Judy graced us with her presence for dinner this evening. It had been a while since we’d hung out, so I invited her over tonight. As usual, we had a good time catching up on things. As I always say, we should really do this more often.
like a fish
Brian’s parents were bound and determined to teach Jake to swim this year. He’s been there a few times already this summer, but today was the day he finally swam. They used the old standby, bribery, in order to accomplish their task. Jake’s big thing with swimming is that he doesn’t like to put his head in the water. So, they told him they’d give him a pair of swimming goggles if he did just that. Last night, he did it. And today he was swimming. Apparently that was his last big hurdle. Jake even called us this afternoon to tell us how well he was doing in the pool–he couldn’t wait for this evening so that he could show us. I could not believe how well he did. He was even swimming under water. It was pretty cool. I’m sure he’ll get even better as the summer goes on.
gewurz and shiraz
Last night we bottled two batches of wine. The Gewurztraminer turned out great–it’s probably the best white wine we’ve ever made. I was quite pleased with it. I can’t wait to see what it tastes like once it’s had a chance to age a little, not that it needs it. The Shiraz was good, too. It had a nice, smoky taste. But, the red wines never taste that great at bottling time, so I’m sure it will benefit greatly from aging. My wine racks were looking a little bare, so this happened just in time. I have two more kits sitting downstairs. I guess I’ll need to get on those soon.
blaze
This is Stephen King’s latest book. It was written under his Richard Bachman moniker way back before Carrie hit the pages. I have to say, it was a quick read. I guess you could say I, uh, blazed through it.
I love Stephen King’s ability to create a three dimensional character and this book did that quite well. So many books I’ve read have one dimensional characters in them. Any time I read a book where the character is fleshed out, I normally enjoy it no matter what the genre. This book did not fall under the horror category, either. It was a story of a mentally challenged guy who kidnapped a baby in the hopes of collecting a large ransom. As you can imagine, the story ended badly for one of the characters, but I won’t say who.
This book made me remember why I’ve always liked Stephen King so much. I only wish he was still writing stuff like this. Beyond the Dark Tower series, I haven’t been enjoying his books as much as I used to. Still, a bad Stephen King book is better than most of the other stuff out there.
the 4th
We didn’t have any plans for today and that’s just how I like it. Brian had to work today (his boss is a real bastard), so Jake and I spent the day doing whatever it is we do. After supper, we took a ride on the motorcycles. I went out onto Goucher Street for the first time. We mostly rode around the side streets, though. Things went pretty well, but I’ll feel a lot better about things once I have a bunch of experience under my belt. Jake’s waiting for the fireworks to start. The guys are planning on watching them from the porch roof. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Two more days till the weekend!