Tractors, Pomp, and Cirmumstance

Last weekend, the Hughes' and the Iwanskis spent Saturday with us.
We toured campus, Mimi prepared (with some help, but really it was Mimi all the way) some tuna burgers, spicy potato salad, three bean salad, deviled eggs, and, the crown, some all-vegan lemon cupcakes . . . mmm.



Amelia with "Nana"


Before dinner, we took a short tour of the public face of John Deere, based just down the road in Moline. Dave ("Paw-paw") and Braxton seemed especially excited, but we all enjoyed the up-close look at some giant (new) and slightly smaller (antique) farm equipment.

Braxton and "Paw-paw" in a tractor



close-up of "Paw-paw" and Brax in the tractor



Magen in, yes, a cotton picker



cotton-pickin' close-up



big truck



big tire



big scoop



Amelia, Magen, and Braxton, who, after pushing his bubble-blowing mower for about a mile along the Mississippi, was tired enough to ride on the stroller, but insisted on hanging on to the mower . . .


Sunday was Augustana's graduation. I suited up in my (mostly rental, but the hood is mine) regalia and marched with the other faculty members. In fact, since they march in order of ascending rank, I led the procession. . . . Never felt more like a college professor.

Ceremony was good overall, though it ran three hours (they read all 575 names, one by one). Good speech, though (by a Rev. Gomes, from Harvard).
My favorite quote from the commencement address: “Besides some real estate and badly brought-up children, what will you leave behind?”
Oh snap. (Are people still saying "oh snap"? I feel so out of touch here in The Quads (as Senator Obama calls the area). . . . Whatever.)

Story here.
Can't really see me in any of them, and there's some weird copy-protection stuff on the images, but there are a few photos online here.

If you want to see me, though, here's some shots at our place:




Please enjoy the lining of the hood: KU's crimson and blue.

Amelia, A Birthday, A Winery, A Trip to Japan

Recently, we had the pleasure of visiting little Amelia (pictured here w/aunt Mimi) in St. Charles (& I guess we saw the rest of her family too (?)). In fact, Emily and I were asked to be her god-parents. Done.



After the ceremony.



With Magen.




Also recently we made a trip into the city (to Andy's Jazz Club, right downtown) to toast Chris Lee's 30th.



Carrie cutting the cake with a giant chef's knife (guess jazz clubs don't usually serve birthday cakes: surprising, I know).



The lovely couple.


Recently, I too had a birthday (how old? I'll never tell). One gift was a membership to a wine club at a winery outside of town (thanks, Dad and Rhonda!), called Lavender Crest. Because I am both busy and lazy, we just got out there last weekend, but maybe that was for the best, since it was a beautiful day: perfect for sitting outside near some (ornamental, but whatever) grape vines & sipping some local wine.



(Waiting for the wine . . .)



And finally, my mom just returned from a visit to Japan to see Merrica. Since Merrica's slow with the blogging these days, here are a few of my favorite photos from the visit:
















Want captions? stories? details? Me too.



(Oh, and please enjoy the song now playing. If this Amy Winehouse is so trendy, then she can show up here, right?)

a few treats

Sorry, gentle reader, for the lengthy silence. How about this: soon I'll try to post some kind of a story about what we've been up to recently, what's to come, etc. In the meantime, please enjoy these videos of Sandy Takes a Break, courtesy of Comedy Central:





And here are some random photos from our recent (well, sort of recent) trip to St. Louis:

Todd Hughes


Scott Hughes with Amelia Iwanski


Scott Hughes in a funny (?) t-shirt

Oh Kansas; Obama

Through this weather (and I swear it was actually worse than it looks here--what was I doing taking cell-phone pictures while driving anyway?) we drove to Kansas for spring (?) break. We saw some fabulous folks, and for my upcoming birthday Emily bought us tickets to the Kansas-Texas game. It was great. Could any basketball game possibly top one in which our team gets down by 16 points to a team led by the best player in college basketball, and then comes back to win? Well, yes: the KU-Texas rematch this past Sunday. But whatever; it was awesome.

During our stay, Haley showed us around backstage at Lawrence's Channel 6. This will always be my source for news (Deron, Emily, and Haley, that is).

Funny stuff

Glad to see Jesse sporting the 3D glasses, of course

One interesting change since we've left town: now stores that don't want gun-toting customers put up signs saying so (in response to a recent (crazy) statewide conceal & carry law). This is the Borders, in case you're wondering, but that's not an endorsement.

We did get some great CD's at Love Garden though; one album we bought was by the New Pornographers. Neko Case is in that group, though, and the Now Playing actually features a track from her new album, which we've had for a few weeks; whatever; enjoy.


Back here, there's no good record stores; there is, however, a Primary State just across the river. One Senator Obama was in Davenport just the other day:

He spoke in a gym; cute scoreboard, no?

One poorly recorded video of an almost funny anecdote (for more, click on the YouTube icon; one thing they have lots of is presidential candidates talking):