One of the funnest days ever! Across the Walt Whitman to Jersey - All-day BBQ: This is the American Dream / Poem: Poolside in Jersey

 My view from the backseat as Ethan drove the borrowed Audi stick-shift to Nikki and Steve's in NJ. These are toys for baby Kieran Ava, daughter of Julie Worden.

Claire was recently adopted by the Roches. She's pregnant with cute little titties.

Poolside. We played a game and called everyone by their middle names.

Hi there Gabriel, angel of God!

Angela. My sister Donna was given no middle name so she invented one. Oxymoron?

Help yourself with the No. 30 sunscreen Lynn and Maria.

Ice water on tap along with gin n tonic. Mine was watered down but delish!!!

This is the life, said Andrew, drinking a vodka tonic.

I really dug the neon green plastic cups. "You would say that," said my sister Donna to me.
"Michael" was our wonderful host.

Quinn where are you? His middle name is David, after my late brother.

Nikki with tired Paddy.

Oh, dear, my blood sugar was off the charts, so Nikki and I walked the tracks to lower it.

When we got back it was normal.

View from the RR tracks....

Dense woodlands.

The music room. Ethan gave several concerts which blew everyone away!

Sarah outside by the shed talking to Ethan's bro Spencer who will visit in a week. Sarah tells Spencer they'll hear Ethan at the Village Vanguard.

Angie dries off rescued bichon named Clarence, a very sociable dog, who's about 3 yrs old. Everyone luved the little fellow.

Angie's husband Jimmy, who works at Live Nation. What dat?

We'll miss Sarah and Ethan when they drive off tomro morning.

They got up early, brewed their Starbux, and off they went.

Steve Roche made all the food. Every morsel was delicious:

filet with mushrooms
sauteed scallops in butter
asparagus w grated Romano
corn on cob

Before we left, I bolted down the street as fast as I could to walk off the meal.

It worked.

POOLSIDE IN JERSEY

I was hot
jumped in
sank to the bottom
watched the
tiny legs
an orange laser gun
the bottom of a blue raft
that held my sister
swam some laps
pulled myself out
a little woman still
who felt like she
weighed
three-hundred pounds

Michael pulled up a lawn chair
Sit down, it's comfortable, he said
putting a gin and tonic in the holder
I sipped and looked up at the
maze of trees
the sun peeked through
cast leaf shadows
across the pool
these were the people
I loved
so far from home

We called each other by
our middle names
I was Zali
my Sarah was "Lynn"
her husband "Andrew"
we told no one but
let the new ones guess

At supper Sarah said
when Grace Catherine
called her "Aunt Sarah"
her heart melted
putting her hand on the
top of her blue bikini
I know I know
I said
When she calls me Bubby
I thrill to her words
"Such a terrible name,"
said my sister,
"sounds like an old woman."

I looked at her brown eyes
her freckled arms
and pursed lips
"Fuck you" I thought
and thrilled again
to the sound of the only
person in the world
who calls me
"Bubby."