Necessities to get through all of this...

So, sadly our grandmother passed away on Thursday.  The sisters will be reuniting in Minneapolis, MN.  Then there will be a 3.5 hour drive down to Dumont, MN.  I made a trip to Target tonight to get some essential car riding/Minnesota survival supplies.  This is going to be an extra taxing trip because since Monika's last time in the MN/ND area, she has gone vegan.  If you're not familiar with the meal options in this area, I can assure you that there are not a lot of things for vegans to consume.

Wine boxes, dark chocolate and face powder that's supposed to make you, "happy."

Princess fleece throw to survive the car trip and because today is princess day.

Soon after I finished taking my pictures, the cats moved in to investigate.  They probably were thinking I brought them some kitty treats home for them.  I didn't.

Bink was sniffing this blanket hard.

I also bought granola bars and wheat goldfish crackers. I'm going to make sure I have a craft project to work on while I'm there.

Put on your red shoes and dance the blues.

Sadly, this has nothing to do with David Bowie. It's all about dance cards, my dearies! You know, the petite wristlet books with fancy covers...used by a lady to record the names of all the gentlemen with whom she intends to dance. Makes perfect sense. This delightful collection hails from the mid-1920s. Hmmm...is there a dance card equivalent today? I'm not entirely certain, but I think these are the cat's pajamas.





Not so fast. I sense you want--nay, need--a David Bowie pick-me-up. Of course you do! I recommend this ducky little video. Shout out to Paige in Puyallup, WA...and her lip-sync-ing brother.

Someone's at the door...

If you've spent any length of time around me, you're probably well aware that I enter panic mode when there's unexpected action at the door. Call first, people, always. Unless you want to put me into a tizzy, and keep in mind that Matilda also goes into a tizzy when there's an unannounced visitor. Don't do this to us. It makes our hearts beat really fast.


But today, the someone at the door was the postman, Jimmy, dropping off an unexpected package. It was a poetry broadside from Dorianne Laux! I actually said, Eeeeekkk! when I picked it up. Do you know Dorianne Laux? If you don't, you should step up and get to know her. She's on facebook, which is how I came by the broadside. She offered to send one if you supplied an address. I did and she did...thus

A swell broadside!

And a sweet blue signature!





A few of Dorianne's other books.

Totally worth opening the door. Dorianne has a new poetry collection out, The Book of Men, which I will be purchasing in a shortly. "Cher" is taken from this collection. You can preview the book here.

There's a lot going on inside those underpants.

Hey, does "Someone's at the door" sound familiar in a way that creeps you out, yet also makes you think about Harriet from Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip? Hmmm...interesting. Maybe, like me, you've seen American Gothic. Maybe in 1995 you had a total crush on both Gary Cole and Jake Weber. (The Gary Cole crush has since waned. The Jake Weber crush has only grown stronger.) And oh yes, there really is that much screaming. Complete series, available on hulu.

Man, how did American Gothic and Dorianne Laux end up in the same post? Strange days indeed.

bee's knees

Um, I was going to write a post apologizing for not posting as frequently as I ought, and within this post I was going to level an accusation at Monika for also contributing to blog stagnation, but then she went and posted last night and my blame deflection tactic is all scrambled to hell. 


Oh well, how can I expect to sustain any degree of frustration when she wrote about a topic near and dear to my heart? Bee carcasses! I only wish I'd discovered this interest in bees pre-2004, say around the time those bees moved into the wall of our garage. There was a mountain...well, a hillock of bee bodies available for the collecting and only slightly covered in pesticide. All tumbling out from behind the drywall, mounding up behind the boxes of Christmas wrapping paper. Such a pity.


Also, how can I be mad at Monika who, like me, hesitates before picking up a public puppet? I just can't fault someone with that kind of instinct. Mom, on the other hand, dives right in.

Marine Puppet Theater at the Ty Warner Sea Center

I think they're acting out a scene from Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus. Obviously, Monika is playing Debbie Gibson's part, and since there doesn't appear to be another lady in this film--why would there be?--that leaves Lorenzo Lamas to Mom. Sorry, Mom.

Bees hive honey, I'm hiving pictures of dead bees on this blog.

So this is totally more of a Christine deal. I know that she has a ton {not a literal ton, that would be horrific.} of dead preserved bees. I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes here, but I am one for taking advantage of good opportunities... on occasion if it's not too much work.

Overnight a bee colony, numbers in the thousands, moved in to our garbage. It was pretty terrifying and incredible. As there is a honey bee shortage we opted not to exterminate {obviously} but to simply create a not so plush garbage can experience. They picked up what we were putting down, aka garden hose, conceded, and vacated. Sadly some of their bee comrades didn't make it, a very small few, and beholden the opportunity.

Of the Garbage Honey Bee variety.

The second picture is a bee entombed in taffeta in the window of a strange florist. This bee was there for a while I originally saw it at least a month ago.

Little prince you will be kept forever.

I had to check back after Easter to, you know, see if he had risen. He had not.

Oh I just thought of another good title for this post, A Bee in my Easter Bonnet, this happened much earlier than Easter though, weeks in advance. I actually didn't have any bee related things happen on Easter, but that weekend Ben found me part of a grasshopper exoskeleton, so that was neat.

Easter bunny...

When I was 19 I lived and attended school in Cheney, WA.  Christine and I would often drive into Spokane in the afternoon and spend lots of money and time entertaining ourselves at the bookstores and occasionally the mall.  One boring afternoon in April, we were eating mall pretzels (this was like 6 years ago, don't judge) and watching the mall Easter Bunny pose for pictures.  I swear this isn't as creepy as it sounds.  I told Christine, that if I was ever down and out, I could always be the Easter Bunny in the mall...only I would have my own way of doing things.  The little children would pose for a picture and I would pinch their arm really hard and then whisper through the plastic head-piece, "Eaaaassssttteeeerrr Buunnnnnnnyyyy." It sounds kind of messed up, but it sure gave us a chuckle at the time.  Who am I kidding, we laugh about it every Easter.  My mom laughs too.  As I type this, I realize that this story might be one of those, "you had to be there" things.  If that's the case--sorry.

This Easter my mother drove down to Olympia and Nick and I made Easter pizza (the way baby Jesus intended).  We used cloth napkins--it's Easter after all!

After we ate, we thought a game was in order.  Nick went to the basement and came back with one of my favorites...

Nick ended up winning (he also landed on free parking four times).  It made me sad when my mom started to run out of money.  She doesn't like Monopoly because, "you always have to take stuff from other people and then the next turn you have to give it right back."

Easter 2011, out!

I wonder what the sisters did on Easter...

Santa Monica

Also known as: the place we saw Kevin Spacey! Yup, we did. Monika spotted him on the Santa Monica Pier. The sighting was confirmed by me, Mom, and Ben. That means it's legitimate. You have to admit, that's a decent way to cap a California trip. I believe this was also the night Ben showed Mom his latest music video, the one I kept humming the entire weekend, and the teaser video for the new Beastie Boys album + video. What?! Yeah. Let's talk about: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Jack Black, Ted Danson, Jason Schwartzman, Rainn Wilson, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Steve Buscemi, Elijah Wood, Seth Rogan, Danny McBride, Will Arnett, and Chloë Sevigny? And the Beasties. Future us's are complete idiots.  Fight For Your Right: Revisited. Watch it!

Santa Monica Pier

I think we're all on the same team here, and that's the "no pie, no sledgehammer" team. Have you watched the Beastie Boys video yet? I'm going to watch it again right now.

Shhhshhhshhsh-shharrr-shhshaarr-SHARK!

This is post is long overdue. Long, long, long overdue. I am sure you all know that I had the absolute pleasure to have some of my favorite people visit a couple weeks ago. Mom and Christine. This is a little favorite thing that happened while they were visiting on our day trip to Santa Barbara.

We pet sharks!!!

Not this kind.

We were lucky enough to pet Swell Sharks, they are delightful little imps. Nothing like JAWs or the notorious Bull Shark that was the true culprit behind the grotesque attacks that inspired that masterpiece.

Exhibit A:  Swell Shark

In my opinion, which is simply based on my sight and poor memory, I think the Swell Shark (See Exhibit A) looks like an adorable miniature of the Jaguar Shark (Exhibit B), that was responsible for Esteban Du Planier's death in the Life Aquatic, and a Nurse Shark (Exhibit C). 

Exhibit B: Jaguar Shark

Exhibit C: Nurse Shark

So yes, cute. Very cute.

Exhibit D: Swell Shark Egg Casing (active)

Exhibit D (see above) are baby Swell Sharks in their egg casing, they stay in there and feast on the round protein pellet that they share their quarters with until it's gone then they bust out and really start living in the open ocean. (There may be a video that I will be sharing as soon as I can unlock the mystery of uploading a video to this blog without getting an error.)

Exhibit E: Shark Egg Casing

There was a big bowl of the discarded egg casings they kind of look like the exoskeletons of beetles. The ones that look like they have pinchers are from our buddies the Swell Sharks and the spiral ones are from Horn Sharks.

It's official Christine likes it!

Now on to the action!

 Enter the Sharks

Cue the petting (my first go round) 

Mom gets right in there.

Christine is getting it done.

I can't even stand it. Amazing.

We actually pet the sharks several times, we made a couple of trips back to them and even got to rub their little bellies! 

Some other seeing with our hands whilst in Santa Barbara.

Star fish

Another Star fish.

Sea Urchin

Decorator Crabs

Christine was the one who touched the decorator crab, I took a pass on this one. They are scary and have these weird white pinchers. Also, we touched a sea cucumber, it was great. Sadly we don't have a picture of that, it would have been a great addition to this entry. But I will tell you that they are very soft and we would be too if we were 98% water. Also, when they get stressed out they fold up in to the shape of a football. I suppose that would be the equivalent to our fetal position, in appearance alone.

Marriage!!!!

On Saturday my very dear friend Vanessa got herself hitched to a one (classy) Jeremy.  The day started with a trip to the Olympia Farmer's Market with my mom and Nicholas.  They had tons of garden starts, but it's too cold to actually plant anything yet.  These are pretty flowers that I liked but didn't purchase.

We got flowers, eggs, bread, and a little present for my cousin.  

The wedding started at 5:00, so we left Olympia by 3:00...

The bride!

Cake topper!

My view. My cousin.

Dancing feet.

The wedding was fun.  We danced a lot.  Nick danced even more.  The bride and groom and friends ended the night at the Zoo Bar.  Nick and Cousin Anne were gracious enough to let Nick and myself stay with them on Saturday night..  Their upstairs was better than a hotel!  The four of us enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the Hi Spot it was delicious. Nick and I bummed around Seattle a little bit.

MOLLY MOONS!!!! (note the cute dog)

It was a very enjoyable weekend, and the best thing was it felt like a whole weekend!  I'm hoping to get another one of those very soon...maybe this weekend even.