Last night, Claire and Brinton and I hopped off a train from Berlin and bicycled home through a bitter wind. This last weekend was a brilliant hurrah and the best spontaneous trip I've ever taken.
I walked away with memories of barbecues in Görlitzer park with kids from all over, burning scavenged wood and cooking cheap cuts of vegetables and chicken, drinking beers while it turned from twilight to night and we argued over whose turn it was to hunt for more kindling.
And, walking through a dusty,
über grosse flea market in Mauerpark, finding a rickety old booth where I held a camera that surely outlived my great grandfather, and I ended up buying a melodica as an homage to recent days and when I was first saw Blue Valentine. A fun little toy I can put to work anywhere at anytime -- which I did when we walked through Kreuzberg and sat on worn statutes off the sidewalk across from an onslaught of buzzing neon and kebab shops.
More about Berlin when I get my disposable camera developed -- one week, I'm guessing.
Two weeks ago Richard visited and we had picnics, concerts, and a handful of late night talks. And, even a failed effort to throw a "beer-pong" party.
It was 24 beers vs. Richard and I.
Luckily, Kendji and Alex showed up to help the good fight. In the end, we reigned victorious, and drifted into chairs, talking and smoking cigarettes over a floor littered with small, glass bottles.
We picnicked on a small street across from a grassy field. There we were, on this road, with cheese, wine, crackers, and stroopwaffels, sitting indian style on Claire's scarf and in that field we suddenly heard men and dogs in a monstrous ruckus. Our best bet? Dog fighting training/and or police dog school. It was borderline disturbing. But, memorable no doubt.
The concert evening was nice. I missed packing into the corner at SB's Late Night Lunchbox and singing These Days. Even the time I almost fell out of my chair after we sang 4th Time Around with a harmony we'd barely composed minutes before.
Photos anyone?
Richard a couple hours after I met him at the train station. We were about to head into the city.
That morning, the living room table had vanished (not entirely unusual). We were planning our day out. Claire is eyeing the program for the cinema -- short film festival 2011.
This turned out better than I thought. I like this quite a lot.
We wanted to make it to the film festival by 3:00, so we stopped short of Ooij (a quaint, little village I remembered from last summer) and chose this place off the main roadside. The grass was flooded with miniature spiders. A total onslaught. So, we opted for the road and feasted for a pittance. Twice we had to move our makeshift table in a rush, -- cars kept coming down the little avenue, but they were always smiling older folks. The weather was ace.
Ready to hit the road and watch some really excellent, if not ridiculously strange, short films at the Lux.
The view from the waalbrug -- come around sundown.
Mini-portrait photos.
House concert: we had three different guitars, no real plan, and more ridiculous laughter than music. Alex and I sang The Tallest Man On Earth and Richard and I sang Dylan. We picked and strummed and drank red wine and stole chairs from different flats to pull it off.
Alex, singing "Night Train"
I want to remember this exact photo when twenty years down the line, I'm asked, "What did you do when you were young? Did you have fun?" I'll show them this.
Richard, a day or two before he headed back stateside. We couldn't stop plucking on that Ukelele. I wrote a song on it. I'll record it next time I get my hands on one.
