Mark L. Van Name's Blog, page 55

The heart of The Squeeze

After lunch and errands today, a small group of us stopped by a local shop for a hit of The Squeeze (aka soft-serve ice cream with colorful flavor sauces woven into them).

Kyle went for the fabled Blue Goo, which was barely visible on top but which lurked in quantity below.

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Yes, Kyle tapped into the deep blue vein below.

Gina and I split an orange, which also hid its vein of color deep below the surface.


I wouldn't choose a steady diet of The Squeeze, but a couple of times a year, it's just the right frozen treat.

Today's oddest and most awesome sights

The beach life presents many interesting sights.

Today's oddest was this mermaid, who was sitting outside a rather nice tiny wine shop and art gallery.

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Suffice to say that the artwork inside was rather better than this faux woman of the sea.

The most awesome sight of the day was the huge storm that blanketed the area, drenched us, and lit up the sky.  Courtesy of Gina, I can share with you some of the great moments of lightning.








I've saved my favorite of her pics for last.


Lovely, just lovely.

The Bobcake report, July 18, late edition

We are gaining on it.


As you can see, under the pressure of many of us eating, the Bobcake has now shrunk to the size of a normal huge cake.

One day, it will fall.

But not today.

Today at the beach

I accomplished absolutely nothing of importance.  I slept late, splashed in the pool, had lunch out, napped, read, talked and hung out, splashed, ate in, and watched a couple of movies.

It was wonderful.

Another few months of this, and I might relax.

The Bobcake report, t0+52 hours

The Bobcake is vast, great, and tasty, but it is not invincible.  After only 52 hours, we have already worn it down to about 60% of its original size.

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We are now a smaller group, so the challenge ahead is formidable, but I am confident that we are up to it.

A special treat

Some years, the folks at my favorite beach sandwich and lunch place invent a new sandwich and name it after me.  They did that this year.

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Of course, I had to order it.  Unsurprisingly, it proved to be very tasty indeed.  I greatly appreciate them making this for me.

The beach is full of treats, big and small.

Beach sights you don't see every day

Two floats ate one of our party whole.

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Only a foot remained to mark the passing.

I was also in the pool.


That is my smile, at least when I'm trying to pose for the camera.

Yes, I suck at posing.

Tonight's dinner was Bobfood, which included tuna, salmon, cheeseburgers, burgers, hot dogs, and grilled cheese sandwiches.  Put a lot of those together, and you have the Burger of Doom.


That's a cheeseburger sitting atop a grilled cheese sandwich, with bacon on the burger, a split hot dog surrounding the burger, and a topping grilled cheese sandwich about to cover it all.

It was as delicious as it was deadly.

Bob also supplied this year's Bobcake, which was as majestic, intimidating, and delicious as always.


The Bobcake is so rich and moist and wonderful that it is a food sin.

Keeping it company in the house were a pair of CaBobcakes (I show only one here).


Another favorite of our crowd, this cake is also amazingly moist and tasty, a wonderful treat.

We are all about the health food here in the beach house.





Thanks to Gina for the pool photos.

Beach views

From the upper deck late this afternoon, toward the pool and the beach, the view looked something like this.

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Gina is, as always, taking excellent photos.  Here are two of her sunrise pictures.




I, of course, never catch the sunrise, at least not if I can help it, and at the beach, I can indeed sleep through it.  I do, though, see the sunsets, two of which Gina let me share here.





I do love it at the beach.

The Squeeze is back

As I've mentioned in past beach entries, "The Squeeze" is our name for the type of soft-serve ice cream you get from a Flavor-Burst machine.  Once readily available here at the beach, it is now on offer from only one business, and that business used to open at 4:00 p.m.  To our great pleasure, the business now welcomes customers starting at 1:30 p.m., which is perfect for a post-lunch Squeeze.

Today, we celebrated this fact with just such a delicacy.

I split a small cup of orange.

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It was everything I had hoped for.

Random bits from a beach day

Eight hours in the sack.

A two-mile walk with lots of interesting conversation.

Time in the pool.

Lunch at my favorite local sandwich shop.

A movie out.

Mexican dinner out.

More time in the pool.

Two movies in, with ice-cream break.

Reading off and on.

Another beach day.