Keep on Truckin'
Hello World,
Well, it will do no good to wonder where the month has gone already, heaven knows, now that it's already a third of the way over, as hard as that might seem to believe. But I can tell you that anyone who is not all set by now with their Halloween costume, had better get on the stick and hop to it, and no joke. I actually know someone who falls into that category, and who shall remain nameless but looks suspiciously like me, and should have long since been finished with all of the costume gathering aspects of this process, and that's not just the fun-size candy bars talking, believe me. And even more so, you would think, since Halloween actually falls on a Saturday this year, so some of us will be wearing our costumes to work on the Friday before instead, giving us even less time than usual to get ready. Oh well, I've never been a ghost so far, so I guess the old bed sheet idea might be the way to go this year. There's nothing like the classics, I always say.
Speaking of classics, if anyone asked me to name my favorite brand of chocolate, it would be Cadbury far and away, even compared to the priciest gourmet confections from the world over. Nothing could sway me from their milk chocolate, which is creamy and flavorful to perfection as far as I'm concerned. I consider myself a huge fan, which is why I wouldn't expect them to do something that I wasn't prepared for, and totally out of the blue. But that's what happened to me earlier in the week. when I left work and found myself unaccountably behind what appeared to be the Cadbury Adams van, which I never knew even existed, and yet here it was, right on the street with me. I would think if they had a van, I would have seen it long before now, and it would be impossible to miss, because it was painted all over to look like a package of Dentyne gum. It also included the names of other brands in the Cadbury Adams fine family of products, such as Trident, Certs, Bubblicious, Halls, Chiclets, Clorets, Swedish Fish, and many other sweet treats for a clamoring public. I don't know if the van drives around just for the sake of publicity, or if they use these vans to make candy deliveries, but it certainly got my attention without even trying, and if I thought they were giving away free samples, you can believe that I would have followed it to the ends of the earth, and then some.
I think it was the very next day that I found myself in back of another truck, perhaps you've seen it also, from our friends at Georgi Vodka, and which is helpfully painted with a nearly naked woman on each side. As an attention-getting device, this would be hard to beat, because the paint job really does the trick, and lets you have it with both barrels, as it were, while leaving just about nothing to the imagination. Prowling around through the Red Light District in the wee hours, this truck would fit right in, but going to work at 8:30 in the morning, I found it a little hard to take, and that's not just the bikini wax talking, believe me. I can't help but think that this truck driving around unbidden, with its startling pulchritude right out in front of everybody's face, probably causes more traffic accidents than people drinking their vodka. At least that's one thing you can say about the Cadbury Adams van, it's not going to make anyone drive off the road with their eyes bugged out of their head and screaming at the top of their lungs. And for anybody who saw me do that when I thought they were giving away candy bars, I would just like to state for the record that it was merely an exaggeration for comic effect, I can assure you.
I've been continuing with the hold-overs from Walk Group, in spite of the fact that I find them slow and prone to taking too many shortcuts, besides being what I would describe as fair-weather walkers and their hearts are not really in it. One day last week, we were shambling along (I said to Bill that I think of this as Stroll Group, rather than Walk Group) when Jessica tripped over a bump in the sidewalk and nearly lost her balance. "That's what I get for texting while I'm walking," she admitted. I pointed out that's why they don't let you do that while you're driving, because people need to watch where they're going in order to avoid accidents. And I couldn't help but add, since I was next to her at the time, that if she was relying on me to catch her when she fell, I felt obligated to tell her that my reflexes were not what they used to be, and my days of catching things in mid-air were about 40 years behind me, so she shouldn't be counting on me to rescue her from danger. When it comes to gravity, about the only thing that I'm going to catch before it hits the floor these days is a fun-size candy bar, and as for everybody else, I may as well tell you that you're on your own.
Last weekend, we had an acquaintance drive all the way in to the area from the Windy City, and cleared some time in her schedule just for us, so we were quick to oblige. We met at the Day's Inn at Newburgh, which although it is right near the airport, is nonetheless in a very scenic area along a lake with beautiful views. In the parking lot is a locally famous diner, Johnny D's, where the joint is jumping 24 hours a day, and if you show your Day's Inn room key, you get a 10% discount on your meal. We had brunch there, and I can vouch for their pancakes, which were excellent, while Bill took a chance on their cinnamon French Toast, which turned out to be just as good as it sounds. It seems that the Stewart Air Force Base is nearby, and I would tell you that the diner was awash with soldiers, except that they were all wearing camouflage, so I guess that nobody could see them. That would have helped our waitress, who brought a tumbler of orange juice to the next booth, and proceeded to spill it all over the customer instead of putting it on the table, and probably wished that she could vanish into thin air right at that moment. She felt so bad that she came to our table and told us what happened, and we did our best to cheer her up, under the circumstances. You know I always say, this gravity business is a double-edged sword, and that's not just the orange juice talking, believe me.
Newburgh is a happening place, with lots of shopping, services and activities all within easy reach, and for anyone who wanted to go diner-hopping, if there is such a thing, I can tell you that this area would be pretty much ideal. We all stayed overnight at the Day's Inn, which is a nice comfortable hotel with reasonable rates, and amenities such as WIFI, business center, fitness room, and breakfast included in the room rate, not to mention that great view of the lake. Their larger rooms are very spacious, but we found our single to be a bit cramped, and bereft of any conveniences like a coffee maker, microwave or refrigerator. The breakfast choices are rudimentary, and when the hotel is full of conventioneers as it seemed to be, you'd better get there early, or go away hungry. In the morning when I was out taking pictures, I came upon a small building attached to one of the hallways, that opened up onto a lawn, and I figured it was their banquet room, for parties or receptions, and the lawn was where they could put up a tent or chairs, and have entertainment, barbecue, dancing or whatever under the stars. Not so fast! When I got inside, I found myself in the same hallway that the building was attached to, and discovered that it was actually their pool, all in a room by itself, and probably opening up onto the lawn where they would put lounge chairs in the summer. It was a nice looking pool, but would have been easy to miss, since it was not only closed, but covered up, and since none of their literature mentioned a pool, we wondered if it was closed for the season, or permanently. I have to say that a pool certainly would have improved our impressions of the place, so it was unfortunate that it wasn't available while we were there, if at all.
We had some time on our hands during the day, so we took a short jaunt over to nearby Warwick Valley, home of the historic Sugar Loaf Village, which describes itself as " ... an interesting mix of practicing artisans, eclectic shops and galleries. Established in the early 1700's, many of the buildings are still being used today." You are welcome to head right on over to www.sugarloafartsvillage.com and see for yourself, although speaking just for myself, if I had a tourist attraction that I wanted people to visit, I would personally avoid having anything that looked like "farts" in my web site address. Be that as it may, we found the place with no trouble, and proceeded to stroll along their wooden sidewalks with the other sight-seers, and browse in the interesting shops. There's paintings and antiques, photography and pottery, farmers market and florist, pet supplies and apparel, and plenty of hand-made everything from candles to jewelry to soap, plus much more. It might remind some of Woodstock from about 30 years ago, before it went commercial, and this little funky hole in the wall might not be for every taste. But I will say that overall, it was probably the best smelling place I have ever been in my entire life. It seems that everyone there makes their own incense, and every shop you go in smells like sandalwood, cinnamon, lavender, peaches, vanilla, roses, cherries, pine, lilac, melon, gardenia or peppermint, until you just about forget what regular air smells like. In New York City, this is where they make the joke that they have to hold the unresponsive person under the exhaust of a bus until they regain consciousness. If this happens to me, please make mine a Cadbury Adams truck instead, because the smell of chocolate should be all I need to come around, and that's not just the fun-size candy bars talking, believe me.
Elle
Well, it will do no good to wonder where the month has gone already, heaven knows, now that it's already a third of the way over, as hard as that might seem to believe. But I can tell you that anyone who is not all set by now with their Halloween costume, had better get on the stick and hop to it, and no joke. I actually know someone who falls into that category, and who shall remain nameless but looks suspiciously like me, and should have long since been finished with all of the costume gathering aspects of this process, and that's not just the fun-size candy bars talking, believe me. And even more so, you would think, since Halloween actually falls on a Saturday this year, so some of us will be wearing our costumes to work on the Friday before instead, giving us even less time than usual to get ready. Oh well, I've never been a ghost so far, so I guess the old bed sheet idea might be the way to go this year. There's nothing like the classics, I always say.
Speaking of classics, if anyone asked me to name my favorite brand of chocolate, it would be Cadbury far and away, even compared to the priciest gourmet confections from the world over. Nothing could sway me from their milk chocolate, which is creamy and flavorful to perfection as far as I'm concerned. I consider myself a huge fan, which is why I wouldn't expect them to do something that I wasn't prepared for, and totally out of the blue. But that's what happened to me earlier in the week. when I left work and found myself unaccountably behind what appeared to be the Cadbury Adams van, which I never knew even existed, and yet here it was, right on the street with me. I would think if they had a van, I would have seen it long before now, and it would be impossible to miss, because it was painted all over to look like a package of Dentyne gum. It also included the names of other brands in the Cadbury Adams fine family of products, such as Trident, Certs, Bubblicious, Halls, Chiclets, Clorets, Swedish Fish, and many other sweet treats for a clamoring public. I don't know if the van drives around just for the sake of publicity, or if they use these vans to make candy deliveries, but it certainly got my attention without even trying, and if I thought they were giving away free samples, you can believe that I would have followed it to the ends of the earth, and then some.
I think it was the very next day that I found myself in back of another truck, perhaps you've seen it also, from our friends at Georgi Vodka, and which is helpfully painted with a nearly naked woman on each side. As an attention-getting device, this would be hard to beat, because the paint job really does the trick, and lets you have it with both barrels, as it were, while leaving just about nothing to the imagination. Prowling around through the Red Light District in the wee hours, this truck would fit right in, but going to work at 8:30 in the morning, I found it a little hard to take, and that's not just the bikini wax talking, believe me. I can't help but think that this truck driving around unbidden, with its startling pulchritude right out in front of everybody's face, probably causes more traffic accidents than people drinking their vodka. At least that's one thing you can say about the Cadbury Adams van, it's not going to make anyone drive off the road with their eyes bugged out of their head and screaming at the top of their lungs. And for anybody who saw me do that when I thought they were giving away candy bars, I would just like to state for the record that it was merely an exaggeration for comic effect, I can assure you.
I've been continuing with the hold-overs from Walk Group, in spite of the fact that I find them slow and prone to taking too many shortcuts, besides being what I would describe as fair-weather walkers and their hearts are not really in it. One day last week, we were shambling along (I said to Bill that I think of this as Stroll Group, rather than Walk Group) when Jessica tripped over a bump in the sidewalk and nearly lost her balance. "That's what I get for texting while I'm walking," she admitted. I pointed out that's why they don't let you do that while you're driving, because people need to watch where they're going in order to avoid accidents. And I couldn't help but add, since I was next to her at the time, that if she was relying on me to catch her when she fell, I felt obligated to tell her that my reflexes were not what they used to be, and my days of catching things in mid-air were about 40 years behind me, so she shouldn't be counting on me to rescue her from danger. When it comes to gravity, about the only thing that I'm going to catch before it hits the floor these days is a fun-size candy bar, and as for everybody else, I may as well tell you that you're on your own.
Last weekend, we had an acquaintance drive all the way in to the area from the Windy City, and cleared some time in her schedule just for us, so we were quick to oblige. We met at the Day's Inn at Newburgh, which although it is right near the airport, is nonetheless in a very scenic area along a lake with beautiful views. In the parking lot is a locally famous diner, Johnny D's, where the joint is jumping 24 hours a day, and if you show your Day's Inn room key, you get a 10% discount on your meal. We had brunch there, and I can vouch for their pancakes, which were excellent, while Bill took a chance on their cinnamon French Toast, which turned out to be just as good as it sounds. It seems that the Stewart Air Force Base is nearby, and I would tell you that the diner was awash with soldiers, except that they were all wearing camouflage, so I guess that nobody could see them. That would have helped our waitress, who brought a tumbler of orange juice to the next booth, and proceeded to spill it all over the customer instead of putting it on the table, and probably wished that she could vanish into thin air right at that moment. She felt so bad that she came to our table and told us what happened, and we did our best to cheer her up, under the circumstances. You know I always say, this gravity business is a double-edged sword, and that's not just the orange juice talking, believe me.
Newburgh is a happening place, with lots of shopping, services and activities all within easy reach, and for anyone who wanted to go diner-hopping, if there is such a thing, I can tell you that this area would be pretty much ideal. We all stayed overnight at the Day's Inn, which is a nice comfortable hotel with reasonable rates, and amenities such as WIFI, business center, fitness room, and breakfast included in the room rate, not to mention that great view of the lake. Their larger rooms are very spacious, but we found our single to be a bit cramped, and bereft of any conveniences like a coffee maker, microwave or refrigerator. The breakfast choices are rudimentary, and when the hotel is full of conventioneers as it seemed to be, you'd better get there early, or go away hungry. In the morning when I was out taking pictures, I came upon a small building attached to one of the hallways, that opened up onto a lawn, and I figured it was their banquet room, for parties or receptions, and the lawn was where they could put up a tent or chairs, and have entertainment, barbecue, dancing or whatever under the stars. Not so fast! When I got inside, I found myself in the same hallway that the building was attached to, and discovered that it was actually their pool, all in a room by itself, and probably opening up onto the lawn where they would put lounge chairs in the summer. It was a nice looking pool, but would have been easy to miss, since it was not only closed, but covered up, and since none of their literature mentioned a pool, we wondered if it was closed for the season, or permanently. I have to say that a pool certainly would have improved our impressions of the place, so it was unfortunate that it wasn't available while we were there, if at all.
We had some time on our hands during the day, so we took a short jaunt over to nearby Warwick Valley, home of the historic Sugar Loaf Village, which describes itself as " ... an interesting mix of practicing artisans, eclectic shops and galleries. Established in the early 1700's, many of the buildings are still being used today." You are welcome to head right on over to www.sugarloafartsvillage.com and see for yourself, although speaking just for myself, if I had a tourist attraction that I wanted people to visit, I would personally avoid having anything that looked like "farts" in my web site address. Be that as it may, we found the place with no trouble, and proceeded to stroll along their wooden sidewalks with the other sight-seers, and browse in the interesting shops. There's paintings and antiques, photography and pottery, farmers market and florist, pet supplies and apparel, and plenty of hand-made everything from candles to jewelry to soap, plus much more. It might remind some of Woodstock from about 30 years ago, before it went commercial, and this little funky hole in the wall might not be for every taste. But I will say that overall, it was probably the best smelling place I have ever been in my entire life. It seems that everyone there makes their own incense, and every shop you go in smells like sandalwood, cinnamon, lavender, peaches, vanilla, roses, cherries, pine, lilac, melon, gardenia or peppermint, until you just about forget what regular air smells like. In New York City, this is where they make the joke that they have to hold the unresponsive person under the exhaust of a bus until they regain consciousness. If this happens to me, please make mine a Cadbury Adams truck instead, because the smell of chocolate should be all I need to come around, and that's not just the fun-size candy bars talking, believe me.
Elle
posted by El Tango Fandango @ 6:56 PM
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