Wanna know? Do ya?

Well if you really want to know what we did this weekend....go see Aimee's post she says it best and she has pictures too!

If you didn't venture over there then I guess I should tell you we went strawberry picking so that we could make jam.

Aimee tells about the adventure but she doesn't tell you how good it smelled in the strawberry patch, in the van on the way home and in our kitchen! The sweet smell of succulent red berries was enough to make your mouth water! We had a great morning and an even better afternoon laughing at how much jam we were actually going to have to make! In total 32 500ml jars...now that's alot of jam! We do have alot of people that we love and will share with and it keeps in the freezer for up to a year. I use my Mom's recipe....half the sugar, twice the berries and I get perfect strawberry preserve. It's not really jam since there is nothing firm about it and you can't spread it. It is best served up in a bowl for dipping toast in or as a sauce with ice cream..this is how we love our jam!!

After we had our family foray into preservatives (Mom your recipe is the best and I have put some away in the freezer for you guys!!!) we cooked up some steaks on the BBQ and relaxed in the backyard. For me that was all I could do. The whole process damn near crippled me! Next year, I drive there, drop of the pickers, sit have a coffee and watch the people go by. When the pickers return I will pay for the lot of berries and drive everyone home! That way I can actually assisting in the preserve part which is the most fun!

Go see the pictures and put your orders in!!!

It's hard being green

My daughter's are always on me about my never ending combustibles....aka fluffs, toots, ass gas.
I don't really know why, but myself and Aimee's friend "Sgt. Peacock" have been known to try and outdo each other in our passing of gas while relaxing in the backyard. "Sgt. Peacock is Aimee's age and she literally has come quite close to outdoing me in this area despite her tender years!

Today, I rec'd this and felt it quite appropriate to share it with the Sarge!

She wrote this to me....it made me smile.

It's like the maker's of Dilbert made that especially for us! So this is what if feels like to be famous...kinda.

Excuse me, I gotta go toot.

Between the two of us we feel we could power a small town. Any takers?

Cause that's how I roll

We have a couple of wonderful inexpensive festivals that happen each year in our area. They always happen one weekend after the other and always seem to be badly timed to compete with high school final exams and the Gay Pride Parade in Toronto.

So you may be wondering why I care about the timing of these events as I am not in high school nor am I a prideful Gay person.

Well I care that everyone should be able to participate in all of our local events, that's why!

Anyway, the first one happened this past weekend. In our neighboring city is the Sound of Music Festival. This years headliners were "The Trews", "Teenage Head" and Michael Burgess. All great music! What great weather we had this past weekend for everyone to enjoy the sounds of all these great musicians on the shores of Lake Ontario. I missed it because we were busy trying to get our asses to Vegas in that stupid pool competition! (nope, not bitter....much!)
All this great music is accompanied by carnival rides and food booths. You know, the normal fun carnival stuff that attract all types of fun interesting people!

This coming weekend is our own Town's "Waterfront Festival" and it again is a variety of carnival type happenings with fun for all ages. The headliners for this festival are David Usher and "Jacksoul".

The youngsters love the rides. The teens love the music and the rides and the opportunity to hang out with friends, stay out late and piss off the world with their lack of concern for safety and all things parental. The adults indulge in the carnival atmosphere (otherwise known as the beer gardens), remembering the times when we were teens and nothing else mattered to us. For the adults it seems to be one summer celebration that allows us to kick back forget about the day to day stuff and start the summer off well!

Now as it happens...our local teens must now determine whether they would rather be studying to get good grades and graduate in the near or distant future or attend the Festivals and our Gay members of the community must determine how they would rather spend their time,
celebrating their diverse sexual and gender identities in sweaty downtown bars or on the shores of Lake Ontario with the ultra conservative folk that some think originally planned this festival to co-ordinate with Pride Week to keep them in Toronto!

Fail at school, well you can always become wait staff at one of the gay bars downtown!

Me...well I'll be spending my time at home and in my backyard, enjoying my fire and elbow room.....cause that's how I roll!

If you're local and wanna hang....give us a call and come on over!

Round Two and a knock out!

We made it through last nights match. It was tough but we triumphed.

This morning we got knocked out...One loss, two losses three losses....we're out.

It sucked.

I'm sad.

That is all.

Round Two

Just a quick update to make me feel a little better.....we made it through a tough match against an unknown team!

Our team kicked some serious ass and we all brought our "A" game!

Round Two....7pm tonight!

Think good thoughts!

Vegas Bound!

Feeling a little nauseous....

Here I sit in my backyard. I should be enjoying the beautiful day. Instead I'm feeling a little sick to my stomach about what the weekend holds for my friends and I.

Things I know:

1. The Peanuts Gang Rocks! We are a great team that managed to win two divisional championships to get to this very spot!
2. Colleen is a "Monster 4" that will meet any opponent head to head and come out victorious!
   
3. Hal is the highest ranked player on our team and he will never make the mistake of underestimating a lower ranked player in regional play again after his horrible misfortune last year.
4. Neil, our Captain, is a pleasure to watch when playing pool. He is smooth, concentrated and his quite ability will lead us to victory!
5. Liza and I are great mid ranked players that step up to the plate and do what we must to keep us in the runnings under pressure.
6. Ralph and George are new to the team and they both want this as much as the rest of us!
7. Dean, well Dean is Dean and although he doesn't like to play in pressure situations...he will do his best to kick ass if we need him
8. We will rock this Regionals and go to Vegas!

I'm going to throw up now and get it all out of my system! I'll keep you posted and all of you that are out there...PLEASE think of us tonight, if only for a moment and send us your good thoughts! If you want to come out and cheer us on tonight we'll be at the Boston Manor in Burlington giving our all to make it to the next round!!!

BLAAAAH!

So Sleepy, so very very sleepy!

I'm feeling like it should be Friday afternoon, you know, that time where I get home on my couch and curl up and DIE!

Such is not the case, it still is only Tuesday!

There has been a lot of talk lately about being true to oneself, seeking out the things in life that bring true pleasure and fulfillment. So, I'm doing just that and pretending it's Friday. Hopefully my new boss won't notice that I've curled up in the 3 foot space they call my new office space!

Somebody pass me a pillow!

Relaxing the day away!

This weekend was a particularly good, entertaining and yet restful weekend. So why oh why do I feel like I could fall asleep at my keyboard this morning?

On Friday night everyone just disappeared and I spent a quiet evening alone just like most Fridays. Peaceful yet lonely somehow!

Saturday was spent cleaning and preparing to have the 9 Ball girls over for a BBQ to celebrate our greatness. (hopefully someone will send pics for me to post!!!) It was a potluck so everyone contributed! We ate well, we drank well, we laughed ALOT and we strategized about
next session. It was a great evening.

On Sunday, I had everything cleaned up by noon and spent the afternoon relaxing with my buddy Dawn. Softball at 5pm with okay results (tie game) and leftovers for dinner completed the day.

So with all of that rest and relaxation I should be anticipating the hustle bustle of the work week? NOT!

I think I need a vacation!!!

Spare change for a haircut??

Last night was our Finals for 8 Ball. We lost but have no fear we still have an upcoming tournament for a chance to go to Las Vegas to compete!

I must apologize to the few people that actually read my drivel, that don't understand my pool speak. Really, it's just me venting and I'm sure you got the important stuff (like telling the other guy his opinion counts for nothing and he is a piece of shit in a bag about to be put on someones front porch and be lit on fire to be stomped on!) so no point in going back there.

Colleen and I have great fun making fun of the people around us! It's a sport to us, we are very nice to most people (to their face) including the ones we love! We exercise our talent at the bar when we get together to play pool.

All year there have been a couple of people in particular that we have wondered about their choices in hair styles. A couple of the ladies in the bar have chosen to go for that Rastafarian look with the dreadlocks. For me personally, the look is not a good one...perhaps "rat-nest"afarian would be a better name. Last night we noticed one of these ladies had chopped all her dreaded "Dreds" off and she was sporting what both Colleen and I considered a quite nice "do". Her blonde hair looked quite nice, trimmed and washed! What a difference!

On another note, we decided to take up a collection for one of the other girls in the bar who must have run out of money before the hairstylist was finished because only one side of her head was cut and the other half was left at this very odd length?!?!?!?

I'm not sure why some women choose to take such a funky approach to hairstyle. Honestly, if you need to express yourself...get a tattoo! At least you can hide that if you need to! It's hard to hide bad hair!

Nervous Times and the Monster 4

We are in playoffs for our division of 8 Ball this week. In fact I think this would be considered the "semi" finals.

Last week we played the quarter finals and managed to annihilate the team to send them crying to the open forum about our Monster 4 That's right folks, we have a Monster 4 and we are proud of her! In the open forum of our League Website the captain of the team we played last week alluded to the fact that perhaps this player has been in the league so long that she masterfully is able to control her skill level! Below are his comments:

I don't believe there is any player in the cpa who has more than 10 games played that is not fully aware that innings affect handi-caps. Some people play with this, others just play. I can say even this week I watched a 4 play each match missing most of her shots at the start leaving the table cluttered with her balls. After the player on my team spent innings opening things up, she would wait and then run 5 or 6 balls to get out. Her shots at the start were close to the pocket not defensive by definition but not in either. So is she sandbagging or playing smart ?? She is a monster 4 and she won and deserved to... Now she wins and has lots of innings... not sure if this is abuse or smart play.

Here is my response to his comments:

Fuck Off, you unsportsmanlike piece of shit! How dare you accuse her of "sandbagging"! Your only redemption here is to say correctly that she deserved to win!

Our Monster 4 player played your player fair and square and kicked her ass hard! These are both players that have been in the league for many years and they are very well matched! It is a proven fact that Colleen plays an A game when under pressure, most of us women do! There is a trip on the line and any opportunity to bring us one step closer to that is one that we will take!

Sorry about the fact that you didn't make it to Regionals. Sorry that we were the ones that you feel you can blame so openly for this!

See you next session where we will do our best to kick your asses again!!!

TTYL!