Saturday, October 30, 2010

Punkin' Fun-kin

October 30, it was about time we carved the pumpkin Wally brought home a couple weeks ago.



Are the insides ever not gross?



Jimmy helped me sort all the pulp off the seeds (yuuuck.)



And I did the carving (yuuucker!) I kinda screwed it up.



But I didn't screw up the seeds,



They were woodstove'sted and YUUUM! Happy Almost Halloween!

Friday, October 29, 2010

October 29th

...is the day Jimmy's class wore costumes and went singing at a local nursing home. Everyone melted for Captain Jimmy,



...it was too cute! After that we decided we wanted to check out the other October 29th event, the opening of Portland's Trader Joe's!



I hit a little traffic coming upon the site. It kept getting denser and I started thinking "nooo...this can't be becau--. Can it?"



Affirmative, the gridlock was caused by all kindza new Trader Joe devotees. Getting around the parking lot was impossible, the guy they had directing traffic was completely overrun,



...and with my rearview mirror looking like this:



I decided to put off my first trip for another time, which ended up being later this afternoon. My first impression = AWESOME!! It's like Deliciousness and Disney World and Great Prices and Maine all wrapped up with Groceries and excellent customer service. They thanked me for being there. ME! There were thousands of other shoppers there and they still managed to make me feel special and welcome. With that level of customer service, I can pretty much cross Trader Joe's off the list of places that might hire me, which is fine because I'd much rather just shop there. Happy October 29th!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

B'ackfrica

My brother Mark and sister-in-law M, and Laura and Kay are home from their most recent 3 week trip to the Newstart Children's Home in Zimbabwe, and here we are with some awesome treasures! From M and Mark we received this wonderful soapstone carving of Wally, Jimmy, and me:



Does that just not say it all. LOVE IT!

We also received a hippo carving:



...which goes only too well with my other soapstone hippo:


Hippo and Child

And lastly, written responses to the letters Jimmy "wrote" to the kids at Newstart.


Priceless

Each of these is packed with personality, it is unreal. These kids are so well spoken and surprisingly introspective and present themselves with a level of class that I am certain is not taught in our American schools. As I read them aloud I knew they were something special, but it really came true when Wally started picking them up and also reading aloud. Just magical, many thanks to these selfless folks who travel on their own time and dime to help out. These gifts have made my week!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Southward Ho!



We're leaving in the morning for a wedding, hubby is IN the wedding, a minor detail I learned just a few weeks ago. It's at a yacht club in Connecticut, shi shi! Wish us luck!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Goin' for a Walk...


Autumn shadow


"Where did that RV go...?"


Pinecone hunting




"Where did summer go...?"


Run-ninnnng!


Stoppin' to watch the game


Loot from an autumn walk around the 'hood!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

2 π 4

Dinner Before:


Dinner After:


I know, I just made a pie yesterday, but as the title implies this was a pie to die for! That's red bell pepper, swiss chard, and eggs, then topped with parmesan and pie crust. I had to make it after being uncontrollably inspired by this recipe. Its photos are amazing, the recipe is amazing, the entire blog is amazing, but I believe the final decision to make this pie hung on the post's final line: You can serve this warm from the oven or wrap it up and serve it cold at a picnic. Sold! Nevermind that it's cold windy Northern Hemisphere October, in fact I think it made it better. Happy Saturday!

Friday, October 15, 2010

Thanks Uncle Sal!

Wally has an enamorment for the landlord of his recording space, Sal. Uncle Sal is like a, well, an uncle to him and we are periodically recipients of his garden foodstuffs. This week we got:


Swiss Chard


Grapes (Sal turns these into wine, of course.)


A peek of the most delicious Bell Peppers ever!


And a bunch of pears!


Which I baked into a pie.


Mmmmmm! Thanks Uncle Sal!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

The United State of Excited

I know I just posted about the State Theatre, but today they had some press there AND Jimmy and I went and took some photos. Shame they don't do it justice, neither does the news clip...you'll just have to go to a show to appreciate the experience!!




















The one bummer,



...this lounge that lead into the ladies bathroom appears to be gone. It was so movie starlet and glamorous, it's really too bad!


Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Dashboard Questessionals

Sometimes we'll be sitting there in the car at a light and Wally will bust out a line from nowhere, like:

9/11 was an inside job.

They murdered that princess.

John Lennon was killed by a Manchurian Candidate.

Facebook is a CIA-controlled experiment.

I gotta wonder about that 4th one, it's getting nearly impossible to quit Facebook, about a year ago I read that 22 percent of all computer users have a Facebook profile and just this week I came across this map on my e-friend Julie's blog:


Click it for a huge interesting closeup view.

...which really puts into perspective HOW MUCH the internetally inclined use FB, where they spend their time. And then today Prophecy Girl posted this non-Gylls related post about the pervasive nature of Facebook, touching a bit on what a dink Mike Zuckerberg is (I've read some dickheaded quotes attributed to him before, reflecting a callous disregard for people's privacy) and I'm wondering if the movie The Social Network---if it's not some sort of government smokescreen to deliver misinformation about what is really going on. I know smart, concerned people who have left Facebook over the privacy issues and encouraged Friends to follow them over to Twitter...only to see them back on FB six months later. Facebook has become unavoidable, and we've all been warned over its seemingly unreasonable privacy issues, something peculiar is definitely happening in front of our faces, what do you think about Facebook? I'm curious!

And WTF are all these people doing on Farmville, gawd!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

The State of the Union

Good news! After 4 years the State Theatre is reopening and my smart and talented husband is part of it! Wally lurvingly did sound there for years before it closed in 2006, it was on the sad end of devastating to witness this venue vanish like it did. They even interviewed him about the phenomenon, he was so devoted to the building and appeared that so many others were as well, it was a huge loss to the city.

Then in May the announcement came, the State Theatre--the place which was solemnly rumored to never reopen again, ever--was reopening. No way!

The new management is very exciting, look what they've done to the insides!



Wally tells me the people they've hired are all professional and proficient in what they do, feel free to check out the fall schedule. Alas, in the state of our union, with this awesome fall schedule Wally will be working most weekends, which means.... ....I'mnotworkinganymore. Full-time SAHM I am, and I appreciate your support in the matter. In the meantime, some more fanfare of this grand, grand reopening!








(Circa 1930.)





Wheeee, a great time for the city of Portland!!!

(Photos courtesy Facebook and Portland Monthly.)

















Saturday, October 9, 2010

Ready, Set, Match?

You always hear it, the "Aw mah gawd, I so like hate it when people are like boyfriend-girlfriend and they dress alike, that is so grossse!" and you see the people at the mall or at the places where tourists go, these two clean cut hetero people, both possessing the same level of man-ness between them, both wearing yellow and white striped rugby shirts with tan chinos, or some other version of couples dressing alike. What I don't get is---how does this happen? What IS the conversation? 'Cuz whenever I get goofy and jestingly suggest it to Wally, there's always one answer: a hard NFW. Like, he doesn't even entertain the joke, that's how serious he is about not doing it. In real life there have been times when he's changed shirts once he realized we were similarly dressed, so when it does occur with couples, I'm completely in the dark, who does the suggesting? ("Let's wear identically matching rugby shirts!") And who does the agreeing, the man, the woman, who? When and why do they do the shopping? How does it happen, inquiring minds want to know!


Ed. note: Ok, so when I went to search Google Images for a good picture to post for "couples wearing matching shirts" I thought I kept coming across the same couple in matching shirts, it seemed like "Ok, so these two just go everywhere and post their matching photos online a lot" but as it turns out, they're not the same couple, they're a bunch of Asian couples. So, a lesson in culture and in paying attention all in one. Whoops, nevermind!

Friday, October 8, 2010

No Complaints!

Popping in with a few photos from our last-minute trip to Smiling Hill Farm today. Weather couldn't have been better!


























(Little girl on this train first addressed Wally with a nod and a "Hey, I recognize you from the crane!" and then when her grandmother remarked about how nice this train was, she replied "Yeah. But it's made out of wood." Hee! Priceless.)









No complaints.