Thursday, 29 November 2007

Running from thirty

Yes, the rumo(u)rs are true. I'm turning thirty. As a gift to myself, I'm running a marathon. Anyone who's crazy enough to want to (or is in danger of a birthday ending in "0" themselves) is welcome to join me. Anyone who's more sane (or has already passed their own midlife crisis) can join Meg.

Wednesday, 28 November 2007

Uncivil liberties

We received the letter below in the mail (er, post) yesterday. The places I blacked out are where they gave the exact address of the residence in question.



There was a copy of this letter for each apartment (er, flat) in our building. Nothing like a little public shame to discourage drug use (just one activity in the list of Anti-Social Behaviours, which places the need to shut down crack houses only slightly above the requirement to cut down your high hedges).

Friday, 16 November 2007

I've found my people

Who knew I was from Cornwall? Check out this photo - it looks just like my Aunt Ruthie!
CornishCouple

Tuesday, 6 November 2007

The sounds of home

Our friend Jo came to visit us this weekend, and it felt like being in NY again. We sat on the people tree, ordered takeout, drank wine, and watched the NFL on TV. (Jo, you'll make the blog in more detail as soon as we have pictures!)

Then last night, we saw Uncle Earl, a string/blue-grass/new-grass/old-time band who brought us lots of old Americana plus a few of their own new songs. Here's the ticket to the gig. Note that it says "Plus special guests"; this will be important later.
Let's check out some photos:
UncleEarl01
That's Kristin Andreassen on the left and KC Groves on the right.

Here's fiddler Rayna Gellert:
UncleEarl06

I didn't get any good pictures of the woman playing bass for them, Laura something-or-other, because it was really dark and crowded. She was completely amazing, though.

Let's check in with the banjo player, the amazing Abigail Washburn:
UncleEarl05

Wait - who's that guy in the background? Playing the mandolin? Isn't that? No, it can't be, yes it is. Ladies and gentlemen: John Paul Jones. He produced their latest album and played the better part of the set with them. Surprise guests? No, surprise rock god is more like it.