Grass Hoppers

Sister Cristine has arrived from her convent in Karlsruhe to stay with us for a few days. Leslie and Meg picked up the Flying Nun at VLC airport this afternoon.



Within minutes of her arrival at our home, Cristine had shed her habit and donned a bikini for some backyard badminton with Meg. After they did their nails, we all hit the pool.



Backyard gene pool: niece and aunt. One looking older than 13 years; the other younger than her, well, somewhat great number.



Meanwhile the great backyard hunter, Bailey, was in the kitchen guarding his latest conquest.

Port America's Cup Tour

Wednesday Meg and 80 other kids in Year 9 (equivalent to 8th grade in the USA) at Caxton College visited the Port America's Cup including our BMW ORACLE Racing team base. Meg is in the light blue top in the middle of the back row. Later they went afloat to watch the yachts preparing for Act 12, which began yesterday.

Braun Family Blog

JB and Kelley Braun are neighborhood friends of ours from the States. JB is a teammate on BMW ORACLE Racing. Meg and their daughter Hayley are in dance class together, and Leslie and Kelley take Spanish classes together in nearby Puzol.

They keep up a nice family blog of their own, and have some recent posts that our friends and family may find of interest.



Friends in the 'hood: JB and Kelley Braun.

Dance Dance Dance

Saturday afternoon we picked up Meg at Aqua, Valencia's new downtown-
shopping center where she spent a few hours with friends at the cinema
and shopping for, among other delights, new earrings.



After dinner and a disco nap at home we went into Puzol, the nearby pueblo, for Meg's dance concert. Part of a street party outside her locally-renowned dance school, it was set to begin at 23.30 (11:30 p.m.) -- none-too-late by Spanish standards.



Some of the locals dined, and imbibed, at makeshift tables in the street. An unusual (for this time of year) late-evening rainshower added to the special ambience.



Inside the Marion dance studio, Meg's troupe went through one last rehearsal...



...then posed for a group photo. From the left, Olivia Davison, Meg, Meggie Davison and Hayley Braun.



We encountered this local outside the studio. Obviously, he was in
charge of event security.



Meanwhile a surprisingly large crowd gathered in the small parking lot fronting Puzol's old train station...



...including proud parents, from left, JB and Kelley Braun, Leslie and Caz Davison.



Local girls: fashionably speaking, these days there is not a lot much difference between New York and Puzol.



Finally, at about 00.15 (no kidding) the show got underway, and the emcee announced Meg & Co. as the opening act. Leslie and Kelley have been taking Spanish classes together for a year and couldn't understand a word he said; they hoped he was speaking Valenciano, not Spanish!



Video taken with our new, cool Canon SD700 IS (image stabilized) pocket cam.



The following act was not as polished. It was nonetheless entertaining...



...or at least the adults were amused. However, by 01.00 there were some tired-looking faces, including your photog (who had spent the previous night on a plane over the Atlantic). So we beat an early -- from the show, if not the evening -- retreat home to our nearby urbanización.

Polishing the Big Apple

Arrived NYC last evening for the BMW ORACLE Racing exhibit at Rockefeller Center this week (and next, though I am headed back Friday night to VLC to get ready for Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12 which begins a week Thursday). While here will be posting to the Team Blog about the VIP and media events for what promises to be one of the larger AC promotions in the modern history of the Cup if not ever.

Coincidentally, while flying here yesterday the following little funny came by email from old friend and AC hand Dick Enersen (SEA and SFO, sailor on the 1964 Cup defender Constellation), apropos weekends in NYC -- and the Hamptons (where, after posting this, I will not be headed, nor probably welcome, anytime soon! LOL):


Once upon a time in the Kingdom of Heaven, God went missing for six days. On the seventh day, God was found by an angel, resting. The angel inquired of God, "Where have you been, Lord?"

God sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction and proudly pointed downward through the clouds. "Look what I've made."

The angel looked puzzled and asked, "But what is it?"

"It's a planet," replied God. "I'm going to put life on it and call it Earth. It's going to be a great place of balance."

"Balance?" inquired the angel, still confused.

God explained, pointing to different parts of the earth, "Some places will be very hot while others will be cold and covered with ice. Some will have beautiful snow-capped mountains and lush green meadows, while others will be barren and brown."

The angel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a large island with an ocean on one of its borders and asked, "What's that?"

"Ah," said God, "that's where The Hamptons will be, the most glorious place on earth, with beautiful beaches, ponds, birds and a great climate. The people of The Hamptons are going to be modest, intelligent, and humorous, and they are going to be found traveling the world. They will be extremely sociable, hard working, and high achieving people, and they will be known throughout the world as diplomats and carriers of peace."

The angel gasped in wonder and admiration, but then exclaimed, "What about balance, God? You said there would be balance! Everyone and everything seems so totally perfect in this place you call The Hamptons."

God replied wisely, "Yes, but just wait until you see the jerks I'm sending out there from New York City every summer!"



USA 49 arriving in the Big Apple Friday evening. Will be posting to the Team Blog all week from NYC. If you are in the area, come have a look at 49 and the terrific AC exhibit that will be at Rockefeller Center 15 June through 2 July.

It Will Be a Cold Day in...

...Hell before we would attend something like the promotion in this little town just around the corner from Portage Lake (where we grew up in southeastern Michigan). We have, however, been known to imbibe from time to time at the Damn Site Inn, especially with sister Ruth who, at least before she got old, liked to do a bit of country line-dancing there on an otherwise slow night in the 'hood.

Lordy, now Hell even has its own devilish website.

Ann Arbor is the larger, better known nearby town; but maybe not tomorrow -- at least for the day -- when the calendar says it is the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year in the new millenium:


HELL, MICH. (AP, Sun 4 Jun, 7:04 AM ET) - They're planning a hot time in Hell on Tuesday. The day bears the date of 6-6-06, or abbreviated as 666 — a number that carries hellish significance. And there's not a snowball's chance in Hell that the day will go unnoticed in the unincorporated hamlet 60 miles west of Detroit.

Nobody is more fired up than John Colone, the town's self-styled mayor and owner of a souvenir shop.

"I've got `666' T-shirts and mugs. I'm only ordering 666 (of the items) so once they're gone, that's it," said Colone, also known as Odum Plenty. "Everyone who comes will get a letter of authenticity saying you've celebrated June 6, 2006, in Hell."

Most of Colone's wares will sell for $6.66, including deeds to one square inch of Hell.

Live entertainment and a costume contest are planned. The Gates of Hell should be installed at a children's play area in time for the festivities.

"They're 8 feet tall and 5 foot wide and each gate looks like flames, and when they're closed, it's a devil's head," Colone told The Detroit News for a Saturday story.

Mike "Smitty" Hickey, owner of the Dam Site Inn, wasn't sure what kind of clientele would show up Tuesday.

"We're all about having fun here. I don't think we're going to get the cult crowd, the devil worshippers or anything like that," said Hickey, whose bar's signature concoction is the Bloody Devil, a variant of the Bloody Mary.

Colone, meanwhile, has been in touch with radio stations as far away as San Diego and Seattle that are raffling off trips to Hell in honor of 6-6-6.


Full story: Hell, Mich heats up for 6-6-6 party

I did not realize 'til today that our home Portage Yacht Club (Pinckney, MI mailing address) has the same zip code as Hell. According to Hell's Wikipedia entry, in the early 1930s, Pinckney, MI postmaster W. C. Miller began to receive requests from stamp and postmark collectors for cancellations: Hell had no post office, and Pinckney was barely three miles away. On July 15th, 1961, a postal substation was established at Hell. It remains today, at the back of Hell's general store.



Memories: no doubt it'll be a hot time in the old town
tomorrow.

Saucy Soya

Another reason to eat Asian:

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Dark soya sauce, widely used in east Asia, may prove to be more effective than red wine and vitamin C in combating human cell damage, researchers in Singapore said.

Scientists found that the sauce -- derived from fermented soya beans -- contains antioxidant properties about 10 times more effective than red wine and 150 times more potent than vitamin C, Singapore's Strait Times reported on Saturday.

Antioxidants -- found in red wine, fruits and vegetables -- counter the effects of free radicals, unstable atoms which attack human cells and tissues.

Dark soya sauce healthier than red wine: study [Reuters via Yahoo News]



Dark soya sauce, widely used in east Asia, may prove to be more effective than
red wine and vitamin C in combating human cell damage, researchers in
Singapore said.