Barry's great adventure

Churchillian Barry does more than appear as a "fearless single woman" in the best-selling "Marley and Me."
She goes on adventures of her own, including the ritual Woman in the Woods tour.
She made it to the Grand Teton Trail and back just before the peak of hurricane season. Forty miles in seven days.
Our favorite part of Barry's trip is imagining her training for the journey - as she described it: uphill on a treadmill at the gym - with her backpack!
Welcome back, Barry.

THE EXOTIC TROPICS

GOOD MORNING, CHURCHILL!

What could be more exotic than a tropical storm?

After two years of hurricanes, it feels nice to say, "Ah, it's just a tropical storm."




A few frayed
palm fronds and scattered coconuts floating in mud puddles were the meek aftermath from Ernesto, which is now bumbling around south Miami-Dade County like a lost tourist in Disney World. Things were so calm this morning that a few Churchillians were taking down their hurricane shutters.

The royal palms still stood tall on Flagler Drive, despite blustery southeast winds and bands of rain whipping down throughout the night.


"I haven't seen any damage at all," said a coffee-toting bicycle rider pedaling on Churchill and Flagler. "We got lucky this time."

The tropical storm -- Ernesto never had the nerve to become a hurricane -- could reach us with some rain and maybe winds in the 20-MPH range this afternoon.

Just a tropical storm.




















Some thought-provoking stories in The Palm Beach Post this morning, including one on why people feel the need to buy things when a crisis is looming.
I liked the headline: The balm before the storm.



We, here on Churchill Road, are just glad we were able to resist the half-off-everything storm sale at Carvel.

BUTTONED UP FOR ERNESTO

Still dazed and confused from recent blasts, Churchillians were fearfully staring at the Tuesday's cloudy afternoon sky, expecting a Category 2 or even a Category 3. Category 3 would be a major hurricane.
Today, we luckily learned that Ernesto was a washout. Forget the wind, it'll be the rain that will keep us inside. Call it a Category 6-pack. The worst winds will be about 45 MPH -- a walk in the park to veterans of Frances, Jeanne and Wilma.
The worst weather will be from mid-morning to mid-afternoon on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.
They have a great hour-by-hour wind speed forecast right
here



The first hint the storm was gonna be a dud was Carvel ice cream shop didn't take down their signature ice cream cones. Two years ago, Churchillians perched on the Brinkmans' front porch watched Frances rip the previous cones from the Carvel roof. The cones were tossed east on Churchill, like giant toys tossed from a giant toybox. Pieces of the plastic cones were found for weeks, behind bushes, under trees and buried under trash piles.


Farther east on Churchill, our neighbors were busy. And by the end of the day, everyone had at least one hurricane shutter installed.
By Wednesday night, Churchillians will all be geniuses. If you buttoned up, better safe than sorry. If you didn't, you predicted correctly, making you a weather wizard worthy of taking on John Matthews.



Here is our gallery:
(Photos by Churchillian staff)

Elmer's pink cottage

Pam and Ed's historic home



The DiPaolos tempt fate by leaving the awning up.

Back to... life

You have to indulge us, here at the Churchillian, if we wax a little about the second-happiest day of the year -- that being the first day of school.
Everything is just so FORward on the first day of class.
It's more than the new notebooks and sharp pencil points. The fresh-scrubbed, well-groomed tanned young people who suddenly have a sense of purpose.



It's about the clock moving the only way it can -- babies are now kindergarteners; boys and girls who were just a few minutes ago Bonnie's age are now getting their learner permits. Last year's high schoolers are off to college.
The goals are so clear. You can feel the excitement and purpose. After the open house at Bonnie's new middle school - I was ready to sign up myself.
So, good bye late nights and lazy mornings. So long Nickelodean marathons. We're ready. We're busy and we're goin' for the gold.

(Above, Bonnie on the first day of middle school - and on the first day of fifth grade last year.)

DOLLY PARTON -- GOOD THING YOU WEREN'T AT THE OFFICE!!

THE OFFICE WAS THE LOCATION OF A SPIRITED DISCUSSION RECENTLY AS MARK AND BILL TALK OVER THE NEXT KARIOKE SONG SET WITH THE MUSIC MAESTRO.
MARK INSISTED ON DOING "STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN." BILL DEMANDED A CHANCE TO DO "BORN TO RUN."
MARK ENDED UP BRINGING THE HOUSE DOWN WITH AN INCREDIBLE VERSION OF "I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU," WHICH HE DEDICATED TO KARIN.

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Just down the street from Churchill Road is a joint where you can go and relax, shoot a game of pool, croon a couple kariokes and have a cold one. It's called The Office, and it's a popular place for live music for locals, especially on weekend nights.
Located about 1/2 mile north of Churchill Road on the east side of Dixie, the single-story structure sports a sign touting "The Home of Palm Beach County's Only Obscene Roast Beef Sandwich."
Well, don't let that keep you away. The place only gets obscene on karioke nights when certain people get up and do horrible things to innocent songs.
Another thing that makes The Office a super place is that it's walking distance to Churchill Road. Churchillians have been known to enjoy the early-morning breezes and stroll home -- using parking meters as walking sticks -- after several hours of hard work at The Office.

LIVE FROM CHURCHILL ROAD!

Once again, the Fat Bastards wowed the crowds at Jeff's house on Saturday night. Songs included old standards such as Stormy Monday and a few originals were thrown in. Great vocals by Jeff, and fabulous drums, piano and guitars by his pals. We're looking forward to the next show.