Scattered Thoughts . . .

A s I mentioned in my previous blog entry, we spent the day out for Sheila's birthday.  Most of the day was really nice while some of the day was pretty disgusting as will be described later in this blog entry.   The drive up to Burlington was nice...  the sky was clear and it wasn't snowing for a change!  The mountaintops clearly have snow but the snow at our lower elevation was mostly gone over the past few days and wouldn't return until the following day.   Sheila had gone for a massage in mid-morning in Waterbury so we were heading up to Burlington a little later than we normally would have started out.  She enjoyed her massage so that is good.  By the time we arrived in the Burlington area, it was a bit later in the lunchtime hours so we were pretty hungry.  We had decided to have lunch at a new Mexican restaurant in Willison called "Casa Grande" since we had never been there before and we do like Mexican food.  I think we visi...

O n our day of shopping up in the Williston/Burlington area with Lukey and Kenzie, we stopped at Agave for lunch.  By the time lunchtime rolled around, we were all starving.  We briefly tossed around the idea of going to a sandwich shop but the kids wanted to go to Agave and I have no problems with going out for Mexican food so we went to Agave!  Sheila and I like Agave but I was a bit surprised that the kids wanted to go there.   I think Lukey and Kenzie wanted to play Table Shuffleboard but I know they like a few of the dishes there too.  While Lukey tends to stick to Americanized (rather boring) ground beef tacos, I opt for more authentic tacos.   I had a Carnita taco with Mojo pork, slaw, pickled fresnos (which added a nice depth of flavor) and chimichuri (which added some nice heat).  I think they must have a new chef because this was the first time any of our food had some authentic Mexican spices and heat.  In the past, I found th...

W hile Adam and Joi were visiting us, we did quite a bit of sightseeing and eating out.  That was a really nice change after spending much of three years in the house during the worst periods of the pandemic.  Of course, we're all still vulnerable to the virus and we still develop the virus every now and then but, after being vaccinated and boosted many times, the severity of the virus seems to be far less than before we were vaccinated and boosted.  That has certainly been the case for us.   _________________________________________________________________ Ironically, as I write this blog entry, we have the virus running through the family yet again.  Whitney's household is testing positive which is very bad news since our granddaughter in that household has cystic fibrosis so is considered very high risk.  Today, Lukey (in Liza's household) tested positive and is feeling a bit lousy too.  We're hoping that everyone recovers quickly and unremarka...

A rare photo of a photographer without a camera pressed up to his face. I capture quite a few photos of Sheila but it is very rare when someone captures a photo of both Sheila and me together!  Since I usually have a camera covering my face, it is a rare occasion when someone grabs my camera and snaps a photo of me... and, although Sheila and I are together more often than not, even rarer is capturing the two of us together in the same photo.   While we were at The Munich Haus restaurant in Massachusetts this past weekend with family and friends, Jen asked if we would like a photo of the two of us... I could probably count on one hand how many times people have asked this question over the past eight years so it was a very nice surprise. I truly wish people would ask more often. I handed Jen my camera and gave a few quick instructions on how my camera operates. In hindsight, I should have simply switched my camera to one of the 'auto' modes to make things signifi...

While visiting San Antonio to attend Adam's graduation ceremony, we visited a number of well known places as well as a few lesser known places. One of these lesser known places was the Tower of the Americas.   We had previously spent a rainy day briskly walking the Riverwalk through downtown San Antonio. The Riverwalk can be a beautiful downtown area but when it is raining, that really puts a damper on sightseeing. When it is raining, you are focused on getting to your next destination... quickly... and staying as dry as possible. We were wet and a bit uncomfortable the day we walked (almost ran) the Riverwalk and I think I can safely say that none of us were looking forward to another day dodging rain outdoors. Most of our time in San Antonio was under cloudy skies with precipitation falling from those clouds. By the time our last day in San Antonio arrived, we were pretty tired of getting wet (and, admittedly, tired of all the walking) so we were hoping to visit a place wh...

Every year, when we attend the annual Amherst Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show, we always set aside Saturday evening for a group night out on the town for dinner. The past few years, the place we have chosen for this group night has been a rather unique and lively little restaurant called The Munich Haus ... fashioned after a German festhaus albeit smaller and a bit more personal. We have chosen this restaurant consistently over the past few years for a number of reasons including it is unique, it is cultural, it is something we cannot experience near home, the food is quite good, the desserts are outstanding and it has that happy German festhaus atmosphere and vibe with live music, singing, clapping and, of course, tasty beers! This little yet always crowded restaurant has a large selection of draft beers from Germany... a vast selection of schnitzels... a long list of different types of sausages... chicken dishes... beef dishes... fish and seafood dishes... vegetaria...