Blog Defibrillation

 Alright, so let's see...It has been a while since my last post, and some may have thought this blog to have entered the realm of "things Chris does with zeal but then stops doing forever," but alas, this is not the case. I have been meaning to restart this blog for months, but for some reason or another I haven't. A combination of doing a lot and relaxing a lot.

On the surfboard front, I have not been making boards as much as I have in the past, but I did finish this one, which is technically 012 but officially 011. If memory serves correctly, it is a combination of the templates of 008 and 010. I have surfed it a bunch, and really like it. I was surprised to find that it wasn't as difficult backside as I thought it may be, as sometimes quads are little tricky backside. It's definitely not my best board, either form or function, but it's a fun board that surfs well. It's also the first board I have made for myself out of the block of EPS I bought a long, long time ago.

I have also been riding my bicycle a lot. Above is a picture of my second annual semi-official Blueberry Run. This year I loaded 36 pints of blueberries on the ol' Nishiki and hauled them home. Well, it actually turned into 35. And a little further down the road, 34 pints. I find New Jersey blueberries irresistible. (On a related side note, someone please fund my idea for a sappy romantic comedy set on a NJ blueberry farm called "Jersey Blues." General premise: daughter of blueberry farmer falls in love with worker, all the while farm is failing and they need to find a way to save it. Happy endings for all, except for the huge meth ring bust and the father dying. I would like this movie to have been filmed in the late '90s and star someone like Drew Barrymore, Sandra Bullock, or maybe J. Lo as the daughter. She will have to have all of her fingertips stained blue (from sorting millions of blueberries, of course) for the duration of the film.)

 Cool dudes.

A bunch of friends and I also rode the "1st Annual Longest Day Dogfish Head Brew Pub Bicycle Tour," in which we rode down to Cape May, took the ferry to Delaware, camped and terrorized Rehoboth Beach on our bicycles. It ended up being about 180 mile total over a couple days, and that includes the amazing ~4 mile trail that lead from our campsite to Rehoboth Beach proper, and, at the end of the rainbow, Dogfish Brewpub, which had great food and, obviously, amazing beers. Also: white chocolate cherry bread pudding, which still blows my mind just thinking about it. Great trip, can't wait to do it again. 

 So here's to the revival of the Strange Flora blog, and all that is contained herein!

Not surprisingly, with all the time that has passed since my last post, Henry has stayed cute, so here's the obligatory picture of him.

Sometimes I feel like if this album were the only album I was allowed to listen to for the rest of my life, that would be alright.

Coming Soon...

Nice Day

Bad Pictures of Sun-drenched Surfboards

     Frank's got a fish, finally! The pictures I took were bad, because I didn't adjust for the direct sunlight shining on it, but the board came out pretty good. Can't wait 'til Frank surfs it, maybe Sunday. And I can't wait 'til I surf it, either.

     Frank, of GraveYard Atlantic fame, did all the artwork for the board. It came out pretty nice, although not enough skulls, in my opinion.

     If I post too many pictures of Henry, too bad. He's the most handsome dog on the planet. Lucky for him he is, or else he'd probably be out of here by now.

Hail Moon!

     Great swell we just had. It felt good to get to the beach super early again, high with hopes of magnificent surf. Sometimes it happened, sometimes not, but it was mostly fun. It also felt good to ache from surfing actual waves again, at least "actual" compared to the swells we've had lately: these waves had some power, especially the first couple days. Now it looks like another coming maybe for next weekend, which is wonderful news. If only I could get ol' Frank's board done before. We'll see...

Ground Cherries and Past Glories

        One of the more interesting things I've grown in the garden this year are those colorful things up there: Aunt Molly's Ground Cherries. These little things fall to the ground when ripe, but they come in a little paper sack that keeps them ripe for up to two weeks. The taste is somewhere between a cherry, a grape, and a sweet cherry tomato. They are delicious and never really make it into any recipes. They look pretty awesome too.

    I have let the garden evolve into a semi-organized, semi-wild state, which I like the looks of. The fact that some things just meander through the garden also makes for some nice surprises, like discovering this volleyball-sized Oh So Sweet! watermelon I didn't realize was growing until two days ago. It's like finding out you have a 1 year old child at home of whom you were previously unaware.

     Kind of like that mini-Simmons hovering back there behind SF 010. Where did it come from? Will it see the light of day? Surprises lurk around every corner! BEWARE!


     Now for the "Past Glories" section referenced in the title of this blog. I hadn't forgotten about this video, but just haven't thought about it in a while until I came across it while transferring files to my new computer. I made it for a film theory class using a flip video camera, and then someone in another class was putting on a film festival-type thing and asked if I had anything I wanted to submit. I added some sound and made up the title and then it showed at the film thing, but, sadly, I wasn't there to take my bow. Starring my lovely wife in the final years of her acting career. Dig it!

It is September,
The month in which I was born;
And I have no thoughts.

-Richard Wright


      September swells are coming. Even though it's not officially Autumn yet, it's starting to feel like it is. The change from Summer to Fall always gets me full of life. SF 010 is on it's way to being done, SF 011 is almost finished being shaped, and there are two more potentially lined up. Prime surfing, cycling, hiking, and pretty much anything-you-can-think-of-to-do-outdoors season is coming up. Hot today, but cooler weather comes (to stay?) tomorrow. Excited.



Pat informed me about this band, which I have since really been enjoying. Some really nice jams here.