Furry Friends

I am not a pet enthusiast.  As a matter of fact, I have rather liked not having a pet over the past year and a half.  My house is cleaner, a lot cleaner, and easier to keep clean than it has been in the past.  That being said, I kind of miss my cat.  I didn't really want the cat, but we became close.  He would come and get in the bed with me after I had fallen asleep and snuggle and cuddle with me.  He would purr, I wouldn't have the heart to kick him out of bed.
  I have not, however, been with out pets to love.  They just live at Catherin's house.  This is nice.  I get all of the love and affection from them when I visit, and none of the responsibility of being a dog owner. Here are Lily and Shadow.




Lily is more photogenic than Shadow.

This week, though, I had a visitor.  Cunningham really loves Ace, his dog.  He is always talking about him.  He tells him, "bye" when I pick them up. So, I let Cunningham bring Ace with him for a visit.  Cunningham is responsible, and it is fun to see him mature.  He feeds Ace and takes him out.  He is always wondering where he is, if Ace is not right under him.  We took Ace with us on a kayak adventure while he was here.





I think Ace really enjoyed the trip, and I think that Cunningham got a since of worry that I feel for him and his brothers. It was a five mile trip, and Cunningham took extra care to make sure that Ace made it and was well taken care of the whole way.

Date Night

It is funny. Until the summer started, I could have written this post within two weeks, but my date and I have our boys on alternating schedules during the summer, so it has been hard for us to find time for, just us.  We have, however, introduced our boys to one another, and things have been really good.  They get along and want to see each other.  We will now have dinner with each other with the boys so we see each other more.  So, anyway, it took awhile to get to date night.  Mama came down to visit the boys while I had a chance to go out.

Our plan was to go to dinner,  but the boys had other plans.  They wanted to  grill the fish that they had just caught on our deep sea fishing trip.  So we had dinner before we went out. (Bonus: I got to use my new grill.)



That is king mackerel on the grill and red snapper on the pan.  The red snapper may be the best fish I've ever cooked.

 We had dinner at the house together.

Mama took pictures in the yard before we left.


When I was planning the date. I wanted us to spend some time hiking.  There is a state park close to where we live, but after dinner, we only had time to watch the sunset.  There is place where you can see the sunset perfectly over Callaway Gardens.  We watched it go down and and took pleasure in the world we live in.  We both, are very thankful for the small things that make our world better now.  We spend a lot of time noticing things that we didn't before. The second picture is the selfie I refused to take, before taking it.  This has become a ritual when to phone comes out and we are together.  My guess is that you will see more and more of these on Instagram and Facebook and here.


After sunset, we went for dessert at my favorite yogurt shop.

And then bowling.  We really had a good time.  I am not sure I would have taken her bowling if not for this blog, but I was looking for something fun and quick, before we had to go home.  We really had a good time, and I think we will do it again very soon.

Finally, we took pictures in a photo booth.  Very "date night" circa 1970.  I have seen picture of Mama and Daddy like this.  It was fun to do and remember those pictures, too.

Date Night!

Date night last Saturday ended up being couples date night. We hadn't seen our friends in a while so we invited them along for what we'd been wanting to try for a while. We all met here at this bar for a pre-dinner drink...

Just after we boarded the North River Lobster Co. boat.

Nice raw bar.

Had to get the bucket. Cheese!!

Dinner is served. Lobster rolls with a side of peel and eat shrimp. So good.

Heading back to the city with full bellies.

Looking for a nice spot to have a nightcap.

Found it. This place was like out of movie. Kind of fun watching all the youngsters party while we sat back and sipped our drinks...

That late night selfie where your buddy be creepin'.

Memorial Day Weekend

The Memorial Day we had my first family visitors! Mama and Beck came to see our apartment, stroll around the neighborhood, and get in some Memorial Day tourist attractions...

Friday they got in and we had some drinks on the roof top and then had a leisurely dinner after they checked into their hotel. 

Saturday we had brunch at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's members only dining room. Very classy :)

Sunday we took the ferry and saw the Statue of Liberty and toured Ellis Island. Very informative and fun at the same time. 

Beck was gonna get her picture taken until he asked for money!!! Never seen her move so fast :) hahaha!!

Saturday night we walked down Wall Street by the stock exchange and had dinner on Stone Street.

Sunday we did a NYC Big Bus Tour and ate lobster rolls in the neighborhood.

Sunday Italian dinner on the water looking out at The Statue.

Monday we had drinks at one of the oldest bars in New York - Fraunces Tavern!

And then I made dinner at home but don't have the pics to prove it so believe it or not. All plates clean...

Memorial Day Weekend

Let me first say that I usually do not celebrate Memorial Day.  My thought on it is this: Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day are for those who only get those days off.  It means bigger crowds for the things that I can do on a Tuesday during the summer.  One of the reasons I love my profession.  Anyway, I am going on family vacation this summer during the week of Fourth of July. It just goes to show that it is not always about me.  I am looking forward to it.  Here are of some of the things I saw this weekend:
Shopping at Walmart.

Thomaston and Manchester got ready for the weekend too.



I was not expecting to get the boys this weekend, and we did the usual.  Played outside, video games, and I cooked for them.  One thing out of the ordinary was Caleb cooking a whole meal by himself.  Doug and Tina sent me a package for Blue Apron.  It has all the ingredients and the directions to cook a meal.  I thought Caleb would like this. He jumped on the idea and started cooking as soon as he woke up on Sunday morning. He did a great job, and it was delicious.
 I had a short impromptu date on Sunday night after I dropped the boys off.  We met at Roosevelt Park and took a small walk before she had to get her children.

And on Monday we took a trip to Rock Eagle.  Catherin had to drive her son and a friend to camp.  It brought back a lot of memories.  I ran into an old friend. It was a fun day trip.