Post office

Pictures cannot describe the New York post office experience.

I went today to pick up a parcel.




Note: About fifty people squashed into a long line in a small room, all disgruntled. Fluorescent lighting, no air conditioning.



Scratched bullet-proof plastic. Toddler underfoot. Mismatched, confusing signage. Crackling microphones.



And always a sad and/or sordid story of some sort: today it was an illiterate middle-aged woman begging unresponsive customers to help her fill out a form for a money order in exchange for $5.

IT IS HELL ON EARTH!

But why?

This is a typical Canadian post office:



Just sayin.

Envelope!!

So exciting to get an envelope from my friend Craig, who inspires minds at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.



Inside:






















Mysterious photocopied book page.

About a skorl encounter!



!!!!!!!!

Also:



Curlywurly [sic] squirlies [sic]!

This must be British.



Hmm. Are the squirlies curlywurly because they were squarshed by a car? Greg and I devoured them (it?).

Thanks Craig!! This made my day—nay, week!—nay, MONTH!!!!

Skunk friend

No, not my friend (I wish!), but the friend of a random stranger from the Internet.



Do you see the kitty tail?

I love looking at this picture.

Three bucks!

Sold a Life magazine (featuring Paul McCartney) I found last week!

Now

They're all swolled up!



Uh, unsurprisingly.

Look at drawings

Good for your brains.

Memorial Day

Dinner for three, the night before Anna went back to Toronto.



Corns.



Salad.



Sausages and asparagus! Wine!

And...



...this AMAZING "no-knead" bread made by Julianna!! Baked in a dutch oven! (In exchange for the iPhone cozy I made her.)

Then we had pie and played Texas hold 'em obsessively.

Good times (until Anna beat our asses).

Beans

Tasty.



Also: Cheap.

Soak 'em.

A sight to make my heart go pitty patty

Hmm.

Closer.



Nothing too interesting...

Except these red and blue stacking file drawers!



I left them there, and now I kind of regret it.

I have lots of files.

Stung by a bee

From.

Via.

Sold!

$152.50.

Proof

An alien shed its skin down the street from my house.





Very creepy.

Fire escape update

Someone has been digging among my tomatoes!





Mint.



Geranium!

I love love LOVE geraniums. Their leaves have the best smell ever.

(That's my poinsettia on the right.)

Found last night!

Paris Champion Fastback!



Floating steering.



Gauges!






















Runners!

It's awesome. I'm keeping it!

Mystery cans

What's inside?





Dulce de leche!

Take a can of sweetened condensed milk. Simmer it in a pot of water for two hours. Open can. Taste. Swoon!

Maybe make a pie?



Thanks Anna!!!

Comma splice!

This one goes out to Beth, who is studying to be a copyeditor.

Beff, I dare you to post this on the online bulletin board!!!

Living-room wall

Refraction.

Seafarers

A Cubb and two Cubbies went to sea
In a beautiful red/pink boat.
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.



The Cubb looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Cubbies! O Cubbies my loves,
What beautiful Cubbies you are,
You are!
What beautiful Cubbies you are!'

There's shabby

Then there's disreputable.



I need a new handbag, yes?

Natural confetti

Point your camera down.

Something good for your brain

More? Here you go.

Gratuitous squirrel pictures

Head:



Tail!



That's fluff for ya.

Tools

Bottle opener:



Cast iron.

Screw driver!



I found it in the grass in front of a bank in Wellfleet, on Cape Cod.



I call it "my Bull Driver."

Apollo Theater

Bonnie Prince Billy was incre-e-e-e-e-e-e-dibly good! Wow!

Harlem

It could not be more different from Greenpoint.



Wide streets, beautiful buildings. Some boarded up with triangles cut in the wood. Others sealed with cinder blocks. Many others beautifully maintained or restored.

Faggot

Bundle of sticks.