Amherst Addendum

The trip to Amherst also taught me a very valuable lesson. Pecan pie isn't as yuck as I thought it was. This means there's not a single pie I don't like. Bakeries, beware.

Amherst Action

Human Dynamo and DJ were chauffeured by me in the manlac Prius to Amherst to visit James (their high school friend and mine since 1st grade) and Laura, his wife, this past weekend. Highlights of the weekend included HD using his pirate strength to hammer softballs over the fence at Smith College, venison burger bbq, ice cream at Herrell's, a night of Redneck Life, and blueberry picking, where Laura demonstrated her migrant worker abilities, picking 10 lbs of blueberries in the time it took me to pick less than half. That's ok though; since HD and I are roomies again, we walked away with over 10 lbs together. Due to the fact that we both love blueberries, we decided to put blueberries in our blueberries so we could eat blueberries while we ate blueberries and eventually converted those 10 lbs into blueberry crisp, blueberry lavender ice cream, blueberry lime salsa, blueberry papaya muffins and blue blueberry blueberries. Surprisingly, we didn't get sick of them. Blueberries, like me, are quite versatile and unbelievably delicious. Oh, also, it was great to see Laura and James.

HD steps up to bat; getting attacked by his own glove



Matt realizes spending hours in the sun without sunscreen is a bad idea; I got the St. Ides "gamepiece"

Playing Redneck Life; Laura showing off her picking skills

James, the blueberry monk of Amherst, with his preciouses; HD has James' shirt

Bountiful bounties

We Like You Very Much, Come Work For Us

I'm not sure if everyone has heard, but apparently we're in some type of recession or bad economy currently. I figured this out on my own after seeing just about no jobs to apply to, and getting rejected by all the ones I did. So I did what any photographer struggling to get by would do, and sold my soul to work for a children's portraiture studio. Irvin Simon, a well-known school portrait company that had taken my camp photos as a youth, was looking to hire photographers. Job requirements included knowing when to give a child a cheap plastic comb to fix his hair, making sure the child looked as uncomfortable and unnatural as possible, and being mildly to completely uninterested in all the proceedings. I applied for the position and received back the good news that they were "impressed with [my] resume and or resume." Excitement flooded me, as I was impressed by their clear commitment to handwriting and carefully screening all their emails. I called and left a number where they could reach me, but perhaps I didn't stress that I was a qualified applicant (I own a car).

The Year of the Prius

When HD moved back to Brooklyn, he needed to buy a car to get allll the way out to the magical kingdom of Parsippany, NJ. Due to his eco-conscious conscience, he ended up buying a tricked-out 2006 Prius. It came fully loaded with:

• A completely useless rear camera, for those times when turning your head around is just too much of a pain
• An annoying beep beep beep back up noise, usually made by large trucks that people are worried about being run over by, rather than 100 pound cars that fold up into your pocket
• Enough compartments to keep me occupied for about an hour in the car
• A tiny tv screen who's only channels are the "how many tiny cars of energy have I generated" and "am I using battery or gas right now" channels
• A manly lilac paintjob, or "manlac" for short

Bluberries and Things

Blueberries have been slow to ripen this year, due to the excess rain and light beams from one of Saturn's moons

My one remaining apricot was decently delicious

Clematis making itself right at home

American Sweet Pea will eventually produce pods that you don't want to eat

Carrots

Pulled up a carrot today, even though I should have left them in the soil longer. I couldn't resist. Once I pulled up one, I needed to pull up more to satisfy my curiosity. None of them were really ready. I could tell from the shape that they're getting blunted by the soil. Will have to add more sand and peat moss to the soil for next year. Some green beans growing and some blueberries are ripening, but only the carrots and some lettuce have made it inside so far.

From top to bottom: Scarlet Nantes, 2 Purple Dragons

African Street Festival

I love me some sorrel, plantains, black seed soap and bake, so I met up with HD and Kool Redd at the International African Arts Festival at Commodore Barry Park for the last day on Sunday.

HD looking suave shoveling jerked chicken into his mouth

Koolredd says no snitching rule isn't even suspended on major holidays

Happy Birthday Sis

Happy birthday to my younger, and only, sister who just hit the quarter-century mark. However, since she's half-alien, that's really only like 15, which is how she's forever memorialized in my mind.