busy weekend

this past weekend was a really busy one.

we began saturday with the tenney-lapham tour de coops. the tour brought us into 5 of our neighbors backyards to view some small-scale urban chicken operations.

coop #2 was a re-purposed children's play house.

marta checks out the specs of coop #4

some mighty beautiful layers

this coop is just a few houses down from us, and is built into the side of a garage.

the tour left us totally inspired. we are planning on setting up our own coop and getting chickens next spring.

after the tour we headed over to matt and lia's for an afternoon cookout and the first annual salad toss-off salad competition.

our pistachio/bacon ambrosia wasn't able to win us the sweet/non-vegetarian category, but we were able to take home the crown for the best overall/most unusual salad. here are all the winners (sweet/non-veg, savory/non-veg, best overall/most unusual, sweet/veg, and savory/veg).

following the salad-off, we took a horrible drubbing at bocce ball.

then it was off to reed and molly's for their annual rhythm and booms party.

rhythm and booms is madison's independence day celebration, and it always takes place the weekend before the 4th. the fireworks were postponed until sunday due to foul weather (storms which never actually materialized). in lieu of the big show, reed and molly put on a splendid pyrotechnics display in their front yard.

buddy, riley, and maddie watching the show.

we kicked off sunday with some yard work.

sunday afternoon we took a trip out into the countryside to enjoy some shakespeare at the american players theatre in scenic spring green.

we enjoyed a lovely picnic beforehand...

...and then headed into the hilltop theater to enjoy a comedy of errors. we would highly recommend both the play and the venue.

we got back to madison just in time to watch the rescheduled fireworks from across lake mendota.

that pretty much brings us up to date. i feel much better now.

catching up

it has been a busy week or so, getting moved into our new place and getting things situated. hence, our blogging has been a little sporadic. i'm going to try to get us caught up.

we painted the first floor of the house. the goal was to match the color of my socks, but we ended up with something a little less vibrant.

ben and aretha have made themselves at home, and are enjoying the new views (this one is of our neighbors house).

we spent most of last week unpacking and getting settled. things are definitely headed in the right direction.

reaction to mj's death

the new york times quoted venezuelan president hugo chávez as calling jackson's death “lamentable news," though he criticized the media for giving it so much attention.

*this was the only picture i could find of both hugo chavev and michael jackson

goodbye

goodbye, king of pop. you were the master of the dramatic long-format music video and one heck of a dancer, and you will be missed.

moving day

moving day has come and gone, and we are getting settled into a new house.
we couldn't have made the move without such wonderful helpers. thanks for the help, helpers (including the helpers not pictured)!

cats + boxes

the house is slowly but surely being packed into boxes in preparation for our move. the cats seem to be enjoying the packing process.

it turns out that eve sutton was right. my cat does like to hide in boxes.

españa

our operatives in the field are always on the lookout for some good manhole covers. this one comes from our good friend, and iberian correspondent, maggie.
gracias (thank you) maggie.

food inc.

i promise that our website isn't going to become one movie trailer after another. however, this documentary is on a topic that we think about quite a bit, and are glad to see it getting some attention.



for more on the film and the folks featured in it, go to here.

la rivière (the river), aristide maillol

museum of modern art, new york, usa

jardin du carrousel, paris, france

tour de coops

as we prepare to move northwestward (slightly) from the marquette neighborhood to the tenney/lapham neighborhood, we have started paying attention to events and goings on around our new digs. this event definitely stands out.

we'll let you know how it goes.

where the wild things are

maybe everyone already knows about this, but i just heard about it, and think it looks totally awesome!



i may actually see this in the theater. thanks for the tip jb_minnesota.

blitzen trapper

i'm really digging this song lately.

happy birthday, david!

europe '09, part 2, paris

after dublin, we spent a few days in paris. it is a large and beautiful city, and the wonders of this european capital seem neverending.

david digs into his first parisian crepe, complete with bananas and nutella.

le chat montmartre.

sacre couer basilica, at the top of montmartre.

a view of the city from the sacre couer basilica.

the southern view of notre dame.

st. chapelle on the ile d' cite.

marta visits an automatic self cleaning public toilet. a miracle!

the eiffel tower at night.

david and vincent.

marta contemplates a sculpture in the musee d'orsay.

french breakfast. not part of the atkins diet.

david conquers i.m. pei's louvre pyramid.

dinner on our street in montmartre.

the catacombs deep beneath the city. bones!

the fascinating modern art musem centre pompidou.

our most frequently used metro station.

crazy delicious macaroons from laduree.

at the end, we had to come home. on the way, we discovered a jet challenging us to a race. the other jet won, despite the lucky irish clover painted on the tip of our wing.

europe '09, part 1, dublin

dublin in spring is a partly cloudy, sometimes rainy, sometimes sunny place. we spent 2 days strolling dublin's narrow cobblestone streets, imbibing their local spirits, and visiting the many places of interest.

looking northwest along the liffey.

strolling through st. stephen's green.

the old dublin castle.

full irish breakfast! toast, fried egg, fried tomato, bacon, black and white pudding, sausage, coffee.
christ church cathedral. it's really old.

cat and rat caught in the organ pipes of christ church cathedral hundred of years ago, perfectly mummified within, and now on display in the church's crypt.

posing at the birthplace of the world's most famous stout.
ireland pride.

a portrait of the artist as a young woman.
trinity college bike racks.

a useful reminder when crossing a street in ireland.

a barrel on the jameson distillery tour.
a dublin side street at night.