flightless hag

A chronicle of the adventures of birdwoman: a lonely, talentless freak who wanders the internet in search of entertainment.

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Location: Philly

I'm a 40-something married white female, survivor of weight watchers, avid reader of pulp. Dogs (not cats), extreme right (handed, not politics), ENTJ, alto, wanna-be knitter.

August 26, 2009

Dragon's Hollow Wine

I have been re-connecting with many old friends and acquaintances via Facebook this summer. A few weeks ago, I met up with some old work friends at a restaurant out in Devon.

The food was quite good - French-Thai - and the owner was kind enough to let us chat the entire night away at one of his tables. The owner looks an awful lot like Jackie Chan, so I suppose I was bound to like him, anyhow.

So, when we're picking the restaurant, Chris suggested this one because he goes there a lot. He told me the cuisine and told me it was BYOB.

What kind of wine do you take to an Asian French fusion restaurant? I came across the perfect bottle at my local state store:



We didn't end up drinking this treasure at dinner, so I brought it home. Stinky, who was born in the year of the dragon (hence, his fort is called the Dragon's Lair) immediately claimed this coin as his booty:




As for whether the Chinese have made a good Chardonnay? I couldn't tell you. Haven't uncorked it yet. But I imagine it's probably full of all sorts of carcinogens and other nasty chemicals, which I am certain will make it all the yummier!

Cheers!

(*)>

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August 25, 2009

Boys Will Be Boys

Summer is drawing to a close, once again. The cicadas are louder than bombs here in PA and you can smell the bus fumes and new shoes just around the corner.

We spent this morning hiking around Ridley Creek State Park. The temp and humidity have dropped, so it was quite fun. I'm not a bug fan, but I deal because the boys tend to have a pretty good time.





Then the boys got really hot, though, as our walk was ending. So they went tribal, and I told them that soldiers sometimes wrap their shirts around their heads. So they did.




Unprovoked, Stinky takes a pretend gun (he always has one handy) and starts shooting at planes. "I'm dressed like a terrorist so I should shoot down planes" he says, with a bad accent. Where do they get this stuff? I'm fairly certain John and I haven't planted this one in his brain, though he's always listening and regurgitating things we never expected him to hear...

Fun in the sun is almost done, but we still have a few days left. I'm going to enjoy it as much as possible!

(*)>

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August 14, 2009

EAGLES = EVIL

I am a rarity: a Philadelphian who hates the Eagles. It all started when I lived in south philly and was a cowboys fan. That year was also the year that an Eagles fan peed on a cowboys fan IN THE STANDS and beat up a little kid who was sporting the colors of another opposing team.

Eagles fans, I have found, are a rude, awful bunch. They boo santa and cheer when a player breaks his neck. Anything that makes them sad makes me happy. I am still not a football fan, but I cheer for any team that plays the eagles.

Up until yesterday, every male homo sapiens in my house was a big time eagles fan. Then this headline interrupted the Phillies game last night.

A few months ago, not sure if I posted about this or not, Stinky (big animal kid) and I watched a National Geographic special about the dogs that were rescued from Michael Vick's property after the dog-fighting scandal. There were dogs that had their teeth all pulled out so they could be forcibly bred. There were dogs that were trained to be bait to build up other dogs' confidence. It was horrific. It stuck with Sean big time.

Now, the iggles have hired michael vick to be their new qb. When they announced it, Sean looks at me and says, "Isn't that the guy who hurt all those dogs?" I answered that it was. He said, "I'm with mom now. I hate the Eagles. I'm routing for the Ravens." (that's Poppy's team, and their players have their own issues, I know, but none involve animals, right?)

Then he stopped and thought and said, "And I'm gonna route for the cowboys. Because the Eagles hate the Cowboys."

I love that kid.

(*)>

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August 12, 2009

The Art of the Mix Tape

You know, there are so many movies and tv shows that make fun of us nerds who make mix cd's - nick and nora's infinite playlist is the most recent. But I know it's a casual throwaway to point out that a boy/girl is a stalker-dweeb. It's so wrong.

Mix tapes are awesome and show a real attention to detail that most people just don't get.

I make mix tapes for my favorite beaus - my boys. I make one every summer, which is a blend of summer songs and kids songs they like at the time.

This year, I made an additional one for each of them. There's the camping cd for sean, which has camping songs, mosquito songs, fishing songs, and country/cowboy songs.
Campfire Song Song - Spongebob Squarepants (last year's kid hit!)
Mosquito - Artichoke (if you haven't heard this, it's really cool)
I'm Going Fishing - Bert Susanka
Camping Trip - Tracey Singer (modern hello muddah, I think.)
Mosquito - Brian Kinder
Going Bass Fishing - Anna Moo
Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah - Allan Sherman
It's My Lazy Day - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys (mom? I can hear you sing this)
Black Water - The Doobie Brothers (this reminds me of friends from college)
Mother Nature's Son - The Beatles (every mix I make has the beatles on it. It's a rule.)
The Battle of New Orleans - Johnny Horton (and here we start with sean's cammo fixation)
The Ballad of Davy Crockett - Fess Parker
Daniel Boone - Alleyoop
(Ghost) Riders In The Sky - Johnny Cash (why? well, I ran out of ideas!)
Don't Fence Me In - Gene Autry
Mountain Music - Alabama
Summer Breeze - Seals & Crofts (again, I ran out of ideas! but you do camp in summer?)

Mothy's cd is a cruising cd - all songs about cars/trucks.
Drive My Car - The Beatles
Drivin' My Life Away - Eddie Rabbitt
18 Wheels On a Big Rig - Trout Fishing in America
On the Road Again - Willie Nelson (for Donna)
Hot Rod Lincoln - Commander Cody & His Lost Planet … (for Johnny)
Convoy - C.W. McCall (for my Dad)
Get In The Car - Moxy Früvous (totally for me!)
Fun, Fun, Fun 2:16 Endless Summer The Beach Boys
Ramblin' Man - The Allman Brothers Band
Let It Ride - Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Blinded By the Light - Manfred Mann's Earth Band
The Distance - Cake
Cruisin' - Smokey Robinson
Midnight Rider - The Allman Brothers Band
Truckin' - The Greatful Dead (for daddy)
Route 66 - Manhattan Transfer (I really don't know why I kept this one. Tim likes vocal songs)
Crash - The Primitives
Take It Easy - The Eagles

This was def. the easier to make, though I had to kick a lot of songs out. Stinky's was much harder. I simply couldn't come up with a complete playlist. What did I miss?

(*)>

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August 06, 2009

Summer of Cammo

Thanks Uncle Mike and Aunt Jenny



They got the boys cammo t-shirts, vests, and ecoutrements. The little cherubs already had cammo shorts. As a result, most days they are fully be-decked with cammo, but sometimes they are minimalist army dudes, as in this pic.

Stinky, when he goes anywhere, pretends he is the scout, and "carries" his "weapon" at the ready... he's kinda scary obsessed with it right now.

The moth just tries to keep up. Yesterday, I heard this conversation:
M: "Do you know how we kiss in the army?"
S: "Army guys don't KISS."
M: "Right! We punch each other on the arm or on the back. Not too hard."

sigh. They are such... boys.

John has ventured that I should change what they wear. Why? As long as it's clean, I really don't care what they wear. When school starts again, well, that's another matter.

John has gotten into camping with the boys this summer. They have gone away once and will go away again. Very cheap vacation, this is. The boys camp, which is cheap, and I get a day to myself, which I usually spend watching movies or going for walks. I love summer.

Hope yours is going well, too.

(*)>

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August 01, 2009

Books On Tape

So, as I did last summer, I've continued my little affair with books in electronic form. I do like the playaways, which have the book in a portable MP3 player. But now that I have a new computer, I can fit a few books on cd burned to my drive while I am listening.

My problem, peeve with these things: they almost NEVER have the titles of the tracks match from CD to CD. Do you know how much of a pain it is to put together the playlist for a book that is 200 tracks long, with no real common way of naming the tracks? I almost always end up renaming all the tracks before I burn them. Pain in the butt.

It is August already. I cannot believe how the time is flying. The boys and I are all berry-brown. The pediatrician would have a fit - I haven't used sunscreen on them at all. We just play outside a lot and go to the pool a lot and well, that's life.

Now, I'm going to go listen to the end of Johnstown Flood, the latest in my list of books on playaway. Cheers!

(*)>

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