Holiday Neighborly Celebrations

My friends\neighbors invited me to their family Thanksgiving celebration a few weeks ago and as much as I tried to decline they were not having any of it.  I didn't want to impose and be a bother, as they were having a house full but in hindsight I am happy I went.  I had a very nice time, met many of the family that I had only heard stories about.  The meal was delicious, I left stuffed AND with a doggie bag of goodies.

So, when I got the call this past Saturday that their family Christmas party was Sunday and that I should arrive around 2ish, I didn't dare try to bow out.  Once again I had a great time, watched some football, joked and laughed a lot and drank and ate my fill!

Much to my surprise I was also included in their Christmas gift swap!  There were 22 of us in all, so there was a lot of swapping taking place.  The original gift I opened was taken, as was the one I was swapped with but ironically when it was all said and done, I walked away with my original gift, a plug-in the wall heated throw blanket!  Almost no need to turn the thermostat up past 60 now...

I am beyond blessed and am VERY fortunate to have such wonderful friends\neighbors!  I don't know where I would be without their support and caring. I'm not sure if they truly know how thankful I am to have them in my life and just how appreciative I am for EVERYTHING that they've done and do for me!

Note: The picture above is of my neighbors family room.

#Blessed

Better Than DoorDash And Uber Eats!

I'm not sure how I got so lucky but I am blessed with the best neighbor and friends, who also happens to be an excellent cook!

Motorcycles and BBQ!

Although, it's Labor Day weekend, which signals the end of the summer, I went on my first major motorcycle ride today in several years.  102 miles, round trip, from Franklin, MA to Sterling, MA and back!

We drove out specifically to grab barbeque lunch at Davis BBQ, SO SO good!

I got the Gouda Mac 'N' Cheese Bowl with burnt ends and a side of Fried Cornbread w/Honey Butter, OMG to die for!  Well worth the trip!  It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny, and the ride on routes 140 and 62 was tremendous!

Starting mileage -

Our lunch spot -

Our motorcycles -

Ending mileage -

What a great ride, what a great day and with a great friend!

They're Coming Too Fast These Days...

I finally made it down to Marshfield earlier this week and spent the day with my buddy.

Here's a picture of the two of us!

Wishing one of my longest and dearest friends a heartfelt happy birthday!

Happy Birthday to my "Farmer Friend"!

A Long Overdue Visit For Sure

 Spent Friday in Marshfield visiting my farmer friend.

The weather cooperated, sunny and nippy in the mid to high 40's, but perfect for walking the property and visiting with all the pigs - 

It's funny to watch them all come running when called - SOOEY SOOEY!  Remarkable how they respond and come from all corners of the pen.  The youngsters bouncing and playful, just like little dogs -

They're all so VERY inquisitive, wanting to smell you with their dirt covered snots -

This sow has white eye lashes, something you don't see everyday or ever -

And Off We Go...

Took advantage of a day off work to head over to my folks place for an afternoon of yard cleanup.  My awesome neighbor, and BFF, offered to help so I jumped at the chance.

We loaded both of our mowers onto his perfect fit trailer and off we went -

Charlie's Place before -

Charlie's Place after - 

Took us about 4-hour to mow the entire lawn, both cutting the grass and at the same time sucking up the leaves. Although, drab coloring with winter upon us, our worked made a difference; the lawn looks so much better.  Hoping this improves it's curb appeal.

We loaded the mowers back onto the trailer, tidied up using the leaf blower then headed into neighboring Dedham for lunch.  A new place named Roadworthy, founded in 2016, and inspired by wacky food trucks and eccentric mobile street vendors.  Roadworthy is the outlandish destination for fun and delicious foods.  The steak & cheese egg rolls were terrific!

Two thumbs up for lunch and yard work!

The Open Road...

We had a terrific 154 mile round trip ride this past Sunday!  We drove south to Mantunuck, Rhode Island and had lunch at The Ocean Mist Beach Bar

It was a hot and humid day but cooler and beautiful at the ocean!

Above are our four bike - 

The Ocean Mist Beach Bar -

My starting and ending odometer readings -

Let It Burn Baby!

First bonfire of the season!

Good food!  Good friends!  Good Time!

Necessity Is The Mother Of Invention

One of the benefits of a post New England snow storm!

Hibachi Fun!

Saturday night birthday celebration with friends at Ichigo Ichie, a local Franklin Japanese restaurant.

What a fun time!  We had a blast!

Roast duck, fried calamari and sushi to begin with then onto the feast above!

The beers were frosty cold and the food was fresh, delicious and plentiful!

"SUSHI"?!?!  Ah, yes!

Rock or Bust World Tour

AC/DC kicked off their North American world tour, Rock or Bust, Saturday August 22 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA. and we were there!

A group of ten of us all went.  We had terrific seats and had a great time!

Those seniors can still rock.  Put's performers of today to shame.

This will now put Emilie's upcoming One Direction concert into the proper perspective, hahaha!

A Roaring Garden Fire

What better way to use the raised garden bed where the garlic had been?!

How bout a roaring fire and s'more making!

Just Being Silly

Bottle cap self tattooing

Irresponsible parenting perhaps but we had a great time!

BDay Celebration

Following a delicious dinner, we joined our friends to cap off the evening with a roaring fire, cold beer. birthday cake and lots of laughs!

"Ichigo Ichie—one chance, one encounter"

Yummy yummy!!

A terrific Japanese dinner at Ichigo Ichie last night!

Our regular crew of nine went out to celebrate a birthday.

For starters we had duck, calamari and two different types of sushi, awesome sauce!

The food was delicious.  The chef was fun.  We all had a great time with lots of laughs.  We closed the place and all left with full bellies!

Definitely two thumbs up!

AHG Bar & Grille

We stopped in at Angry Ham's Garage Bar & Grill last night, which is located in Framingham, MA.

Had several cold wobbly pops and some delicious wings!

Had a front row booth for the cover band "Dope Slap"

The kids really enjoyed themselves and were welcomed by the band.

We all enjoyed ourselves!

Ah, The Joy's Of Summer!

 

Roaring Fire - check!

Cold Coors Light - check!

Great Friends - check!

Wonderful Night - check!

Dig In!

 

We had some friends over the house last weekend to celebrate Christmas, hangout and watch the struggling New England Patriots just squeak by the lowly Jaguars.

 

Here are the hors d'œuvre that JoAnne prepared and, BURP, they were scrumptious too!!

 

You should've joined us!

Kids Do The Darndest Things

So, my youngest had one of her little friends over the house this past weekend for a play date. Emilie couldn't wait and was SO excited in anticipation. Sadly, the play date didn't really go too well from the get go. Her friend was a bit too bossy and dictative and only wanted to do what she wanted with no concern for what Emilie wanted - this was problem 1.

I guess that's to be expected to some degree at eight years old. However, as it turned out that wasn't the worst part, read on...

This little "friend" was sneaky. She came over toting a backpack with some toys to play with, okay that's fine. I mean after all she wasn't going to the Superbowl for example, just to our place, so we paid no attention to the backpack. What we're we supposed to do search the backpack before letting her enter the house? Mental note to self, check all backpacks and packages before letting them into the house! However, this "friend" wanted to play hide-and-go-seek or rather what she wanted was for Emilie to go hide. When she did guess we saw her do?!?! Well, this little "friend" proceeded to fill her backpack with Emilie's American Girl doll cloths and accessories. Now for those of you who are not familiar with American Girl Dolls and their stuff you're missing out on, well, umm, err, well you're just missing out. The bottom line is that this product and associated accessories are VERY expensive! Nothing like GI Joe and Barbie and Ken back in the day. This was problem 2!

Of course we were in SHOCK and not quite sure how to handle it. So, when the girls went outside to ride bikes we removed all of the stowed items from the backpack and said nothing. Well, guess what? When the girls came back inside and this "friend" noticed that the items had been removed from her backpack she proceeded to pull the same stunt, chase Emilie off, and stuff the goods back into her backpack! "No way" you say and I say "Way"! Can you imagine?! Wouldn't you think that some sort of red flag would go off in her 8 year old melon giving her an idea that someones on to her game? In my humble opinion the answer is yes. Let's hope that she doesn't decide to make this a career, as she's gonna fail and fail hard.

Still shocked and still not sure how to handle this disturbing situation JoAnne just asked her to remove the items the second time, made sure that she did, made sure that they were NOT taken again and left it at that.

Since this would be this particular "friends" last time visiting we decided not raise the issue with her parents and dropped it. You never know how parents are going to react these days and we don't really know these people at all so, we chose to ignore it. I think there's a much BIGGER issue there.

YIKES!

Sabrina and Teddy

Sabrina and Teddy are tuckered out and now relaxing after a long day of hunting and playing.