Vacations Are Nice.
I have no idea what I’ve been doing for the last 15 years of my life, but I do know this: USA Mike & I have not taken a proper vacation since our bizarre Disney World trip in ’95. (please remind me to recount that story for you someday…) Even our honeymoon was sandwiched in between tours and we ended up staying at Tom & Jacqueline Lord Alge’s condo in South Beach on our way to play a show in Ft Lauderdale or something like that. Seriously – we crashed on our friends’ couch (a very nice one, of course) for our honeymoon, for chrissakes. We are terrible vacationers.
Usually when we go home to Boston, we think, “Oh, we’re in our hometown so we should play a show.” What happens next is that we turn a perfectly lovely visit with the family into a giant clusterfuck of commuting from the Cape to Boston for rehearsals and then we have to try and see all of our friends for dinner and then we have to play the show and maybe we should get a hotel so we don’t have to worry about the drive and hey mom & dad would you mind just babysitting for our kids while we do this other stuff and so on and so forth.
This year, we made an executive decision to peace out on all that. I am doing nothing but sitting on my arse and laughing with my sisters until our tummies hurt, arguing vigorously with good ol’ Tom Hanley about politics, weeping with my Mom about the gorgeous ways we’ve failed each other over the years, watching from the beach while USA takes ZoZo and Henry swimming in the Atlantic Ocean because I’m afraid of seaweed and allergic to freezing salt water and watching every moment of the Red Sox in real time. I will not go anywhere that involves driving a car if I can help it although I will make a few exceptions:
- Tea at Patricia’s house.
- Guinness with Fish & Chips at Liam McGuire’s.
I will eat at least 75 oysters, 1 lb. of USA’s pulled pork, 150 steamers, 2 lobsters, 50-100 fried clams (with bellies), 3 hot dogs and/or cheeseburgers, and a dozen steak tips from The Ninety-Nine. I will drink 12 Harpoon IPA’s, 2 Grey Goose dirty martinis (extra dirty & extra cold) and an incalculable amount of white wine. Some of that white wine may come out of a spigot attached to a box.
We’ll invite the usual suspects to our annual summer hang. Pete Stone will tell everyone for the billionth time how if he and I were the last 2 people on Earth after a nuclear annihilation of some sort, the human race would die out. I’m starting to think he isn’t totally afraid of my cooties because c’mon now, who goes on and on about such an unlikely scenario? Pete, do we need to talk? Great! I’ll see you next weekend at my parents’ house and we’ll sort it out then. Quigley & Casey will bring the Frisbees I think, but I might be making that up. They may just bring a case of beer. Some Horrigan family representatives would be nice. Nate, please feel free to bring your lady. You can introduce me as your frail, elderly aunt.
Whew. It’s been a wild year. Even though I’m too wired to sleep, I am so content to be sitting outside in the pitch black, listening to the lighthouse horn and gearing up for a few moments of much needed nothing.
Fuck. I just got drilled by a mosquito. Mommy!!!!!
-xok
July 6th, 2008 at 3:42 am
Enjoy the vacation, Kay. I loves the Cape and wish I could get down there more often.
July 6th, 2008 at 5:07 am
Wow, what a great blog! All that talk of food and drink and the serenity of being near the shore is just fantastic!! Sounds like a vacation that’s even better than nice… thank you for sharing this!
July 6th, 2008 at 6:08 am
Love it. Glad you are getting so spend some TRULY relaxed family time… everyone should experience that once in a while. Although, I’d rather be seeing you guys out playing! But that’s just me being greedy.
July 6th, 2008 at 6:15 am
Have a relaxing vacation! Seafood sounds good right now. And, I’ve never been to Liam McQuire’s. I’ll have to try that next time…
July 6th, 2008 at 7:58 am
That sounds Like the best Vacation ever. Makes you miss home I bet. Enjoy your Peace.
July 6th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Good for you!
July 6th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
I love vacations. I have a week off in August.
My wife and I went to Liam McQuire’s a couple years ago.
That is a nice place. I love the Cape!
July 6th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
You’ve already consumed all of the above… does that mean the vacation is over? Have a great week… I wish I didn’t have to leave.
I will think of you often in the sweltering heat of Brooklyn!
July 6th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Sounds dreamy, Kaykes… The thought of drinkies while overlooking an east coast harbor sounds positively dreamy… Particularly because I’ve been on lock down with a toddler since Thursday. Little JMP got walloped by a perfect storm of little-kid maladies after the shoot on Wed – a beastly summer cold, impetigo (???) and conjunctivitis (eew) – making him, understandably, a pariah among the under-three-feet-tall set for the holiday weekend. I’m painfully jealous, but I can’t hate, because the Petty Bros. and Olive and Iz have been using your pool for the past few days, while I take care of mini guy. A life saver! Thanks!
That being said, if you feel you need to tweet or blog about every delicious oyster or frosty beverage, I will retaliate with a relentless stream of detail-laden work-related texts until you have no choice but to turn your phone OFF!!! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY, KAY…LET THE PHONE DIE!!!! Have a great fucking vacation, god dammit!
Hugs and kisses,
your wife
July 6th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Awww, Mish. Yer the best. As per your wishes, my phone is dead for real. I’ll call you from Mom’s land line at some point.
Love, kaykay.
July 7th, 2008 at 5:29 am
R+R and quality time with family trumps a few local shows anytime. While I didn’t get to see a show I got the next best thing….thanks for getting Weaponize out, it definitely had a few spins this past holiday weekend!
Richard
July 7th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Hey Kay and Mike — welcome back to our coast! So glad to hear that you’re taking a real vacation (no shows and such). The beach sounds like bliss from the post – I’m heading down next week with the family too, hoping for good weather and lots of gin&tonics, cribbage and fried clams. Hope you have a great time; would love to see you if there’s a good time. xoxo The Toll
July 7th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
hey Kay – check out this story:
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/new-yorker-beaten-on-red-sox-turf/20080707175009990001
July 12th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Hey Kay –
It was great chatting with you & Mike last night. Very cool of you to guys to give the band a little encouragement (and tequila shots) after their set. Hope you had a good time and we’ll see you again. Enjoy the Cape!
- Your friends at the British Beer Company
July 14th, 2008 at 6:32 am
Hey Kay,
It was great seeing you, the kids and USA over the 4th weekend.
I have some great pics and video of Henry dancing!!! I will send them your way.
I blog about some of it:
http://thehomophobichomo.blogspot.com/2008/07/independence-day-sights-sounds.html
Luv,
Brian
July 26th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
your vacation sounds so awesome! i get a tad jealous until i realize i will be eating and drinking alot as well by the waters of mexico in about a week or so.
hope you enjoyed it