Shamrocketship

Run Away!!!

Not exactly the Killer Rabbits of Caerbannog, but a little scary nonetheless.

Homage to all of the Rabbits who died at the hands of incompetent magicians.  /Watch in High Quality mode if you can/

It's Cirque du Soleil with nasty, big, pointy teeth.  Kind of like being on acid without the side effects.

Museum Day

I'm too tired to write anything about it - our tickets included the Planetarium show, the Butterfly Exhibit, the IMax Dinosaur show and the H20 Exhibit - but here's the beginning of the photo album (and over on the right as AMNH April 2008). 

That raccoon is NOT an exhibit in the museum. 

Spring Fling Photos

I know there was someone else at the gathering last night that had a camera, but I didn't see the flash going off too many times.  If my shots are all there are, I wish I'd taken more.  They do not do the evening justice.  It was a hoot, and Kate and I are already plotting the next one.  Thanks to Fausta and Jim for setting this one up.

In no particular order: 

We were in Princeton, mind you.  We had proper TABLES. 

And proper drinks.  We won't mention (ahem) that SOME people consumed a bottle or five or six of CHOCOLATE VODKA before they even arrived at the PAR-TAY . . .

Fausta has mentioned that it was a death-defying evening.  Here's one reason (besides the CHOCOLATE VODKA): 

Awesome desserts, including the infamous cheddar cheese pie (recipe courtesy of Suzette, preparation courtesy of Mr. Bingley) and Gregor's (or Mrs. Gregor's?) minty-licious brownies.

Things started out nice and civilized.  Here's Fausta and Denny.  Denny, as I explained to him early on, was the reason for my very attendance.  He came all the way from Atlanta and therefore gave me no excuse to claim that Princeton was too far for me to drive on a Saturday night. 

  Obviously, I was not the only one in awe of the Denny factor.  Here, The Bodyguard attempts to get his autograph, although whether Denny actually gave it to him is debateable.   

Denny's "autograph"?????

Oooookayyy.  Things are starting to loosen up a bit at this point in the evening.   D'joo ever read the stuff these two write about/to each other?   You'd think they were mortal enemies.  Instead, I give you this:  EVIDENCE OF OTHERWISE.   

   

Here's where things start to go downhill.  The Bodyguard notices Erica (the High Priestess of Brooklyn) is wearing an "interesting" T-shirt.

Do you notice that there is no link for The Bodyguard?  Hahaha.  He thinks he can remain anonymous because he doesn't have his own blog.  But he does such blog-worthy deeds, that he simply can't escape blog fame-dom.  Here's an example:

Fuggedaboudit, Bodyguard!  You will NEVER live this down!   

Still, he tries to deflect attention to the Sad Old Goth.

And I'm not really sure what happened here, but as I left, I thought I heard a voice, kind of like a tiny fly caught in a web, calling out "Hellllppp Meeeeee!  Helllllp  Meeeeeee!!!"

Anywhoooo . . . I think most of us survived. There were a number of other wonderful people I met who escaped the camera, but will soon be blogrolled.  Fausta has additional pictures, names, links that I missed. 

 

   

Puppy Dog Tales

I went to this yesterday:

And I happened to come across a copy of this book in a vendor's stall:

It is loaded with pictures of dogs from Bellhaven, the kennel my Grandfather managed, including this one - the same image hangs over the piano in my living room:

The book mentions my Grandfather, and so I was happy to part with $35 to own it.   And wow, something really weird just happened.  I got that framed photo in my living room at an auction held at the old kennel estate, many years after it had closed.  I was at a garage sale in town that morning, and the woman holding the sale owned a collie so I mentioned my connection to Bellhaven.  She asked me why I wasn't at the auction.  Obviously I hadn't known about it, but as soon as she mentioned it I drove over there.  Unfortunately, it was late as far as auctions go, and all the old trophies and pictures were pretty much sold already.  They were in the process of auctioning off the front doormat when i arrived.  It was black rubber and had the word "Bellhaven" on it.   I figured it would be an easy win, but there was a woman there who kept raising the bid and when it got up to $75, I dropped out and let her have it.  I couldn't for the life of me figure out who else would pay that much, so I introduced myself to her after the sale ended.    She was a collector of collie memorabilia, and had purchased quite a few things that day.  She offered to sell one or two items back to me if I wanted.  One of them was the photo of Model above, enlarged to about 24x36, matted and framed.  That's how it ended up in my living room.   

And just now?  Googling for an image of Bellhaven or something related, I came across this piece by her husband regarding a rug he bought at the auction that day, and it mentions me bidding "vigorously" against his wife for the doormat.  Bizarre, small world.   

Other pictures from the day follow.  Emma, you would have loved it!

Chia Update

Charo Chia Day 2:

Charo Chia Day 6: 

It is aliiiiiiiiive . . .

Cats-up

Mom and I went to a cat show last weekend.  I've never been to one before, and I got the impression it was a fairly big regional show, but not like the Westminster or anything.  Let's just say that I already know cat people are different from dog people, but there's also an exponential difference between cat people and cat show people.   Talk about taking things seriously . . .

Getting a decent photo of a cat at a show is harder than I had patience, room, or equipment for, and I was trying not to use a flash so as not to unnerve Fluffy or Inky and thereby cause the judge to require stiches.  But here are a few for your entertainment:

Wooty Wednesday

Well the Karma gods are at it again.  I suppose as offset for my miserable eBay experience (see yesterday's post), I had an amazingly pleasant experience with a furniture delivery today.  Eight days ago, when I ordered the piece, the store told me it would arrive in "about 10 days" and they'd call me then to set up delivery.  I figured the "about 10 days" would stretch to "about 30 or 45 or 52 days" with no shortage of frustrating phone calls inbetween.  But no.

They called today, it was in, and they wanted to deliver it right away.  I told them I'm not home until 6:30 or so, and they said "OK, how about a little after that?"  Dumbfounded at their accommodatedness, I agreed.  And dang.  They showed up right on time.  No fuss, no problems.  In case you're in the Monmouth/Ocean County, NJ area, they're Bedroom Galleries, on Route 9 in Howell. 

And in other wooty news, I'm signed up and can't wait for this event!

Stop! Listen!

So, um, Sparky and I went out to dinner the other night.  A place we don't usually go, in a nearby town that we've been to a half-dozen times but not on any regular basis.  Sparky's not real familiar with the roads in this part of the world, and when he's driving I have to give him directions most of the time and definitely this night, because it was dark and all.  We came to a 4-way intersection that he's been through before, just not recently.

Sparky, on pulling up to the intersection:  "Oh!  Here's that little stop where we usually stop."

Me:  Blink, blink.  "Yeah, we usually do.  Stop.  At the stop." 

I am still laughing over that one, out loud. 

And just for kicks, go listen to The Billies if you're not busy stopping at stops and such.  xnThis is messy because I've embedded a song but have no idea how to make a pretty link but it's a really good song, click here and listen!.wma

nMaybe here's another one?.wma

S is for Sunday . . .

S is also for Snickerdoodles . . .

and it is also for my new Scarf.  My Tribble Scarf. /<=== Link hiding in there/

Notes from the Crawlspace

Well, I invited y'all, but I didn't see anyone I know* at the First-and-Maybe-Last Philadelphia "Layin' Pipe" Pub Crawl.  Since it's taken me over an hour to publish the photo album, there'll just be a few quick notes on the subject here tonight: 

- Getting around was way more fun than I thought it would be.  The band played three arranged gigs, and tried to play a few more after that.  Only two (the last two locations that they DIDN'T play at) were walking distance to each other.  The rest required a shuttle van, or five taxis at a time to move us from place to place.  There were also the phenomenally generous and friendly patrons of the first bar (Yell-o, it was) who volunteered a total of four SUVs and drivers to take us to place number two. 

- Place number two was the Plough and Stars, and although it was really neat architechturally speaking, it sort of felt like we were interrupting the patrons' dinners. 

- Place number three was McGillans, and boy was that fun.  The crowd there was young, appreciative, and didn't seem to want us to leave.  We shouldn't have.

- Place number four was Finnegan's Wake, and I won't even link to it because a) it was a firetrap up on the second floor - there should never have been that many people inside with one exit and b) they didn't let the band play.  Phooey. 

- Place number five looked promising, but right about the time we should have marched in, a few people in the band grew . . . let's call it "tired" . . . and we dispersed.

- The next day, I was lucky enough to complete a short pilgrimmage to one of the few remaining residences that housed me favorite poet boy, Edgar Allan Poe.  It was well worth the ride into and through one of the dicier parts of Philly.

- As for the main part of the city, I LOVED IT.  I LOVED IT.  I REALLY LOVED IT. I've been there before on a number of occasions, but never quite found the vibe until this trip.   We found phenomenal cheesesteaks at Jim's, I got a beautiful pair of brown suede boots for $26 (that's not a typo) at a store I can't remember the name of on South Street,  and I cannot wait to go back and explore some more.

Philly rocks.   

* Other than the band members, duh.