Watch This Space!

I'm going out now. I may be gone for some time.

Oh, it's not as ominous as all that. But recently I've found it way too easy the spend all day and all night starting at my laptop and whatever book or magazine I'm reading at the time. If it weren't for church, the dog park, photo shoots and the need to buy food, I wouldn't be leaving the house at all. and that's no good.

It's a photo shoot that drives me from my computer now. Carly wants fresh photos of nature for an Earth Day topic on the Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot, and I'm glad to oblige. By this evening there should be at least one photo from that on this entry, with the EMPS entry following shortly thereafter.

That's assuming I can wrench - myself - away - from - this - computer!

Karen

Later: I was busy all night with other things, including computer problems, and haven't had time to do my EMPS entry. But yes, I did get to Mount Lemmon, and even took the dogs along. I have a seminar at church later this morning on Web 2.0 and religion, but I should be able to get to it after that. See you then!

The Monkeys of Nimbus

Valentine's Day actually went pretty well. John liked the Cayenne valentine and wildflower seeds I gave him, and at 3 PM we headed out to the south side of town to eat a late lunch at Nimbus Brewing Company.

Half an hour later, we admitted that we weren't going to find the place based on our vague memories, and drove home. John was last there close to a decade ago, and I had only seen it at a distance from the road. What road exactly, I wasn't certain.

From my Picasa album Nimbus Brewing Co.

It turned out to be very close to where John thought it was, on 44th near Alvernon. It just needed to be reached by a roundabout route through an industrial area. We had nearly gotten there, but turned left instead of right at 44th. Google Map in hand, we found it easily.


View Larger Map

Nimbus is Tucson's primary microbrew company, the local ale that is bottled and sold around town. With the economy in such bad shape, John wants us to support local businesses when we can, to help them keep going until things pick up. I don't drink, but red ale wasn't the point of the outing for me. I was there to do something fun with my husband, a much-needed rutbreaker and a chance to take some pictures.

And Nimbus certainly provided interesting sights to photograph! For some reason I've so far failed to suss out, the iconography of Nimbus has a lot more to do with semi-evolved simians than with clouds or halos. I had no idea when I wrote about Darwin on Thursday night that on Saturday that I would visit a place full of playful images satirizing his theory.

And oh, yeah, they make fun of religion, too.

Inside it was kind of dark (I've lightened the photo above substantially), especially for John, who was wearing his sunglasses. Nearly every table on the main floor was full, so good on them in these parlous times.

My steak sandwich was good, and I assume John's burger with chipotle was good also. The service was - well, it's not a place you go if you want to be waited on. You go up to the bar and ask for a menu, and that's also where you place your order and start a tab on your credit card. But the staff was courteous, and the wait for the food was fairly short. John had brought a large empty bottle from his last visit years ago, and bought a refill. He's pretty sure they got the order wrong, and gave him pale ale instead of the red. But it's okay; he likes that, too.

The ale is said to be the best in Arizona. I have no way of judging that, and don't really care one way or the other. For me it was all about the look of the place. Behind the brew pub area, just a few feet from our table, was the brewery itself, in plain sight behind purple iron bars.

Brewing was not in progress, and customers aren't allowed back there, obviously. But it was still cool to see.

Also inside was more of the monkey stuff, including this "Nimbus Legion" plaque...

...and a monkey-Eve taking an apple from a ceramic snake.

Nimbus has a final message for customers on their way out, in the form of a poem on the back of their water tower.

And of course, coming and going, they raise a glass to us.

Karen

Weekend Assignment Results: Ruts Broken!

Set yourself free this weekend!

For Weekend Assignment #225: Rut Breakers!, I asked folks to plan a break from the usual weekend routine, and to tell us about it. For some of you, that thought must have been too scay to contemplate, but a few brave souls did manage to pull free from the mire:

Kiva said...

I think I will just sit down and (drumroll here) read. I seem to get so busy these days with family and work that I rarely read except if I'm on an airplane or bus going somewhere. (Not only that, but she went to see Julie Andrews in concert!)

Mike said...

That might not seem very exciting, but for us it is a major rut breaker. With two kids under seven, it is not often that we get to go out to eat, or anything else, on our own. I think out last child-free dinner was about a year ago with the same couple. I think we are due.

Florinda said...

I didn't exactly break my routine wide open this weekend - shoot, going to BlogHerCon would have really fulfilled this assignment! - but I did shift things around a bit. Sometimes, it takes baby steps. To begin with, we did NOT go to Target on Friday night! Tall Paul and I went out for some dinner, with the intention of a trip to what Elder Nephew used to call "the circle store" afterwards, but we decided to go home instead, relax on the couch, and watch the previous night's episode of Burn Notice from the DVR.

Sarah said...

Library school and Disneyland are conspiring to make me miss yet another weekend assignment, but I'll say here that on Saturday night, on the spur of the moment, I left the apartment at half past midnight to go to a karaoke bar with an engineer friend who was sick of being at the office. Going to a karaoke bar isn't at all out of the ordinary for me - it's commencing a night out after midnight that almost never happens.

It can be scary, but rewarding!

It's not too late, you know. Do something fun this weekend. You deserve the break!

Karen

Weekend Assignment #225: Rut Breakers!

Another week, another photo for Feline & Furball Friday!

Okay, this one is more participatory than most Weekend Assignments. I'm not just asking you to write something; I'm asking you do do something. Are you up to the challenge?

Weekend Assignment #225: What are you going to do this weekend (or on your next day off) that's different from what you usually do? Make plans to break out of your usual routine, and tell us what they are.

Extra Credit: What else would you do that day, if you had the time and the money?

I think I've covered the rut-breaker concept before, but not quite this way. This time I hope you'll really do something fun and interesting (or at least productive) that you normally wouldn't get around to doing, sometime in the next seven days from when you write your entry.

Here's mine:


John and I have been watching episodes of The Dog Whisperer on DVD, and it occurs to me that we really haven't worked very hard at instilling discipline and proper socialization in Pepper. John is interested in taking her to the dog park, and I think that's a good idea. So that's the plan: Saturday in the Park with Pepper. I'll let you know how it goes. With any luck, it will be just one step in a decent attempt to train our newest Trouble Dog.

Oh, and by the way, there's no news on Tuffy. The vet has not called back with test results. Unless it was on the house phone...I should check! (No, she didn't call the house, either.) As you can see, the antibiotics and steroids have not reduced the swelling on her neck.


Your turn! Plan an out-of-the-routine activity for your next day off. Write about it in your blog or journal, include a link back here, and leave a link to your entry in the comments below. I'll be back in a week to share your rut-breakers with everyone else, in the hope that you'll all follow through and do them!

Karen