All Summer in a Day

October 21, 2015 by Brigham Barnes

The first Sunday in October I found myself invited up to Connecticut and not needed at work so I went on up to Grand Central and caught myself a nice Metro North train to Dairy Anne.

I arrived to find hostess Aubrey's family home in full breakfast-swing, followed by full rope swing-swing.

Over in the driveway, a merciless PIG shootout (followed by other basketball game games).

And also: lawn talk with Kim, Aubrey, Danni and Mary

When the clock struck 12 everyone ran inside to watch conference

And then we all headed to the beach to throw rocks and share Dawson Creek moments and stuff.

Here's Kim. She opted to walk instead of bike or car ride. Beach turned out to be a little farther away than guesstimated.

Dave and Brian biked home ahead of us like a couple of Mad Max maniacs

Not Pictured: One more round of conference then everyone cleaning like crazy so we'd make the 6:45 train.

Pictured: Catching the 6:45 train and editing the day's photos.

Mid-September to Early October: Certain Items

October 18, 2015 by Brigham Barnes

Wow, more than a month since my last post? Do you want me to start another post talking about how much I've been working? But let's celebrate a chilled out Sunday evening with a little look at some things I've done and eaten here and there.

Around the corner from my work there's a new Otto's Tacos with a Tatooine landscape mural. So, yeah, I'm there pretty often.

The famous burger at Joe's Jr. As good as diner burgers, and other burgers, can get.

Plus one of the last places I know still doing the glass and cup milkshake thing.

Superiority Burger might be the number one restaurant opening of the summer, even better than all them chicken sandwiches. Dope veggie burgers and killer veggie sides.

AND, as their chef is a James Bear winning pastry chef, trust that their gelatos and ices are some of the best frozen treats in the whole stinking city.

Nat came back. From Utah.

East Village stuff.

There was this one weekend when the Almonds were in town. We went over to Mission Cantina for a nice little dinner.

I tried their gourmet Crunchwrap Supreme, a super-deluxe interpretation of the Taco Bell modern classic.

Judging from the Burrito-themed murals in the basement, I think Mission Cantina's all-burrito menu angle is here to stay.

Now get this! The next day after the Almonds I met up with Kirk and Leslie from my sophomore year of college! I went with them and their kids to Peep where we caught up on the last, uhh, 15 years?

Oh and then there was a night when I went with Robert and Natalie to Fuku+ in midtown where, along with the chicken sandwich from downtown (actually there's is a smaller version) you can get Mission Chinese-spiced chicken strips and a pizza with the Ssam Bar's spicy sichuan sausage for sauce.

Here's some "around the town" kind of pictures.

One night I went over to Andy's for some chicken McNuggets and heavy bro-time.

This torn up ad stares me down each day on my way to work.

Oh and here, this is a real good cake we had after church one Sunday.

Weekends Continue to Be an Opportunity to Take Some Pictures

September 15, 2015 by Brigham Barnes

Saturday night I went up to Ned's house to learn how to make jam. And to eat bread. And see friends. And make new friends.

Here's Ned and Dallin.

This is Rachel, who took an official jam making class with Ned. She is showing us the "spoon test."

Additional spoons.

A very New York shirt.

The next bunch of photos are Ned's work.

I think I took over photo duties around here

All our little jams, pretty much ready to go.

Next: the talent portion of the evening.

Amy sang a song about not being Brooklyn-enough

Riding downtown with Rebecca, Amy and Dallin.

The next morning there was a big conference at church. After the meeting, there was rice and beans and chicken. Look at Victoria running the tables.

Here's Jacob. He's about to get married and move to Bedford (West Village Bedford, not Williamsburg Bedford). What a bright future for him!

Generally speaking, I respect people's requests not to be photographed.

Kwacey, however, is never not down for a photo op.

Too Sad to Photograph: After eating I went down to Brenda's for her last dessert party because she's moving away. Which is insane. Really knocks a few legs out from under New York that she's leaving.

The Feast of San Gennaro is once more upon my neighborhood. I know it bugs a lot of my neighbors, but I've come to accept it.

And I've become used to seeing the same things in the same spots every year, like the bounce-houses being deflated at the end of the night at the end of my street.