Endless Summer Vacation

As part of my Summer 2005 World Tour, I spent the weekend at the lovely home of roma_ann in New Jersey. Roma shares her house with three dogs, three cats, a Lukas (son) and a Mike (husband). She probably has a few fish and gerbils that I have not yet met living there as well. We had a great time, splashing around in the pool, letting the dogs walk us around and eating Roma's home cooking.



We loaded the three dogs into the car and went to "Frenchtown," NJ. Two of the dogs are medium-sized puppies, who quietly lay on the floor in the back seat while we rode through the back roads of New Jersey. Losyu, however, is a giant doggie who eagerly participated in the driving experience, hanging her tongue-flapping head out of the window, and trying to barge in on the front seat.



The town of Clinton, NJ, was celebrating the release of the newest Harry Potter book. Lucas, Roma and I ran into several witches and other characters from Hogwarts. We also saw the new version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny Depp. It was a strange little movie. Johnny Depp channels Michael Jackson in what I think is an effectively creepy performance. There is a whole new sub-plot involving Willy Wonka and his conflicted relationship with his father - a dentist. The scenes that take place in the Chocolate factory are visually very interesting, very Tim Burton, but the story leading up to that point is less interesting than the sappy original. You won't leave the theater humming any of the Oompa Loompa songs.

Who can resist a friendly puppy?


The Town of Clinton has a working Mill
But we were too busy shopping at the bead store to see it.


Scrunch the Cat was Happy to have me back home
I revive the magic laptop. He goes to the Vet on Monday.