A morning valley walk and a pleasant evening eating and drinking at my next-door neighbor’s place. And I’ve got the pictures to prove it!
Gary came back later and gifted me a case of beer. Said he felt guilty drinking mine without reciprocation. Thanks again!
I fired up the oven and prepared some stuff to share at the cookout party next door.
There were no leftovers, so I’ll take that as a positive sign they turned out good. (The flies liked them for sure!)
The guy seated on the right also lives in Alta Vista and is currently in the early stages of building a house on my old street, Shenandoah Bend. But the coincidences didn’t end there. As we became acquainted, it turned out he also grew up in Southern California. When he mentioned he graduated from Westminster High School, I about fell out of my chair. So did I! His name is Mike Smith, and he graduated in 1966. I finished in 1973, so we didn’t attend together. Still, we shared memories of the local haunts and hangouts in our neck of the woods. He was professionally involved in the music industry and talked about many of the famous bands he worked with. I’m not sure what the odds of meeting a fellow WHS Lion in the PI might be, but it must be astronomical.
And then the music box turned into a videoke machine. That’s usually not to my liking, but the volume was kept at a reasonable level.
It was nice to stumble on home when my night was over. A little too drunk to do anything but go to sleep, but it was a nice change of pace to take a night off from the bars. Swan wants to get one of those music machines for our rooftop, so I reckon there will be some drunken singing in my future. Nothing wrong with that. Unless you’re my neighbor. But I’ll fix that by inviting him to join us.
So, I’m taking a break from the Star Trek humor today.
I guess that’s just about enough for now. I’ll post tomorrow, but then I’m taking a break from blogging until next year.
Great walk, good company, delicious food, and beautiful pics of the landscape and the sunset. But there’s one lingering mystery:
And after the hike Gary and Ed help me initiate my rooftop table with some beers and chicken nuggets.
Chicken nuggets from… where? Rumor has it that there’s a new McDonald’s. Did the nuggets come from the creepy clown?
Steak looks to be done to a perfect medium-rare. Nice.
No on the McD’s nuggets. I don’t think I’ve ever even tried them. We keep a bag of frozen chicken nuggets in the freezer, and Swan did the cooking.
Yes, the steak was moist, tender, and tasted excellent!
New project: make nuggets from scratch. Grind up the chicken meat, round up ingredients for breading, make an event of it.
Come on now McCrarey, you left a little tidbit out on the caption below the pic of your new table with your buds. I think you meant to say, “And after the hike Gary and Ed help me initiate my rooftop table with some beers, chicken nuggets and a game of strip poker”(not that there’s anything wrong with that)
A fly on the muffin. Hell, I thought that was a raisin. If you had offered me a muffin, that’s the one I’d have picked. In my defense, at my last eye exam the doc said I was developing cataracts. It sucks getting old.
McCrarey’s getting one of them music machines for his rooftop and I’m your neighbor, I’ll be sleeping down at the Greyhound bus station.
And lastly, you mentioned at the beginning of your blog how you traversed through the slums in yer neck of the woods and everyone was friendly. Try traversing through the inner-city slums of these not-so United States. You’ll leave in a body bag. So isn’t that interesting. I live in the land of the free but really I cannot travel freely. I remember my time in the ROK. Anytime, anywhere, drunk or sober I was not afraid to walk around. There are places in the city I live in here in America that I wouldn’t go in the daytime. And it hasn’t gotten any better under Dementia Joe. Oh well, i got my 9mm and I live in a constitutional-carry state, so there’s that.
Peace Out!
Soju, nope, playing strip poker with two guys, there is no way to win!
At least you can have cataracts removed; I did, and I didn’t need my glasses. However, it is time for a new exam. Things are getting a little blurry lately. And I didn’t see that fly/raisin WHILE I took the photo.
When I sing, people cry. Even when it’s a happy song!
Yes, I feel much safer here all the time than I would almost anywhere in the USA. I actually remarked to my fellow hikers that despite the level of poverty, crime is low. It’s good to know you are armed and dangerous!