Back from Boston –again

I hopped on a plane to Boston on Friday…and, prepared for the 2 hour flight. Looking forward to a lovely dinner with the lovely in the North End, I was a bit peaved by the 40 minute delay. No worries, at least it isn’t 2 hours like last week. So, we climb into our seats, and wait for the standby folk to get on board. Then… it started to rain. And, I don’t mean rain, I mean the skies turned black and it seemed as though someone was literally pouring buckets of water on top of us. I knew the 40 minutes wouldn’t be the only delay.

Soon, the pilot got on the intercom and explained there was lightning in the area, so we would have to wait a few minutes. A few minutes later, he explained that all airtravel at that moment in Chicago had been ceased. So, we sat, and sat, and sat. The wind picked up, and we could feel the plane moving side to side. A fellow passenger got an email on her blackberry explaining there were tornado conditions in the area–never good news when you are on a plane.

Well, 3 hours later the weather cleared, and we took off.

A great weekend in Boston. We have decided on the corkscrew room in our new (old) home, and we have contractors doing the floors next week. We did manage to have dinner in the North End, and while there was no corkscrewing, there was much discussion about going to Copenhagen next year for the CCCC.

The flight back from Boston was uneventful (and on time even).

The latest syroco corkscrew arrivals are pictured below

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unusual curley corkscrew

I was searching around on eBay yesterday, and ran across a corkscrew with an opening bid of a dollar, no current bids, and 12 hours to go. I looked closely at the picture, and it looked like an curley/hicks and reynolds type corkscrew. The picture is dark, but the shape was there. The other odd thing is the handle looks more like walker type.

Well, I was going to set a snipe, but instead typed in a decent bid and went off to campus. When I returned last night, I was the new owner of an unusual looking corkscrew. I didn’t get it for the dollar…but, 9 dollars, it is still quite the bargain.

back from boston

A lovely weekend with the lovely in Boston, but I am back in Chicago for the week.  Not much corkscrewing, although a brief sojourn to New Hampshire netted a brass figural corkscrew, a nifty button hook, and several pumpkins–no pumpkins had helixes attached.

 

Also, for all those concerned; No, I do not have a new ebay moniker.  The new guy going by the name "syrocokid" is someone else. 

 

latest arrivals

After much waiting, the syroco bulldog mismatch piece has arrived. There is much rejoicing in mudville (mudville, as it is still raining)!

The syrocokid has struck again as well. He picked up a lux waiter clock sans clock, and now a syroco monk. He out-sniped me on the clockless waiter…

golf rained out again

three days of rain…this is definitely disrupting my golf plans…

grrrrr!

oh well, perhaps there is something on ebay worth snapping up. oh yes, has anyone seen my camera cord—i can’t seem to find it.

golf, toolmaster, and a waiter

School started yesterday, so it looks like the golf season will soon be over. However, Tommy and I did manage to go out and play 18 this morning. Front 9 wasn’t so bad, but there were a couple of ugly holes. The back 9 would have been okay except for one hole; # 11.

Yes, a par 5 with water, more trees than you could imagine, and a tractor and truck parked infront and to the right of the green. I got blocked by a tree, kicked out to someone else’s fairway, and hit over the trees, truck, tractor, and workers to put it within 8 feet. Unfortunately, that shot was my 7th at that point!! We are now referring to #11 as the devil’s hole!

When all was said and done, we made it thru 11, and things could only get better. And, they did improve slightly.

Not a major wager for the round, but I managed to win a toolmaster with leather pouch despite my score.

After the round, I ran out to an antique mall not to far from my house that I hadn’t visited in some time. I popped my head in, and talked to the owner who walked to the back and showed me a syroco waiter. Before I could ask how much, she had already knocked 20% off the price. I handed over the cash, and headed home.

Not a bad morning all in all!

I swear I can small bruschetta…

Here I am blogging whilst the lovely is requesting bruschetta. I will grab some olive oil, bread, and the rest in a moment…

The lovely is in town, although she heads off for California in the morning. So, we took advantage of the weekend for some running along the lakeshore, some dinners out, dinners in, and a trek out to Kane County for the Flea Market this morning–lots of pulling and twisting.

Ever the helix hunter, the lovely (or Da Luvalie as Peter calls her) came across many corkscrews. Some awesome some not so awesome. However, she and I did come away with some neat finds:

An anri lamppost guy with a music box–after several hours of surgery "three blind mice" still doesn’t sound like all the rodents are in tune.

A hercules type, unmarked

A wooden club looking corkscrew…

And, a vaughn’s bottle cap remover….this wouldn’t be significant except, there are two on their original advertising card. Pictures to follow.

A great day in the sun; traipsing along looking for corkscrews and dodging the smell of popcorn in peanut oil… The champagne in her glass is getting low, I must start the bruschetta as she just picked up a carving knife…