Lake Again

I mowed most of the lawn for Dad and then at 1 pm I headed down to the lake again today. It was basically a repeat of Monday, except the beer was Opa-Opa IPA (SO much better!), the book was "The King's Privateer", and my sketchpad lay untouched on the table between paddling & floating and reading. Another nice day. I am worn out!

Laketastic!

After working with Dad from 11:30 to 3:30 I went down to the lake for a few hours. Got down to the lot, unpacked all of my stuff, and popped open a Wachusett Green Monsta IPA (see my review here). Then I slathered on the
sunscreen and took a second beer with me out onto the lake. I paddled around and floated in the middle of the water, enjoying the sun (and to a lesser extent the beer), exercise, and white clouded blue skies for awhile, and then headed in for a bit, to read the tail end of "The King's Commission" and do some inking on my 'X-Men' drawing of "Colossus vs a Sentinel". After that I grabbed a third beer and headed back out onto the water for a second round of summer revels. However the beer spilled into the lake on my outward paddle, and so I enjoyed the sunny scenery and watched the other denizens of Wyman's Pond as they jet skied, motor boated, or party boated around the water.

As I lazed away my afternoon I aired out two old boxes of comics that Dad had stored in the basement and hallway. He had an old issue of 'Superboy and The Legion of Super-Heroes' that I hadn't read (#218, cover dated July 1976) and it was packed with characters and plot elements that are still relevant today (Absorbancy Boy, who grew up to be Earth Man on the team now, Infectious Lass and her futile second attempt at joining, and most importantly, new member Tyroc's final initiation test). What a great find! And the scent of old comics always brings me back to my childhood.

I could have spent the whole evening down there, but by 7 pm I was hungry for supper, so I packed up the car, satisfied with my combination of productivity and recreation, and headed home...

Chauffeur

I got up at 7 am this morning so I could drive Ma to the airport in Manchester, NH. We took the non-highway route (13 and 101) and it flew by despite it being rush hour, and the rain & humidity. It was cool to see all the changes since I was last in that area back in 2005. The bank I made deposits at for work is gone! The drive home was great too. I had the a/c on in Dad's car to keep the air dry, and I had brought 2 cds with me, and I had them playing loud as I sang along to: a) the songs I burned for my guitar instructor to teach me back on '09 and b) Action Figure Party. It was about 100 miles round-trip, and I returned the car to Dad around 11 am.

Boston Sports Supremacy I

Darren Visit - Day 2

After falling asleep reading by around 1 am, I got up at 8:30 to find Darren awake in his living room sleeping bag spot. I made coffee, and we sat around pondering our breakfast options while I showed him my art blog, music blog, Wyman's Pond Music fest site, and various art pieces I've done over the last year or so. Then it was off to Lunenburg and the online-recommended The Ugly Omelet.

We arrived to a packed house, but after only a 15-minute (or so) wait, we had a window table. I had pancakes on the brain, and the menu had a large selection of styles, so I went with 3 pear cobbler ones (despite our waitress strongly suggesting that 2 would be enough) with coffee and a side of sausage. They were fantastic - lots of fruit and whatever cobbler is exactly, and the waitress was indeed right. I wound up only finishing half of the plate. GREAT stuff though! I would go back in a heartbeat.

Darren Visit - Day 1

My old college chum Darren came east for the weekend to hang out and catch up while his wife and 2 little girls were off on a Girl Scout overnight.

He arrived around 5 pm, and we sat around for a bit with bottles of Opa-Opa IPA and caught up on things while we waited for our 9:30 dinner reservation to creep closer. After hanging out for a bit we headed off to Groton and our destination: Gibbet Hill Grill.

When we arrived the place was standing-room only. It's a good thing we'd called ahead to secure a spot, because there was no place to be comfortable for the 90 minutes or so before we were to be seated. So we headed back out into the rain and drove around Groton proper, and decided to grab a beer at Oliver's Grille & Pub, a little bright townie bar. They had the afternoon Sox-Jays repeat on the televisions, and Darren & I split some fried mushrooms and broiled calamari while we each had a beer (I had a Wachusett Country Ale). It passed the time most satisfactorily.

Then it was back to Gibbet Hill Grill just in time to be seated, and the place had emptied out a great deal by the time we arrived. What a place! It is a huge barn converted into a two-level restaurant, and they grow most of their vegetables and raise most of their animals on the farm proper. I began the meal with a Peak Organic Summer Session Ale, which filled my nose (and palate) with happiness. There was a lot to choose from on the extravagant menu, but Darren & I split a big bowl of Prince Edward Island mussels, and in addition he got an iceberg lettuce wedge, while I requested a bowl of clam chowder. Revelation! The combination of the chowder and my beer was indescribable. The flavors complemented each other in such a way that every mouthful was amazing. I intend to repeat the experience sometime soon.

(finish later)

Silver Surfer II

Here is the final drawing, colored and more thoroughly inked:

Thunderhead

The 'skies above' at 4:30 pm today outside my front door!

Silver Surfer

I've been messing with this drawing all week. Here it is in pre-colored form:

Another V42 Day

SARALEE ep cover

After a South Beach breakfast and a few episodes of "HIMYM" and one of "Mad Men", I spent the day trying to get my car fixed (Wednesday for alternator fix attempt #3); writing a couple of blogs (follow links for music!) after discovering a few new bands; working out from 2 - 4 pm; and drawing. Plus I ate smart all day, and did a load of laundry. A V42 day is always a good thing to live through...

Tornadoes

Yesterday evening a couple of tornadoes ripped through the southern half of Massachusetts. Since my family and I all live north or Route 2, we were relatively unaffected. I left Dad & Ma's to drive to Sarah's to watch her kids while she went to a meeting (which ended up being cancelled), and except for the moment I got into the car, and the moment I got out of it, there was such hard rain coming down that traffic was going 45 mph on the highway.

Sadly, 3 people were killed (including a woman in Brimfield who had a refrigerator fall on her), and Springfield was devastated. The path of the tornadoes was basically Route 20, and they wreaked havoc in many other towns, including Southbridge, Sturbridge and Charlton. Governor Patrick declared a State of Emergency, and it will be some time before clean-up is completed. The National Guard has since been put in place, and power was cut in many neighborhoods.

Severe thunderstorms hit the entire Central MA area off and on all night, and as I drove home, there was a beautiful sunset in the rear-view mirror, and a spectacular and dazzling lightning show all the way home on my 20-minute drive.