Weekend Adventures, Part The Second

Well, I didn't manage to get any pictures, so this isn't a terribly satisfactory blogpost, but I promised extra adventures...

Some friends of ours recently bought a big old farmhouse with lots of outbuildings out in Stoughton, and they had a debris-burning party yesterday to get rid of all the straw and old lumber and other crap that was cluttering up the barn. Unfortunately, we only got there late in the afternoon, after the fire had mostly died away. It was a big pile of ashes, but not especially photogenic. Ah, well.

It was about 70° here today. We opened up all the windows and aired the place out. Perhaps it'll be spring soon.

Weekend Adventures, Part The First

Despite having to work this morning, Anita and I went off to see a concert last night at the Union Theater. It was too good to pass up: a double bill of Karan Casey and Lunasa. It was a serious dose of quality Irish music. I've been trying to come up with a good metaphor for how to describe someone playing the Uilleann (pronounced "illin") pipes. It's a little like watching a man wrestle an octopus while taking apart a manual transmission and a little like listening to the bastard child of a bassoon and a hot-water heater. Amazing instrument.

We saw these two acts perform together in Ithaca a few years ago, at Kennedy Hall, and this show was even better, if only because we didn't have to flee from a 15-minute local children's chorus act in the intermission.

Turns out Karan Casey and her band were in Ithaca last week, and got caught in the same snowstorm I did. Who knew?

Indeed I Have Returned

I am back in lovely (well, cloudy) Madison. However, I'm also staring down a metric butt-load of work. I'm getting a wee bit tired of being a year behind those Sinorhizobium people at MIT. Sigh. Looks like time to revise the old "Future Directions" section.

Adventures on tap for this weekend, so stay tuned.

Cute and fun

Still on the road, but here's something entertaining... Sprout is a cute little Flash puzzle game. It's about 10 minutes of pleasant diversion - very nice. Good to see someone putting their hard-won colored pencil skills to use.

Other Blogs...

Running From Camera is not, perhaps, as compelling as the DogBlog, but it does have a certain je ne sais quoi...

In Which Mike Acquires Too Many Limes

The thing is, you see, that once you've made the key lime pie, and used up the bottle of tonic water, you still have half the 2 lb. bag of key limes left, and it's hard to know what to do with the little suckers. Any ideas?