avablog

Amazing news from the field of cancer research today.  From The Wall Street Journal: For the first time in the history of treating cancer, gene therapy has apparently succeeded in shrinking and even eradicating large, metastatic tumors. The therapy worked in only two of 17 patients who were treated. But many researchers are hailing the […]

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Our anniversary is coming up, and we’ve decided to have a night out.  Rather than hit one of the local restaurants for dinner, we’re going to motor down to Washington, IA, to dine at Cafe Dodici. I’ve not eaten there, but friends who have rave about it.  Looking at their menu, I see nary an […]

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Leah’s convinced that our great little house is going to be too crowded if we can manage to have another child. Maybe she’s right. I like to point out that the 97-year-old woman who sold Leah the house raised two sons there with two bedrooms and one bath, but Leah says, “that was then; this […]

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I’m lamenting in advance for the disappearance of the fantastic tomatoes that’re all over the place right now. In addition to all the other ways there are to enjoy this fruit, new to me this year were these little chips: Dried tomato slices. And oh my, are they delicious. Imagine crossing a sun-dried tomato with […]

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Leah and I need a new phone. I was on the fence for a while on the issue, but last night I saw the light at last. We got a call from Leah’s sister, and I went to push the “talk” button on the phone. This button has been getting more and more difficult to […]

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It’s a pretty interesting thing to undergo a life change so profound that it causes all the memories of your “old” life to wither and fade. I guess that’s an understatement. It’s safe to say, I think, that Leah and I have embraced our new life with Ava (well, relatively new, still, after two years) […]

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I have tomatoes.  Onions.  Peppers.  Cukes.  Olive oil.  I can get parsley and garlic.  And I have a food processor for mixing it all up.  So I’m looking for recipes. My mother-in-law makes a good version following a modified Cook’s Illustrated recipe (modified mostly to exclude garlic, which Leah can’t eat).  It goes a little […]

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So much for intuition.  I decided to leave the planter with the chrysalis on it outside until the butterfly revealed itself, and this morning I stepped out on the front porch to find it gone.  All that was left of it was one thin green section lying near a couple dark splotches on the pavement […]

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As you know, I’ve been eating delicious little cherry tomatoes out of my garden for a couple weeks now, but I’ve yet to harvest one of those nice, big, meaty fruits that really make the tomato’s name. Well, it looks like it won’t be long now. These two beauties are probably only a couple hours […]

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Leah’s taking Ava to the doctor’s office this afternoon to have her checked out. She’s had a very low-grade but persistent fever for the last couple days, and she has some little sores in her mouth. The sores, as you might guess, make her hesitant to eat some of the things she usually eats. Leah […]

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So we’ve a little insect drama going on at our house, and I figured I’d present it in pictures: It showed up on the edge of one of our hibiscus planters the other day and worked its way around the drip shelf five or six times. It finally found a spot it liked and started […]

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Sometimes I feel like I’m surrounded by style addicts. I live with a woman who, along with her sister, wears (knockoff) designer sunglasses on a pontoon boat in the boundary waters. It’s like vacationing with the Hilton sisters. For the most part (OK, heck, for the whole part), I’m entirely oblivious to fashion and style. […]

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It can’t come as a surprise to any of our friends and family that Leah and I are planning on trying to have another kid. Just writing that sentence gives me the willies. Not because I’m dreading another three sleepless days in the hospital. I’m worried about what we’re going to tell Ava about her […]

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Fittingly enough, yesterday they began installing the speed humps on our street. Here you can see the two guys who got stuck with the job of staying all day until the humps cooled enough to apply paint to them. The fellow standing is holding a styrofoam coffee cup filled with tiny reflective pellets that get […]

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Pictured above are some tasty treats from my garden. In the foreground are a couple Sun Gold cherry tomatoes, and in the back is a Sunsweet F1 cucumber. The Sunsweet was a surprise; I’d never seen one before, and at first I was sure we’d been sold some mutant seed. But they’re actually very good, […]

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Here’s a shot of my brother-in-law Kevin from one of our hikes in Grand Marais last week: And here’s a shot from one of our hikes in Grand Marais back in 2003: Rachel, Kevin’s wife, has now threatened to do away with the t-shirt featured here. I anticipate a major battle shaping up. Kevin’s stated […]

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…to do this to you right after lunch, but this* is what happens when stitches pull out of an incision. Here’s what it looked like pre-separation. They can’t stitch it back up now, so it’ll stay like this until it heals (a week, the doc says). * I’m not kidding: Don’t look at this link […]

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Pictures. More later. XOXO, Us

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I call them “buzzer bugs” when I ask Ava if she can hear them. I don’t know if it’s been the warm weather or what, but I can’t recall the cicadas being this loud…ever. I was out in the yard the other night, and the racket was nearly deafening. I’ve been finding these spent shells […]

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Our city council last night approved the installation of speed humps on our street, which is awesome.  The vote was 7-0.

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