October 4, 2008
Madison, GA
Last weekend--before the family got sick--we took a little day trip to Madison, GA.
Madison was an odd mixture of the beautiful Old South--it was barely spared by Sherman on his infamous "march to the sea," so much of the lovely Antebellum architecture is still in place--and more disturbing parts of the Old South as well--in antique shop, we walked in to see a Little Black Sambo book flanked by Confederate memorabilia on either side. The incongruity and inappropriateness of the hopefully unintentional combination made me gasp out loud.
The whole town was covered in antique stores and book stores. Once again, we puzzled our heads over the lack of great book stores in the academic town of Athens. One of the antique stores was insane, stuff piled everywhere. But it had great books, a whole section of used children's books for under a dollar. We added a pile to the kids' library, some for now, like a Cheerio's book and a couple for later, like a story written around and illustrated with paintings by Peter Breugel.
It was a pretty, quiet town to walk around with the kiddos. There was a tiny museum, which even included works by Picasso and Rouault in the collection.
I love the reuse of industrial architecture. There was a mall made out of an old mill, and here's a livery transformed into the local lawn and garden store.
We could totally picture aged southern aristocrats drinking iced tea and rocking on the porch of this inn.
At lunch, we were given lollipops for the kids. Just in case it looks like we're negligent parents, I'll let you know we only gave them a few licks. Of course, Ian wanted to do it himself!
Elanor got so excited, she kept her little tongue out waiting for the next lick.
Ahhhhh....purple ecstasy!
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September 19, 2008
Little Russia By the Sea: The Rest of the Day
After walking the boardwalk for awhile, we headed back to the main street (Brighton Beach Avenue) in search of coffee.
Along the way, we stopped at a specialty foods store, M&I International Food Store. The pastries were decadent. We gazed for a long time, wondering how many people were hired just to make desserts.
We each bought some Russian chocolate as gifts. Unfortunately, since I don't know Russian, I have no idea why Napoleon is galloping across the chocolate bar.
We then continued our quest for coffee. Now, here's where things got a little weird. Even in Europe, if a restaurant is called a "cafe," you can stop there for coffee, even if it's one of the fanciest restaurants in Paris. In Little Russia--not so much. After being turned down at a couple of places where we asked if it were okay to just get coffee and dessert, we stumbled on an unassuming little place.
A couple sat next to us who treated us as if we were guests in their home. They moved chairs for the bulky double-strollers, commented on our food, smiled at the babies, and greeted us as they left. Old men chatted at another table, and then offered blessings on the little ones. Along with our coffee, we had a plate of crepes with chocolate sauce and fruit. I love the red in this picture.
The light was getting dim, so we headed back for one last stroll along the boardwalk. We got the kids out to wiggle before the long trip home and watched a community volleyball game on the beach.
Finally, we watched the sunset over the beach, silhouetting Coney Island in the distance.
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September 17, 2008
Little Russia By the Sea: The Park
Right off the boardwalk is a lovely little park. Adults played dominoes while the kids cavorted.
Our kids love, love, love swings.
Unfortunately, Ian seemed to be getting a little green by the end, so swing fun was over.
Which leads us to the final installment: the rest of the day!
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Little Russia by The Sea: The boardwalk
It's a three mile boardwalk reaching its end point at Coney Island. As we walked along looking for a place to have a picnic, we passed gorgeous cafe's overlooking the sea.
We both finished reading Tolstoy's War and Peace recently, so Tatiana's caught our eye.
We found a pavilion and sat to have our pies.
In this pavilion and others like it, old friends chatted and old men played chess. A biker stops to look over a shoulder while a dog sniffs for scraps. I had never wanted to live in the middle of a big city, but now I understood the desire--this place was busy, bustling, and tight-knit; we sensed a real community at work.
And the views were gorgeous.
Refreshed by our time by the sea, we brought the kids to a park before heading for another walk in the city.
Next installment: Kids in the park (just for fun!)
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Little Russia By the Sea: Our intro.
Catching up on blogging, here!
Last Tuesday, Teresa and I and the kids headed to Brooklyn to see Little Russia By the Sea. After debating the merits of driving vs. carrying a double-stroller through non-handicapped accessible subway stops, driving won out. And it was a pretty easy trip, with very little traffic. We drove through Manhattan and underneath the Brooklyn Bridge to reach our destination. On the way, I was introduced to the wonders of the GPS system. Very cool, except when roads are closed, and you're directed to drive in circles.
We arrived in another world.
All around us old men and women, families and young people chattered in Russian. I actually experienced traveler's anxiety, embarassed that I hadn't at least learned "hello," "goodbye," "please" and "thank you" as everyone should when touring in another place. I smiled as passing strangers commented on the babies, old men smiling and old women muttering over their heads, hoping that smiling back and nodding would compensate for my lack of comprehension.
We walked down the main street to reach the St. Petersburg Bookstore. I was hoping to find some obscure Russian literature that I had always meant to read, but instead, most of the Russian literature was mostly in, well, Russian.
There were vendors selling Russian pies, sweet and savory, along the street. We grabbed a couple and headed to the boardwalk for a picnic. It's a three mile boardwalk reaching its end point at Coney Island.
Next installment: on the boardwalk
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September 16, 2008
Jealous of my kids
Tim: In their 9 months of life, the twins have already been to 9 states: Georgia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey! During my first 30 years of life, I had only been to 3 states - Ohio, Virginia and New Jersey. That's just pathetic. I'm jealous!
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September 15, 2008
There and back again
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September 9, 2008
Adventures in traveling
We made it safely to New Jersey!
The actual travel process went incredibly well. That is, after being The One Person No One Wants to Follow In The Security Line. The first security person told us to go through the handicapped and special assistance line. The next one told us it was handicapped only. You'd think that twins in a stroller would qualify for special assistance. Go figure!
And no one told us car seats have to go upside down on the conveyor belt. That is until after everyone's baggage stopped up behind us! And then the stroller lost a wheel...
The kids did great on the flight. We had two aisles to ourselves, plenty of room for the kids to stretch out, squirm, etc. Baby puffs (like Cheerios only airier) made the taking off and landing a bit easier. Note (to anyone else with babies who might be thinking of air travel): the kids were registered as lap babies, and even though the plane was almost empty, AirTran wouldn't let us use the car seats. Just FYI!
We met up easily with Teresa, and made it back to her nifty little apartment. The kids were a bit restless, and loved crawling all over her house. Talk-times and a long breakfast have been punctuated by laughing with the kids and rescuing Teresa's house from the baby marauders.
Teresa lives in a cool, mainly immigrant based city somewhere outside of New York City. Driving through the town was a multicultural event. As Teresa played South African music, bits and pieces of Hispanic music, rap music, and sirens counterpointed against it.
In the afternoon, we went out for a late lunch at a Turkish restaurant. We drove through areas where many of the signs were in Arabic, and Halal meat was advertised in almost every grocery window. We shared sharply flavored hummus, a cucumber, tomato and fresh feta salad, and a yogurt-sauced bread and chicken dish.
Don't know whether this is insane or not, but tomorrow we're planning a trip to Little Russia (or Odessa) By the Sea. After reading War and Peace in tandem, and many long discussions on Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, we couldn't resist a place that boasted a St. Petersburg Bookstore and Russian street food along the boardwalk.
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September 5, 2008
Change of scenery
I know this is a bit crazy...
...but the kids and I are going to fly up to NJ to see my old roommate Teresa on Monday. Woohoo!!!
My dad has a business trip to NYC, so I have an extra lap to take them as lap babies (saving us hundreds of dollars). It was all rather spontaneous, but thankfully Teresa doesn't mind spontaneity, either.
Any advice on plane travel with babies?
Posted by Tim and Jo at 3:54 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 25, 2008
Vacation: The Food
Tim and Joanna: We had a plethora of seafood during the trip--lunch, dinner and even a breakfast of shrimp-and-grits! We hadn't eaten this much seafood since our honeymoon on Prince Edward Island.
One night for dinner we went to the Taj Mahal of seafood restaurants, The Crab Shack. In no time at all we had a massive platter of crab (2 types), mussels, crawfish, shrimp, potatoes, sausage and corn on the cob in front of us.
The four of us dug in and by the time we were full, there was still a third of it left over. Joanna was tormented by an unwelcome bird that was using her for target practice. So we renamed the place "The Crap Shack." During dinner we gave the twins bottles but by the time Elanor was done with hers, she was drenched with milk. I thought maybe I didn't screw the lid on, but Joanna didn't think so. Did Elanor unscrew the bottle and try to chug it? Hmmmm....that one was a head scratcher.
Another night we bought fresh-caught shrimp off of the dockside and made "Frogmore stew" or "low-country boil." It was so easy that I wish I had tried it years ago. It's definitely going back on our menu the next time we see shrimp on sale.
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Vacation: The Kids
Tim and Joanna: This past week, we spent a little mini-vacation with the grandparents at Tybee Island with little jaunts into Savannah.
The first morning before breakfast we took the kids down to the beach for a taste of the old briny. Elanor liked playing with the sand but Ian was a bit skeptical of the whole ocean thing. "What is this grey watery stuff and why is there so much of it and why am I in it?" They would grab some sand in their hands and stare at it as if they were thinking "what...the...heck...is...THIS...stuff??" Ian remained somewhat wary of the ocean for the rest of the visit.
Tim was sympathetic--considering all of the unknowns in the ocean, a healthy skepticism was not an inappropriate reaction on the part of our little guy. Between the sun, the sand, and pondering the incomprehensible forces of nature, Ian soon tired himself out.
They loved their beach toys. Even though they had no conception of their proper functions, the brilliant colors and unusual shapes amused them.
Elanor loved the water in every shape and form. The pool was her favorite, though. She would laugh, cackle and shriek for joy as she kicked in her little floaty. She also loved looking at water, especially if it had bright little fishies swimming around in it.
We buried the twins in the sand up to the waists and they didn't seem to mind, as long as we kept the waves from creeping up on them. They took a few tastes of sand and found that it didn't sit well on the palate.
The apartment was equipped with a double sink that was just their size. Some days they seemed to have more fun getting the sand and gunk off of them as they had had putting it on themselves.
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May 8, 2008
Blogging hiatus
Tomorrow morning, we're off to one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The land of rivers, bridges, folk festivals, Steelers and pierogies. The place where we fell in love. The place we fell in love with.
It'll be our babies first glimpse of it ex utero.
See y'un's later 'nat!!
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May 5, 2008
Chattanooga photoblog
We had a whirlwind trip to Chattanooga this weekend.
We met friends.
We met dogs.
We met a weathered hippie-man that liked our twins. He has a couple of 20-something year old children, and a 5 month old. He informed us that he was a "baby-making machine." He gave our kids clothes. Groovy!
We walked around a park.
We ate at a cafe.
We drove up a mountain and hung out in the clouds.
We saw a choo-choo.
We wore our kids out.
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April 14, 2008
Paris: Episode Five
In this episode the Paris Chroniclers will take you through P�re Lachaise cemetery, and Tim�s risking of life and limb to take that one perfect picture.
Joanna: P�re Lachaise�what atmosphere! A haunting place. So many of the monuments and crypts were works of art unto themselves.
A panorama of moss-covered stone everywhere you looked. The sun would shine on the ironwork on a tomb and create strange shadows on the graves next to it. Little paths and nooks to explore, a gothic feeling emanating from the rows of tombs, mysterious epitaphs and inscriptions on the graves, ornate ironwork, weaving and criss-crossing, and best of all�more amazing stained glass!
Stained glass and iron and stone in such a variety of designs.
We visited graves of some of our favorite musicians and writers, like the novelist Marcel Proust, singer Edith Piaf, composers Frederic Chopin and Georges Bizet (Carmen), playwright Oscar Wilde, and Medieval-love-letter-writers Abelard and Heloise.
Ironically, some of those graves were among the more plain and ordinary ones! Of course we saw Jim Morrison�s grave. We came across a British Doors fan with long hair and Jim�s face plastered on his T-shirt. He and his �da� were walking with a map impatiently trying to find The Grave.
We followed him and soon saw a crowd of Doors fans gawking at the small gravestone. Not all that much to see. We ended our visit by stopping at Chopin�s grave to have a little picnic.
Tim: Now for the more juicy part. Guess what?!? I got my ears boxed by a fuzzy freak! We found a long street market on Rue Menilmontant near the Menilmontant Metro station and started exploring it. Talk about an international street fair! We saw everyone and everything! And close up! It was so crowded that it was impossible to walk without constantly bumping into people. We passed fishmongers, fruitmongers, spicemongers (and every other kind of monger), clothing of all styles, incense, you name it.
Things were going along just fine until I saw a caf� called �Le Metro� with a cool sign. Little did I know that this would cause me some considerable trouble. As I stopped to take a photo of the caf�, this large, swarthy man took an interest in me. Before I knew it, he was yelling in my face, shaking me by the collar and venting a copious amount of spleen and displeasure at me. In my confused state, I said �I don�t speak English!� when I meant to say �I don�t speak French!�. Silly me. Soon another guy came between us and the fuzzy, freaky guy started to calm down. He sent me on my way with a friendly neighborhood shove and I gathered up Joanna and got out of there. Whew! I was so thankful it wasn�t worse. He was big enough to pulverize me if he wanted to!
Anyway, we got out of there and ducked into the Belleville Metro station. Yikes! Egad! Sacre bleu!
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March 6, 2008
The Mark of the Potter
So, we've officially become Helen junkies.
On Saturday, we decided to pop out there for a walk in the town with the babies. We took a little detour on the way to stop at The Mark of the Potter, a grist-mill turned pottery shop, of which I have many fond childhood memories. It's on a windy little road up a mountain, about 10 miles from Helen.
We started out with the babies' first picnic by the river. We could wait for fun Helen food. They could not. People walking past us gooed and oohed at the babies.
Inside, we saw a craftsman at work.
On the back porch, you can feed the fat fish, or watch the rapids. I probably fed those same fish when I was a little girl.
We picked out a mug in memory of the occasion, and left for our day in Helen. It was a gorgeous day to walk outside with our babies snug in their little slings.
The End.
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