Rainy Bed Races

Whitney and Aaron joined us for a night in Newburyport. It began to rain the second the bed races started but we stuck it out to see the local competition.

 I didn't do a very good job getting my pics of the beds this year.  They were either just past us or I was blocked. These are a few of our favorites.One of the many local pizza places recreated a Venetian gondola.  Aaron was especially impressed by the blue "water".

Our overall favorite was whatever team the minions were on…the bed was irrelevant because it was followed by hundreds of minions.  A lot of moms must have cornered the market on yellow felt.  I can't wait until October to see how many minions are trick or treating because if I made one of these costumes the kid would wear it for every event.

I don't know what the bridal company was (planner? photographer?) but I liked the runaway bride being followed by the Just Married bed.

One of the last ones was the Theater in the Open - this is also the group that beats us in trivia week after week. 

Spectating is hungry business so next stop was dinner including a meat and cheese board to start us off. After that I stopped taking pictures and we just enjoyed the rest of the evening talking about Tom Brady, Trainwreck and summer undies.

Farm to Table #1

We have tickets to go to two different Farm to Table dinners this week.  I booked the Wednesday dinner a few weeks ago and then found out about one right now the street so I booked that too.  First up is Whim - a dinner series at a North Andover family farm.  Bill had a work conflict but Jessica stepped in at the last minute to be my date.

When you arrive, you follow the path of tiki torches from the parking lot.

Then you come to the tent.  On the other side was a little pond and everything was covered in fairy lights.  Mental note - don't spray bug spray on your feet and then walk through the dirt path while they are still wet.  

We found out that they were filming the dinner to promote the dinner series. We made sure we looked good.

This is our "ha ha Oh, look at us laughing and having a good time…come film us!" look.

The menu

There were only 4 courses so, yes, I took pictures of each.  First up - Gazpacho.

Sweet corm panna cotta.  There's bacon in the sauce. It's unfortunate that the sauce looks like vomit.  This was delicious.  The bacon had the potential to be overpowering so I tried to only use a little in each bite.

Brandt Beef.  Melted in your mouth.

The chef and his team from Grill 23 were hustling around all night.  Here they are plating the dessert.  

White chocolate cheesecake….heavenly!

Jessica gives it the thumbs up!

Your table mates can make or break a dinner like this…we enjoyed our new friends from Lynnfield and Marblehead. 

I think fairy lights make everything look good.  But the setting was beautiful and the food was delicious.  And  excellent pick…Farm to Table dinner #2 is coming up Friday - how will it compare?

Old Timey Baseball

It was time for the annual 19th Century Baseball game at Spencer-peirce-Little Farm in Newbury.  The rain held off and it turned out to be a beautiful day for old tyme baseball.

The men were dressed in period garb. 1800's baseball garb, that is.

They played 1800's rules baseball.  That meant underhand pitching.

It also meant you could catch a ball on a bounce for an out.

And there were no gloves. 

One of the few modern conveniences they used was that the ball was rubber coated. That way it didn't break bones when the caught it.

The field even had corn in centerfield, a la Field of Dreams.

Alas, Shoeless Joe Jackson did not appear from the corn field.

Or did he ?....

Portsmouth won this game, 10 to 2.  Both sides hurrahed the other team with a  traditional old timey cheer.

The Spencer-Peirce-Little pig was not amused by the game.

Maine Event

What do lit fest planners do in the off months?  We attend literary shindigs, of course!

Sherri, Vicki and I spent Saturday at a fund raiser for the Maine Writers organization at the home of author Richard Ford in East Boothbay Maine.

Unfortunately, not many people were taking pictures…none in fact.  So I felt like I had to sneak mine in.  There were lots of authors there - some better known than others.  This is actually a picture of Vicki making a bee-line for Elizabeth Strout (who wrote Olive Kitteridge) in the sun glasses and white shirt.  We've been trying to get her to Newburyport for years so hopefully we charmed her enough this weekend to come.  

The whole party was just sort of a mixer except for the remarks and poems at 3:30.

Remarks…poems...

The view from the party.

The view of the party.

The grounds were beautiful so after the remarks we wandered down to the water and went into Richard's boat house/writer's retreat.  How would you like to have your own private jetty and mini beach?   It would be hard to concentrate on writing on a summer day with this just outside the door.

Then again, this is a pretty cool little room to work in.

There may have been a lot of authors around but this was the face that got me the most excited!! Peabody's twin!!  Does this mean Richard and I are related?  

Mini Booktopia Meet Up

Dinner and discussion with two pals from Booktopia - Elizabeth and Callie.

We did a few of these meet ups before I left for London so it was nice to get them started again. We talked about books, vacations, books, travel, books, reality TV, books, book clubs, and books.  We wondered why there isn't a reality show about readers.  Sure there would be a lot of quiet segments but they could instigate fights by interrupting our reading time or get us talking about Go Set A Watchman. 

Anyway, until there is a reality show, there is reality.  A fun night with these two smart chicks.

Throwback Thursday

Today we look back nine years to a visit with my Grandmother.  Gram MacKay was my Dad's Mom and remains the sweetest person I've ever known.  

She lost her leg giving birth to her fourth child.  Today she would have been given a shot to remove the blood clot, but back then her leg had to be removed.  Never did we hear her complain.  Judy, her fourth child, was born severely handicapped and lived a short life.

Gram felt blessed to have her in her life.

She hopped about on her crutches and we laughed at stories of how she used to whack my Dad in the bum with a crutch when he acted up.

She was an avid bird lover.  Gram's house in Ipswich was a bird sanctuary where her birds would come  greet her on the porch and eat seed out of her hand.  The only critical words we ever heard her say were that bluejays were stupid.

My Dad worshipped his Mom.  When my Dad died too young at 59 it was the toughest thing Gram ever went through.

Looking at this picture makes me happy and sad simultaneously.

I glad my boys got to know their great grandmother.  I wish I could say that about Dad.

Trivia Tuesday

Look who joined us for Trivia!  Pete and Denise added value instantly ensuring that we were out of the gate strong.  As we went into the picture round we were tied for first place (with about a dozen other teams since that was early in the game).

Our youngest quizzer was Henry.  While Pete and Denise provided answers, Bill started a game of triangle football.  It was fun to watch Henry's face as his little paper football when flying across the tavern.   Clearly this was not a game he was used to playing in public but with a little encouragement from Bill he quickly adapted.  When I turned in my seat I saw that the young boy at the table next to us was eagerly folding himself a football.

No Joey, Allie, D-Train or Christin this week.  And in the end Weak Sauce wound up in the middle of the pack.  But Henry's team is headed to the Superbowl.

Questions:

• You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll hurl was the tag line to what move?  
• In 1983 what was the hit from Dexie's Midnight Runners?
• Daniel Stern was the narrator of what TV show that aired from 1988 to 1993?  
• What percussion instrument is made up of metal tubes in a frame and means "bell play" in German?  
• Isi Zulu, Afrikaans, and English are the three official languages of what country? 
• Ethan Hawke was nominated for his first Oscar for what movie?  
• What is Lady Gaga's first name?
• Besides Bill and Melinda Gates, what investor and philanthropist is a trustee of the Gates foundation?  
• Who was the 5 term chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006?  

Answers:

• You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll hurl was the tag line to what move?  Wayne's World
• In 1983 what was the hit from Dexie's Midnight Runners?  Come on Eileen
• Daniel Stern was the narrator of what TV show that aired from 1988 to 1993?  The Wonder Years
• What percussion instrument is made up of metal tubes in a frame and means "bell play" in German?  Glockenspiel 
• Isi Zulu, Afrikaans, and English are the three official languages of what country?  South Africa
• Ethan Hawke was nominated for his first Oscar for what movie?  Training Day
• What is Lady Gaga's first name?  Stephanie
• Besides Bill and Melinda Gates, what investor and philanthropist is a trustee of the Gates foundation?  Warren Buffet
• Who was the 5 term chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006?  Allen Greenspan