Saturday, February 19, 2011

SarahJ's Wedding



Daniele's best friend, dancing partner from childhood, is living and working in Cincinnati. So we flew over on Friday morning, got ourselves a hotel right on the river and enjoyed a weekend in Cincinnati. The weather was exceptionally warm, so we were able to walk around.
View from our room
















Joe's Crab Shack


The crab legs at Joe's Crab shack were absolutely scrumptious. It was nice to have the weekend to ourselves. We did some walking around and ate at several different restaurants. On Friday night we went to the Hofbrauhaus to meet up with SarahJ and some of her wedding party.
The wedding was very nicely organized and cute. It was a relatively small wedding with about 80 guests at a converted movie theater with their names on the marquee.  They got married on the stage, which is exactly what Danielle would have expected from SarahJ.
CakeBalls !


SCATMAN

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Paul's Mountain Cabin


Off we go to New Hampshire
Paul and Elisabeth invited us up to their Paul's mountain cabin. It is up in New Hampshire, behind Mt Washington. This season, the access road is completely covered with snow and the only way to make it up is via Snowmobile.


Fixing the sled

Danielle making Snow Angels

So we followed them up to New Hampshire. Paul had the snowmobile parked at the bottom of the trail.  We had to attach some old skis to the bottom of the pill sled so that we could move our stuff up.

Danielle helping to resupply the wood

Eventually, we made it up to the cabin. It was a beautiful view, a great cabin heated only by firewood, no electricity, and no water.

We really enjoyed the cabin. Danielle helped Paul lug some firewood from the shed, and the woodstove created a really cozy athmosphere.

Jeff playing the Piano while Cheryl is singing
 
Cheryl and Danielle






For the evening, we went over and visit Jeff and Cheryl at their mountain cabin that was a few miles away.
As usual, they were great hosts, and we met a bunch of other fun people, mostly from Marina bay, and a friend who is a patient of Cheryls.
 After a great night, and a few little adventures with the 2-wheep drive Honda on these mountain roads, we made it back to the cabin.
Next morning we had Mimosas and a great breakfeast. We left around 6 pm and made it back to Waterdancer around 8.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Another Wild Winter Weekend



It is probably due to the fact that we spend a lot of time in limited spaces, that the weekends end up as times where things are being let out, at times in a manner reminiscent to some of our College times. Friday night we had a pool party. It lasts between 6pm and 8pm. It is very difficult for me to make it in time because of traffic coming back from Waltham. Usually I leave work sometime after 7pm, but Fridays I leave earlier to make the party.

So I invited friends over to Waterdancer. We watched some cruising movies and had a good time. When Danielle came back we decided to let her sleep since she had competition next day and moved over to Kevin and Linda's boat. Walter joined Kevin, Linda, Susan, Arvind, Jeff and me, and for some totally unexplained reason, the shotglasses came out.
I actually took some movies of the rest of the party, but will not publish them to protect the guilty. As I left around 1 am the party was still going.
Saturday was fairly quiet. Christian and I had to dig onto a slip in order to recover the heat gun, so that he could fix his shrinkwrap.
The wraps have taken their toll in the snow, including at least one partially collapsed one.


Sunning in the cockpit
 I finally got myself around to fix my own shrinkwrap holes which were caused by falling icicles.
Sunday we decided to take a little vacation. Together we went to the pool, and enjoyed a relaxing hour. At 100 degrees, it is the largest hot tub in Boston.

The sun was out, and it was 84 degrees inside the shrinkwrap. So I took the opportunity, and lay down in the cockpit with shirt and t-shirt. Ahh ... the simple pleasures of life we have to grab onto in order to survive this winter.




Snow Mountain in the parking lot

In the Meantime, the snow banks in the area are growing. The field behind Danielle is about 10 ft tall and 100 square feet. That is a lot of snow, and it is dirty, very dirty.
  I don't think that I remember this much continuous snow in the Boston Area before. Since it is illegal to dump the snow into the ocean, the mountains are growing, And we hardly get any temperatures over 32 degrees to help the snow melt. 
Walking on the streets, especially in the city is becoming dangerous because there is not much sidewalk area left, and many streets are narrower because of the extra snow. 


Eggs Benedict and Canadian Bacon Burger !


Mimosas and Beer at Warren Tavern

 Afterwards we walked over to the Warren Tavern, and splurged. I have cut down on beer significantly, so this was my beer day. We had a scrumptious late breakfast. Warren Tavern has good food and atmosphere. They have a fireplace, which was not lit today.


Sullivan's Bar

Finished with our late brunch, we ventured over to Sullivan's Bar, next door which is a very typical Irish bar. We had a some Bloody Mary's with the pre-Superbowl crowd and then stumbled over to Tangerinos, where I enjoyed a Chimay Ale and 2 Drunken Camels. (Don't even ask) while Danielle continued with her mimosas.











After the Superbowl started, we went over to Paul's boat Venesaur, and hang out with Paul and Elizabeth, where the 2 bottles of Champagne Danielle had bought from the liquor store bit the dust. So did the Steelers !

After a brief stop over at Kevin and Linda's boat, reminiscing Friday night, we finally made it back to Waterdancer. Things get a bit fuzzy at this point


 As to make a point of this winter. If the three Mariachis in fromt of the Mexican restaurant have a foot of snow on their hats, we definitely had too much of old man winter

Snow .. way too much snow !

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Wrath of winter

Accuweather image
We are being hit by one snowstorm after another. This week, after receiving already over 50 inches of snow, we had a double snowstorm hit us. Tuesday was a wash as far as work is concerned. Wednesday I went to my office, and only one other person was here.
Tuesday evening we went to the parking lot and cleared the cars, padded off the snow from the shrinkwrap. I also added some reinforcing tape to the roof area over the door. Next year I am planning to create a dome with an additional conduit so that the snow can fall off.
The shrinkwrap is holding for now (no jinx... no jinx). I have a few small holes from falling ice, and the area around the starboard shroud opened up, again, from falling ice I presume.

Dingy is completely covered with snow. It will be some time before it is accessible again !
Below is a picture of Constitution Marina, with Danielle and the dogs, before the big storm hit !

Danielle, Sailor and Sammy walking to the Constitution Marina Parking Lot

There is a dinghy there

And here is the poor dinghy. Again, this picture was taken before the big storm hit, and there was no melting in between.