August 31, 2016

Zadok has graduated from a little travel cot to a Big Boy Bed. He was touching both ends, so we figured it was high time.

So far, he has been very good about staying in bed and waiting for one of us to come and get him before he gets up.

His new snuggle buddy, a purple Heffalump, has helped make the transition easier. In fact, he'd often rather take a few extra minutes to just lie and snuggle in the morning than get up as soon as I come to get him.

August 28, 2016

We hosted a dinner in honor of Amos's 31st birthday. Only about half the people invited showed up, but it was just as well because I was ambitious in my sending of invitations, less so in the preparation of food...though it seemed like a lot at the time.

On the menu:

Scalloped potatoes
Chicken in tomato eggplant sauce
Fried squash
Carrot salad
Melon
Bread
Chocolate chip cookies
Chocolate pudding
Lemon pound cake

August 26, 2016

Amos celebrates his 31st birthday today...the 6th since we became an "item."

They just keep getting better!

August 18, 2016

A few "quotables" from East of Suez:

“I never thought I'd hear the words “best moment ever” in the same sentence with any word ending in “otomy.”

R: “Is that story Emily told about the little grey men invading your house really true?”

A: “Absolutely! Every word!”

“Real men wear mascara.”

“This may the the only chance you ever get to hear “Dixie” sung by someone wearing a chador namoz.”

“Don’t judge—I grew up in a cult.”

“You hide with her and THEN we’ll see who gets beaten.”

M: “If you tell everyone you’re from Nuristan they’ll believe you.”

E: “I can’t even speak Nuristani.”

M: “Well, nobody else in Kabul can either, so it doesn’t matter.”

 “I’m Blood Girl!”

August 16, 2016

                               
                                                

For all eternity I will be in gardens with perfect flowers,
Remembering and missing the fallen petals of a fallen world.

  Akiane Kramarik

August 12, 2016

We just returned from a last minute vacation in Tajikistan, spent in a nice little apartment that Amos found at the very last minute, thanks to Air BnB.

                                                      

Highlights included the various parks we visited and the vintage Soviet electric bus system. Actually, everything vintage in Tajikistan in Soviet...you can almost hear the depressing Russian techno beat in the background even when it isn't actually playing...which it usually is. But the parks are completely Persian.

                                               

Picnic at Varzob lake...

Zadok looks a little shell shocked because he spent the night before being sampled by all the mosquitoes for miles around. Then I bought a miraculous cream of Russian origin which seemed to act as a insect repellent as well as an itch soother, and life became much better.

Zadok does his best Communist Dictator pose underneath the massive Tajik flag in Rudaki Park.

Good times all around. It's so fun to just stroll around as a family. I think that's really all it takes to make a great vacation.