Tonight we dine at The Mews Restaurant… and if it feels like I’ve been waiting a decade to eat here, it’s because I have.
25
August
2012
No comments
August
2012
25
August
2012
No comments
August
2012
25
August
2012
No comments
August
2012
The Paradise of Provincetown
Today we are journeying to Provincetown – that special sea-surrounded tip of the Cape that has provided such a refuge for so many artists, fishermen, and lost folk. I haven’t been there in a few years, and I’ve missed it. This is actually the first time that Andy and I will be in the town together. As a wise animal once remarked, “It’s so much friendlier with two.”
For a certain stretch, I was going down once a summer, usually just one night (after a night in Boston). I’d depart at the crack of dawn, before the traffic, but also before the town was awake. It would be hours before some places even opened, so I’d park and walk around in the early morning light, unbothered by the throngs that would soon populate Commercial Street. That is my favorite hour, before the mayhem really begins. There’s something to be said for crowds and excitement and vacationing stupidity, but I prefer silence and solitude when you’re surrounded with so much natural beauty.
This time around we have a few lose plans – a whale watch (Andy’s done one, but I never have), perhaps a beach visit (if I can muster the energy for that journey of a hike), and a dinner at Mews (another first for me). The madness of Carnival is over, but the summer is still here…
24
August
2012
No comments
August
2012
24
August
2012
No comments
August
2012
Birthday Briefs
Sometimes, even on your birthday, the only kiss you can count on is your own. (The world’s tiniest violin is croaking out a ‘Happy Birthday’ song somewhere for this maudlin moment.) Now that that’s passed, let’s party. With dinner at one of my favorite restaurants (Sibling Rivalry) and an Oscar Wilde-themed play (‘Gross Indecency’) I am bound to enjoy this birthday in Boston.
 
24
August
2012
No comments
August
2012
24
August
2012
No comments
August
2012
The Birthday Boy (And Family)
From left to right is my cousin Martina, my brother Paul, my cousin Andrew, and me. (I forget the name of the small stuffed beaver I’m so happily holding and trying to protect from the prying hands of Andrew, but I know the big chicken behind it was christened ‘The Laying Hen’ – no lie). I figured this was a good photo to put up for my birthday (racier fare to come later, as we can’t remain children forever, but for now, this will do) – to remind everyone I wasn’t always a grown-ass man.
24
August
2012
No comments
August
2012
23
August
2012
No comments
August
2012
Dinner With Andy
Happiness is a dinner with my husband, in a city by the sea.
 
23
August
2012
No comments
August
2012
Midnight at the WalMart
After finishing up our preliminary evening of web work, Skip and I made a midnight trip to WalMart to pick up the release of ‘The Hunger Games’. These are two things in which I am normally not at all interested, but when given the chance to go to WalMart at midnight and see a bunch of losers all excited for their dorky movie coming out on DVD, it was too much to pass up. I was only expecting a small handful of devoted/delusional fans, but the line was about 20 deep, and moving at a snail’s pace.
A family of four or five stood before us, and Skip asked the middle girl, about 12 years old, if she was Team Pita or Team Salad (I forget what the names were). She chose one, to which I said, “I’m Team Madonna.” She promptly turned back around and continued talking to her father. Rude. Skip said he half-expected the banjo music from Deliverance to start playing, and I prayed for a glimpse of Burt Reynolds back in his glory days. (Not that I’ve ever been smitten with Mr. Reynolds.)
A single guy with gigantic holes in his ears is behind us in line. He doesn’t smile. He does, however, make me wonder what kind of movie ‘The Hunger Games’ is. Is this some ‘Lord of the Rings’ type epic? How else to explain the young men in line with us? Before I have time to dwell on the madness, Skip reaches the counter and gets his copy, then we are charging out of the store dodging bras and E-Z See keyboards and military men in full camo regalia. I’ve had my WalMart fill and it’s time for the Hess Express, even if they’re out of hot dogs.
23
August
2012
No comments
August
2012
Thom Evans, in Various states of Underwear
A lot of times I get requests to post salacious pics of shirtless men, some of whom I don’t find attractive in the least. This is not one of those times.
Ladies & gentlemen, I give you Thom Evans. No idea who he is, nor an inkling do I care.
And with a body like that, I don’t even care what he wears.
Remind me to stop eating the carbs. Actually, remind me to stop eating altogether.
He even makes man spanx look good.
All of the images by photographer Daniel Jaems, from F.Tape Fashion.
23
August
2012
No comments
August
2012
Mayhem in the Kitchen
Andy doesn’t usually make mistakes in the kitchen. True, there was that one cilantro-instead-of-parsley incident that ruined a pan of stuffing (served without taste-test at a huge holiday dinner at my parents’ home no less), but for the most part the kitchen is where he works magic. Every once in a while, though, things fall apart. Like this cake.
He was making the monthly birthday confection for my workplace when I heard a cry of ‘Shit!’ from the room I rarely frequent. Now, normally when people are upset, I do my best to avoid the situation and pretend I’m not around. (I can’t tell you how thankful I was to have not been in the office the day a co-worker had a dizzy spell and needed to be carted out by ambulance.) I’m simply not good or comfortable around distress. Being that Andy was working on something for the rest of us, I cautiously walked in and asked what happened, where I was greeted by this crumbling mess.
My heart went out to the guy, and I tried to be supportive, suggesting there might be way to salvage it – either remove a top layer, or just hide everything with two pounds of frosting. He was not having it, refusing to send in something that was falling apart like it was. “Let’s just buy a cake,” I ventured at 9:30 PM. “Where can you get a cake at this time?” was his dejected reply. Umm, how on earth would I know? See, this is why I don’t like to get involved – there are always more questions. I made one final suggestion that he do a simple, quick pan cake and call it a night, then left before there was more swearing.
A few hours later, he conjured another work of art, more brilliant and impressive than the first, and if it weren’t for a FaceBook S.O.S. no one would have been the wiser.
22
August
2012
No comments
August
2012
You’re So Fucking Special
Every year around this time, for obvious reasons, I indulge in a little bit of looking back. It’s not a stance I favor, for more obvious reasons. Yet here we are again, approaching the end of August – the turn of summer – and we pause for this moment of reflection. My bags are packed, Andy is in the bedroom finishing his own packing, and I am listening to this song, wondering if anybody else is listening.
It’s a tricky time, this end of August. It’s still summer, but the winds have changed, the sun has shifted its slant and angle in the sky – and the sky… the sky… becomes its truest blue. Everything glows differently at the end of summer.
I don’t care if it hurts…
I want to have control…
I want a perfect body…
I want a perfect soul…
I want you to notice when I’m not around.
22
August
2012
No comments
August
2012
Albany-Boston-Provincetown
Tomorrow Andy and I head out on my birthday weekend vacation – a brief trip to Boston and Provincetown for an extra-long weekend. As such I will be gleefully limited in my computer and internet access. (Half the time I forget to bring the iPhone along to update anyone of any status shift.) I’ve programmed a steady series of posts to see us through next week – provided nothing else goes down on this fledgling template. It’s still a work-in-progress, and will be for some time, as figuring things out is taking me longer than expected. That’s to be forgotten in the next few days. It’s been less than an easy summer, and I intend to relax and try for one last weekend of glory before I call it a season.
22
August
2012
No comments
August
2012
