Harrenhal or Jotunheim?

We went back to the Bronx Zoo today - our membership rungs out soon and I needed to pick up my dignity from the monorail. The monorail was much easier this time. Barely any line and our membership card got us right on so cross that off my list of things I must smite with my soon-to-be-attained Power Cosmic. Now, normally I would bring a camera but I've decided, by virtue of addled-ness (addleocity?) to use my camera phone for the important stuff. Come on! That thing only drops half my calls, I'm sure the camera works fine.

And by "fine" I mean, "better than crap," not like "fine" as in "fine arts."

 The bug carousel. Asher's on a beetle. Charlie's on a bee (with wildflower saddle).

Elephant!! 

No, not me, but thanks!

This is a big gap.

 Anyhoo - these fish were freaking huge. When we walked into the exhibit and could barely see them. Every six feet we moved we saw into the water more. So we'd move, stop and gawk. Move, stop and be more gawkery. Then finally we got to the place they had built for us to gawk at them. It was like very slowly turning a page.

Charlie at the dentist. Not big whoop. She's just chilling.

The Elliott's and the Murphy's at the pool (photos but a Ball).

 
I don't know why I can only type here - this will be annoying but bare with me. I went to Portland last weekend for a wedding (as detailed, expertly in the last post) and came back with a lot of photos of Gary.

Bev and I split a room, and since we're both father's on East Coast time, we were up at like, 6:30 am Saturday morning (that's like 9:30 real time but, sssshhhhh, don't tell anyone) so we went for donuts at Voodoo Donuts. The ridiculous donut on the left was mine, it's jelly filled donut man screaming cause he was stabbed in the side. Delicious. Bev got the one on the right, a vanilla frosted donut with Cap't Crunch (and Crunch Berries).

Dianna said, that's not breakfast, but I say Bev's is actually TWO breakfasts due to the cereal topping.

After donuts, we went back to the hotel to meet everyone . . . and go to breakfast. So we went and I had quesadillas, which were good, if a little tyrannical.

After breakfast everyone wanted to go to . . . Voodoo Donuts. (that's two separate links there, people).

Here's what Gary got. And, quiet honestly, it looked delicious.

Then, after walking around to digest our massive, and amazing, donuts we went back to the hotel room to get ready for the wedding and Gary promptly fell asleep.

SLEEPING INTERLUDE: Here's two pics of Asher sleeping. Yes. Sleeping. The first one he has flung off the mattress extending pillow, thrown his winter fleeces (located normally behind his door) in the gap and fallen asleep half on/half off the bed. Only to out do himself the next day when he fell asleep like a dead bug while reading a book . . . on his face. 

Back to Endor, I mean the wedding. I'll try to find actually good pictures to post (rip them off of people on The Facebook) but here are four grainy ones for now. George Lucas can retouch them for the blu-ray.

Justin and Dee at the altar

Justin's mom (Momma B) singing

Ali gave a reading

Justin waiting for Dee.

Justin's sister Ali gave a nice reading, but, as all good sisters do, got all choked up as she went. So when Momma B stood up to sing she said, "Well, that wasn't fair," and had to wipe away some tears herself.

It was a great wedding. I'll always remember the little things, like Jut's new in-laws putting on big fluffy mustaches after the ceremony (Justin had just shaved his off two days prior), sitting in the dark with a bunch of Ithaca friends, having to have someone help me with the co2 powered keg (what's wrong with the pump people?) and the pie for desert.

Have I told you about the pie?

No?

I'd kill you all for more of that cherry pie.

You know, with my Powers Cosmic.

Psybot

I'm off to Justin and Dee's wedding in about four hours. It'll be great to fly from Hartford to Dallas/Fort Worth to Portland Oregon. Connecticut to Texas to Oregon. Seems like the smartest travel line. The good news is I'll gett to see Jerry Jones' massive football moon in Dallas. Cowboy stadium is 15, 20 miles from the airport but is SO FREAKING BIG it's easily seen. It's so big you can almost hear it's gravity. It's so big Mark Hammill thought it was a moon (Alec Guinness told him otherwise). Then from there, I get to fly half the length and the full breadth of the country . . . again, to get to Portland.

Coming back I have a more sensible flight from Portland to Chicago (which I say in my head in a Jeremy Clarkson voice) then back to Hartford . . . at 1 am . . . while a hurricane strikes.

Needless to say I packed extra socks and boxers in case I get to camp at O'Hare. It'd be like I'm Tom Hanks only without the Oscars, money, fame, NASA patches or WWII memorabilia.

Dianna's plan for today, after the kids get to sleep and Asher has gotten up his customary three hundred thirty thousand times, is to clean up the basement and get it ready for the inevitable flood. There's nothing better than watching the clock and waiting for you basement to leak all over itself. And by "nothing" I mean "everything."

Sigh.

But I'll have a good time while there - weddings are always fun. And if I'm stuck in Chicago too long, maybe I'll head to the Hall of Records and see what my dad was up to in the '60's.

Cabo Combarto

You know what I miss about cribs? The fact they're just cages with a mattress in them. We put Asher down, ooooohhhh, ten minutes ago and he's come out of his room every twenty two seconds like clockwork. To add awesomeness to this, we're watching the last season of True Blood so every time he pops his head out someone on the TV yells, Whore or is moaning from graphic hard vampire sex.

(That's one thing this show does right. Can we look at Dracula for a second? What we have here is a story about a suave forgiener out to get our Western women. Jonathan Harker was just scared of the co . . . um, countblock.  I'm guessing the only image you know from the first vampire movie (Nosferatu) is the creepy scaggy vampire slowly sneaking up on the sleeping lady. In the bedroom. Nudge. Nudge. Wink. Wink).

We're going on 45 minutes of this. Three, four times a minute. It's gonna get old, right, about, now.

Here's how I found him at nap time today. Laying on the crash pad instead of the bed. Which is almost as good as the time Dianna caught him drinking A1 out of the bottle.


We went to the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk a while back. It's a smaller sized aquarium full of fish, mainly. But also . . . animatronic dinosaurs. Not even fish dinosaurs. They did have the absolute coolest shrimp I've ever seen thought. And the hypnotoad.

 I have a barnacle.

 Waiting for the seal feeding.

A seal.

The place is full of exotic animals (LOOK AT THIS BUTTON), frogs, toads, sharks (THIS BUTTON), seahorses, that awesome shrimp (BUTTON), a play room with a vaguely nautical theme, a life size fishing boat, seals swimming around (DAD, DAD, LOOK AT THIS BUTTON), snakes, meerkats - which have no place in an aquarium what so ever (AND THIS). Yes, I see the button, Asher. It's right there. It's red. It's a button. You can push it. I HAVE BEEN. IT DOES NOTHING BUT I'M GOING TO KEEP PUSHING IT FOR A WHILE.

Fine.

And we got some ice cream.

Once True Blood is over (which we're still watching in sixteen second intervals) I'm going to re watch Warren Zevon's last Letterman Show. It's good. But also depressing. Like James Taylor and googling old girlfriends.