Another week has passed and here we are on the last day of June.  There are only 123 days until Halloween, assuming we get to have one this year (barring a plague of locusts).  It is the birthday of Phil Anselmo, Lena Horne and Zeno Colo.  On this day in 1870 Ada Kepley became the first female law college graduate; in 1936 “Gone With the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell was published and in 1988 Brooklyn dedicated a bus depot honoring Jackie Gleason. Today is Troop Withdrawal Day in Lybia, Mongolia celebrates Constitution Day and Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire all celebrate Independence Day.

This must be a good time of the year for independence.  For those of you who may have just come out of a coma, the 4^th of July is this Thursday.  Be sure to fly your flag and celebrate the day.  Keep in mind that if we had lost the war the people pushing for our independence would have been hunted down and executed.  Take a moment to honor those people and then have a safe and  happy 4^th. 

This past Wednesday was the first day of summer vacation for the lovely Elaine.  We recognized it in the best possible way.  We went down the shore. We went to Seaside Heights.  We met my son and daughter-in-law and our two grandsons and had a fantastic day.  We sat on the beach, walked the boardwalk, ate all kinds of stuff we shouldn’t, the boys went nuts in the arcades and we had a great time.  It was great to see the stands open for business and the boardwalk in good shape.  

I was able to go to one of my favorite places and have my absolute favorite sandwich – the Lumberjack burger.  That is an 8 ounce sirloin burger, cooked to order, topped with a slice of Taylor Pork Roll and cheese.   One of the best parts of that sandwich is biting into it and letting the grease drip down onto the fries, giving them extra flavor.  As I have said before, it does not take much to make me happy.  Usually whatever I do just needs to include chocolate or cooked beef or tequila or some combination of those and I am good.

However, two things distressed me while we were there.  The big thing was seeing the two piers that used to contain all the rides are gone.  I remember how excited my son used to get when we would arrive and he would see the rides.  My grandsons are always ready to go on rides could never wait to get on those piers and hit the rides.  Nick is a roller coaster aficionado.  He rides coasters that make me sick just watching them from the ground.  He is amazing.  Michael (Pip) just loves rides.  He is not as daring as Nick, but he is coming along.  The thing Pip loves the most is Mini-Golf.  He plays it like hockey.  The ball never actually stops rolling for him.  He is not too concerned about score, yet, but I am sure that will come in time.  Fortunately, the roof-top course in Seaside survived the storm.

As I said, two things distressed me, the other one being – people!  I am the first one to admit that I am not body beautiful.  I can stand to lose about 10 to 12 pounds and I just am not ever going to be able to grow back the hair on my “solar panel.”  I do feel that I am presentable when I go out in public.  

OMG!  I saw people Wednesday that could not say that.  Why is it that 70 year old men feel it is okay to wear a Speedo out in public?  There are very few guys that that type of bathing suit looks good on.  A man in his 70’s is not one of them.  I saw a guy who looked like a golden raisin in a bathing suit and believe me when I say it was not pretty.  Especially the rear view where it was more like a thong (I just shuddered again remembering it).  Why do those guys feel that it is okay for everyone to see their saggy, wrinkly butt?

Just a tip to women.  If you spend more than 75% of your time pulling up the top of your bathing suit and pulling down the bottom, the suit does not fit you properly.  Get one that fits and has a strap on the top.  It never seems to fail that the ones whose tops are falling off are never the ones you look at and think I wish her top would fall down.  I saw a couple young ladies that would have probably killed me if they lost their top, but I would have gone out smiling.  No, the ones who seem to have that problem always look like they are hiding canned hams in their tops.

We saw one girl on the boardwalk who caused everyone she passed to shudder.  This girl was wearing a suit that was made for a person 1/3 her size and she was a big girl.  I hate to be nasty, but she was not attractive either.  She should have been made to cover up.  No one wanted to see that.  We all marveled that the strings of the suit were able to constrain all that she had stuffed in there.  I have asked this before, but it bears repeating.  How do these people look at themselves in a mirror and think, “Yeah, I look great?”  There was nothing great about some of the people we saw except possibly their size.  I have always felt that it should be required that people see themselves in the mirror the way everyone else sees them, not how they think they look.  No matter how you spin it in your mind, Shamoo in a bikini is still Shamoo in a bikini.

This week’s fact – consuming chocolate was considered a sin during the 16^th and 17^th century.  Forgive me for I have sinned, am sinning and will continue to sin.