THE LAST FIVE ...

Closing up shop
- Wednesday, Aug. 02, 2006

It may be time for a change
- Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Entry in the air
- Friday, April 21, 2006

Still here
- Thursday, April 20, 2006

Music of the moment
- Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Or ... BE RANDOM!


GOOD READS

101 in 1001
American Road Trip, 1998


OTHER PEOPLE

Chupatintas
Dancing Brave
Fugging It Up
Kitty Sandwich
Mister Zero
Sideways Rain
Ultratart
Velcrometer


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Our host
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Monday, Apr. 14, 2003 - 3:45 p.m.

Brighter days

The windows were down, the sunroof open, some upbeat pop tune played on the radio loud enough to be heard over the sound of the wind as I sped along Route 36. I rounded a bend and crested a hill in Highlands and saw before me in the fading late-afternoon light the blue Atlantic and a crisp horizon. I cruised down the hill and across the bridge, swinging north onto Sandy Hook where I could see distinctly the southern Long Island shoreline. The air turned colder out on the peninsula, but as I followed Casey and Dave in his new two-seat Honda convertible and we stopped at one of the Hook's outer parking lots on the beach, I smiled and sang along, knowing that it finally looks like we're through with winter. Spring is here.

The wacky weather and late onset of the warmth may be due in part to my mom, who still has a few winter decorations scattered around the house � a snowman in the downstairs bathroom, a Christmas decoration just taken down last week, a sled with a bow tied to it finally moved off the front porch and propped up on the side of the house. It is, we believe with some degree of certainty, these practices that dragged winter so far into April.

With the promise of milder weather for the weekend, Casey and I spent Saturday morning assembling the ever-elusive MARKoR base cabinet and then loaded up the car with various things we'd planned to give to my parents and sister and headed south to my hometown. As we pulled up the driveway, Dad had just finished washing his car, so while Mom and Casey talked on the patio with Oreo wandering around skulking in the bushes and getting his leash tangled in the chair legs, we washed my salty, grime-engulfed car to a decent shine. Dave came by and we couldn't be inside any longer, so we took to the roads and enjoyed the rushing air and the need for sunglasses.

Our late decision to visit meant that all three had dinner plans, so we went out ourselves � for the first time in months, just the two of us, at a sit-down restaurant. We went to Bahr's Landing because Casey wanted seafood, and we looked for the Sopranos' Sea Bright beach house on Ocean Avenue on our way there. We think we found it, but next weekend we can be sure. Dinner was gigantic. I ordered a salad and barely made a dent in my pasta before waving the surly gray-haired waitress over to wrap up our leftovers.

The weather screamed out for a baseball game, and it was actually Casey who suggested it. Part of the reason we went back to Little Silver was to go to yesterday's Lakewood BlueClaws game, and we came away from the 6-1 Lakewood win with red necks and redder faces. Home by 5:30, we unpacked and relaxed, making oven-baked macaroni and cheese based on the Boston Market recipe, but had enough left over that, combined with our Saturday leftovers, could provide us with lunch for the week, or two meals a day until Wednesday.

As exhausted as I was from a relatively tame weekend, I smiled as we watched TV with warm evening light pouring into the apartment at 7 p.m. The beginning of spring is uplifting, and the longer days and lingering light enhances the feeling. And it provides for easier, cheaper entertainment on the weekends, with shore drives and walks around town back on the list of options when diversions are needed. As comfortable and entertaining as television may be, it can be more fulfilling to plop down on the couch with the remote after an active day filled with fresh air and breezes.

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