Scooper Bowl Ice Cream Festival

We went to Boston's Scooper Bowl tonight, an ice cream festival masquerading as a kid's charity event. It occupies Boston's Government City plaza (front side of city hall) and runs 3 days, June 8 to 10. Matthew wrote up a review of all 36 flavors at his personal blog.

Snarky opinions of ice cream: 2010 Scooper Bowl Flavor Review

Latin lunch in Brooklyn!

Sunny and I just spent two days at her long-time friend Chelsea's place in Brooklyn. We walked across the Manhattan Bridge, enjoyed the fine weather, and saw a concert in Times Square. Just before leaving on Saturday, we grabbed some lunch in their neighborhood at the very popular (and colorful!) Habana Outpost. I shot this video with our impressions and some details on their ecological thinking.



See also the Habana Outpost menu! The catfish burrito cost $8+, but I liked it quite a bit.

On Friday, we walked from Brooklyn to Times Square, crossing to the island on the Manhattan Bridge. Sunny noticed these excellent bicycle on-ramps and dedicated lanes for those using pedal power, something Boston could take a cue from!

Early May Fashion Photos

This is one of two blue polka dot dresses Sunny owns, the other being a classic polyester number with somewhat bigger polka dots. She added a pair of pearl earrings today, as plucked from a table at the "Top Shelf Flea Market" in Davis Square (Somerville, MA) for $5. Reflections from a windowed building opposite this wall added quite a bit of fill lighting!

22 Pieces of Family Fridge Flair

Like many people, we keep lots of special things from friends and family on our fridge. Here's what it looks like, as of March 1, 2010!

Check the numbers and key below.

1. Magnet showing seashells from Tybee Beach, souvenir of Sunny and Terry's 2008 trip to Savannah, Georgia
2. Matthew and Sunny at the Bon Air restaurant, picture taken by Sunny's mom Katy in 2009
3. Stacey and Gus Schettler, picture from their home in Raleigh, NC
4. Gus and Aaron Schettler, ibid
5. Magnetic pocket for storage of coupons and such
6. Card from Mick Schettler's memorial service, picture of dove
7. Magnetic grocery list
8. Engagement announcement (Jake Schettler, Noah Schettler, and their fiances)
9. Magnet stating that "Housework is evil. It must be stopped." HA!
10. Matthew's grandparents, Clark and Dorothy, who celebrate their 70th anniversary in 2010
11. "Love Wanga" magnet, showing the cover of a 50s pulp book
12. Amos Prudhon, from his trip to India (and currently living in Tazmania)
13. Sunny posing as an angel from a conference booth in Seattle
14. Sunny's mom Katy with Joanne, and baby Iris
15. Matthew's cousin Phil at age 6, wife Wendy in the center, and daughter Zoey at right
16. Postcard sent by our friend Sam during his time living in Japan
17. Dean, Parker, and Karen Bliske, children of Matthew's cousins Eric and Ellen
18. "Night Life in Appleton, WI" postcard (the joke: it's totally black)
19. Route 66 postcard, from Sunny's childhood town of Tulsa, OK
20. Hand-drawn poster by Zoey Buchanan
21. Picture of Christmas cookies made by Matthew's mom, Judy
22. "Rodman's Ride for Kids" fundraiser thank-you letter sent to Sunny

Reflections on the Ocean

Our friends went to Cotuit, MA, to stay at the Chessman Family house for a little weekend get-away. Since most of us could only stay for Saturday night, it was just a short holiday on Cape Cod, which is quiet and serene in the wintertime. Year round residents on the cape manage to keep a few restaurants and businesses open, but many of the homes are dark without their summer visitors and the beaches tend to be empty.

I couldn't keep myself from the ocean for long though, knowing it was close by. Late on Saturday afternoon I said to Terry, "Let's go down to the beach."

"Sure, Sunny -- let's go", she replied.

Unlike the summertime when you could easily walk or bike the mile between the house and the beach, we quickly decided to bundle up and drive down to the empty Beach Parking lot. The beach was covered in bootprints rather than footprints. A few gulls and shore ducks milled around but no one else was there. It was so quiet and serene.

I started to think of my Dad as I often do when at the ocean. He always loved sailing and stories of the sea, and I imagined the coastline at Cotuit probably had a long history of settlers and natives mingling on the shores...maybe even a pirate ship or two making a stop at this quiet bay. Arrr, pirates! Dad always loved stories of pirates.

But instead of pirates this beach was only frequented by gulls and geese, occasional mallards and other shoreline ducks, most of whom had gone south for the winter. A few remained and as Terry and I watched the birds, I told her how my Dad (7-15-49 /12-11-09) would have loved this place. He wouldn't get to see it in person. although I felt his presence strongly from time to time while walking there. But someday, she reassured me, we would have a little reunion on these shores.

So I collected a few shells, packed up my talk of memories with him in the fading sun, and drove us back to the quiet little house. A warm fireplace and game of Apple-to-Apples let us wile away the evening, drinking and laughing among friends, much like any good pirate would.

Thanksgiving approaches!

A new camera arrived just in time for the holiday season, so we snapped a couple of test photos.

This new piece of hardware takes pictures, captures HD video, and would probably mow the lawn, if we had one.

Did you know digital cameras can wear out? While Sunny's HP PhotoSmart still takes pictures, they sometimes fail to transfer onto a computer successfully, so we're forced to just delete them instead. :-P

In order to comply with all Internet regulations, here's a picture of our cat.

Looking forward to this thursday, when we make bread and cranberry sauce for a friend's Thanksgiving dinner!

PAX 2009 - A weekend away

We came, we met friends, geeks, and cos-players (costumed characters from other worlds). We also saw a great Saturday night concert of synth pop musicians, Freezepop. A good time was had by all !

More photos and stories coming soon...