I SOOO Want to do this...

This summer!
While waiting for one of the SU March Madness games to start last week,  my friend FosterDad2 and I were talking about how much we each like seafood.  It was probably prompted by my twitpic I had posted of a lobster tail that I had broiled a few days before.


I mentioned wanting to do an authentic New England Clambake and was slightly surprised he knew *exactly* what I meant... sand pit, stone heat, rockweed and all! Yaay for Fosterdad! I think he got a kick out me telling him one of the men behind the counter at Price Chopper's Seafood Dept, knows me by sight.  I have gone there so often I call him my fish monger.   ;)

Of course, this would be a work of art in the making, with several hours of outdoor fire-pit and food prepping that involves everyone coming together to make this work.  It really is a group effort/activity that is shared, an event, not simply your typical BBQ.

To continue in the same tradition, as common-place in many Eastern Coastal beaches, the prep of this all-day feast must include a large simmering pot of Freshly made New England Clam Chowdaw to start with, to tide people over, to be washed down with  many icy bottles of ice-cold beer. (And you damn well better call it Chowdaw too!)   :)

I SOOO want to do this.

Below is the "Traditional" way of doing this clambake, and the video below that one is a 'Revamped' modified version for us city folk.  :)

The Traditional New England Clambake:


I of course, would alter the variety of seafood from what they show above.
Little Necks Ugh! They're Raw! on the half shell??  No freakin' way!
I'd replace the snot clams on the half shell with shrimp cocktail.  Aside from the Whole Maine Lobster, I'd use Little neck clams, Mussels, possibly shrimp, and perhaps crab.  I'd also use Fresh Corn on the cob (still in the husks), small red potatos, and Chorizo.  Depending on  the appetites of everyone, I may include grilled BBQ Chicken, on the side of course.

This is a much easier, less labor-intensive, also less of a work of art...
The Backyard New England Clambake:


I would probably do a variation of the Traditional one in the first video.  Because I'm fairly certain none of the beaches around here would allow for us to make a fire on, though it would be very neat to do something like this with a local backdrop of this:

The photo above and below are The Chimney Bluffs of Lake Ontario. 
Some other photos that I took of this beautiful place can be found here: ZZ's Photos.
I think I recall a picnic area when there last summer.  I'll have to take a trip up there, again with camera in hand, and see if I can indeed discover a place to be able to do a bake.



I did find an instructional site that uses a galvanized wash tub that's set on top of an open fire here.

Mmmmmm...... I wonder if I can entice a few of my friends to do this??


© 2010 Greeneyezz

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A Very Sobering Look...

Into the innocence of the Men and Women Still-Childlike protectors of our Country...

The Shrine Down The Hall

There's still teddy bears on the bed.
A Lord of the Rings poster on the wall.

Most are not old enough to buy a drink in a bar.
But they are old enough (According to the Government) to die for us.

A related post on The Average Soldier can be found here.

© 2010 Greeneyezz

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Remember When...

We had just first learned about how a bill was passed, way back in Elementary School??
SchoolHouse Rock, I believe it was.

I'm just a Bill...

I believe it was about the time that we learned our manners too.

Don't you wish you (and the times) were still that innocent?






And this came about six months after Rep. Joe Wilson, R-South Carolina, yelled "you lie" to Obama during the president's speech to Congress. The House passed a resolution that month admonishing Wilson.

I think a few people need to go back and relearn the manners taught to us by Schoolhouse Rock, Sesame Street, and The Electric Co.

CNN did an article outlining the details of The Health Care Reform Bill:

Washington (CNN) -- A sweeping bill overhauling the U.S. medical system goes to President Obama's desk on Monday to be signed into law.

The House of Representatives passed the measure late Sunday, delivering a historic victory to Obama, who had made it his No. 1 domestic priority.

The bill passed in a 219-212 vote after more than a year of bitter partisan debate. All 178 Republicans opposed it, along with 34 Democrats.

The measure, which cleared the Senate in December, constitutes the biggest expansion of federal health care guarantees since Medicare and Medicaid were enacted more than four decades ago.

A separate compromise package of changes expanding the reach of the measure also passed the House over unanimous GOP opposition, and is now set to be taken up by the Senate.

The overall $940 billion plan is projected to extend insurance coverage to roughly 32 million additional Americans. It represents a significant step toward the goal of universal coverage sought by every Democratic president since Harry Truman.

Most Americans will now be required to have health insurance or pay a fine. Larger employers will be required to provide coverage or risk financial penalties. Total individual out-of-pocket expenses will be capped and insurers will be barred from denying coverage based on gender or pre-existing conditions.

The compromise package would add to the bill's total cost partly by expanding insurance subsidies for middle- and lower-income families. The measure would scale back the bill's taxes on expensive insurance plans.

Numerous House members insisted they would not vote for the Senate bill without a clear promise that senators would approve the changes.

"This is what change looks like," Obama said shortly after the votes. The passage of health care reform is "not a victory for any one party. ... It's a victory for the American people and it's a victory for common sense."

The president said successful reform proves Americans "are still a people capable of doing big things."

iReport: Share your views on health care reform

The rare Sunday votes occurred after a long weekend of intense negotiations among the White House, House leaders and individual Congress members. Obama traveled to Capitol Hill on Saturday to make a last minute plea to the House Democratic caucus. He spent much of the past week trying to personally persuade dozens of members.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, worked with administration officials to defuse a potential rebellion among socially conservative Democrats concerned that the bill wouldn't do enough to prevent taxpayer-funded abortions.

She also brokered a last-minute deal among several Democrats worried about disparities in Medicare funding for individual states.

Republicans failed to stop the Democratic health care initiative despite using virtually every weapon in their legislative arsenal. GOP leaders have repeatedly warned the plan will lead to a government takeover of America's private employer-based health care system.

They have also argued it will lead to higher premiums and taxes while imposing harsh Medicare cuts and doing little to control spiraling medical costs.

Pelosi and Boehner make final comments

Shortly before the House voted on the bill, Pelosi said health care reform was necessary to end insurance industry abuses and bring greater economic stability to most Americans.

Congress will be "making history, making progress and restoring the American dream" by passing reform, she said.

It's time to "complete the great unfinished business of our society." Health care "is a right and not a privilege."

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, argued that Democratic leaders had betrayed the trust of the public by pushing ahead with a bill that lacks broad public support.

"We have failed to listen to America and we have failed to reflect the will of our constituents," he said. "And when we fail to reflect that will, we fail ourselves and we fail our country."

He also slammed what he characterized as a legislative process marked by a lack of transparency and accountability.

"Look at how this bill was written," he said, his voice steadily rising. "Can you say it was done openly? With transparency and accountability? Without backroom deals? ... Hell no you can't!"

The $875 billion bill now headed to Obama's desk is projected to cut the federal deficit by $118 billion over the next 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

If the compromise plan clears the Senate, the bill's total cost will rise by $65 billion. Projected deficits, however, will be reduced by an additional $25 billion.

Key details of the bill

The plan, according to CBO projections, will cut budget deficits by more than $1 trillion in its second decade.

It will subsidize insurance for a family of four making up to about $88,000 annually, or 400 percent of the federal poverty level.

It also creates a series of health insurance exchanges designed to make it easier for small businesses, the self-employed and the unemployed to pool resources and purchase less expensive coverage.

Medicaid will be significantly expanded, ensuring coverage to those earning up to 133 percent of the poverty level, or just over $29,000 for a family of four.

The bill cuts projected Medicare spending by roughly $500 billion, in part through reductions in the Medicare Advantage program. Democratic leaders have promised the reductions will not affect service to Medicare recipients.

The bill hikes Medicare payroll taxes on families making more than $250,000.

Starting in 2013, it also imposes a 40 percent tax on insurance companies providing "Cadillac" health plans valued at more than $8,500 for individuals and $23,000 for families.

Proponents of the tax on high-end plans say it's one of the most effective ways to curb medical inflation. However, many Democrats oppose taxing such policies because it would hurt union members who traded higher salaries for more generous health benefits.

If the compromise bill becomes law, the threshold for imposing the Cadillac tax will be raised to health plans valued at more than $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families.

The tax won't kick in until 2018.

Buy insurance or pay a fine

Under the plan now headed to Obama, individuals are required to purchase health insurance coverage or face a fine of up to $750 or 2 percent of their income -- whichever is greater. It includes a hardship exemption for poorer Americans.

Companies with more than 50 employees that don't provide coverage are required to pay a fee of $750 per worker if any of its employees rely on government subsidies to purchase coverage.

The compromise package would drop the individual fine to $695 or 2.5 percent of income, whichever is greater. The fine on companies failing to provide coverage would jump to $2,000 per employee.

Federally funded abortion coverage for people purchasing insurance through the exchanges will be banned under the bill now passed by Congress. Exceptions will be made in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the life of the woman.

Individuals receiving federal assistance who want abortion coverage will have to purchase the coverage using private funds.

Illegal immigrants will be barred from buying insurance in the health insurance exchanges.

Parents, however, will be entitled to keep their children on their health care plans until age 26.

While passage of the Senate bill is a major win for Democrats on a major party priority, Pelosi had to take a number of steps in recent weeks to assuage House members unhappy with the measure.

A deeply unpopular special exemption for the state of Nebraska from all new Medicaid expenses -- known as the "Cornhusker kickback" -- would be eliminated under the compromise plan. The federal government will instead assist every state by picking up 100 percent of the costs of expanded Medicaid coverage between 2014 and 2016, and 90 percent starting in 2020.

The speaker also tried to sweeten the deal for some progressive members of her caucus partly by adding additional subsidies and a major student loan overhaul measure to the compromise plan.

The measure -- a priority for Obama -- would end the practice of having private banks offer student loans and would expand direct lending from the government.

Closing the "doughnut hole"

In addition, the compromise plan would close the Medicare prescription drug "doughnut hole" by 2020. Under current law, Medicare stops covering drug costs after a plan and beneficiary have spent more than $2,830 on prescription drugs. It starts paying again after an individual's out-of-pocket expenses exceed $4,550.

Senior citizens stuck in the doughnut hole this year would receive a $250 rebate.

Several fiscally conservative Democrats were assuaged by the Congressional Budget Office's estimate of the bill's long-term effect on the federal deficit.

A key group of anti-abortion Democrats, meanwhile, was reassured by a last-minute promise of an executive order from Obama stating that the provisions in the health care bill comply with the 32-year-old Hyde Amendment, which sharply restricts federal funding for abortion.

Emotions exploded shortly after the vote, however, as one Republican shouted "baby killer" at Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak, a leader of anti-abortion Democrats involved in negotiations over Obama's order.

The speaker also considered trying to help unhappy House Democrats by allowing them to avoid a direct vote on the Senate bill. Numerous Congress members had advocated passing a rule that would have deemed the Senate bill approved once the separate package of changes had passed.

GOP leaders objected furiously to the so-called deem and pass move. House leaders backed away from the idea on Saturday.

Republicans are still fuming over Democrats' decision to use a legislative procedure called reconciliation that will allow the compromise measures to clear the Senate with a simple majority of 51 votes.

Senate Democrats lost their filibuster-proof 60-seat supermajority in January with the election of GOP Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts.

Republicans say that reconciliation, which is limited to provisions pertaining to the budget, was not meant to pass a sweeping overhaul measure such as the health care bill. Democrats point out that reconciliation was used to pass several major bills in recent years, including George W. Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.

House Democrats have been continually reassured that the compromise package will be approved by the more conservative Senate.

Pelosi said Friday that "when our members go to vote, they will have all the assurances they need" that the Senate will approve the compromise plan.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, attended the Saturday meeting between Obama and House Democrats. He presented a letter indicating that the Senate would use reconciliation to pass the House's changes.

"We believe that health insurance reform cannot wait and must not be obstructed," the letter said. "We support an up-or-down majority vote and will vote to make these improvements."

The letter was not signed, though Reid told the House members that a majority of the Senate backs reconciliation.

Brown, however, decried the vote and said the nation can't afford the measure.

"Today's vote shows that leaders in Washington continue to ignore the will of the people," he said. "Americans have sent a message to Washington for the past year, including with my election, that they are opposed to this multitrillion-dollar health care bill that will raise taxes, increase premiums, cut Medicare and leave future generations with a mountain of debt."

CNN's Ted Barrett, Dana Bash, Craig Broffman, Tom Cohen, Lisa Desjardins, Evan Glass, Brianna Keilar, Deirdre Walsh and Robert Yoon contributed to this report.

© 2010 Greeneyezz

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NCAA March Madness Brackets

Need your brackets?

Got 'em here:

March Madness Brackets


Go Syracuse University!


© 2010 Greeneyezz

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My Life in Twitpics

I decided to peruse the past pics I've taken with my cell phone. It turned out to be quite a stroll through memory lane for me, and thought I'd post some of the more memorable ones for me. Mind you, most of them are not good quality... whatcha gonna get from a cell phone pic is whatcha got...not good quality. It's more for documenting (for me at least) my past two years on TwitPic. Clicking on the pics will take you to the original twitpic location where there are comments on some of them.

Spending 25 minutes chasing a bird that had flown into my home after opening the flue to start a fire. It took me about half an hour to swoosh him out through my porch door.


Found this deer in the water at Green Lakes:

To read the accompanying Post I did on it, you'll find it here: Doe Eyezz

Or how about the very first hand I had when playing poker:


And how I was teased by Cowtown for not bringing typical 'Poker fare' to the game:


I climbed Baker Mountain by myself for a quick easy hike:

For the quick 30 second video of me panning across this vista, you can find it here:
Baker Mtn.

It was very peaceful to do this by myself on such a beautiful day. This is the Benchmark found at the top:




Beautiful view of several highpeaks, taken from Lake Placid's Golf Course:

A quick 30 second Pan video of this can be found here:High Peaks

To the trailhead of Ampersand Mountain:


On our way up to Ampersand Mountain for our memorial to Alaina.


At the Tribute site for Alaina:


I love Old Cemeteries, and Oakwood Cemetery here in Syracuse is listed on the National Historic Site. This is from the oldest section of the cemetery, Dedication Valley:
For better photos that I've taken of this great place: Dedication Valley.

You can find out more about Oakwood's history and some incredible photos here:
Shades of Oakwood.

The Chimney Bluffs on Ontario Lake:

To see much better photos that I took of this beautiful place:
Chimney Bluffs

It had been years since I'd come across a Robin's egg shell:

(I was golfing, not imitating M. Jackson's gloved hand.) :)

YADDO Gardens in Saratoga Springs:


On the Lawn for Saratoga's Jazz Fest:

(We have inside tickets too, but ya know, the party is *always* on the grass.) :)
For the accompanying Blog Post:Vouleez vous coucher avec moi 

And even our 'Traveling Party on Wheels' for Saratoga's Jazz Fest:


Jamesville Balloon Fest:

To see much better photos that I took of all these balloons: Jamesville Balloon  Fest.

The Seafood Wellington at The Great Adirondack Steak & Seafood Company:


Golfing with Fosterdad2. Watta Stance!


When I took my niece Alaina with me for her very first 5K Run for The Race for The Cure and we came across these gentlemen:

(Notice the shit-eating grin on the 2nd one from the Right.)

From golfing with my niece and nephew:


The Whitehouse:


And Washington DC's Cherry Blossom Festival:

To see much better photos that I took of the blossoms in D.C.: Cherry Blossoms

The tshirt of a good friend of mine, when we were watching SU for March Madness last year. The 1st part is cut off and says "I Do ...":

(I SOOO LOVE that T-shirt Fosterdad!) ;)~~

When I bid "Speedy" a 'surprise' Good Morning out to the Twitterverse, and he came across it:


What my street looked like on January 9th, 2009:


My Wine Cage *before* our 24 winery weekend:


I just really liked how these wine bottles looked on the shelf at Red Newt Winery:


Annnnd.... My Wine cage *after* a 24 winery weekend: :)


Lunch Break. Autumn is my favorite Season:

I was able to snap a beautiful photo while in this park. You'll find it here: Golden Blanket.

On my way to the Polling place:


Ever try this wine?
It sucks.
HA! I said 'Sucks' ! I so crack myself up!


Two Cords of Wood that I had to stack (& bitched about the whole time!):


From the top of Ampersand Mountain in the Adirondacks:

For the accompanying blog post, you'll find it here: Ampersand Mtn.
(This would be the 1st mountain that my niece Alaina had climbed with us. She was excited and wanted to try a high peak the following year.  It ended up being her only mountain she would climb.)

I obviously had hundreds more that I had taken. I didn't realize I have well over 500 pics on there.

© 2010 Greeneyezz

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**News Flash**

Take one Friday Night with no special plans......


Add This Artist:

Doing this Specific song:








And what do you have?






My Happy Place.

:)


© 2010 Greeneyezz

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The Circle of Life

“There is such a concept of loss. Loss and how we react to loss. We think of things in a straight line: birth-life-death.  That’s not really how it works.  You take those ends and you bend it into a circle so it’s birth-life-death-REbirth. So you have to be prepared when you lose something – when you go through a divorce, when your mother dies, when you lose your house you have to understand that nature has it no other way. There is a rebirth.  The death is painful. It doesn’t change the pain of the death. But you gotta stay awake and stay focused for what’s the rebirth that God is about to offer you.”

~ Will Smith, on Oprah 11/6/2008

I've often heard of the Tree of Life.  The different seasons we travel through.
How life (and death) are not linear.
But somehow it's harder for me to understand that.  Harder to wrap my mind around that.
More difficult to make some sense of it all.
The cycle of life.
A natural phenomenon.
Natural?
What's so natural about an unnatural death?

The reverberations of her death still washes over my family and I. Much like that single smooth stone that's dropped in a pool of deep blue, that once was so calm and mirror-like.   
What once was.
Each circle of its effect, rippling over me.  Over my family. And each is caught in the tidal wave.
Their own tide of grief.  
"Loss and how we react to loss." Will Smith's own thoughtful ponderings.
How we react to loss.  How we reacted to her loss?
There's some sort of synchronistic mirrored reaction that brought two sisters together again.
And tore two other sisters apart.
All from  that same ripple Tidal wave.

The tree of life.
A rebirth after a death?
Hope? 
It's been 8 months today.

And late last night I get a text from Andrea.
Alaina's best friend.
And early this morning, I get one more text from Andrea.
Two pictures.
Two little boys.  Twins.
Born this morning.  8 months after that stone first hit that pool of blue.

And in honor of her best friend that will never see her children,
one of the boys now bears Alaina's last name...
As his middle name.

Hope.

The Circle of Life.



© 2010 Greeneyezz

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It's what's for dinner

Blackened Salmon with a Sherried Blue Cheese sauce...

Because I like it HOT!

© 2010 Greeneyezz

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