Futility Now

So we have returned to something more in keeping with general expectations, but for a while on Tuesday night it was really snowing.

This weekend we relocated from S’s old room, in which I’d been camping out for the last couple of months on account of the cold, back into the real bedroom in the attic. Basically the time had come to either move everything down there or come back up here. C was in favor of the former because it has only gotten colder, but that seemed like a bit of a retreat to me, which is no way to start a new year.

So it is very cold, but I feel like it’s the harsh, bracing wind of progress.

Now that we’ve talked about NYE, I’d like to go over the 5 days previous that we spent out at Ocean Haven. Basically, it was great. Soggy and great.

The first day we were there, the sis and I noticed a couple trying to push this thing back into the ocean. It was beautifully futile. The next day, I went and took pictures of it.

Before we left, we decided that we needed to pose with it.

New Year’s Eve was not what we expected, but that ended up being a good thing.

Here we are, getting our pre-funk on (in the background: Jonathan Richman’s “I’m Straight”).  Notice how svelte Joaquin has become!

We have a somewhat longstanding tradition of going to our closest friends’ house and ringing it in with them, but illness intervened.  So we asked the internet, “Hey, internet, what should we do?” And the answer was to go to Dot’s Cafe.

Dot’s is a wonderful place. I’ve been going there since I was in my early teens, just a year or so after they opened. It’s also the last place I took Joaquin while he was still living in New York, before he moved here.  So there’s history, you know.

Along with New Year’s Eve, they were celebrating their 20th anniversary. It was very festive and romantic.

2012 is the year of the dragon, which is Joaquin’s year.  I think it’s really going to be something.

So before the whole Christmas thing got underway, my dad came up to visit. We went to Oak’s Park, which C and I hadn’t been to in ages. By coincidence, they had the organ going. It was totally fantastic.

Here is the locker we kept our stuff in whilst being overcome by insouciance.

(Man, that is so insouciant!)

Here are the beskated feet of me and C.

(Man, those are so beskated!)

We also went to the Portland Art Museum to check out the rather remarkable The Artist’s Touch and the Craftsman’s Hand exhibit. Unfortunately, everything in that exhibit was (understandably) behind glass, so my photos from it are crap. Instead, check out these pictures of “special” babies from the Renaissance.

Now we’re at Ocean Haven again, and I’m sure I’ll have something to say about that soon.