BBQ Madness and The King of Beers

Saturday was a putter day. Went grocery shopping, got the car washed, lounged poolside and then in the evening we headed to a show opening at the gallery. We skipped the annual Mod Squad BBQ, but I heard it was packed (110 people!). After the show, we ended up at a relatively new place in town called N.O.W. ("Never on Wednesdays" - in the summer they are also closed on Thursdays, so I've taken to calling it N.O.T. N.O.W.) There's a really nice covered patio for drinks and dining so we enjoyed the warm night with some new and old friends.

Sunday was another day of rest and relaxation. Didn't do much of anything. More pool lounging. After breifly chatting over the fence, my neighbor climbed on over (we're friendly that way) and we hung out having a few beers, celebrating our gluttonous American lifestyle. All weekend we were trying to figure out what to do for the 4th. No one had really made any plans. Should we host something at our place? The everwise Missus suggested that we just wait and something will happen. Sure enough by 1:00 we had 3 different BBQ's to pick from.

We headed to P and L's place around 4:00. Food, music and company was excellent as always. But in a strange "when worlds collide" moment, the name of a fellow local blogger came up over dinner when discussing eBay auctions and mid-century collectibles. My companions at the table asked how I knew him. Well, I only know him from his blog(s), we've never met in person yet, but the missus and I have exchanged occasional emails with him for a few years. I got the impression that all but one of these folks did not know about his blog, and I'm certain that most of them don't know about this here Fishwrap. The other guy didn't mention the blog and neither did I - instead I did a dance of trying to explain how I knew so much but had never actually met the man. I played up the eBay angle even though I've never bought anything from him, and in turn I suspect I only added to the intrigue...

After dinner it was off to watch the fireworks from the roof top of a friends building. Somehow - and I know this will surprise most of my readers - I managed to get drunker than a skunk. There's something about drinking beer all day long and sitting in the dark on a roof watching pretty sparkly lights... Later in the evening when I was involved in a very serious conversation about ... something... the missus gave me "the look" and it was obviously time to go home. The thing is when I get that drunk, I'm actually HILARIOUS (in my head). I amuse myself to no end. The entire 5 minute ride home I was laughing uncontrollably at - the windshield. It was so BIG! In my head I had this whole running monolog about driving a miniature bus that looked like a fish bowl and we were the happy fish inside the bus. All that came out in between my gasping for air laughter was "Little ... BUS!" "FishBOWL!" Bwaaahhahah!

The missus was only slightly amused. God bless her.

Yesterday, what I like to call Sunday2, and this might surprise you as well, I was not feeling very well... We had made plans with our neighbors to do some grilling either here or next door so the whole day I was just PRAYING that they would step up to the plate and host at their place. There was no way I was going to be able to get my shit together enough to entertain. Thankfully, that's exactly what happened. Another relaxing evening with yummy grilled food and warm breezes and much laughter and good cheer. A great weekend indeed.

And now it's a Tuesday that feels like a Monday but before I know it, will be Friday. Yay!

In other news, I've completed my Summer Burn 2004 CD and will be shipping a copy to the U.K. and another to Greece today. Any readers want to do a Fishwrap Swap? I'll send you a copy, but unlike last summers Friday Fishwrap Free For All, you will have to make me a CD too!

Drop me an email: mj[at]fridayfishwrap[dot]com