Saturday, July 15, 2017

Keeping it simple at the beach


Saturdays are when people check out of or into their houses, so traffic is at its worst. Because we're staying in the house, we kept to ourselves and avoided the roads, going out only to pick up some take-out Chinese for dinner. It was a quiet day indeed, exactly what I like.

In news of the BobCakes, the big fella is definitely showing the signs of our continued assault.

Click an image to see a larger version.

I do believe we will polish it off fairly soon.

The second CaBobCake managed to avoid detection for a while, but now we've cut into it, so its days are numbered.


Beach life is cake life.




Friday, July 14, 2017

Stress monkey checks in, CaBobCake #1 checks out


Last night's sleep bombarded me with the largest and most powerful set of stress dreams of the trip so far.  I'm choosing to view this as positive, as a sign that my mind is finally cutting loose some of the stress, but it could also be no more than another sign that my stress management skills suck way worse than I had realized.  Stress monkey is still on my back.

In news of the BobCakes, the first CaBobCake fell to our army of eaters.

Click an image to see a larger version.

The BobCake itself, however, is standing proud despite an ongoing onslaught.


I think it's possible we've reached the halfway mark, but I'm not certain.  We clearly need to consume a huge amount more chocolate.

I have to confess that I am not doing my part.  Today, for example, I specialized in ice cream and had none of either BobCake.

Tomorrow, perhaps I will rejoin the attack on the cake fortresses.





Thursday, July 13, 2017

In which I'm still sleepy, the meaty mess hits the beach,
and the BobCake still abides


During normal work weeks, I sleep very little.  I simply can't afford the time in bed.  Here on vacation, I am sleeping about eight hours each night and napping every few days, yet I am sleepy almost all of the time.  Some of this fatigue is due to more exercise; though I'm not doing much, I am walking a couple of miles in the heat each day, and I'm usually in the pool twice a day.  Some of it, though, seems to be just part of the process of trying to shed the stress of my normal life.  I shouldn't be surprised at how much stress I need to get rid of, but I keep being caught off-guard by how pervasive it is.  Clearly, I need to learn to manage my stress better.

Beach life is sleepy life.

Dinner tonight found our group splintering, with some going out, some foraging on their own, and some eating my meaty mess entree.

Click an image to see a larger version.

Kyle pointed out that without context it's hard to appreciate just how large that bowl of meaty goodness is, so he volunteered to be in the blog with it.


Yeah, the bowl is huge and brimming with meat, pasta, and cheese.

In BobNews, the first of the CaBobCakes is nearing its end.


The BobCake itself, however, abides despite our best efforts to consume it.


We may need to throw a BobCake eating party for our beach neighbors just to give ourselves a fighting chance against it.

And so endeth the news of the beach.






Wednesday, July 12, 2017

The BobCake abides


Over 24 hours have passed since our first brave eater cut into the massive slab that is the BobCake. Many more cuts has the BobCake endured, and yet it abides.

Click an image to see a larger version.

For the BobCake is mighty, and it laughs at our paltry efforts to consume it.

The merely mortal CaBobCake (number one) also abides, but it is smaller now and showing weakness.


By tomorrow, perhaps it will have summoned its sibling.

We shall see.




Tuesday, July 11, 2017

BobFood


One of our many beach traditions is to have our friend and (former) deli owner, Bob, prepare a dinner for us. Even though he and his wife, Rose, are now retired from that business, he still agreed to cater a meal for us tonight.

Click an image to see a larger version.

The beach crowd this week is huge, but Bob still made more food than we could eat in one sitting. The meal included grilled cheese sandwiches (delicious!), hot dogs with optional chili, burgers, cheeseburgers (great!) with optional bacon, buns, salad, two homemade dressings, tuna, salmon, and tile fish.

The meal was delicious, and everyone ate their fill (and then some).

For dessert, Bob made us three cakes:  two carrot cakes (CaBobCakes, and here's one),


and one incredibly dense chocolate cake, the legendary (at least among us), BobCake.


To our surprise, Bob said that he managed to put two more pounds of chocolate in this year's BobCake than in last year's.  That's not two pounds of chocolate, mind you; that's two additional pounds of chocolate beyond the insane amount in last year's BobCake.  As you can see in the photo. the frosting sometimes breaks in what one of my nephews called a shingle of chocolate; the description was apt.

Beach life is dessert life.





Monday, July 10, 2017

Why these beach blog posts have been so short


One big reason is that I'm on vacation, so I'm doing very little. That means very little writing, but it also means that I'm quite literally not doing much, which makes for days that sound boring when I write about them.

I'm cool with that, though, because sometimes boring days are exactly what I need and want.

The events that fill my days are the simple ones I've described: walking, splashing, reading, eating, and so on. I could work to make them interesting, but I'm not up for working right now, and honestly, if you're not part of them, they're bound to sound dull.

Finally, I'm thinking a lot about the value of this blog. I've published it every day for years, but after over 3,700 entries, the readership is still tiny, and it shows no sign of growing. I could put more time into creating stronger posts, but I and my readers would almost certainly be better served by me putting more time into writing books. So, I'll continue to ponder the blog's future as I spend my days in simple, dull pursuits that nonetheless help me rest and recharge.

If you have any thoughts on whether I should continue to write this blog, please let me know. In a world of not many votes, your vote could count a lot.




Sunday, July 9, 2017

Doing nothing, enjoying it just fine


Sleep. Walk. Splash. Eat. Read. Splash. Eat. Watch.

Simple verbs, simple actions, simple days.

Beach time is good time.





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