Delightful evening after a long week . . .

The previous 2 weeks have been a hectic. Summer's one - two punch of heat and humidity make outdoor activities a real joy, especially the work-related ones that cannot be postponed. I woke up at 3:00 a.m. yesterday morning and was on the road to Philadelphia before 4:00 a.m. My mission was to conduct a training exercise for 3 of my company's facilities in the Philly area. I arrived at the training site about 6:20 a.m. and set to the task of setting up the outdoor portion of the training exercise in an empty parking lot. About 7:30 a.m., I walked through the industrial park complex to see what progress the film company had made on a movie set that's been under construction near our facility since Spring. The movie is "Lady in the Water" scheduled for production next month. I was able to get some good photos until a security guard ran me off. The training excerise went well in spite of unbearable heat and I was able to beat Philly and Harrisburg traffic on the way back home.

Yesterday evening was a delight. My buddy and his wife joined us for a cook out and poolside get together at my neighbor's house. Maybe 10 couples and their kids total. Most of the grilled meats were deer, elk, or moose - in the form of steaks, burgers, kalbosa, or weiners. Some of kids were suspicious (they knew several dads were hunters) but everyone who tried the grill food loved it, or couldn't tell the difference. My buddy and I are "beer lovers" and anyone familiar with this blog already knows that we dabble in British, German, Belgian, or US microbrews all the time. I had my first "Magic Hat" microbrew products last night - wow, this stuff is excellent. "Old #9", "Fat Angel", and "Hocus Pocus" are interesting and very good tasting brews. We threw in some Sam Adams "Seasonal Brew" and Yuengling Black and Tan in our coolers to offer the other guests . . . it amazes me that so few people are willing to try different beers . . . but we're good soldiers and always offer. In any event, the evening was just about perfect in every way. Good fellowship, good food, and good beer . . . a great capstone to top off 2 weeks from hell.