Low End

I've found my Christmas cocktail.

HayMakers Mark:

2 ounces Makers Mark Bourbon
6-8 Ounces Vermont Switchel
A few drops of Orange Bitters
Shake and serve on the rocks

The past three months..

have reminded me that every second of this advertisement is true.

Even the last five seconds held true to how we (I'm speaking for my wife here but, we've discussed it enough that I can include her) felt when I discovered that my kids were on their way.  However, having three kids spaced over almost 9 years, I'm not so sure that my scream would be one of joy if I found out that there was a fourth on the way.

Leave it to a bike blog..

To turn me onto an awesome ski video with a touch of social commentary.  Thanks All Hail the Black Market!

Remember this..

This Semi-rad guy wrote a book and published it himself and it looks good.  I like the cut of his jib.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

TRUTH VIA

I'm out!

Far cooler than rollerblading

Skip the first two minutes that are all twirls and stuff and it starts kicking ass.

Might as well embrace it...

Cause it'll be here soon enough.


"Hot coffee and cold winter mornings are two of the best soul mates who ever did find each other."
 Terri Guillemets

“There are no happy endings.
Endings are the saddest part,
So just give me a happy middle
And a very happy start.”

- Shel Silverstein, Every Thing on It.

Comic Art Awesomeness

I have always loved Batman.  It is a dark complex story that I always take a lot from.  Well yesterday I saw this short fan fiction work and it has blown my mind, from the art, to the heady diologue to the Bill Hicks quotation at the end.  I have read this three times in the past day and it has given me chills each time.  Check out the full work, written by Gerardo Preciado and drawn by Daniel Bayliss at The Deal. 

Head on a swivel

The crowd gathers

...and we're rolling

On the streets

This dude was creepy. Coming...

and going.

The gang

Wow, ok, just got my head above water and am glad to report that things are good.  Life is chock full of action, mostly of the little baby variety but it's action none the less.  This weekend I did the wifey a favor and took the two older kids + friends out so she could nap with the newest one.  What did we do, you ask?  Well Mr./Ms. Noseypants, we participated in Burlington's annual Halloween Bike Ride.  It was fun and well attended. If you ever want an exercise in mild panic and looking many places at once take three 8 year olds and one 6 year old to a open street bike ride attended by about 300 people.  Oh and after standing around for about an hour before we got rolling the kids got too cold to continue after ~ 1 mile.  So we peeled off and headed for home.  photos from this person and Local Motion.  Great Times thanks for organizing.

Adding a life event

Well that came about suddenly!  I was still trying to wrap my head around how quickly the date of impending arrival was approaching and I was increasingly excited to meet our new little person.  However, I was also struck with joy and terror in equal parts at random intervals.  Joy at the obvious, terror stemming from the inevitable change.  Then on October 1, 2013, Roughly a week before the "official" due date, our impending baby with an unknown gender went from this:

To this:

And just like that we now know that she is a she and her name is Ivy.    It's been 6 years since we were through this last and I have certainly come to enjoy the freedom that comes with independent children.  But that was all swept away when this little one came sweeping into the room and stole everyone's hearts.  We are in this parent game for good so we may as well add another player, because, you know, the more the merrier.   All are pleased with the outcome:

But just one more because I can guarantee that we won't be down this road again. Measures will be taken. If you know what I mean.

Binary thinking

Well, it's been a good week for bad news close to home.  The kind of stuff that leaves you thinking things like, "what is this world coming to." and "what a bunch of savages in this town."  Now I know this is a common theme nationally recently and as in the past, recent events have made me contemplate finding a cave in the mountains to live in and leave society behind.  It can seem pretty bleak and one can feel that there isn't much a regular Joe or Jane can do to make things better.  However recently a quotation shed some light onto my dark thoughts.  “I used to think I was gonna change the world. Now I just let people onto the freeway.”  I read this line in this blog article, and it settled into my psyche like warm coco in your stomach.  Because it's not the grand gestures or marvelous acts that are going to save us.  It's the little things we can all do.  The small kindnesses. The easy ways we can all be a better neighbors, citizens, people that are going to ripple out and make a difference.  I can be grumpy and downright anti-social at times but I'm making a point to let people merge in traffic.  Because there is a voice in my mind that tells me, 'you're gonna be late' or ' you were here first, they'll need to wait their turn'  and I used to listen to this voice often.  But I've realized that everyone listens to this voice and that is why it seems that, in general, people don't seem to give two shits about each other.  It's rationalized insensitivity. Well I'm tired of thinking along those lines.  I've realized that I'm not going to solve the world's food crisis or save the rainforest, but I am going to stop and see if someone needs help when their car is broken down, or just say hi to people I pass on the street.  And you know what not only will it help that person and make them feel better but it will make me feel better, too. 

Recalling the sights of a random trip to work in September

What have you seen lately?  On my ride home I saw a woman out walking her Macaw. That's right, just walking along with her big blue bird perched on her shoulder like it ain't no thang.  I also saw a cool crumbling barn and three abandoned produce stands. It was much better than the view from my windshield.

Friday tunes

Church

can be different things for different people.

Friday tunes for the season

Fog + Frost =

A cold ride to work.  The sun was out but not warming things up too much.  To take my mind off of my numb toes and fingers I tried to coin a phrase to describe a phenomena that I was experiencing.  A beard full of Fog or Cloud Beard.  There seemed to be an excessive amount of condensation happening in my face region this morning.

Who's ready to race?

Me.  That's who.  My lovely and talented wife is helping to organize this race which will benefit my kid's school. Besides that it will be a fun day, as you would imagine any event with a promo video like this to be.

Friday Tunes

FYI don't do a youtube search for Botfly.  It ain't pretty.

Cool cats..

  

hangin' in front of the liquor store in B-ton.  This picture has made the rounds on the internets and is awsome.  I did not take it.  Sorry.

Beach Week

A few weeks ago I spent a week at the beach with some of the best people in the world.  We played games (new game of the summer: Crokinole, played music, soaked in the sun, and solved the world's problems over a few cocktails and beers.  I spent loads of time skimboarding with Ry and searching for hermit crabs with Adi.  Now here are some photos to prove it happened.

 

Storytellers

I first saw Nico Case in a small bar in Fargo, ND.  I had heard of the New Pornographers and thought I'd check it out.  I was blown away by the show.  Both her and her opening act, Jim and Jennie and the Pine-tops, were phenomenal and both grew into the sound track of that summer of my life.  Fast forward 6 months and I had moved to Vermont and was working running lifts at Smugglers Notch.  Talking music with a fellow liftey, J, J, and the PTs came up and he informed me that Jennie grew up or lived in Elmore VT  and he had played with her as he was a banjo picker in a few local bluegrass bands, and it added up that more that one of their songs were obviously written about that part of VT.  Fast forward 10 years and Nico case is now lives in VT.  Who knew that that one show would hold so many connections to my future.

BTW Nico Case has  a new album out and it rocks.

Truth.

I love mid summer meals

They all seem to involve tomatoes.

Friday Tunes From a Week Ago

Rough Francis | Live Recording from Eric Sorenson on Vimeo.


ROUGH FRANCIS // NOT A NICE GUY from OKAY!! OKAY!! on Vimeo.

Rock the Boat

Now, I don't go to that many concerts these days, lets get that right out on the table to start (*disclaimer 1).  Now onto this past Friday night which found me in the rare circumstance of heading out on the town with the lovely T___. Where were we headed?  Well we were going to spend the evening...On a Boat!  And not just any pleasure cruse we were there to rock out.  Well I was; T___ was skeptical about the rocking part.  Regardless we were both psyched.  Who were we going to be rocking with?  Which bands were audacious enough to load up one of the Lake Champlain Ferries with their equipment, fans, and alcohol?  Didn't someone already try this, with checkered results?
 

Well local rock n' rollers Rough Francis and Waylon Speed got together to see what damage they could do.  Let me say that regardless of disclaimer 1 this was one of the top musical experiences I have ever had.  Both bands just blew me away and when you combine music played with skill and passion and put it on a boat at sundown the combination of visual, sensory, and auditory had me on a high for the whole weekend.

RF started things out and ran through material from both of their released albums.  They also recognized their roots and family in the band called Death who were holding court on the boat and absolutely tore the lid off of Death's song "Freakin' Out."

Then WS came out and while at first you might not think their country tinged rock would mesh with the punk of RF, I'm here to say that bunk and I'm not even sure why I mentioned it in the first place.  WS rocks with a twang at times that isn't unappealing but also turns the heavy knob up to 11 and snaps it off. 

After an amazing set WS announce that they wanted to bring RF up so both bands could collectively blow our asses off of the boat, and that's just what they did. Especially with the closer, which was announced by Bobby Hackney standing on the speaker tower and shouting, "Kick out the Jams, motherfucker!"  And they kicked it out for a good 10 minutes that still have my ears ringing and every one of my get-down muscles aching.

Really words cannot do the experience justice. So here are a few pictures that still don't do it justice but are better than me blabbering any longer and before I make a joke about being on a boat.

My heart's achin' for them things next to bacon.

Reminder: When you ride your bike over to a friend's house early in the morning to check on his chickens because he is on vacation, be sure to bring something to carry the eggs home in.

Note: in a pinch your saddlebag with tubes and patch kit will do.  You just need to not take the dirt options on the way home.

The kids have been loving the old Ballgames this summer.

Last year they went but cared more for the bouncy castle and inter-inning shenanigans by Champ, but this year they are enjoying the game.  Ry is even looking at stats and notices who has the most RBIs and knows who's on deck.  The still need to get up and walk around every 2 innings and the most frequent question I get is, "can we get Dippin' Dots?"  But it is progress.

Family Vaca 2013

A photo/mind dump of my vacation with my extended family- Beach Lake, PA 2013.  A lovely week with some of my most beloved.  A week that is packed so full I can't believe it was only a week but by the end of it I was left saying, " I can't believe it's over already!"  This year we did much the same as every year since I was born, but we also ventured afar a few days and saw some great gems in this neck of the woods.  Now for the photo dump and list.

• 3 Bears seen
• Eagles out the yin-yang
• GBH

Look another eagle

• Friendly competition
• half-ball
• quoits
• Olympic feats of strength

• Beverages
• Beer
• Gin and Tonic
• Bloody Caesar (ugh)
• Pool Side Loungin

• Pinochle
• Canoeing with my Sweetheart

• Kayaking on the lake with the kids

• Lake swimming
• 27 mile ride with the cousin (uphill both ways) (too hot to do more than one ride but it felt good to turn the tables and kick Sean's ass this year)
• Golf morning (9 holes best ball0 The only time i play golf all year) Followed by cold cut lunch and Gin and Tonics.
• Campfires
• The Echo
• Tubing down Skinners Falls
• Porkfest I, II, & III
• Ice cream
• Coffee on the Porch

• The kids first game of "Manhunt"
• Movies on a homemade outdoor screen
• Dinner with my Sweetheart at a cool Cafe
• Fun