plants and attractions. It was great to catch up Marney and spend a beautiful, late September day in the outdoors.
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| the main room of the conservatory |
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| one of several tree houses on the property mr. dupont was a kid at heart or just...odd |
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| these floating discs are made with used CDs |
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| ginormous lily pads at least five feet in diameter that is not hyperbole |
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| one of the many rooms |
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| dancing waters exhibit run with antique 1940s technology: knobs and switches old school |
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| the living loo wall okay, first of all, look at the number of toilets! SCORE! second, how cool is this green wall? |
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| the other side of the living loo wall too cool for just one photo |
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| with marnie, big cheese at the conservatory |
4d. While we were traversing the fields at Longwood, our plans fell through to visit Francis, but as luck and serendipity would have it, we were a mere two hour drive from Steph and her brand-spanking new baby girl! Coincidentally, she phoned me just as Geo and I were in a tree house (pictured above) discussing calling HER to see if she was ready for visitors. No shit! Kismet!! So off to Pasadena, MD we went to see the bambino and get Steph some much needed sushi. And wine. Girlfriend needed some wine.
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| aaaaaa.... |
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| mouth watering and worth the wait |
4e. Back in PA... the Wyeth Museum in Chadsford was right there, man! We had to go. The first time we went was our honeymoon. It's still a charming little place tucked away in the woods.
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| those of you with an iPhone 4S will get this |
4f. From our hotel in Kennett Square, we went north to the Finger Lakes. The fall colors through the Poconos were stunning. Each ridge brought a fresh palette of red, orange and yellow. Oddly enough, when we finally arrived at our B&B, Seneca Springs on Seneca Lake, the trees had barely begun to turn.
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| highway beauty |
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| the view from our inn where for art thou, fall palette? |
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| aaaa...the quiet pastoral life a little sunshine...a little wine...a little nosh... it would be blissfully peaceful if it wasn't for the EFFING GUN BLASTS no shit. we're sitting there all mellow and BOOM GD shot guns start firing to scare the crows fucking nature |
Side Note: We stopped at a Thai restaurant in Birmingham, NY that we found via the Yelp! app. Thank you again, iPhone!! It was in this weird mini pod mall in the middle of fucking nowhere. The pod had the restaurant, liquor store, Gentlemen's Club and laundry. The perfect one-stop shop for men...eat, get liquored up, see naked titties, wash the skank-stank from your pants before heading home to the wife. Repeat.
Anyway, we liked it so much on Seneca, we stayed another day to visit my best friend's son at Montezuma Winery and hit a selection of other vintners. Also, this B&B had the BEST coffee with their breakfasts.
4g. And finally, we headed west to Nunda, NY to spend the weekend with our good friends Kirby and Carla and their kids. They're good people. Unabashedly liberal, artsy, kind. They're just plain cool. Always have been. We made what has become an annual trek to nearby Angelica for the most delectable homemade buckwheat pancakes and fruit topping in the universe.
We had a blast with them. I miss them a lot.
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| Carla and Kirby on the road to Angelica |
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| the coolest parental units and their lovely progeny |
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| HOTCAKES! |
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| more natural beauty seen at the speed of light |
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| snow owl ala harry twatter... I mean potter |
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| raptors from around the state |
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| Geo, being mesmerized by birds of prey he's a freak for predators |
Over 1400 miles reconnecting with friends far and wide. Pretty damn good trip.
In December, Geo and I made the trek back to NJ/NY. My sister and her husband, lovingly referred to as the Land Baron and Baroness are extremely generous by letting us stay with them time and again. The four of us have a terrific time together. This visit, we hit the Guggenheim, HuffPo studios downtown to check out where my nephew works, ate at our favorite Afghan kebab restaurant, shopped at Chelsea Market and Union Square Market, discovered a new design museum on Columbus Circle, walked through Central Park on yet another different path, and stumbled onto SantaCon (link to an irreverent overview is here). I love this city. Every venture through is different.
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| I'll take Artwork That Looks Like Vaginas for 400, Alex |
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| wall o' vage's at museum of design (actually a fragrance exhibit. don't ask) |
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| traversing the park past wollman rink |
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| only in new york will you see a huge yellow hair dryer on a flatbed |
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| HuffPo online same bullshit as regular TV but on your laptop also keeping my nephew employed, so ... yaaaaaaaaay, Huffpo! |
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| santacon invasion ...right before they devoured this little girl |
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| perambulating the park |
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| santa rock |
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| candy canes courtesy of santacon revelers asshatery courtesy of liquors |
Other sights unique to the Big Apple:
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| the spirit of new york is alive with a hearty FU |
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| happy hannukah from chelsea market |
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| a highline walk |
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| art wall along the highline path (art wall...wasn't he an old time talk show host?) |
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| one of the most beautiful ceilings ever erected (guggenheim) (i said "erected") |
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| random wall sconce |
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| diabetes door passive/aggressive much? |
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| unless yo mama's a transvestite |
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| 'Merica |
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| career guidance because you're never too old to learn a new trade |
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| bite me, duke |
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| is it? |
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| live mannequins at chelsea market a tad freaky |
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| the ever-vigilant third eye |
Well, there you have it. An endless monologue of frivolous happenings only important to moi. Whatever. It's my blog. Sometimes the sole purpose of this craptastic journal is solely to be a dry record of events in my life for me to read when I have Alzheimer's and can't remember what the hell I did with my time on earth. And daaaaamn! This was a pretty good year.
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| stumbling santa approved |
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