I'm working on a new blog entry... that's taking me some time to complete. So while you're anticipating... I thought I'd share this lovely little tid-bit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR6z8GUywyc&feature=youtu.be
Friday, July 9, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Third of July
It seems like everyone was celebrating the 4th of July on the 3rd this year. Barbecue, drink margaritas and shoot off fireworks a day early? Who are we to complain?
Noah has started feeling better so, he donned his trusty hat to ward off the sun and a-grilling we went with our neighbor Chad's grill (Chad and Sadie are out of town. Sadie is Tag's girlfriend).
We also made Noah's famous margaritas. Mmmmm....
The food was fabulous, if I do say so myself.
After dinner we settled down to play Catan the card game (which I ended up winning, by the way), but Noah wanted some fireworks. We obviously weren't planning ahead. So we picked up and drove over to the fireworks stand down the street...and were I think their last customers of the 2010 season... by this I mean they had already broken out the beer and were celebrating closing up for the year.
We bought some Black Cat fountains, a couple of these little ball thingies and, of course, sparklers and headed home. Finished the card game while waiting for it to get dark (did I mention I won?).
Then we went down to our dock on the pond to set off our stash of fireworks!
Fun was had by all. The neighbors down the street had the big guns... illegal fireworks... and were shooting those off. I thought Tag would be scared by them (last year was particularly traumatic for him) but he was relaxed... that is as long as we didn't ask him to go outside. So he stayed inside to comfort Jack and Gill, who were quite upset...
I think their glowing eyes add to the drama of their feelings. Don't you?
All in all a good night! What did you do to celebrate the 3rd of July?
Noah has started feeling better so, he donned his trusty hat to ward off the sun and a-grilling we went with our neighbor Chad's grill (Chad and Sadie are out of town. Sadie is Tag's girlfriend).
We also made Noah's famous margaritas. Mmmmm....
The food was fabulous, if I do say so myself.
After dinner we settled down to play Catan the card game (which I ended up winning, by the way), but Noah wanted some fireworks. We obviously weren't planning ahead. So we picked up and drove over to the fireworks stand down the street...and were I think their last customers of the 2010 season... by this I mean they had already broken out the beer and were celebrating closing up for the year.
We bought some Black Cat fountains, a couple of these little ball thingies and, of course, sparklers and headed home. Finished the card game while waiting for it to get dark (did I mention I won?).
Then we went down to our dock on the pond to set off our stash of fireworks!
Fun was had by all. The neighbors down the street had the big guns... illegal fireworks... and were shooting those off. I thought Tag would be scared by them (last year was particularly traumatic for him) but he was relaxed... that is as long as we didn't ask him to go outside. So he stayed inside to comfort Jack and Gill, who were quite upset...
I think their glowing eyes add to the drama of their feelings. Don't you?
All in all a good night! What did you do to celebrate the 3rd of July?
Friday, July 2, 2010
An uneventful week
I haven't done anything or thought anything interesting this week. I sat on my butt and watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer... all week. And played World of Warcraft... So I haven't posted anything.
Today I had hoped to change that pattern of slothfulness. And I may yet. Costco is still on my to-do list. And Tag and I will be taking Noah to the dog park after he gets off work this afternoon.
Still, I was planning to hang the curtains in the "L" room today. Since we'll be having visitors soon, I thought they might appreciate the added ambiance (not to mention privacy). So I took the trusty power drill upstairs and pulled out the correct bit. (As a side note: we discovered that the correct bit for drilling holes for these curtains is the small gold one... Noah discovered this after I had no success in drilling the correct sized holes for the curtains we eventually hung in the living room.) I put the bit to the wall and began drilling... and the bit broke off in the wall!!!!
That's it for me. I don't hang curtains anymore. Noah's just going to have to do this for me when he feels better (hurry up and feel better Noah... he's been sick all week... a cold, I think).
In other news, Tag's next door neighbor girlfriend, Sadie the Boston Terrier, is out of town for the holiday weekend. He is pining for her. Every time we go outside he looks over to check for her... this is because every time we go outside she's asking to come out and play with him and vice versa. Poor Tag. She'll be back soon! I'll have to get some videos of their cuteness.
Hope everyone has a good holiday weekend. Our house is in escrow again, and we're looking forward to a good weekend, too! Probably filled with a lot of lounging around and looking at the pond. I'll take some more pictures for you soon!
Today I had hoped to change that pattern of slothfulness. And I may yet. Costco is still on my to-do list. And Tag and I will be taking Noah to the dog park after he gets off work this afternoon.
Still, I was planning to hang the curtains in the "L" room today. Since we'll be having visitors soon, I thought they might appreciate the added ambiance (not to mention privacy). So I took the trusty power drill upstairs and pulled out the correct bit. (As a side note: we discovered that the correct bit for drilling holes for these curtains is the small gold one... Noah discovered this after I had no success in drilling the correct sized holes for the curtains we eventually hung in the living room.) I put the bit to the wall and began drilling... and the bit broke off in the wall!!!!
That's it for me. I don't hang curtains anymore. Noah's just going to have to do this for me when he feels better (hurry up and feel better Noah... he's been sick all week... a cold, I think).
In other news, Tag's next door neighbor girlfriend, Sadie the Boston Terrier, is out of town for the holiday weekend. He is pining for her. Every time we go outside he looks over to check for her... this is because every time we go outside she's asking to come out and play with him and vice versa. Poor Tag. She'll be back soon! I'll have to get some videos of their cuteness.
Hope everyone has a good holiday weekend. Our house is in escrow again, and we're looking forward to a good weekend, too! Probably filled with a lot of lounging around and looking at the pond. I'll take some more pictures for you soon!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
The Met
Our first trip to NYC went down yesterday. It's pretty easy to get there from our house. About a 10 minute walk up the road there's a commuter train station that, with a transfer in South Norwalk, in an hour and a half takes you straight to Grand Central Station!
So yesterday morning, bright and early, we went to the station and met a moth.
Then we hopped on a train for GCS.
From Grand Central you have to take the subway a few stops uptown to get to the museum.
I went there as a child... 5th grade field trip, charter bus, all day to NYC with the Met being one of our stops. But I had no memories of this place.
The Met is huge! I mean... huge! So we just went through a portion of it yesterday. The Greek and Roman ancient art mostly, and some modern sculpture. I neglected taking enough pictures, so I'll have to make another trip soon. Maybe when Lori comes to visit... .and then again when Leslie comes :)
This was the rooftop exhibit...
I was hoping it was going to be more Goldsworthy-esque. No such luck. It must have been quite a feat, though, putting that bamboo structure together solidly enough for people to climb up and walk around on it (which you can do on a guided tour... we did not).
*FYI: The wiki page for Goldsworthy is pretty decent, which is why I linked it here. But I encourage you to google images of his work. Goldsworthy is an amazingly refined artist who uses nature as his medium. Truly inspirational. There's even a good movie out about his art. It's called Rivers and Tides. Drop it in your Netflix queue. Seriously.*
There's TONS I still have to see! And that's just at the Met! There is so much to do in NYC, one hardly knows where to start. And so we started somewhere touristy... and hope that our relationship with the city continues to become more intimate and detailed.
So yesterday morning, bright and early, we went to the station and met a moth.
From Grand Central you have to take the subway a few stops uptown to get to the museum.
I went there as a child... 5th grade field trip, charter bus, all day to NYC with the Met being one of our stops. But I had no memories of this place.
The Met is huge! I mean... huge! So we just went through a portion of it yesterday. The Greek and Roman ancient art mostly, and some modern sculpture. I neglected taking enough pictures, so I'll have to make another trip soon. Maybe when Lori comes to visit... .and then again when Leslie comes :)
I was hoping it was going to be more Goldsworthy-esque. No such luck. It must have been quite a feat, though, putting that bamboo structure together solidly enough for people to climb up and walk around on it (which you can do on a guided tour... we did not).
*FYI: The wiki page for Goldsworthy is pretty decent, which is why I linked it here. But I encourage you to google images of his work. Goldsworthy is an amazingly refined artist who uses nature as his medium. Truly inspirational. There's even a good movie out about his art. It's called Rivers and Tides. Drop it in your Netflix queue. Seriously.*
There's TONS I still have to see! And that's just at the Met! There is so much to do in NYC, one hardly knows where to start. And so we started somewhere touristy... and hope that our relationship with the city continues to become more intimate and detailed.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Some heat and humidity and a dead horse effigy
Yesterday I drove Noah to the Eastern part of Connecticut for a visit to my old "stomping grounds"... except that I really don't remember too much about the area we visited.
24 years ago, Dad got stationed on the submarine base in Groton, Connecticut. We lived there for 3 years. I was in 3rd-5th grades while we lived there.
We didn't attempt to find anything like my old school, or to visit the base (don't think they would have let us do that really). Instead, we visited a historical site, a state park, and a landmark tourist attraction...
First stop was Fort Griswold, where Benedict Arnold committed his famous act of treason.
The photo above shows turrets where the guns were placed, looking out onto New London Harbor.
This is a photo of one of the trenches for the men to scramble back to the fort under cover. Because of Benedict Arnold's treason, the men defending Fort Griswold were massacred.
Next we went to Bluff Point State Park. Noah has been wanting a beach experience that didn't cost $40 in parking, and I found this place in Groton with free parking :) Dogs aren't allowed on the "beach" during the summer months because of ... snowy plovers?... or something like that nesting in the dunes. But the trails there were really nice and there's a great rocky beach area that apparently they don't count as "beach" in Connecticut. We enjoyed that very much.
Last stop was Mystic, CT... home of Mystic Pizza. We didn't eat any yesterday, but it's on the list of things to do when we go back there. Instead, we went to Old Mystic Seaport and had a great time looking at all the ships and restorations they're working on.
Tag met a "dead horse" dummy...
Apparently they reenact a ceremony of throwing a dead horse effigy over the side of the ship to represent casting off the sailors' debts. You learn something new every time!
We were pretty tired and a little sunburned by the end of the day, but we'll journey out there again. It was interesting rediscovering the area. I have very few memories of that time, but I do remember enjoying Mystic. Next time, we'll visit the aquarium, too!
24 years ago, Dad got stationed on the submarine base in Groton, Connecticut. We lived there for 3 years. I was in 3rd-5th grades while we lived there.
We didn't attempt to find anything like my old school, or to visit the base (don't think they would have let us do that really). Instead, we visited a historical site, a state park, and a landmark tourist attraction...
First stop was Fort Griswold, where Benedict Arnold committed his famous act of treason.
Next we went to Bluff Point State Park. Noah has been wanting a beach experience that didn't cost $40 in parking, and I found this place in Groton with free parking :) Dogs aren't allowed on the "beach" during the summer months because of ... snowy plovers?... or something like that nesting in the dunes. But the trails there were really nice and there's a great rocky beach area that apparently they don't count as "beach" in Connecticut. We enjoyed that very much.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
The unpacking is not done
I'm not finished unpacking yet. Surprised? I hope not. It's a complex puzzle game of rearranging pieces so that everything fits into the perfect place, at which point all the boxes magically disappear. I'm further along, surely, but not there yet.
In the meantime, I've been watching the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series on Netflix (have never seen it the whole way through. I <3 Giles!)... and am contemplating just what I would like to focus on myself for the next phase of my life. Art and writing are mostly in a holding pattern right now, what with the boxes everywhere and the guilt complex hanging over my head that says if I have too much fun I must not have done enough unpacking today. I would like to get back to these two things relatively soon.
I've been reading a couple of very intriguing feminist blogs and have come across some books I want to add to my stack. "Virgin: The untouched history" and "The Purity Myth" are both on my list to read now. I'm going to get through Frankenstein first. I haven't actually read any more of it since I last posted about it, either. Just goes to show you that my priorities are all out of whack. I need to carve out some time to do each of these things that I want to do or I'll end up doing nothing and being very depressed about it.
I built Bangs a cat condo the other day... and have one more to assemble upstairs as soon as I move the wardrobe boxes out of that room.
We finally hung curtains in the living room. I like them... spring green...
Finally, when making my breakfast the other morning I failed to adequately check the pantry before I shut the door.
Silly Gilly.
In the meantime, I've been watching the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series on Netflix (have never seen it the whole way through. I <3 Giles!)... and am contemplating just what I would like to focus on myself for the next phase of my life. Art and writing are mostly in a holding pattern right now, what with the boxes everywhere and the guilt complex hanging over my head that says if I have too much fun I must not have done enough unpacking today. I would like to get back to these two things relatively soon.
I've been reading a couple of very intriguing feminist blogs and have come across some books I want to add to my stack. "Virgin: The untouched history" and "The Purity Myth" are both on my list to read now. I'm going to get through Frankenstein first. I haven't actually read any more of it since I last posted about it, either. Just goes to show you that my priorities are all out of whack. I need to carve out some time to do each of these things that I want to do or I'll end up doing nothing and being very depressed about it.
I built Bangs a cat condo the other day... and have one more to assemble upstairs as soon as I move the wardrobe boxes out of that room.
We finally hung curtains in the living room. I like them... spring green...
Finally, when making my breakfast the other morning I failed to adequately check the pantry before I shut the door.
Silly Gilly.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
A busy day indoors
Noah took the car with him to work yesterday and I buckled down to get some more unpacking done... well, I didn't unpack too many boxes. But I did build some furniture...
Oh, and I baked some bread :)
Oh, and I baked some bread :)
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