Summuh Vaca.

Gotta go check on those rocks and pebbles we deliberately placed by the shore in Rhode Island....may take days, even weeks.

In fact, it might even require laying perfectly still in the sand or swimming continuously in the surf to remember how and where those stones were placed. A Del's could fortify our memory. Or some clam cakes and chowder.

Should be back aftuh Labuh Day (with or without the Rhode Island accent).

Revenge of the Thith, Empire Thritkth Back,

Is it mean that I enjoy making my Jedi-loving 7 year old say (over and over again) all six titles of the Star Wars movies because he doesn't have any teeth?

Bandwagon

I used to swim. A lot. And competitively. From roughly age 7 until 18 I swam in a 25 yard pool or a 50 meter pool. With chlorine. And I would go to sometimes as many as three swim practices a day, which was in the summer. Or it meant waking up at 4:45am to get to a 5am practice. Funny, today at 44 I still wake up at 5am to exercise.

But I was never a really outstanding swimmer. I was good but not outstanding. And I was definitely the kid that swam much harder in practice than at swim meets. I was disciplined and determined and very, very committed to swimming (many thanks to my flexible and generous parents). And yet when it came to the 'race' or the 'event', I didn't really have 'it'. I wouldn't 'choke' but it took so much to better my times. I would often win my events (200 IM or the 500 free) but swimming faster at a swim meet was just too challenging. In fact, I can still conjure up that butterflies-in-the-stomach-I-might-vomit feeling just thinking about how I would feel before a race.

Today I still swim. Maybe twice a week. Nothing like I used to but I still love that feeling of getting wet (and possibly chlorinated) and pretending that I don't need a lot of oxygen to swim. I love that feeling of being streamlined or hydrodynamic......or pretending to feel that way.

And now I have the exceptional bonus of watching Mr. Phelps and his swimming talent. And I'm so proud that the 'greatest Olympian ever' is a swimmer.

Michael Phelps of the United States swims on his way to setting a world record to win the men's 200-meter butterfly during the swimming competitions in the National Aquatics Center at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

What to Wear

Poking around the ol'internetty closet.....made myself laugh with some thoughts of what might happen if I wore this t-shirt when I'm attending a staff retreat at work:






















or what if I wore this to a school council meeting:





















Gave this to one of my kid's friends to wear:






















Wore this 5 days in a row to the gym:

























or wore this 5 days in a row to the gym:
























or gave this to my 9 year old to wear to school:
























These and so many more can be found at:

Brookline Farmer's Market in Record Timing

Last Thursday I had maybe 15 minutes to run to the
famed and fabled Brookline Farmer's Market.

I was on a mission. Not so much interested in the verdant, leafy greens....

or these luscious, juicy, fuzzy peaches

or what looked to be a glorious and wonderfully various selection of squash and zucchini,


No.

I passed right by the ever-growing line waiting for fresh baked goods from Clear Flour



and headed straight to my new friends at River Rock Farms.

Trying to embrace the challenge of eating more locally grown produce and protein, I was happy to see that there was still some excellent cuts of meat available. And River Rock Farms (of Brimfield, MA) provides really some of the best locally farm raised natural beef. This small, family run farm is committed to providing the best, healthiest, and freshest meat available.

And my mission? I wanted either hanger or skirt steak.

Instead, I left with something completely new: Tri-Tip.

And it was outstanding. Lean and tender but completely flavorful.
It was just amazingly delicious.

So, like any happy girl from Kansas, I scored my 2 pounds of beef in 15 minutes or less.



Brookline Farmer's Market

Centre Street Parking Lot

June 19 – Oct 30, 2008

Every Thursday -1:30pm until Dark

Once around the Block

18 years ago my husband, Scott introduced me to Block Island. A little island maybe 11 miles off the southern end of Rhode Island, is a remote, gorgeous, natural gem. Accessible only by ferry or plane, Block Island holds a very special place in our hearts. We were married there, had summer house rentals for a couple of years, and have always made sure that a summer didn't go by that didn't include either a day trip or an extended weekend to BI, RI.

(photo from mediafury )

It's a quiet place. Maybe 200 year-around residents. And close to 10,000 at the peak of summer. But it's really a very old, vintage, island loaded with salt farms, old rock walls, and breathtakingly beautiful vistas.

(photo from mediafury )

What Block Island doesn't have is an updated, sufficiently styled hotel/inn/B&B. I know, probably a total contradiction in terms to consider anything 'sufficiently styled' on a small island off the coast of New England. But mull this over:

For roughly $400 a night (in high season) you can stay in one of the island's premier accommodations, The 1661 Inn that lacks any sense of the 21st century. Perpetually stuck in 1983 (when I'm betting the last renovations were done), with Victorian this and Victorian that (I know, keeping with the style of many of the ocean resorts that went up along the New England coast in the late 19th century) the hotel has little more than a nice view to offer.


Can I tell you how much ugly wall paper, chintz, and philadendrons make me groan? Not to mention the filth that must be lurking about the wall-to-wall carpeting?


But with beachbungalow8's recent post on the Surf Lodge (click on the link for the very cooool background music), I can only pine for something as clever, clean, and updated to exist on the Block.




Montauk's received some press recently as a Hamptons alternative for the Jitney crowd. I think with the beckoning of Surf Lodge, it's hard for anyone within a 3 hour ferry/car/jitney ride to pass this up.


Montauk is just 14 miles west of Block Island. On a very clear day you can see Block Island from the end of Long Island. They share the same body of water, the same year-around fishing crowd and summer-only sailing enthusiasts. But as far as one chic, hip, reliable inn they are worlds apart.