What I've been up to lately
It's 11 pm on a Sunday night, and today wasn't a bad day at all. It's midnight in California, and several folks I know there will be dancing it up at Malediction. I hope everyone there is having a good night, whether they are dancing or not.
The past couple of weeks have been very busy. Here's a summary:
Chicago: No sleep and a very early morning flight to Chicago (a long way from here) plus trains to take once we got there combined to make it a lengthy day. The sun was setting when we finally made it to Sara's apartment. However, all three of us (she was tired too) rallied to go out for pizza (not Chicago style, which was fine because the pizza they brought us was HUUUGE) and beer at a local brew pub, and afterward watched a very bad film about werewolves named Ginger Snaps. Canadian, incidentally.
The next day we flew to Buffalo. That was a short flight, and we managed to save a bit of money by taking the bus to the train station, not a taxi.
Buffalo: Once we got there and secured our rental car (which seemed to take forever), Seth and I were very hungry. The rental car guy directed us to the Anchor Bar, which is the original home of the Buffalo chicken wing. So we went there, and foolishly ordered hamburgers as well as a plate of Buffalo wings. Holy crap, even the small plate of wings had a lot to eat on it, and after I was done my hamburger I thought I might explode. The food was very, very good, even if they didn't season their hamburger patties the way Seth does.
After the Anchor Bar, we drove to Niagra Falls to see the Falls. We looked at them from the American side- nice, but meh. Then from the Canadian side, with the world's fastest border crossing in between. The Canadian side looks much better, and Seth likes to claim this is because one is looking at America from that side. However, he just has to realize that all things Canadian are just superior in all possible ways. :p
Before leaving the US, we bought a couple of Dunkin Dounut doughnuts, then on the Canadian side we bought a couple of identical flavor (chocolate) Tim Horton doughnuts. When compared, they were close but the Tim's doughnuts were fresher and therefore better. It wasn't entirely a fair comparison, though, since the DD doughnuts were sitting in the car for a little while.
Guelph: After a long drive in the dark across Ontario, we wound up in Guelph Township, at the house where my brother lives (the same house I grew up in). My parents were still awake and greeted us, but don't have enough room to put both Seth and I up so we stayed in a bedroom in my brother's place. It was kind of strange being in that house again- the last time I was there was when my brother Fred was dying. We were staying in the room that was his when he was a kid. I don't think he was haunting it, though.
We spent a nice couple of days visiting my parents, and I was able to introduce Seth to most of the people I keep in touch with that are still in Guelph or in driving distance of Guelph. There aren't that many. We also walked around a bit downtown. On the last night we were visiting, we went out with my parents to a nice little Asian restaurant (Thai/ Vietnamese) and then later went with them and my brother to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D. I liked it, but would have preferred that it not be in 3D. I don't think the effects added all that much to the film, they were more of a distraction.
We woke up early, drove to Buffalo, and got again through the border with lightning speed. We arrived at the airport super early, which is better than being super late, I guess, and eventually flew to Washington DC. We thought of getting more Buffalo wings to go with us at the airport Anchor Bar, and because it took so long for them to be served, we decided to take them on the plane. The flight attendants were jealous.
Once we secured a rental car in Silver Springs, MD, we drove to Washington to drop off our passports at the Swedish Embassy (that was an adventure- we needed passport photos and wound up having to walk farther and farther in search of them, almost ran out of money on the meter for our car, needed to take a taxi back to it; Seth dropped me off at the Embassy en route to the car, then came back to get me later- whew!). After we finished in Washington, we drove to Arlington, VA to the Hilton hotel. I'd have chosen a cheaper one, but this is where the out of town family was staying. It was nice enough, though the windows didn't open much and our room was stuffy. The main reason for the trip was Seth's (and my, I suppose, though I don't think I've done more but say "hi" to this boy) nephew's Bar Mitzvah. We went to Friday night services followed by what I think is called a seder, (food, mostly) then the next day got up nice and early to go to IHOP (I haven't been to one in ages!) and then to Saturday morning services, where Sam (the nephew) read from the Torah and gave a lesson and so on. Mostly there was sitting and standing and singing things, so I just read the English interpretive bits from the section in the prayer book that was being covered. Then we had a bit of time to ourselves, so we changed (it was pretty warm out, in the 70s) and walked around Georgetown in Washington for a couple of hours. There is an old canal with wooden locks in it used for moving barges up and down the area, which is inclined, and we walked along it in sort of a parklike area for most of our free time. Luckily, the only card shop we came across had Bar Mitzvah cards in it, so we picked one up for Sam.
After our nice walk, we returned to the hotel, changed, and headed back to the synagogue. We missed the evening service, which is really short, and stayed around at Sam's party afterward until about 11 pm. The theme was football, and there was a DJ that entertained the kids with games set to music. I was feeling a little grumpy, but I think bright lights and lots of children and footballs does that to me. After we left the party, we tried finding the statue of Einstein in Washington, but failed. We did manage to drive around and see lots of lit up buildings and monuments in Washington, though, but unfortunately we didn't have time to walk around to spend more time viewing them. I think Seth got a couple photos of the Capitol building. When we got back, we wound up walking to a grocery store to buy toiletries. Fruit and vegetable prices in DC are terrible- about the same as in Alaska! I was shocked.
We got up the next day for brunch with Seth's family and some family friends, and that was nice; after that, we wedged our two small suitcases and Seth's mom's massive amount of stuff into our rental car, and set out for Pittsfield, MA. That trip took us all day. I was kind of astonished at how often people had to stop to pay tolls on the highway we were taking. We must have paid $30 in tolls! In any case, it was dark by the time we got to MA.
Pittsfield: I didn't get a chance to see Pittsfield by the light of day until the following day, and it is a nice enough town. We spent a couple of days helping Seth's mom out with some things, taking care of things in Seth's storage unit (we had to move all the contents to a new unit due to water leaking into the original one), and visiting with some of the folks Seth knew in that area. We left late in the evening and made it to Leverett, WA where Seth's brother Marvin and his wife Edie live. It's a pity it was so dark, since the countryside is very pretty.
Leverett, WA: We only stayed overnight, so all I could see of Leverett was Marvin and Edie's house (which is very nice), the woods around their house, and whatever was right next to the road as we left the next day. After wishing them a good night, we drove out to a club in New York called Haven where Seth used to go quite a bit. A few people remembered him, and I got a chance to dance a bit. A nice club all around. Afterward, Dunkin Donuts run, then back to the house to sleep a few hours. We awoke and let ourselves out as the cleaning service vacuumed the stairs. Someday I will have a house uncluttered enough so that, if we keep it tidy enough, it will look as nice.
We drove to Boston, and got there early enough that we spent about an hour walking around Harvard Square (the campus is GORGEOUS, and now I can say I went to Harvard) and taking care of messages. The rest of the day was dull: going to the airport, and flying to Seattle, which was a long and tedious flight.
Seattle: Once in Seattle, things improved- we met up with Preston, who moved there 3 months ago. We drove in his vegetable-oil-burning car to a brew pub and had all sorts of tasty beverages and snacks from the late night menu. We were successful in getting him drunk, so Seth drove us back home. The next day I was awakened by a dog slobbering in my face (we stayed in the living room of a house Preston is sharing with people that own a dog); we managed to have a nice breakfast at a diner full of airplane models and parts (it's located next to the Boeing plant), though Preston could only have hash browns and some peaches- everything else on the menu had animal products in it. I felt bad about that. In any case, he was a good sport about it, and dropped us off at the airport with plenty of time to catch our plane home to Fairbanks.
Fairbanks: Home sweet home! After 10 days of relative warmth, it was strange to experience below-freezing temperatures again. This weekend has been fairly busy- I was helping Seth with the art intake for April's juried art show, which was a lot less busy than we expected it to be, but it did take up a lot of our time. Tonight we came home relatively early (we left at about 5:30 pm) and because it was still light out and we felt like having a little adventure, we drove out to the Hilltop diner for pie. WOW, was it ever good pie! That, combined with above freezing temperatures, made today a very good day. It stayed light out until maybe 9 pm. I love long days.
Now I have to go help Seth fold laundry, and finish sorting some papers. But it was good to put most of the past couple of weeks' events down in some form. Hope you all have a great night!
The past couple of weeks have been very busy. Here's a summary:
Chicago: No sleep and a very early morning flight to Chicago (a long way from here) plus trains to take once we got there combined to make it a lengthy day. The sun was setting when we finally made it to Sara's apartment. However, all three of us (she was tired too) rallied to go out for pizza (not Chicago style, which was fine because the pizza they brought us was HUUUGE) and beer at a local brew pub, and afterward watched a very bad film about werewolves named Ginger Snaps. Canadian, incidentally.
The next day we flew to Buffalo. That was a short flight, and we managed to save a bit of money by taking the bus to the train station, not a taxi.
Buffalo: Once we got there and secured our rental car (which seemed to take forever), Seth and I were very hungry. The rental car guy directed us to the Anchor Bar, which is the original home of the Buffalo chicken wing. So we went there, and foolishly ordered hamburgers as well as a plate of Buffalo wings. Holy crap, even the small plate of wings had a lot to eat on it, and after I was done my hamburger I thought I might explode. The food was very, very good, even if they didn't season their hamburger patties the way Seth does.
After the Anchor Bar, we drove to Niagra Falls to see the Falls. We looked at them from the American side- nice, but meh. Then from the Canadian side, with the world's fastest border crossing in between. The Canadian side looks much better, and Seth likes to claim this is because one is looking at America from that side. However, he just has to realize that all things Canadian are just superior in all possible ways. :p
Before leaving the US, we bought a couple of Dunkin Dounut doughnuts, then on the Canadian side we bought a couple of identical flavor (chocolate) Tim Horton doughnuts. When compared, they were close but the Tim's doughnuts were fresher and therefore better. It wasn't entirely a fair comparison, though, since the DD doughnuts were sitting in the car for a little while.
Guelph: After a long drive in the dark across Ontario, we wound up in Guelph Township, at the house where my brother lives (the same house I grew up in). My parents were still awake and greeted us, but don't have enough room to put both Seth and I up so we stayed in a bedroom in my brother's place. It was kind of strange being in that house again- the last time I was there was when my brother Fred was dying. We were staying in the room that was his when he was a kid. I don't think he was haunting it, though.
We spent a nice couple of days visiting my parents, and I was able to introduce Seth to most of the people I keep in touch with that are still in Guelph or in driving distance of Guelph. There aren't that many. We also walked around a bit downtown. On the last night we were visiting, we went out with my parents to a nice little Asian restaurant (Thai/ Vietnamese) and then later went with them and my brother to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D. I liked it, but would have preferred that it not be in 3D. I don't think the effects added all that much to the film, they were more of a distraction.
We woke up early, drove to Buffalo, and got again through the border with lightning speed. We arrived at the airport super early, which is better than being super late, I guess, and eventually flew to Washington DC. We thought of getting more Buffalo wings to go with us at the airport Anchor Bar, and because it took so long for them to be served, we decided to take them on the plane. The flight attendants were jealous.
Once we secured a rental car in Silver Springs, MD, we drove to Washington to drop off our passports at the Swedish Embassy (that was an adventure- we needed passport photos and wound up having to walk farther and farther in search of them, almost ran out of money on the meter for our car, needed to take a taxi back to it; Seth dropped me off at the Embassy en route to the car, then came back to get me later- whew!). After we finished in Washington, we drove to Arlington, VA to the Hilton hotel. I'd have chosen a cheaper one, but this is where the out of town family was staying. It was nice enough, though the windows didn't open much and our room was stuffy. The main reason for the trip was Seth's (and my, I suppose, though I don't think I've done more but say "hi" to this boy) nephew's Bar Mitzvah. We went to Friday night services followed by what I think is called a seder, (food, mostly) then the next day got up nice and early to go to IHOP (I haven't been to one in ages!) and then to Saturday morning services, where Sam (the nephew) read from the Torah and gave a lesson and so on. Mostly there was sitting and standing and singing things, so I just read the English interpretive bits from the section in the prayer book that was being covered. Then we had a bit of time to ourselves, so we changed (it was pretty warm out, in the 70s) and walked around Georgetown in Washington for a couple of hours. There is an old canal with wooden locks in it used for moving barges up and down the area, which is inclined, and we walked along it in sort of a parklike area for most of our free time. Luckily, the only card shop we came across had Bar Mitzvah cards in it, so we picked one up for Sam.
After our nice walk, we returned to the hotel, changed, and headed back to the synagogue. We missed the evening service, which is really short, and stayed around at Sam's party afterward until about 11 pm. The theme was football, and there was a DJ that entertained the kids with games set to music. I was feeling a little grumpy, but I think bright lights and lots of children and footballs does that to me. After we left the party, we tried finding the statue of Einstein in Washington, but failed. We did manage to drive around and see lots of lit up buildings and monuments in Washington, though, but unfortunately we didn't have time to walk around to spend more time viewing them. I think Seth got a couple photos of the Capitol building. When we got back, we wound up walking to a grocery store to buy toiletries. Fruit and vegetable prices in DC are terrible- about the same as in Alaska! I was shocked.
We got up the next day for brunch with Seth's family and some family friends, and that was nice; after that, we wedged our two small suitcases and Seth's mom's massive amount of stuff into our rental car, and set out for Pittsfield, MA. That trip took us all day. I was kind of astonished at how often people had to stop to pay tolls on the highway we were taking. We must have paid $30 in tolls! In any case, it was dark by the time we got to MA.
Pittsfield: I didn't get a chance to see Pittsfield by the light of day until the following day, and it is a nice enough town. We spent a couple of days helping Seth's mom out with some things, taking care of things in Seth's storage unit (we had to move all the contents to a new unit due to water leaking into the original one), and visiting with some of the folks Seth knew in that area. We left late in the evening and made it to Leverett, WA where Seth's brother Marvin and his wife Edie live. It's a pity it was so dark, since the countryside is very pretty.
Leverett, WA: We only stayed overnight, so all I could see of Leverett was Marvin and Edie's house (which is very nice), the woods around their house, and whatever was right next to the road as we left the next day. After wishing them a good night, we drove out to a club in New York called Haven where Seth used to go quite a bit. A few people remembered him, and I got a chance to dance a bit. A nice club all around. Afterward, Dunkin Donuts run, then back to the house to sleep a few hours. We awoke and let ourselves out as the cleaning service vacuumed the stairs. Someday I will have a house uncluttered enough so that, if we keep it tidy enough, it will look as nice.
We drove to Boston, and got there early enough that we spent about an hour walking around Harvard Square (the campus is GORGEOUS, and now I can say I went to Harvard) and taking care of messages. The rest of the day was dull: going to the airport, and flying to Seattle, which was a long and tedious flight.
Seattle: Once in Seattle, things improved- we met up with Preston, who moved there 3 months ago. We drove in his vegetable-oil-burning car to a brew pub and had all sorts of tasty beverages and snacks from the late night menu. We were successful in getting him drunk, so Seth drove us back home. The next day I was awakened by a dog slobbering in my face (we stayed in the living room of a house Preston is sharing with people that own a dog); we managed to have a nice breakfast at a diner full of airplane models and parts (it's located next to the Boeing plant), though Preston could only have hash browns and some peaches- everything else on the menu had animal products in it. I felt bad about that. In any case, he was a good sport about it, and dropped us off at the airport with plenty of time to catch our plane home to Fairbanks.
Fairbanks: Home sweet home! After 10 days of relative warmth, it was strange to experience below-freezing temperatures again. This weekend has been fairly busy- I was helping Seth with the art intake for April's juried art show, which was a lot less busy than we expected it to be, but it did take up a lot of our time. Tonight we came home relatively early (we left at about 5:30 pm) and because it was still light out and we felt like having a little adventure, we drove out to the Hilltop diner for pie. WOW, was it ever good pie! That, combined with above freezing temperatures, made today a very good day. It stayed light out until maybe 9 pm. I love long days.
Now I have to go help Seth fold laundry, and finish sorting some papers. But it was good to put most of the past couple of weeks' events down in some form. Hope you all have a great night!