eirlys

When I was home in June, my parents got a new dog! Her name is Eirlys, and she's a Welsh terrier. She was about nine weeks old in these pictures and pretty much looked like a ridiculous little bitey mop of fluff. She's starting to look more like a real dog now, but is no less bitey.

midd grad

My brother Conor's graduation from Middlebury College, with my parents, both surviving grandparents, and all of the kids plus significant others. We were quite the crowd rolling into small town Vermont restaurants. Particularly recommended, the Starry Night Café about half an hour north of Middlebury, where the food was excellent and watching Gran try Stephen's "Dark & Starry" cocktail, a dark & stormy knockoff so similar to paint thinner that we all passed it around the table ("This is awful, you need to try it!"), was one of the best things I saw all trip ("Woohoohoo! That is strong!").

boston, briefly

     
On the way to my brother Conor's college graduation, Stephen and I spent a couple of nights at Megan's house in Somerville. She kindly showed us around Boston (I loved Beacon Hill -- that ivy! those houses!), fed us ridiculousness from Union Square Donuts and the greatest egg/avocado breakfast sandwich I've had in a while from Bloc 11 Cafe and cannolis, and accompanied us to what was possibly the most miserable baseball game I have ever been to, weather-wise (and that is saying a lot, given there I went to that Phillies game in 2010 where it was too hot to drink beer). And then on top of all that she drove us to Vermont! Pretty excellent stuff.

berlin II: nhow berlin

Some shots from Friday and Sunday hanging out outside our hotel in Berlin. Our room looked like someone let their 7-year-old Barbie-obsessed daughter make all the design choices, but the bar sure did make some excellent cocktails. Pictured above: one of two Sunday afternoon Mai Tais before getting on a train back to FFM.

berlin I: the xx night and day

     
In the middle of May (so oh, you know, two full months ago?!), Tatjana, Joachim, Stephen, and I went to the xx's night + day festival . It was cold and rainy (though the days before and after were beautiful, of course!) but the location at Berliner Spreepark, which we nicknamed DDR Disney, was something else.

rhein wein weekend

     
{full set here}
This weekend with Mandie was more than a month ago (!) and in the meantime I've spent 2+ weeks in the United States and a very lovely weekend in London, but it would be a real shame not to post about a weekend that involved a 10-mile hike through vineyards, the greatest schnitzel that ever was (from Graf Lamberger Hof, in Oberheimbach, which is only open Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, naturally), a long-haired dachshund named Arthur, quite a lot of wine, the cutest little Middle Rhine town I've seen yet (Bacharach!), and an unexpected Renaissance Faire.