Tennis Anyone?

Oh my! Who is this you might ask? It's Frank Dancevic, a Canadian tennis player.

I am not a tennis junkie. I don't play it. I don't follow it. I know very little about it. But the other night, we were at a local spot having dinner, and this picture flashed across the big screen. It caught my attention (just can't understand why).

However, let's just say that I might be paying a bit more attention to tennis from now on.

Enjoy!


Photo courtesy of cyberpresse.ca

As Fate Would Have It

In 2005, our personal year from hell, we decided, for various reasons, to move our boat to another marina. After spending a season there, we dealt with a few challenges, and so, at the end of that summer, we decided to move back to our favoured marina, only to find that there were slim pickings for slips. We wanted to go back to the same dock, which, at the time, had only one slip available....a channel slip. This meant that we would be open to the water traffic within the marina. Having little choice, we took that slip, and were there for two seasons.

Having a channel slip can be both a blessing and a curse. It is more open, and you can see more. There is constant boat traffic, but there is less foot traffic at end of a dock. As a negative, you are the recipient of exhaust and gas fumes, and you are open to potentially unfavourable winds.

In previous years, we had always been on an inside slip (which means additional tie-off options, a little more privacy, and a space for a dock box), so we had put our name onto a waiting list for an opening.

With our luck, that opening came this year, and we moved the boat three weeks ago.

This turned out to be a stroke of luck for us.

This past weekend saw high winds with higher gusts. Our trip back to the marina was challenging, but the most challenging was docking in high winds. We had assistance waiting for us at the dock and were able to arrive safely, but once we were tucked in, our friend and former "channel-side" neighbour told us his story.

He was packing up his boat from his weekend out, and saw this huge Sea Ray power boat coming down the channel having great control problems. It turns out that one of the Sea Ray's engines had failed, and this resulted in the boat losing control and hitting our friend's Prowler, leaving deep gouges in his hull, BUT if we had still been parked in the channel slip, we would have been taken out. The Sea Ray sideswiped our friend's boat then proceeded to crash into the empty dock......that we used to occupy until three weeks ago....HARD!!! Nearby boaters heard a tremendous crash as the Sea Ray hit the dock and were surprised that the dock wasn't demolished by the impact! Our boat, heavy construction though it is, would likely have been heavily damaged had it still been in the channel slip.

Sometimes fate works in mysterious ways. In this case, it was certainly in our favour.

There Are A Million Stories In This Naked City

....well perhaps one naked story.

We were driving home last night. It was late. It was dark. It was chilly. Standing by the side of the road, we spotted a naked man. Stark naked! His face was covered with a mask similar to what the Rock Band members from KISS used to wear.

.....and he wore absolutely nothing else....not even shoes or socks!

At first we were stunned, because, after all, how many naked people do YOU see running around your streets late at night? At first we thought that he might be an escapee from the Senior home, but we weren't sure. In any case, we stopped the car and called the Police. I think we were the first caller, because dispatch kept asking us what seemed to be the same questions over and over. They wanted details....none of which we could provide except for a white naked butt and that Kiss face. That made it a bit difficult. While we were relaying whatever details we could, dispatch said 'it's okay....other calls are coming in now'. Then they hung up on us.

Now, while we were talking to the Police, a small group of teens were standing on top of a grassy hill which borders a park. They were all watching our car, and they just knew that they had been ratted on. From the corner or our eye, Mr. Naked Guy darted in front of us, crossed the street and ran up to that group of friends.....all of whom immediately dispersed into the park area. (good luck running Mr. Naked Guy).

A Police cruiser arrived and he was going to talk to a few people who just happened to be in the park at that time. We left.

This was undoubtedly a dare from a youth or two....a dare which some kid was daring enough to do (had the b*lls to do), though he was not brave enough to uncover said b*lls.....

Oh to be young and stupid (and perhaps drunk) again.

An old CSNY song comes to mind....'Teach your children well....'

....hhhhhhh

The Big Five Oh!!!!

Today is a milestone birthday for My Sweetie. It's the Big 50 for him. Yessir. Half a century years old. He is now a candidate for one of the big store's Mature Outlook program (hehe). But as for any other benefits, I'm afraid there are none. Sorry Sweetie.

We celebrated his birthday quietly. On the boat at a nearby bay. The weather was gloriously hot and the water was perfect for swimming. There were loons singing last night and this morning.

So here's to My Sweetie. I hope that he enjoyed his birthday today, and I hope he's not too unhappy about being 50.

See...I told you it wasn't so bad.

Luv you....M

Before and After

With a lack of anything worthwhile to post, yet with a yearning to update, I have this pittance of a post.

The local newspaper is delivered twice a week. Sometimes it has something of interest, like when our nephew's picture was posted with his band, but most times there is nothing much to read. Nevertheless, we always look forward to opening the paper when it arrives.

That is, if we CAN open it. Reference the BEFORE picture below.


We used to be able to open the paper quite easily. Lately though, we can barely get the elastic off, because it is wrapped around the paper so tightly. Add a bit of rain to the mix, and you end up ripping the paper off along with the elastic. We've even taken to cutting the elastic off (because the elastics are so dirty anyway). In any case the condition of the newspaper is a mess. Reference the AFTER Picture below.



We know what happens, because we have watched the kids doing their rounds. They strive to fit all of their papers into this tiny shopping cart, and in order to do this, they need to have teeny tiny bundles. Also, they need to be able to fling the papers from the road to the front door. You know the kind of fling I'm referring to. It's the wrist-snap fling. Those teeny tiny tight bundles are easier to do the wrist-snap fling.

But man don't get in the way of one of those flying newspapers. They'll knock you right out flat!