Je reviens

Listening to: Genesis - Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea

Well, back from an extended mini-vacation.

Went to Charlotte's end-of-school festivities. Got to ride up to the Cape with mom, which doesn't happen often, since she usually goes out first with dad and I to follow. The drive felt shorter than usual, maybe 4 hours, many of which were spent attempting to get into a comfortable position to rest my eyes. Plus, I got a donut.

This is where I make note of an excellent meal I had whilst in Hyannis at a place called Spanky's Clam Shack (apparently, it's owned by one of Charlotte's classmates' mothers). Fried clams are generally delicious no matter what, but really fresh fried clams, with a lemon chunk to squeeze over both them and the fries... well, that's just somethin' else. The real icing on the cake was a glass of Cape Cod Red to wash it all down. Fried shellfish and beer - you honestly CAN'T get much of a better combination.

Better still, that night was the school's benefit dinner - I ended up winning a cute oil painting of a green pear for my kitchen in one of the silent auctions (alas, I didn't win the raffle for the plane tickets... I would've loved to convert my $20 entry into tickets to California). The dinner was a little less... busy than last year's (4 courses instead of something like seven), but it was very tasty. Particularly the scallops tartare. Cape Cod has the market cornered on amazing shellfish... Twice in one day!

The next morning, Charlotte and some of her classmates put on a play they'd been working on for a while, something about the school. As it turns out, Charlotte's been taking voice lessons, and she's got a hell of an instrument. I knew she liked to sing, but I'd never actually see her do it, and she impressed me a lot.

Spent the rest of the weekend at Steve's. A low-key visit, definitely enjoyable... Except for the toilet, which decided to explode about 15 minutes after Steve left for work on sunday. I got to formally introduce myself to his landlords while bailing all the floor-toilet-water out of the bathroom with the few towels Steve owns.

Word of wisdom: Never, ever drive to Long Island ever again. The "ride" through Brooklyn yesterday to get back to Philadelphia took approximately an hour and 15 minutes in which I went maybe 15 miles. And the gas light was on the entire time. When I finally got over the Verazanno and coasted across Staten Island and over the Goethal's and finally into Jersey, I pulled into the first road-stop I could find, as I was both ravenous and terrified that my car was running on fumes. Discovered that the chicken strips at Popeye's are almost as good as their biscuits... makes me glad that I don't know where the nearest Popeye's is, because I'd find some excuse to eat that garbage.

As it turned out, I filled my car up ($2.85 a gallon! AMAZING! I LOVE JERSEY!) and paid for a little over 14 gallons. I was in shock. My car has a 15 gallon tank. I'd never gotten it so close to empty in my life. ::shudder:: My poor car could've died!