You'll Be What?

Sketch by Sean Seuffert.

A week at LBI

Jim and Hunter
Early evening kite flying
Miss Hope
Still plenty of jelly
Hunter and I find nothing with metal detector.

We just returned from a great vacation at LBI. Thatch and Susan and the kids came for half the week. Despite vicious sand flies one day and water thick with jellyfish the next, we managed to have lots of fun. It was sunny every day and the water was just right. Even when the jelly were plentiful, if you went out a ways they were avoidable. We played many games of minnie-golf. Hope, we note is a champion sweeper and Hunter takes many "practice shots". After the Littels went home we relaxed further, although Jim rode down to the causeway and back twice, as his daily ride. This was necessary as that copper kettle fudge place is still around, many pounds consumed, still delicious!

Wilbur... Willy... Bud... Will turns SWEET 16!

16 candles.

Talking heads.

Happy Birthday WB-2 from all your crew!

A Boy and His Dog

I went to Miami over the weekend.
I visited this guy and his dog.

Here he is proudly shows off the new lawn sculpture he created.
He has sold his house and is moving to Italy in October.

Return to Butternut Hill

Saturday morning goddess fruitplate.
Mary's birthday dinner at the Wilburton Inn.
Jack-Kay, Queen of the Flea Market.
We gathered at Camp Butternut, Wells, Vermont this past weekend. The original Butternutters, Marg, Mary, Nora, and Lynnie ( by order of age) are still ready to eat, yak, and shop. Friday night we celebrated Mary's birthday with dinner at the Wilburton Inn , a strange but beautiful old inn in Manchester, Vt. owned and operated by an eccentric Greek physchiatrist. He insisted on taking our photo and its not a particularly good one, but there we all are, together at last.

Saturday we shopped from Dorset to Manchester. Our first stop was Wessner's Flea Market where my sister-in-law Jackie reigns supreme. Later we had lunch at Al Duccis, and then our big decision involved what we would do for dinner. After much discussion we bought olives, chiabatta, eggplant &mozzeralla stacks, white bean salad, farro salad, bowties with basil and cheese, goat cheese brie, goat cheese &herbs, tomatoes, gazbacho, two pints of ice cream and HRH the Prince of Wales cookies. We hoped this would be enough.

Sunday we did yoga and walked by Lake St. Catherine. Had a few leftovers and did a standing lunch before packing up. Time flies. Butternuts Rule!

Climbing Washington

Maia, Courtney, Will and I climbed Mt. Washington yesterday. It was 75° at the base, but 33° at the summit with 40-50 mph winds, gusts to 67. We had failed to dress properly for the occasion, but we made it OK--up and down in 7 hrs.

Heading up.

Starting up Tuckerman's Ravine.

At the top.

Heading down.

Posers.

Extra socks came in handy.

On A Heavier Note

From a recent Time Mag essay by Aparisim Ghosh who has spent way too much time in Iraq interviewing pols and commoners and observing the scene. The essay is excellent.

"In the absense of statesmen, I fear the sectarian furies that have been unleashed in Iraq will hack way at the last vestiges of sense and decency and drag the country into a final fight to the death."

And awaaaay we go . . . . .

Jim

Where We Are

Where We Are (after Bede)
by Stephen Dobyns

A man tears a chunk of bread off the brown loaf,
then wipes the gravy from his plate. Around him
at the long table, friends fill their mouths
with duck and roast pork, fill their cups from
pitchers of wine. Hearing a high twittering, the man

looks to see a bird—black with a white patch
beneath its beak—flying the length of the hall,
having flown in by a window over the door. As straight
as a taut string, the bird flies beneath the roofbeams,
as firelight flings its shadow against the ceiling.

The man pauses—one hand holds the bread, the other
rests upon the table—and watches the bird, perhaps
a swift, fly toward the window at the far end of the room.
He begins to point it out to his friends, but one is
telling hunting stories, as another describes the best way

to butcher a pig. The man shoves the bread in his mouth,
then slaps his hand down hard on the thigh of the woman
seated beside him, squeezes his fingers to feel the firm
muscles and tendons beneath the fabric of her dress.
A huge dog snores on the stone hearth by the fire.

From the window comes the clicking of pine needles
blown against it by an October wind. A half moon
hurries along behind scattered clouds, while the forest
of black spruce and bare maple and birch surrounds
the long hall the way a single rock can be surrounded

by a river. This is where we are in history—to think
the table will remain full; to think the forest will
remain where we have pushed it; to think our bubble of
good fortune will save us from the night—a bird flies in
from the dark, flits across a lighted hall and disappears.

What is it and whose is it?

Whoever identifies it first, wins it.

My Little Hornworm

This guy was crawling around in the garden tonight.
I called the SPCA, and they sent a van to pick him up.
He left squealing, but we were glad to be rid of him.
40 of his relatives remain to be dealt with.
I did pet him for a while before he departed.
He seemed to enjoy it when I stroked the hair on his back.
Note his tail, AKA his "horn."

Grandchildren Update

Hope has lost two teeth on top, and has a real snaggle tooth on the bottom just waiting to go.
Hunter says "Grandma this is how chicks stand". He must be watching too much "Project Runway"!

Late Posting: Big Bad Bangminton Stars

Winners of the 3rd Annual Nest Games:
Shauna Oplinger and T. Bill Simpson
Nest Among the Hills--July 28-30, 2006

A small section of the gallery that witnessed
the Nest Games finals.

The Commish, the man who made it all possible,
gives the world (and all who would challenge his
authority), the finger.

Portland, then Wells, Vt.

We were startled by this cat on our first night in Portland. He is obviously a familiar of the devil. He was the beloved pet of our B&B host who was strange and somewhat frightening.His Victorian home was a treasure chest of unusual collections, china, silver, clusters of angels, cut glass, Christmas topiaries with lights and ornaments. Once we got to our room I became convinced he was recording and filming us with hidden cameras. Jim began calling him Norman, we put a chair in front of the door. We did not take showers. Portland was great however. Enjoyed dinner with the Malmquists, walking, harbor tour, art museum, and of course some shopping.
In Vermont Matt Solon, a pretty talented painter and somewhat oddball local, has changed the picture on his gallery again. Hes had Vincent Van Gogh, Freida Kahlo, even "the decider" looking like Alferd E. Neuman. We thought Barney was one of his best. Pin-headed farmer. It was great to be in Vermont even with the 95 degree heat. We rode bikes (in different directions) went swimming in the quarry daily, played mini-golf, went to the Southern Vt. Art Center, had a picnic and saw "Midsummer Nights Dream" outdoors at Hildene, rode around listening to some Elmore Leonard and then Annie Proulx. Wishing we could move there, afraid to do it.

Will Simpson On Stage

Will scored big in his 2nd rock debut on Friday in Prescott Park. Garthaniel and the Jams entertained the crowd down by the riverside with an original called "Composed of Air," Pink Floyd's "See Emily Play," and Gnarls Barkely's summer megahit, "Crazy." He was awesome, or so said his girlfriend, sisters, and mother, as well as the review in the Times the next day.

Fun and Games in Sweden, Me.

They are the CHAMPIONS! Battling their way up the ladder
Bill and Shauna emerged victorious. Better luck next year to the many game
contestants. Plans are underway to have the Goldstein rule removed , a small stadium
built, and bug zappers installed all along the parameter of the "nest".

Proud metrosexual Dave "the Commish" Malmquist wears his fem

glasses with elan.

Hard at work the" Commish" has everything under control.

Unruly at times the crowd was quickly brought in line by Malmquist's

complete understanding and administration of the official rules.

Had lots of fun, good food, swimming , games and great company. Thank-you

for a wonderful weekend Mary and Chuck!

telling it like it is

in today's exchange between the dubster and his youngest grandchild the dub said, "you're a good lookin kid, but you're not as good lookin as me."

to which elizabeth replied, "pa, no talk, pa."

and the beat goes on.