Jugglers

Katie claims she's been resolving to learn how to juggle every new year since she was 16. She's finally achieved that goal! To celebrate we juggled our way across the country, and set a new goal. Next up: The Double Juggle.

poll by twiigs.com

This Must Be The Sway

Sunday saw us high up in the Rockies on the other side of the continental divide for the Pinter-Sturtevant wedding. We had spent the weekend oversleeping and talking up The Sways / JumpShots, so there was plenty of swayticipation to go around by the time the reception finally got going. Funkiphino had thrown down a groovin' horned-up cover (so many saxes!) of this Talking Heads song for the 1st dance. It stuck with us while we swayed, in a really good way.

Here I Am.

As usual, the weekend in Milwaukee just wasn't enough for me. I stayed Monday, and we won Trivia at The Nomad. I stayed Tuesday and Katie got new ball bearings on her car. Obviously you have to road test new ball bearings. So we drove to Denver (The Sunshine State!). And we brought Kermit!

Along the way, Joanna fed us margaritas and Were-movies in Iowa City. Then we headed west. Do you know how much more boring Nebraska is that Iowa‽ A lot much more boring. Luckily for us there was a wreck on I-80 halfway through NE. Traffic came to an abrupt stop; people immediately exited their vehicles. So we did too. We had made a stop at Art Smarts Dart Mart and Juggling Emporium on Monday afternoon and that was finally paying off for us. We did some juggling in the median, took a couple of jump shots, and brought Kermit out to air out his frog parts for a bit.

I'm not sure which of our antics attracted the attention of the trucker in front of us, but he came over to take a picture. Then he let the frog drive his truck for a little bit. It probably wasn't very safe, but then he did have a laptop attached to his steering wheel. And that can't be very safe either. We told him Kermit would never forget this day and he promised that he wouldn't either.



Turns out he's currently driving across the country with his daughter, and a dachshund. We thought that was the bee's knees. Until we turned around and he had these two baby wieners in his hands. It's hard to imagine something better that could have come out of that truck cab at that moment. Lesson: if you're going to be stuck on a highway in Nebraska make sure you bring your juggling paraphernalia and stop behind a tractor trailer with a litter of wieners hidden inside.

All this dog activity turned out to be really appropriate. In Denver we stayed with Shannon, a Schmaling cousin. She's involved with 2 airedales, and lives in the doggiest neighborhood I've ever been to. We felt a little uncomfortable because we didn't have anything to put on a leash. Our main objective while visiting the Colorado state capital though was juggling in front of large things. As far as large things go, you can't beat this giant chair, topped with a normal sized horse.

Don't worry, this trip is far from over. Just don't expect to see any rafting photos; we just slept through the pre-planned and pre-paid rafting excursion!

Dino's Sunday Sway

Did you know there was a shooting in Milwaukee yesterday? Don't worry, that kind of thing happens in Riverwest. Plus, it happened at least a block away from us. We knew a Sway was going to happen, we just didn't know how tough the sway-crowd was going to be. Or where it was going to be. Dino's Lounge turned out to be the perfect place to grow our swayputation.

A Perfect Day to Celebrate a Whit.

Someday I'll get to spend Whit Monday in Utweiler. This year I'll just have to settle for wearing my traditional Whit Monday hat.

It's Dutch, Just Sound It Out

Remember that bike ride out to Phoenixville I told you about yesterday? Well, it was out along the ever expanding Schuylkill River Trail, which runs along the old Pennsylvania Railroad right-of-way. Which is right next to the old Reading Railroad right-of-way. Did you know Monopoly® was patented by a guy who lived a couple blocks from where I grew up? It's true. And I drove by his house today; I didn't know it until I read his Wikipedia page though.

The Schuylkill, Phila.'s #2 river, is best known by its 3 mile stretch above the Fairmount Dam, home to boathouse row and overpopulated recreational trails. But it does a whole lot of other things too, like go to Reading and Phoenixville, not to mention Pottsville (home to America's oldest operating brewery). It also outlines the edge of Philadelphia's hairline. Did you know Philadelphia City/County looks like a lady with a big nose and huge hair‽ This is turning into a geography lesson.

Anyway, look at where we rode. It was about 50 miles round trip we figure. And the point of all of this is that Papa Barnebey says he's riding his bike across the country next summer. He's already done Miami to Philly, Philly to Maine, Iowa, D.C. to Pittsburgh, among others. He doesn't even have a real road bike, it's a hybrid. And he likes to sit bolt upright. Totally uncool.

Frankfurter Friday Recap

In Which the Barnebeys Play Games, but I get upset when Evan's jawn beats me.

Life has been really rough the past couple of weeks. After that whole wedding shenanigan down in Charlottesville, I only had a couple of days to decompress before I had to start grilling hot doggs and concocting slaws last Friday. Then, the next morning, Papa Barnebey (a.k.a. The Old Welshman) got us all  out on some wild bike ride up to Phoenixville. I had to borrow a bike with gears. How embarrassing.

Luckily we took Sunday off to just play some games. No long guest lists, no aching bike butt; just some cards, a wood fire, and later, a scrabble board.

Kermit came out for a little bit, demanding to be included, so we let him hold some 3's and 4's in his big froggy hands, just to keep him quiet. Too bad sheepshead only uses Ace - 7.

By half-time I was leading and the kielbasa was ready to come off the grill, so we broke for lunch. It may look familiar.

[Look at all those TUBs!]

Later, after a trip to the custard stand, we reconvened on the deck for some Scrabble. It started off well enough with a cheeseboard, wines, and a bingo.

[The only pen to score Scrabble with is a Le Pen.]

This picture was snapped at the peak of our Scrabble high. The first game had just finished and had gone well. Despite the lead I had held since my SMUGGLE play, everyone was still feeling good about their scrabbling— the board had been open and the vowels had been well distributed.

Soon into the 2nd game though, things started to head south. The scores were close and people were getting testy. Then I was denied the use of GERMY. Look it up. Then I had to fight for AD and MAW. By the time I played OI, the table was set for an insurrection. Forced to use RID instead, I had to accept 2 fewer points, and more importantly, use my R. R's can be indispensable at the end of a game. 

Soon Roxy had gone out, Evan had given her the 12 points still left on his rack, and I had lost the game by 1 point. Some things were said. Words were questioned, dictionaries were questioned, peoples' characters were questioned. It was not a Scrabble high. Later, after consulting The Official Scrabble® Dictionary, Evan tried to debate what it meant to be a word, effectively calling into question not only my Scrabble knowledge but also the subject in which I'm getting a doctorate. Thanks. At least we could agree that jawn is a perfectly valid and useful word.

I'm not sure when we're going to play Scrabble again.