Day 3

today was a good day. i learned that i'm a tennis tragedy, cooked, and laid by the pool. i made my famous smoked salmon dip, and i made almond-cherry scones. not to be eaten together of course. both turned out well. i thank john for teaching me to cook. without him, i'd make a terrible wife in the future.

tennis was, for lack of a better word, eventful. i knew i was bad, but you'd have thought i was aiming at the court next to us. the japanese family were good sports about it though. we set up a ball machine and let it teach us a lesson. my dad was much better than i. it was his revenge for yesterday's golfing experience. we had fun though. i just got frustrated and used the racket like a softball bat, and my skill greatly improved. the highlight was dad getting a ball stuck in the light (the court was indoor).

from there we went to the pool. the heater is broken so i chickened out. reading and listening to my ipod while my dad and Torin swam. my dad got out and mouthed to me "fuck it's cold!" i giggled. the hot-tub upstairs is tempting...i might venture up there in a bit. it's no Japanese bath, but it will do.

watched some of Wimbledon. poor Serena. she and her family used to live over in Tampa. when i was a kid, i met them. their dad has no emotion. i still remember him yelling a them the whole time. Nadal played okay. i'm watching the Williams and Hantuchova play. Serena is getting her ass kicked. that child needs to calm down! smashing her racket, etc. they keep flashing over to Venus, and of course she's looking all concerned. they have Serena in pants now since her nasty cramp earlier. all the russian women players look exactly the same! blonde and all legs! it's something out of an Orwell novel.

Dublin Mudslide (Ben & Jerry's) is the best ice cream ever....

-Courtney

Day 2

sorry i didn't get to update yesterday. we woke up and went to breakfast at this small little resturant. it was quite good, but it was even funnier to watch my dad eat his sissy granola and yogurt for breakfast...he's a vegan...and i don't understand it. the rest of us all ate hardy breakfasts and set out for our day. right down the street we found this small antique shop. i bought a newspaper of the Lunar landing from 1969, and 3 post cards from the early 1900's. quite a find.

later we went to the old books store we discovered last year. oh goodness...there is nothing like that place. the treasures you find are unique to say the least. this year i bought a 100 year old bible, Ansel Adams diary, complete works of Robert Browning, Grey's Anatomy from 1901, and a Latin text book with no Copyright date. all of this for 50$. the bible was the most expensive....but it was worth it.

after this was the gem of the day...the big grocery shop.....whoohoo! we went to two stores. one was an organic grocery and the other was Hanaford. the organic one was actually pretty fun. you find some pretty special stuff there. it's all fresh, and though slightly more expensive, it's quality. Hanaford we used two carts and filled them both. we use all of the food we buy too. Kim cooks like no other, and if we didn't have her, catering to my crazy father's diet would be torture. she keeps coming through for us though.

once home and unpacked, my dad, torin, and i all went down to the driving range. it's was way fun. i didn't do too bad. i hit the 150 yard sign! that's a plus! my dad got to use a driver..lucky bastard. i got stuck with a 4 iron because it's the only one that fit my height. i know they're supposed to be slightly short...but this was below my jeans pocket short. Torin was determined to use a driver that came up to his shoulder and that was amusing. he finally yielded to a 7 iron. overall it was a fun day. i passed out at 8 and woke up at midnight. threw on 'Memoirs of a Geisha' and passed right back out. i've watched that movie enough times for it to be considered somewhere between 'unhealthy' and 'obsessive'. oh well. we all have our quarks, right?