No more do you remember

Here’s a line uttered by Norman Thayer in the movie On Golden Pond when he was gassing up his boat.

“Think it's funny being old? My whole goddamn body's fallin' apart.
Sometimes I can't even go to the bathroom when I want to...but I'm still a man and can take on you punks”.

Man, can I relate to poor old Norman. My back hurts, my shoulder is killing me and like Norman, when I do have to go to the bathroom at night I have to sit on the edge of the bed to get my bearings so I don’t fall as I limp along to the can. When the hell did I get old? Seems like yesterday when I could bounce down the stairs and take them two at a time going up. Now I make sure I have a hand on the rail in either direction.

I’m also finding less and less humor in all those “old people emails” and those nostalgia ones constantly reminding me of the old days…do you remember black and white TV, keys for your shoe attached roller skates and candy cigarettes. No more please, I remember, I remember, ok! I’m also tired of the constant senior citizen doctor appointments, regular, eye, prostate, dermatologist, foot and so on and so forth. I visit the blood letting people so often they are starting to greet me by name when I walk in. My golfing partners are giving me so many strokes there’s no more room for dots on the score card. Unfortunately I need all I can get.

Enough of this already, from this day forward I refuse to think old. I’m going to begin watching Saturday morning cartoons and start all over again and thank God for letting me be here to do it.

Things might be changing

You’re driving along on the interstate. You and your passenger’s stomachs are empty and your bladders are full. You pass exit after exit without food or rest area signs until finally, “Halleluiah”, an exit sign with restaurants and gas stations listed. You get to the exit, look around and decide that the area looks like you landed in the twilight zone. Oh well, the sign says food that a way so we take the turn, squeeze our legs together and head for relief. Oh yah, so we thought. We drive and drive and drive with nothing in sight, where the hell is the damn restaurant? I’m embarrassed to tell you where some of my bladder relief’s have been. I swear it should be against the law to post a highway sign unless you’re less than a mile from the exit.

Well, this little “bitch” was the result of a recent trip four of us made on the way to a golfing location, Crumpin Fox, to be exact, in Bernardston, Massachusetts. It was very early in the morning and we were all anxious to have a coffee and some breakfast. First possible exit had a Cracker Barrel so we got off only to find it was closed at that early hour. Onward we went to another exit with a Friendly’s sign. Took the exit and started to look for the restaurant. Well, I still don’t know where the Friendly’s was, but I now know what Holyoke looks like in the morning. We’re a little frustrated, but we haven’t starved yet and none of us are crossing our legs so we truck Northward.

We see the exit for Northampton, Mass ahead and lo and behold, it’s got another Friendly listed. No way can we strike out again, but we did. Now it’s onward to a tour of downtown Northampton with still no sign of the Friendly’s……unbelievable. We’re almost out of town when we spot a diner sign, the Blue Bonnet Diner. Doesn’t look that exciting, but at this point we definitely need some food and a coffee? What a surprise when looks are deceiving. Diner was large, clean, service excellent and as fussy as I am with breakfast (you recall some of my previous blogs), I have to admit that the cheese omelet I ordered was by far the best I have had in my 75 years. Couldn’t believe it! And the home fries were good too. All of us were very, very happy we never got to a Friendly’s. Once in a while things turn out great.

Golf turned out pretty good too. Weather held out, no rain, not too hot, beer was cold and I survived 27 holes. Might have been a little too many holes for this old fart. Didn’t play that well, but my partner and I still took the young guys for $4.00 bucks.

By the way we stopped at the Blue Bonnet again for dinner. This ones a real keeper. For $10.59 I had a huge New England boiled dinner of corned beef, boiled potatoes, carrots and turnips. Even building a real hunger after all that golf I still had trouble finishing the meal. All that and a super waitress to boot. Are things changing for me? What the hell am I going to bitch about?

A LITTLE HISTORY OF THE BLUEBONNET DINER

Built by the Worcester Lunch Car Company in 1950, the historic Bluebonnet Diner stands as a familiar Northampton landmark. The name "Bluebonnet" is derived from the Texas state flower of the same name.

Seeing many additions over the years, yet sparing the original craftsmanship, the diner takes on a character all its own.

The dining room was added in 1960, with the later additions of a lounge and banquet all in 1967. Since its beginning, the Bluebonnet has seen a ten-fold increase in seating; with a present capacity of 110 in the restaurant, and 240 in the banquet hall.

Good food, prepared by competent people is standard fare here. Many recipes have earned us the reputation for good home-style cooking. We are most famous for our home-made puddings and cream pies.

The versatility of the Florentine Room (the banquet hall) is present in a week's schedule. The hall has seen many faces, from weddings, showers, and receptions to meetings, seminars, and parties.

On the Road Again

No, not that Willie Nelson road. We’re back on the Connecticut Wine Trail “Road again”. This year like the past three or four will be another attempt to win a trip in the Passport program run each year by the Connecticut wineries and vineyards. As you recall, a passport book can be picked up at any participating winery. When you make a visit to one they will happily stamp it for you just like a regular passport book. After you have had the book stamped by the required number of wineries you submit the book to be drawn in a lottery. The list of Connecticut wineries now numbers thirty with new ones coming on board every year. Last year Marge and I and another couple visited nineteen and even with a late start this year we’ve already been to thirteen.

While it would be great to win one of those trips to Spain or France, our excursions to our Connecticut wineries have still been a lot of fun. I was joking, however, that with what we’ve spent doing it these past years we could have financed one of those trips by ourselves. Our trips begin with a picnic lunch. Most locations have areas where they allow you to picnic, but this past Friday we had ours at the great facilities in Salmon River State Park. We even have a hot lunch occasionally since our friends purchased a small grill just for that purpose. On this trip we got real ambitious and were able to get the book stamped five times with visits to Maugle Sierra in Ledyard, three in North Stonington, Jonathan Edwards, Stonington Vineyards, and Dalice Elizabeth along with a last minute stop at Chamard in Clinton. This was a helluva day since we included dinner at Lenny and Joe’s Fishtail. Good stop for me, haven’t had oysters on the half shell since Myrtle Beach. A dozen along with a bowl of clam chowder helped make the day. Made Marge's day too, because she's been longing for a lobster roll all summer and the Fishtail visit took care of that.

All of these wineries offer wine tasting for a nominal fee, usually $5.00 to $7.00 dollars. You get a chance to sample the vineyards six or seven wines and take home the glass. Can’t do this much anymore since our cabinet now has over thirty monogrammed glasses we would need to throw out some pots, pans and dishes to find room for more. Besides that we now know which wines we like, so we just buy a bottle, borrow four of their glasses and go out sit around one of their tables and enjoy the scenery and the wine. I suggest you try one of these excursions yourself, I know you will enjoy it. With so many wineries all around the state now the drives aren’t that long anymore. You can check them all out by going on the web and punching in: www.ctwine.com