This is depressing to me, and I wasn't even fortunate enough to live in a place where pond hockey was a possibility. As a hockey fan, though, you understand the significant role pond hockey plays (played?) in the development of many of the game's best.
Elegy for a Vanishing Pastime
17 February 2008
Almost no one skates outdoors in New England anymore. People seldom do it even in Canada or Minnesota. For hockey players the indoor area has long replaced the backyard rink or the frozen prairie slough as the incubator of future talent, and even in those northerly climes skatable outdoor ice has become an uncertain commodity. Around here it’s like oil, so scarce that its value goes up every year.
And in breaking news, most of my plants are still alive and well. We lost a basil plant (the mutant one that had survived since April), but are seemingly going to be on the receiving end of a lot of tomatoes very soon.
For more photos, check out my Flickr photoset.
I was recently asked by my wonderful and talented friend Aja Marsh to write a guest blog for her new green living/healthy lifestyle blog, Stem+Leaf.
While you give it a read, I'll be here, waiting for my Pulitzer to arrive in the mail.
Christened 2008 with the first concert of the year Thursday night, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings at the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale.
Holy crap. What a show.
She covered songs from all three of their albums, pulled more people out of the crowd than I'd ever seen at any show before, and generally showed everyone why she's the "super bad soul sister, with the magnetic je ne sais quoi".
I dropped the ball and didn't bring my camera, so this is the only record I've got from that night: a pretty bad photo from my cell phone.
If you've never heard of Sharon Jones, do yourself a favor and take a look at this video.
And this one...well...behold the joy of YouTube.
One of my favorite albums of the year has been New Wave by Against Me!, a band I lucked out and saw twice this year.
I recently (ok, not recently, but within the last few months that I have not been updating this regularly) came across a cover of that entire album by Ben Lee.
Two totally different sounds, but both are fantastic. You can download the entire BL album for free here.
After falling in love with guacamole earlier this year, I decided to try to grow my own avocado tree in the yard. Five failed attempts later, we finally have a plant. WITH LEAVES!
Earlier this year, in a fit of boredom, I tried planting vegetables. There was some limited success, until our trip to Europe effectively killed of nearly everything I had planted.
A few weeks ago, I decided to give it another shot. I cleared out an 8' x 4' plot in the backyard and established the second go-around for Lowell Farms.
The pictures on the right are pictures from right after week two, when I actually planted things in the ground (as opposed to hauling out grass, sand and rocks -- what you hit two inches underground anything in Florida).
The second picture is of a yellow belle pepper plant, which has somehow survived neglect/floods/tropical storm-force winds, and is now growing no fewer than four pepper. How it is alive, I do not understand.
And, sadly, I have to report we've had one casualty so far -- the habanero plant doesn't appear to be doing all that well. In lieu of flowers or cards, please send cash donations to me. I'll make sure it's put to good use.
I have no idea what any of the following is supposed to mean, other than I have a real random taste in music.
What's your musical horoscope? (Put your player on shuffle and write down the first 10 songs that come up.)
- 'Someday', The Strokes
- 'Missing the War', Ben Folds Five
- 'The Prayer', Bloc Party
- 'Wheels of Steel', Outkast
- 'Not About Love', Fiona Apple
- 'Sex, Love & Money', Mos Def
- 'Both Sides of the Gun', Ben Harper
- 'That's Entertainment', The Jam
- 'The Devil's Got My Woman', Taj Mahal
- 'What Goes On', The Beatles
I'm still in recovery from the last several days of baseball (because of this and, more importantly, this). Although I wasn't in Boston to be able to celebrate the Sox' second series win in just four years (which does not make me a horrible human being, as some of you have suggested), I think this one will do even more to change the dynamic of a franchise that spent almost an entire century perenially drinking itself towards "next season". Now there's only 19 more to win to tie the Yankees. No sweat.
Also, I would like to thank Jacoby Ellsbury for bestowing this taco on me.
Now if only the Rangers can finish the year with a parade like that, I'll be set. GO SOX!
