Summer not so bad

Thank God the weather has improved!  Just plain hot weather without the humidity and the over 90 temps.  July was mostly awful.

 

Restaurant review:  The red store in Cape May Point, New Jersey.  It's kind of an IN thing...if you can FIND the red store at all.  It is inside and on the back porch of....a red building labeled General Store in a tiny little town with no restaurants or hotels.  The food is quite good.  Nothing as normal as salmon in this place.  Entrees include octopus and skate plus 8 other ingredients apiece, perhaps two that you have never even heard of.  You are kind of sucked in thinking that the prices are reasonable....$32 for two courses or $42 for three. Then things just happen, like desserts and coffees which are not even listed.  Other nice things happen like getting things you didn't even order since you know the manager.  But upon reflection,  I think he kisses EVERYONE and gives everyone the extra stuff.  That is probably the secret to his success.  So the food is fabulously delicious and the service is extraordinary and the porch in the sunset is perfect.  And the breads are yummy as is the butter with salt sprinkled on it and the oil mixture.  That is why I got dangerously full before my courses even started.  I saved half of my second course which was crab with gnocchi and then I walked out forgetting it.  It was like a meal in Paris because it took over two hours and we missed our play and didn't even have time to see the ocean.


Getting too many books at home.  Haven't FINISHED one in a while.  Just renewed a couple and got a new one on Interlibrary loan today. Need to spend more time at home READING.

A woman named Chastity

There are some quite astonishing things in our local paper.  Like this woman named Chastity Brackney who was indicted on charges of first-degree aggravated sexual assualt, aggravated criminal sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.  Now that I read it again, perhaps her name is CHASITY, not Chastity. Another article was about a woman arrested for wearing a very short skirt and no underwear.

It feels like a Saturday, but it isn't.  Invited out to breakfast by one friend and to lunch by another.  Anyway, what does Saturday feel like when you are retired?  I woke up with NO PLANS and that kind of makes me anxious.

Sign downtown..."Laundry mat coming soon". 

What are those spectacular flowers blooming on my neighbor's plants?  I think it is hibiscus.  They are red and quite wonderful...

Missing my playlist

Only have 29 songs saved on YouTube.  Missing my 127 songs that I can no longer access on Playlist.com.  Changes, changes....guess you can't ask for too much when stuff is FREE.  I'm too frugal to get itunes.  Had to put on the headphones to block out sound of woman typing VERY FAST.  I looked over to see what school work or other important thing she was accomplishing and it  is FACEBOOK.  What the hell can she be SAYING?!?!?  I am doing useful things such as updating my medications list so I can present it when I go to the doctor on Thursday. 

Doing unnecessary shopping errands today.  Like SPENDING money to SAVE money.  I know it doesn't make any sense, but at least I am trying to get stuff I NEED and stuff that is on SALE.

Did accomplish my daily exercise goal at least....got through aqua aerobics just as it started to rain.  Then stopped by a farmer's market and had my first PEACH.  YUM!  Stopped in to the South Vineland post office and found a wonderful variety of stamps and a man who didn't seem to mind showing them to me.  I had almost given up on brick and mortar post offices to shop for stamps.

It's not the heat

...it's the humidity.  Dreadful summer!  Spend my time trying to avoid the weather and weather-related events.  Casinos are nice....like being in an airconditioned CITY.  I am attracted and repulsed by the gambling culture.  All of these families walking around.  Went to the Revel casino in Atlantic City to check it out.  To recover from bankruptcy they are offering your money back on your slot losses.  But, of course, there is a catch, as usual.  You have to LOSE over $100 by July 31st and they will give you back your losses, but only $5 a week and you have to go back once a week for 20 weeks.  This will never happen with me.  I live an hour away and there are many casinos and I am not really a gambler.  So here are my likes and dislikes of the Revel beach casino and hotel.

Likes: 
- The people were nice (employees).
- They had 21 in Spanish
- penny machines mixed in with all of the others

Dislikes:
- All grey and uninviting outside (maybe it looks better in the sun?)
- the decor - strange modern
- The parking machines were really confusing
- Penny machines where you had to bet 30, 60, 90, 148 pennies (what is the point of a penny machine?)
- parking garage poorly marked and exiting was a mess

The death of a tree

This is my license plate because I am opposed to the murder of trees.  This tree was just standing there, minding its own business, and a branch fell down.  So, the owner of the tree decided to KILL the entire tree to avoid any future problems of this nature.  This tree is going to leave a big gap in my view. It offers a lot of protection from the neighbors. Sad.. I have just been glad that not-my-tree fell on not-my-car.  I just drove off like I didn't have a care in the world.

My playlist.com seems to have finally bit the dust.  Can't log in and probably have lost my list of over one hundred songs. I received an email saying that they got in trouble and had to change the format.  Sigh....I liked it because it WASN'T a radio format.  Now have switched to YouTube, though the pictures aren't that important to me.

Yesterday I went to a class on Picasa, which some of the students insisted on calling Picasso. The other annoying thing about the other students was the woman who kept saying, "Gotcha!"  Doesn't she know that I HATE that word?!  I liked the button that said Publish to blogger. Picasa is only one of many photo management programs. It is related to Google.   But since it now is the one which caught my attention, I plan to try it out.  If I am seriously going to get back into photography, I should be able to practice with my LG rumor phone, which is all I have at the moment.

 

They ol' school

I have been rather fascinated by "Civilian witness #8", later revealed to be Rachel Jeantel, the friend of Trayvon Martin.  I was mesmerized by her bad grammer and then heard an interesting quote from her about the jury - "They ol'.  That's ol' school people.  We in a new school, our generation, my generation..."  I found her rather charming in the interview on late night TV which I watched on the Internet.  I do think her grammer and her inability to express herself did affect the jury in a negative way.  Maybe this is how we can convince people to stay in school...in case they have to testify in court, they need to present well.

Trying to avoid the heat, have spent time at the health club, at the hairdressers and in a library.  The beauty salon is a very pleasant way to spend two hours, looking at the beautiful people, that is, the people who WORK there.  It is an expensive pleasure in which I indulge every couple of months. 

I am secretly eating kettle corn popcorn hoping to not get caught and reprimanded by the librarians.  I won it as a door prize for signing up as a friend of the Cumberland County Library.  Today am planning to have breakfast, lunch and dinner at McDonalds.  I am not proud of it, but it is easy and cheap.  Have a coupon for a free large fries which I plan on cashing in later on tonight.

I sat on an ant and he BIT me

I know that I had ants in the kitchen...big ones.  Then I saw a bunch of tiny ones in a box of wrapped candy.  Apparently there was a medium sized ant on the toilet seat when I sat down.  I discovered him when he bit me.  GROSS!  Time to do something about the damned things.


Book review:  Fifty shades darker by E.L. James.  I was reluctant to read this book as I was worried it would be even more extreme than the first one in the series.  Then a friend told me how much she was enjoying the audiobooks.  So I got this through Overdrive on my Nook.  I liked it even more than the first one.  It is hard to look away.  OK, the guy has faults....he is controlling, bossy, messed up and jealous.  But, on the other hand, he is gorgeous, rich, attentive, generous,  creative and wants her. Each love scene is different from all of the others.  It is true that she can't find time for her friends.  She does continue to want to "work" although she seems to spend most of her time at work emailing Christian.  Somehow the author keeps you routing for their love instead of thinking, "Watch out, lady!"  He sort of backs off from the kinky stuff in this book but the question remains whether he will continue to be satisfied.

I am in "Onederland" today.  That is when you get below 200 pounds.  So what did I do to celebrate?
Went to Terrigno's bakery and got treats for the gang down at the Cumberland County Historical Society.  Of course, I do that EVERY Wednesday, even though I am not supposed to be eating sweets.  Feeling generally sluggish and lazy and in pain.  Stopped taking my anti-inflammation drug and it is 95 degrees.  Exercise does not seem to be making me feel better.