It's a festival!

I was going to refrain from posting until Patrick noticed that last post, but then I realized he's out of the country. So we'll just keep going with life until he gets back!

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Over the next week or two, there will be weekend "festivals" in the towns to our south. First in Merrick and then in Bellmore. The main thing they accomplish is screwing up the parking at the train stations (where they're held).

So let me give a big THANKS! to the organizers for making my commute tougher. *sigh* Anyhow, the weather's pretty nice today, and that seemed like a good enough reason to grab the camera and see what was going on at the fair in Merrick. As it turns out, not a hell of a lot. But I did take a few photos while I was there.


This should encourage the kiddies to behave well.


Wood animals, anyone?


Real animals, anyone?
And isn't it great how excited dogs always are to meet?


Now THIS is a good idea, with all of the walking germ factories children around!


Ride tickets


Vomit, anyone?


Is this a Whack-A-Mole I see before me?
A classic! And don't you love the Mardi Gras beads hanging off the top?


For the little kiddies.


When I was a kid, Nathan's (the hot dog place--but the one near us had a big game room) had one of these. I lost a lot of quarters trying to cash in!


I know they're minimum wage jobs, but some of this looks like a fun way to spend the day.


Just out of the shot--someone saying, "Instead of the stuffed animals, what do I have to do to take you home? ;)


Health food


More health food


And even more health food

Let's take a closer look at that last one...


Fried Oreos and fried cheescake? Like they're not good enough without being fried?

Good thing I'm dieting, or I might have tried some. :) Actually, that's not my kind of thing. On the other hand, the stuff in this next shot smelled wonderful!




If I were going to go for anything sweet, this would be more to my liking.


This guy was with one of the people running a booth, so he/she was tied up out back.


As we started heading out, I decided to take a few shots of this ride.


Don't they look thrilled to be there?

What I really wanted to do was see if I could find the right shutter speed to preserve some movement and still get the kids pretty sharp.


Shutter speed's too slow.


Getting there.

Oh, and do you think those two kids noticed the camera? :)


Joe Cool

That last shot? I should send it to the parents of all the little girls at this kid's school, framed like a Wanted Poster. This kid's trouble!

Now why couldn't I be so cool when I was that age? :)

The rest of the Ogunquit trip

Okay. I've milked the Ogunquit thing long enough, I suppose, so I'll just post all the rest of the photos now. Well, except for the orgy photos. I can't have those getting out! ;)


Our lunch on Sunday again brought us to Perkins Cove. At lunch, these silly boys couldn't help but be a little goofy.


The view to the south. Well, I think that's south. I'm not 100% certain, but I suppose that's not important now.


It started raining again, so they lowered the clear plastic flaps they use for bad weather. Then the rain got heavy, and this bee came in and spent a while drying himself off, working furiously with his little--what are those, anyhow? Feet? Paws? Probably not.--whatever they are to get the excess water off.


More views of the beach at the hotel.


And on the inlet side.


Our balcony with a view of the inlet side.

Speaking of the balcony, have I mentioned the antics of Patrick and Greg? The sex was just nonstop. Don't they ever sleep? We sure couldn't sleep much with all of that noise! On the balcony, in their room... it didn't matter. They're worse than any newlywed couple! I can only imagine that the headboard in their room was splinters by the time they were done!

So where were we?


We went for coffee (and hot chocolate) at a local coffee shop. It was nice. Again, lovely views.


Aren't they an adorable couple?


The beach in front of the hotel.




The hotel


Isn't he resourceful?


The dunes


Back at the hotel that evening, there was drinking! *gasp* Here we see Patrick playing a game where a wine cork is thrown and he catches it in a cup. Clearly, he's trashed! :)


Like I said. Trashed!


But still doing work, the poor thing.


Chris models the bottle of "3 Blind Moose" wine. This is what one drinks when one gets wine from the Cumberland Farms store in Ogunquit. BTW, isn't Chris cute?


Marc on the bed.

Hmmm. Speaking of that, I should wrap this up soon. I just thought of something else I want to do this evening! ;)


Next morning (before leaving for home)... breakfast at Bintliff's. FABULOUS! If you go to Ogunquit, go there. The breakfast was amazing.


The perpetual conversation piece.


Patrick entertains the table.




Someone at our table (someone who is repulsively trim, by the way--so it sure wasn't me!) got this for breakfast. For scale, take note of the fork and spoon. One doesn't go away from this place hungry!


We stopped on the way out of town, so Marc could do a little more antiquing.


On the road home. New England really is lovely (not that you could tell from this photo).


Leftovers from the industrial days. Much of this apparently has been turned into a senior residence or some such.


We stopped at a Shaw's supermarket on the way, because they don't have one near us.


Why Shaw's? Because someone told us our dogs would like "Zen Puppy" treats, and Shaw's carries them.


These signs reminded me of a friend of ours.


Another random shot of the road.


One last stop to see the tailor.

That last one? That's the hotel corridor. We use a Korean tailor who flies to the US, goes to certain cities and rents a hotel room at each stop, so his clients can go see him. His prices are great, and the quality is excellent.

Okay, so that's the trip. Hope I didn't bore you to tears. Now I'll go see if I can jump Marc! ;)

A few odds and ends

Lots of other people have already mentioned it, and there's sure been plenty of press coverage. I'd only add that, while I wasn't a big fan of Steve Irwin, it sure was sad to see an apparently decent guy lose his life in such a sudden way. These things happen every day. His death is only different because of his fame and the rare manner of his death. That aside, it's still sad to see any decent human being perish, so I'm sorry for his passing.

I got an e-mail invitation (from someone I never heard of) to join the "Zionism News Network" today. Apparently, it's a strong pro-Israel group that shares anti-Israel news stories. While I support Israel--and wish the hateful Iranian president and all like him who call for whole nations and peoples to be wiped out would just disappear--I don't know that I need a focused, daily dose of the worst the world has to offer. I'm all too aware of what's going on.

There was a third thing I was going to mention. Now what was it? My advancing senility, perhaps? Geez, I need more sleep! :)

Hope you're all well! Keep your heads down, kids. It's a crazy world!

Sunday at the beach in Ogunquit

Patrick and Marc


Marc took this shot. I like it a lot.

(Marc takes great photos, but he tends to brag about mine instead of showing his own.)




Looking across the dunes at our rooms.


The real Patrick! :)


Another of Marc's shots. Actually, he took a bunch of these. I really like this one, too.




Me with the man who makes life special!

I think I'll stop there for this post. There's nothing that can top that last one.

Lunch in Ogunquit

When we left our little story, we had been walking along the Marginal Way in Ogunquit and were soon going to get lunch. I'm sorry for not posting this sooner, since I'm sure the suspense has been killing you. "Where did they eat?" you ask. Well, I'll show you...


Yes, we ate at Oarweed!

Where do they get these names, anyhow? Well, that doesn't matter much. This place is right on the water in Perkins Cove. The view was lovely!


Jimmy and Chris looking over the menu.


Greg was working on looking cool. :)

BTW, if you click on that last photo, you can see me reflected in one lens of Greg's sunglasses. (Well, I like that.)


Even with the overcast weather, the view was lovely.


Chris


Patrick

This was our last bit of Ogunquit fun on Saturday, since we had to go to the wedding that afternoon. After lunch, we went back to the hotel and changed into suits. Then we drove to New Hampshire for the wedding. It was lovely, but there are no photos of that to share.

More Ogunquit photos to come!