Big Chill XV

 

This Chill had been anticipated.  The 15th anniversary event of what started as a lark during a Christmas dinner years ago.

The Gang shifted gears a bit.  Instead of arriving on Thursday night and parking ourselves at a motel in Yarmouthport, we were able to take advantage of an open spot on the Gentle Heritage calendar and negotiate an extra day for the same cost as the motel.  Four of the couples made it up on a rainy, unsettled day, prepping the place while waiting for the arrival of Randy and Vicki on Friday morn. The Bazzanos and Rosenfields formed the vanguard, arriving around noon, after a lunch at Sir Crickets,  and the Zerios and Brickeys pulled in about 4 pm. Several bottles of wine were opened, guitars were broken out, and surprisingly, Jello Shots were tested! A great combination!  Z was happy to watch the Tigers win a pennant race game, forcing the series to Texas. After a relaxing afternoon and evening, with a nice chicken kabob dinner supplied by Carol and grilled by Stevo, everyone retired, waiting for Official Chill to begin.

What we missed in having our usual breakfast at "Kukla Fran and Ollie's" was made up for in waking up on Pleasant Bay, sans sunrise due to an unusual light on the water. But breakfast and papers were waiting for everybody, courtesy of a run by Clarence and Stevo to Hole In One bakery for awesome donuts and muffins, accompanied by DD's Box of Joe and bagels. That swooshing sound heard was diets going out the window.

With cell phone calls pre-announcing their every GPS location, Randy and Vicki arrived at 8:30 am, having been woken at 3 by a nasty storm in Connecticut, so they figured "what the hey, let's go."  (That's their story and they're sticking to it).  The good news was, the coffee grinder had arrived!

The Arrival

 

The weather stayed gray, windy and drizzly, giving the Chill-dren no reason to travel far.

For the most part, everyone just hung out, read, drank wine, played music, drank wine, cross-stitched, and drank wine.  For years, we've all said we should just stay and chill at the house, because it afforded such a great location, pockets of getaway areas to relax. So, for once, we did just that.

But alas, all was not to be quite that tranquil.  Z was taking a quiet amble alone down by the cove, when his cell phone went off. "Where are you, get back to the house. Man down."  Scampering back, and somewhat winded, he noticed a strange vehicle in the yard, and he concluded they weren't delivering pizza.

Fortunately, there was no fear...it was just Baz making a new friend.

After the interlude, Randy announced: "It's CHILL GIFT TIME!"

 

It was a banner year, with individual Chill flags, etched rock glasses, the Motto, and specially lit cubes with a Chill motif among the hits.  How do we top these?

From here, we settled in to another traditional Friday night pasta dinner, with appropriate toasts to Z's dad for his sauce.  More wine. More wine. More wine.

The next morning dawned beautifully, although once again, Z missed it.  Nevertheless, the plan was to head to the Wellfleet Oyster Festival, early to beat the expected traffic.  Even then, it was crowded, and we all patted ourselves on the back for timing it right.  Loaded with chowder, fritters, ersters and clams, we listened to some good bluegrass.  A great time, as usual.

Look! Wellfleet Oyster Pearls!

On the way back to Gentle Heritage (replete with "Wellfleet Oysters" apparel)  to attend the first annual Chill Scotch-Tasting Test, the gang joined Randy to finish some family business.  We were proud and honored  to be there with him.

Randy adhering to his brother's wishes...

Randy in his thoughts.

With great anticipation, we hustled back to the Gentle Heritage and prepared for the Test.  The women prepared the testing room, including palate cleansing water and crackers.  Carrie read the rules (what is it with the Zerios and rules, anyway?).  The Scotch drinkers, including the Vickster, tasted samples of 5 different Scotches, all done in a blind test managed by Carol, Carrie, Lynn and Claire.  This was fun.  And even though only a sip was taken from each sample, a nice buzz was produced in short order.  After all was tested, each participant had to weigh in with their votes and reasons.  When the tally was finalized and announced, Cardhu was the winner...and this was actually submitted twice.  Who knew.  Looking forward to next year's test!

The Rules, ladies and gentlemen...

The Test

"And the winner is..."

  

'CARDHU!'

 After several more tastings of the winner, and the also rans, it was time to get ready for dinner.  The MeatMasters got to work.

While waiting for the Chill Grill to heat up and take on its duty, there were moments of relaxitude, and Claire held forth...

Claire with her Men

 The meal was ready, and in another first, a Parade was started and led by the Baz-man to deliver the food to table.  Captured elsewhere on video, it was a sight to behold. And the dinner was great, dessert by Lynn was heavenly, but unfortunately, Randy had an...ahem...accident.

I love a parade...

The Traditional Annual Bouef

 

"Vicki, where are my Depends?"

After a fabulous day, everybody retired to bed wined, sated, and relaxed...although Z had to suffer through his Tigers' elimination from post-season play.  But hey! They got there!

Sunday morning brought a great breakfast from the ladies, and then it was off to Chatham and other locales to enjoy the beautiful weather.  The park in Chatham was featuring their "Pumpkins in the Park" program, which was pretty creative.

 

Back to the house on our last full day, it was time to take the annual portraits.  But first, in honor of the 15th Anniversary, the Chill Gang recreated our first photo taken.  Carrie came up with this idea, and it was pretty good...but trying to find the clothes from so long ago, not so easy.  Still after some arguing over set up and positioning, we pulled it off.  Still crazy after all these years.

Big Chill I, October 1996

Big Chill XV, October 2011

 We still got it!

Big Chill XV Official Portrait

We also took the time to award the annual winner of the Necklace of Impunity.  This year, it wasn't hard, given that Baz stole a lot of attention upfront, enlisting the Orleans EMTs to help him leapfrog over any other contenders.  Nice job, Baz!

Big Chill XV Necklace of Impunity Winnah!

Someone thought it was a good idea to memorialize some of the past winners, with a nod to the reasons why:

Past Necklace Winners...and how they won...

The day closed out with an absolutely fantastic sunset, as if knowing the Chill was moving its locale next year and giving us a remembrance.  Baz and Z took some incredible pictures, none of which did the Eventide justice...but we tried....

And so, another Chill closes its chapter.  Monday morning was a bustle to pack up, clean up, and head up the road.  But we left with another year of great memories, and asking once again: "Howzit going to get any better than this?"