[bristol]party

a friends 40th birthday party lead us to a new part of the state last month.  slightly short of a two hour drive we discovered the area known as seal cove next to the town of south bristol.  it was a wonderful little day trip and allowed us to have another great weekend enjoying the summer with friends near water.

catching up with [new] friends

someone once told me, no matter where you travel you should always make friends.  it's a small world and you might just run into them again.


three years ago i wrote about spending my birthday with 10 strangers, who by the end of the night had become friends.  you can read it here.  at the end of that post i fully acknowledged i might never see those people again. 

that wasn't the case.

even though we only spent six hours getting to know each other, most of the people i met that night became facebook friends with me, allowing all of us to stay updated with everyone. one of the ladies i met that night, hit me up last month to see if i'd be in portland one particular weekend.  through facebook she knew i had recently moved here.  Her and her boyfriend were on a summer long cross country trip through north america and would be traveling through portland on their way to canada.  i was in fact going to be in town that weekend so my fiancee and i made plans to met them out for drinks.  meeting up at one of our favorite bars we started chatting and catching up.  questions were asked, stories were told and small talk evenyually turned into actual conversations. one drink led to another, which led to another, which led to trying out another bar and more drinks. somewhere during the night four random people became friends and we all had a great time!  so much so they decided to stay in town for a few days and enjoy a few fourth of july parties with us.  both she and her boyfriend are incredibly wonderful people and turned the weekend into a very memorable one.

i absolutely love when life makes little connections like this.  a completely random meeting of people three years ago helped make a fourth of july weekend three years later a wonderful time.

be nice to people out there folks, it makes for a better and more enjoyable world.

 

a tale of two [boats]

it was the best of times, it was a test of times

it was a boat of wisdom, it was a boat of foolishness,

it was a journey talking about wine, it was a journey of tangled up line

it was an evening of sails, it was an entire day of scales

it was a touch of class, it was being sick off my ass

we had a sommelier before us, we had captain pete before us

we felt like heavan, i felt like the other way...

in short, both trips were a blast, and i wouldn't change a thing.

box full of [lyrics]

words cannot express how much i love wilco.

or maybe they can......

the other night some friends and i enjoyed a hot summer evening concert in kansas city enjoying wilco.  as i stood listening, being filled with the memories their songs always stir, i discovered almost every song had a lyric or phrase i would sing along to. words put together so beautifully they stick out as a beacon in a sea of beautiful lyrics and waves of wonderful melodies.

instead of a set list, i've put together a lyric list; one phrase from each song played that night. although it's just a few words from longer lyrics, they begin to show the emotion jeff tweedy and wilco fill their songs with and the reason i enjoy them so much.

-the hope i had in a notebook full of white, dry pages, was all i tried to save                

-i looked like someone i used to know and if i ever was myself, i wasn't that night

-i need a camera to my eye, reminding which lies i have been hiding

-i curl my lips and crawl up to you

-i have all the love i could ever ache and i leave almost with you, art of almost almost... almost...

-i'd always thought that if i held you tightly you'd always love me like you did back then

-you were a blessing and i was a curse i did my best not to make things worse for you

-did i catch you in the flashes?

-remember to remember me standing still in your past floating fast like a hummingbird

-the footprints of the lovers that come here to love, by the tides washed away forever more (cover)

-unlock my body and move myself to dance

-all i can see is black and white and white and pink with blades of blue that lay between the words i think on a page i was meaning to send her

-music is my savior, and i was maimed by rock and roll.

-you were right about the stars, each one is a setting sun

-sadness is my luxury

-but this is what love is for, to be out of place, gorgeous and alone, face to face

-all my daydreams are disasters, she's the one i think i love (cover)

-don't forget the flowers someday, i know i will

-so i'd give this world just to dream, a dream with you on our bed of california stars (cover)

-i can't find the time to write my mind the way i want it to read

-i've been young, i've been old, i've been hurt and consoled heart of coal heart of gold so i'm told

-what you once were isn't what you want to be any more

-true love will find you in the end this is a promise with a catch only if you're looking can it find you 'cause true love is searching too but how can it recognize you unless you step out into the light? (cover)

-you have to learn how to die if you want to want to be alive,

-for your sparkling cocky smile i've walked a million miles begging you to come and wed me in the spring (cover)

 -give back my tv, it don't mean that much to me, while you're giving back my things, give me back the key to my heart (cover)

-there's something there that you can't find honest when you're tellin' a lie. you hurt her but you don't know why. you love her but you don't know why

always double down on [eleven]

memorial day weekend found me attending the las vegas bachelor party of my future brother-in-law, along with 10 of his closest friends.

to say i had apprehension would be an understatement. las vegas is an insane city, and to walk it's streets with 9 people i didn't know at all had me little nervous.  were these guys gamblers? party-ers? crazy? or worse yet, lame or boring?  i had no idea what to expect, and wasn't thrilled about making that discovery while on the strip.

luckily my sister is marrying a great guy, with great friends.  upon meeting them it took a whopping 15 minutes before i could tell we would all get along.  an hour later it was like i was on vacation with my friends.  we lounged by the hotel pool, gambled in old vegas, ate an amazing buffet, golfed, and found a wonderful dive karaoke bar that kept us singing until 8am.

completely out of season, there's a quote from "it's a wonderful life," that says, "no man is a failure who has friends."  if that's true, then i came back from vegas a rich guy, as i now have nine new friends.

if not..

i'm down about $160.

[first aid kit] for unexpected situations

music is a wonderful thing.  it brings people together; it connects them.  the divisions we sometimes find between each other can be reduced to nothing with just a few beautifully played notes.

the other week, my friends and i went to see "first aid kit".  if you've never listened to this band, do yourself a huge favor and you tube, google, or spotify them then sit back and enjoy.  the band is comprised of two swedish sister's whose harmonies are absolutely angelic.  if this isn't enough to entice you, their latest album was influenced heavily by american folk music paying homage to emmlyou harries, june carter, and johnny cash, with hints of simon and garfunkel throughout the album.

not only did the beautiful sounds of "first aid kit" fill the walls of the granada turning a random tuesday night into a memorable one, their music also accomplished that wonderful thing music can do; it connects people, or in the case of this particular night, reconnect people.