CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER

Here's a photo of the "Christmas Eve" dinner table set at brother Steve and his wife Caprice's house in Connecticut. Caprice's Mom Cheryl and her husband Mike hosted this party in addition to Steve and Caprice with Cheryl setting this table with the fancy napkin design. We had clams casino, jumbo shrimp, cheese try, special sausage from Springfield , MA, among the appetisers. For dinner we had baked lobster tails, asparagus, and other tasty delights.

I guess my camera had a "smudge on the lens as noted on the left side of this picture but none the less I thought this table made an attractive picture. We ate most of the food so there wasn't anything left over for "Santa" later that night.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Another year has just begun. Another decade as well. We are done with the "00'" s and are now in the '10's. As we live in a digital age of computer presence it is only fitting that today at the start of this year is 01/01/10 which fits the computer digital theme of zeros and ones. How computers can do so much with just these two numbers is amazing. I guess it has to do with the microprocessors and semiconductor chips which somehow open and close based on an electronic pulse that opens and closes the various pathways on the semiconductor chip and the computer codes and programs which determine the results. How all this gets translated into color and sound and everything else I'm not sure but somehow it works.

It should be an interesting year. How America is going to pay for potential health care reform and a potential carbon tax and to think that jobs will be created is beyond me. Governments do not create wealth, they merely take money through taxes and redistribute this money for their various programs. Everybody seems to think that they are entitled to services and benefits without having to pay for them. What happens when the productive members of society decide that they have had enough of higher taxes and decide to not work as hard or expand their businesses? How can America have yearly budget deficits in the trillions? Who is going to buy the necessary treasury bonds when we as a country are starting to re-impose trade tariffs on foreign products and refuse to sign free trade agreements with the countries of Columbia and South Korea to name a couple? The decade of the '10's could be tense.

Will the American populace sit idly by when more and more governmental interference and control increases from misguided Congressional mandates? Time will tell. For many people as long as they can follow "American Idol" or their local football team then Congress can do whatever they want.

So, "Don't worry, Be Happy". A new year has begun. I hope the New England Patriots win this Sunday and tomorrow the University of Connecticut Huskies Men's and Women's basketball teams both play as well the "UCONN" football team which plays in the "Papa John's bowl game in Birmingham, Alabama. GOOOOO HUSKIES!

Fly fishing indoors in December

I stopped by the Bass Pro Shop store in Foxboro,Mass on Christmas Eve which is right next door to Gillette Stadium on my way to my parents home for "Christmas In Connecticut".

This is quite the store if you are any type of outdoor enthusiast. Here in this picture a fly fisherman patiently waited as I took a photo of him catching a fish right in the stocked stream that is in this store as a big moose looked on at this scene.

There are also bears in the store as well as other animals but no one is allowed to feed any of these animals as they are stuffed and can't eat another bite.

A CHRISTMAS MORNING TRADITION

Each Christmas morning my Dad makes oyster stew for breakfast just like his Dad made for him when he was a boy. Here is a shot of the oyster stew we had this Christmas. We also have oyster stew for Thanksgiving morning breakfast as well with a dash of crushed pepper and official oyster crackers, condensed milk, and butter.

I like all kinds of seafood including clams, lobster, fish, scallops, and yes "Oysters too".

"My First Time Co-Piloting an Airplane"

Here's a photo of the control panel of the Cessna airplane I helped "co-pilot" on December 8th this year on a flight from Nantucket Airport to Barnstable Airport on Cape Cod. Since this was my first time "up front" I decided to let "Captain Tom" do most of the hard parts of the flight like taking off and landing the aircraft as I concentrated my efforts on "supervising" him as well as keeping an eye on all these controls and looking out the window for visual confirmation that we were on the right flight course and not going off track and heading toward Spain. I must say that between the two of us we did a good job and had a smooth flight. I didn't even have to give "Captain Tom" any advise and although I was in position to take the controls in the event of an emergency; I didn't have to step in and take over the wheel.

Yes, this fifteen minute flight went off without a hitch and my first time as an airplane co-pilot was an unqualified success.

A little shot of leaving Nantucket

Here's a little shot of leaving Nantucket Island by plane on the afternoon of December 8th. I was in an eight seat Cessna aircraft that departed from Barnstable airport and after a long airplane ride of 15 minutes we finally arrived at the Nantucket Airport. It seemed to be a much longer flight like maybe twenty or twenty-five minutes but no, fifteen minutes it was.

UCONN MARCHING BAND 12/5/09 HALFTIME

Here is a photo of the University of Connecticut marching band taken during the Saturday December 5th Halftime performance at Rentschler Field (aka "The Rent") in East Hartford at the final home football game of the year between the UCONN Huskies and the South Florida Bulls.

Rentschler Field is built on a former aircraft runway of the Pratt and Whitney company which makes aircraft engines. I can't tell what this band formation is supposed to represent but to me it looks somewhat like a tribute to the "Stealth Bomber".