Born On Father's Day

We Got A Dozen +1

Did you miss National Donut Day?

A Week Of Beers

I love the random sample feature at the package store at Mignosi's

3rd Annual Come-Stand-In-Our-Backyard-Wearing-Casual-Attire-To-Partake-In-Discussion-On-Current-Events-And/Or-Common-Interests-While-Eating-Hamburgers Day

 Seems like everything we do all summer builds up to the party we throw. I say this because I haven't lifted a finger to even water a plant or trim a bush since Sunday. Maybe I'm just beat. Probably I'm just beat.

Matthew was eyeing these girls, and eyeing their watermelon.

This patio was the surprising gathering place of the geriatric club this year

Thanks to Tyler the kids had something that kept them more than occupied

When dusk fell we broke out the movies and they fell right in line, adorably

Place looked nice

The next morning we had a dozen for breakfast and Yuula gave the kids checkups, as she's known to do

We had a quick cleanup Sunday evening and when the dust settled I found myself completely alone on the backdeck with a beer, and it was good

A Brief Lull In The Month Of May

Today was rather uneventful. After we got the Krupps on the road and got mother off to work, Yuula settled in for one of her 3 viewings of Cinderella today and i went upstairs to tie up some loose ends for SSI, hopefully for the weekend. I gotta admit, it was nice not to be on 24/7 Yuula watch, and even tho all I did all week was work, it was still like a sort of vacation. But I missed her. She missed me. She told me so today. Then we both fell asleep to Cinderella. Shut up.

Decided to greet Laura in the driveway. Had to start talking about M-Day plans, since it's the day after tomorrow and we have no idea really what's going on. I think I'll drive her in tomorrow and spend the day wandering around town, in part to get out of the house, in part to get supplies.

And more beer.

Matilda & Ommegang

new favorite brews

now I just gotta find 'em again

Our Addle Brains Ensue

We had a breakthrough in home refurbishing this week that just couldn't wait another minute to make it down onto graph paper. It would've burned a hole in someones head. I can't believe we didn't think of this before. Maybe because we'd eradicate one of our favorite features on the entire house, but weighing the multitude of pros, it must be done. Now we have to decide which project to bite off this warm season. Could we fortunate to complete both? Would be able to finish one? Only the fall harvest will tell. And she ain't talking yet.

We celebrated how awesome we were at playing pretend and rewarded Yuula for hearing us say the words 'ice' and 'cream' too close in succession by heading out to the Gem & Keystone Brewpub at the foot of Shawnee slopes. We thought we deserved it. Laura & I did the sampler trio of beers, brière blanche, triple pale, and session porter, left to right, not the order we drank. Yuula had a decadent 'roni & cheese, I had the fish, Laura the steak, as we are wont to do, and finished up with some delicious desserts of a double brownie a la mode for her, a quite creative apple crisp for myself, and Yuula a toddler size bowl of some delicious chocolate ice cream. I only know it's delicious because she could not finish so... c'mon now. We were kind of stunned to hear it was Breyers. Was kind of hoping for a crunchy homebrew. We sat next to some delightful Long Islanders just in for the powders and their 2 year old Belinda, whom Yuula spent the later part of the evening running ragged thru and amongst the tables that had long been abandoned by earlier diners. That's how we do. 

Then we needed orange juice, but it's never that simple. A cartful and a blind swipe of the visa later and we were on our way home. She's brushing her own teeth and I am changing into my own pj's as I type. I'm good like that. No time to blog these days.

Ending August In La...(*)^%-!

It was a rough end to August.

We lost power last night, just until this morning. Small outage but none the less effective in interrupting, well, everything.

We (Yuula and I) spent a couple hours outside doing nothing in particular

She read some David Sedaris

I blew some bubbles

When Laura got home we went to a new (to us) place on 715 called Cook's Corner.

Good but the annoyance of the power out got to Yuula and she was not on her best behavior.

We went home and drank a few leftover party beers by candlelight and talked about what we'd do tomorrow (today), if there's power of course (there was).

The End

Rain Just Missed Us

The Trunks came over for dinner last night and Isabella brought Yuula a gift.

She handed it to her so sweetly and as a return gesture Yuula threw it on the floor. What a sweetheart!

Laura somehow managed to whip up a monster meal last night including burgers, homemade fries, deviled eggs, beer battered brats, pasta salad, and cheery pie. I was full before I finished one course. And the rain just missed us. Come on up. We will do one for you.

The girls had a great time with beads and trampolines and slides and flashing each other. Apparently they're both embracing the shirtless look for this summer. It's too soon to be concerned.

Rainy day out today but we have plans to keep us busy.

Heavy Tunes At The Red Fish

Laura and I have been to our fair share of live musical performances, ranging from sparse and enigmatic to swarming and raucous. Wednesday night was to be an altogether different experience however.

the entrance to Le Poisson Rouge

Searching some time now for a night worth our while, knowing that we don't get out on the town much nowadays, having baby and being lazy and all, it would take a lot for us to gather up our gear and hike that mountain. I instantly fell in love with the exerted vulnerability of the new Lost In The Trees album, sadness never sounded so amazing. I looked into it and found a little bar on Bleeker called Le Poisson Rouge was hosting them in just a couple weeks. New York City it was.

We got there early, but later than normal for us. A few beers at the bar, and quick scan of the restroom sitch (they got thrones!) and it seemed like the show was ready to begin. We headed up to a standing table where we met Brent. Let me tell you a little bit about Brent, because he did. Brent is 46 and from Vancouver. Today he went to the Mets game and bought a cap worn by Lucas Duda and a genuine baseball leather moneyclip which he took out and showed to us. He works for a hospitality company that handles the Olympics and he is excited about going over to London soon because it is in London where he met his future wife, Marjorie. He knows this because when someone's imperfections are what is attractive about them, then it's love, says Brent. This was all very nice conversation before, between and after show openers Poor Moon, who were also very nice. They had a great song with a killer whistle duet. Brent did not.

Before the headliners took to the stage I hit the thrones and grabbed a couple fresh drinks where I met Nick & Chris, a coupla dudes probably from Brooklyn or Jersey City who complimented me on my beard after which we bonded over love of Indian curry, Lake Wallenpaupack, and Atlanta's seminal venue of the early 2000s, the Drunken Unicorn. That ended after they ordered two Magic Hats and I ordered The Dietrich (rye whiskey, cherry liquer, Dubonnet Blanc, orange bitters and twist) and a Stella Artois. When I got back to our table Laura had filled Brent in on our entire life including but not limited to our sleeping habits, the address and combination of our storage unit, and our social security numbers. This was fine. Brent seemed nice. Anyone who claims to be in love with a girl named Marjorie can't be all that untrustworthy.

Then Lost In The Trees took the stage.

They took the stage to the Postal Service, which must've made me grimace because Laura asked if I was okay. That wasn't the vibe I was working on is all, but the good news is it was all uphill from there. Lost In The Trees was raw. Acoustic guitar, cello, drums, tuba, synthesizer, violin, bass, french horn, piano, raw. And it sounded great. A half a song in and the balance was struck in the booth and there was no looking back. The albums' operatic vocals and amazing strings that I could've sworn was electronics came shimmering thru and each song got tighter and grander than the last. The quiet moments you could hear a pin drop. The robust moments hung in the air and repeatedly dropped on your chest and ears. The crowd was extremely grateful, for a bunch of NYU students and SoHo yuppies, and the band was extremely humbled by it all, seemingly thrown to the wolves only to be coddled and adored instead of eaten alive. This lovefest went on throughout the set which only seemed to strengthen the band's tenacity, really putting it together and throwing it down for us on the final laps.

Highlights were the expected singles, Red & Golden Eyelids (before which lead singer Ari Picker admitted cautiously, "this song scares the hell out of me"). The rest of the new material was even more evocative live than on record, especially This Dead Bird Is Beautiful during which I may or may not have welled up (a lot), and older songs like Song For The Painter and a new killer rendition of Fireplace brought the house down and the arms up (and a boisterous soccer Dad-like "WOW!" from Brent). Knowing the inexplicably sad background of band leader Ari Picker, which seemed to be the overriding connection amongst the gawking crowd, made the night extremely heavy emotionally, knowing that was his motivation to build this awesome piece of music, knowing that was his mother on the cover of it all, hearing the shoutouts from the band members to their kids at home followed by vocals choking on teardrops, Lost In The Trees poured their hearts out to us and we put all our arms around them.

Good stuff.