Thurston Jazzmaster

Oh Dear. When's my next 30th birthday?





Oh Fuckit. Nevermind......

Shake It Like A Polaroid Picture

We've been having fun with an application which turns high res digital photos into oversaturated, randomly cropped, grainy old polaroids. For anyone whose family photos consist of half torn or folded polaroids covered in crayon or marker or lipstick from being stored in your mother's handbag for decades - you'll enjoy these.

Photo by M. D is going through a hat phase. M is half way through a painting the fence phase.

Lough Ennell - the retro rigout on D makes this even more authentic looking.

Dot Doc

So enough lazy posting of lovely gig posters (although I reserve the right to post in a lazy and uninspired way at any time in the future). It's time to pull up my socks as a daddy and document dammit.

D Painting #1 (finger and paint on A3 paper)

For a long time there we had to feed D with two spoons. Even though she didn't quite have the dexterity (or a big enough mouth) to feed herself, she insisted on holding her own spoon in her clenched fist as one of us would feed her with the other spoon. One spoon only, driven by Mammy or Daddy, and no food would pass her lips. She is now feeding herself, out of the side of her mouth, from above, sometimes even facing away from the spoon, so even though her mouth hasn't gotten much bigger, her aim has improved and she's up to about 25% of the food arriving safely in her mouth. Those are organic Rice Krispies by the way.

Mammy and the kids at Rosses Point

Miss Post & Telegraphs, Sligo 1973

Those are her second pair of shoes. She cashed in while she was on holidays. That dress is new aswell come to think of it. We also said we'd get her a nice "do" to go with her new dress and shoes. So we sauntered into a Sligo barber and got some mixed results.

Before

After

Noooooh little Snowbear....

All together now! "Hey Mr Tambourine Man......"

There's a toy shop on Quay Street in Galway where D buys herself one of these wooden birds every time we're down there. It's run by a German woman and her daughter and for such an amazing little toy shop jam packed with beautiful, hand picked, hand crafted kiddies toys, there's minimal emotion on display at the cash register. They do all kinds of animals but we particularly like the ones with beaks. All the better if we don't know what the name of the bird is. We also have a bear somewhere and a giraffe who has also gone missing. Get D to do her giraffe impression next time you see her. It's quality. So these birds live on top of the mirror in the bathroom where D gets changed. She salutes them on entering now with a Hiyiz! and on leaving with a wave and a b'bye!

In the spirit of documented randomness here's a montage of some photos from our honeymoon in Italia which I tastefully placed on a bedspread and photographed when I got the prints.


And finally this is her favourite piece of televisual entertainment at the moment.

You Wouldn't Throw It On Nettles

Just back from a lovely Sligo babymoon. This one featured a pot head in the bed beside us every night singing songs and even dancing in the dark into the wee hours, blackouts on the massage table, sunsets over Rosses Point with the Snow Leopard's stools, D's first swim (and her second pair of shoes), visiting Queen Maebh's grave, borrowed t-cloths for bibs, multiple bumps on an auto phobic Yaris beaten repeatedly by the same stationary obstacle, the tireless search for pencil lead, D unlearning physics with the wonky ball, Elfie's estate, blue murder over spilt Cidona, Sunbear as daddys, Sideways O's, magic cream samples, spuds and croissants for breakfast and introducing Leopard Cohen. The highlight was definitely bumping into Mary Mcaleese and her entourage at a motorway coffee place outside Carrick on Shannon. I don't think she was canvassing - I think she was just thirsty. The place was full of bajillions of dislocated taigs from all over northern Ireland escaping the 12th of July Orange marches. I'll post some pictures later. In the meantime..... dropped D.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Fridge

Insomnia, stubbed toes, tri-not-to-breathe-pod, bright until 11 o'clock, cheap curtains, 30 second exposure, straight to bed.

We think it's a boy based on salt and size and old wive's tails and the color of our eyes. Hard to believe that next month we'll be four. All is well except for the planning of the post launch marketing campaign. We've yet to decide on a brand name be it boy or girl. Gulliver has been nixed (Gully means manhole in German). Rolo is the name of a relative's dog. Buzby is so last year. Someone else said we'll have to choose an Irish name as we already have a D. I don't get that reasoning but maybe the two names do need to compliment each other. Darren it is then.

Sokol Underground

Some lovely Arcade Fire gig posters. Superchunk and Arcade Fire under the one roof.