Preparing The Lion

It's quiet this morning. Maybe because it's snowing. Maybe it's because of Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou. Today is important tho. It's the last day of February. There won't be another til next year. It's the Sunday before a busy busy (did I say busy?) week. Tomorrow is March 1st so it's the our last chance to prepare our lion.



Last night Laura needed some help carrying in some bags when she got home. I waited on the front porch in the cold, just to get out a little and breath in some chill. The sky was out last night. I took some photos. This is my third favorite.



I liked the night photos I took out there so much that even after she got home and I got her inside I took a couple more, for 15 minutes or so. I wasn't wearing a coat.



I've been up since around 4 this morning. Trying to get a head start and a routine in place. I did the dishes and the laundry. Gonna make some eggs for breakfast, when/if she gets outta bed. Lotta coughing still last night. Making a doctors appointment for sure. Gonna put peppers in the eggs. Red & green. Like Christmas eggs. Maybe I'll add yellow, like a stop light. Or like this photo I took of our bedroom wall last night...



Our deer family is back this year, but only four. Pretty much every morning they're out back, eating thru the snow and leaving a trail. I've never followed it. We put a salt lick out for them. I don't know if they found it yet. There's no way to tell. There should be some way to tell. Dontcha think?

I tried to watch Moon yesterday. Fell asleep. But not because it was bad or boring. Because our couch is so damn comfortable. I do wanna see it tho. I feel like it'll be a good Sunday morning film to watch. Maybe I'll try again before Laura wakes. She'd appreciate that. It's not her kinda film.

outerspace + singular actor + psychological mindmelt = Laura's naptime

So maybe I'll do that now. And then prepare the lion.

The Mighty Kookaburra Reigns Supreme

A judge in Sydney, Australia ruled today that Men at Work’s ’80s megahit “Down Under” infringes on the copyright of an old children’s song called “Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree,” according to the AP. “Kookaburra…” was originally written by an Australian teacher named Marion Sinclair, who died in 1988. The song’s copyright is now owned by the publishing company Larrikin Music, which sued for unpaid royalties. “I have come to the view that the flute riff in ‘Down Under’ … infringes on the copyright of ‘Kookaburra’ because it replicates in material form a substantial part of Ms. Sinclair’s 1935 work,” said Federal Court Justice Peter Jacobson. The judge ordered the litigants to return to court on February 25 to discuss compensation.

Men At Work singer Colin Hay has responded to the judge’s decision with a lengthy statement, in which he admits that bandmate Greg Ham “unconsciously referenced two bars of Kookaburra on the flute… and it did end up in the Men At Work recording.” But Hay argues that it was part of the song’s arrangement, not its composition. Hay concludes by writing that the song, “lives in my heart, and may perhaps live in yours. I claim it, and will continue to play it, for as long as you want to hear it.”

See for yourself:

Men At Work's "Down Under"



Marion Sinclair's "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree"



This post is rubbish. Just an excuse to post this awesome song. Screw the Australian legal system!!

Tokugawa Smile & Garbage Style

After watching this video I feel that if RZA really was a tennis official Serena wouldn't have gotten ejected from that match. Just sayin..

Sunset Rubdown Defines The Hatter

My Soul Is A Chickpea

One of the many things we watched while on house arrest was Cold Souls. I'd been wanting to see this for quite some time so I'm glad Laura was into it. There's lots of movies to choose from on that On Demand list, so the temptation to watch a chick flick was there, but the snow does funny things to you I guess.

Cold souls was cool. Pretty much, Paul Giamatti plays himself, a successful yet disturbed actor who, at the time is trying to fight his way thru the weighty Russian tragicomedy, Uncle Vanya. When it all becomes too much for him to bear he takes extreme measures. After stumbling upon an ad in what else, The New Yorker, he decides to relieve himself of his soul and store it in a cold storage facility. It's all quite impressive and official, altho a concurrent sidestory assures you that all will not be well.

Russian double agents, soul trafficking, gross interpretation of Anton Chekov abound and make this movie a trip. Being John Malkovich comes to mind, just for the expansion of reality and the lack of opportunity for the viewers to call it into question. The movie balances just the right amount of drama and comedy and quality story telling. I liked it, and not surprisingly, because it's based off a dream that Woody Allen had about his soul looking like a chickpea. I think mine would look more like okra.

The Last Black & Whites

Seems like our camera broke. Went to take a shot late last night and it wouldn't turn on. Not the good one my parents got us for the wedding, the cheap one we take with us everywhere because, well, we break cameras, apparently. It's been going for awhile, taking fuzzy photos and working slowly, so it's not a total surprise. We bought it about two years ago, and after using it everyday for two years, sometimes twice a day, I guess we can't be all that mad it died. For now I'm keeping it on life support to see if it's just in a temporary coma. Think I'll pull the plug sometime next week.

These are the last random black & white photos we took with the Canon PowerShot A1000 IS:

Happy To Be Hostages

Well it seems like we had ourselves a real bona fide blizzard here on Arrowhead. Two days ago I was shoveling the drive so Laura could get back in after work and I could get out easily the next morning. Fast forward two days and those cars haven't moved.



The snow was one thing to deal with but the winds were insane. It looked like a white squall out there a few times, which was cool, but kinda crazy. Icy snowy roads and 50 mph winds don't make for friendly travel conditions. Luckily I have an understanding boss and for once Laura's manage closed the store down. Looks like we're stuck inside. And that was perfectly fine with us.



It's hard to even tell how much we got because of all the wind blowing the snow around. We've got patches that are only about a foot and some that pile up to my waist. All I know is when I dug out the walkway & the driveway this morning, it was rough. It was nice having a mini-vacation, but I'm ready for spring.



Neither of us went outside, so all we have are shots taken from windows. We couldn't even open the door because a snowdrift had been blown up against it. I had to force it clear this morning. So now pretty snow photos this time. Just documenting the occurrence so we can look back and say it happened. Because it did.

MomWear

it was quite necessary

Some Idiots Just Are

In Easton, Before It All

I didn't know then...

what I know now...



and that's okay.

Fight! Fight!

Dizzy Kids

Sometimes we like to spiral around the house

Meat Goats 4 Sale

He Can Hunt Coypu

Westminster was on last week. I think the Scottish terrier won or something. I managed to catch the hound group, my favorite, and the best in show ceremony. After seeing this thing thru for a number of years and falling in love with a different dog every time, I think I've really found one that I like and Laura likes it too. It's called an Otterhound, and altho the hunting of otters has since 1978 become illegal, there he is. I read that in order to own an otterhound you need to have a sense of humor [check], a fair amount of patience [check], and aren't obsessed with keeping your house & clothes clean [check]. So maybe this spring we'll be looking for a little puppy. Maybe next. It depends on a bunch of things, obviously finding one, and then whether or not we can afford to have two babies in the house. Plus I read that it can be kind of hard to adopt one. There's only about 1,000 in the world and less than 400 in the United States. There are between 4 & 7 litters born every year in American & Canada and there's a somewhat rigorous assessment and even then you can wait several months before an otterhound is available. Sooooooooooo, maybe a black lab?

Snow Surprise

Where the hell did this come from?!

All of the sudden I'm buried in snow. Laura closed the store a little early and now she's stuck in NJ which sucks but I'd rather not have her drive all the way home in this. That place will get her a hotel room. She'll be cushy tonight. But we'll both be alone. Well, I'll be alone.

Now where's that berries and cheese ice cream?

Something We Haven't Said

I'm just now realizing that, though there's been plenty of allusion & innuendo, not once have we come out and said anything, deliberately or cut & dry. It's only recently that we even starting notifying the public as to anything out of the ordinary, we didn't want to keep it private obviously but, we also saw no need in flying a banner over the interweb. Anyhow...

Laura's pregnant.

We found out December 28th. The test was positive. We took two more tests on the 30th to confirm. They, too, were positive.



It's a hard thing to put your finger on. If you asked me five years ago if I'd be married living in the Poconos and expected a baby I'd of laughed in your face. But I guess that's what's so strange about it all is that even tho we never thought to be here, and here now, it feels completely natural, as if there was some design to it all. I'm no disciple of fate, but there must be a reason that this whole ordeal hasn't alarmed us as much as it's given us a sense of tranquility and equanimity.



We hadn't really been trying. Of course we've had "the talk" and knew a time would come. I guess a power greater than us decided that time was now. And we agree. Not too much terribly has gone down in form of baby preparation. She's just now out of her first trimester and we've only been to the doctor twice. Once to verify and again this past week to verify the verification.



Diets have changed. Practices have altered. Now while walking thru walmart we slow way down at the baby section we used to fly past without giving it a second thought. Conversations about what color to paint the room, be it a boy or a girl, whether or not that matters, practicing our levels of tolerance, and thinking of what friends and family to hit up for hand me downs. These are all things I think most expectants do.



We've got a book that lays out the development of the baby that Laura got from her midwife. It sits on my nightstand and I read it every couple of days, just to see what's going on in there. Laura doesn't read it as much as I read it to her, probably because she can feel what's going on in there. She's taken on the favorite quote of every woman in her condition. "I'm feeling pregnant right now". And she's only 15 weeks.



Laura's even found an application on her phone that tracks the pregnancy and tells you of all the things going on day to day and even shows you a lifesize photo of the baby so you can see it grow from a peanut. I wondered what happens when the baby grows bigger than the phone. I'm asking the tough questions.



Just recently we've moved onto two breakfasts. She had two today. I wondered why she got up so early with me when I knew she didn't have to work til 1. And the other day, when the two of us didn't have to get up early at all, she woke before me and actually, for once in her life, wanted to get up and go downstairs. But before I could slide into my slippers she was halfway thru her first bowl of cereal. "Baby's hungry", she says with a cinnamon grin.



So now that the baby is out of the bag, we can move on with ourselves, knowing we're all on the same page and no one is left out in the dark. Except the baby. It's dark in there I bet.

I Will Be Extra Outrageous

So it's needless to say our life has changed the past month or so. Rewind to before Christmas and we were doing the do we did so well, and without a care in the world, kinda. And not to say that any new developments have created any sort of tension or significant personal stress. If anything it's done the opposite. Those plus signs caused us to sit up and take notice. To maybe grab hold the reins a little tighter, instead of dangling them over our shoulder or twiddling them between our toes. And it feels good.


a benefit of the early commute

We've given up a lot the past couple weeks. Clean clothes, nights together, Office reruns to a box of chianti. The little things that came to become habit, good or bad or neither. But we've replaced them with other things, like eating well, and dinner before 10pm, and a possible sense of design versus our forthright meandering about the universe. That's pretty heavy.


Miguel's final bow

And it's been interesting playing this role. I know for most it's all part their hundrum, but to me it's new and I'm sure someday I'll get so sick of it I'll wanna throw myself off the roof of the building, possibly into the compactor, but for now! I'm cool. I come home everyday with aching feet and a sore back, starving and smelling like touline di-isocyanate thinking I should be miserable, but I'm not. Plus it gives me an actual reason to drink that chai tea every morning.


she owes me an apology

And things are only gonna get more peculiar in the coming months. So far no disgusting food cravings have popped up, outside her normal obsessions, but I'm counting on the days of olives and ice cream or popcorn and peanut butter. That actually kinda sounds good. Am I as scared as I should be? Probably not. But that's okay. Nothing about any of this has scared me yet so why start now?


it comes with the territory, apparently

I heard a lyric today off the new Xiu Xiu album (which is killer by the way) that I really liked for no reason, as stupid as it was. Maybe it was the backing clatter or the pounding hail or the fact that I felt like I knew what he meant when Jamie Stewart squeezed out "If you expect me to be outrageous I will be extra outrageous." I don't know why that coincides with anything I just said but.... does it matter?

Scranton? What!

The Electric City! No? No Office fans out there. Well now I'm embarrassed.

President's Day. Washington's birthday. Another holiday we're not quite sure how to celebrate. Let's see: Presidents > old guys > mostly dead > dead people's things > powdered wigs > antiques > ANTIQUING! We'd get there someway or another.

Since we weren't in the market for anything at the time and browsing was our major intention we headed out towards Scranton to a place we'd never been called The Carriage Barn. Assured that it was the largest collection of fine antiques in northeast Pennsylvania how could we go wrong?



Cool building and a lot of interesting stuff but ultimately not our kinda place. We're more into the hidden treasures and great finds, diamond in the rough type stuff and things that have price stickers under say $47,000. But it was a nice place!




We headed into Scranton where we found another antique place, Red Barn Collectibles, but this place was a real pile of junk. I mean literally there were piles of junk all over the place and we weren't in the mood for scavenging. I'm sure there was some interesting stuff there but we felt a little creeped out by the whole place. This was a photo I found the urge to snap while there.



We headed over to the Steamtown Mall to see if we could cash in some of these Auntie Anne's freebies I got over the summer but the Steamtown Mall is the one mall in America that doesn't have an Auntie Anne's pretzel stand and the Bavarian Pretzel Bakery didn't seem amused when we tried to use them there. But boy these Scrantonites seem to really embrace the Office characters. They were all over the place, from adds for Office tours that'll set you back $45 (pretty steep for a show that shoots in Van Nuys California) and murals of the actors all over town. We rode in an elevator with Dwight.



He didn't say much.

We walked ourselves down to the courthouse and took a photo with the Electric City sign, probably the one and only landmark type site found within Scranton, so... there it is.




What else could we do to celebrate President's Day? Let's see: George Washington > couldn't tell a lie > cherry tree > the Cherry Hill Gang > the Indian goddess Ganga > Indian food! We did it again. But mainly we stopped because Laura was starving and she saw this...



Notice the "All You Can Eat" portion of the sign. But you couldn't really miss the place. It stuck out a little.



Here's Laura patiently waiting for me to snap a photo of her first plate of food. Moments later this was all gone. The plate too.



And the best thing about this place was the orange/rose ice cream. Holy crap this was so good I opted out of the rice pudding which after Indian food, c'mon. We need to start adding rose extract to everything we eat.



So Scranton was slightly underwhelming, but maybe we were expecting the hijinks from Dunder-Mifflin or maybe we just were there on an off day. Maybe we were off, but I doubt it.