Month: August 2010

found: august

August 31, 2010

See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
camera dump: august
“iiii am the ghooost of faaashion paaaast…”

August 31, 2010
“excuse me, I believe you have my red stapler…”

August 31, 2010

Active Spine and Support
Arlington, Virginia
out: friendship heights spray park

August 31, 2010

sparklet must of walked around this place for 20 minutes today, held up by some kind of fake-lawn-mower-works-like-an-old-dude’s-walker thing. unfortunately, i was alone so all the photos are decidedly top-down.

See a Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
friendship heights spray park, washington, dc
out: national sculpture garden fountain

August 30, 2010

not sure we’ve ever been to the sculpture garden when it wasn’t 20 degrees out, but it’s actually quite lovely. they even let you hang your feet over the edge — or in sparklet’s case, her face.

See a Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
national sculpture garden, washington, dc
take mommy to work day

August 30, 2010
going downtown

August 30, 2010

our nanny-share has shut down for the week — the nanny’s on vacation — so i’m off this week for some bonding-with-sparklet time.

nothing in particular planned, but it’s so #$%^#ing hot that whatever we end up doing, it’ll be indoors — first stop, national museum of natural history.

strange how the weather always seem to suck on my weeks off with sparklet.
“rise, my black bean. riiiiise!”

August 29, 2010

See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
commonwealth gastropub, washington, dc
out: brunch with the talimo’s

August 29, 2010

brunch with the talimos, our former nanny-share partners and sparklet’s bff. goodness ensued, not limited to jalapeno-cheese scones that were frankly too good for description with the English language.

More photos at taliandmo.com, but frankly we were too busy eating for much photography ….
video: sparklet, the filmographer

August 28, 2010

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGMrzKEyh8E

it’s a little avant guarde. or maybe just weird for the sake of being weird. but who am i to judge?
week forty-six

August 28, 2010

photo of the week // week forty-six
humanity, pt 2

August 28, 2010

Favorite bit of coverage from the Glenn Beck-apalooza being held on the National Mall as we speak:

In a rather curious and confused way, some white people are starting almost to think like a minority, even like a persecuted one.

What does it take to believe that Christianity is an endangered religion in America or that the name of Jesus is insufficiently spoken or appreciated? Who wakes up believing that there is no appreciation for our veterans and our armed forces and that without a noisy speech from Sarah Palin, their sacrifice would be scorned?

It’s not unfair to say that such grievances are purely and simply imaginary, which in turn leads one to ask what the real ones can be. The clue, surely, is furnished by the remainder of the speeches, which deny racial feeling so monotonously and vehemently as to draw attention.

CREDITS: Excerpt from Christopher Hitchens’ White Fright, via Slate; Photo © Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post.
dc state fair

August 28, 2010

See All the Photos on Flickr:
dc state fair, columbia heights, washington, dc
sparklet vs. cat

August 27, 2010
mommy should drink at work more often

August 27, 2010

the lady sparkler’s office had an early happy hour this afternoon, which meant that (a) she got home early, and (b) that she was really “happy” when she got home — and by “happy” i mean swerving the stroller around like it was a roller coaster.

sparklet was MUCH impressed.
“let me in!”

August 26, 2010

things have fundamentally changed now that sparklet’s seen cows in the wild — being on the “wrong” side of the fence is simply no longer acceptable.
“we’ve got 800 channels — there’s got to be something on besides this.”

August 25, 2010

sparklet and i just watced the UEFA Champions League qualifier between Tottenham Hotspur (COYS!) and BSC Young Boys of switzerland, a match Tottenham won to put them through to the group stages of potentially the most prestigious competition on the planet.

if sparklet ever figured out how to actually use that remote, i’m screwed.
chorizo and spinach tacos

August 24, 2010

this is based loosely on a breakfast taco that i love to get in texas. only, i’m not such a big fan of the egg — to i left that part out and made them dinner tacos instead. they’re super simple to make, but the result depends almost entirely on the quality of the ingredients.

more after the jump …

(more…)
guestbook: nancy

August 23, 2010

See All the Photos on Flickr:
guestbook: nancy
hike: piedmont/gap run trails, sky meadows state park, virginia

August 23, 2010

damn, i’m out of shape.

i haven’t looked it up yet, but the 2 mile trail we just did had enough altitude gain that it might as well been the north face of mount everest, as least as far as my frail body/flabby midsection was concerned.

and, sparklet was unkind — providing very verbal feedback every 10 feet when her daddy/sherpa stopping to suck wind.

the big news of the morning came on the way back down, when we ran smack into a herd of cows — animals, i should point out, that didn’t seem to be having a problem with the altitude.

we ran into them right as we were coming over a blind rise, so by the time sparklet saw them they were maybe 10 feet away, and she was utterly confounded about how a whole pack of her friends from the petting zoo got up here (and how she got on the wrong side of the fence, i’d imagine).

after about 10 minutes of staring (with a competition between sparklet’s eyes and her mouth for which could be open the widest) we finally said goodbye to the cows and continued on.

sparklet wailed, until we turned back.

after 5 more minutes of staring (and waving, and giggling) we once again said goodbye to the cows and continued on.

sparklet wailed.

it wasn’t until three more rounds of this that the cows were far enough away that sparklet finally lost interest in her first official “wildlife” sighting.

and, being the out-of-shape/selfish nit that i am, the whole time i was wondering why we couldn’t have seen the cows on the way UP the mountain, when i could have used the excuse to stop.

trail information:
Trailhead: 38.992886,-77.967272 (Google Maps); Length: 2.1 total miles; Elevation Gain: 360 feet; Trail Type: Out-and-back; Skill Level: Moderate.

See All the Photos on Flickr:
sky meadows state park, delaplane, virginia
francis public pool

August 22, 2010

i’ve got to say that dc public pools are nothing like what i’d imagined — though given the state of some dc public school buildings, what i was expecting was a pretty low bar.

there were maybe 25 people at the pool at 4pm on a Sunday, mostly parents with children.

oddly enough, lots of international types who weren’t speaking the English so good — but no hordes of unattended kids whose parents had dumped them at the pool 8 hours earlier.

the kiddy pool was gi-normous (15′ x 30’ish) and sloped like a beach from inches to about two feet deep.

don’t get me wrong — the pool wasn’t gleaming (i wouldn’t put sparklet down on the floor of the shower room) but it was certainly no worse than the neighborhood pool where i grew up.

and, for DC, that’s pretty outstanding.

See All the Photos on Flickr:
francis public pool, washington, dc
video: baby/birds in a bucket

August 21, 2010

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU7-__ZXVnQ

… and, if you haven’t seen it, watch the outake here.
wow, they really *do* make a container for just about everything

August 21, 2010
try as she may, sparklet was unable to prove her hypothesis that you can take a tissue without another popping up in its place

August 19, 2010
hike: fox hollow, shenandoah national park, virginia

August 19, 2010

trail information:
Trailhead: 38.624113, -78.288574 (Google Maps); Length: 1.2 total miles; Elevation Gain: 310 feet; Trail Type: Loop; Skill Level: Easy.

See All the Photos on Flickr:
fox hollow trail, shenandoah national park, virginia
“i’m smiling because i’m cuter than you.”

August 19, 2010

photo of the week // week forty-five
samber market

August 17, 2010

sparklet and i were in samber market today — buying our usual array of beer and ice cream — when sparklet started flirting with one of the incredibly nice korean owners of the place.

the nice lady grabbed a little bear keychain from off the wall, and gave it to us gratis.

i love mount pleasant.

p.s. sometime when i’m feeling brave, i’m going to ask the owners about their life story — their english isn’t great, but there is a picture of the husband in full marine dress uniform behind the cash register.

something tells me there is a great story there.
boyfriend, nanny, me

August 17, 2010
this view really never gets old

August 16, 2010
real “oreo” cookies

August 16, 2010

a good friend of mine from my early days at the Conservancy used to take people around on their first day with a plate of brownies, which (i have to admit) puts people in a pretty great state of mind to meet a new colleague.

i decided this weekend to resurrect the tradition — after tripping on a real “oreo” cookie recipe on foodnetwork.com.

great cookies. the only thing i’d change is that the two outer cookies (at 1/4 inch each) were waaaay too thick. when i make these again, i’m rolling out the dough to less than half that, so people can actually bite through without squirting out all the cream-filling.

oh, and turns out our new employee has an problem with gluten, so it was really more of a present for everyone else.
video: how i’ll remember fenway

August 15, 2010

this video is not mine (my brother took it with his fancy-pants camera phone) but this is exactly how i’ll remember walking into fenway for the first time. family, green monster, stadium. and they even won, too.
guestbook: babs

August 15, 2010

See All the Photos on Flickr:
guestbook: babs
week forty-four

August 14, 2010

photo of the week // week forty-four
flirting with the boyfriend

August 14, 2010
video: bubble gum

August 13, 2010

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jv_7X7mcpc

two rules, do something cute and don’t eat the camera. did okay on the first. not so much on the latter.
james mcmurtry @ the birchmere

August 12, 2010

first, i have to say that i have to disclose that i just saw a 60 year old drunk woman jump on her table and start dancing to the music.

this is one of those times where there just aren’t enough words in the english language.

second, this is the first concert that i’ve gotten rained on while *in* the building. during the warm up act, a hole opened up in the ceiling directly in front of us and gushed water for 30 seconds.

thankfully, it coincided with two 6+ feet tall men trying to sit down in those seats and block our view. for some reason, they decided to sit down in another part of the room and the puddle warned people off for the rest of the night.

we thought he was great when we saw him (and his mom) six years ago in berkeley springs, but this time he seemed maybe two rungs above his usual self.

when mcmurtry plays a six-string guitar, it sounds like it has 12. when he plays a 12-string guitar, it sounds like it has 50. his ability to rip the lid off songs — while playing solo, on acoustic guitar — is just crazy.

that, and for once the lady sparkler didn’t have to wait the whole concert to see if she’d hear her favorite song — he played rachel’s song right off the bat.

and all was right with the world.

SET LIST: Melinda · Saint Mary of the Woods · Rachel’s Song · Down Across the Delaware · See The Elephant · Hurricane Party · Leonard Cohen Must Die · Choctaw Bingo · Out Here in the Middle · Restless · Safe Side · Ruby and Carlos · Levelland · Peter Pan · No More Buffalo
tea time

August 11, 2010

my godparents had a tradition where every day at 4:00 pm (“tea time”) they’d sit down together and have a drink — gloria had some kind of sweet, fruity wine; paul a rolling rock.

i’m proud to say that sparklet and i’ve picked up the tradition …

… granted, it’s a little later (we don’t get home until 4:45 usually).

.. granted, instead of rolling rock i’m drinking some kind of fruity beer that would get my man card revoked (lately, lucy from starr hill or purple haze from abita).

… granted, instead of fruity wine, sparklet is usually enjoying the classic, refined flavor of mommy juice.

but, it’s the thought that counts. now if we can just get sparklet to start eating dinner, again.
three-cheese mushroom and spinach calzone

August 10, 2010

made a three-cheese mushroom and spinach calzone from epicurious, and the recipe was just spot-on good. one small change — it says to use parmesan, fontina and ricotta cheeses, but i used romano, fontina and mozzarella instead (as i hate ricotta, and had just run out of parmesan).

the other thing to point out is the note in the recipe that you can usually stop by your local pizzeria and they will sell you fresh dough — it’s true, it works, and it makes the recipe overflow with awesomeness.
guitar hero

August 9, 2010

sparklet was bouncing around today to “when we were young” by the killers, so we decided to really blow her mind — and it worked.

shattered.
firsts: sippy cup

August 9, 2010
the others

August 8, 2010

as shocking as it is to my fragile, miopic worldview — we aren’t the first theparkerfamily.org.

turns out, according to the internet archive “wayback machine” there was another parker family who had the domain back in 2001.

i don’t have much on who they were — scott was the dad and wasn’t up for “programmer of the year”, jordan was the daughter and created a fan site for horses (called “thunder horses” no less) and a cheerleading page (featuring nearly impenetrable cheerleading trivia).

unfortunately, 2 minutes of googling didn’t lead to any “where are they now” stories, and that’s just about the sum total of my attention span these days.

in other news, the new owners of evanandtasha.com — our wedding domain from a few years back — got married, went on a cruise, and if splash pages are to be believed may be thinking about babies.

more bulletins as warranted.

From the Wayback Machine:
the other theparkerfamily.org
national zoo

August 8, 2010

you’d think with the number of times we’ve been to the petting zoo that sparklet would have actually pet something by now — but sadly it’s not the case.

most of the time it’s just me and the sparklet and there are just too many things to lose track of — hands on livestock, hands near eyes, hands in mouth mouth, stroller, camera, sanity, etc.

but this time i had help. and she had petting (that’s Flash the Miniature Mediterranean Donkey, btw).

the result? a bit of a yawner, actually.

sparklet only really identifies things as animals when they move — everything else is just a big carpet. but, if the animals are moving, she can’t pet them. if they’re not moving, then what’s the point?

See All the Photos on Flickr:
national zoo
discriminating palate

August 7, 2010

i’ve got no clue what the heck is going on, but all of a sudden sparklet has developed a discriminating palate. and by “discriminating” i mean she will only eat black beans.

the lady sparkler has been slowly working more and more real food into her diet, and it must have dawned on her that we’ve been holding out — suddenly, that crappy-old pureed vegetables and fruits wasn’t going to cut it anymore.

not that there was every a doubt, but it looks like we’ve created a diva.
out: walter pierce park

August 7, 2010

See All the Photos on Flickr:
out: walter pierce park, washington, dc
“that’s it, i’m gone…”

August 7, 2010
firsts: sheet fort

August 6, 2010

photo of the week // week forty-three

See All the Photos on Flickr:
firsts: building a sheet fort
guestbook: katie

August 5, 2010

See All the Photos on Flickr:
guestbook: katie
the first phase is the deepest

August 4, 2010

not that she really needed any more neat tricks, but sparklet is entering a “I’m tired so I’m going to sit up” phase.

putting her to bed the last couple of nights has been awesome.

of course, even better will be the “I’m tired so I’m going to stand and wail in the crib” phase, and the “I’m tired so I’m going to destroy this room” phase.

awesome.
“you didn’t tell me there were people back here…”

August 2, 2010

sparklet’s first word is officially “hi”.

she said it once last weekend, and the lady sparkler and i nearly jumped out of our skin. this weekend, however, she said it about half a dozen more times to pretty much anything that moved (and a lot of things that didn’t).

anyway, it now seems to be less like an verbal accident, and more like an actual word.

so, there you go.

(photo from the flight from manchester back to baltimore.)
flexday: swimming pool

August 2, 2010

See All the Photos on Flickr:
flexday: swimming pool
week forty-two

August 1, 2010

photo of the week // week forty-two
fenway park

August 1, 2010

See All the Photos on Flickr:
fenway park, boston, ma