Wonderful-Nice

"I never know how many times to pull it." This was the wrong thing to say to a man that tackles a double entendre every chance he gets...

Monday, August 28th, 2006 thru Thursday, August 31st, 2006: It has been a very quiet time in Ossipee. Peter started school on Monday morning and has been commuting from here to Stratham. He left for work around 6:00am each day whilst I slept in until 9:30am or so.

Monday and Tuesday were a bit chilly, damp, and cloudy. A majority of my time was spent reading and slowly navigating online via dialup. Dialup internet service is so painful. I cannot imagine that at one time this was acceptable. If I ever had to permanently go back to it, I think I would cry out loud.

Wednesday and Thursday were the better of the days this week. It was partly sunny and in the low to mid seventies. I was able to work on making myself more off-white than white. I also read some more of the Da Vinci Code and struggled online.

Each evening, Peter and I threw some form of meat on the grill, cooked it up for dinner while also partaking of some local corn and vegetables. We toured the local ice cream scene for dessert, trying a different shop each night.

On Thursday evening, Peter and I decided it was time for a night on the town. We hopped in the Mini and made our way to Portland, Maine. It sounds far away, but it was actually super easy to get to and only 50 miles to the East of the cottage. It took about an hour to get there and we arrived shortly after 9:00pm.

We found a really nice place to eat called the Dogfish Cafe. It was a pub-type atmosphere. When we arrived, there was a nice little Jewish girl performing. She was playing the keyboard and doing vocals. After we placed our dinner order, the young lady finished her set and was followed by a bleached blonde Bostonian that sang and played the guitar. Both were very entertaining. Peter preferred the piano. I preferred the blonde.

Another table was finishing up across from us. As they were leaving, one of the men at the table bumped a decorative tree branch that was standing up in the corner of the room. As the branch shifted, the limbs at the top got into the ceiling fan. Peter's keen ear thought blondie added a little percussion to his act. But our little hotty of a waiter picked up on this immediately and came to the rescue. He stood on a chair and started tugging on the metal string in hopes of bringing the percussion portion of the performance to an end. After a bit of a struggle, the fan blades stopped spinning and the young man stepped down and over to our table. Quickly, and obviously without thinking, he said, "I never know how many times to pull it." Oh, so many things I could have responded with. Shockingly, I remained silent. We both gave him a polite smile and then he scampered away.

It was time to do the local gay bar scene. I forgot what a fun city Portland is. I had not been to Portland in years. We started at a bar called Spring Street. This is operated by the same owners of Maine Street in Ogunquit which I spoke of in a previous blog entry. Unlike Ogunquit, the crowd here was quite friendly and attitude free. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that Thursday is Karaoke night at Spring Street. A majority of the performers were better than average. I was nervous to make my debut here, but ended up singing a rousing rendition Dion's of The Wanderer.

Portland bars close at 1:00am. At about 12:30am, Peter and I made our way to the other two gay bars in town, Blackstones and Styxx. Blackstones was more of a hole in the wall, neighborhood type bar. Could have been fun if we showed up there earlier. Peter had a quick drink and we hurried off to make our way to Styxx before the final bell.

Styxx was neat, too. It was relatively small, but they had a nice bar, pool table and small dance floor area with a DJ. There was a hint of mildew in the air. It turns out that they were still cleaning up from a foam party they had the weekend before. Moments after we arrived, the "ugly lights" came on. There was no time for a drink, only time to check out the crowd and the atmosphere. It was worthy of a return visit on another night.

We headed back to the car and zipped our way onto 25 West, toward New Hampshire. We stopped at a nearby Dunkin Donuts to get a coffee for Peter. In theory, the coffee was to keep Peter awake for the ride and in turn he could keep me awake at the wheel. Within 10-15 minutes of departing Dunkies, Peter was asleep in the passenger seat. At least he had a fresh cup of coffee to keep his hands warm.

Friday, September 1st, 2006: Knock, knock, knock! Peter started my day with a rappa-tap-tap on the bedroom door. He had received a call from his friends Ray and Dottie. They wanted to treat us to a pontoon boat ride on the lake. Thirty minutes later they were on the shores of Wonderful-Nice. We embarked on a cruise out of Leavitt Bay. We made our way to Broad Bay and then through the channel to the main Ossipee Lake. After a short cruise on the main lake, we returned through the channel. After a tour of Broad Bay and Berry Bay, we made our way back to Wonderful-Nice on Leavitt Bay.

Ray and Dottie departed and we started the cleaning process. Peter insisted the place be immaculate for the arrival of Marty and Carol. He invited my parents up to the cottage for the weekend and they graciously accepted. We scoured the place and rewarded ourselves with a long nap afterward.

After the nap, a run, and a shower, Peter and I headed out for groceries and booze. After bringing the goods home, we decided to head to Jake's Seafood Company restaurant for dinner rather than fire up the grill. When we found out that my parents were a lot closer to arriving than we had originally anticipated, we opted for takeout and returned home with our meals.


Marty and Carol arrived just before 8:00pm. We all helped unload the car and then proceeded to make ourselves comfortable around a fire that Peter built. We shared cocktails and pleasant conversation until 12:30am.

Saturday, September 2nd, 2006: The time was 5:39am. The noise was the intrusion alarm on the next door neighbor's home. So much for sleeping in... As Peter's hearing aids were out, I felt it only fair to awaken him as the rest of us had been. We threw on some clothes, grabbed flashlights, and circled the property. Everything seemed secure. Ten to fifteen minutes later, the alarm shut itself off, and we crawled back into bed.

The time was 7:59am. The noise was the mouths of my mother and Peter. They are early risers. The paper thin cottage walls meant that my father and I were early risers on this day, too. Mom made a pancake and sausage breakfast. Peter provided the coffee and the fire. My father and I went to Abbott & Staples for some real Vermont maple syrup.


We are all now sitting around another fire sharing more conversation over coffee. Elissa just called on the phone. She, Chloe and Lilliana are shopping in North Conway and will be joining us for dinner. Later in the evening, Jeff and Jeffy will be making an appearance. A friend of Peter's from Ohio, named Matthew, will be arriving at some point. Around 9:00pm, my good friend and wedding date, Mireil, will be arriving. All this great company should make a fine finish to a wonderful week at Wonderful-Nice.