Listen to this episode of WTF with Marc Maron, or if you're short on time, go to 3:48 and listen to what he says about Hail, Caesar. At the time of my hearing this, I still hadn't seen it, and Marc and I don't precisely agree on our most and least favorite Coen brothers movies (he is "not a Big Lebowski guy," while I am totally a Big Lebowski guy), BUT I love what he says about them, about this film, and his general enthusiasm and vehemence on the subject. And I agree on Hail, Caesar's excellence, although my opinion might have been very slightly affected by Marc's admonitions. My Mark was enthusiastic too, by the way. It was so funny, with amazing tributes to old Hollywood and a cast of dozens.
More things for you to check out, dear reader:
Hijabi Barbie, so adorable.
I have Zoë and Isaac's cells in my brain, most likely. And they have mine. And also my mom's. And she has mine, and I have hers. Read this mind-blowing article to get your mind blown.
Pockets are my superpower.
I don't have 44 unread issues of the New Yorker looming, but close. If I could afford it, I would do what this writer did, and haul my New Yorkers to a scenic location for a vacation. Just me and my New Yorkers.
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Monday, February 22, 2016
Sunday, August 07, 2011
for once, then, something
a dreamy week on peaks island with the entire family. we did this ten years ago, before oona, stella, and ben even existed, and we rented the same cedar house in the woods that can accommodate our sprawling group and its sleeping, coffee drinking, feast-cooking-and-eating, and game-playing needs.
here i am hanging out with stella on the front porch of our rented idyll.
my favorite was the foggiest day and the leisurely walk around the island with zoë. the colors of wildflowers and girls in pretty dresses just glowed in the cool fog.
of course there were dogs, although not our own. oona and i started off by counting every dog we saw, but we quickly lost count. this guy was my favorite.
and this guy wandered in the open door just after i'd commented, "what this house needs is a dog." his name was fillippo, and my mom invented a past for him which involved a traumatic early life in puerto rico. he had a drink and then trotted off, back down the road from whence he came.
and the award for "most patient cousin" goes to my boy, who was always available to be played with, ordered around, and climbed upon.
my dad and beautiful ben. one night we all babysat while david and ellen went out to eat. we traded the baby back and forth, smelled his head and kissed his cheeks and even gave him a bottle despite the fact that he probably wasn't hungry, just for the fun of it.
the obligatory cousin shot.
i made oona pose for photos despite the fact that mosquitoes were biting her ankles. "ow!" she'd say, and i'd say, "use that emotion! look frightened! look furious! look to the right!"
Monday, October 25, 2010
uitwaaien
from a list of ten words that can't be accurately translated into english, uitwaaien is a dutch word that means "to walk in the wind," and simultaneously, "to take a brief break in the countryside to clear one's head." i love untranslateable words, and this one perfectly captures my weekend, which i spent walking in the wind on mount desert island with mark to celebrate our twentieth anniversary.
after that we headed around the park toward gorham mountain, taking some extra time to clamber around the otter cliffs (mark's question: summit or cliffs? i like them both, but have a slight preference for the summit. he is a cliff man himself).
i see crows all the time at home, but the crows here were glossy and gorgeous. country crows, i guess. as we were hiking up gorham mountain, this one let me get pretty close so i could take dozens of identical photos of him.
we also got great advice from her about how to spend our first day in acadia, and we followed her suggestions to the letter. first, we drove to the top of cadillac mountain, where amidst dozens of german tourists, i took numerous photographs of the orange tips of my gloved fingers (it was so windy, i was afraid my camera/phone was going to be swept out of my slippery hands). i did manage this picture of the village of bar harbor and my favorite nearby islands, the porcupines (bald porcupine is my very favorite).
after that we headed around the park toward gorham mountain, taking some extra time to clamber around the otter cliffs (mark's question: summit or cliffs? i like them both, but have a slight preference for the summit. he is a cliff man himself).
i see crows all the time at home, but the crows here were glossy and gorgeous. country crows, i guess. as we were hiking up gorham mountain, this one let me get pretty close so i could take dozens of identical photos of him.
we wanted to fit in as much acadia as we could, so we skipped lunch and walked around jordan pond instead. the sun started to dip down behind the mountains, and the light altered dramatically the whole time we were hiking - it was breathtaking.
as we drove out of the park, we realized we'd spent more than seven hours there! the next morning we got up early and explored a bit of northeast harbor, where we were staying. we checked out the asticou azalea garden, thuya garden, and the asticou terraces, which provide lovely views of the harbor below.
on our way home, we took a detour down the blue hill peninsula, another part of the state i've longed to visit for years. we stopped at the blue hill co-op for a delicious red curried tofu sandwich, vegan raspberry almond muffin, and coffee.

my favorite form of procrastination lately is browsing seaside real estate online, and a couple of weeks ago i found this sweet little antique house in deer isle. mark and i actually drove past it, down a long, ocean-side country road, and it was just as dreamy in real life (look at that apple tree in front of it!). except the roof looked like it was about two hundred years old. but beautiful! acres of woods, water access! sigh.
and just a little further down the road (at the end of the road, in fact, at the very bottom of the island) is the sweet harbor town of stonington.


meanwhile, we left zoë and isaac to their own devices for the first time ever. i found that i was a little anxious at night until i'd heard from them and was reassured that they were both home and safe and had locked the door and turned off the stove. but the truth is, they did absolutely fine without us. of course. i'm happy to be home with them, and portland is always nice to come home to, but i do sort of feel like we spent the weekend in a magical, beautiful fairy land. i can't imagine a better way to celebrate two decades with my sweetie.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
bloggity blog
i guess i haven't been adequately documenting my life this week. it's winter break from those crazy schools, and boo is currently learning to ski and snowboard in tahoe with a, j, robot and pink. he's having a fabulous time! bean has been squeezing every moment out of this, the final winter break of her secondary school career. yesterday she and a friend spent the day in boston shopping for saris, eating good food, and discovering a more charming part of waltham than we'd previously been aware of. we've taken minnow to the beach nearly every day, and bean and i took him for a longer hike at wolfe's neck too. snow came, but only about half an inch of it. tomorrow we're going to new york for a few days!
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
quebec

arret! and let me tell you about my trip to la ville de quebec with bean, dancer lady and artemis (check out more pictures on flickr). we drove north to canada on sunday morning, mostly alongside the gorgeous kennebec river, through tiny maine towns and past rolling hills and piney-smelling pine trees. when we got to canada (after being very briefly detained at the border because dancer did not have a letter from artemis's father stating that he was aware that his child was being taken out of the country), tout le monde a parle francais!!
(oh, mama d, did i say that right? i mean, besides the missing accents?)
part of the reason we took the trip was so that bean and artemis could practice speaking french, and they definitely got to do that. we all four made valiant attempts to communicate in the native tongue, although we were almost instantly revealed as americans as soon as someone responded to our queries or restaurant orders in rapid french. "huh?" we'd say. or the expression on our faces would say. or, if we were quick on our feet, we'd say, "um, parlez-vous anglais?" most of them did, although a couple did not (i.e. the guy in the book store who clearly loved gnomes as much as dancer lady).
we stayed in a really great youth hostel in old quebec, inside the fortification walls which surround that part of the city.

we drank excellent coffee at charming cafes*, ate delicious pastries and chocolates, walked miles of hills and staircases, browsed in souvenir shops, bookstores, record shops, and clothing stores. we went to the choco-musee and la musee de la civilisation (bean and i loved an exhibit on le cinema du quebec, where we got to watch a bunch of film clips, including one from nanook of the north). we also went to the oldest grocery store in north america and a great health food store right across the street from it. people in quebec in general were reserved and perhaps a little leery of english-speaking tourists comme nous, with the exception of our waiter, alexandre, at le petit chateau creperie, and the guy at the t-shirt shop, both very friendly. oh, also the guy at the bookstore who didn't speak english, and the guy at the fancy tea house. the city itself was unbelievably exotic -- quite european, even medieval in places, with one charming scene after another, a lovely flowing river, many gallic-looking inhabitants. it definitely felt like a tourist town, though, not quite real.
i almost forgot the highlight of our trip: after a long, long walk through decidedly non-touristy areas of the city, we located a cinema, wherein we watched (en francais) les bratz. all i can say is, chouette!
on the way home, i saw my first moose, calmly crossing the road (far) in front of us. it felt momentous.
the trip left me wanting to stay at more hostels; in our hostel's lobby, we gazed at a map of the many, many hostels in canada, and the cross-canada railway connecting them all. next up (i'm not sure when): montreal.
*the first time we went to chez temporel, it qualified as charming. it's widely known (based on my extensive research) to have the best croissants and coffee in the city. we were delighted with both. however, the second day we happened to be walking past and decided to go in again, since there was an available table right beside the window, opening onto the sidewalk. the waitress essentially ordered us to go upstairs. we said, oh no, we'd like to sit here by the window, and she said (imagine a snooty french accent), "oh, non non, you must go upstairs, it will be better. there is a bigger oven. you will get better service." she wouldn't let us sit in the (nearly empty) downstairs! she didn't want us to be seen -- she wanted to tuck us away in the hidden, upstairs, tourist area! so we bid her "au revoir," and went on our way.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
what day is it?
okay, i actually do know that it's thursday (i even remembered to put the trash out last night), but i still keep having to check the calendar to remind myself what day it is. it's that post-holiday frame of mind -- it takes a while to get back to the regular routines. bean and i did go the the gym today, yay us!
hey, adam did post that cute teacup video of three adorable girls on the teacups ride!
might i brag about how many books i read while on vacation? i think i read, uh, five: slam; the rope walk; run; harry potter seven; and listening is an act of love. i feel like i'm forgetting one. also, media-wise, i watched high school musical. twice -- the second time was the sing-along version, and over a week later i still have that damn song stuck in my head.
hey, adam did post that cute teacup video of three adorable girls on the teacups ride!
might i brag about how many books i read while on vacation? i think i read, uh, five: slam; the rope walk; run; harry potter seven; and listening is an act of love. i feel like i'm forgetting one. also, media-wise, i watched high school musical. twice -- the second time was the sing-along version, and over a week later i still have that damn song stuck in my head.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
home again

well, we're now officially home after a really fun and relaxing week on long beach island with my mom and dad, both of my bruddies and their amazing wives, and my sweeties robot boy and pink, punctuated on either end by a couple of wonderful days with my bestest friend holly and her family in connecticut. above you'll see a picture of a gorgeous bean, with boo behind her preparing to plunge into the surf. we spent many hours on the beach, swimming and boogie boarding in water that felt pretty warm to our maine selves.
we also found ourselves a perfect beach haven hangout, chocolate bar; it was open late, had a foosball table and comfy couches, and lots of chocolate on the menu.


much knitting was done there and in the beach house; bean and her aunties (as well as boo, robot boy, and m) all frequented the island yarn store too.
we forgot to photograph all the stores and restaurants with funny puns in their names, like "oh fudge," "jer-sea realty," and "living on the veg," which was another favorite destination for vegan sandwiches and smoothies.
on tuesday, we celebrated my mom and dad's birthdays with a japanese feast and vegan cupcakes. here's pink enjoying her frosting:

friday night, after a visit to the arcade (oh, how i hope that adam posts the video he took of j on the teacups ride!), m and j took all the kids to the bookstore to stand in line for their copies of harry potter 7. this is what boo looked like all day saturday:

(and three out of four of us finished the book by sunday afternoon!)
we were reluctant to leave, finally, monday morning, but stopping at holly's for a day made it an easier transition. she has just about the sweetest little family ever, and staying in her house is like being in the cushiest bed and breakfast imaginable -- except you only have to chat with your very best friend over coffee in the morning.
i know i keep repeating this ad nauseam, but it really had been many many years since all four of us went on vacation together for an entire week (when boo was a baby, we went to ocracoke with my mom and dad, but i honestly don't think we've done it since then, certainly not while the store was open). it was everything we hoped for!
Friday, July 13, 2007
vacation
i might not be writing much over the next week and a half or so, since we're going on an actual vacation! we will leave tomorrow and drive to my very best friend holly's house, and from there we'll head to long beach island, new jersey on sunday morning. we're planning a longer visit with holly & co. on the return trip. i am really looking forward to being away, all five of us (including minnow, who will get to play with his canine cousins at the beach). this has been my mantra, probably to an annoying degree, but i personally celebrate the fact that after seven long years, we are able to go away together for a real vacation. when the store was open, a two-day weekend was a rare occurrence! anyway, i'll take lots of pictures and blog like a rock star when i get back.
you learn something new every day: i didn't know what the word "portmanteau" meant until today (i think it means coat rack or something in french, and it's an old-fashioned/british way to refer to a suitcase, but i'm speaking of the merging of two words to form a new word. like web + log= blog). and still i managed to ace the verbal part of the sat, imagine that... question: is "to blog" just as bad a verb as "to journal"?
my dreams last night were all about characters from the o.c. i won't even tell you how late we allowed our children to stay up watching season two. did i mention my i-phone dream? m bought two i-phones, one for me and one for him, but they looked just like our t.v. remote except they were red. when i wondered how he'd managed to afford two i-phones, he said something about "selling some of those motorcycles i have in topeka."
you learn something new every day: i didn't know what the word "portmanteau" meant until today (i think it means coat rack or something in french, and it's an old-fashioned/british way to refer to a suitcase, but i'm speaking of the merging of two words to form a new word. like web + log= blog). and still i managed to ace the verbal part of the sat, imagine that... question: is "to blog" just as bad a verb as "to journal"?
my dreams last night were all about characters from the o.c. i won't even tell you how late we allowed our children to stay up watching season two. did i mention my i-phone dream? m bought two i-phones, one for me and one for him, but they looked just like our t.v. remote except they were red. when i wondered how he'd managed to afford two i-phones, he said something about "selling some of those motorcycles i have in topeka."
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