Apothecary Shed

Scotland. Stop 1, revisited.

May 10, 2017

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They vote with their Dandelions.

Room with A View.

Oh The Water, Oh,oh The Water, got it myself from the Mountain Stream.

Mountain man discovers bridge.

Eilean Donan Castle: Ancestral Home of McGraw/McCrae

May 7, 2017

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Our trip to the Scottish highlands was short (only two days), but we brought with us the best weather in years. As a McGraw, a visit to the ancestral home of yore was in order. Eileen Donan Castle is the seat of the McCrae clan (aka McGraw on the American side of the pond).

The pictures mostly speak for themselves.

Eilean Donan Castle

A McGraw returns home

Eilean Donan Castle

The crest (part of the achievement) which we use on our Team Tartan hats

Eilean Donan Castle

These kids were playing with maps on the bridge. Adorable.

Eilean Donan Castle

We also popped over to the Isle of Skye, and then headed up the coast by the train line and partially along the North Coast 500. An incredible day.

Isle of Skye

Even our trusty guide was blown away by the day

Our delightful guide Les McInulty plays tourist

Palm tree

Ancient Comms

Sunny Scotland?!

For more about our trip to Scotland, see the pictures from our hike up Sgurr an Airgid where we took some one in a lifetime photos. We could see over 100 miles in every direction. And if you stay in Kintail, stay at the Kintail Lodge.

Hiking Sgurr an Airgid

May 6, 2017

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Sometimes when you are in Scotland you need to hike up 2700 feet to see what you can see.

And here is how you get there.

2700 feet from sea level in 5 hours. Shew.

For more about our trip to Scotland, see the pictures from our visit to the ancestral castle Eilean Donan. And if you stay in Kintail, stay at the Kintail Lodge.

Stuttgart Art

April 25, 2017

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Turns out that the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart is an amazing place. Just a bit off the beaten path and by the big giant construction hole, the museum has a vast collection of great stuff.

By far the highlight of this visit was the special installation of Manifesto by Julian Rosefeldt. I am not a big fan of video art installations, but this one grabbed me by the attention and did not let go. Go see it if you can.

The official trailer here does not do it justice at all

But that’s not all. The museum has an extensive collection of great stuff from obscure things that you wish you had seen before to things you’ve seen 100 times but not in real life yet.

Here is my set of things to remember seeing.

So, just go visit. You owe yourself that.

Science! Rain! (in reverse order)

April 23, 2017

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It started here, in the wisteria.

Caution: Wisteria leads to SCIENCE

Or maybe it was the wine. Who knows. Anyway, science happened.

So watch out for that.

Next up was poster making, a problem caused by many science classes and perpetrated on anxious moms the day before the science project is due.

Why does the computer scientist need a lab coat? Nobody knows.

Thanks to Troopers for making this a few years back.

The March for Science was in DC. It rained. Speakers still have no idea how to use a mic. Talks are boring.

Muppets do science well for puppets.

A poster (gasp) of a muppet pretending to do science. Meta.

There were some good signs.

Fortunately some actual musicians saved the day.

Then it was time to line up for the “march.”

The let most anybody in here, even computer security gurus.

Stop and go

Nobody thought to make the lights green, and the nerds all stopped.

Rain causes cocktails according to our one experiment.

Raining OUTside which is fine when INside

Have a Negroni in the name of science.

Finally, as a cure for science, try Trump. He’s just fucking stupid enough to try to bully it out.

Exactly

Yes indeedy.

Aimee Mann Plays Lincoln

April 23, 2017

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If you have not yet listened to Aimee Mann’s new LP Mental Illness, stop reading and get it. It’s great work.

Like me, you may listen to it over and over again as it seeps into your brain. Track 1 Goose Snow Cone is my favorite new song (especially the string arrangement).

Played live, the songs are just as powerful even though the string quartet is not on the tour (replaced by a fantastic pianist and his trusty synthesizer). Anybody who knows me knows how I feel about real strings. Hire more violinists!

Aimee Mann played the Lincoln Theater last Thursday with Jonathan Coulton and a supporting band that includes her producer on bass. The band was super talented.

The Lincoln Theater stage. View from the balcony is very good.

Sound and light guys never get any credit

Aimee played most of the songs from her new LP during the show.

Nancy Polo at Tin Top

April 9, 2017

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Turns out that visiting the Tin Top is a good enough reason to head into Winchester all by itself most anytime. But throw in an opening and some very interesting art by Nancy Polo, and you can make an evening of it.

We’ll leave it up to you to read up on bunny.