"especially if the two partners lack skills in this backward way of true love."

I was disappointed that I couldn't walk into this store and buy the truth.  Good thing there's another Pravda for that.

Look as closely as you dare

Nothing I could say about this picture would make it better than it already is.

Ew

My desire is that I never, ever, ever, for the love of God, find out what David Michael Anthony's desire is.

It's not free if it takes up space

We have a free stuff bench in our lobby, so if you want a crappy novel or a discarded 80's raincoat, let me know.

I looked and looked!

The customer fire exit was nowhere to be found!

So Smooth

Who knew the Shannon Thue Trio's secret weapon was one of our own?

Why is it so Hard to Understand?

Don't you get it?  These temporary indoor art exhibits are awesome because art everywhere all the time is awesome!  The spaces themselves should be art! Everything will be better!

Your Imaginary Custom House Needs One Too

You can't just leave them lying around, after all.

Thanks again

I tried to avoid overpowering Trev and Sarah with linguists the way I did last year, but as usual they managed to overpower me with an opulent meal and hospitality.

Horror

Halowe'en aisle!  I never thought I'd see a Zellers aisle dirtier than the toy aisle, but you are it!

Oh Banff...

... will you ever run out of beautiful views?

Also, I would like to have to overcome the same obstacles as John Jaeggi: 

Happy Birthday, Mom & Dad!

They were legally required to add the word "Berry" so that at least one of the words made sense.

Speaking of Fancy Dancing

At Iranian dance parties, it's all about the hands.

How We Find Them

No picture from me today - I've turned things over to a professional, instead:
So sweet. He's eager to hear your comments.

Last Night in Raleigh

For my last night in town we picked up Mickey and went to an awesome brew pub. Which beer do you think I chose?
Anyway, after one of those and one or so of the $2 pints of Pilsner, Tyler and I felt confident enough to challenge Charlotte two on one:
Then we dropped Mickey off, had one last look at his fantastic book collection,
and went back to Charlotte's, crawled into our toques and sleeping bags and went to bed cold and satisfied.

Last Day in Raleigh

So, on the 30th, I woke up in this little island house for the last time and headed out for breakfast. Of course, we had grits, as always, with Texas Pete:
But this time there was an extra special treat: Watkins Grill's own home-made banana pudding pie:
Then we set out to the farmer's market, where we saw a bean-shucking machine with fascinating properties, an eccentric honey-making family, and some seasonal crops:
When we went inside, we found lots of farmer's markety things that were too expensive to buy, food that I couldn't fit in my grits-filled stomach, and Cheerwine, a red North-Carolina only soda. I bought one for a buck, tax included. I couldn't get anyone to tell me what it is exactly, but when I was leaving I saw a sign telling me exactly what it is:
Then I got on a plane and went to Waterloo.
You saw how well that turned out. I miss Carolina already.

Lost and Found

Look! My Camera:
Thanks to Andrew for bringing it back! And thanks to my K.K. for giving me this rather extreme way to prevent it from getting lost again.

Also, the return of the camera means the return of a few dozen lost photos:
I'm going to date all the posts with these photos as Dec. 14th until I retrieve my lost my cell-phone, and with it the pictures I've been taking for the last two weeks (sigh).

Conditioning

Nothing makes you feel like crying or getting pissed drunk like being back in your home town.

Walt

Hey, have I mentioned how awesome Walt is? Oh, yeah, I have. And he's only got awesomer since then, and now I have seen some of his movies. Anyway, check out how awesome his car is:

Plants and Animals

Yep, so, we went to the arboretum (and the Morning Times) today, so the pictures pretty much explain themselves.




Oh, well, I guess this one could use some explaining - see, that giant bush thing is actually a grass. Tyler said "man, if you had a whole lawn of those you could hide your house behind them!" and I EXPLODED WITH HILARITY. The image in my mind was so absurd. That is what I like. It is my sense of humour.