There’s not too much to report here other than the usual great food, fun in the sun and all the normal Maggie P. activities. I helped to muck the creek, which was tiring but interesting for the first time work. After swimming and rinsing off I still had a muck tan stain on my legs. I wish I had Clark’s Tin Whistle book and I could look up the tune Muckin’ O’Grady’s Barn, which I remember from when I first started tin whistle oh so long ago.
The weather has been beautifully cooperative and the sailboat is out. Yesterday Jimmy came despite the fact that trains in the US don’t run like Swiss trains. What? No electronic up-to-date schedule? Not even a paper station specific schedule? There’s no CLOCK???? The announcements weren’t automated. Weird.
We put Jimmy to work right away playing Frisbee on the sandbar (it was conveniently low tide) then AP, S, Jimmy and I played paddle ball until the Daley’s arrived. The first words we heard were from Jonathan calling out “Is Jimmy here yet?” I’m sure that made him feel loved. After introductions more of us went out to play more Frisbee then when it was too hot and we swam out to the boat and had fun playing and talking around it and on it. Heather and I can still climb up onto it.
After rinsing off it was time to pick the meat out of the crabs AP and UJ caught yesterday. AP taught Jon, Jimmy and I how to do it, and Jimmy was thoroughly discussed with me for sucking the meat out of the legs when it was taking too long to pick it out. Mmmmm. Fresh crab is so yummy! Jimmy did try crab later and liked it. I suppose such experiences at the Maggie P. growing up helped me to brave the strange wonders in Japan like sucking shrimp heads.
Anyway, Jimmy, Heather, Noah and I went for a walk along the beach and Noah let me hold him for five minutes, which is a first. I’m gaining respectability!
We had a marvelous dinner of corn on the cob, potatoes, tomatoes with lavender from the garden, and Maggie P. Flounder, which is flounder cooked in fat back salt pork and it is the tastiest meal at the Maggie. Yummy.
Before dinner I took this picture of the table.
Jonathan: Why did you take a picture?
Aunt Janet: Because I want to keep the memory.
Jonathan: You should take a picture of yourself because you’re so beautiful.
Aunt Janet: flattered and completely forgetting about her crooked teeth Aw, come sit in my lap and UJ can take a picture of both of us.
Jonathan: violently grabbing the table to get away from Aunt Janet’s lap No, No. You have to see your shirt because it’s so pretty.
Sarah gave me that shirt when I was there for the wedding. Thanks, Sarah! I asked Jonathan if my crooked teeth didn’t scare him anymore and he didn’t seem to remember saying my teeth were crooked at all. I didn’t make it up, really.
So, that’s a typical Maggie P. Day. A bunch more relatives come today and stay for the weekend so I doubt I’ll get any internet time because I’ll be having so much fun. Enjoy these random shots of life at the Maggie.
Me trying to be artistic. I wish Sasha or Stephan were here to take good shots at the Maggie.
My cousin S trying to be artistic, or trying to annoy me while I studied German. What? Such a calm expressiong while doing German verb drills?!
Lying on the deck with a LimeDaley (Blenheim extra hot gingeral with lime) while UJ and AP catch crabs in the creek. Ah! This is the life!
Jimmy helps Jonathan figure out his new toy from the dump.
Noah shows off his big teeth while playing his new toy from the dump.
What? Don't bother me while I'm reading Harry Potter!
Wow—Jonathan is right about the shirt, you know. I wish I hadn't finished off the ginger ale so fast; it would be good with lime...
That is indeed a beautiful shirt. And don't knock your photography! I think that's a neat shot, well framed. Depending on the effect you want, you could (if your camera allows it) work with a smaller aperture (or a longer exposure, which would probably force a smaller aperture). Doing that would give you more depth of focus and you'd have a sharper image of the boat in the reeds without losing the detail on the netting. (If you were shooting for impressionist fuzziness, you did well, no need to experiment - and with the soft colors I think it works very well the way it is.) Although if you end up with a longer exposure, I'm guessing from the motion blur of the hanging tassel that because of fairly low light you may need a tripod and may have to use the timed release so the picture doesn't get wobbly. (Yes, wobbly is a technical term.)
Anyway, it's good to see Jimmy, too.
And greetings from the land of train schedules on your mobile phone.
I just point and shoot, but sometimes I like what I get. I'm a sucker for impressionist art so I liked how it came out a little fuzzy. I can get lucky, but I like what 'real' photographers can do. I once got up at some ridiculous hour to drive Sasha (friend in college) to Lake Ontario so he could get sunrise snow and ice shots. I was only colder on top of Mt. Fuji. Anyway, I think my camera might be able to do some of the stuff you mentioned, but learning about photography hasn't worked up its way high enough on my to do dream list.
Wow. You have a beautiful smile Janet! Do you really think you have crooked teeth? I guess we all do to some degree. Of course, you keep telling me that Stephan is taller than I am too, so maybe I'm just living in my own little world, without regard to external facts or influences.
Am I taller? And if so, why would that matter or deserve repeating? I'm a bit puzzled.
But I second Jimmy on the skepticism concerning dental crookedness.
Thanks, Jimmy. Since I must defend truth no matter how trivial, my top teeth slant to one side and my bottom teeth are a bit twisted, though I've never been self-conscious about it. It wasn't until I tried to pretty up my face with makeup that I became aware of my flaws. If you ask me, ignorance is bliss.
As to physical appearance, I think I live in my own world, too. I thought Stephan was taller than Jimmy, but I think I must have been mistaken. I don't know what kind of optical illusion gave me the impressing that Stephan was much taller than me and Jimmy only slightly so. Could it be how the height is distributed? And no, it's not important. It just came up somehow.
Height is only unimportant to those of us too short to whack our foreheads against the fish (sometimes called "the duck") over the doorway from the Maggie P.'s kitchen to the main room. Talk about ignorance being bliss -- I never realized there was a problem, but Jon and my brother take their lives into their hands if they're not constantly vigilant.
