The Kitchen Sink

A month ago, freshly back stateside, I found myself in a diner purusing their excellent breakfast options. The one I selected was called "The Kitchen Sink" and true to its name, it had it all: a big 'ol mess of eggs, breakfast meats, potatoes, cheese and a few Pepto Bismol tablets. Best of all, it arrived at our table in a cute, but not insubstantial, stainless steel sink. It's a great country. Again.

We arrived home in mid-June. But things have been busy. Especially due to some home-ownership purgatory that followed our 3rd floor washing machine 'mishap,' which occurred just before we left and that we ignored until our return. Hence, the last few adventures of our trip have remained unblogged. And that's fine. Hopefully none of your are are losing sleep over my punctuality on these posts. Unless you actually use the posts to fall asleep to, in which case I apologize.

But there is a lot to share, a proverbial kitchen sink if you will, so let me just sum up:

After the massive effort expended at the Formula 1 Race in Spain, and a quick stop in Girona where Mills treated us a comically long lunch of about 18 courses, we repaired to our favorite seaside Spanish village in our favorite hotel room (302). Ah bliss... (other than the scary zero-vis scuba dive and ensuing existential crisis that was recounted in this post). We enjoyed large breakfasts (Euro style, so more refined than a literal sink, but still huge because they are buffets, and we need to sample everything, at least once per day), walks, runs, beach time, siestas, gelato, etc.

From there, we drove Northeast into France for another week of sushine and beaches. And as they were close by (and Lori was pushing the culture agenda over my hedonistic agenda) we also took the opportunity to visit Beziers and Site. Beziers in particular was a very interesting place. Worthy of a blog post. But, there is too much else to cover. Just go check it out sometime when you're in Southern France.

After France, it was time to get back to the States. But the fun was not done. We held onto our cat sitters for another two weeks so that we could give Stanley a workout. We took him to campgrounds in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Highlights from that time (besides the aforementioned kitchen sink) were hanging out with Zach & Erin in camp, floating down the Saco river with a case of beer (and Feigs who was on his maiden RV voyage), and visiting the Meades in Little Sebago Lake where I (successfully) executed a field repair of the water pump in Stanley (applause please).

Then to now, it has been pretty much home repair and DIY projects. Fascinating for sure, but ordinarily not the stuff of travel blogs. See my blog "Drunk & Angry Home Repair" for those stories.

As for travel, we are on a pause until the cat croaks. I'm sorry, that was a bit crass. Until wee Sophie croaks. She has earned that, having put up with non-stop cat sitters for five summers while I built my celebrity blogging career. There are a few vacations coming up, Mexico for sure, maybe Ireland and Alaska. But no real travel is planned for now. I gaze longlingly at Stanley in the driveway, but console myself with the new whisky bar I'm fitting out on our ground floor. (For those of you who have been in our house, the new bar is literally right next to the existing pub, kind of like two Starbucks in most major cities. But they will be separate establishments, with separate cover charges.)

So, it is with mixed feelings that I settle into a more domestic American life for now.

Things that are currently pissing me off:

• Kleptocracy (no longer underground but now a celebrated art form)

• The cat pooping outside the cat box (look, no one knows why old people/pets do these things. For example, I pee in the yard pretty often.)

• Tip screens (I'm pretty sure my dentist is thinking about putting one in. I mean why not?)

• Golf

Things that still make me happy:

• Canada

• The cat (when not pooping)

• Unecessary purchases for my pub/whisky bar

• Golf

I will continue to publish screeds about weighty topics like politics, high school basketball, or stuff that occurred to me while waiting out a particularly long stop light. Stay tuned and thanks for reading!

p.s. On a personal family note, Alex & Steph will be married on Aug 31st and Zach & Erin were just engaged! A heartfelt congratulations to both.