Nobody's gonna rain on my (Jibboom Club) parade

One thing I have noticed about New London is that New London seems to love parades. Never mind that the parades tend to last about three blocks/twenty minutes, sometimes aren't advertised, and occasionally get delayed due to the fact that the parade planner didn't check the Amtrak schedule and has to wait to cross the train tracks. We still heart parades.

Yesterday (Saturday) was a prime example of a New London parade - the Jibboom Club Parade. What is the Jibboom Club, you ask? Allow me to enlighten you with a bit of background from the New London Main Street events page:

"Jibboom Club No. 1 was a social club made up mostly of retired whalers and other merchant seamen here in New London during the last quarter of the nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth. Once a year they would parade through the city, towing a retired whaleboat and dressed as King Neptune and his minions. They would march to City Hall where the mayor would distribute cigars, then proceed "around the horn" (around the Soldiers and Sailors monument) before returning to their club rooms on Bank Street for a party featuring chowder."

The Jibboom Club parade of today is not quite as spectacular as it was in the old days. However, certain dedicated townfolk including my good friend Kevin Doyle and local theater group Flock Theatre are trying to restore the parade to it's former glory. Apparently the parade used to end with the Jibboomers harpooning a papier-mâché whale, complete with buckets of fake blood. Hope is high that the 2009 parade will bring with it the return of the whale. Until then, I am fairly content to watch Doyle dress up and march down the street smoking a cigar.

Some pictures for your enjoyment:

Pipes and drums announce the arrival of the Jibboomers

Doyle looks pretty dapper, doesn't he?

The Jibboomers with their boat, receiving cigars from the mayor

Keeping the tradition alive with Dr. Mark and Doyle

It was a little chili outside...

Last night I attended the celebration of excess known as "Springfest on the Beach" AKA Chilifest.

Put on by the New London Rotary Club, Springfest, held in the pavilion at Ocean Beach Park, consists of about 30 beer vendors/distributors handing out samples of their various wares along with about 15 local restaurants competing in a chili cook-off. And while the beer distribution is monitored by a ticket system, the chili is all-you-can-eat.

Chili in the spring may seem like an ill-fitting concept, but considering the fact that last night was about 45 degrees, raining, and windy, it worked. Since the fest was in the pavilion we didn't have to stand on the beach in the rain and kept reasonably warm.

Gourmet Galley Catering had an excellent cheesy chicken chili offering that tasted almost queso-esque. It was the group favorite until we found the Cuban chili (and I will post the vendor as soon as I remember who it was; I can't believe I forgot!) with the pickles on top.

Most of the chilis were very good (New London Fire Department Burn Unit - great job, very flavorful!) The only two of the whole bunch that we were not crazy about were Flanders Fish Market (sort of a half-chili, half-chowder) and - while we love the Broken Yolk for breakfast - we didn't care for the Yolk's chili (too much garlic - and this is coming from a group of garlic lovers).

As far as the beer selection goes, these Ocean Beach beer events don't hold a candle to the Michigan Brewer's Guild Summer Beer Festival (an event I really wish I could take my Connecticut friends to enjoy) but they are extremely enjoyable. While not limited to microbrews like the Michigan Fest, it's still a great opportunity to try out some regional beers that I wouldn't otherwise get to try.

On Amanda's recommendation I went to the Berkshire Brewing Co. first and tried several varieties, including the Hefeweizen Summer Wheat. It was lightly fruity with a smooth aftertaste. While I still haven't found my summer beer to replace Oberon, I feel like this could be a contender if available. The Long Trail Belgian White was almost floral in taste, wile the Thomas Hooker Blonde Ale was pleasant if not particularly memorable.

Jess and Josh are here from Michigan at the moment, so they too got to enjoy our first Springfest. I don't know to to better entertain guests than to take them to an all-you-can-eat beer and chili party on the beach. I'm pretty sure it doesn't get much better than that.

Interview with a vampire novel-reading maniac

I was sitting in bed on Sunday morning, drinking a cup of coffee and catching up on a stack of Time magazines when I came across an article about a young adult author named Stephenie Meyer.

Meyer, a Brigham Young graduate, mom of three young children and well-behaved Mormon, writes vampire novels - pretty sexy vampire novels, according to the article.

"Hmm," I thought. "Sexy young-adult vampire novels? I may have to check this out."

Later that day at Borders, I remembered the article and searched out Meyer's books. I didn't have to search far - they were displayed on their own table at the very front of the store, and I realized I had seen the striking covers (black backgrounds with one central contrasting image) before.

I picked up Twilight, the first book in the series (three have been published so far; the fourth and final is due in bookstores August 22) and the only one so far to have been released in paperback. It was $9.99 and I had a 30% off coupon (thanks, Borders rewards!) so I figured even if I didn't like it that much it wasn't too high a price to satisfy my curiosity.

What I was NOT expecting was to devour it much like I did volumes five, six and seven of Harry Potter (coincidentally, it was Eclipse - the third book in the series - that knocked the seventh Harry Potter out of the number-one spot on the best-seller list).

I haven't read something that I literally could not stop reading since I read Water for Elephants last August. I could not put it down. Noe had to tear it out of my hands and force me into the car to go to the driving range.

This book is insanely readable. Yes, it's about high school students, and yes, it is also about vampires, but shallow it's not. And it is sexy, but not in a gratuitous, Anne Rice-way (which is really more erotica than sexiness).

Basically, what you've got is Bella, a 17-year old outcast from Phoenix who moves to the tiny town of Forks, WA to live with her father. Forks is one of the rainiest, dreariest places in the United States. On her first day of school, she notices the Cullen family, a group of freakishly good-looking (if somewhat pale) siblings who seem to keep to themselves. When Edward Cullen is assigned as her lab partner in biology, things start to get a little weird. The first day they meet, he won't even look in her direction. He sits completely tense at the edge of his chair with his hands gripping the lab table. By the end of the week, he wants to know everything about her.

It is slowly revealed that Edward is a vampire. However, Edward and his family have made the (unusual) decision to go "vegetarian" - they live off animals rather than humans. Because of this, they are able to mingle somewhat normally with the townfolk. A few caveats, however: 1) They can't go in the sunlight without drawing immense amounts of attention to themselves (they sparkle), which is why they live in Forks; 2)They have to go "camping" every other weekend or so to hunt big game and quench their thirst; and 3) They are the sworn enemies of the local Indian tribe (for reasons revealed slowly over the first two books).

There's one other problem: although Edward is immensely attracted to Bella, the smell of her blood drives him insane. Like, wants-to-drink-it insane. It's really quite the paradox.

I realize how cheesy and stupid this sounds as I type it out, but I am telling you, these books are weirdly and incredibly readable. I blew through all three in a weekend, which now means I am stuck waiting until August 22 to find out how things turn out. I may even be a real geek and pre-order it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go read some Ayn Rand so I can feel like an intelligent and well-read 26 year old again.

Wine Safari

This past Saturday brought the return of Amanda Lester from South Africa and with her a variety of South African wines. We headed over there on Saturday night to welcome her back and have a mini-wine tasting.

I haven't had a lot of experience with South African wines - we didn't have very many on the Earle wine list, and other than a couple interesting and very cheaply priced Trader Joe's experimental purchases (none good or bad enough to stand out) I had never purchased any.

Amanda really enjoyed the Zevenwacht winery on the Stellenbosch Wine Route. We started with the Zevenwacht 2006 Chenin Blanc. This was light, citrusy, and refreshing with a hint of something more - maybe pineapple. (I'm sure that John, otherwise known as CTWineGuy, will review these wines and provide a much more thorough description - check him out.)

After we all agreed that the Chenin Blanc was indeed delicious, we moved on to the Zevenwacht 2004 Syrah. It smelled fruity and slightly smoky - and that smokiness multiplied by ten when I actually tasted it. It was a little spicy, too. I enjoyed it.

Properly impressed by the Zevenwacht wines (and Doyle's cocktail party attire, which included a skull and crossbones bow tie) we moved on to the 2005 Auret, a Cabernet Sauvignon/Pinotage blend from Clos Malverne, also on the Stellenbosch route.

Clos Malverne considers the Auret to be their flagship wine. It's worthy of the title - dry, spicy, and just kind of nice all around. It didn't stand out to me the way the Zevenwacht Syrah did (seriously, that smokiness has to be tasted to be believed) but I enjoyed it just the same. The winery recommends aging this wine 5-7 years, an experiment I'd like to try if given the chance.

Overall, a great evening - good wine and good company.

In other weekend news, Noe and I checked out Iron Man and both loved it. I have been a Robert Downey Jr. fan since seeing Heart and Souls in eighth grade (yes, Heart and Souls is a stupid movie, and yes, I still love it). I am glad to report that he is the perfect Tony Stark.

Sunday was mostly spent reading vampire novels (sigh - more about that later) and working in the garden. Although I've had herb gardens for a couple years now, this is my first attempt at actually growing vegetables (other than tomatoes). I picked up some bell pepper and cucumber plants and Amanda has some tomatoes started for me at her house. So far all I've really done is prepare the soil and get my herbs in pots (I like to be able to move them around), but (weather permitting) planting should commence this week. I'm a little bit obsessed with the idea of growing my own produce, so it will be interested in to see how this experiment turns out. I'll keep you posted!

Poster Kitty

Poor Stewart. At least the people who found him and the clinic were kind of enough to fix him up. Please consider donating to Stewart's fund or a similar fund in your area. Read Stewart's whole story in the New London Day: Cat Found Near Fire Scene Is Doing Well

Slow and Steady...

...does not win the race but it DOES finish the half-marathon. Because I am slightly insane, I decided the best way to make myself get back into shape was to sign up to run a half-marathon.

This was not my first half-marathon; it was actually my fourth. I ran the Detroit Free Press race in October 2006, the Country Music Half-Marathon (seriously) in Nashville last April, and the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon - the same one I decided would kick my ass back into gear - last May.

I have referenced the fact that I have let myself get out of shape in this blog before. This is not an exaggeration. While I may not have gained a zillion pounds or look that much bigger, I have lost all my muscle tone and most of my endurance - both things I had when I ran my previous half-marathons.

I started "training" for this race a little late - like a month ago. Two miles were kind of a stretch at that point. I expanded it into three, then four, but I did not log a single run over five miles while preparing for the mini - and those five miles were not the smoothest I'd ever run, either. Needless to say, I was a bit concerned. (Of even more concern was the fact that I spent about two hours downloading songs and arranging my "Amy's Running Mix" playlist on my iPod for ultimate motivational order only to find out that headphones and earbuds were banned from the mini.)

I lined up in my corral with a feeling of trepidation. 25 minutes later, when I finally crossed the starting line (35,000 people makes for a bit of a chaotic start) I wasn't feeling much better.


After a mile of dodging the walkers (START AT THE BACK - THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO!!!) I was wondering exactly how the hell I was going to establish any kind of pace.

And then I got going.

I was feeling good when I got to the 5K mark, and I felt even better when I got to 10K. I thought maybe I would walk for a minute or two before I hit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (the highlight of the Mini's course) because I believe that one does not walk on the Speedway - but I felt good enough to keep running.

I ran my 2.5 miles around the oval and came out thinking maybe I'd walk a bit then, but I felt so good that I figured I'd at least run to the 9-mile mark. I hit nine thinking "Gee, maybe I should under-train for every race!" and continued running toward 10.

At 10.5 things started to go downhill.

Suddenly I felt like I was running in a pair of flip flops instead of sneakers. I was acutely aware of my feet hitting the pavement - hard- with every stride. My calves starting cramping up a little and my old ankle injury threatened to make an encore appearance. I wasn't exactly tired, but my body was shutting down.

I stopped and stretched out (and got annoyed as I watched people pass me) and then tried to continue. It wasn't much better. I re-laced and retied my shoes and started again - not much improvement. I sort of limped across the 11-mile mark, got my Gatorade, and then VERY slowly plugged away at the last two miles.

Of course, I sprinted the last quarter-mile (like that was going to make up for three miles of almost-walking) and almost plowed over the idiot with the microphone who happened to be standing in the middle of the street in front of the finish line. If he hadn't jumped out of the way, I would have just run in to him - I had too much momentum going to stop at that point.


Anyway, my finish time ended up not being incredibly horrible - about 2:40/2:45. Really, it wasn't much slower than anything else I've run. And although my knees were in agony for the remainder of the day (and well into the evening) I didn't seem to be much worse for wear.

The moral of the story? It felt GREAT to be back doing something athletic and mildly competitive. I want to be back in shape. Proving that I could still do this wasn't good enough because I know that if I can do it in this kind of shape that I can do it better.

It's time to hit the gym.

April Showers...

...bring surprise May flowers. At least, they are surprises to us because we didn't plant them. When things started sprouting up in the flower bed, we had to wait a few weeks to figure out if they were flowers or weeds. Once we determined they were flowers, we had no idea what was going to actually blossom. (OK, I had no idea - Noe, Mr. "good at everything including identifying random green sprouts" knew what kind of plants they were, but he's not psychic so he had no way of knowing the colors.)

Luckily, Matt & Kendra (the former house owners) have as good taste in plants as they do interior paint colors. This is a sampling of what we ended up with: