Christmas 09

Reunion night... channeling Lex Luthor it seems...

sunset on the river drive...

memories of seasons gone by...

“ He went into his motivated-career-cop act, driving in and out of traffic with one hand on the wheel and the other reaching down occasionally to adjust the radio, as though the entire metropolis would be in mortal jeopardy if David Three were to miss a call. He eased the car over toward his old waterfront district, along the bumpy railroad crossings and spurs, through a shadowed area of corrugated sheds and warehouses, past lines of empty cargo vans stacked three deep. He slowed the car to a crawl past the side fence of the old steel mill, now beginning its second century of tinting the night air scarlet, and detoured around the rolls of blue ribbon steel stacked by the private road. A mangy mutt appeared in their headlights and he resisted an urge to speed up and put a little excitement into their lived, but instead he swerved the car into a loading area where stacks of ship’s piping turned green in racks and scrap-metal cubes were stacked in tall pyramids and a fleet of new Toyota pickups covered a space the size of a football field.
He was just starting to show his partner the dock where he’d shot it out with the Mafia hijackers when they caught another radio call. A dead kid, nineteen or twenty… “

Night Watch – Jack Olsen

A trip to work with dad.

I put the boy to work organizing magazines.Lunch break @ Charlies... with some shwag from New England Comics...Justin really liked this Giant Amythist at the Natural History Museum.Nice Polar Bear Face... grrr stop melting my habitat. Three skinny guys.

AC~DC

Well, being kids from the early eighties Crystal and I have well established rock roots. When we knew AC~DC was coming to town for the first time in a long time we decided we had to catch them. I'm glad we did. The show was great, the music appropriately loud.

We got in a bit late but still had time to hang in the parking lot for a little while. We got subs on the way, and had a cooler in the back, so we had a beer and chowed while watching the crowd go by. There was really a wide range in the ages of the crowd. There were groups older than us, with old faded concert tee shirts or the Harley guy/girl look. There were even guys that had younger kids with them, and the kids really enjoyed the show from what we could see. There was also a big group of teens/tweens that were there for the ubiquitous radio hits. There were a bunch of young guys next to us that knew only the big songs and didn't get very excited about anything else.

It was funny, from the tunes they played it was tough for everyone to be reved up at the same time. The really young folks knew the tunes from the new album, but none of the older crowd did. The older crowd knew the old stuff, but some stuff was so old "shot down in flames' "dog eat dog" that nobody really knew it. The big hits were big crowd pleasers and in general it was a really fun show.

The "Rosie" Set piece was excellent with a huge inflated, very voluptuous woman straddling the locomotive that dominated center stage. My other favorite thing was the hundreds of red flashing devil horns that were sprinkled through the crowd and seemed at times to flicker or vibrate along with the ripping music. Good stuff.

Angus still has his chops, Brian Johnsons voice is as scratchy as ever and the rest of the guys looked the same.

The only bummer was waiting 2 hours plus to escape the parking lot... have to bring more postgame snacks next time.

Setlist
Rock N' Roll Train
Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be
Back in Black
Big Jack
Shot Down in Flames
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Thunderstruck
Black Ice
The Jack
Hells Bells
Shoot to Thrill
War Machine
Dog Eat Dog
Anything Goes
You Shook Me All Night Long
T.N.T.
Whole Lotta Rosie
Let There Be Rock
Encore:
Highway to Hell
For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)

Rosie is there but its tough to see. Note the red horns in the crowd.

The fireworks at the end left us in a cloud. Just about the same time the fog settled and everything after the show was in a haze. Wish I brought my regular cam to get the pics of people leaving in the smoke and fog. Good stuff.

The fog and the smoke mingled and made for a cool creepy exit...

beach fun

Isle La Motte

Tent assembly practice on the front lawn a few days before we left... turns out we didn't use the tent at all since the ground was so soggy. Thanks to the Terry Lodge we made out just fine.

Crystal and Jen take in the view of the lake from the Barn house front lawn.

Amanda did great hobbling along with her brace, she was able to sit and throw rocks for one of the dogs while Nate and Justin went for a ride in Selby's boat. Too bad no swimming this year... maybe next time.

Justin waves from the M&M.

My boy.

Jen and new friend Merideth on the "Gator".

The fabulous cooking crew for the Saturday night feast. Great to see all these guys... even better to eat that chow. Yum! Thanks to Paul, Tom, Lee, Brian, and Kurt.

Preparing for the group photo. Awesome ILM shirts this year.

Almost ready... too bad it went kind of blue.


The additions to the Tree-House were impressive. The hot tub on the lower right is a natural and the added support and cover (key with the rain) to the roofline was slick. New stairway coming up the side. Great to be there... hasn't changed too much really.

Justin was gettin down on the surfboard at the dance.

It was really great to be back at the Turners. It really made me happy to have my kids join the fun with this very special group of people. I can hardly believe that it had been 10 years since my last visit. In some ways it felt exactly the same. Some of the changes were dramatic, mostly to the houses, including the epic Barn house. The renovation of the Boat house was amazing also. Its such a pleasure to be there on the lake, again with all of this massive family we share. I can't thank the Turners enough for opening their homes to us. It has really struck me how much these relationships, mean to me. It was emotional to catch up with everyone over the three days, and so much fun.

Ok. Highlights. The hot tub on Friday night with Kristin, Randy and Grady. Late night at the dance on Saturday, The fireworks, which were exceptional this year, great sitting with Justin and Crystal as they exploded right over us. Justin's dancing at the party. The slide show with pictures from 40 years of this wacky, wonderfullness. And of course the food! Can't wait for all of us to be there again. Maybe no rain next year.

Amanda was a big fan of the coffee maker.

canoe ride

Went for a nice canoe ride on the lake in the mist this evening. The steam rose from the lake like it was a hot mineral spring making the light so soft and grey in the early evening. At least it wasn't raining. We were without the little ones so could take our time gliding along in the gloaming. The island looked particulary mysterious and dark. The swans are in the first photo but its very hard to see. Too bad I only had my cellphone cam with me.

landspeeder

popcorn

farewell to old number 6

the hanger

kind of like the batcave...

Florida

Justin's idea to make a Sphinx. We made a great pyramid too... another great trip.

Blogged here.

Still have to upload pics from the regular cam.