I was fortunate to attend the last few hours of the annual Bon Odori festival held at the Seattle Buddhist Temple this past weekend. The celebrations consisted of honoring one’s ancestors, shaved ice, yakisoba, and dancing in the streets until the sun went down, which happens pretty late around here.
A strange and wonderful encounter with some local art at a random bus shelter promoting local art (I think). Found on our evening exploring the streets of San Fransisco.
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I know what I am doing with my Saturday!
Bella Cupcake Couture is proud to bring this special event to the Seattle area.
An event for cupcake lovers: Bake or buy cupcakes to bring -or- just come to eat and help a good cause. Activities include cupcake eating contests, cupcake wrapper decorating, bakers competitions, Hope Heart Institute fundraiser and more. Best of all … it’s FREE.
WHEN: Saturday, April 10, 2010 11am-2pm
WHERE: 415 Westlake Ave Seattle, Washington, 98109
WHY: Because who doesn’t love cupcakes? Plus we will have some fun competitions and a fundraiser for Hope Heart Institute
So today I was shaken from sleep by an onslaught of phone calls, texts, and facebook messages (but no tweets) warning me of eminent destruction of these Hawaiian islands (and much of the Pacific Rim) by a tremendous tsunami wrought from the massive earthquake experienced in Chile yesterday.
The morning quickly dissolved from there into a confused buzz. Off in the distance sirens were blaring, church bells ringing, canned goods flying off the shelves at Foodland, riots at the gas pumps, all the classic examples. Good portions of the towns at sea level were evacuated up into the nearby hills. The waves were expected to batter the islands at around 11:00 AM sharp.
Not knowing what to expect, I grabbed a water bottle, the Canon, and headed for the nearest bluff for a front row seat.
If there’s anything that i’ve learned from Lost, which is a LOT!!! Omigod i still LOVE that show! Is that if you happen to suddenly notice a group of people that you can’t quite recognize, and you usually only see the back of their heads, they are most likely going to die a horrible death in the next few minutes… So I decided to avoid integrating into this group.
As the 11:00 hour crept away, the apparent non-activity out at sea allowed for some time to explore the surrounding areas for some impromptu photos of local flora.
Nice landscapes too.
As noon time rolled around, the crowd of onlookers suddenly increased, this one Keanu Reeves type guy started to speak with much aplomb that he had been watching the events unfold on TV and had decided to show up on the scene exactly when the waves were meant to hit this humble island. We all turned our eyes seaward again to witness an awe inspiring force of nature… However…
At the risk of sounding insensitive, I have to say that everyone turned away a bit disappointed. Given the widespread death and destruction that has been wrought on innocent lives around the world as of late in the form of natural disasters, we were all able to say “at least no one was hurt”. But… we would have least like to have witnessed a little more of a spectacle.
After staring at the sea for so long, i had a hankering to not only listen to The Cure, but take a long overdue dip in the calm clear waters. I can at least say that I hit the beach on the day of the tsunami. Proof below. So there.
The events in this story were true… now lets get back to some drawing already…
answer? yes!!
Shady Glen in Manchester, CT is one of the best reasons to find yourself in the third smallest
state in the nation. Just in case you got sidetracked or hopelessly lost on your way to NYC,
Boston, or Delaware, we highly recommend that you take the backroads off of I-384 to this
quaint establishment. Establishment indeed! This place has been on the map since 1938 and
most likely 95% of the surrounding population, including griffin, has been frequenting it’s
atomic green bar stools and booths for pretty much as long as they can remember.
We were glad to stop by here after our two week NYC marathon. Yet one more cup of coffee
in our hands, but at last a moment’s repose.
Still reeling from the hustle and bustle of the city, a few minutes to unglaze your eyes and it’s time
to get down to business… Smile kid! You know what’s about to be served up next!
What makes this place truly special is that the cheeseburgers served here are like none other
on the face of the planet. Other burger joints have tried to improve on the age old recipe by
piling on more cheese but they are completely missing the point. It’s all about WHERE you
place the cheese. Allow me to diagram.
1. Start with your typical burger, sizzling away on the grill…
2. Pay attention closely because here is where the magic happens… The burger requires
4 slices of cheese, but placed just as seen below and not any other way ever.
That’s right, the cheese is left to bubble and crisp up directly on the grill. Timing is everything,
dont try to replicate at home, it’s pretty much impossible.
3. The cheese is then folded, origami crane style, up into the famous wings.
Then is served with two classy pickle slices. Crinkle cut of course…
All ice cream is made on the premises as well, yes you cannot leave without a dish or two
of this as well.
The place pretty much stays the same throughout the years, and that’s the way we like it.
Can’t beat the classics.
Well… so, you can forget about what we mentioned yesterday about finding little green patches
and wild chives sprouting up around the yard here. It’s all gone now.
To be honest, these photos look a lot more dramatic than our end of the storm actually turned
out to be. We got off easy compared to our friends in NYC, CT, NH, and beyond. However Asheville,
took it upon themselves to dive into their root cellars and board up all the doors behind them.
It’s seems like a common practice for a southern town to close down during the lightest of snow
storms but they were going for the world record today! Our hopes of wandering around the
cavernous antique warehouses were dashed by quickly scrawled and scotch taped signs on
the doors “CLOSED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER.”
So we are back in the farmhouse. It looks like there are some buds on the trees here.
Hang in there guys! We are waiting for you! Don’t get discouraged…
so, the weekend was just packed! it can’t possibly be contained within
one blog post. so here goes the first thing of a two part thing. we found
ourselves within the vicinity of the famous “needful things” antiques mall
located in hendersonville nc, and felt that we couldn’t do ourselves a
disservice and pass by one more time without a look-see.
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well, a quick stop off proved to be a three hour trek through the sprawling caverns of
this well stocked establishment. there is an unbelievable amount of kitsch and craft to
be had and the following is just a small sample of the greatest hits. honestly they should
be sending us a hefty gift certificate for the huge plug we are about to give them since
all this great stuff is STILL THERE, and probably wont be going anywhere soon. so go
now! buy buy buy!
you never know who you are going to run into while browsing the hundreds of nooks
and crannies in this place, the clientèle was colorful to say the least.
it goes without saying that there were the classic duds, like this charming painting
of an idyllic appalachian sibling couple second guessing their choice of outdoor
activity. not as much fun as you thought that it was going to be huh??
but upon further searching, some real gems started to turn up like this amazing
chinese checkers set…
and 1970’s coin-op goodness…
of which the cabinet art deserves closer inspection, yes it really does say “insert
coins here” on her belt buckle. right above “balls to play”. an unexpected peak into
kinky 70’s swinger culture.
the interests span the generations from one archie…
to another.
the obligatory rusted vintage signs.
but perhaps the most chilling item found was one parent’s unapologetic attempt
to indoctrinate their offspring into a life of misery and isolation. upon stumbling
on this item, i had to take a break in the nearest restroom to splash my face with
cold water shokcing myself back to reality. looking up, i noticed the brand of paper
towel dispenser to be the “dixie marathon”, a fitting name for this past weekend.
and this is only the first blog post of two!
the latest issue of the quality comics anthology “the dapper chap quarterly”
is going to be unleashed at everybody’s new favorite comics shop, desert island
in brooklyn . you know where it is, take the L train to lorimer street and it’s
right on metropolitan ave .
.
i’m happy to say that i have a few pages in this issue which is the 3rd offering
from these gents and from what i’ve seen so far, it’s going to be a great book and
im proud to be a part of it.
also local superstars, hickey and sohn will be performing musical numbers as well,
so dont miss out. november 6th, 7-9 pm.
so in getting to know the lay of the land better, we were interested to find out
from a local expert that we have two large-ish black walnut trees in our front
yard which have been audibly dropping the fruits of their labor day and night
for the past week and the lawn has been festooned with what we, in our quick
but usually faulty city-folk type judgement, assumed to be some sort of sub-par
smelly lime.
upon being corrected on this oversight, we were still blasé about the newfound
bounty within arms reach, but the amount of rotting lime/nut/hulls littering
the scenery prompted us to learn at least what’s in the deal for us, or at least
score free eats out of the whole situation. however, we didn’t know what we were
getting into, the process took the better part of the afternoon.
to extract the nut, you must first squash them under boot or car tire.
then the hard nut found inside the pulpy mess must then be collected,
eventhough they look like freshly pitchforked donkey droppings.
the nuts then must be throughly washed of all the little pulpy bits.
this proved to be the more gritty part of the process. the pulp stains everything
a deep yellow which lingers on your fingers for longer than you might think.
yup, worms hate that shit, all of a sudden there was a mass worm exodus
from the vicinity.
then the nuts must be left to dry and cure for a few weeks while guarding
them from the locals, squirrels, birds, rednecks, etc. supposedly they are
one of the most delicious of all nuts when eaten. after this much effort,
well
they had better be.
there is another use for the discarded rotting pulpy bits also, we’ll discuss
that in the posts to come.
YOU CAN DO IT TOO!!!
it’s a good thing that the teenagers in this town are so in touch with
whats going on otherwise we probably would have missed out today on
this once in a lifetime chance to be a part of the asheville leg of the
obama campaign with a rally headed by none other than the tall thin
man himself.
upon arriving, it was soon evident that anyone who was anyone was coming
out to support the cause.
to give fair shakes to the other side of the coin, the nay-sayers did make
an appearance, but their efforts were for the most part less, than noteworthy,
they seemed to be somewhat small in stature and hesitant to come out
from behind their foamcore signs.
their appearance paled in comparison to the staggering amounts of folks
who showed up to show their blue colors. the entrance line went on…
and on…
and on…
to pass the time and time again while queuing, it was a marvel to see
all of the homegrown creative support that obama has inspired like no
other candidate before him in the form of endless variations of detailed
renderings on t-shirts, buttons, towels, berets, dog bandanas, etc….
once again a “slam dunk” against the ol’ sharpie and refrigerator box
output that is common fare for conservative signage even in this day
and age.
however, no one thought to provide water or even cash in by selling it
to the thirsty thousands, besides one leaky hose which was definitely
an after thought from a kind custoidan that everyone clamored to
fill their paltry sports bottles.
obama’s appearance was prompt and succinct, a rousing speech
about health care or the lack thereof in this country ending with
a due warning not to be hoodwinked or bamboozled by republican
smear tactics in an attempt to avoid the real issues.
the blarg
