Down the shore

There is nothing like having friends, especially friends who live down the shore...or at least nearer the shore than where I live in Lambertville, NJ. One of Team VFH's favorite go-to places is Milford, Delaware, where Janet's dear friend and her husband have lived the past five years... Known affectionately as the Captain and BIM-mielle ... Jill and Carl have opened their home to us as well as their other countless friends and this oasis in the middle of a podunk, ho-hum little town midway between Dover and the Delaware shore points has become a favored destination for your favorite mooch crew. Indeed, visiting Delaware as often as we have has opened our eyes to the plausibility of making this state a home port for Vacations From Home. Why, just the tax situation down here is enough to convince us of the move, let alone being nearer to friends and the relative serenity of the Delaware shore. (Especially compared to NJ). 

This thinking has been quite a turnabout though for us, for despite the cost of living this is after all slower lower Delaware and with that comes a dearth of culture. All the charm that we as a couple gravitate towards is lacking here, or at best difficult to find. Films, museums, restaurants are miles away and sometimes in different states! And, the cornfield that our benefactors live in once was very bleak. We spent a New Year's Eve celebration down there and the paucity of homes and the cold, withering wind sent a chill through us and we thought never never never could we consider this for ourselves. But as the cornfield has been populated and the drive to Lewes and Rehobeth Beach seems less a chore, slower lower has become a viable choice despite the harsh winters and populations that dwindle with the seasons. Plus, sitting in the warm sand at Cape Henlopen and watching the Lewes-Cape May Ferry ply Delaware Bay, serves as a reminder that our old familiar lives are not that distant and if needed, a ready fix of urban culture can be conjured up swiftly.

Your favorite mooch crew again relied on the good graces of Jill and Carl for the Memorial Day  weekend, though we got off on a staggered start because of my work. Janet arrived Friday I while finally made it down Sunday morning. I am always amazed we get an invite from them; I always want to return the favor, but I cannot offer anything close in return. But, their hearts and generosity are as wide as their home is inviting. It is an airy three bedroom home with a large kitchen and a wet bar area where guests can and frequently congregate. With the warmer weather they also have a screened in porch and a new patio that is enchanting. Jill may not be able to spell, but she can certainly decorate and make things beautiful! It goes to show that wherever one decides to hang their hat, it can be a beautiful destination. One may have to carve out and create their beauty, but it is possible.

All work AND some play

I envy all those people with 9 to 5's ... weekends off...holidays off...vacations... all those wonderful things that I don't get working in the television industry. Oh sure, it may be glamorous to those of you watching programming. The TV is on, you're having dinner, or perhaps drinks with friends, and the game or some show is on. Perhaps you're gathered around the TV like it is some altar watching with rapt interest, but never really wondering HOW. 

It just happens. 

It's sort of like people who drive automobiles.... This brilliant machine just goes... put some gas in it every once in awhile. Get someone to change the oil? But, do you really know what goes into the machine?

Well, TV is like a machine...sort of a sausage making grinding machine. It chews up the best of us. 

Some liken the industry to a velvet tunnel. Encased in a cozy, warm control room, life on the outside doesn't really exist and years and relationships can pass without notice. Divorce rates are high among those of us in the television industry for as you're enjoying your weekends and holidays or you're sleeping in, we're working. 

When I think about the time I have spent at my chosen profession and the family events and face time I have missed, I am embarrassed. I missed a lot while encased in the velvet sausage making grinding machine. 

I am being overly melodramatic, life was never that bad, right? But, sadly, I'm still doing the same old thing.

The better and infinitely smarter half of Team VFH is already enjoying her holiday weekend. She's at the Delaware shore with friends while I'm steadfast at work. It is nearly 2:30 a.m. on Sunday. I've been at it since Saturday afternoon. Hopefully I'll be out the door within the hour and then I'll drive the 200 miles to Delaware in order to rendezvous with everyone and salvage at least part of this holiday weekend.

I'm bringing sausage for breakfast...

SPARKLE WEEK!

It is said that one man's garbage is another man's gold. Never is this statement more relevant than in my town of Lambertville, New Jersey. For the next two weeks the sidewalks of this little Delaware River town will brim with treasures that are ripe for the picking. During "Sparkle Week" anything and everything will be tossed by the citizens of this docile place as a chance do some spring cleaning. And, conversely anything and nearly everything tossed will soon be grabbed up by other citizens of the town or its environs to haul the junk off to their homes. In a bizarre ritualistic redistribution of wealth the junk in Lambertville goes round and round at this time of year finding new more appreciative homes. Frightening amounts of junk end up curbside in front of some houses, seemingly impossible amounts that could not possibly have come from some of the small houses in town. Perhaps the homeowners imported their junk? Indeed, during this week I diligently rummage through my house, basement and garage looking for things to toss and my heart swells with pride at my growing pile, but I cast a wary eye at the far larger junk piles that clog the town. I could never achieve such perfection!

Don't worry... I don't steal from other piles just to add to mine... but whenever I espy someone chortling slowly near my house to "filch" something from my nest egg of crap I am torn. On one hand I feel glad someone sees worth in what I've tossed, but then I wonder why I threw it away in the first place. I have to restrain myself from running from the house to retrieve my "collectables".  It is a familiar feeling. My first novel was about collecting to excess. You can read the first chapter of "Hi, How Are You?" online for free at: www.xlibris.com/hihowareyou.html  It's a black comedy science fiction tale. Feel free to purchase a copy and help out a starving artist... Somebody should... 

Anyway, if you do I can buy more crap to put in my house. After all it is fairly empty after this week's Sparkle week cleansing.

Now my fair readers I'll bet you're saying to yourself, ‘why am I writing about this "crap"? What the hell is going on; isn't this a travel blog?’ Well, here's the travel connection. Items not tossed during my Sparkle week frenzy are cherished reminders from my travels across this vast and varied world. Of course there are the usual items, like the rug purchased at a Medina bazaar in Tangiers after much haggling and mint tea. There’s the Australian aboriginal art, the kangaroo skin and didgeridoo. A side note to the didgeridoo, I would “play” it whenever the kids pissed me off, the awful sound (by me) could clear a room quickly. There’s the silk kimono from Kyoto and the colorful Aloha shirts from Hawaii. I have several nice pieces of pottery from Spain, Mexican art and Dala horses from Sweden. I have a fondness for Italian demitasse cups, Greek coffee mugs and Japanese tea pots. From across the United States I have several salt and pepper shakers, some wonderfully tacky and others antiques.

Yes, you can say my house is littered with the detritus of my travels. But wait, there’s more. At least with the next list of collections I didn’t spend a lot of money.

I have an extensive collection of matchbooks from restaurants, hotels and bars from around the world. Glass jars brim with the colorful matchbooks. Some are displayed on racks in little display cases. My most prized matchbook is the one from the Holiday Inn in Sarajevo of the former Yugoslavia, now in Bosnia. It is used and battered but commands a place on my display case.

Another favored travel collectables are beer glasses and mugs filched from bars around the world. Here's a tip on how to successfully steal a glass without getting caught. Go to the bathroom with your glass, as if you're going to answer the call of nature, but then emerge without it.... (the glass is in a jacket pocket… get it.) No one is the wiser, hopefully.

I also collect pins, but these are mostly from my work in the television industry. Olympic pins sit in a display case in my office.

But, by far my most cherished travel possession is the vast array of sand I have collected from around the world. I have sand from every continent except Antarctica… I had some, but it melted. Kept in little labeled bottles in a kiosk in my office is sand from several beaches in Australia, Europe, Asia, Africa and throughout the United States. I have sand from several islands in Hawaii. I scooped up some from the oldest bullfighting ring in Ronda, Andalucía. The Plaza del Toros was erected in 1785 and perhaps either Ernest Hemingway or Orson Welles trod on my very sand as they both spent some time here. I have white soft sand from Palermo, Sicily, black sand from Perissa, Santorini and red sand from Arches National Park in Utah.  I have sand from St. Kilda’s (Melbourne) and Bondi and Manly (Sydney). I have sand from the Big Island’s Kohala coast where I was blessed with witnessing migrating whales breaching. Sand from Oregon, California, Texas, Louisiana, Florida and New Jersey among others are in my collection.

My sand collection also features samples given as gifts by friends who are fortunate to travel somewhere before me. My glowing daughter, Ally, gave me sand from Normandy Beach. Friends from Australia sent me red sand from Ayers Rock, called Uluru by the Aborigines. From the gulf coast of Florida I received a gift of Sanibel Island sand by friends who recently vacationed there. And, the Royals, Adam and Lauren, mailed me sand from their honeymoon in the Canary Islands…. You would think they had better things to do!

Loved and cherished all. It’s as if a bit of the world resides with me.

No, sparkle week will never get my sand.

When you're drinking....the whole world smiles with you

Team VFH has burgeoned for this weekend trip to Pittsburgh. The kids, whom we affectionally refer to as "The Royals" have come along on the road trip. Adam and Lauren live in Liverpool England and have been visiting this month and decided to come along on this trip through western Pennsylvania. We are the guests of one of Janet's sorority sisters in Steubenville, Ohio, which is just 40 west of Pittsburgh. Sally and her husband Dave are more than gracious hosts who have arranged a lovely weekend for us with tickets to a Pittsburgh Pirates/St. Louis Cardinals game at PNC Bank Park. Turns out that the former Yankees pitcher, AJ Burnett, will pitch his first game for the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates.

We drove the treacherous Pennsylvania Turnpike fairly unscathed except for one weaving erratic knucklehead from Virginia which caused great consternation in our little lawn mower of a rental car. We gave him a wide berth and the rest of the drive was uneventful. We stopped only briefly to eat a quick lunch at a truck stop and would have made excellent time but the traffic in Pittsburgh was awful, especially after being in the "tuna can" rental car for nearly 300 miles. We caught glimpses of the mighty three rivers that define the Golden Triangle that was once the gateway to the West, but had to continue west to Ohio. Thankfully the day was warm and clear, and our views were unobscured with none of the pollutants from the steel industry that once produced nearly half of the nation's steel and giving the city the knickname, Smoky. A city of bridges, there are 446 spanning either the Monongahela, Allegany or Ohio Rivers.

Adam was overjoyed with the 8 mile swatch of road of West Virginia we had to drive along, because he could say he was in yet another state of this country and started hooting and yelping "Hee-Haw" in his faux hillbilly/North England accent when we crossed the border. It is the simple things in this world that make life so wondrous. Later, on the way home, we took a different, more southerly route which took us through Wheeling, West Virginia and a truck stop where Adam loaded up on various sundries like beef jerky for the lengthy 6 hour drive.



Hey Pally

Steubenville's commerce was also hitched to the steel industry. Our hosts lived on perhaps the loveliest street in Stubenville and Dave is a well respected accountant. He said though the city has been in a slow decline for decades as the "Rust Belt" has hit this area has taken its toll. Still, Steubenville is called the city of murals as there are 25 various paintings in the downtown area, including one of perhaps its most famous citizen, Dean Martin. This was an added bonus for me as I once toured with Frank, Dean and Sammy in the late eighties. Every morning when we were setting up for that evening show the crew would laugh and sing Mr. Martin's opening song... "When You're Drinking." Turns out Steubenville is also home to Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder, the Hall of Fame pitcher Rollie Fingers and the porn star, Traci Lords. Adam and I went looking for her mural, but could not locate it.

After drinks in the sun splashed backyard we headed over to the country club where Dave and Sally are members for more drinks and a chance to win a lottery they were drawing that night. We were introduced to several friends including Jimmy the Greek's brother, but the odds were not in our favor and we did not win.

The heat of Friday was gone by Saturday and the day was cold and rainy. We were unsure if the game would take place. Dave kept checking the weather reports and when we headed into town it looked rather bleak. We first headed to the heights of Mt. Washington on the south side of the river to have lunch. The area is also called "Coal Hill". The restaurant had a spectacular view of the city. We could see the three rivers, barges lined up on one bank brimming with coal and Heinz Field, where the Steelers play and further along PNC Park where the Pirates call home. According to baseball enthusiasts PNC Park is considered the best baseball venue on the east coast. We snapped pictures through the rain splatterd windows as we busied ourselves with our lunch.

Afterwards we took the Duquesene Incline to the river to an area called Station Square.. There were a lot of shops and restaurants and we walked the area for a time dodging raindrops before having drinks in the renovated train station called the Grand Concourse. Opulent and cavernous, we settled our soaked bones for a round before heading back up the funicular and the car.

By the time we parked and walked across a bridge to the stadium the rain had stopped. The game was going to be held. The bridge is closed for pedestrians on game days and serves as a backdrop in the outfield. Yellow and lighted charmingly, it looked like a movie backdrop from our seats.Team VFH marveled at how convienient and cozy and friendly everything and everyone was at the game. We even got a Pittsburgh Pirate umbrella as a give away when we entered the stadium. We had fantastic seats, just eleven rows up from the inner circle and directly behind home plate, but they were cheap at just $32 each. The same seats at Yankee Stadium and even Citizen's Bank Park in Philly would have been too costly for us. Even the inner circle, which abutted the field were just $100 and included food!!!

As I have run all over the world and the United States I had to go out on Sunday morning for one. The trip to Steubenville would have been hollow had I not gotten a run in while there. So, Sunday morning I headed out in the still dreary weather, left the leafy confines of our host's lovely street and endured the cold and rain for a few miles. It was not the best, but at least I can say I was there, much like Adam's trip through West Virginia.

The trip home was especially bad. It rained the entire way and we hurried home because there were reports of a Nor'easter heading up the east coast. It would get worse as the day progressed. We thought to stop for something to eat, but decided it was best to make it back to the safety of VFH's home and get food there.  We survived on beef jerky and nuts! Dave had given us a new route that  bypassed Pittsburgh entirely which made the trip a bit easier. Our hosts recommeded we stop either at Falling Water, the Frank Lloyd Wright home, but the Cracker Barrel and later the truckstop were enough and with the weather getting progressively worse we were wise not to dawdle.

Just a few miles from our exit there was a violent accident on the west bound side of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and I had to dodge debris that cascaded into our path while driving 65 mph. I was never so happy to finally turn off the car and run inside the house.

*&#@)+* cable tv

UGH! I hate cable television. They raise their rates and drop their services. It's horrible the amount of money they are trying to squeeze from my sorry ass. My bill with Comcast just recently went up 33%!
I was forced to drop channels to keep the monthly price at a reasonable amount. I know there are alternatives, like rabbit ears for the digital signal... or a book... but I won't get my beloved Military Channel... nothing is better than to curl up on the couch with an episode "Nazi Collaborators" or "Greatest Tank Battles"! But now, with this lower tier, this is not available to me. 


Another consideration is a dish tv. My cable provider offered a triple play, where my internet, phone and cable service would be bundled into one price, but they were not going to raise my service tier. Conversely, my phone provider has a dish network that I could bundle into  similar services, but their array of channels is shockingly alluring. I may go this way, even if cable gets wind of my egress and ups the ante. My only concern with this satellite dish , which is aimed at a particular point in the sky to get my signal, is the end of days that the Mayan calendar is predicting. The calendar ends with this year's winter solstice which occurs on December 21, 11:11 am. It's a Friday. Predictions for this ominous day include war, famine and asteroids striking the planet. What is most disturbing is the prediction that the Earth will endure a magnetic pole shift, reversing the polarity of the Earth. It will essentially tip over! What this means is that the dish I had installed will no longer be pointing at the particular point in the sky and I'll have to pay for a service call to have the tech realign it. 
Ugh...I can't win.

The end of this ...

... costs money to fix this

where to go

A lot of people spend more time planning their vacations than planning for their retirement. They obsess over travel details and cruise-wear wardrobes, but neglect IRAs and 401k savings. They demand "cookies" and gifts rather than being happy with what they have. They seek the company of jerks though they are in relationships that work... They are always looking forward to something more rather than admiring where they are. And, perhaps, they are never truly happy because they are constantly looking for the next “fix”.

Do I sound bitter this morning? No, just observing and stating facts. Perhaps this is the beauty, the zen if you will, of Vacations From Home. Life comes at you quickly and it is a wonderful lovely precious fleeting thing. How many of us realize how far we've already come just to get to this point in our existence, how complicated and rare that we are here at all, breathing and smiling at the myriad of sensations available to us? Do any of us realize how much joy there is in just being here.....? How many of us are instead spending our lives anticipating and waiting and hoping and wishing and never happy because our hopes and aspirations are never realized? But here at Vacations From Home central we don't have the opportunity to pine for island climes because we don't have the bucks. Yet, rather than ruining the day wishing for something that ain't happening we find the joy in our surroundings and immediate environment. Yes, we are forced into our happiness by our circumstances. Happiness then oozes from our pores. Our collective smiles threaten to whiten the teeth of all passersby. Our joy is boundless and infectious. Small animals in city parks clamor to be near us and birds chirp ever so lovingly when we pass. Strangers marvel at their luck to be graced by this dynamic traveling duo and try to "friend" us on every social network application available out there on the internet.

Consider it another way. Rather than engaging in a riotous game of tug of war, we’ve let go of the rope. Rather than getting worked up over the barn burning down, we smile broadly at the new view we have of the full moon.

Of course, we’re dilettantes to our core. What better way than the Grand Tour? There’s a stretch of sand and a Mai Tai in Waimea Bay, or is that a rum swizzler in St. Lucia, or a carafe of sangria in Sitges, waiting for us? I’d settle for ouzo in Ia. Sadly, reaching these far-flung locales is far-fetched for us now and we’re planning a weekend in Pittsburgh to see a Pirates baseball game and while there we hope to get on the “mullet cam”. 

Again, I’m not bitter, just stating the facts. I am looking forward to this trip the third weekend in April, but yesterday on the first day of Spring I spent a good long while smiling at my forsythia bushes now in full bloom in the backyard and I wanted to be nowhere else.

Borrowed shoes

How cheap can I get? Well, let me tell you, I'm downright notorious in my ability to find ways to save money. Take for instance my favorite form of exercise, running. Nothing is more relaxing than loping along the Delaware & Raritan Canal towpath that goes through Lambertville. During the 20+ years I've lived in this little river town I must have logged thousands of miles running on this idyllic trail between the canal and the river. The canal was dug in the 1800's to transport coal to New York City from the Pennsylvania mines.
http://www.dandrcanal.com/
The views of the Delaware glittering in the afternoon sun are inspirational enough to get me out there and with 34 miles of park there is no shortage of new stretches to run along, but often I just pop out my front door and get to it. I used the trail to train for 8 marathons and countless shorter races, and I plan to run more. Yes, running is a great form of exercise and it's cheap. It's also a good way to tour a new city or country. When I traveled extensively for work years ago I would look forward to a run in a new place. Sometimes my only recollection of a trip was of the run I was able to squeeze in on my schedule.

Running is a cheap form of exercise too. You just need some particulars like shoes, socks and an outfit of some sort. Please, no velour warm up ensembles! The rotten thing is the cost of the shoes. They wear out and no amount of duct tape will help patch them up. Bad shoes invariably lead to knee, back and hip problems too so it's important to "retire" your shoes as they wear. I must go through 5 shoes a year, depending on whether I'm training for a marathon or just keeping in shape. Good shoes cost a lot of money, but typical of my cheap ways, I discovered a way to get free shoes. You can too. Years and years ago I signed up for the "wear test" program for New Balance. They send me shoes. I wear them, write an evaluation and then at the end of the testing period return them. I don't mind. Usually by the time I'm finished with them they are beat to hell anyway. I average 3 shoes a calendar year from them. So, if I'm not inspired by the glittering views of the Delaware then the need to run to test the shoes propels me.

This sounds like a typical VFH scam I know, trying to get something for nothing, but I'm also providing a service to NB. I haven't looked into other running shoe companies, but I would not be surprised if there are similar offers out there.

Gotta run... see ya.

http://weartest.newbalance.com/