Saturday, August 08, 2009

Nice & quiet at Kimball! Zero line. Clear blue Maine-like skies.

Posted at 7:31:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

I forgot to mention, Duke believes in Nessie and Chessie. Thumbs up!!! We were talking about it while roasting things over the campfire, and he was quite well-read on the topic. He also believes in Chryssie, the Crystal Pond monster, and says she's really small (like, person-sized). Not sure I can go with him on that one, but definite thumbs up on the other two!

Posted at 5:02:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Friday, August 07, 2009

Every time (four, I think) I've gotten Metromint water at Shaw's, either the cashier or the bagger (or both) has asked me questions about it!

Posted at 5:14:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

It's a good sign when the barista says when handing you your cappuccino, "Let me know if it's too dry." Correct response, after the handoff: "It feels great."

Posted at 2:25:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Aaaah. I might be obsessed with blueberry clafoutis. I just made another one.

Posted at 12:02:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.

Thursday, August 06, 2009

I was just thinking about how much I love playing badminton. It's so FUN. I love the sounds, the thwack of the birdie when you hit it (you can only hear this when you yourself hit it, not when other people do). And I LOVE serving, because it gives me a little thrill of pleasure and amazement every time that I can actually hit that thing, effortlessly and well. I don't miss it! Wow! I adore hitting overhead shots, setting up for them, watching the birdie descend. I love volleying, especially with David! But with anyone. Extended volleys are the best thing ever. I'm not good at backhand, but, other than that, yeah. I wish I could play badminton every day. Also, I love all the laughing.

Posted at 1:01:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Yum! I think the clafoutis might be even better cold the next day!

Posted at 12:53:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Monday and Tuesday Report!

Got corn at Suder's (seven ears) and then straight on the Suder Road to Ber Turnpike; turn left and it's The Blue Lobster, all lined up. They had lots of lobster this time, unlike last year with only two left! Picked out three 1.5-ish pounders and asked the girl if I could have some ice since I was driving them an hour away to cook. She gave me this cool plastic tray with a sheet of frozen icy squares on the bottom and another on top, the lobsters sandwiched between, nice and cool. I drove with them on the floor of the passenger's seat next to me so I could keep an eye on them and put the air on feet mode. Straight on the Ber instead of the usual Rt. 9 / 91 route; it didn't seem quite as long today. I snapped pictures again for fun.

When I got to the lake no one was in sight, so I walked over to the outdoorium where I could hear David electric-sawing on the roof. He saw me, stood up, and called down Hi. Later he told me he heard my car and it reminded him of being at the cottage and hearing Grandma's Coronet drive up (only, no big V8 engine and distinctive heavy door-slam with my car). I took a few pictures of him throwing outdoorium pieces onto the fire and we walked back over to the camp lot for the lobster feast.

Oh yeah, first David added water to my coolant thingy for me, because the warning light kept coming on while I was driving to the lake. I forgot to mention, it came on a few times yesterday (mostly just when I first started the engine, then it went out), so yesterday afternoon I asked David and Uncle Randy to look under my hood. (I didn't even know how to open my hood, but I do now!) Uncle Randy was wowed by how neatly and tightly everything was crammed in under there (first he asked me which end of the car the engine was on... ha! people always wonder that about my car, but really New Beetles are just like a normal car underneath the curves; they do NOT have the engine in the back). They said the coolant did look low (I wasn't sure if it really was, or if the sensor was just acting wonky) but that I shouldn't just add random coolant from a gas station since it might take a special kind. It would be okay to mix in water, though. So when the alert started going off a lot today, I asked David about the water, and he put some in for me. It hasn't complained since! (I'll bring it in to the dealer soon, though. Especially since I just got the oil changed last week, and they were supposed to top off fluids!!)

While David and Marilou heated up water for the lobster and corn, Hunter and I palled around with the lobsters, which was a mistake because then Hunter was really upset when we subsequently COOKED AND ATE the lobsters. Never make friends with a lobster. He accused us all of being barbaric. Alas, we blithely enjoyed the lobster very much anyway, despite his distress. Sorry, Hunter. But they were really really GOOD! Best lobsters and best corn ever, pretty much! (Okay, equal to last year.) Super soft shells, soooo easy to eat. I bought Dean's big rubber mallet, but we didn't even need it; I just used a kitchen scissors to cut through mine. I don't know if the Blue Lobster's lobsters are always soft (and delicious!) like that, if it's the time or year, or if I just got lucky both this year and last, but wow. Mine even had both tomalley (liver--the green stuff) and coral (roe, the red stuff) and of course I relished both. The corn was also amazing, and we didn't even butter it. Suder corn has reached its peak!

After the feast, David went back over to our lot to do some more demolition and Marilou tried to cheer up Hunter by playing badminton with him. I refrained from playing because I didn't want to wreck my knee again; surprisingly enough, it felt fine today, after its ice treatment last night! I was seriously limping and in pain, so I guess RICE really does work.

What now? Marilou: "Pick! Pick!Pick!Pick!"

Chauffeur x 1,000 for me today... first I took Marilou and Hunter to the Buell's (the biggest, fattest, bluest berries for them; the smallest, purplist, unripest for me!); then, later, to We-Lik-It; then I drove everyone to the Mansfield Drive-In and back! And then I still had to drive home (at midnight). Heh.

Hunter and I went for a snorkel (sans fins) after we got back from the Buell's. I wore my rash guard over my swimming suit and the water wasn't too cold; it was insanely murky, though! We swam out to the rocks and climbed on all of them including the newly on-its-side Gibraltar. Its new configuration makes it very easy to climb on, but, unfortunately, it also makes it very attractive to ducks, who are also now able to climb onto it. Not good, because the exposed part is covered in guano. Very disrespectful of Turtle Isle, ducks!!! Hunter wanted to see what the other side of the cove is like, so we swam over there (very shallow, seaweedy, and inferior!), then back to Turtle Isle. We both agreed Turtle Isle clearly belongs to our family, even though its closer to the other side. I wanted to see what Gibraltar looks like from all sides, so I circled with my snorkel. It was very dark and steep on the furthest side. On the way back in, I ran into a TON of bluegills and one pickerel near the Randal Rock. The water was thick with them. I kept reaching out trying to grab one, but they skirted away.

We dried off by standing near the GIGANTIC fire Uncle Randy had built to burn up all the burnable bits from the outdoorium demo. It was blazing really high and making the branches of the high-above tree wiggle all around. Hunter and I both thought it looked highly dangerous, but since Uncle Randy is a former volunteer fireman (we did not know this) David said he must know what he was doing! Hahah. It was super-hot and great, since we were shivering cold. Uncle Randy is very pyromaniacalistic. :-)

I took some pictures and videos of them demo-ing (I can't remember if this was before our swim or after); David climbed on a super-rickety ladder to tie a rope to the posts and other bits of the structure, then Uncle Randy yanked the rope with his tractor to try to pull things down. Hunter and I were cracking up at the failed attempts, and at Uncle Randy's extreme enthusiasm for destroying stuff. U. Randy, to me: "What are you smiling about??" Haha! Also, he was wearing his ROTFLMAO t-shirt again (from last year, bought without knowing what it means). LOL. :-) I decided I really like Uncle Randy!

The We-Lik-It mission was fantastic; I got some weirdly named cow flavor that = strawberry ice cream with chocolate chips (slab shaped ones that were nice) which was quite a superb combo. Marilou and Hunter got other weird cow flavors. Mine was the best, natch. :-) I am proud of Hunter because he tries a new flavor whenever he goes to an ice cream place! That is impressive. And his favorite is mint chocolate chip, which shows he has good taste. (Even if he refuses to eat lobster.)

After the ice cream we went to Leslie's (new owner of the Gs' former house) after David took a bath in the lake to get un-sticky from working on the destruction. David and Leslie's friend brought our old canoe over to store in the loft of the garage (it was in Uncle Randy's shed, to avoid being collapsed on by the precarious outdoorium), and we all had incredibly delicious blueberry cake (it was like MY CAKE, but blueberry instead of rhubarb!). Hunter sat on my lap and played Bejeweled 2 on my phone to avoid being bored during all the chatting, while Leslie and her friend looked at photos of the house being built that David brought to show them. :-) Then we had to skate since we didn't want to miss H. Potter at the drive-in.

Perfect timing. Duke and I sat inside the car, with Marilou and David on either side in folding chairs (which barely fit in my trunk). Nice sound on the Beag's stereo. I liked the movie (shocking, since I've been really disappointed with most of the Potters), but Duke said he didn't see the point. I think it helped a lot that it's been ages since I read the book, so I wasn't constantly comparing the movie's inferiorness. David couldn't follow it at all. Poor Dave. It was fun regardless. I like how you can talk and ask/answer questions at a drive-in, without bugging anyone. It's cool. We even had popcorn!

It was SO dark on the way home.

The next day, the David fam came over around 3-ish on their way back home (I didn't have to get up early, and I didn't have to drive anywhere!), and brought me peaches from a Part Two Buell visit, and I took them to Luna's for lunch. I mean Slice of Heaven. OK, I drove, but it's only two inches away). "Blinded by the Light" was playing (really softly) and David understood all the lyrics but didn't understand them (and didn't think he wanted to). The Italian Luna guy recognized me (and knew all about Dean!), but I didn't know him. Typical.

After we all said goodbye (great hugs!) I was tired from all that driving over the past few days, but I bought the tray and frozen thingies back to Blue Lobster (I didn't have to return them, but I wanted to), brought my car to the car wash to get rid of all the smashed bugs on the nose (and vacuumed it out), filled up my car (I used more than an entire tank of gas, which usually takes me a couple of weeks... I think I drove about 450 miles!), bought food, and then STAYED UP REALLY LATE WATCHING THE BLUES BROTHERS! Haha. Yeah.

Posted at 2:16:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

I'm making a blueberry clafoutis! I have no idea how to pronounce clafoutis, but I'm making one. It's in the oven right now.

[Edit: It turned out good, I think! I've never had a clafoutis before, so I really have no idea what it's supposed to taste like. I just did it the way Alicia from Posie Gets Cozy said to on her blog. She's always making different clafoutises and taking gorgeous pictures of them.

I made a half-sized recipe, since 1) It was my first time, and B) I'm the only one here to eat it. So, I threw together a quarter cup of flour, a quarter cup of sugar (I used fancy organic sugar since I had some in the cupboard), two eggs (running around chicken ones!), and one cup of milk, then blended them all together with my grunge and poured them over about half a pint of blueberries. They were Buell blueberries, but I measured them by putting them in one of those little half-pint containers from Suder's. Then I baked it in the oven at 375 degrees F for 40 minutes. (I started preheating the oven at the same time I started making it, and it was hot at almost the exact same time I was ready to put it in.)

While it was cooking, I pulverized some Greed citrus sugar in my coffee grinder, because Alicia said to put on powdered sugar after it cools a bit, but I don't have any powdered sugar. After eating it, I'm not sure the extra work pulverizing it and cleaning out my grinder afterwards was necessary; I think it would have been fine grindered more roughly using the built-in Greed grinder. The little bits of dried citrus peel definitely added something, though, so using Greed was a good idea.

It was tasty! Sort of breakfasty, sort of desserty. Not too sweet. I couldn't wait to try it, so I ate it pretty soon after I took it out of the oven, but it's shallow so it cools fast. (Here's a picture of my second bowlful, after I devoured the first one.) The non-berry sections remind me of something, but I'm not sure what. Custard, I guess. But it's a tangible sort of memory of eating something and I can't quite grasp it. I don't eat custard very often and I think I'm remembering something more specific than custard in general. The blueberries went very well with the other bits. (You can make clafoutis using all kinds of different berries/fruits.) I liked it. I wish I could remember what it reminds me of, though.

Posted at 2:15:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

I love you, Elwood Blues.

Posted at 3:52:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Just got home and finished putting things away. DARK dark roads!! I let my Guy send me on a weird way back, for variety, and it was a super-winding road that took me near our land and then on 84. Yikes! But at least my coolant warning light didn't go off, not even once.

Too tired, for now. Will write about today ASAP.

Posted at 1:23:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.

Monday, August 03, 2009

Points Along The Way. (Stuff I managed to snap out the window, at least.)


1) Mansfield or Willimantic? Mansfield!! (aka 44 or 6? 44 all the way, man!) B) cornfield 3) cow barn 4) cemetery


1) 'Welcome to Mansfield, 1702' B) Mansfield Depot railroad crossing, 3) Department of Correction... razor wire peeking between the trees, 4) which way do you want to go? STRAIGHT!


1) The Grand Onion (I mean Union), B) Kathy John's, R.I.P., 3) 'Ashford Welcomes You, 1714', 4) <--June Norcross Webster Scout Res.... that means we're getting close!


1) White House Package Store (say hi to the Ashford Dari Bar and turn left at the blinking yellow light!), B) corner of North Road and Floeting Road... turn here! 3) No more Brock Brock chicken farm! :-( 4) C VE RD KEE  O T

[I actually put this together Wednesday evening, but I took the photos Sunday and Monday.]

Posted at 1:00:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

I remember thinking this afternoon, "I'm never going to remember everything!" Taking notes on my Netbook in my chaise now, at 1:48, while icing my knee. I should be sleeping.

Snapping photos on the way / made the long drive go by faster. So many sights I always notice on the route. Missed snapping most of them and just got blurred trees. Winds Way. Ashford Oak sign. No more chicken farm.

Gale and Rick were still there when I arrived. She loved my car because she thought it really suits me. Took a photo in front. I'm famous for weird foods. HUGE NEWS!!! As soon as I got there, she informed me that the far left-hand rock (aka "Gibraltar") of Turtle Isle had MOVED over the winter. Aunt Mary Ellen reported to her that ice built up between it and the one next to it, and pushed it over. Instead of being Rock of Gibraltar shaped (and therefore very difficult to climb onto, but rideable like a horse if you did manage to do it), it is now tipped on its side, presenting a large flat surface that extends partway out of the water and is easy to sit on. Here are a few comparison photos: Turtle Isle now (closer shot / distant shot) vs. Turtle Isle circa late 1970s (that's me with David and Robert).

General consensus is that the rock needs a new name (as how countries sometimes change their name when conditions merit) and that Robert should be the one to rename it, since he was the one to originally name the rocks of Turtle Isle (Gibraltar, Long Island, Alcatraz (we think), and Atlantis).

Gale took lots of great photos. Sitting on Randal rock, etc. David, Rick and U Randy were demolishing the outdoorium and making runs to the transfer station (aka the dump) before it closed at 4. U Randy looked like he was having a ball zooming around on his tractor hauling pieces with a huge beautiful grin on his face.

Hunter and I went in the paddleboat, to the darn cove and the manmade cove. (First we had to bail it and tip it on its side, because it was full of water from all the rain.) Lots of fun. We got out and climbed around at the darn, natch. Got in lots of (fake) games of chicken with other boats and won them all.

David liked the super-sour Suder berries. :-)

Went to lob roll place in Thompson (!) (I drove) that U Randy told us about (my Guy knew where it was!). Buster's Rivers Edge. Marilou had never had one before and David only once (when we took him to Kimball Farm, flying home from Uncle Donald's funeral). Hunter got New England Clam Chowder. Lobster roll report: Looks surprisingly good! New England style roll with iceberg liner. Large chunks of lob meat with fairly large celery chunks and very light mayo. Very tasty lobster. Roll itself could've been better...careful attention was not paid to the butter job. B++ Impressive lob roll, esp for location (nowhere near the ocean)!

Passed Woodstock fairgrounds and former Aunt Sarah's & Uncle Willie's house (Aunt Maude's house before that) so we stopped at it on the way back. It's a boutique (Coco's Cottage) now, and was nice! David tried to remember the old rooms. I can only remember the bells and foam egg carton topper on Uncle Willie's bed. Got ice cream trail guide at restaurant and after we got back I checked off all the ones I've been to, then read the whole list out loud so we could pick out our favorite names (Duke's was FFIFFS, and mine was Concrete Factory).

no drive-in movie because it might rain (it did rain while driving)

Played Uno with Hunter (I cheated) (but it was Cheat Uno), badminton with everyone, and Clue (from the transfer station!) with everyone. We played Clue three times and David won every time!!! He and I had never played before. Played badminton (DDL) again to get out aggression!! (Not really.) Starting to get dark.

Talked to Uncle Randy and Aunt Mary Ellen in cottage. Started fire, but had no marshmallows or chocolate, only Sky Flakes. Roasted hot dogs instead and they were good!! I'd never done that before. Best hot dogs ever. Hunter also made one slice of toast (Marilou didn't believe it would work, but I did!), and we had flaked salmon on Sky Flakes. Everything's good on Sky Flakes! And black cherry Doc Brown's but it wasn't as good as Cel-Ray (tasted similar to Dr Pepper.) It was late! 11 oclock.

DARK dark on drive home. My Guy couldn't find satellites until about 15 minutes into drive!! Good thing I didn't get lost on all those super dark windy back roads. It asked me, "Are you inside?? Have you moved 100 or more miles??" What the heck! No, Guy. Too many trees? Worked fine in Thompson and Woodstock! weird

I don't know how I hurt my knee! It hurt while driving home (gas pedal) and now it hurts to put pressure on it and I'm actually limping! Eeek. I noticed it hurting while we were playing Clue but I thought I was just sitting weird. Then I played badminton on it! oops. ow. I took a bath and iced it while elevating it out of the water. It was cold! RICE. okay go to sleep, if possible! Lobster feast day tomorrow.

Posted at 1:47:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Aaagh. "At 11 am...showers likely. Temperature around 75. South winds around 10 mph. At 1 PM...showers and thunderstorms likely. Temperature around 78. South winds around 10 mph. At 3 PM...showers and thunderstorms likely. Chance of rain 70 percent."

Posted at 10:12:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.