AROUND HERE

And now for a phone dump-y kind of post.

1. Well, so first of all, is Ira.

I got to see Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host with some friends last night at The Town Hall, and it was wonderful. And so very geeky. It was one of those deals where we were standing in the lobby before the show thinking, Look at all these beautiful nerds! Where did all these beautiful nerds come from? All the hot nerds.

So, Ira.

Wait wait. Don't we look like old friends? Doesn't it look like I am saying something terribly witty and Ira finds me oh so very interesting? Maybe it's more like that look you give a four-year-old when he's telling you a very involved story only you aren't sure you understand any of it but you don't to let on so you oversell it on the interested face.... Noooo. It's clearly that I'm terribly witty.

Ira stayed around to talk with us after the show for a surprising amount of time, actually. Should you ever get the chance, Ira Glass is really kind. He's also rather tall.

Ohhh, remember this?

2. Good news! Huck loves school. He doesn't bother to wave back at drop off and cries when it's time to come home, it's completely fantastic. I am so happy for him. I keep waiting for that feeling like I have all this free time on my hands what on earth will I do with myself, but the last few days have been so busy, and sometimes I want to cry at pick up too. :) I need more time! I was just in the swing of things! I'm lining up some really fun projects for the fall, taking a class or two, and prepping for The Great and Terrible Fertility Drugs, Round Eight Million. It should be fun. I have good feelings about it.

In the meantime, Huck's also been going through a growth spurt, which means he's been falling asleep on me at all of the oddest times. 

Like immediately after a bath, for example...

... or in the middle of Megashark vs Crocosaurus, the world's greatest movie about giant sharks ever made, featuring Steve Urkel and the highest quality production standards. This growth spurt plus preparing for school to start plus all this natural light in our new place equals we pretty quickly got on the School Kid Sleep Schedule. I still don't see what's so great about 7AM; I find the hours between 6 and 8AM to be rather uncivilized.

3. I want to talk about sunflowers now for a minute. (These aren't sunflowers. I think they're echinacea?) Our part of Brooklyn is an octopus's garden of sunflowers. And they're just so cheery and optimistic! It's hard not to smile at a sunflower. Some of these puppies are SO HUGE. This one is actually twice the size of a minivan.

I know!

There are lots of community gardens out here, and we've loved exploring them all while the weather's been nice. Hey nature! Nice to see you again! We've shared sidewalks with dozens of friendly kitties and played treadmill with our hands for no fewer than four lady bugs. (Huck nearly vibrated with glee each time, standing as still as a statue, his muscles tense from all the effort) One time, we spotted Mayor De Blasio having dinner with his family at a sidewalk cafe. Politicians in the wild! Sometimes I catch myself thinking we're back in Moscow. I remember telling people in Moscow when they asked what Brooklyn was like that it was a lot like Moscow, almost exactly like Moscow, just with fewer potatoes, and maybe 100% less pick up trucks. 

4. My husband is a pretty swell guy. Exhibit One: I no longer worry he's going to drop my baby on his head now that he gives me advanced warning when he's about to do dumb things like this with Huck. 

Exhibit Two:

He knows when I ask him to bring flowers home before a dinner party that I don't actually want flowers, just the fillers. Nails it every time. Not kidding, there is nothing lovelier than a spray of baby's breath in a drinking glass.

I like you, Holbrook. But don't push it! ;)

5. Yep.

6. We tried out the blueberry crumble at Four and Twenty Blackbirds our first week here and oh my holy hell, blueberry crumble. It's beautiful, right? Toward the end of this pie we'd crack open the fridge, fork in hand, lean all the way in, and eat it cold straight from the fridge. That's how you know you got a good blueberry crumble happening.

7. We went to Fat Daddy's for tacos one Saturday. Much prettier but not nearly as amazing as the tacos from the Tacos El Broncos truck. We call them Broncos Toncos because we're incredibly cool. Go with the al pastor, please.

8. Now that we've come to the crummy cell phone photo portion of this post... Dearest Internet, I'd like you to meet Blue Lightning.

She's a dream. I've had her a couple weeks. She's an old beater of a road bike and I have fallen for her hard. I also fell off her hard. While stopped. At a gas station. It was pretty spectacular. Brandon was pumping air into the tires on his bike, and you know that thing you do when you fall in public, where you stand up super fast and try to act all nonchalant about it, like nothing really happened and you're totally in control? When you're like, "I'm okay!" before you even know if you're actually okay? Yeah. But I really was okay.

Oh my sweet Blue, let me write you a love song. I took her into a bike shop the other day to see about getting a little rear rack box thing to cart junk in. Blue Lightning has a rather small rack (I'm not going to do it!), and most of what was for sale didn't fit her, so I asked one of the employees what she recommended I do, and after assessing Blue Lightning for a minute she said, looking me square in the face, "Get a new bike." Womp womp. Don't worry Blue, I still like you.

We all went to Sunset Park a few weeks ago, all us Holbrooks and our various two-wheeled vehicles. We got all the way to the top, turned around, and HOLY WOAH Sunset Park!

Now, should you be wondering where Sunset Park got its name...

Well, it's not rocket science. But look at that!

9. In other news, fall is coming up on us fast this year. We've already held our final goodbyes to all our end-of-summer favorites, Huck's nearly outgrown his Saltwaters, fallen leaves collect beneath our feet and swirl around us as we walk, and the air has that certain dewy campfire smell in the mornings that I can never get enough of. 

Another sign of impending autumn: Huck and his parents are heavily involved in Halloween costume negotiations. Progress reports look promising.

All of us are to be the Pink Power Ranger this year. So it has been decreed.

10. On the weekends we like to pick a neighborhood and see how long it takes us to walk there. (I've gotten real familiar with my Uber account, if you know what I mean.) But thank you, Carroll Gardens, for being surprisingly close! We got sandwiches at Court Street Grocers on a tip from a friend, and I just want you to know that I have never had a disappointing B.L.T. B.L.T.s are amazing! We can't forget about the B.L.T.s. 

(You'd have thought a photo of a B.L.T. would've made sense there, huh.)

Yep.

Also fun in Carroll Gardens: This coffee/antiques/vintage record shop, where I an Ike and Tina Turner Live, a little Al Green, and a scone for the road. Bliss!

I'm getting typing fatigue are you getting reading fatigue!? 

11. Hey, Weavers 102! I just love the community of women Maryanne is able to bring together with these classes, it's always such a wonderful experience. This time, while we learned fancy ways of making yarns do fun things, I sat across from the owner of a needlepoint store. I mean, Woman. You are living my dream! We bonded over the insane cost of painted canvas needlepoint patterns and the varying sizes of rats we'd seen around Katz Deli over the years. Soo big, those rats. It was a wonderful afternoon.

The class was held at the Makeshift Society in Brooklyn, which I'd always wanted to check out. It lived up to expectations! Check out the wallpaper if you please:

Oh I just love that Maryanne Moodie. Huge smiles, huge hugs, huge talent. She's just positively radiant. And fun.

Anyway. 

And now I am out of photos! We made it! 

THE END.