Mainely An Adventure
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
I made the Breakfast!
Not the best post, but fun none-the-less. We just wrapped up breakfast. I took on the task of frying up some Plantains, with intentions of coating them in delicious freshly ground cinnamon and brown sugar. Well, the product turned out, but not without a few snares... hehe. No pictures, but I found this one online to give you an idea of what happens when I work with hot oil in the morning.
Needless to say after catapulting slices of plantain into regions of the bedroom from the kitchen with a propelled force that would impress the higher ups of NASA, breakfast turned out pretty good. Little bit of honey over the top of some freshly fried plantains coated in a layer of fresh ground cinnamon and brown sugar... amazing, enough to even help me to forget the near death experience that occurred merely minutes before serving.
Episode 15: In Which We Speak of Bikes and SketchUP
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Been a long time...
So we're back, and somewhat better than ever. It has been a while since the last post and thank you to anyone who still might read this blog. Though I think we will not ever fully be so, we have however become relatively acclimated to our surroundings here in Maine. (So has the cat, probably more so).
It is interesting getting use to a new area. After discovering so many new things at first, you start to notice things that are just like back home, both good and bad. One such thing would be Traffic, yes it is everywhere. Whether you are on your way to see a Red Wings game and find yourself in automotive limbo 20 cars behind a car that has been waiting too long in traffic, or if you are on your way to go see the latest Harry Potter film and you find that time has utterly stopped on the way to pyramid... shops at at Ithaca, or even if you are traveling along a scenic little route between the Atlantic Coast and a lush tidal marsh you may find yourself behind an individual even more lost in the scenery then you and going an astonishing 15 MPH to compensate. I have deduced from my short and meager span of experience that as long as there are people, so shall there be other people waiting behind them.
There are goods things as well, though, and I would not generate a post for the triumphant blog return that is so negative. The environment, I'll say it again because I know that it is already a redundant term in my daily vocabulary... The Environment, Nature, Outdoors, The Natural World. It has been everywhere we have gone and I am grateful for that. Whether it is going to peer out over Lake Ontario and its placid expanse leading to the land of hockey and health care, going to Stewart Park to hang out with friends and family to listen to good music and enjoy the wonderful rustic nature of Ithaca, or taking a bike ride to the beach only to be reminded just how many beautiful things there are on the way there and back as well as the destination point itself. I thought moving to Maine would allow me a natural world not as developed as the one I knew back home in New York and I did, but found that this less developed land is the same as that very land I saw as over saturated with human interference and "enhancement." Thought Maine is no where near as developed as New York, it does have the potential to be and that is a serious thought. On the lighter side though, after seeing this abundance of nature at minimum so far I have become convinced that this is possible anywhere that people may find a value for nature itself and not just as land to own.
But enough of my rambling, what is new up here, what have we been up to, has Jacob harmed any of our neighbors yet?
(Jacob saying just how much he missed everyone, he has shown interest in putting a post on here, we'll see what happens this year.)
These are all good questions and I can honestly say that No, Jacob hasn't harmed anyone other than me and the occasional family member... so far.
A little more though of what we have been up to though. Kari is at work, as unfortunately she is most of the time, so I will do my best to update for her. She is still at the Depot and MRLD. She has been enjoying the freetime she gets by the usual devouring of any literary piece that may fall into her general proximity. I am also proud to say that I think I have officially gotten her on the Science Fiction/Fantasy path. She may deny it, but I'll let the facts speak for themselves. 1. She has, and much appreciated, watched not only all six star wars films but has struggled through some animation as well (Bless her heart) 2. We started watching a little show called Farscape and quite rapidly consumed four whole seasons (a show mind you that at first Kari might have referred to as dren, but soon grew to love) 3. We have now stumbled upon the wonderful world/s of Doctor Who, two seasons down so far and things are looking good. 4. We have also begun to multitask and watch some of the Dresden Files TV series. All in all, I am very proud and excited about this development, but rather than going on about my perspective of what Kari has been up to maybe I will just see if I can coerce her into telling you herself.
Onto what has been happening in my life... ALOT! In a good and at times extremely frustrating manner. I performed excellent as you may recall in the Fall 2009 semester and find myself drawing to a close of this semester in Spring 2010. In explaining my commitments you may see why I have not posted. The semester began as per usual with lots of joyous ambiguity and I found myself committing to just about anything I could. I continued my work as an off-campus student representative for the town of Biddeford, got on board with a grant involving the Saco River Estuary and the surrounding communities, and I continued my work for Noah (http://www.audubonmagazine.org/features0911/birds.html) on the ground nesting birds. All this plus a hefty course load, but how could you ever know your limits unless you test, and boy did I find mine. The student reps and Saco Estuary work did prove fruitful, but hardly what they could have been I'm afraid. My work with Noah however has taken off. I will be working all summer in the lab, getting results hopefully. I am very excited about this. We also got out a couple of times and managed to see more of the area, plus a great concert last month (Brown Bird and Low Anthem). We got us some wheels to! Sweet rides! Kari got a Trek road bike and I got a pretty little yellow Lemond Buenos Aires road bike. There will be much bicycle adventuring this summer I guarantee! Also, we have landed us a new abode for my senior year at the university. A tiny little beach cottage near Ferry Beach State Park on the Ocean. So much more I can say, but perhaps I will leave it there and discuss things further in another post.
Now some more photos before I go:
It's good to be back! See you all again soon!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Old Long Since
Gratitude where it is due, I intend to direct a portion to you the reader and a special few scattered about the country during these celebratory days. All too often we find ourselves alone, either figuratively or literally, and we cannot seem to find anyone nearby to comfort our solitude. In the loudest of company we may feel that we are only singular and not a part of the raucous surrounding we find ourselves in. It is a terrible feeling to feel alone, but I want to offer some thoughts that may shed a familiar light on those who desire a familiar face, voice, or even embrace, to help see in the new year and out the old.
This New Years Eve, if you find yourself missing someone or thinking of those who seem lost to you, look inside of yourself and find the your recollections of these individuals. You may find that while they are not there in person, they are there within you and you may even realize that you are with them in the exact same sense. I don't want to reiterate the cliche of being there "in spirit" because I wish to state something more. When you feel you are alone and you turn to look inward for that connection or that memory of a loved one and you reflect on the previous year or years; take note of the warmth generated in your heart from the memories and experiences you have had with those that you love. Let that warmth swell and warm you in the coming winter and as the countdown to the New Year begins. It is easy to forget the compassion and fellowship of those we care about when they are not there to grace us with their presence and remind us of their love for us, but if you take the time to remember and acquiesce the darkness of your perceived loneliness , those memories will keep you bound close to those you love in the farthest of distances and the coldest of nights.
So to everyone, I wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR! May we find ourselves in good company and in great spirit as we dive into the next decade, and may we all be healthy, happy, and loved in the New Year.
(Sometimes family is closer than you think, sometimes you just have to concentrate to find them in your hearts)
My apologies to the following for a lack of entry (Jacob, Tank, Rudy, Louise, Holly, & Leo)
Saturday, October 31, 2009
1 out of 4 ain't bad
I remember turning 25, it was kind of like turning 24 only that it took longer.
Oh Kari, a quarter century old... don't worry though, lots of great things could not happen without the magical number 25. For a start, parking, it takes the magical number to earn 6, 15, and sometimes even up to 20 mins on a parking meter, which could be a significant amount of time when doing something like blowing out birthday candles perhaps. How about the realm of science, why without the number 25 we could never have the lovable element manganese, you may laugh, but without manganese we would not have photosynthesis. Without the number 25 in sports no major league baseball team could have a full roster and volleyball, under rally scoring rules of course, would be quite the tedious arrangement. Their would be no silver for love as it is the marker for a twenty fifth anniversary. There would be no fast route between New Mexico and Wyoming. Musical performances by the likes of Veruca Salt and Patti Smith would go unrealized by the lack of the number 25. In Britain, there would be no slang term for 25 pounds, which is a pony by the way.
While these all attest to the importance of the number 25, I think we can all agree on one thing, that is the ultimate reason, purpose, and need for the number twenty five; and that is you, Kari B. Gallow. Without the number 25 we couldn't have you and thus I for one am eternally greatful for the number 25.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARI!
love: the Cat and I
Saturday, October 3, 2009
An Untold Tale of an Unknown Tail
A young and surprisingly limber primate sprung forth into a world of possibilities and challenges a plenty. Rupert left home at the shocking age of 9 to become a stock broker in the obscure, yet astonishingly versatile, Tallahassee Market Exchange.
After several years of primate-less comradeship in the work place, Rupert grew tired of his small successful endeavor in the marketplace. Warning of dire straits in future economic affairs within this nation, Rupert left his firm of Johnson & son & other son. He moved onto use his marketing talents in New York City and took a job carving custom figureheads for the sea faring ships of which Rupert had grown to admire on the Atlantic by his adobe shack on the NYC coast. After gaining a slight dependance on the favors of an ice cold glass of campari, Rupert took to the seas. Aboard the Sweet Saint Whatever he met the unsavory, and raggedly shavin, Duelin Dugan Boru and suffered adventures the likes of which shall not be mentioned in such a civil blog.
After a run in with some ill tempered Maori off the coast of New Zealand, Rupert left the sea and the surf behind. He headed back to New York and found passage to a small town in the central valleys of New York. Penniless and wandering, he stumbled upon the humble and gracious doorstep of the Great Family Gallow of Groton, where he was taken in by the sweet lady Kari and her oft aloof companion Theoderic.
He shared home and hearth with this sweet couple. All was well, until he was presented with a new co-tenant, and unkown assassin to poor sweet Rupert, the sweet, sly, and sometimes savage Jacob A. Wright-Gallow.
After several vicious, deadly, and quite loud encounters, Rupert offered submission for favor from this wretched, yet sometimes cuddly, beast of little repose. Whilst Jacob did not wish to fail in his mission nor expose his cliant for which the task had been payed for, he found great training and release from the savage beatings delivered to poor, sweet, limber, Rupert. Little is known of what has happened to Rupert, there is a rumor that travels on the wind of him living a life of desolation in the north eastern shores of this great nation, in a world of suffering, but never death at the hands of his keeper, companion, and nemesis, Jacob A. Wright-Gallow.