guess who might be almost five or something?

we celebrated jake's birthday yesterday, too, even though we don't know exactly when it is or how old he is. you might be wondering, "how exactly do you celebrate a dog's birthday?" two minutes of extra belly rub time, windows wide open on the drive home, and peanut butter bones for dessert. a perfect day for a dog.

guess who's two?

look how our little baby girl has grown- or rather, look how her ears have shrunk.

another weekend, another wedding

christian and olga got married in maine this past rainy saturday. starting with a friday night bowling party and continuing through a short but lovely ceremony followed by 100 pounds of lobster, a sing-a-long toast by the groom's three brothers, and 14 home-baked (by the bride) blueberry pies, it was one of the greatest weddings ever. if only the rain hadn't forced the cancellation of the bouncy castle rental.

watching the win

irish 2000

sometimes i peruse the websites of my favorite bands to see if they have upcoming concerts in the area, the dates of which i then incorporate into my precariously full social calendar. i think the only thing that could top my surprise at that one time when i found that red molly was playing in walpole, massachusetts was to find that great big sea was playing a show in altamont, new york (ancestral home of yours truly). in fact, i was pretty sure it was a typo, because if i've heard about that rolling stones concert once, i've heard about it twenty times.

but it was true- great big sea played the altamont fairgrounds on saturday night, as part of irish fest 2000, a festival that was likely named 8 years ago and, in the interest of not changing their website, has kept the same name ever since.

i didn't bring my video recording machine, but i imagine this youtube clip does a much better job than i could have anyway, as my video would have been bouncing up and down as i danced (and by "danced" i mean jumped up and down) and would have including a lot of me yelling the lyrics as loud as i could, which you probably would have disliked as much as the woman standing in front me of did.

note the size of the crowd- there weren't quite that many people at the altamont show.

demonstrating a remarkable amount of patience

say what you will about nina being obnoxious and i will certainly agree with you.

but don't say that she is not exceptionally good with little kids, because if you did, you would be wrong. it is clear that one party is enjoying this snuggle session much more than the other party is but both parties endured the event with grace and showmanship.



"sweet lord jesus, won't someone get me out of this chair?"

the best part about this year's sanctuary director's meeting

every year, all the sanctuary directors get together for a two day extravaganza of meeting, networking, and waiting for it to be over so we can go home (see past sanctuary director meeting posts here and here).

but there's always something that seems to make the trip worthwhile and this year, i think the journey to cape cod earned me my best chance yet of making it onto cute overload. as long as people see the cute in this image more than they see the "freak of nature" aspect of the situation.


apparently, the right head controls the right side of the turtle's body and the left head controls the left side. so if one head wants to go for a stroll and the other head is feeling sleepy, the turtle walks in circles. the folks at wellfleet aren't really sure what to do with the baby turtle. they collect eggs and hatchlings and raise them in the lab over the winter to better the odds that the young turtles will survive. but this guy doesn't have much of a chance if they do release it in the spring, unless it is really true that two heads are better than one.

julie, i call this one, "oh my god i am going."

nina, my dear, you have something caught in your teeth

"oh my god, how embarrassing. what, is it like a piece of spinach or something?"


"seriously, is there really something there? get it out!"


"stop laughing at me. i don't think this is funny."

scary as hell

look at this thing that was crawling up the outside of matt's car. sure sure, i know it's a bad picture.
it was the scariest thing i have ever seen ever in my life besides the view from the crosstrees of the sloop clearwater (really really scary because it was so high). and it was crawling right towards me! i was so scared that i couldn't properly aim the camera so instead had to resort to trying to find a picture of it online, which i did by typing in "scary as hell wasp thing". here's a better shot. (note: imagine it to be roughly the size of a large boom box stereo and pretend also that it was quietly yet ominously playing "we will rock you" as it inched ever closer to your jugular).

mini reunion

my friend bren got married this past weekend. his wedding photographer let me use his fancy flash for a few minutes, but then told me i was draining the batteries and took it back.

this guy is now married.

hey mr. d.j. put a record on

i want to dance with my baby.

our version of the daily coyote

like many other americans, i started reading the daily coyote blog and thought to myself, "i got to get me one of them things," which i think is one of the messages that the author is absolutely trying to NOT convey. my opinion on the matter of coyotes as pets was changed slightly when one of them tried to eat nina totenberg on an afternoon walk, but in general, i find coyotes to be fascinatingly resourceful creatures. we watched this one return to the apple tree behind our house for a snack many times last weekend.

ok, i still want to keep it as a pet.

flower child