Decks and Chainsaws

What do you give your Mother who has given you so much?

A chainsaw!

No wimpy flowers for my Mom on Mothers Day.  

I found this little haiku about a chainsaw.

The screaming of trees
silenced by wail of chain saws.
F*** you IKEA.

I have no idea what that even means.

Anyway, isn't Trudi a good sport?!

Meanwhile, back at home, Jennifer gears up for deck season.

She is already in mid season form.

Like riding a bike.

The blog will be quiet for a few days while we are off on an adventure, gathering content to entertain you with.  We will be back with plenty of pictures and stories!

Shackled by Blue Apron

Another one of Jen and my continuing debates is over Blue Apron.

For me, the bloom is off the rose.  It was fun to play our music and cook a meal together.

Not the use of the past tense.

I find it relentless.  Two days a week we have to cook a big meal.  That sounds like nothing, but inevitably something comes up during the week and when you want to just chill and grab takeaway, we are forced to cook the 'easy to follow' instructions.

On the plus side we are eating meals we never would consider.  Once we start cooking it is nice to have time together.

As you can see below, Jen still loves her Blue Apron.

I never considered using spinach for a pillow.  Maybe I'll give Blue Apron another chance if it makes my Jennie this happy.

Zoe's birthday and clam strips

Bret was away at Army reserve and missed Zoe's birthday, so we took her to Michael's Harborside.

She had never been.  It was a perfect day to eat on the deck and look at the harbor.

Alas, Jen and I continued the controversy over clam strips.  I love them.  I don't like the consistency of the fat clam belly.  It often has sand in it and to me it's like chewing a scrotum.  I think I get the delicious clam taste, without the scrotal after taste.

Jen aggressively disagrees.

She is wrong.

 Zoe liked it so much that she said she was taking Bret their for his birthday a few days later.

 It was such a lovely day that the Queen came out for a little visit.

Tales and Ales

On Friday I snagged us last minute seats at Tales and Ales.  My festival buddy Bethany and her brewer husband James host this event twice a year in a local historical house.  The house was built in 1620 and was once a tavern.  It had low ceilings and dark wooden beams and enormous fireplaces.

Bethany and team were dressed as 17th century wenches (the 40 or so paying guests did not need to dress up).

There were musicians playing appropriate tunes.  They sat in the two fireplaces all night and played.

We were told to bring our own tankard.  It's hard to see in this dark picture but Bill had the biggest tankard of the night.

The food was served family style and without utensils just as they would have eaten in the 1600's.  They served roasted chicken and potatoes, carrots and sprouts - all very easily eaten with your fingers.

But the food I want to point out that was served when we first walked in…was popcorn!!!  Did they used to call it pop maize?  Needless to say, I scarfed down a bowl like a starving settler.

We had the ales from the minute we walked in the door…then after dinner came the tales.

Bethany does a lot of research in the local court records.  In the 1600's the court cases would have been heard by everyone in town at the tavern.  So she gave us all pieces of paper with little snippets of court records to read. 

 There were some fun stories but we ran out of time before everyone could read their papers…Bill got to read is.  He was a very bad man who mistreated his squaw servant.  The people of the town tried to protect her from him.  

We ended the event all singing an old drinking song and wandering out into the night, not sure if it was 2016 or 1616.

Graduating into a birthday

Our baby boy received his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics yesterday.  It seems like only days ago he was making up little sports games he'd play using only his fingers and inventing fake names for his 'finger athletes' (Carmelo Ichi was our favorite)

He used to keep statistics in all his made up games, which makes sense now that he will be a math teacher come the fall.

Now look at him!

His students will be calling him Mr. MacKay.

Jen and I dressed up for the occasion.  

The ceremony took two hours from start to finish.  Intellectually we knew it had to end, but it was difficult to feel it would end.

If I were the producer of the event I would have eliminated the Trustee speech and the Alumni speech.  Nothing against them, but I'm making the difficult cuts.

Anyway, look at Joey on the big screen!

Our other kid also was walking in this graduation.  Joey's girlfriend, Allie, received her BA as well.

Joey is all smiles as he accepts his diploma.

Meanwhile, Allie is all adrenaline when she received hers.

After the ceremony we were invited to Brenda's to celebrate not only Joey's graduation, but alson Bret's birthday.

If it wasn't Bret's birthday party I would have beat him.  He knows I hate having my ears touched, so he faked me out with a hug while giving me a wet willy.

I will get my revenge.

Jen and Keith take a nice picture.

Brenda made a nice fruit covered lemon cake for Bret's birthday.

Wyatte and Malikai fought over who would blow out the candles.

Some traditions never change.  I remember loving blowing out the candles.  I'm sure our parents remembered loving it too.

Despite catching Trudi with her eyes closed, she looked lovely.

Zoe indulged us by letting us take a picture of the pregnant woman shooting hoops.

Admittedly, I was three beers in by this time...

Love this picture, a keeper.

Congrats Joey.

Happy Birthday Bret.

And Then There Were Two...

By Friday it was just me and Jana. But we had a fun night planned - The Crucible starring Ben Whishaw, Ciran Hinds and Saoirse Ronan.

Did I say a "fun" night?  I forgot what a damn downer The Crucible is.  Oy - it's all pain and misery and just ends badly for everyone.  Good acting but i could have used a dance number to lighten up the evening.

Since we are approaching the end of Fabbietopia I thought I would add a couple pictures of Nancy's fabulous pad. When we had more people sleeping here they brought in cots that were quite comfy.

I lucked out and got the master bedroom for the last two nights.

I think I was watching Househunters International when I took this picture.

And here we all are - seven happy faces.

We are no longer together but we'll always have NYC!

Cinco de Mayo

On Cinco de Mayo (May 5th for those who don't speak spanish!) we went out to Jana's favorite Mexican restaurant in Spanish Harlem.  You'll note that Nancy is now gone - but we picked up a few others for the night.  Jana's friend Cassie (and a friend of hers…whose name I've forgotten!!) are on the end seats and Diane from Booktopia is next to me in glasses.

The Mexican place was a loco mob scene but what did we expect?  We ate our dinner and decided to find a more subdued spot for us to finish out the night.

We found our way to the upper upper west side (also known as Manhattan Valley) to meet up with Leslie - Vicki's daughter.  Turns out that she lives in the very same neighborhood as Diane - basically right down the street from this fine establishment.

Only 2 pictures from this night because we were just too busy chatting to remember to snap pics.

The Met

We spent Thursday afternoon at the Met.

In particular we wanted to see the Psycho barn house on the roof.  It was a nice creepy gloomy day for it.

It brought out the psycho in us!

I'm not sure if Jana is simply not acting or she is more psycho than any of us doing that smiling/stabbing pose.

There is just way too much to see in this museum.

Bill's favorite…he's always with me in spirit!

A few random pieces of art...

There was an exhibit about fashion in the age of technology in one of the wings.  The title of the show is Manus x Machina - - showing the distinction between hand made (embroidered, lacework, etc) and machine made (3D printing, laser cut, etc)

The fashion exhibit was probably wasted on me since I don't really understand haute couture - is there a human being who is actually wearing one of these feather dresses?  Or are they created just to be displayed?  But it must be worn or how is it fashion?  

I really should have taken more pictures of the art.