My Pinterest dump

Some things I've found that interest me....

Cool Cars 

Stairs

 

  

Girls and Guns

Guns 

Marshallers 

Rockies

 

Cool Jeeps 

Interesting

 

Dogs

 

Small Houses

 

 Scotland (my peeps!)

Sidewalk Cafes

 

Rugby

The true essence of baseball

What do you get when you cross an Aston Martin with a Premiership Champion (rugby) Northampton Saints fan?  This:

I'm impressed!

Here's a question for you baseball fans....when you go to a game do you actually go to watch the game, or to just eat hot dogs and nachos and drink beer?

Last night about 8:30 I took Luke the Wonder Dog out and noticed they were playing a Frisco Rough Riders game at our minor league ballpark a couple blocks away.  It was a delightful evening, about 72 degrees, no humidity, slight breeze, and I was suddenly overcome by the desire to go to a game there tonight.

All I really wanted was some ballpark food, which is always better than the same thing if it were served at home.  Sorta like eating some canned crap food sitting around a camp fire.

But, hey, sometimes you gotta take the bitter with the sweet.  I would willingly sit there and dodge foul balls for some gooey junk food.  I aaaaalmost had K convinced we should go, but then she had a momentary flash of sanity and laughed in my face.  

When negotiations concluded she'd promised me some fake cheese (the staple of world-class ballpark nachos) over some fresh chips /w plenty of jalapenos, served to me in my chair high up on our balcony if I would let her off the hook.

Cold beer is a given.  SOLD!  Congress should take note.....THIS is how you compromise.  :)

S

"Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet"

No?  OK then, how 'bout "rugby, barbecue, peach ice cream, and Ferrari"?

 WE WON!

I'm kinda liking these long holiday weekends.  Friday night we watched the Amlin Cup championship game (rugby), and my team, the Northampton Saints, won it all in a hard fought game.  WooHoo!

Then yesterday we watched the Heineken Cup European rugby championship game where Toulon (France) beat Saracens (UK).  This was good for me as next weekend Northampton plays Saracens for the Aviva Premiership championship, which is the Super Bowl of English rugby.  A beat up Saracens won't hurt my feelings.  ;)

Today....in just a few minutes actually, I'm watching the Monaco F1 Grand Prix.  Do I dare hope Ferrari might sneak up on Mercedes and win one?

Later we're thinking about going downtown to Klyde Warren Park (no relation, DAMMIT!) to chill the afternoon away and maybe graze off one of the food trucks.  It all depends on the rain in the forecast.  It'll be one of those snap decisions if we go.

I missed grandson Parker's baseball game yesterday because it was at O-dark-thirty.  Next week it's at a more reasonable 11am.  He's a hoot to watch.  

At age 4 (almost 5) he plants his feet, taps home plate, takes a couple of practice swings, then steps into the pitch and clobbers it!  He must be batting something like .999.  And he's a fine first baseman, too.

Don't forget to think of all our service men and women who are and have served and sacrificed so much for us, especially on this Memorial Day weekend. 

Have fun, be safe everyone.  :)

S

Just coasting....

I stopped by the bookstore over the weekend and this book caught my eye.  It's about the world leaders who met in Paris to hammer out the details of the Treaty of Paris, which ended WWI.  (The thumb was just a special limited-time promotion they were offering.  ;)

This got me to thinking:  I'm so far out of the mainstream it's a wonder I can even communicate with other earthlings.  The huge bookstore was filled with fiction, romance novels, teen novels, science fiction, etc, with just one tiny section on one wall dedicated to the topics I like to read.  Ummm....

Everyone is all ga-ga about America's Next Star, Watch Us Dance, Housewives of Tulsa and the like, while I'm watching The History Channel or a car show when I can find one.

I can't watch the Oscar's, Emmy's, Grammy's, etc, because I've never heard of most of those people/movies/songs they're honoring.

This time of year most people are all into professional football.  Not me.  I don't know the standings, the teams in the playoffs, and very few of the players.  Fantasy football?  Fuggetaboutit.  Anyone want to talk about college football or maybe rugby?  Didn't think so.

Yes, I can write a semi-coherent blog, but it usually revolves around news stories about one crooked banker or politician or another, things that 99.9999% of blog readers don't seem to give a hoot about.

While most of you write about your most memorable Christmas, your adventures at summer camp circa 1972, your favorite cookie recipe, or maybe the time you and Billy Joe Jim Bob took daddy's car out and ended up with a flat tire and didn't know where the jack was, I really don't have many memories about things like that.  Don't get me wrong....I enjoy reading about your adventures, but I just can't add much to the conversation.

Here's where I'm going with this:  I'm only going to post when I have something interesting to say, as defined by the majority of readers.  Things like news of the grandkids, or funny things the dog did yesterday, or maybe the odd weather we're having....things like that.  It just seems pointless to continue writing about topics only some intern at a Washington think tank would read, and only then because he was told he had to.

So please, continue to write, and I'll continue to read and comment, but I'll be coasting here, at least for a while.  :)

S

It's almost here....I can FEEL it....

While our days are still warm, and I'm sure we still have plenty of summer ahead of us, our evenings have been amazing all week.  And at 7 am this morning it was 64 degrees....imagine that!  With fall-like weather my mind automatically starts thinking about....

FOOTBALL SEASON!!

And this fall, as an added bonus....

....at the Lowandslow residence at least....English rugby, too.  :)

Later this morning K and I are going back downtown to the new "park on top of the freeway".  I'm ready for a little sunshine, cool temps, people watching, and maybe lunch off a gourmet food truck, too.  Looks like a spectacular weekend.  :)

S

"Eccentric" is the code word for "weird", right?

OK then, I must be one eccentric dude.  I've become greatly enamored with a sport whose championship game doesn't even get a mention in the NYT.

Yesterday morning Texas time my adopted team, the Northampton Saints played the Leicester Tigers for the English Premiership Championship.  (I found it on an obscure cable channel that I have now dubbed The Eccentric Channel.)  We lost, and I was heartbroken.  But what a game!  Their captain was knocked out of the game after 2 vicious tackles, and our captain got himself ejected from the game for swearing.  Oh yeah....at the referee.  I guess their officials aren't as thick-skinned as American football referees.  Hah!

There was lots of chatter on the official Northampton website afterwards, and I left a comment too, introducing myself as a Yank newcomer to the sport and a fan of their team and congratulated them for a great season.  My little blurb got 27 "likes" and 4 nice "comments", way more than any of the other 100 commenters.  What a hospitable bunch they are!

I checked the paper this morning and found....nothing.  I mean, baseball, basketball, hockey, football news....sure, I understand those getting top billing.  But then I checked "global sports" and found European tennis results, soccer scores from Germany, track training news from Kenya, even info about some stupid bicycle race in Italy, but no CHAMPIONSHIP RUGBY GAME mention.  We ranked below some guys in leotards with skinny bike seats shoved up their ass!  Really?  *Oh, the humiliation*

I guess I'll just wear the moniker "eccentric" with pride.  Hmmm....now that I think about it, when mom called me "special", was that a code word too?  ;)

S

The PERFECT Saturday!

Yesterday was the kind of Saturday all Saturday's should be.  Sunny, low 70's, just gorgeous.  (A little windy, but I'll let that slide.)  K and I were up and out of the house at a decent hour and knocked out our to-do list by early afternoon, just in time to go to granddaughter Blakely's 1st birthday party:

With mom, dad, and brother Parker.

Umm....my plate's on fire!

Hey, this birthday thing is fun!  We need to do it more often.

After da party we went to the Frisco StrEATS Food Truck and Music Festival.  I love watching that show on the cooking channel that features all the food trucks and never miss an opportunity to visit one when I can find it.  Yesterday they had about 20 for us to choose from parked nose to tail....

After walking around and seeing what our choices were we decided on ssaham BBQ.  I had gourmet Korean chicken tacos (chicken, sesame soy vinaigrette salad, caramelized kimchee, cilantro and onion, Korean salsa roja, and spicy mayo) and some kimchee fries.  Oh man, were they good!

Later back home we watched the taped game of our adopted English rugby team, the Northampton Saints.  A win would put us in the semifinals of the Premiership championship and we did it, winning convincingly 47-7 over Sale.  

And no, we didn't have to tell everyone we met yesterday to NOT tell us the final score of the game.  There was no need for a "spoiler alert" as we were probably the only 2 people in North Texas who ever even heard of the Northampton Saints.  I guess that makes us "unique"?  No?  OK then, "weird". ;)

Hope you enjoy your Sunday.

S

Cars and Coffee, April 2013 + 1st art show of the season

This was the first Saturday in April which means....Cars and Coffee!   

The parking lot was already rapidly filling up by 7 AM when I arrived.  

As usual about a thousand cars were there, 500 being your typical Mustangs, Corvettes, and Camaros.  However, there was only ONE of these....the biggest mobile meat smoker ever.  I've seen some small smokers (grills) on trailers that aficionados take to BBQ cook-offs, but this thing was ridiculous!  I didn't hang around it to see if they fired it up and cooked for the crowd or were just showing it off.

A concours Mercedes 300 Roadster....sooo nice!

A Dino 246.  This was a Ferrari in all but name.  It was meant to be an entry level Ferrari with 6 cylinders, the more powerful 12 cylinder models carrying the magic Ferrari name.  It was named by Enzo Ferrari to honor his late son Alfredo, better known as "Dino".

Here's a 50's era Ferrari ___....I can't remember the number.  Anyone help me out?

Remember this odd duck from a couple months ago?  I met the owner today and found out that it was actually commissioned by a hunting lodge in Maine to carry their guests and equipment around the property.  And all this time I thought it was just some wacko's project to get him out of the house.

The Ford Model A (?) Club was well represented.

Oooooohhh!  I ache....

While I'm not a big fan of Corvettes, I must admit this '59 (?) was impressive.

Believe it or not this used to be a '49 Mercury.  Ya' think the original owner would recognize it?

A "keeper" Austin Healey 3000 Mk III.  But it really needs to lose that rear tail light on the boot lid. 

An original Toyota FJ, arguably the best off-roader ever, is an icon today.

The plot thickens:  K really wants a convertible.  I really want a Fiat 500 Abarth (the souped-up model).  Today I learned they're now making a convertible version of the Abarth.  Maybe we could share?  I'm thinking 90/10.  ;) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the car show I picked up K and we went to the area's first art show of the year in Fairview.  It was small, but what the heck....it was free.

We're already plotting on how best to piss-off the HOA if/when we find a suitable site to build a home on.  I think a couple of these 6-foot-tall steel pink flamingos in the front yard should do it.  *zing*

 

We stopped in to a cool little coffee shop for a relaxer while we were out where I saw this interesting dropped-ceiling.  *save for future reference*  How do you think it would look suspended over a soft-contemporary kitchen?

After that....home to watch a taped rugby game on TV.  That was my Saturday.  Not too shabby, huh?  Hope you had a pleasant day, too.

S

Bummer weekend

I hate it when my weekends fizzle.  I don't mind it if a Tuesday or a Thursday bombs, but don't mess with my weekends.

Yesterday was Cars and Coffee, but as I came down with some sort of sinus congestion/snotting/blowing/coughing condition on Friday night (no fever), and since Saturday morning it was 30 degrees with a wind chill of 23, I decided to pass on C&C.  Yet I still had to go to a business meeting.  Something is waaaay wrong with this picture!  

And to rub salt into the wound, on the way to my meeting I could see the Cars and Coffee site from the freeway, and it was packed. 

Then today K and I had planned to go see our newest family member, granddaughter Reese, but with my snotting and sneezing I decided to spare the poor child.  I am getting out long enough to go to the pharmacy for some Flonase, then by Starbucks for a coffee to-go.  Otherwise I'm stuck here today.

One good thing I found today....Teledoc.  It's a feature of our health insurance that allows us to call an 800 number and talk to a doctor, and if the ailment is something minor like mine, they'll call in a Rx without requiring a face-to-face visit.  I like.

I found an English rugby game on TV I'm taping for playback later, and I have a James Bond movie in the wings for later this evening, too.  I guess I'll muddle through.

Hope y'all are having more fun than me today.  ;)

S

Things are looking up!

To me this time of the year is just a huge sports "black hole".  I'll say right up front I'm not a sports (plural) fan.  I'm a FOOTBALL fan.  (And I'd best clarify that and say American football.)  I start to perk up when spring training begins, am on top of the world from September through the January bowl games, kinda coast through the pro football playoffs, then go into hibernation after the Super Bowl.  I really enjoy the Winter Olympic Games because to a Texan winter sports is the epitome of "exotic", but they're still a full year away so there's no sense getting excited about them yet.

I'm definitely a product of my upbringing.  Here in Texas football is King.  Twenty thousand will turn out for a high school football game, maybe a few hundred for a high school basketball game, and less than that for a high school baseball game.  The same ratio probably holds for college sports, too.  Hockey is a northern sport imported here when all the Yanks began heading south 30 years ago, and soccer is here because....well, I have no idea why soccer is here.  Golf for me is a near-death experience.

K has taken the lead on solving our off-season sports dilemma by introducing a new one for us to latch on to:  Rugby.  She chose rugby because last weekend she was channel surfing and there they were...the Northampton Saints VS Gloucester Rugby.  She decided Northampton would be her team because she liked the color of their shorts and T-shirts, and one of their guys flashed his tooth during a post-game interview.  Apparently there's nothing sexier than a guy wearing short shorts and showing off his last remaining tooth.

I must admit I found it to be rather entertaining, too.  They get in a big huddle, throw a f__ked up looking football in the middle, and have at it.  It's like tackle football, only without pads.  Or helmets.  It's not a game for wusses, for sure!

She was all heartbroken when she found out her team wouldn't be on the "telly" today.  But being the avid Northhampton fan that she has become she's following them via streaming live internet (audio only).  Now I've listened to many a football game on the radio, but at least I understood the terminology.  When the announcer said "the quarterback took the snap and ran left on a naked bootleg", I could "see" that in my mind.  

The only thing that made (sorta) sense to me on the streaming live audio rugby game K is listening to was when the announcer said the game was "simmering nicely".  Ohhh....now they're talking about "attacking".  I can almost see the bloody slobber and protruding bones.  I think I might like rugby!  

It's halftime.  Gotta go make nachos.  ;)

S