Month: June 2011
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out: hobart st. porchfest
See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
out: hobart st. porchfest with the talimos, mount pleasant, washington, dc -
trip #0: boston, ma
i’m in boston for the fourth-round of a job interview. hard to believe my nearly seven years at the conservancy might be over in a week or two. -
video: i’ve got no clue what this is
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLivxmktHSo
… but i’m pretty sure i recognize my daughters kneecaps in that stroller. -
ring of fire chicken
beside my on-going crush on nigella lawson, the best chef on tv is alton brown.not only is he able explain nearly everything in the world of cooking in a way that makes sense (though the grape juice commercials are a bit of a stretch) i can watch him grill a whole chicken for 30 minutes, even though i honestly can’t imagine anything less edible than the notion of breaking up a chicken, picking it up by its ankle, and then gnawing on its thighbone.
that said, his recipe for ring of fire chicken is next to godliness in my book — even though i will happily use an (utterly verboten in alton brown’s world) pre-deboned breast of chicken.
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it begins
earlier this week, sparklet ran up to the lady sparkler and handed her a doll.after a couple minutes of non-verbal grunting, the lady figured out that sparklet wanted her to take the doll’s clothes off — which she did.
sparklet then grabbed her (now naked) doll, ran to the bathroom, and held the doll over the toilet.
i think she might be trying to tell us something.
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papa’s got a brand new flag
… and one that’s slightly more appropriate than that “other” flag we’ve been flying recently. -
comprehension
sparklet’s comprehension is becoming a problem.the lady sparkler and i were talking about needing bread, and that one of use would have to “run out” to heller’s bakery. within two minutes, sparklet had gotten us our shoes, our phones, our wallets, her shoes and was heading towards her stroller.
i guess it’s time to start spelling “o-u-t” instead of saying the word…
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out: el picante español’s first birthday
it’s our new nanny share partner’s first birthday, so sparklet (and her entourage) crashed the party. cute kid, great family — they start full time with us in August.See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
out: el picante español’s first birthday -
flexday: mount pleasant, d.c.
it’s the most wonderful time of the year again — when summer flex hours start, and good conservationists get every other Friday off.a couple months ago, the lady and i were looking for photographs of mount pleasant to hang on our walls when i realized that i hadn’t taken any — like none in the four years i’ve been here, outside of a couple batches from snowstorms.
so, during my flex days this year i’m going to spend some time wandering around the neighborhood.
this week i knocked off all of ingleside, 18th and 19th streets, most of lamont street and half of newton. map of the route here, and photos below.
See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
flexday: mount pleasant, d.c. -
firsts: gardening
sparklet and i planted the first veggies of our newly reclaimed veggie patch — two basil, two tomatoes, and two cucumbers — but we saved the photo-op/watering until mommy could share the love.See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
firsts: gardening -
journey’s end
well, i’m not doing that ever again.my wife is calling the new place our “twenty year” house, because she says that is the minimum we’re going to be here. i call it our “you’re going to have to take my cold, dead corpse out of here” house, because … well, you get the picture. (i told sparklet earlier this week that the next time i move is when *her* kids move me into a home for the mentally addled.)
all told, the move actually didn’t go too badly.
my wife and baby made it to Tejas, had a great time, and returned on time, alive, with all eight limbs. (they took lots of pictures which, given my track record, it’ll take a month for me to sort though.)
for the move itself, our POD was delivered right in front of our door step with everything present and accounted for. we had movers who came in underbudget and early, and didn’t break or lose a single thing. even our cable company hit their installation window (tho i’ll politely ignore the fact that their window turned out to be 24 hours later than what they told me it was going to be).
by day three, all boxes were unpacked on the top two floors, with the exception of the lady sparkler’s clothes. by day nine, there were no boxes left in the entire house.
i’ve had a string of little projects to keep me busy, but nothing major — took down a tree in the backyard, filled in the coy pond of death, put up a railing in the basement, hung temporary shades in sparklets room, wrapped sparklet’s porch in wire fencing, and hung a Texas flag for Memorial Day (above).
we’ve already met (and love) our two closest neighbors on the west side, and our three closest neighbors on the east side. oh, and one of them has a 15 year old that is on the lookout for baby sitting gigs in the neighborhood.
and all happened while i wasn’t blogging for six days consecutive days — and the stoppage didn’t blink me into nothingness. (who knew?)
but, even though it went well, it’s just not worth risking doing it again. now, if you’ll excuse me i’m going to sit down in my beautiful, ninety seven year-old backyard and do nothing for the next decade or two.
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new backyard
we missed a whole spat of holidays this spring — from my birthday, to mother’s day, to the lady sparkler’s birthday, to (i presume) father’s day.so, instead, we bought ourselves a backyard and are going to throw ourselves a party.
i got new patio furniture, my wife got a grill — if you don’t know why that’s appropriate, you don’t know my wife very well — and even sparklet got herself a kiddie-wading-pool out of the deal.
now we just need to pick a date. stay tuned.
See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
new backyard -
video: the home campaign
part of being my wife’s husband is helping her manage change.when she was young, the lady sparkler legendarily got upset that they rearranged furniture in order to put up the Christmas tree. (i can neither confirm nor deny that this is why i shipped her off to austin during the move.)
so, in an attempt to protect life, preserve sanity during the move, i’ve been sending her pictures of the progress of Flickr and short videos (below) of the rooms as they’ve gone from project to completion.
i should manage my wife professionally.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsBGicpJuAo
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qvq2htChPM
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyM4fINoGAM
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVwCQ8Fj0E0
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