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We are board staying home so we decided to start doing FUN day trips middle of the week. Picnic lunch is fun but there are 100s of restaurants so we get drive through covid-19 lunch then take it to the, lake, picnic area, recreation area, camp grounds have picnic tables too, water falls, rivers, streams, state parks. Middle of the week we are the only people there. We drove some of the Blue Ridge Parkway and stopped at the visitor center elevation about 6000 ft. Here are a few pictures.

We open our big 'back gate' - just a removable piece of the fence - and sit on lawn chairs just inside it, with a little table and a bottle of wine. The neighbors come down from their place trundling a wheelbarrow with chairs and wine etc. They set up on the grass verge outside our 'gateway' and we visit & chat on either side of it till the sun goes down.

Hey Gary, that's a great idea to take advantage of the beautiful picnic settings. Thanks for sharing.

Vanisle, that's a good idea too.

My wife and I are trying to carve some time out to go kayaking. For now we're focusing on simple pleasures like slow roast picnic pork finished on the gas grill, gas grilled burgers, a walk in the forest and romping with one or two of our dogs.

This is a photo of Maggie at a dog run we take her to. Nobody's ever there, so we always have the place to ourselves.

The grass looks better now than in the photo, lol.

Webmaster, Maggie is a beautiful animal. Looks very intelligent, and mischievous with it; definitely a full member of the family.

She looks like a big piece of chocolate with that lovely brown coloring. Great Dane, right?

Have you ever seen the old Disney movie The Ugly Dachshund? Very good classic movie!

As for my 'fun' I'm not the traveling type except for shopping. My main fun is my hobbies, messaging friends and family, and relaxing to music and nature sounds. Next weeks temperatures show to be dropping considerably so I plan to have plenty of 'fun' going ahead and planting my cold crops. I don't know what to do with my okra, I'm so disappointed that it's not even producing yet. I may have to pull it up to make room for my winter stuff before its too late.

Does exploring local outdoor farmer’s markets count as “fun”?
This year’s unique — hitherto-fore unimaginable — situation with my own garden has forced me to seek summer vegs from markets that I have noted before, but never had occasion to visit.

I don’t know if there have been wider offerings in the selections but have been finding more old nostalgic TV series and also for me highly enjoyable dual language track series and movies with Japanese option. (Amazon Prime and FiOS on demand ... also Crunchyroll and YouTube) Watching these have dusted off/flexed what I think of as my Japanese language center of my brain, and I feel a bit more fluent than I have been in some years.

Applestar,
If you have Roku, you can add these Japanese TV channels:

https://channelstore.roku.com/details/559206/japantv

https://channelstore.roku.com/details/5 ... rary-japan

https://channelstore.roku.com/details/5 ... from-japan

https://channelstore.roku.com/details/2 ... orld-japan

Vanisle, you gave me a fun idea. We have good friends we get together with all the time to drink wine but with covid-19 we have not gotten together for several months. I just sent Larry & wife a message, When & where is your next day trip? Bring a bottle of wine we will meet you there? This could be fun, picnic & wine next to a, stream, lake or water fall.

We decided test driving a few new cars that we don't intend to buy this could be FUN. We test drove a BMW, nice car, fun to drive, too small but fun. We test drove a Volvo this is a very nice car & another fun drive, this car is nice. We test drove a Cadillac Escalade very nice, seems big. It might be fun to test drive a Lamborghini but I think the days of owning 1 of those are long gone but we still might do a test drive. I know someone my age that drives a Shelby Cobra to Walmant all the time to buy groceries with his wife we might test drive 1 of these too. LOL. Cars that are very low to the ground are hard for us old fossils to get IN & OUT of. Vehicles very high up wife almost needs a step ladder to get in. Now we are trying to decide what to test drive next? I wonder who sells monster trucks? LOL Where else can you have FREE FUN like this?

I know what you mean, vehicles are either too tall or too short. My cousin has a two door Ford 150 and it's tall. I've sat in it, too tall for me. But my cousin is tall and lanky so it fits him. As for me and the majority of my family, we're short. I wish I could get a Nissan Frontier, nice small trucks. Titans are too big.

Anyway, IDK if drawing counts as fun but I pulled out my old drawing supplies and attempted a Canadian Mountie movie character off a popular Hallmark movie series. Feel free to laugh at my amateur work.

Today I took down a rotted post on my deer fence. Drove to town and ordered 16 new posts. Came home and hand dug a deep hole for the first one. Hand sawed the old post into 16" fire logs (small chainsaw struggled at it.) Then I laid out, labeled & planted the garlic bed - 150 cloves of 5 varieties at 3 different spacings; largest cloves to smallest reading left to right and 'down the page.' Helped to offload & stack the new posts but decided to save No 1 installation for today. Helped make supper. Emailed family & friends. Watched the 8 o'clock news and went to bed at 9 with a mild sleeping pill; slept for almost 10 HOURS - with pleasant dreams to boot. You better believe, for this octogenarian THAT was FUN.

BTW I like using un-powered hand tools whenever I can. In sawing, for example, it: Gives me exercise. Uses no fossil or other fuels. Needs no safety gear. Makes no noise. Creates little dust. And and is unlikely to suddenly ruin a workpiece - or my hand ! .

I used to like to go shopping for fun, but not a good idea to do that now. I am still working at learning Mandarin. I am spending a lot of time watching Chinese dramas and music programs. I am not a fast learner, but that's o.k. too. I am trying out fermenting and new recipes. Unfortunately, I spilled water on my range and the oven stopped working. I will have to get it fixed sometime. The range is only a few years old but the electronics was always going to be its Achilles heel. I do like the idea of just going someplace for a picnic lunch just to have a change of scenery. Thanks for the pictures. I don't like to physically travel but I do like to travel vicariously.

Yesterday we drove 65 miles to do another day trip at Defeated Creek National Recreation area, picnic area is free, camping with a national park pass is $17 per night, regular camping price $34 per night. Middle of week there are lots of empty camp sites to park and have a picnic. It is fun to put folding chairs next to the water and eat lunch there.

I don't know if you would call this "fun". I am tired of my own cooking so I went out and got a plate lunch. It was enough for two meals. I went to a Filipino restaurant that was featured on the news and only 5 miles away. Restaurants have been hurting with the prolonged shut down and many are relying now on takeout to keep them afloat. I got the September Special with adobo fried rice omelet, pork gisantes, chicken adobo, lechon special, and dinuguan (chocolate meat = pork and blood). it was indeed enough for 2 meals. The lechon special, did need a shot of calamondin, but I have a lot of that in my yard.
https://www.khon2.com/wake-up-2day/food ... estaurant/

My sister made laulau and brought me some so I don't have to cook for a couple of days more. My sister only puts meat in her laulau and it doesn't have much luau (taro leaf). While, I don't miss the fish, but I like to have more spinach. I don't have poi, so I will eat it with rice.

Eating out in many different restaurants can be fun. I know what you mean about getting tired of your own cooking.

When we travel and camp we often go in search of restaurants for lunch and sometimes dinner too. Lunch menu is small & cost less and we are not big spenders.

We have learned restaurants in tourist areas and along the interstate highways do not need to serve good food to stay in business because people that eat there are not locals and don't know how terrible the food is.

We ate in a Mexican restaurant in Hustsville AL area that was terrible. We ate in a restaurant in I-40 at Cookville TN it was terrible. Worse Mexican food so far was on I-40 Holbrook AZ family from India selling Mexican food serving Catsup as taco sauce & enchilada sauce & no spices in the food & no cheese.

Often good food from other countries can only be found in larger cities and we try to avoid big city traffic. Filipino, Cuban, Columbian food are all a type of Spanish food but are different style form the food people from Mexico cook.

We have several good foreign restaurants in our town we eat there usually about once or twice a month for lunch, Greek & Thai are both favorites. Nashville TN has a China Town & German town and other good places to eat but we never go there because of the terrible city traffic.

Good food can sometimes be found in very unlikely places, Cedar & Lebanon State Park has a Flea Market across the road a Mexican family that no speak English has the absolute best food in 300 miles radius. I always order chicken they talked to me in their language I have no clue what they say so I just keep saying, chicken, chicken, chicken.

I have no clue what the plate lunch is but it looks good, sauce looks like it will burn your whole face off but it is not very spicy hot and loaded with flavor.

There is a Cuban restaurant in an old gas station they no speak English either and food is excellent. Soul food at Kleer-Vu Lunch room is nationally known, food is so good, they are located in an old house, best plate lunch anywhere. I love their, BBQ ribs, pinto beans, collard green, spoon bread, & ice tea.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_ ... essee.html

I know what you mean. There isn't really good Mexican restaurants here. When I visited Napa California, we did go to a "Mexican" themed restaurant, but it did not taste good either. We went to Phoenix and that was when I actually found a place that I really liked. I also found out that Mexican food is all about the toppings.
We went to a local party a few years ago and the host made authentic Mexican food and although, the carnitas looked strange to me (I had never had that before), I absolutely loved the roasted salsa.

The tourist places here are sometimes good, sometimes not, but like you said the real gems are sometimes the little hole in the wall place where the locals go. Covid 19, has limited a lot of that as well as many restaurants; even very old ones that were 50-90 years old have closed their doors, some of them permanently.

The restaurant association just published that somewhere around 65% of the restaurants may likely close permanently because they cannot stay closed and pay the rent, or open at reduced capacity to break even. Many restaurants have take out and delivery options. I haven't figured how to do those yet, so I try to call in the order when I can so I can get in and out quickly. It would be nice to eat in, but it is safer to take it home.

A lot of people are spending more time walking with their families. Sometimes they are wearing masks, sometimes not. Exercise has never been fun for me. I work partly because it is the only way I would really spend so much time walking around. There is still a stay at home order for another week, so I haven't been to the garden for awhile. I got an email, apparently somebody missed me.

I am having less fun, yanking out the jungle in my yard, My hands and arms are all cut up from the rose thorns, dragon fruit thorns, and "paper cuts" from the grass blades. I went shopping early this morning like around 6:30 a.m. and got some more gloves. I have mostly gloves for the same hand since I keep wearing out the same side every time.

imafan26 wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 18, 2020 5:54 pm

I am having less fun, yanking out the jungle in my yard, My hands and arms are all cut up from the rose thorns, dragon fruit thorns, and "paper cuts" from the grass blades. I went shopping early this morning like around 6:30 a.m. and got some more gloves. I have mostly gloves for the same hand since I keep wearing out the same side every time.

Online I very recently bought my wife a pair of leather gauntlets - 'rose pruning gloves.' I won't post the seller's name or website in case it offends the forum rules, but they are excellent and weren't expensive. I'm a bit obsessive about avoiding plastics & man-made fibers. The gloves I found are 100% leather - soft but tough pigskin. My wife loves them and now actually enjoys picking the blackberries.

I have rose gloves somewhere in the house. I thought of that but I remember even they are not long enough. I should wear long sleeves in the garden, but they get in the way and it is so hot to wear thick long sleeved shirts now. Maybe I should cut off some sleeves from old shirts and just use the sleeves. Now, that might work if I ever get around to actually doing it. I

Vanisle_BC, go ahead and post the name and the link. Established members have more leeway than someone who just showed up.

Hey Gary350, sounds like you really know your International food. You're right about International food being better in big cities. I won't bother with it in smaller towns. Smaller towns are generally better for hamburgers and meat loaf type comfort foods. And I love a good chicken fried steak with gravy and hash browns if I can find it.

Chicken in Spanish is Pollo, pronounced, Po-yo, with a sharp emphasis on the first syllable, Po. Say it fast and you'll likely pronounce it like a native speaker.

I can see how a flea market might have good International food. I've had many great meals from little road side shacks and even in the parking lot of a soccer stadium where people were grilling steaks over flame grills and serving it with rice and beans.

Traveling through Pennsylvania I spotted a smoked meats place from the freeway and after discussing it we exited the freeway and made our way to it. Oh man, so many great things like smoked sausages and home made frankfurters.

I really enjoy German comfort food. We used to have a bunch of decent (not great) German restaurants but they've slowly been closing. There's a pretty good and fun German place in Las Vegas, of all places, it's near the Hard Rock Cafe I think.

There's also a chain sandwich shop out there, Capriotti's Sandwich Shop that makes a two-foot chicken Philly cheese steak that's awesome for the plane ride back to the east coast, LOL.

Trader Joe's out here used to sell pork tamales with red sauce in a package of six that's authentic, actually made in Mexico. They sell another one in a two-pack that's different. This one comes in a package of six, very good.

When I lived in Avondale AZ for 3 years there was a Mexican family on Holly St they sold tamales every Saturday morning at their yard sale. Home made pork or chicken tamales with red sauce very GOOD. I love good tamales but don't eat them often they are about 25% lard and hard to find good tamales. I have tried a few times to make good tamales but I have not learned how to roll up the corn meal.

Best Chili Relleno I ever had was in Moab UT. I don't often order Chili Rellenos because they are often not good but the comb dinner came with 1 Chili Relleno. Next year I am going to grow the correct peppers for Chili Rellenos so I can make some.

I have a 1972 Copyright Mexican recipe book that has recipes that have not been Americanized. The authentic Mexican recipes is, green chilies, longhorn cheese, eggs, flour, salt, it does not sound very good but maybe it is.

Here is the book I have. My book is falling apart and cover page is gone.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Favorite-Mexic ... SwKQFbvXTL

This YouTuber keeps getting pushed onto my recommended list, and I must admit some of them are really fun to watch — it’s probably taking me back in time to when I was in my 20’s ... searching for apartments that werent too boring ... and daydreaming about incredibly unique and totally pie-in-the-sky $$$ ones, too. The videos are interior/open house tour of “unusual/unique” design apartments.

The peek into the modern Japanese idea of what is ordinary — and not ordinary — is kind of interesting, too. Note that the narration is done with some kind of weird “disguised voice generator” And it’s so annoying that I turn off the audio. Of course I can read the Japanese captions to understand what’s going on. The apartments are usually in an urban setting but I thought this one might be interesting to share —


- This one would be attractive just for the amazing amount of custom-designed wood construction. It is mentioned that this was built on a former Elementary School grounds only 3 years ago — so I think maybe recalling some of the historic/nostalgic appearance, and also all of the lumber was harvested locally and built by local carpenters/craftsmen. The space next to the toilet is a standard space for a washing machine, and it seems to be typical for laundry to be hung dry rather than using a dryer.
- it’s more normal for toilet to be in it’s own separate room rather than like this, but it IS normal for the washing machine and a sink to be outside of the bath(ing) room — usually called “changing/disrobing area”.
- they do discuss the need for window covering in fonts of the toilet

【空中ベンチ付き?!】ミニ畑まで付いてる2LDK長屋を内見！ - YouTube

[bonus aerial bench?!] 2 LDK (2 bedroom Living/Dining/Kitchen) Attached row apartment with a garden raised bed


- Rent $650, Common Service Fee $28

I am watching Chinese dramas and hopefully learning some Mandarin. However, this is addictive. I gotta get more work done.

@imafan, I’m with you on feeling like I gotta get more work done

...another one that caught my eye...

【ガレージ&屋上テラス】夢の詰まった戸建て風スキップフロア物件を内覧 - YouTube
[Garage & Rooftop terrace] A dream urban townhouse with “skip floor” (half-level?) design


- Rent $2,360, Common Service Fee $66

* window for kitchen and bathrooms (toilet room and bathtub room) seem to be considered “must” features
* faucet with/without sink seems to be highly desirable for outdoor, terrace/patio and balconies — usually considered useful/must for conveniently washing the floor and windows

— I thought that walk-in closet with window for the top-floor bedroom might also be used as the new baby‘s nursery room ....

For Christmas, I made reindeer on skiis out of wine corks.
Gave them all away. Ran out of corks.
There’s always something to do if you love arts and crafts.

Cute reindeer! Thanks for sharing!

...I’m still watching these once in a while — this one was pretty extraordinary... it’s a lease/apartment not buy. Not necessarily my style, but interesting.
(FF to about 1:44 to skip the beginning)

We spent a week on the beach about 3 weeks ago first part of April. Weather was nice with 3 short rains, Tue, Wed, Thur. Water felt good. 1 day ocean waves were very large about 6' but closer to 3' most of the time. We rented a condo on 2nd floor that faces the ocean that was about 150 ft from our balcony. Coffee & breakfast on the balcony every morning was fun. We ate lunch & dinner in a different restaurant every day. It has been a year sense we had sea food this good. Star show & moon was amazing every night, we don't get to see stars often in TN often. Ocean waves were extremely loud sometimes too loud to talk to each other on the balcony.

That looks beautiful Gary! Sounds like you had a great time!

I'm planning on hosting a friend this summer at my house. We haven't seen each other in almost two years because the pandemic kept us from socializing last year. Looking forward to traveling around New England with him.

I made some hand made cards for Meals-On-Wheels. They turned out better than what I expected. Pictures attached of some of them.

Those are beautiful, thanks for sharing! You have a great talent!

The attached picture is of one more card that I made for Meals On Wheels. The leaves were painted in water color, of leaves on my lacey leaf maple tree.

Wow, I envy you! You're a much better artist than me!

I disagree TomatoNut.
My pumpkins were a flop. Go ahead and laugh at them. That’s how we learn.

I am not an artist. I can draw some ok kindergarten type stick people. 4 years ago I found a chicken picture online an printed it on paper. I drew a 1" graph on the chicken picture with pencil. Then I drew a 6" graph on plywood. Then transfer dots from small picture to big picture like we did in high school geometry class. Connect the dots then I had a big chicken drawing. After that it was paint by number. I made an ok 6' 2" tall chicken. This is the way back chicken, it looks pretty good from way back, about 100 ft back. We took the chicken to a vintage camping rally with 100 other vintage camper trailers at Jekyll Island GA 4 years ago, they give out lots of awards for all kinds of things, we won the big cock award. LOL

Thanks for the good laugh, Gary. Good job on that chicken.
I was thinking about making a yard ornament sort of like that, but not a chicken. It would for the kids walking by. I was thinking a monster peaking from between the arborvitaes, or a train along the fence line. I tend to have more ideas than what I have time for, so I probably will never get around to it. Besides, stuff sometimes disappears in my neighborhood.

They are all lovely, and I especially like what you did with the lacy maple leaves.

Gary’s is charming, too — it has that rural Americana vibe.

...you are all inspiring me to pull some of my yard/garden art projects in front of the line...

I bought 3 abstract paintings at a yard sale 10 years ago for $2 total. Paintings were several multi color paints dribbled over each one. I painted over all 3 with white color latex house paint. I wanted to paint an unspoiled nature picture with no man made things in the picture. I'm not an artist, I can't do a painting like that. When we were at the beach last month I took several ocean pictures so I have something to look at and copy. I watch the TV painting man sometimes to learn what I can. A few days ago I attached the 3 picture frames together then painted bottom brown for sand, center blue for ocean, top blue & white blended for sky, green trees, white brush marks for ocean waves. Up close not so good. From 30 ft away it looks much better.

Turned out nice. Admit it - you are an artist, Gary.
The texture of the under painting adds interest.
Sometimes people buy paintings at 2nd hand stores and then add to them.
For example, adding cats to thrift store paintings and then reselling them.
I heard that someone was actually making money doing that.

HoneyBerry wrote: ↑

Sat May 08, 2021 11:27 pm

Turned out nice. Admit it - you are an artist, Gary.
The texture of the under painting adds interest.
Sometimes people buy paintings at 2nd hand stores and then add to them.
For example, adding cats to thrift store paintings and then reselling them.
I heard that someone was actually making money doing that.

I don't have good brushes. I have Latex house paint brushes & 2 old water color brushes. This painting is too plane & nothing interesting about the ocean anyway. I took a few photography classes in college and took lots of photos for many years I guess that is why I never got interested in painting it is too time consuming and can never compete with a good camera photo.