We Love Durham NC

Postgame

…we followed the crowds into the American Tobacco Campus. I cannot believe we hadn’t made it there before (we had tried, but parking was always an issue). My big (maybe only) complaint about Durham is that there isn’t a central gathering “lawn.” I was wrong. Grass… riverwalk… coffee… rumored wireless… waterfalls… food… people-watching… Here it is! If they could put that Locopops that’s coming to Downtown Durham here, oh, we’d be happy happy camper.

Yay Bulls!

The Bulls put on a good show for us Jonesing fans on their first night back after 2 weeks. For the first time, The Boy got really into the game. He wanted to know all about all the parts of baseball (thrilling Dad). The Girl was not much interested except for Woolly Bull’s antics. She did, however, delight in spilling lemonade on the woman in front of us (sorry, sorry, sorry) twice (really sorry) and kicking her accidentally in the back (oh, gosh, really super sorry). We finally popped out to the playground, my only gripe about which is that you cannot see the game from there. It would be a nice addition if there was at least a screen there. Otherwise, a lovely family evening, followed by my next post.

Take me out to the…

About two weeks ago, I got a bug that I wanted to see a Bulls game, but they were traveling. Tonight they return, and we scored field box tickets. The little ticket-purchase widget at the Bulls site works very smoothly and helps you get Best Seats.

Ammmmmante

After about 8 years of eating Amante pizza, we’re still discovering new favorites. I love that Amante is locally owned and all the ingredients (except for a few things like banana peppers) are handmade or hand-sliced fresh. Even a lot of the suppliers (like for basil) are local. And mmm mmm good. I put the menu over here so you can see all the choices.

Recycling in Durham

We’ve recently taken a big step in our household recycling to include all white & colored paper and paperboard. It really did make up a big part of our trash! Our trash bins are now mostly empty on Trash Day, and the paper/paperboard collection is piling up. I looked at the Durham recycling webpage today to find out where to take it, and was more than happily surprised to find out I just need to put it in my blue recycling bin. Now that’s service.

Bears and Bunnies and Prosimians

Monday we went to NCMLS as soon as they opened (currently 9am). The outdoor animals were having their cages cleaned and being fed, so we got to see many of them up-close. The bunnies were out of their hutches, on the ground, but they think fingers are carrots so we couldn’t pet them. The bears were playing and wrestling right next to the fence on the back viewing area. They looked so tame like our doggie, but of course we know they are still wild animals. The girl learned their names and said bye-bye to each one. Also saw the lemurs playing directly under us, jumping around like cats. It’s nice to go early before it gets hot out!

First Tick This Year

The girl had a playdate at a wooded park this morning and came home with a rather large tick buried in her armpit. I learned that acetone (i.e., nail polish remover) applied to the tick encourages it to back out more effectively than rubbing alcohol. I pulled on the body gently with tweezers, and it backed out, and then we zip-locked it in case of infection or complications at the bite location (not expected). Feeling itchy now?

Strawberry Festival

A little rain isn’t going to stop our Durham kids! Lots of fun to be had, like:

Donna Washington… when the boy heard her name, he RAN to the stage. You can see her “in a little box” here.

Strawberry Shortcakes… Shortcakes from Guglhupf. Freshly sliced strawberries. All-natural whipped topping. Compostable bowls and forks. A crunchy tasty happy time!

Giant bouncy dragon castle… Enter, jump, exit, end of the line. Repeat until you hurl or mama won’t give you any more tickets.

More… Stirring glue sloooowly into the secret eye of newt mix to make silly “puddy.” Some really great local bands. Voting for our favorite strawberry treat (chocolate-dipped won). Face-painting with some artistic Durham high school students. Strawberry fingernails. Funny hats. Dress-up and fingerpainting and obstacle courses and birdhouses and bubbles.

When we left (after the festival was officially over, mind you!), there were still folks crowded around the stage, dancing and hula-hooping to the sweet sounds of the TROSA band. After-party, anyone?

CDs, Baby

CDBaby has the best customer service around for online CD purchases. They also feature more local artists than I’ve found anywhere else, and you can listen to the songs online. Here are just a few albums from Durham artists:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/jdholeman
http://cdbaby.com/cd/bettyrwoods3
http://cdbaby.com/cd/hotblocfam
http://cdbaby.com/cd/inthepocket