Happy Valentine’s Day from Brattleboro!

This video’s cute

And so,  frame by frame,

Let’s go on a trip

Down memory lane

(the rhyming purists among you, and the snarky, might think that should be memory “lame,” but those people have no heart, and it’s Valentine’s Day, so we shun those people today)

  • The opening shots were taken from Mt. Wantastiquet, which I’ve featured here several times
  • The little animated airplane is sponsored by The Richards Group, whose building I look out on every day.
  • I don’t really get the concept of the video… a bunch of guys in union suits running around town. I guess they’re trying to deliver a valentine, but can’t find the recipient? Maybe  if they look in every single business that’s part of the Downtown Business Alliance… whose mission is still sort of like the Chamber of Commerce, but not exactly… I guess.
  • Then they go to the Harris Hill ski jump. Next weekend is the annual competition.
  • And the soundtrack? Well, that’s a song called “Anna” by The Snaz
  • When the inner tube lands on top of the car, it’s being driven by the video’s producer/director, Bill Forchion. He’s part of the team at NECCA, the circus school, with which we have some ties, and a funny (if overlong) performer in his own right.
  • They drive right past the New England Youth Theatre, where we’ve been (although not for a while, come to think of it).
  • Then, the action shifts to the hardware store
  • Next, A Candle in the Night furniture, which it looks like I’ve never written about… an oversight I’ll have to fix!
  • On into my very own bike shop, Brattleboro Bicycle
  • Now, the frozen yogurt place in the Brooks House
  • Now, into the hippie bookstore. The girl is reading a book full of old maps of Brattleboro, which I just happen to have a copy of
  • Next up, Boomerang, a great (if pricey) little store that we don’t actually go in very much. When we were first thinking about moving here, we talked to the building’s owners about possibly renovating the top floor, which has been empty since a fire like 50 years ago. The shopgirl near the dressing room also works at my primary bar.
  • Skateboard boy receives the punt in front of Brattle Burger, which used to be Milagros, then cruises past Sam’s outdoor store and the Latchis with its new (and very romantic) marquee
  • And then, finally Cupid bonks at the town limit sign, which just happens to be something I’ve done myself at that exact spot, because that sign is often the site of hotly-contested sprints as we finish bike rides.

You say tomato…

  
I say hurry up already. My AeroGarden has grown some lovely plants, sporting quite a few flowers, but after almost 90 days I am only now seeing my first fruit… 

I can see clearly now 

   
   
Besides being shiny and double-paned, our new windows all open: the big picture windows have an operating panel on the bottom, and the parking lot side are full sliders. Plus, the parking lot view is much improved without the 6-inch crossbar exactly at eye level. Cross-ventilation will make a huge difference in keeping the living room cool. 

Home Depot sent a big tough Russian crew to do the job, and I’ll admit to thinking briefly about Liam Neeson and his very special skills. In the end, the guys turned out to be quite charming, and exceptionally efficient. In at 10, out at 4:30.  

Happy birthday, little sister

It’s very cool that Big Brother remembered Lee’s birthday, even if a little jarring to be reminded that they know EVERYTHING about us. But, at least we told them about the birthday directly, so that’s pretty understandable. What’s far less understandable is how they know she has a fondness for model railroads and so posted that link to Miniatur Wunderland… or is that just a coincidence…

Lee birthday

USCG SPC-LE

This bad boy was parked at the boardwalk yesterday. It turns out to be a US Coast Guard Special Purpose Craft — Law Enforcement, designed for drug interdiction and “migrant operations,” and one of three stationed in the USVI.

900 hp is a whole lotta get up and go for a lightweight 33′ boat. The top speed is listed at “more than 50 knots” and if you could keep it from simply flying into the air, I bet you could get a whole lot more.

Armageddon 

After Hurricane Hugo destroyed the old F’sted pier, they towed all the wreckage a couple miles away and dumped it in 80-120′ off the coast. Now, it’s a pretty cool dive site, a real-life Waterworld set.


Enough diving already 

My intrepid divemaster Jenny takes on a lionfish

A Southern sting ray unimpressed with my desire to get up close and take pictures

A playful smooth trunkfish

Seahorse 

Seahorses are one of the stars of St. Croix’s western side. Getting close enough and steady enough to shoot a decent picture of the little critters is the best test of Peak Performance Buoyancy I can think of. Even though I passed my PPB dive, which involved swimming through a hula hoop suspended from the bottom, I still have a lot of work to do in that regard. And how do you kick backwards in flippers???

More Scuba pics

Sorry to bore you… The GoPro worked really well.

Some kind of cool coral

Atlantic spadefish

Sea cucumber  wrasses of some sort

Feathery tubeworms  

Jacks? Snappers?

Bagging a lionfish

I’m diving with a GoPro Hero 4 on this trip. Not mine, but will be soon. Relatively easy to set up and manage, very easy to use in and out of the water, and better quality video than I could hope for from a comparably priced rig. It’s cool to be able to shoot 60fps for later slo-mo. 

Lionfish remain a scourge down here. Even though I’ve left the bubble sounds on (not interesting), this is still the most exciting video I’ve ever posted here…

  
Our dinner companion last night was a pretty cat but had weird eyes like those half-animal people in a Hieronymus Bosch painting. Perhaps too many of the shrimp corn dogs… Good to try once, maybe twice, but that’s definitely it. 

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑