Mom, Dad’s on the Ground

This was the line of the week during our Stone Harbor trip. It was casually uttered by my lovely daughter as she remained relaxed in her beach chair.  I had made a valiant attempt at a soft landing into my chair but ended up on all fours. My wife gave me a hand up and my second seating try was successful. We laughed, we cried.

We did a Saturday to Saturday stay at nice place half a block from the beach in Stone Harbor, NJ. Things have changed a little since the 60’s and 70’s when my family would stay in a very basic cottage in Ocean City, NJ, often several blocks from the beach. I’m not sure a librarian’s salary would go too far in present day Stone Harbor.

We had a ton of fun with my 11-month-old twin grandchildren. The girl is crawling and the boy is starting to.  They were both cruising on the couch a lot as many relatives hovered around them. With so many hands available, the parents got a break and were able to catch up on sleep.

My wife’s brother and his family were a few blocks away and we had many cocktail hours and dinners with them. He expertly grilled steaks at his house and another night my son made his jerked chicken at our house. A few take-out meals filled in the rest. One night my sister got a ton of fried seafood, just like my mom and aunt used to back in the 60’s. I’m not one to complain – are you buying that? – but the calamari was a big, soggy disappointment. I do keep in mind that fried food to go is not often a good idea.

The boomers went out for a meal one night. It was in the same place as an excellent Japanese restaurant we used to patronize that had closed down a few years ago. It was BYOB so LA came to the rescue with her fine wines. My brother-in-law just brought a glass of vodka. Fortunately, he was not stopped on the way. The meal was quite good, but we were a little taken aback when they quibbled about splitting our salads. C’mon people, what kind of show are you running here?

The babies did well on the beach and in our pool. Our grandson was so relaxed in the pool one day that he fell asleep while he was being carried around. We brought a blow-up pool to the beach and filled it with seawater. I skipped a few beach days because I can’t take the heat anymore. A lot of people might say I've never been able to take the heat. We had mostly good weather and one day with intermittent rain.

We bookended the NJ stay at a DC Airbnb close to SB1’s house, in order to get more baby time. I especially like this one as it has a two-foot-wide lowered section of the ceiling that allows me to bump or skim my head when I’m not paying attention. On getaway Sunday #1 and family came over bearing fried chicken.  They were fresh off their Niagara Falls/MLB HOF/MA tour. They are the first members of the village to meet the twins.  The rest of the group will have their chance when they come in at Xmas.  Wouldn’t you like to be on that flight?!

I’m going to check out now without any celeb or political news, but let me know if you think I should devote a future post to Natalie Harp.

My Latest Stinkpiece

I’ve taken care of the critical business of the day, including grocery shopping, wishing a happy 68th to the Wig, and a shortened walk on my recuperating hip. I was fortunate to be able to connect with my favorite physiatrist via video call on my way to Tahoe last week.  I picked up some methylprednisolone at the Tahoe City CVS and am on the mend before I hop on the plane to DC Wednesday. I’ll get to hang out with my darling grandkids for ten days in DC and at the Jersey shore, along with the rest of my family. 

We headed to Tahoe on Tuesday along with Unc and Mashie. We took our Hyundai Ioniq as opposed to theirs since we have a button that closes the trunk door and theirs doesn’t. Talk about a case of buyer’s remorse! TCG and Katie welcomed us with open arms and a modicum of trepidation. We headed to #2’s house up the road for Taco Tuesday. Like a lot of the village guys, #2 is a good cook.  All I was required to do was prepare my 3-2-1 margaritas, which were a hit as usual. 

Wednesday was a little lazy, with the guys hanging back and the women spending time at the beach. We then headed to San Harbor around 4pm to catch these guys.

https://superdiamond.com/

Surreal Neil and the boys put on a good show. I grew up listening to this stuff so I enjoyed it.  They veered into other artist’s tunes for a few seconds during transition periods.  I thought I was hearing things when I heard a riff from Led Zep’s D’yer Mak’er. We skipped out a few minutes before the end and beat the crowd. Being up until 11pm is a rare experience for me.

Thursday was boat day, with the women in Katie’s boat and the guys in #2’s. We headed over to Gar Woods for lunch and then took over a buoy and tied the boats together.  The brave among us jumped in the water. I was not one of them. The evening brought us to the beach. My wife had prepped her oven-fried chicken and cornbread and we had corn, salad and Mashie’s baked treats for dessert. We played a new game called Chronolgy. #1 won the first and I won the second, but we did not go head to head as I sat out the first. I’m looking forward to a one on one match with #1 so I can crush his spirit. During the first game, TCG and #1 got a little chippy, as the football announcers say. Fortunately it did not escalate to the near cage match level we saw in Mexico City, detailed in my 3/1/26 post. During the evening #1 asked me if I’d be getting a post in before my East Coast trip, although I stated in my last one that that was unlikely. Again, he has spurred me to greatness. In response, I challenged him to a cage match.

Before the Tahoe trip, the wife and I made one of our rare trips to the movies.  I thought the 10am show and our advanced age would lead to a discounted ticket, but we paid the full freight at $18. We enjoyed the Olivia Wilde directed The Invite.  I understand she takes her shirt off a lot in her latest movie, so we may be catching that one as well.

There has been a lot going on in celebrity circles. Pete Davidson & Elsie Hewitt reached a co-parenting agreement. I expect that to be as successful as the U.S. / Iran memorandum of understanding. Nikki Bella told us she was celibate, Sid Wilson was kicked out of Slipknot, and ‘Big Brother’ evictee Jason De Puy spilled the tea on unseen pronoun fight with Devens and Kamu. Meanwhile, the Barbie sequel is stalled due to contract negotiations. That one hits hard.  How much is enough people??!! Lastly, Linda Blair has gone to the dogs.

In music, BTS is boycotting the Grammys after the introduction of a new Asian pop prize. Given that, I’m boycotting them too. North West, the 13-year-old turquoise-haired daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, has canceled her headlining tour with rapper Molly Santana. I am forever grateful for my normal childhood and truly feel sorry for all the kids of the Kardashian sisters.

As usual, politics has me tearing my hair out.  The morons are going after Dr. Fauci. I think I’ve said this before, but Rand Paul’s neighbor needs to pay him another visit. I was happy to see America’s sweetheart Jeanine Pirro drop the reflecting pool case against David Hearn. She attributed the problem to a shady installation, which made Trump go apoplectic. On the bright side, we are back to discussing an Iran ceasefire. Let’s all hope it holds this time. Also, FYI, I haven’t heard from Mitch.

OK, that’s it. I’m going to go stretch this ancient body before I tackle today’s NYT crossword.