What a great zoo we have here in Cincy. You should check it out. Anyone got any good zoo stories?

Jungle Jim's of course. For those of you who haven't experienced the greatness that is Jungle Jim's...I am truly sorry. It is the cheese to my macaroni. The Simon to my Garfunkel. Jungle Jim's is the epitome of foodie-land. You just can't beat six acres of food under one roof.



I haven't been out there in a few months so I decided to make some time for a trip. I needed several ingredients that are hard to find in common grocery stores...good ole' JJ's never has a problem filling my cart. Part of the experience is sight-seeing and part of it is out of necessity.



As far as necessities go; I was out of salt. Kosher salt that is...this clearly falls into the necessity category as I am a huge proponent for properly seasoning some grub. I'm not entirely sure anything else I bought would be considered a necessity however. Maybe the Scotch Bonnets?
Nah. Hmm...what about the High Mountain Midnight Popcorn...or the Hank's Vanilla Cream Soda? I guess it depends on your definition of necessity.





Mostly I love the atmosphere of Jungle Jim's. It's like a melting pot of cultures and smells and sights...onto the sightseeing part:

Mmm...Pork Snout.


Mary had a little...


Oh, don't be so pig-headed.


You know what they say...4 heads are better than one.

My bride picked up the phone a couple of days ago to find an unfamiliar voice. My grandma Nevada. Nevada was the foster mother of my mom. My sister Amie and I grew up knowing her as our grandma of course. We didn't see her nearly as much as my dad's mom though.

Nevada called us to let us know she had come across some photos that she was getting rid of to see if we wanted them. She said basically that once her and my grandpa Don die off, there won't be anyone around who knows who all these kids are. They raised many foster kids. Those foster kids had lots of kids. I had a different cousin pretty much every time I went over there. All loosely connected...all a little confused.

So I called Nevada yesterday and I drove Allison, Ava, and I over to meet up with them. We sat around and chatted for a while and reminisced. It was certainly bittersweet as I only realized just how long I've been away as I was walking through the door. It's been about 9 years since I've connected with them. How can you be so close and just drift away for 9 years?

I picked up some photos and it was so exciting because I don't remember any of them.

My mom and dad together...and looking happy:

My sister before the drugs, before the accident, before her innocence was ripped away:

Looking forward to everything:

Mom (she called me yesterday and she sounded straight.):

Apparently mom had something to do with the church...I always thought she was lying:

I was 14, Amie was 13:

It was a good trip to my grandparents house. It boggles my mind to think of just how introverted an extrovert can be. I've got to make time for the important things in my life.

We watched Juno last night. I liked it. I didn't know if I liked it at first because it made me uncomfortable...but it was good. I reminded me of real life and how things happen. So many people want to look deep to find where problems come from...so often they're just a result of boredom or the chips falling in the wrong direction. Juno was worth seeing.

I'm home from Honduras and I'm not quite sure where to start.

Here is a link to some of the photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/detzelpretzel/sets/72157604519661160/

Look for stories to come. Love you all.

Ryan

Here was my view from the balcony looking out towards the ocean:


And here was the view from the balcony looking down:


Here's mama and Ava walking through the Appalachicola National park:


Ava likes to slide:


Harrison (my Nephew) likes to swing:


Daddy and Ava coming back from our long trek into the forest (approx. 200 feet):


Attempted Artsy Photo #1:


Attempted Artsy Photo #2:


Attempted Artsy Photo #3 (coffee edition):


Attempted Artsy Photo #4:


Now these next 4 photos...these are my favorite. It drives me crazy when people say...whoa...you have a really good camera when they see a nice photo. They act like the camera does all the work and it's just not true. Proof? These next 4 shots are from Allison with her little purple point-and-shoot Olympus camera. (I bought it for her for our 5 year anniversary last week *grins*)




And the best shot ever...Ava Beans dancing on the beach:

I shot some selfish photos for a post on Ragamuffin Soul. Check it out and share any tattoos that you have while you're at it.

I got bored last night so rather that waste time on the internet I decided to shoot some photos around the house. I was experimenting with different types of lighting and flash.

Check em' out:

Every time I look at this picture of Ava I crack up laughing. I could stare at it for an hour. It pretty much sums up her little goofball personality all at once. She was probably between 6-8 months old in this photo...I think.

Allayna Teddie Winkler is my sister-in-law. My wife's youngest sister to be exact. She is fifteen and she writes songs and plays music. She's played at Kidd Coffee before and recently had a chance to play at Zen and Now Coffeehouse. I'm not sure if she knows it, but I love her very much and I'm proud of her.

My wife Allison took these photos:

You gotta love a snow day...

Here are some views from this afternoon:

















You can find the full-size images on my flickr page.

Hell hath no fury like this twelve year old boy. That's my thousand-yard stare...

...when it's so easy to make.

I had some items in the fridge and cupboard that were all close to being empty. What to do? How about throw down some Honey Vinaigrette?

Here's what I had:


* 3/4 cup Olive Oil
* 1/4 cup Sherry Vinegar
* 2 heaping tbsp Local Wildflower Honey
* 1 tbsp Ketchup
* 1 tbsp Mayonnaise
* 1 pinch of Kosher Salt
* 1 pinch Fresh Ground Peppah

I tossed it all into a mixing cup so I didn't have to dirty extra dishes.


And then I whisked it all together so it looked like this:


And then I dumped it into my newly empty Honey container.

And then I ate it and it was delectable.

And then Ava hit me with a flying clothesline.


The End.

Sometimes I feel like I have so much to say that I can't say anything at all. I'll wait until I have something worth mentioning...until then, here are some random findings from this past week:

Blogs:

www.proofpurchase.com

www.thehomelessguy.blogspot.com

www.cfhusband.blogspot.com

Photos:

Stunning photo of Siberian Tiger.

No, this isn't photoshopped...oops...©

Organizing books by color.

Videos:

Kitchen Beatbox.

Best. Karate Moves. Ever.

Andy McKee is the man.

I've been trying to make an intentional effort to spend more time with my family doing activities together. It's always a blast and I'd just be missing out to do otherwise.

Ava likes going to the play area at Northgate Mall. We took her up there a couple times this week. She has a blast and we reap the benefits of her spending up energy and going to bed earlier. Then Allison and I can make sweet love watch TV together.



This little girl kept coming up to Ava and wanted to play with her. As I prayed for God to heal whatever she had going on my heart was continually breaking and I was overcome by the feelings of good favor we have in our lives. We are so healthy. We are so rich. We are so spoiled and all we want is more. Ugh.


This photo sums up most of what my life consists of. I love this picture.


If you're not completely sick of us yet, check out some more photos from the mall excursion.

What are some of the ways you've been spending quality and quantity time lately?

I've taught myself to smile in a way that you'd probably never notice. The first time I ever went to the dentist was when I was 19 years old. My teeth were already in bad shape (read severe periodontal disease) so they didn't handle the impact very well at all.

Scoop after scoop there wasn't a problem. I loaded tree limbs, brush and all sorts of debris into the wood chipper without an issue. The last armful did me in though. I had raked together the last bits of what I was chipping and tossed it all into the TreeDestroyer2000. There was a stone that made it's way into the pile and when I dropped it into the chipper it dropped me. The rock fired back out at me with such force that it knocked my two front bottom teeth in. Knocked in to the point that they were not salvageable. I had them pulled out a couple days later.

It must be some kind of generational curse or something.

But hey, at least I can relate to certain people now.

Anyone have an extra five grand laying around for me to get some implants?

After locking myself down for about 6 straight hours of administrative work, I needed to remove myself from the home office. I still had a good bit of work ahead of me, but I knew I wasn't going to be very productive if I didn't get some fresh air.

So I headed downtown to see what kind of trouble I could get into. I've been thinking of swinging by Findlay Market recently so I decided to take myself up on the offer.

Outside it was bright and vibrant, but the outside shops and stands were not to be found. I guess they're only out there on the weekends.


Inside was a bit dismal and empty as well...I must be in the wrong place.


Ahh...the middle section...that's where the action is.


My first stop was at the Herbs and Spice and Everything Nice shop. Picked out some excellent stuff for a great price.




They had cool stuff all over the place. It was a nice little photo excursion for me.



I picked up some Spanish Chorizo while I was there. Little did those sausages know they would be made into an amazing Hispanic rice and vegetable dish later. Mmm...it was good.


Does a bear poop in the woods? Of course I picked up some cheese.


I thought this guy was pretty cool. He tasted himself a piece of Pastrami every 3 or 4 slices as he cut them for me.


One of the coolest things was the sign I saw on a ghetto street near the market. It speaks volumes for/to our city.

We had some of my family over tonight for el Cumpleaño de mi Papa. There were about 12 or 13 of us here and it was a great time. I made a 7lb beef roast with all the fixins. My Granddad (notice...not my grandpa...grandpa is apparently a sissy term in my family) entered mi casa in classic Granddad style saying, "What's burning? I smell something burning! What are you burning?" To which I responded, "Not a thing...I'm sautéing some mushrooms...that's how they smell." To which he replied, "They smell burnt!" To which I retorted, "I guess you're one less person we have to share them with." To which he countered, "They look burnt too."

Not allowing old Ralph to ruin my cooking serenity I simply kept my back turned to him until I noticed he walked away. Classic move. Ryan = Win.

Here's the crotchety old boy himself...along with a lovely bride.

The birthday boy with my stride materfamilias.

Dad with Chloe (my sister who is younger than my daughter) and Calvin.

Calvin. That miracle little man-boy. His head is gigantic.

Poor little dude is like and orange on a toothpick. He's a genius though.

Here's my brother Nicholas riffling through someone's wallet. When I was his age I had two jobs and a mortgage already.

Ava had a little too much to drink. Lush.

Chloe: Perpetual thumb-sucker.

All in all it was a good night. Dad is 49...not too old yet. Well...maybe it is when your kids at home are 1, 3, and 7. Ouch.

I began growing a beard about three months ago for a project in my mind. I wanted to see how my beard would grow over a 90 day period. I started taking photographs each morning about one week into the Beard Project. I devoted myself to take a photo on my laptop as soon as I woke up each morning. The results weren't pretty.

I had no idea how different I began to look after about 90 days. My face took on a totally different shape. This may seem obvious, but my wife and daughter were shocked when I shaved. Ava couldn't stop looking at me with this strange, bashful gaze. It was so adorable. She was flirting with me. It made me want to stay clean shaven. Too bad I look like I'm twelve.

Here's a before and after the shave:


I told you I looked like I was twelve.

Here's a video (remember, it was first thing in the morning!) of the growth: