Memorial Day

We got things together in time to invite a few people at the last minute for a Memorial Day cookout.

Before people arrived we had to prep food and grills. I took a small bench I made and converted it to something useful for barbecuing.

The marble top allows us to use the extra, little grill to do things like roasting peppers or small batches of shrimp, while larger animals can be done on the bigger grill.

Counterclockwise around the table from lower left you see our guests, Capt. Robert, Loredana, Mike (Cara's boyfriend), Cara, Finn, Lasse, and Jennifer.

Jennifer serves up Tuscan style chicken, which is spatchcocked and grilled under a brick.

Capt. Robert and Loredana.

Loredana.

Lasse.

Beacon Harbor, May 24th

Taken with my cell phone.

More From Hell's Kitchen Flea Market

This guy found something he likes.

These are wooden print blocks for decorating fabric.

Hell's Kitchen Flea Market

About W39th and 9th in Manhattan there is the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market every Saturday and Sunday from 9 to 5. That's every Saturday and Sunday, weather permitting. Here are a few shots from my visit there last Saturday morning.

Angry Squirrels

This guy came around the side of our house to complain to Jennifer that Biko (our cat) was hunting him down.

See Date

This moron was driving around Poughkeepsie Friday afternoon, on a three-lane wide route 9 in a place where the traffic goes about 45-50mph. Someone pulled alongside him and began talking to him, so they both slowed down, and he handed literature to the passenger in the other car. I guess if the world is going to end you don't fear getting tickets.

TAX THE CHURCH.

More Rocketry At Vaclav's Hovel

Finn got two vinegar and baking soda powered rockets for Christmas. Spring means that at long last we get to play with the fun stuff after a long wait.

This is a short film of one of the better trials. The fat guy launching it is me.

The way it works is simple if not inelegant. You attach fins to a 1-liter soda bottle, then apply an extension of the tube and a nose cone if you like, to make the rocket longer. I thought the extension was hokey and useless - just cosmetic - so I dropped that and adhered the nose cone directly to the bottom of the bottle (which is the top of the rocket).The rest is tricky. You fill the bottle with up to 1 cup of vinegar, then hold it horizontally. Next, you take a tensioned stopper and shove it into one end of a tube that just fits inside the bottle. You fill the tube halfway with sodium bicarbonate, and then carefully stick the tube in, open-end first. Now you tighten the stopper - all the while holding the bottle level and horizontal. Once you have it tightened sufficiently (the amount of tightening takes some experience learned the hard way), you shake the bottle, set the rocket fins down and nose up, then stand back and hope.

Gardening At Vaclav's Hovel

We're mostly ready for the growing season. That nice black dirt is about 75% free. Our town has a community compost pile at the transfer station and each resident is entitled to have some, free, each year. If you are a resident of Beacon, take advantage of it!

The Roundhouse at Beacon

The Roundhouse at Beacon is a major renovation of old factories and other buildings in the east end of Beacon, NY. Here is a video of the construction site as of May, 2011.

Jump Shots

To help Jennifer promote the hotel, and NYC Tourism in general, I have twice followed Paola and Lauren about with camera capturing their jumps (see more about The Jump Files here).

Inn at Twaalfskill

Through Jennifer I met the Norbergs, who run the Inn at Twaalfskill (twelfth stream, in Dutch). This B&B is located in Highland NY and would be a fine place to stay for anyone visiting the area.

Scenes from Beacon

The Fishkill swollen from recent rains. Finn and I walked under that bridge last August, looking for blue crabs.

Finn and his friend David.

My kite aloft at the Beacon train station. The winds were very strong, and I think this was pulling 30+ lbs.

Thai Restaurant In the Village of Fishkill

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Jennifer and I stumbled across an excellent restaurant in Fishkill, the Golden Buddha Thai.

Starting with a Thai Iced Tea (for Jennifer; I can't stand the shit):

...on to these delicately spiced "golden bag" dumplings...

...here is Jennifer's entree and then mine (damned if I can remember the names)...

...the assortment of hot spices you can use.

It's in the village of Fishkill across from the CVS.

The service was attentive and unobtrusive. We recommend the place, and we'll probably be going back.