You know you want it!

Yes, more rugby photos! Since I don't have more trip photos ready yet (and didn't shoot a lot anyhow) and since I never got done with the rugby photos, I'll share more now...


Did I share this one yet? Sorry if I did. Anyhow, aren't they a cute couple?


And speaking of cute















I guess that will do for this post. If you want to see the full set from the semi-finals, they're here.

The beauty of Catalina

I know I already told you how much we enjoyed Catalina. We didn't take a lot of photos there. For that matter, we didn't take a lot of photos at any point during this trip. It just wasn't that kind of trip.

One photo I did take was a night shot from our balcony at the Inn on Mount Ada. How could we not love this? This was the view from our room's balcony (click on it for a better view):


Avalon Harbor (Santa Catalina Island) at night, shot from Mount Ada

I like this view so much, that I may use the full-res version to make a large print.

I'll have a few more photos to share, but this is a definite favorite of mine.

Home

The trip was fabulous. It would have been tough to make it better! Time with family, our visit to Catalina, time in La Jolla, as well as plenty of the kind of fun we can't discuss if kids are around. ;) It all was great.

So now we're home, and that's great, too! The dogs were excited to see us, and being back home is just comfy. So now it's back to the regular day-to-day of life, and it's a good life.

Plus, we're hosting the family Thanksgiving dinner this Thursday, so there will be plenty of fun (as well as work) this week.

Even so, I'm ready to start thinking about our next big trip!

I don't think that's the way to do that

We're staying at the Grande Colonial, a lovely hotel in downtown La Jolla. The Grande Colonial is made up of a few different buildings, including the "suite building" in which we're staying. Between the suite building and the main hotel is a pool and, at the back of the hotel, a deck with tables where people can eat meals.

This afternoon, after running around with Marc, I took a book and sat down in a lounge chair by the pool. At one of the aforementioned tables (probably 40-50 yards from my seat) was a group of four women. They had been loud at certain points before, but I was doing my best to ignore them. Then the tone of their discussions took a sharp turn. Marc heard it, too, even though he wasn't with me by the pool. Our room has a view of the ocean, as well as overlooking the pool. I saw Marc come to the windows, and we began exchanging text messages.

At one point, I messaged Marc, saying that I thought they might be doing an intervention. In a public place? At one level, I really couldn't believe it, but it did have that sound. The discussions got incredibly loud, as well as profane at certain points, and, eventually, my suspicions were confirmed. The loudest of the women, directed this to another of the women: "Say 'I'm an alcoholic, and I'm ready to admit it!'" This was repeated loudly, more times than I can count. Again and again and again.

It was amazing how long this went on. I wasn't sufficiently troubled to say anything, particularly since the people doing the intervention didn't seem too stable themselves, but other folks eventually did. One guest came out of his room and made his way over to them to say they needed to pipe down. And I understand that the management intervened, so to speak, as well.

I still can't believe these pinheads did this in an outdoor, public restaurant area, but they did. Nothing like confronting the person and publicly humiliating her all at the same time. And, of course, it did wonders for the peace and tranquility of this lovely setting.

So much fun

I don't know what to share, since most of it would be lost in translation. What I will say is that we continue to have loads of fun. Everything from good, clean wholesome stuff, like taking out the San Diego branch of my family to a fabulous dinner at a fancy restaurant tonight, to the not-so-wholesome-but-oh-what-fun stuff.

As for the latter, why can't our regular, everyday sex life be like sex on vacation? It's so wonderful!

On that note, it's almost midnight here. Time to go grab my other half and see what kind of fun awaits!

If I were a rich man...

Okay, so now I'll have that song running through my head all day. Anyhow, if I were a rich man, we'd spend a lot of time here. We're on Catalina Island, having spent two days of our trip here. I'm sitting on the bed in the Bethany Glen room of the Inn on Mt. Ada, typing this as I look out across our balcony.

I'm enjoying a view of the sea, as I look back towards the California coast. From the balcony, in this mansion on the highest hill on Catalina, we can sit and enjoy that view, as well as a beautiful view of the town of Avalon, watching the boats come and go from the little harbor.

There's a light, cool breeze this morning, and the fireplace is going, adding just the right amount of heat to keep the room comfortable with the chill morning breeze blowing in. This is a wonderful place, and we will be back.

What a great attitude!

We've been in San Diego since Friday night. We'll be in the area (SD, Catalina Island, then La Jolla) for the week, but the highlight of the trip (and impetus for the trip) was my cousin Zachary's Bar Mitzvah.

Zach is 13 (of course... the age for a Bar Mitzvah), but he is one of the coolest, most positive people I know. I wish I'd been that cool at his age! Oh, who am I kidding? I wish I were half as cool now!

It's hard to convey what he's like. He and his older brother are well-mannered, well-raised, bright boys, but it's hard to give clear examples. Lots of people say how wonderful kids in their family are, but Zach's really amazing.

And his positive attitude is marvelous. We saw a fabulous example yesterday. A couple of hours into the reception, as the band was playing and everyone was having a ball, the lights went out. After about 30 seconds (which, believe me, is a very long time when the whole room is dark and people are worried), emergency lighting kicked in.

The band had amps and such that needed power, so they were out of business. Everyone was milling about, and the party ground to a halt.

But Zach would have none of this. He was moving about, determined to have fun. After a few minutes, the opening beat of Queen's "We Will Rock You" started coming from the stage. I turned around to see Zach and several friends on the stage. They were stomping out the beat with their feet and then began singing the song... and the party went on.

I wish more of us could face adversity so well. Things fell apart, so this young man immediately started devising a way to overcome the obstacle presented by a complete power failure. The power remained off for a few hours, but the party went on, and we had a great time!

I'm famous!

Okay, maybe not quite famous. Hmmm. Perhaps we can say I'm playing a role in gay history? Oh, never mind.

Here's the point. Using this photo (a crop of one of my originals) on their main page...


...Outsports has taken info I supplied on the Gotham Knights' great season, paired that info with some of my photos and made it their lead article. You can go to Outsports or right to the article by clicking here.

The mature gay couple

Yesterday, I was chatting with a young (26) friend who is in the early days of a relationship. His new guy sounds very special, and my friend is head over heels in love.

He was telling me about all of the fun things they've been doing, including the one time they made love. The excitement, the spontaneity, the sheer joy.

I couldn't help but contrasting that with my sex life. Sex with Marc is still great (and joyous), but spontaneous? We more often "find time" for sex. It's usually something on the schedule for the day.

Today is an example. We had a number of things to do. Yes, Marc tells me, we're going to have sex. But first we needed to use the power washer to clean up the mess from crabapples that rotted on the tree out back and then fell to the ground, making a terrible mess. We had to plan our meals for the day. A run to Home Depot was needed. Various other things need to get done. Then we'll have sex.

I suppose that's the way it goes. It's hard for things to have the newness and excitement of those early days when so much time has passed. Don't get me wrong. I love Marc, and I'm very lucky to have such a special person as my partner. But I also counseled my friend to savor every moment of his new relationship. Those are special days. I remember our early days well, but that special excitement only comes once. Such is life.

Still milking the rugby photos

Yup, I've got plenty left...
































For some reason, I really like this photo!

Had enough for today? I thought so! :)

Semi-final rugby photos, continued

Little disappointments

I can't complain about Friday night. That was good, but I'll leave that to Marc to write about, since he said he wanted that for his blog.

The rest of the weekend? Well, I'll post some rugby photos from Saturday, but I'm sorry to say we didn't win the championship. Still, I'm very proud of the team. They've come a long way, and the guys should be very proud of all they've accomplished.

Today, we went on a 4-hour "fall foliage cruise" up the Hudson River. Sadly, the foliage isn't much to look at, so far this year. Actually, the past few autumns haven't been much to write home about. This is about as good as it got today...



Of course, any day spent with this man is a good one...



Here's his evil look...



There was a wee bit of excitement for those of us who read a certain book about a large bridge and a little red lighthouse.


Hey, there's a great gray bridge! And what's that I see underneath it?


It's a little red lighthouse!

This was an exciting moment for me. Yes, I've seen it before. Yes, this is a book I remember from when I was a little boy (and that's at least 10 or so years ago *wink*), but maybe that's why seeing the actual little red lighthouse under the actual great gray bridge (by the way, it's the George Washington Bridge) still brings a bit of happy excitement... along with a tinge of pain from missing my parents. Anyhow, that was a nice sighting, but the leaves sucked.

And that's the weekend.

Not to worry. More rugby photos are coming!

Rugby semi-final photos

Okay, time for some photos from the most recent match.


Some guys like the legs on the famous Rockettes. For me, this works.








Think Callum heard the camera firing as he passed by?

















More to come!