My Oyster

Shucking The Oyster...

That means...to remove from the shell.  Off to the left you can see a new widget.  It's an interactive map that I called "Shucking the Oyster".   My meaning - getting to the good stuff. 

On the map I have placed some of my favorite spots.  For starters, there are three restaurants and  a park.  If you click on the icon on the map, the whole list comes up.  You can then see my comments on each.  You can also leave a comment yourself - or even add some of your favorite places.  Doesn't matter what it is, as long as you can pin it to a map.  Have at it! 

Share your favorite spots. 

Start shucking the oyster. 

I like saying that.  :-P

Snowbound...

Why can't Washington handle a bit of snow?  Today's snow "storm" in DC is forcing me to spend hours camped out here at the Portland, Maine airport - oddly named the Portland International Jetport.  Odd, because there isn't really international service and because does anyone use the term "jetport".  I think they were so excited to get jet service up here back in the day, that they coined the term themselves.  Clearly no other cities have picked it up.  I think the "international" initially referred to service to Quebec.  I don't even know if that still exists.

Here is the view from the floor - next to the one outlet I could find in the terminal.

Yup, those are my foots.  Thats my delayed gate.  In theory, a flight will be going down to DC at some point tonight.

The SUNY-Stony Brook Men's basketball team is also stranded here.  Pic below.  That's at least making things here marginally more interesting.  They seem to be finding ways to amuse themselves.

 

For more pics of the DC storm, go to Suz's flickr account here.  Some nice pics.

If any other interesting pic opportunities pass me by here at the International Jetport, I will post them.  Don't hold your breath.  :-)

Bat Boy in Maine...

BatBoyFBI.jpg, originally uploaded by dcjay64.

Tonight we drove up to my alma mater - the University of Maine - to see my niece Sarah perform in the musical Bat Boy. 

If you haven't seen it, it's a contemporary musical based on a story in The Weekly World News tabloid - see pic above.  The musical tells the story of what happens when a family tries to integrate the boy-bat creature into a judgmental rural community. It's a pretty campy and darkly funny story of someone different and on the outside and what that means for him, his family, and the townies around him.

Sarah was great - singing and dancing.  I did have to glance about awkwardly as she -my niece, my god-daughter - was writhing about in the forest orgy scene.  Here is her publicity shot for the musical...

 

Earlier in the day, Deanna (very good friend up visiting from NYC but refusing to allow me to post her pic here) and I went to Slates Bakery in Hallowell - the next town over from my hometown of Augusta.   After getting caffeinated, we shopped a bit on the main street - including quite a while in a yarn shop.  Deanna is going to start knitting some mittens.

More pics at my flickr account...

The Way Life Should Be...

Maine. 

That's one of the tourism slogans for this wondeful state on the very northeast tip of the United States.  Maine is the only U.S state to border only one other state.  It is connected to more of French speaking Canada than to the United States.  I like that.

Maine is the most sparsely populated state east of the Mississippi River.  It is nicknamed the "Pine Tree State".  90 percent of the state's land is forest. Maine's Northern Forest is the largest continuous expanse of undeveloped land east of the Mississippi River.  That's pretty cool.

I am back in Maine, my home, for a few days.  Ahhh.  Very nice.

The pic below is from dinner tonight.  My nephew Chris and his girlfriend Heather.  Both are seniors at the local high school here in Augusta (I am an alum).  Aren't they adorable?  More pics from the family dinner are at my flickr account...

 

Happy Birthday Ma...

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come. 

William Shakespeare

Today is my mother's 69th birthday.  I am incredibly lucky that I have been able to travel the world with her in adulthood.  As friends.  The pic above was last September at a cafe near Sacre Coeur in Montmartre in Paris.

We are planning a trip to Ireland in May. 

Here are a few more of my favorite pics from our travels together...

Paris at Sunset.

Laughing in Rome.

Hot Springs in Hakone, Japan.  Konichiwa.

In a rice paddy in Japan.

A few more good memories here at my flickr account...

"A good home must be made, not bought."

Joyce Maynard  "Domestic Affairs"

So last week I lost the apartment I had wanted in the building above.  Today, I put some money down and signed a contract for a different unit in the same building - the Argyle - at the corner of Mount Pleasant Street and Park Road.

It's the bay window and the two windows just above the street sign in the pic here.  It will be renovated and ready in the early summer.

Now I just need to to sell my house. 

Mohammed had it right...

Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you traveled. 

Mohammed

This is where I have been.  So far.

create your own visited country map or check our Venice travel guide

I have been lucky to see a lot, but I need to travel more.  Less Europe.  More Asia and South America and Africa.  Less northern hemisphere.  More southern.   Excellent.  :-)

Happy New Year!

Today is the beginning of the Chinese year 4705.  The Year of the Pig.

Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality. Those born in pig years tend to have excellent manners, make and keep friends, work very hard, and appreciate luxury. They are very loving and make loyal partners.

The Chinese New Year is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar.  Chinese months are marked by the lunar calendar, with each month beginning on the darkest day. New Year festivities traditionally start on the first day of the month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest.

In China, people may take weeks of holiday from work to prepare for and celebrate the New Year.  Some of my friends there are doing just that.  Happy New Year!

Lypsinka!

Studiopassion_Ad.jpg, originally uploaded by dcjay64.

Daryl and I saw Lypsinka as Joan Crawford at the Studio Theatre today.  Very fun.  I laughed hard. 

If you are not familiar with Lipsynka,    Lypsinka is John Epperson's female persona.  Lypsinka does shows impersonating famous women.   But she does it by lip syncing to actual spoken words of the women.

Today's show was all Joan Crawford.  Lypsinka, dressed to look like Joan Crawford, lip synced to an actual interview from the '70s with Joan Crawford.  The entire interview (with some cut aways to amusing asides) - non stop.

The actual voice of Joan Crawford.  Her thoughts, expressions,  Her jokes.  Her manner.  All of that was actually as entertaining as the lypsincing drag. 

Check her out sometime, if you get the chance.

Happy Birthday Joaquin...

DSC00242.JPG, originally uploaded by dcjay64.

Tomorrow is Joaquin's 23rd birthday.  Tonight his mother, who had surprised Joaquin by flying up from Argentina today, treated us all to dinner.  A very nice woman.  Very attractive.

We went to Firefly Bistro at the Madera hotel on New Hampshire Avenue in Dupont.  Good Risotto.  Cute waiter.

Sean joined me and Joaquin's friends Wyatt and Tim were also there.  Nice group.  Nice dinner. 

Nice birthday boy.

For more pics from the dinner, go to my flickr account.