What I did on my summer vacation

Some pictures from our trip up the east coast. We went from SC to NH and even inadvertently crossed the border into Maine - I was on the cell phone, my bad. Yeshi and I figure we should just drive on down through Georgia and Florida and call it a day. This is coming up through NC, for some reason it makes me think of Europe. Not sure why...
Pretty clouds in NC.

Crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. A good day for boating.

Dead trees on the eastern shore of VA.

Foot to the sky. Looks like my foot but it's about 33 years younger and a size 13. Yikes. He may actually grow into these paws.


After hours on the road, trying to get a self-portrait in sunglasses is great entertainment.

NJ turnpike was pretty congested so I relied on my gps-back-up (Yeshi) to find an alternate route. Here he uses one of the rubberbands from his braces to track our position.

When you can snatch the pebble from my hand...

This is a rite of passage for our children. No one is allowed to move out unless they can make the enchiladas....how would they live? This is Yeshi's first attempt at dipping. We ladies do all the preps - chopping onions, shredding cheese (or foraging for it at the grocery in its shredded and bagged state) and making the sauce. We also layer the onions and cheese during the building process. The actual dipping of the tortillas into the sauce is, however, the male's domain. As is the preparation of properly poached eggs to top off the masterpiece. These skills require finesse and timing (the female responsibilities in enchilada-making do not) and thusly the learning process must begin at an earlier age for boys. The tortillas have to be in the sauce long enough to soften and be completely coated but if they are in too long they fall apart. Similarly the eggs must have cooked whites and runny yokes. Yeshi did a fine job for his first attempt - only a few ripped tortillas. Once he is 100 percent on his dipping we'll move on to egg-poaching. Well done son - I look forward to the day when you and your sister whip up a plate for me, *sniff* !

A reward for their labors

After clearing the brush out of a large area in the backyard, Danny and Yeshi cut down a small tree and put up a hammock. Since it's back by the airfield there is actually a bit of a breeze there. They bagged all the brush and hauled it to the curb, then Yeshi got a coke and kicked back for a few hours back there. We lit a couple "Off" lanterns and that kept the bugs at bay. The hammock will probably see a lot more use this fall - it is HUMID here.