Papes and the City

Last weekend we went to New York City and had an action packed weekend including a Pavement concert at Central Park's Summer Stage, a trip to Prospect Park Zoo, the Brooklyn MTA transit museum, a big night out with a million of our friends, and to top it off-a Yankees vs. Red Sox game that the SOX WON.

Here are some of the take-home messages and highlights of the trip for me

My brother-in-law's turtle eating pastrami!!!!!

I don't know what it is about the word, "Pape", but I find it jarring and offensive.

 

My fortune cookie had no fortune!!! And my friend's fortune cookie had two fortunes!!!

The Propsect Park Zoo was very "experiential" oriented, meaning I got to act like a TURTLE EATING PASTRAMI.



Okay, now that the highlights are out of the way I can document some of the second-tier excitement that took place. Be warned, the rest of the trip involved a lot less exclamation points

 

So, not to discredit the concert--which was very good and a lot of fun....But, despite the pretty scenery and the rockin' music, I mostly was looking at this the whole time

This is why I prefer far away seats in a stadium more than standing room close to the stage. Sorry.

Now, Prospect Park was not the biggest zoo I've ever been to but they had a lot of really fun animals and I found that they were a lot more active and exciting than they have been at other zoos. Also, as I said, there was this whole "experiential" thing going on in which I got to lie inside turtle shells, pretend to hatch from an egg, etc.

The following is the most magical thing I've ever seen

This is like some BBC Planet Earth shit right here. A Baboon holding onto it's babies tail and pull it back. A baby baboon on the back of it's mother baboon, trotting through the landscape. Furthermore,

 

 

Four horns indeed!!!

Hey, Hey Jacob's  sheep, watchu do with all them horns?? Say hullo to your motha' for me!

And now, for a segment that I like to call: Things that remind me of my cat.

Otter

 Meerkat

 

My cat

Unamused owls

 

My cat

T'is the season for fests

Last weekend my friend and I made a game plan to hit up some sort of local fest. I live in the 'burbs so my fest options couldn't stand up to her urban fest options. Nevertheless, before heading over to her 'hood, I went to the one-day gathering in my town, confusingly called, "Natick Days". Unless day two is by invitation only, I'm pretty sure "Days" is inaccurate.

Mostly our townie fest consisted of booths run by local business and local school clubs either recruiting, giving prizes, information and freebies. Also, children, hotdogs and icecream abound.

 

I made some pretty idiosyncratic choices when it came to what booths to actually approach

Natick Animal Clinic. Duh.

Natick Recycles. Duh.

...but I was sure to steer clear from any booths manned by individuals who approached me first. No I would not like an interpretation, reading or cleansing of any sort, thank you so much.

Before I get to my final winnings, it is of importance to note the glorious, if not excessive, amount of bouncy-bounces that were present

 

 

Five!!!

When I got home I displayed my winnings

FrontLine pen, I love my cat sticker, recycle sticker, paw magnet, Recycle water bottle, Emergency pet kit

Okay, on to bigger and better? You'll have to judge for yourself.

Greek Orthodox Fest!!!!!!

First, I entered two raffles, knowing beyond a doubt that I would definitely win. The first one was for some lovely pottery

The second one was for a $2000 travel voucher. That's what I'm talkin' about.

That is my rival entering the raffle herself. (None of us won).

Second, I had all of my favorite food

 
Chicken souvlaki, roasted potatoes and Greek salad.

WTF is Kata i fi you ask? The first time I had it was not in Greece, but in an Armenian restaurant so I was THRILLED that it was here. According to wisegreek.com,

Kataifi is a popular Middle Eastern pastry made with a special form of shredded phyllo dough which is also called kataifi. Most forms of kataifi are sweets, typically with nuts and honey which make them flavorful, crunchy, and very sweet.

It has the greatest texture, meaning the shredded wheat texture on the outside and then the nuts and goo on the inside. AND it is sickeningly sweet, which is absolutely ideal in my book. 

Though I did not partake, what Greek Fest would be complete with out an ouzo table?

Guest blogger: Husband

I had a particularly long stretch of no blogging which I will attribute to my cat's recent brush with death constipation. For those of you have not yet heard the sob story, Nuni was a little under the weather, I took her too emergency services, they threatened her with the possible diagnosis of cancer, we brought her for extra tests at her normal vet, she was instead diagnosed with constipation and stool softener brought her back to normal.


In other news, I had Adam document his recent (mis)adventures in order to be featured as a guest blogger, i.e. compensate for my own neglectful behavior. Also, this is probably a little bit more....PG-13...then my own writing.
  
  

I have played baseball for my whole life, through little league, high school and eventually for my college club team for three of the five years I was there. My first two years the team did not exist. Also I went to a five-year program because I attended Northeastern University which has its students do a year and a half of work intertwined with schoolwork. This isn’t the five-year program your freshman roommate did because he wasted his first year of college doing blow off of a $10 hooker. What can you get for $10? Well she will touch you anywhere for 5 seconds with one finger. Also, for this story to work, she apparently will allow you to do cocaine off of her wasted and soiled body. Rick went through some rough times, but he likes to tell people that he came out the other side stronger. I like to tell people not to touch him because he has the icky all over him.

  

Now college ended for me a couple years ago and since then I have not picked up a bat and tried to hit baseballs with it. Don’t ask what I usually use it for, that’s my own private business. So when my friend invited me to go to the batting cages I was excited. I assumed I would be able to step right in and do fine. I had played all my life, what was a 2-3 years away from the game? Well apparently when you get cocky and jump in there with a wooden bat you do this almost immediately:

  

  

 

That’s always an enjoyable sound when you feel $50-80 worth of lumber snap in your hands because you are unable to perform simple baseball activities in a controlled setting. The dull thud sound of the ball hitting the bat in just the wrong place makes you really feel like a man. And you know without even looking you have done something horrible. So that is how I started off my batting cage adventure. This is how it ended:

…With my dainty hands all blistered up because I work in an office and have switched over to playing basketball as a physical activity because I can do that alone. Ah the wonders of living in the suburbs. Oh and don’t worry, that blister on the left side that is unpopped totally burst the following day when I played pitch and putt. Yet another sport that I used to play quite a bit and have not done in a long time. My seventeen year old self would be appalled at what I have become.  Although he would be pretty jealous of the picture below, but mostly because that would be the most money he would have ever seen in one place. 

Poaching turtles

Every time I go in search of a new walking trail (on the internets), I find some incredible gem. It is very reinforcing. This time it was Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary, located about 10 minutes from my apartment. I am surrounded by beauty!! I WANT TO LIVE HERE FOREVER.

Broadmoor is conservation land that is maintained by the Mass Audubon Society and contains 9 miles of walking trails that go through several different habitats including wetlands, woodlands, and fields. In addition, they have a nature center at the entrance and restrooms. What a treat!

I couldn't pass up use the restroom, particularly once I found out it was a recycling toilet system. Feel free to look at their recycling poster, but in sum: it was a glorified non-smelly outhouse that turns doodies into compost. Neat!
  

The sanctuary begins with an awesome/very long board walk that goes through the wetland area. We spent about 30 minutes on this board walk hunting wabbits turtles.

There were so many visible creatures that I'm going to have to just post them one after another. I'm pretty sure I saw more wildlife in the first five minutes of this trail than I have on all of my other nature walks combined.

Turtle

Turtle

Turtle

Goose! (Frog)

Frog

Furthermore, the water and the slime over the water was a color that only exists in my dreams. Now that I think about it, this color also exists on my husband's car

The woodlands had less frogs, but had it's fair share of trees and trees eaten by beavers

This is the most magical thing I've ever seen

I thought this tree was so cool to the point that both Adam and I were skeptical that this wasn't just a man-made exhibit. I decided that the conservationists wouldn't be the types to a) attempt to trick fellow nature lovers b) destroy a tree for educational purposes.

Furthermore, no fires, hunting, trapping, fishing, picking or collecting was allowed. LUCKILY, they didn't mention poaching or scalping, so Adam and I opted for those activities.