Urbaniak is In

Time to assemble this thing.

Vermont Spring

Peaks of the Groton range this evening, after a late snowstorm. Temperatures up into the seventies in a couple of days, they say. Picture taken from the road in front of our house.

What do You Walk With?

What do You Walk With?
Originally uploaded by baseballpajamas

She walks with a leaf and a rock, like some kind of pagan. He walks with a pen and a sheaf of papers.

By the way, you can't really tell in the picture but the field behind them is an amazing, vibrant green--especially compared to everything else around here, which still has one foot in late winter.

The kid can draw

The kid can draw
Originally uploaded by baseballpajamas

Drawings by Fergus, aged 10 (apparently based on illustrations in a "how to draw" book--but still). Matilda, here, is giving a truly withering look.

Return of the Hermit Thrush

I'm no birder, but I was happy when I got home this evening to hear a couple hermit thrushes warbling in the woods. Sure, it's just another Sign of Spring, but it has a melodic and slightly spooky call that I love (it's much more haunting in real life than in the sound clip below). Oh, and it's the state bird of Vermont.

• Recorded by David L. Ross, William W. H. Gunn
Courtesy of Macaulay Library
© Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

ShoeGlut

ShoeGlut
Originally uploaded by baseballpajamas

It's a hard time of year in Vermont, in terms of footwear. It was 80
degrees around Easter, but the last couple of days we've had rain
during the daytime and woken to snow on the ground in the mornings.

This complicates Spring Cleaning.

Right now, our little entryway/den is cluttered with 26 pairs of
shoes. For 4 people. The picture shows Lauren's 10 pairs. Even I have
5 pairs scattered around the room. But what can I cull? The sneakers?
The sandals? The snow and mud boots? It's a dilemma. But in our
clutterworld, something has to give.

I Have a Sudden Desire to Buy a (Stained) Trailer Home

About this commercial Errol Morris says, "The best commercial ever made (I should be so lucky as to achieve this level of excellence.)"

Vermont Cliche

Vermont Cliche
Originally uploaded by baseballpajamas

This Kind of Thing Can Lead to Colbert

The First Entries Have Arrived

Some of you know what I mean.
Represented so far: Vermont, New Mexico and Northern California.

I'm trying to decide if the Mellotron merits bonus points or penalties.

Maine/2002. California/2010.

(so much in between)

Thirty Years Ago Today in Someone Else's Life

Appropriated with admiration from the late Jamie Livingston's Polaroid of the Day project.

First Novacaine!

First Novacaine!
Originally uploaded by baseballpajamas

She's only seven! (Truth is, she kind of has the Jack Nicholson approach to dental care--she loved this, her first filling).

Actually, it sort of sounds like it was a false alarm: not necessarily a real cavity. But drilling did in fact happen.

Waiting For The Bus

Waiting For The Bus
Originally uploaded by baseballpajamas

Just This

Okay, look, I really miss my sister Wendy. Tomorrow would have been her 57th birthday.

Signs of Spring

First Robin heard chirping this morning in East Montpelier.