Playbuoy Bunnies Cruise into East Andover

So it was to be another weekend at the Cottage in East Andover, only this time Jessica was home from Phoenix so it was another excuse for a party.  We loaded up the car on Saturday morning with our typical one night stay amount of ‘stuff’—coolers, a single backpack of clothes, Cheri’s water pillow, Jess and Cheri’s bicycles, the normal one night load—and headed out on the road.

We arrived in East Andover late morning on Saturday, picked up Jess, and headed right out for Ellacoya State Park on Lake Winnesquam for a Fenton Family reunion picnic.  We did leave Thomas Morris and Kristina at the cottage to watch over things and to make sure that the diving float did not drift away.  They accomplished this by putting as many lawn chairs on the float as possible and then using their combined body weight to hold everything in place…while absorbing as much sun as possible and keeping themselves well hydrated.

Cheri and Jess connected with a younger sect of the Fenton Family—Patrick and his wife Mary Ellen, with Erin looking on from the side and Karen’s back to the camera.  Patrick, Erin and Karen are all Cheri’s second cousins—making them Jess’ second cousins once removed

When we arrived at the State Park we found that Papa was already holding court with his generation of the family members.  The first cousins—his generation—appeared to be in charge and some stories about the three of them were certainly flying about.  How many are true we may never know since it seems one will tell a story and the others will swear to it no matter how large! The picnic also included a fair amount of us outlaws—no connection by blood—but we were able to eat and enjoy the setting as much as the celebratory family. We spent a full afternoon and enjoyed catching up with family members we haven’t seen in years.

Then it was on the road and back to the cottage for a late evening dinner.  By the time we got back to East Andover Robert Morris had arrived.  Robert brought some steaks from a butcher he knows in Boston and Thomas agreed to do his magic on the grill.  A little seasoning, a sip or two for the cook, some fish for Nana on the grill, and soon we were ready to enjoy another great meal at the cottage…funny how that always seems to go together; good meal…cottage…hmmmm.

There was good steak, many salads, baseball discussions between Papa and Robert, and a great time was had by all.  As the evening wore on Cheri, Nana and Papa headed back to the house and I stayed on for a short while to make sure the evening activities were within keeping of the cottage traditions.

We did start a fire down by the beach, and since there was a nice fire going it only made sense to have some nice scotch to accompany the setting.  Even with the gorilla tripod it wasn’t easy to take a low light photo—probably because the tripod was resting on my chest—but you get the idea. An enjoyable evening with clear skies and the nice glow of the fire.

The time spent by the fire was kept reasonably short since we had a busy day ahead on Sunday.  Thomas and I did manage to get up early to arrive at the Country Club of NH by 7:10 and tee off by 7:15.  We played through 15 holes—and both drove on the 16th hole—before time caught up with us and we hightailed it back to the cottage—time, tide, and cottage parties wait for no man!

As we arrived so did Kevin and Courtney as the first guests of the afternoon.  Soon we saw Capt. Dave cruising up to the dock with the newest member of his fleet…a Playbuoy Pontoon boat. Just after Capt. Dave pulled up to the dock we were pleasantly surprised by the arrival of Dad at the party and his guest, in from Florida for the event, Debbie! I wasn’t as serious as I look in the picture…just concentrating and thinking that I have to get Dad his lunch and start cooking chicken for everyone. Just to be safe I began cooking up fifty very meaty chicken thighs.  Before going on the grill they were patted dry, seasoned with salt, thyme and basil and then put over medium low heat with the grill cover up.  I turned them about every ten minutes and basted with apple cider vinegar to keep them moist.  Timing-wise I kept them on for 40 minutes first and then ten more minutes while I brushed on homemade barbeque sauce that I had made a couple of days earlier.   According to the reviews, the chickens did not die in vain! We did get almost everyone else into some photos down by the beach, in the water, and out on the boat.     What another great Adventure…so nice to have Jessica home! To see the full on-line album of pictures, click on the photo of Capt. Dave below.

We did manage to get out some salads and fruit to keep everyone’s hunger pangs down.  Between those items and some wonderful fruit salsa and guacamole that Jessica made there was enough food to keep people from fainting of malnutrition. Additional guests included Aunt Beth, seen here with Jessica and Thomas, and Uncle Tim, who didn’t seem to make it into any of the pictures.  Likewise Aunt Louise came for a visit and to see Jess (Uncle Dave was busy haying on one of the few genuinely good days we have had this summer).  Also I am sorry to see that I did not get Dan and Monica captured in a photo, but it was great that they stopped by on their way home from Maine.

Cottage Party Aug 2009

Almost Two Weeks and Two Hundred Miles…The End Result, The Same

This goes back several weeks.  Not because the adventures were less than great, only that it has taken time for me to put fingers to keyboard—my version of pen to paper.

Early this past Spring the Employee Activities Group at UMMHC offered employees a raffle opportunity to purchase some Red Sox tickets.  I don’t know how they get them…I don’t ask…I only enter the raffle.  Fortunately, I won the opportunity to purchase four tickets for the game on July 28th versus the Oakland Athletics.  As a result I, along with Dave, Bill and Papa, ended up in Section 92 in what are euphemistically called Field Box Seats.

 

 

 

To visualize these seats, imagine that you are standing at home plate looking down the line to first base with Pesky’s Pole in the distance.  Turning slightly to the right looking into foul ball territory and for the spot where the seats change from red (field box) to blue (grandstand)…that’s about where we were seated…Row WW, where the stadium makes the turn towards the bleachers.  Looking in from the seats you can see that all of the action is in front of you, and even if it’s hard to see the ball movement on the pitches…you’re at a Red Sox Game!

 

 

 

 

As noted, Section 92 is where the field turns from the seats facing the outfield (sitting up and looking straight ahead meant looking at the visitors’ bullpen), to where they look towards home plate.  In order to make this turn, there has to be a place where the outer rows (towards the Grandstand Seats)turn and pinch the inner rows (also known as Field Box Seats).  This phenomena just happened to take place in Section 92, Row WW, seats 11 – 14; any other rows in the Section had adequate leg room (at least by Fenway standards).  Contributing to the issue we have Papa, my two brothers and myself…none of us would be described as ‘small’ guys…trying to fit in the seats and then Papa had a rather large (read that as at least my size) women trying to “squeeze” into the seat—this is literally not figuratively—next to him.  When I tucked my legs back under the seat (where the discarded crackerjack boxes and spilt beer goes) then Dave and I could both sit down.  You see the effect in the picture where Dave is to my left and my knees are pressed down below the seat edge; but hey…you’re at a Red Sox Game!

 

 

 

 

One of the great things about the evening—besides spending time with three other guys who enjoy baseball—was this turned out to be the game following Jim Rice’s induction into the Hall of Fame and his number was being retired. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From our seats (standing actually) we were looking right up at the retired numbers area and you can see the red sheet being removed by Johnny Pesky as a part of the ceremony.

 

Following the ceremony we quickly determined that we were not all going to be able to sit and enjoy the game from these seats.  Dave and Bill said they were going to stand in the area behind the grandstand seats so Papa and I spread out a little bit, and at a bit of an angle towards home, over four seats.  It turned out that Dave and Bill found space in the Standing Room Only (SRO) section between home plate and first base so they had a great view of the game and…you’re at a Red Sox Game!

For those of you that somehow missed watching the game—probably washing your hair or doing something else significantly important—let’s do a brief re-cap.  In the second inning Oakland went ahead 2 – 0, but Boston quickly came back with five runs in the bottom of the third.  Boston added another run in the sixth with Oakland doing likewise at the top of the seventh.  So at the seventh inning stretch is was Boston 6, Oakland 3 and fans were starting to leave.  I turned to Papa at this point and said, “This game is far from over and I don’t understand why people are leaving.”

Boston and Oakland then each scored a single run in the eighth so we entered the ninth inning with a 7 to 4 lead and Papelbon coming out of the bullpen…what more could you ask for?  Then Papelbon proceeded to produce his third blown save of the season and Oakland tied it up 7 – 7 in the ninth.  Dave and Bill at this time found some vacated seats down behind home plate, so they moved into an even better position to watch the game.  It took 11 innings, but ultimately Oakland prevailed and won the game 9 to 8.  A tough loss, but at least…you’re at a Red Sox Game!

Fast Forward eleven days…

…we had another opportunity to see the Red Sox in action.  This time the game was to the Southwest of Boston in the new Yankee Stadium.  Jack Gosselin and I drove down to New Haven and caught the Yankee Express train to E 153rd St – Yankee Stadium where we could walk right up to the gate.  We got there early enough to have a foot-long hot dog (with the works) from the Nathan’s street vendor and to enjoy some of the banter (grief) from Yankee’s fans.  Scott and Tim drove in from NJ, and met us outside the gate before the game and we all went in early to look around the new stadium.         You can also see in the photo above and to the right the stadium in most ways looks the same as the old Yankee Stadium, but as Tim pointed out it just doesn’t have the same feeling of history or grandeur.  After Tim said that I too had the feeling that someone had made a replica of the old stadium…only it felt like it was ‘Made in China’.   Not to bore you too much with the game—you may have once again had to clip your toe nails or do something else beside watch—we entered the seventh inning stretch (which you see Scott and Jack standing for in the picture to the right) with the Yankees ahead 2 – 0.  Buchholz pitched fairly well through six innings giving up only 2 earned runs on 6 hits, only Sabathia went 7.2 innings giving up only 2 hits and no runs.  Ramirez managed to “plunk” A-Rod in the bottom of the second—and get ejected as a result—but that was about the only glimmer of any excitement on the part of the Sox.  The end result was a 5 – 0 Yankees win.  It was another tough loss in two weeks and within 200 miles, but we did remember…you’re at a Red Sox Game!

As you enter the gate there is first a concourse that runs behind the seating area.  This is filled with shops and higher end restaurants—places like the Hard Rock Cafe.  From there you enter into a separate loop behind the Field Box Seats that runs around the field.  After finding our seats Tim and I took a tour around the loop and from an area above right field I took a picture of Jack and Scott back in our seats.  You can see they are the only brightly colored individuals in a sea of grey Yankee fans—Scott’s yellow shirt really stands out.   You can see that our seats were similar to the game at Fenway, only a little closer in the field.  Plus you will see in some of the photos that the seats are all theater style with padded seats and plenty of leg room. Here’s a photo shot of Three of the Gang of Four, and below Scott took a shot of Tim and me to round out the group.

We parted ways with Scott and Tim driving back to NJ and Jack and I getting right on to a train and heading for New Haven.  Even with the losses, these were great adventures.  Go Sox!

There Are No Friends at Auctions

alternately known as:

My Mother Couldn’t Believe I Could Eat 14 Potatoes in One Seating

It was a shortened weekend at the lake. Since we had the opportunity to go to dinner with our friends the Gosselins (Jack and Stephanie) at our newest favorite restaurant, the Still River Cafe on Friday evening we didn’t get out until Saturday morning.

The Still River Cafe is now a favorite—the favorite—because of the setting, the food, and the service. It is a prix-fixe (fixed price) three course meal with an appetizer, entree, and dessert. All of the vegetables are grown on-site and the choices are interesting and wonderfully prepared. One of the reasons to eat out at a restaurant is to experience food you would not normally have at home; either in type or preparation and in some cases both. Since we like to cook we had both on this occasion.

For the first course I had olive brined thinly sliced pickled beef tongue, pea shoots, cerignola olive puree, crispy crème fraiche. Cheri had North Ashford Farm Spring Pea Gazpacho, house made lemon ricotta, prosciutto crisp, pistachio oil. Stephanie had vichyssoise made with garlic and a local green vegetable (I waivered on having this myself) and Jack went with a simple garden salad—not always as adventurous as the rest of us, but it did include twelve farm baby greens, baby arugula, toasted pumpkin seeds, shaved fennel, goat feta .

The main course brought an American version of Kobe Beef prime rib—think of beef cattle pampered since birth with diet and exercise to create a tender and tasty (at least to us carnivores) piece of meat—to Stephanie. Jack had the Rhode Island Stripped Bass that received rave reviews. I took the opportunity to have a trio of duck served in three ways—a leg of duck confit, duck liver pate with crisp wedges, and sliced duck breast on a bed of local vegetables. Cheri had the most unique (at least for us New Englanders) entree—Karen, you and Anna may not want to read the rest of this paragraph. She had what the menu called Rabbit “Olivier” which consisted of a poached saddle of rabbit medallions with baby carrots, a leek filled crepe, roasted stuffed leg and chilled rillette of rabbit. Cheri also pointed out the irony of having baby carrots with rabbit for dinner, a nice twist. We all shared a little of each other’s plates so we could have the full experience.

Desserts were chocolate, fruit sorbets, and blueberry shortcake. We also washed it down with some great coffee and tea.

The next morning we got up at a reasonable hour and packed to head for the cottage. After many cups of coffee and some time working the crossword puzzle we got on the road. I called Dad and let him know that we would pick him up around noon and we seemed to hit the schedule okay, even with some traffic delays on I-495 and a quick stop at the grocery store. We were then on to the cottage and a nice afternoon at the lake.

We started out in some Adirondack chairs, next to the beach with our magazines. The sun was bright and warm, but we moved over into the shade to be comfortable as we enjoyed a relatively quiet afternoon. Cheri soon joined us only she didn’t nap…she only sat around looking good at the beach Later in the afternoon the sun crossed the yardarm (somewhere) and we had a brief cocktail time, which included a favorite summer libation. It almost makes you feel cooler just looking at it…the effect of sipping it was just as good. We were soon joined by Nana and Papa and had an enjoyable afternoon sitting by the Lake.

Of course it wasn’t too long until you had both a before and after shot. I attribute these positions to the ‘Lake Effect’ which causes relaxation and possible sleep induction to the unwary. As usual at the Cottage we got the grill going in the late afternoon and I found another piece of meat to first sear and then slowly cook. Besides some beef tenderloin I also found some sea scallops begging to be put a part of the meal. To keep them happy I squirted the juice of a lime over them, sprinkled some mixed seasoning on them and set them aside to become content…we only want to eat happy food. The meat was on the grill for about an hour (after first searing) and when I took it off to let the juices re-enter the meat I put the scallops, on double-skewers, on the grill. Add a broccoli-raisin salad, carrots, and a cold rice salad and a meal was made.

Of course it was during this meal that Papa shared with us the time his mother (Grammy Fenton) couldn’t believe he could eat fourteen potatoes at one time. Papa did share that he has yet to be filled up and besides…they were small potatoes.

 

 

It was a quiet evening and after such a filling meal it we settled in to watch the Red Sox game for the evening. I did light a beach fire, but the combination of mosquitoes, full bellies and Red Sox kept people from the beach.  That didn’t keep me from trying a couple of pictures with my new gorilla tripod to show the fire at the beach and then later the moonlight over the lake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning most of us took our time getting up.  The plan for the day was to enjoy a French-toast with berries casserole that Cheri had made ahead for breakfast and then head over to the Old Fashion Fair put on by the Andover Historical Society at Potter’s Place.

We did wander around a little before the auction.  Dad and I watched a blacksmith for some time as he worked on making candle holders with a heart shaped hanger out of raw iron bars.  Cheri also spent some time talking with a fellow knitter who was spinning her own wool. During the auction Papa was busy moving items around, holding them up for others to view and helping out the auctioneer.  We only bid on a few things and ended up with a new bureau for Sarah’s Room—also known as the Guest Room—and a couple of nice plant stands with marble tops.

Arriving at the Auction area you could see Papa already stationed as a worker near the storage area for the auction items.  Of course that is his pickup in the foreground so it wouldn’t be too much of a carry to get any items won into transportation. The lady spinning did say she started out simply knitting…then she progressed to hand spun wool…then spinning her own…now she has her own sheep—sound familiar?  Should I be nervous about needing a barn? After the auction we headed back to the cottage to pack up and try to get an early start on the trip home.  I did take some time to show Dad how to make a blog.  He has been sending an E-mail to Valleydale friends about his ‘doings’ while in New Hampshire and he thought this might be a better way to send the updates.

We got on the road around 4 p.m. and took back roads from Dad’s house down to Hooksett which let us miss the backed up traffic we saw on I-93 earlier while driving to Loudon.  It was a very relaxing adventure.  To see all of the pictures from the weekend click on the photo below.

Andover Auction 2009