Monday Ramblings....

We had a pleasant couple of days over the weekend as we attended a couple of little get togethers to celebrate retirements good friends, one from the “work” side of life, and the other from Historic St. Mary’s City. The former was a catered affair with very nice grilled meats and vegetables, and the latter was a pot luck dinner. Both were enjoyed by all. New horizons are always fun to contemplate..

Pot-lucks seem to be a dwindling phenomenon, but I just love them. Sure, some people go to Giant and get chips and salsa, we all have our time constraints. But others who have time and inclination bring actual home cooked food, and this is where the fun is. Find that little dish that is special or you haven’t seen before. Like yesterday there was a curried appetizer dip with cashews on top that was great, a little pot of stewed apples and smoked sausage, a little salad of those transparent noodles with fresh vegetables in them, and for a dessert the biggest Trifle I’ve ever seen, with local peaches enrobed in that creamy pudding. How fun.

Anyway just being with friends and enjoying food is always enjoyable.

Other Snippets:

A new “distracted driver” phenomenon observed. A motorcycle cruising up Rte. 235 yesterday with the person behind the driver busily texting with no hands available for safety. It’s everywhere.

Looks like our Red Robin is moving along nicely.

And lastly, that silence you hear is the absence of vuvuzelas, the soundtrack of this year’s World Cup matches. Americans, who become avid fans every four years learning the difference between a corner kick and a goal kick, can go back to their version of “Football”, the only nation in the world that uses that term for other than soccer. Without trying to start a row here, it’s hard not to call it boring. Tension might be a better description with 85 passes being made before any real offensive attempt is made. I thought yesterday’s final was kind of clumsily played without much grace or flow. I get so tired of players just being slightly brushed by an opponent doing a pirouette, falling to the ground clutching their (padded) shins and rolling around in mortal agony. After they either sell a yellow card or not, they’re up, trotting away. And, are there actually rules to this game? Yes, I understand off sides, out of bounds, etc., but the contact portion seems completely whimsical and arbitrary to whoever is the referee. No wonder “taking a dive” is so common, it WORKS!. Yesterday a guy gets a kick straight to the chest and the perpetrator remains in the game. Later, a player seemingly goes for the ball with a tackle, the resulting acting job works, and out he goes. I’m not sure ability always wins the game. Anyway we can put this subject away for another 4 years…

And (lastly) lastly the word “Nil” can also go away for 4 years. How worldly we are with ESPN American sportscasters coming up with: “Spain overcomes the Netherlands One Nil”. Gimme a break. I actually heard a sports report that was: “In Sports, Spain claims the World Cup by besting the Netherlands One Nil, and in baseball the Phillies beat Cincinnati One to Nothing” Sigh…

Not sure if this rates a

DFD