little man

99 Bottles of Champagne on the Wall

Tweeter plays an accordion named after someone he loves.

Saratoga learned the Beverly Hills Cop Theme--"Axel F"

A screen shot from Three Men and a Baby; the famous ghost in the window.

fort daniel

Previous to his evening on the counter top in the kitchen, Tweeter slept a whole night in a fort he built using our kitchen table. He had his lantern and his Farside cartoons, and he said he was very happy.

Tweeter turns twelve

Tweeter no longer sleeps in his bed. The other night he built a fort under the dining room table, complete with a lantern and a book of The Far Side comics. Last night he chose a corner of the kitchen counter, and Saratoga and myself helped him clean it off. Where will he sleep next?

The above photo was not staged.

curry on a hot roof

Lately, the Shrimpers have been busy, but not so busy that we can't combine learning with relaxation.

This past weekend, Curry and Tweeter went to the roof. Curry read to Tweeter, who looked out to the trees and sometimes at his hands.

Soon, we hope to go places higher than even this.

regular ole inferno

On Saturday we craved burgers. Our friend Dr. Harry Weston (no relation to the Dr. Harry Weston of "Empty Nest" fame) came over to help us fire up the grill. That's him in the glasses. He added a hair too much lighter fluid and then set the grill on fire. Curry, pictured on the right, was too engrossed reading transcripts of JFK's speeches on the internet to notice the dangerous orange glow that had threatened the porch.

"Oh it'll burn out," Dr. Weston said in his fluid Georgia-Michigan accent.
"Do you really think so?" I said, taking full advantage of my new knowledge of Socratic irony.

Minutes later the wooden porch appeared to be afire. In fact it was only the dripping lighter fluid which was aflame. We were all a-twitter. Tweeter hit the flames with a wiffle bat, which kept them under control for a while. Before we knew it the flames kept dripping from the grill, spreading more and more, until they grew too numerous to control with a child's toy. Saratoga rushed inside to get the fire extinguisher. I stood around and prioritized my possessions so I could, if needed, quickly retrieve the most important ones.

(1. Laptop 2. Picture albums 3. Diary 4. Collection of tiny plastic pigs 5. Unsavory gifts from birthdays past, so as to avoid embarrassment when the firemen and insurance agents climb through the charred Shrimpfest rubble and say, "ma'am, is this thing yours?")

Before Saratoga could operate the extinguisher, Tweeter turned on a hose which I forgot we owned and washed away the flames. Then Dr. Weston closed the grill cover and smothered the flames.

A collective sigh of relief came, followed by several collective aggravated coughs brought on by smoke inhalation.

The Elder Ms. emerged from the kitchen with a bowl of potato chips, having missed the whole thing. She did not seem too upset, as her sweet potato plant was still in good health.

All was good after. The food was tasty. These photos are courtesy of our friend Fenley Notch who avoided the near-apocalypse but still managed to capture its breathtaking beauty.

Dante's Inferno

Our friend Dante Dibulgio headlined in a recent, local fashion show. He walked down the aisle to Love is a Battlefield, by Pat Benetar. His designer, Bobby K, chose two outfits for Dante, and each of them accentuated his handsome looks in different ways. The first ensemble accentuated Dante's kind face. The second outfit, as pictured above, accentuated Dante's dick, though we do not think it needs any help in its accentuation.