Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes...

Picture this.

 A warm summer evening, under the stars, sipping Cosmopolitans, munching on chicken salad and french bread,relaxing and sitting back in our own chairs on the grass, watching one of our favorite bands with the best guy in the world.

What's not to like?

Every summer LL Beans does a summer concert series.

For FREE.

The concert was scheduled to start at 7:30. We got there about 5.
They were just finishing setting up the stage equipment.
Everyone brought their own chairs. (Many WERE LLBeans chairs, including ours, because that's just what you have when you live around here.) 
You are allowed to claim your territory the day of the show, so technically you can arrive there at 12:01 a.m. and plop down your chairs.
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes was the band we came to see. We've seen them many times, mostly at the Hampton Beach Casino in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. We love them. Have his CDs.

We were also lucky enough watch him do his sound check between 5 and 5:30.

And then he performed for almost 2 hours. It was wonderful under the majestic pine trees, under the starry night.

Ahhhh......

Started school mural....

Every fall I paint a huge mural to post outside of my classroom. I have a large bulletin board in the hall, covered in glass. It's 91 inches wide by 55 inches tall. Big.

I have been doing this for twenty years, including this year.

I base the theme on a current summer movie.  The movie has to be appropriate for middle schoolers to see, so 'Hung, the movie' ** would not be a wise choice.

It usually takes me a week to design and paint. This years honoree is the movie The Smurfs.

Here's a sneak peak of the beginnings.....

More to come as I proceed..... (there's a reason why they are not all blue....I'm the boss of the brush.)

**'Hung the Movie' is not really a movie, but Hung is an actual TV program. It's about an ex school teacher who is divorced with two high school kids that have, um, issues. He shares them with his ex wife (Ann Heche) and they have issues as well. Things are not going well for him in every way until he discovers how the fact that he's, um, well 'hung', is an attribute that could make him a LOT of money, especially with an 'agent'. The warped side of me loved this show. I think it was HBO, but you can find it to watch online somewhere. Just google 'watch Hung' and see what you get. It was quirky, and I like quirky.

BYW, you never really see how well hung he is, so you have to use your imagination. 

I have a very good imagination.

New painting.....

I was commissioned to do a painting of someone's house. I just finished it last week.

It's a tempera painting measuring 16"X 20".

Interesting stones built into the chimney.

Summer Shandy

Mr. Downeastdoingstuff (aka Birdman) and I like to try new things. New things... as long as they don't have potential for bodily harm or curling my hair.

We especially like to try new drinks. (I don't want any comments about how alcohol can cause bodily harm....duh.)

Martinis have been our latest diversion. Especially the kind that are not really, officially classified as martinis, ie. chocolate martinis, appletinis, tinis with any appealing flavor.

The photo above is of a drink called a Shandy. Birdman has a blog, and a lady from Perth, Australia suggested this.

It's a mixture of two liquids served in a beer glass.

Can you guess what it might be?? 

check out her comment from my husbands blog....

PerthDailyPhoto said...

You get a big glass (chilled for maximum effect), depending on how strong you like it, usually half/half, half beer of your choice, and half lemonade, also there's the classic English version of lager and lime, just add a dash of lime juice to the beer and a slice of lemon,takes away the ughy taste of the beer, sooooo refreshing and easy to drink. I'm not sure though Birdman, somehow I'm not getting a picture of you thinking much of this idea haha! See if Elenka will try it and let me know what she thinks.

Me thinks....Not bad. It's a rather odd mixture. You can taste both ingredients separately. 

Strange. Hasn't curled my hair......yet.