Oh my goodness, time flies! I cannot believe how long it has been since my last entry. To you, my devoted fans, I sincerely apologize. The entries between now and October 2nd will be more frequent. That is a promise!

Saturday, September 2nd, 2006: The scheduled guests arrived. Elissa, Chloe and Lilliana appeared first, followed by the Jeffs. Right behind them was Mireil, and finally Matthew. As each of the guests appeared, they added to and enjoyed the good conversation, as well as the ambiance that makes Wonderful-Nice just that.

We enjoyed an elaborate spread for dinner, including various meats on the grill, potato salad and fresh, locally grown, corn on the cob. Following dinner, a small group headed a few miles south to pick up some ice cream for dessert. They returned with oodles of frozen fun for everyone.


All too soon, the Jeffs bid us a fond farewell. Right behind them was Elissa, Chloe and Lilliana. Lil had been lulled asleep (and me, too... almost) by the gentle storytelling of Elissa. They then packed their things, carried the little doll to the car, and drove off into the night. The rest of us slowly wrapped up the evening and took our full stomachs to bed.

Sunday, September 3rd, 2006: Matthew, the good Catholic of the group, was up bright and early with Peter and they went to the 9:00am mass at St. Joseph's Church. Whilst they were there, Mom, Dad, Mireil and I arose one by one. Mom made a nice breakfast and it was just about ready when the boys returned home from church.

By midday, Mom, Dad, and Mireil had departed. Peter, Matthew and I remained behind. The weather was not the most delightful. It was raw and raining intermittently. After a lazy afternoon at the cottage, we decided to clean things, close the place up, and return to Manchester.

Monday, September 4th through Thursday, September 7th, 2006: It was a quiet week at home. I will recap these days with a few bullet points:


* On Tuesday, The New Hampshire Gay Men's Chorus started rehearsing for its ninth season. We added one brand new member and had a few former members rejoin us. We are now 30 strong. After rehearsal, we headed to the Puritan Backroom Restaurant for our first ritual after-rehearsal dinner.

* I am continuing to run. On Thursday afternoon, Dave the motivator took me out for a workout. We hit another new spot. We ran paths that are part of the trails maintained by the Friends of Massabesic Bicycling Association (FOMBA). What a great hidden spot this is! We ran two trails named Lady Slipper and Deer Run. The hilly and curvy paths made for an excellent, sweaty workout.

* Shmuffalumps time! On Thursday evening I met up with Sean. We shared dinner at Applebee's in Bedford. It was so quiet there. We were one of three parties in the dining room. Little Britain, a fabulous show on BBC America, closed our evening at my home with plenty of laughter, as usual.

Friday, September 8th, 2006: After a discussion with Peter the day before, it was decided that another visit to Ossipee was required. Friday was a full moon and the weather forecast showed that it was to be a clear evening.

Peter returned home from school around 5:00pm. He invited Mireil along with us to Ossipee and she arrived at my house at just about the same time. Whilst Peter took a quick cat nap and I gathered my things for a weekend away, Mireil made us each a nice grilled cheese and tomato sandwich.

We arrived at Wonderful-Nice around 9:15pm. We shared a cocktail and then went for a peddle boat ride. The lake was like glass. It was a perfect mirror for the reflection of the moon. As our small wake broke the stillness of the water, and after scaring a few ducks from their nightly slumber, we made our way around the small island in the middle of Leavitt Bay.

Saturday, September 9th, 2006: This was yet another relaxing morning. Mireil read, Peter did school work, and I went for a run around the neighborhood. Upon returning from my run, I decided it was nice enough, and I was hot enough, to take a swim in the lake. The whole week that I vacationed here, the weather was not conducive to swimming. I wanted to say I swam there at least once this summer, so this became the moment.

Later in the afternoon, Mireil and I gathered our belongings and started on our next journey. We were headed to visit my good friend, Dawn, at the University of Vermont in Burlington. On the way out, Peter followed us up to the Yankee Smokehouse in West Ossipee. We shared one final meal together and then we made our way to Vermont. Peter stayed behind and spent some quality quiet time at his little piece of heaven.

We arrived at Dawn's dorm around 6:30pm. We got a quick tour and then decided to head to the hotel where Mireil and I would be crashing for the evening. I had tasked Dawn with finding the cheapest place she could for us. She did just that and we were headed to the GGT Tibet Inn. On our way, however, we passed by the North Lake Motel. Their sign said they had rooms for $40/night. It looked acceptable, so we pulled in. I went into the office and asked if they had any rooms available. There was one left, so I booked it.

I filled out the appropriate paperwork, paid the $40 for the room, and was given the key by the desk clerk that was short a few yellow teeth. We drove around back and attempted to find the room, but did not have any luck. As we were looking, Ms. Yellow-teeth came walking across the parking lot. She steered us in the correct direction. We headed through a door that took us down a flight of stairs into the basement of the motel. The stairs led to a hallway with six rooms. We found our room at the end of the hall and cautiously entered. We immediatley noticed that the room did not have a private bath. This was not explained to me at check-in. I incorrectly assumed that each room would automatically have a private bath. In this case, there was one bathroom in the hallway which appeared to be the facilities for all the rooms in this basement area... In a word, NASTY.

We held a group discussion and decided it was in our best interest to cancel this room and go onto our original destination. Thanks to Mireil and some clever footwork at the front desk, we were able cancel our reservation. I was promised a credit on my credit card for the $40. We will see how that goes as it has yet to appear.

The next stop was the GGT Tibet Inn. A second rate motel could not have been more lovely. Mireil and I asked to view the room before booking. This is something I will be sure to do from now on! The proprietor's son took us on a tour and it was a dream come true. We booked it and it ended up being $75 after taxes. It was well worth the extra $35 dollars.

We cleaned ourselves up and headed out to dinner with Dawn and her friend Sharon. We made our way to the Church Street Marketplace in Burlington. This is a street in the downtown area closed to traffic. It is paved with bricks and has several blocks of places to shop and dine.

After checking the area out, we made our way to Sweetwaters. Whilst we chatted and caught up on things, we placed our order and waited for our dinners to arrive. The salads, consisting of fresh, local mixed greens arrived first. As I woofed it down, and was three bites from finishing, Dawn pointed to my plate. She says, "I hate to tell you this, but there's an inchworm in your salad." Sharon immediately took control and stepped up to get our server. The waitress returned and immediately took the plate away. Moments later the manager arrived and apologized profusely. I was offered another salad but respectfully declined and was given a credit on it. The rest of the meal occurred without incident.

We spent the rest of the evening at a bar called The Other Place. It was a super fun little hole in the wall. We ordered a few beers and stood amongst the crowd for a bit. Eventually, some space freed up at the bar and we made our way to it.

Whilst standing at the bar, I felt a full-on ass grab on my left cheek! I was bumped at the same time, but the ass-grab felt quite intentional. At the places I usually frequent, after such an occurrence, I would turn around expecting to find some dirty, toothless old troll making eyes at me. But, at this straight bar, I really wasn't sure what to expect. I slowly turned to my right to see a giddy college girl, happily drunk, pointing and smiling at me. She was making her way to the door. As we made eye contact, she playfully said "I'm usually not the type of girl to do that kind of thing!" She then scampered off.

Sunday, September 10th, 2006: Mireil and I checked out of our hotel and met up with the girls for breakfast at Denny's. We ate our Slams and woke ourselves up over a few cups of coffee. As I had rehearsal with Aksara and Dawn had a soccer game to play in, we could not hang around. We made plans to return before the snow flies, gave hugs and kisses, and then made our way back to Manchester.

Shortly after 2:00pm (yes, I was a bit late for rehearsal), I met up with Aksara and the Chorus boys. We did a bit of recording and playback. This is something Aksara does regularly, but (to my knowledge) not something the Chorus has ever done. It was a neat tool. We would record each song through and then go back to hear how things sounded. It was good because you picked up things that you normally would not hear whilst you are singing.

After rehearsal, at about 5:00pm, I met up with a nice man that I recently met online. His name is Jeff and he also lives on the east side of Manchester. We had been chatting a bit and decided it was time to meet. We went for a walk on the trails around Lake Massabesic. After getting to know one another a little better, we made our way back to his car and decided to continue the evening by taking in a bite to eat together. We decided our next stop was Panera Bread.

We finished our meals and were both were interested in spending a little more time together, so I invited Jeff back to my place for a movie. We shared some cuddle time on my couch and watched Office Space on DVD.

Jeff seems like a really genuine guy and we have some things in common, along with a similar sense of humor. I hope to have the chance spend some more time with him in the near future.

Monday, September 11th, 2006: The neighbor's landscaper woke me with a chainsaw promptly at 8:00am. Since I had made my way to bed around midnight, I decided not to fight it and got up at this time. I started the morning by watching CNN's replay of their footage from this tragic day five years ago. After breakfast and some quiet reflection, I cleaned house, mowed the lawn and prepared for a very special visitor.

Peter and I left for Boston at 6:00pm. We were headed to Logan Airport. One of my best friends that I met through work was coming to spend some time with me here in New Hampshire for his vacation. His flight landed around 7:20pm and Peter and I were waiting for him at the terminal. As Erik exited the terminal's secure area, we greeted him with smiles and big hugs.

Our first stop was for some New England seafood on Boston's waterfront. Peter took us to a place called the No Name restaurant. Erik says he had prauns. I say he had shrimp. Either way, we all ate way too much.

Tuesday, September 12th, 2006: Erik and I decided to hike at Pawtuckaway State Park in Nottingham, New Hampshire. We climbed in the Mini and made our way to the park. We left the car at the start of the Mountain Trail and then hiked in the three miles to a fire tower atop Pawtuckaway's South Mountain. We climbed three stories to a viewing platform on the tower and took in a most incredible view in every direction.

After sucking up the view for a period of time, we hiked out the three miles that we walked in. It seemed quite longer than three miles going in, even though we were on the very same trail. I was ready to be back at the car after a mile or so. But we managed to make our way out safely and contemplated lunch.

I decided to take Erik to Exeter, New Hampshire. We had homemade soup and bread at a place called the Loaf & Ladle. We walked through downtown a bit and then returned to Manchester for a hour long nap.

Just before 7:00pm, Erik and I headed to the Unitarian Universalist Church for my second Chorus rehearsal of the season. Erik read in the back of the hall for a bit and also went for a walk. After rehearsal, Erik joined me and some of the gang for dinner at the Puritan Backroom Restaurant. The boys really enjoyed Erik's company, and tried to convince him to stay and sing.

Wednesday, September 13th, 2006: Erik and I slept in and took our time getting ready for the day. In the early afternoon we went out for lunch at Panera Bread and then did some shopping at Newbury Comics and Best Buy. Erik picked up Justin Timberlake's new CD and I bought the latest from the Barenaked Ladies.

The Jeff's picked up Erik and me just before 5:00pm. We were headed to A Taste of Downtown Manchester. Local businesses team with restaurants to provide samples of their food in different establishments in the downtown area. It is a great way to learn about shops you may never have known existed, while discovering a new favorite restaurant at the same time. We parked at Manchester City Hall and met up with Chloe, Sean, Brian and Peter. We walked the streets of downtown Manchester for about three hours and made frequent stops to fill our stomachs.

We closed the evening together with drinks at JW Hill's. While we were there, I saw a lovely young lady across a crowded bar. It turned out to be my good friend, and cubemate at work, Kim. I ran over to give her a big hug. As it turns out, she was there with a few of my coworkers, one of which was my boss. We chatted a bit and I departed as my boss reminded me there were 19 days left for me and plenty of projects awaiting my return. I quickly said goodbye and ran for the door!

Thank you for reading. Again, I promise there were be an update appearing sooner than later.