RVA Haze
Tiny Guy
I’ve been meaning to use one of the million maple seeds that sprout in my yard every Spring as a bonsai starter, and this year I finally did it.
In classic Mike Mode, I planted it and then did some reading on the process. Turns out that the silver maple is a very challenging tree to bonsai, and it 100% shouldn’t be out in direct diligent all day, even in the mild Spring we’ve been having.
So tonight I’ll move the little fella into a shadier spot and then maybe find a thick-trunked azalea to hack down for bonsai-ing this weekend.
h/t to Mike Short for the bonsai scoop
Big Meat Pete came through
It’s been a tough season for the Mets, so far. Last night’s walk-off win over the best team in the league, after being behind three different times in the game, was a taste of the good things that could be around the corner.
The Mets still need better pitching, but it was nice to go to bed happy.
Headed back to Hyrule
It took me a year to get into Breath of the Wild after I bought it, but it eventually became an all-time fave game of mine.
I pre-ordered the sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, and started playing as soon as I got it last week. I’m about 12 hours in and it’s good so far.
I spent a couple of hours last week playing the old one to get a handle on the controls again, which was very smart. I’m a goddamn genius.
Geez and Teez for last nights recording.
This was a good one.
Waffle Centurion
I’ve been playing the daily word game waffle for months (and months and months) and I finally got 100 wins in a row.
While this is a minor achievement in the grand scheme, the game is a way for me to keep in touch with some friends I don’t see as often as I’d like, so I’ll keep playing.
Rowland Negroni
Celebrated our wedding anniversary with a lively meal and this twist on a Negroni, made with dry vermouth.
Front Yard Bunny
I present this as a counterpoint the the Backyard Fox earlier this week.
We’ve got a lot of rabbits around and they’ve gotten a bit more chill about us walking by.
Backyard Fox
We’ve been in this house 20+ years and I’ve never seen one in the yard.
The crows were losing it.
I assume as a warning to us, their benevolent neighbors in this ecosystem (because I sometimes throw them crackers).
Widowspeak and Duster at The Broadberry 4/8/2023
It’s been a long, long time since I had to stand in line to get into a venue a half-hour after the doors opened, but I guess that is what happens when a show sells out weeks early and the crowd is an odd mix of Youngs and Olds.
Widowspeak opened and they were fantastic. I missed them when they came through town last year (thanks, covid). They’re a great live band and I’m looking forward to seeing them again. It was neat, because they’re definitely a guitar band, and the lead player was ripping sick riffs, but they weren’t blowing out the room. It was dialed in so you could appreciate the shredding and the chill vibe of their music. 5 stars.
Duster has been riding their Numero-fueled resurgence hard the last couple of years. The success of the reissue campaign has led to a couple of really good new albums and some touring. It’s still wild to me that a band like this, definitively cool, is playing a club date in Richmond, Va. They were also great. I’m not as familiar with their whole catalog, but it was easy to enjoy. The overall set was louder than Widowspeak, but the chill groove of the songs was still easy to get into. Also surprising was the number of under-21 kids that came out. I don’t think Duster is featured in any weird social media phenomena, it might really just be the kids discovering a band that came and went before they were born. You love to see it.
I’ll also include a picture of Widowspeak featuring the goddamn Broadberry pole that is right in front of the stage(!) and a wider shot of Duster featuring the most phones I’ve ever seen at a club show. It was wild.
