Sarcomical

Ogle My Stuff: Scenes around the SarcomiHaus Edition

Things that charmed me this week:

A pitcher of water infused with sliced lemons.

Being warm & insulated during a snowstorm.

A fluffy cat who kept reminding me to pick him up and nuzzle his face.

My ugly, ugly bread machine loaf of olive & feta cheese "Greek Style Bread". It was flat, flat, flat, but I snacked on it all week long.

Sushi Night Fevahhh

Aww, that's right, I've got a fevahhh...and the only cure for it is more cowbell sushi. ENTER: girls' sushi night at the brother- and sister-in-law's home, where said brother-in-law enjoys honing his rolling skills for an audience. The result? An everything-access pass to all-you-can-eat fabulousness until it hurts. And maybe even past hurt into sweet agony. Sweet, sweet agony...

Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?

The discriminating crowd demands nothing less than perfection. And sake.

Polina turned the camera on me & Amber, as we put on brave faces through the pain.

Tempura makes girls happy. So very, very happy.

On an unrelated note, Amber takes a turn about the room with a cane she found very funny at the time. She & I may or may not have practiced waltzing a few seconds later. I'm not sure. You'll have to wonder.

Words. Words escape me.

Ben finally takes a moment to make a plate for himself, after we all wept Uncle.

Here, Ben tells Polina that our next culinary gathering will be...

(wait for it)

...

(wait for it)

...

CURRY NIGHT!

Oh. my dear. sweet. Lord.

Fancypants Teatime

Sis-in-law Polina & I had "high tea" today at local eatery Serendipity. (We were [SO VERY this close] to donning our fake British accents.) They served us three different teas, the hands-down favorite being the dessert tea...a mind-numbing chocolate flavor. The adventure began with a cranberry spritzer "to cleanse your palates", touted our hostess, and included an evil Tower of Treats atop a tray of wee sandwiches. I can now  say I have fully lived, having tasted the stacked concoction comprised of blueberry toast and cheese. WHAT? Yes.

Target

SarcomiDoggeh Translations

Rocco's Pastry Shop & Espresso Café, Bleecker Street

The Couple, Washington Square

a slip of bitter breath cuts by
the hem of her scarlet frock
her slight cream hand slips into his
in step on cobblestone they walk

A Universal Truth...

We walked by a few pet stores one day strolling around the West Village during our trip in October, and if one thing is true everywhere (no matter how much you detest them being in the place), it is this:  walking past a puppy nose pressed against a window without stopping is nearly impossible. This fellow didn't look like he was in an especially sunny mood when we passed him, but as I turned around to snap a photo of the street scene behind us, I caught a moment that made me smile.

It's all about timing...

Last week driving back home from a trip I was compelled to pull over and take a photo of this overwhelmingly grand sky just before the colors disappeared. As I just prepared to post it, I realized that if I hadn't stopped for the couple of minutes to stand next to my car along a cornfield-adjacent highway, I would not have hit that cream kitty that jetted in front of me and only me on the very busy interstate an hour later one exit from my house (the first time I have ever hit an animal - EVER), and consequently would not have gone into a bizarre internal hysteria which made it necessary for me to hold my breath to stifle the heaving and sobbing over the next 10 minutes so I could see past my teary eyeballs and get home without wreaking MORE death and destruction and return to the four pets in my house, who had to put up with me successively crying into their furry heads after I came in, especially the cat who was brazenly laying on the kitchenette table staring straight at me damningly when I walked in.

For once, I didn't shoo him off. Effing sky.

I believe this will become one of my life lessons...

I've finally been able to pick back up with a personal project I've wanted to undertake for a while now - photodocumenting the disadvantaged in Indianapolis and the surrounding areas and the vast (amazingly, surprisingly, and largely unnoticed by the wider population) mass of non-profit organizations that serve them. I am especially touched by the children in these circumstances, and though each time I visit a new place I have to overcome a flutter of fear of walking into an unknown environment and worrying I won't be able to do the situation justice with my images, this is something I am determined to follow through with, wherever it leads. The following are just a few images from my latest trip to an after-school program downtown; I'll post more of this story on my photo blog soon.

 

Midsummer Rambling with a Side of Photos

I myself have a complicated relationship with summertime. I love it; I always feel like I am coming a little bit more alive when the sun starts blazing and the flowers are exploding. On the other hand, of all the seasons, I always seem to come out of it with the sense that I completely missed it somehow. I wouldn't doubt this is something a lot of you share on some level; maybe it has to do with our childhood calendar, where summer was always this vast and endless expanse of fun and popsicles and chlorine.

(terrycloth, yo.)

About a week ago one of the little boys across the street asked if we could bring one of our dogs out to say hello. While Mr. Sarcomical took Ricky over to be the ambassador, I snuck a photo through our front door. I thought their body language and expressions were so cute. Kids in summer, WITH puppies...

 

It seems Mr. Sarcomical & I haven't had much luck so far this year of grabbing fully onto summer. We have yet to attend a festival or fair, have not taken a picnic anywhere, and haven't hiked, biked, picked or played. That's okay; I know we'll find a way to cram some of that in before it's all over. On the other hand, something we have managed to do that I love about warm days is people-watch and meander the sidewalks downtown.

 

We saw a few more of these pairs downtown that day, obviously on a photo scavenger hunt. Kind of fun, I thought.

We've only been to the Chatterbox a few times, but I love it. It's a super-tiny spot, just one row of tables, a bar, and barely enough room in front for the live (mostly jazz) artists performing there to pile in and play.

(...see Lucille Ball up there?)

I love murky summer night skies...

We're trying to plan some sort of outdoor adventure in the next couple of weekends, but in the meantime we'll go for long walks after dinner peeking into lit windows in the neighborhood and then cuddle into the couch together watching a bit of bad television...with this guy barreling his way between us, of course. (Ricky gets all the pooch press today, I suppose.)

"What, ith sthomething wrong with my fathce? Why are you stharing at me like that?"

11 Years Old...

We celebrated our anniversary of being married 11 years and dating about 14 1/2 downtown this year, and after a shockingly ravenous meal of multiple varieties of meats (scurried about via 'Meat Gauchos' carrying giant skewers of sizzling non-veggie-ness), at Brazilian Steakhouse Fogo de Chao, we paused to pretend with The Sexy. It was dangerous for all who passed by our radius. As you can clearly tell.

(More photos and awesomeness to come from the past few days...*including MY BIRTHDAY ahem ahem*. Oh, I assure you.)

Does this mean we can finally shut off the gas to the freaking fireplace?

 

Saturday's 68° laughs in the face of the last "big" one...

(Though a few weeks ago this was pretty, if it happens one. more. time. I swear to God...I won't be taking any pictures...I'll be banging my head against a door.)

 

Blonde, Brunette, Redhead...

...one of my favorites from a recent shoot I just finished editing; might trickle a few more in later. click to enlarge