The beach house says "Hi!"

As you can see, it and the beach wanted to send their greetings.

Click an image to see a larger version.

They are doing quite well, thank you very much.

Sarah also wanted to say hello. She is toasting you with her drink, which is prosecco with a watermelon-mojito popsicle in it.

Yes, that's a thing down here.

All is well in beach land. At the Mexican restaurant, though, a new menu has appeared, and it features a new set of dishes, the "skillets." I tried one.

Fortunately, it was tasty.

Back to beach life.

Musings on a rainy afternoon

Many years ago, I wrote a blog entry in which I opined that you could glean a great many lessons from the movie Animal House. Many of those lessons come from or at the expense of the hapless freshman, Flounder. Stephen Furst, the actor who played Flounder, died yesterday, so I was thinking a bit about him and the movie. Lines like "You fucked up, you trusted us," come to my mind frequently. R.I.P., Mr. Furst.

Furst, by the way, was not quite two months younger than I am. People my age are dying all the time. Reminders of my mortality occur all too often these days. Well, to be accurate, they've always been available; I'm just much more sensitive to them now.

Growing up, Father's Day was always a holiday I tried to forget, because when you don't have a father and wish all the time that you did, this is a rough day.

Today, I'm very lucky that Sarah and Scott remember the day and try to see me on it, as they will later today.

I am a fortunate man indeed. I would be wise never to forget that.

Sarah and Ben on swings in the sky

Earlier tonight, a group of us went to the North Carolina State Fair for our annual visit to this rather amazing American and North Carolinian institution.  I must confess to loving it in all of its excess.

It's late, so I'll write my usual State Fair food sampling report another day.  Until then, this picture of Sarah and Ben on the swings ride--you might have to look closely to find them--will have to hold you.

If you're having trouble spotting them, click the image to see a larger version.

Check out this interview with Sarah

She is an amazing young woman, and I am lucky to be her father.

She even gave me a plug.  How about that.

As I said, I am incredibly lucky to have her as my daughter.

Check it out here.

A wedding soundtrack

I've needed a while to be ready to write a few blog entries about Sarah's and Ben's wedding, but now I'm there.  I think.

I thought I'd start with a little soundtrack.

The processional songs began with Phil Cook's "Ain't It Sweet," to which parents and grandparents entered.



Ben joined to a song I wholeheartedly believe he deserves, Josh Ritter's "Good Man."  I could not be happier to have Ben in our family, though I feel he's been a part of it for years.



Sarah and I entered--yes, I had the privilege of walking her down the aisle--to Tom Petty's "Wildflowers."  Trite as it is to say, I will never hear this song again without returning to that moment and to a love for Sarah so powerful that I am continually amazed my body can hold it.  The song is true for me: no other will ever compare with Sarah.

Oh, yeah:  we were walking outside, which made it only better.



After the ceremony, the recessional was the lovely "My Whole Life Long," one of many great songs from local wonder Delta Rae.  Sarah, Ben, I, and many others in our extended family all love this group.



At the dinner afterward, Sarah's and Ben's first dance was to a song, "My Favorite Place," from another family favorite, Stephen Kellogg.



Last in what I'll play--the evening contained a great deal more music than what I'm including here--was the song to which I danced with Sarah in the traditional father/daughter dance.  Even typing these words, my feelings about those moments with her are so intense that I am tearing up.  The story behind her choice of this song is a whole blog entry on its own; I may even have written it.  I could write another whole entry about that dance, and maybe I will.

The song was John Hiatt's "Have a Little Faith In Me."  I can tell you that from the moment she was born I have had for Sarah all the faith I am capable of mustering, and then some.



I have said it for all of Sarah's life, and I will keep saying it until the day I die:  I have the best daughter in the world, and I am the luckiest father in the world to have her.  I have spent every day since her birth trying to be worthy of her.

My face is now wet, so I have no more to give tonight save this:  Sarah, I will always reward any faith you give me.  I love you.

Even from the beach

Sarah has her eye on you.

Click the image to see a larger version.

So, you better behave.

In other vacation news, tomorrow morning I head home, and Monday morning, I fly to Portland.

Busy times.

Winning while losing

Yesterday, Sarah and Scott came over to spend the Father's Day evening with me.  As we used to do frequently, Sarah and I played backgammon, and Scott and I played pool.

Both beat me soundly.

If you know me at all well, you understand that I'm a very competitive person.  I play most games with the goal of winning.  (I say "most" only because there are a few board games I play entirely to be social.)  I always try to win at both backgammon and pool.

Losing to my kids, though, didn't bother me much.  Simply getting to play with them was a big treat.  More importantly, they are the only two people in the world that I wouldn't mind being better than I am at everything.  I always wish the best for my kids, even when that means me losing to them at games.

Having said all of that, I'm still myself, so when we next play, I intend to beat each of them soundly.

No point in making it easy for them.

Because, after all, it is a beach

at the ocean, a picture of said ocean seems in order.

Click an image to see a larger version.

I truly love it here.

Because we walked down together today, and because she is a wonder of the world--and also my daughter, and with her permission, here's Sarah at that ocean.

With Sarah and Scott I am blessed to have the best kids in the world.  Getting to spend time with them at the beach is an enormous treat.  They are the very heart of me.

An eventful day at the beach

So many things happened today that it's almost too much for the beach-addled brain to handle.  People bought things.  People ate lunch out (as usual) and then went shopping and had ice cream.  People took care of car issues.  So many things!

Among the many developments of the day, though, a couple stood out.

First, Sarah unveiled the latest in beach hair fashion.  With her permission, I unveil the incredible construction my lovely daughter created with her hair.

Click a photo to see a larger version.

Want a canted view?  But of course, we are ready to oblige.

The next major development occurred in the evening:  the arrival of the Bobcake!  Accompanying it was BobDinner2015, the Feastening.

Grilled cheese sandwiches, tuna, salmon, cheeseburgers, hamburgers, hot dogs, chili, and salad--the last because we are, of course, all about the health here at the beach.

Did I mention the majestic Bobcake?

Oh, yeah, that is a mountain of chocolate deliciousness.

We ordered with it two of the lovely CaBobcakes, carrot cake jewels that would look huge anywhere except in comparison to the Bobcake itself.  Here's one on its own,

an enormous cake, and now a picture of it with the Bobcake.

Yup, we have a lot of cake to eat.

Life here at the beach is full of weighty responsibilities.

The Gaslight Anthem deliver the power of rock and roll

Earlier tonight, a group of us that included Sarah and Ben went to the Lincoln Theatre to catch the show by the visiting Gaslight Anthem.  The Lincoln is in some ways quite cool and in others way too grungy, but it'll always be near and dear to me as the place I took Sarah for her first live rock-and-roll concert. 

I very much enjoyed tonight's show.  Lead singer Brian Fallon roared his way through a 90-minute set that, to all of our surprise, did not include an encore. 

Click an image to see a larger version.

When I'm at a rock concert, I forget for at least a few moments, and often for longer, my age, my fatness, my job, everything except the music.  I'm sixteen again, the music pounding through me and letting me know that others share my dreams, that I can do it--whatever it is.  I soak in energy and really am that angry, lonely, horny, artsy, frustrated teenager once again, howling with the music. 

Live music has its own special power, and I can't imagine ever stopping wanting to attend concerts.

I will always love rock and roll.



Photo courtesy of Sarah.

Start your engines

Kyle was worried that the change in directors would mean that Furious 7 would not be ridiculous enough.  The way-over-the-top nature of the last two films in this series is precisely what made them so much fun. 

This trailer puts his--and all of our--worries on that front to rest.



I am so there.

The State Fair report, 2014

Long-time readers of this blog know that our family goes to the North Carolina State Fair for the food.  Sure, we like walking around, we love looking at the various animals, and some of us even go on a ride now and again, but most of all we're there to sample the Fair's many food offerings.  A few years ago, I came up with a new, expensive but ultimately less fattening system:  fast for about 18 hours ahead of time, buy everything I want to sample, and take one or at most two bites, then share it with others.  This approach has let me try a ton of stuff at the Fair and not gain any weight from doing so.  (Standing and walking around the Fair for five hours also helps, of course.)

This year's outing began with the traditional pretzel dog.

Click an image to see a larger version.

Equally traditional and from the same vendor is Sarah's start-of-Fair pretzel, which she models here--and lets me eat a bite of.

A Diet Coke is, of course (there was no Coke Zero on offer), the walking-around beverage of choice.

A new vendor, Big Daddy's, contributed Scott's traditional turkey leg, which he also gives me a bite of,

and this rather tasty brisket sandwich.

I didn't eat anything from this vendor, but I loved the name, Bacon Ray's, so much, that I had to share its image with you.

At our next stop, this fryer was in heavy action at times, though here it is hosting only a few dough-covered goodies.

Those goodies included the Twinx, a surprisingly tasty concoction you build by stuffing a Twix candy bar inside a Twinkie, wrapping that in bacon, deep-frying the whole thing, and coating it in sugar.

It really was tasty, though one bite was plenty for me.  My nibble of the equally deep-fried and sugar-coated fried Oreos was also good.

A bite of a salty ham biscuit served as an excellent palate cleanser after all the sweets.

One of our non-food traditions is a visit to see the bears.  Yes, they're captive in small rooms, and yes, they're probably sad, but sometimes they are amazing to behold, as this lax bear was. 

A relaxed bear on a tire swing is a very cool sight indeed.

I'm not a chicken fan, but we always check them out, and I always find some amazing ones.  For example, the mere name "Bufflaced Polish" cracks me up, and their heads are equally entertaining. 

The cinnamon-sugar mini-donuts are another Fair staple, and they are yummy indeed.

McBride's Concessions, a Fair vendor that's been around for years, switched in 2014 to handmade onion rings using a recipe from the mother of one of the owners and a housemade dipping sauce.

The sauce was okay, but the onion rings were great, among the best I've tasted.

Scott's polish sausage hoagie with peppers, onions, and cheese was everything it should be.

So, too, were the fried bologna-and-cheese sandwich (don't hate until you taste it)

and the grilled cheese on white bread.

Oh, yeah, the bread is indeed that soaked with butter.

Did I mention giant pumpkins and watermelons?

Always a crowd-pleaser, and just kind of amazing in that "wow, people do anything and everything" sort of way. 

I forgot to take a picture of the cherry vanilla N.C. State ice cream I sampled.  I love that ice cream, and I get it only once a year at the Fair.

As we were wandering away from the ice cream, we ran cross these two fine hot dogs. 

Someday, the Motorized Hot Dog Throne of Doom will exist!

Back on the food front, another of the Fair's new offerings, the deep-fried Bananas Foster, met with mixed reviews, with banana-lovers enjoying it and banana-haters finding it disgusting. 

I thought it was pretty tasty, but I do enjoy bananas.

By the time we reached the deep-fried cupcakes, which Sarah models here,

many folks were done in, but not all of us.  Those who tried them found them basically to be fried dough, okay but no better.

All of us agreed that as disturbing as the phrase "WALK AWAY NUT SUNDAE" was, the face in the ice cream cone above it was creepier.

Sarah, Ben, and Ronnie,

as well as others in our group, rode the swings and had a grand time doing so.  I always find the ceiling of the swings to be a little trippy.

The "WIGGLE WURM":  friendly, or creepy?

I'm going with creepy.

This gentleman doesn't seem to be very happy to be at work,

but if I ever need a porn-star name, I could do a lot worse than "Jumbo Long Dogs."

A blooming onion

and a classic grilled hot dog with cheese

brought the Fair food odyssey to a close.

As we were leaving, we caught the nightly fireworks show, which was particularly gorgeous this year.  Gina took a lot of great photographs of the show, so to wrap up this huge entry, let me leave you with just a small sample of those lovely shots.