Mom flew in to Bangor International at 11PM on the 9th, shortly after my cell phone alarm woke me up. We both were tired so we slept in the next morning before heading off to my grandparents in Dexter. Thursday was the warmest day of the week and of the year thus far, the temperature rose to roughly 87 F. Grandpa is starting to feel better although he is experiencing side effects from some medicine that should wear off in a few days.

Friday was a bit cooler which eliminated the option of visiting Acadia Park, instead we test drove a Nissan Sentra and two Honda Accords-a 4 and 6 cylinder engine. I was very impressed with the Accord, the overall build quality inside and out was top notch. I have been experiencing issues with my current vehicle, 02 Malibu, the brakes and rotors have been replaced again, this would make for the 4th time in 5 years. The mechanic also stated that a few gaskets need to be replaced but I am unsure the validity of that claim and will worry about that when the time comes as I only have one payment left and am deciding on what to do with the car.

Mom went to Dexter to help clean her parent’s house and yard on Saturday with her sisters and I stayed home for the afternoon. My Aloe Vera Plant pot was overcrowded so we took out one plant and separated a baby plant from the mother’s main root vein and replanted it, it looks like it’s in bad shape right now but it will recover.

Mom was glad to attend Cornerstone Baptist on Mother’s Day as she misses Stan’s preaching. After Church we headed to Grammies for dinner. Grandpa was not feeling well at all and headed to the ER. We stopped and looked at a Condo in Hermon that I really like, a house that could fit a family of three. I called the Realtor to find out that Condos come with an association fee and that the fee for this condo was $150 a month which as you can imagine changed my mind about Condos.

I tried a new recipe this weekend as well, it’s grilled pizza - something you normally would not expect to see on a grill. The results of the Pizza came out tasting very nice and I did not have a difficult time cooking the pizza either, I expected the dough to stick to the grates but it didn’t.

I purchased a new camera, Canon S3 IS, last week to replace the Z3 that died a few weeks ago in Virginia. I’ve been playing around with all of the settings and am still not used to everything like I was on my old camera- which is understandable. Although I am starting to get to know my camera better I have been contemplating trading it in for the Canon Digital Rebel XT- I have not yet made my decision. The ability to add filters, additional lenses and focus manually is very appealing to me. I learned about these options at a local photography store, Bangor Photo. I am waiting for them to e-mail me the photos I took with their XT; I want to see how photos look on a DSLR that were taken by me to compare with my S3 IS.

This week has brought warm yet humid free days; the skies are saturated with Cumulus humilis clouds with a beautiful backdrop of vibrant blue. In a few months my favorite season will be here, Autumn. I’m planning on taking few trips this fall and maybe even next month around Maine and Nova Scotia, I want take a boat cruise around some of the island in hopes of taking photos of Whales and Puffins, during October I’ll be driving around the state looking for opportunities to take photos of the foliage.

I made Pizza last night; the dough was not home-made but everything else was purchased and prepared by my hands. The toppings are as follows: Fried Hamburg, Jalapeno, Habanero, Green Peppers, Onion, Mushrooms, and Coca Cola Classic in the 8oz glass bottle. The Pizza came out well; it was hot due to the Habaneros - I think I’ll ease up on them next time. I have been reading food photography tips; I took some advice with this photo of my pizza.

Today was more or less relaxing for me, most of the weekend I developed my site a little more. I learned more about PHP and added some server side scripting enhancements to the site. The weather has been a mix of drizzle and sunshine, temperature ranging from 70-80.
For supper I decided to try another recipe from my grilling book, San Diego Chicken. It consists of chicken breast strips, 1 lime, 1 lemon and tomato sauce. Squeeze the citrus juice out into a bowl and mix in the tomato sauce, put the chicken into the sauce, place the bowl in a Ziploc bag in the refrigerator for a few hours. The chicken will have a semi-tart taste to it.

While I was purchasing the fruit mentioned earlier, I kept thinking how beautiful fruit is, so vibrant in color, so distinct in shape and scent. If you put lemons, limes, oranges, mangos, etc. together they look amazing- the same goes for any other fruit. Fruit is God’s candy, sweet yet healthy for you. I was inspired to alter the site theme; I wanted to create a nostalgic feeling. The nostalgic moment for me is thinking back when I first ate a lemon,lime, orange.

One more week and I will be in Virginia, I’ll be gone for a week and will be sure to keep my blog updated!

When mom was up last week for Mother’s day I purchased the book in my title to compliment the book mom gave me for last Christmas, A man, a can, a plan. I decided to try out one of their recipes on this patchy & cool day. The name is “Greenhouse Grinder”, it consists sour dough crusty bread, pesto, caponata, tomato and mushrooms. Top it with butter and grill it for 5+ minutes. It was very filling. A few nights ago I made a spicy burger consisting of Angus hamburger (80/20) mixed with pepper, crushed red peppers seasoning, A-1 steak sauce, topped with American cheese, honey mustard, sweet pickles (to counter the spice) and tomato. I had a chocolate and banana smoothie to wash it down.

My Sunday school class at Cornerstone Baptist starting on the “The way of the Master” study plan, it basically gives you the knowledge and courage to witness to others. I’m really excited about it and hope that I will be able to use whatever I learn in class.

Obligatory photos: Spicy burger | Greenhouse Grinder

Last night CCC had a cookout and recognition for the seniors. We had the typical food that an American cookout would consist of, hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, fruits and vegetables, soda, etc. After eating, we played softball for a few hours. I quickly found out that my left should that I had previously dislocated 4 years ago had not completely healed. I cranked the softball in center outfield and my shoulder came out a little bit. I also took a graceful tumble to second base- I do not recommend running in Crocs in sand.

After the cookout some of the guys invited me to their “Halo House” to have a LAN party. There were around 20 people there, 16 playing Halo 2 on 4 TVs. We played until about 1 O’clock, I had a very good time. This was my first LAN party and I can see why they are so fun.

Here are a few photos I took at yesterday’s cookout. One | Two