Well, it’s 1am and we’re headed alllll the way home from Pittsburgh. We’ve been slowed by two tunnel closures that weren’t on the map or on traffic alerts and as opposed to looking at a 4am arrival we’re now looking at something like dropping Heather off in Owings Mills at 5am and I’ll be back in Catonsville just before dawn slip into bed and close my eyes for a sec…
Tomorrow – er – later today rather – I’ll run some errands, restring my guitar, change the battery in my ebow, check some cables that may or may not have crapped out on us on the road and most importantly, grab our cellist and feed her some fancy chocolates from Columbus.
And then tomorrow, REAL tomorrow, we’ll hop in the car, pick up Heather at around 10.30am and head off to New York for another two weeks.
I think we’re gonna go see Niagara Falls!
Heather matches the beautiful fall colours at the Franklin Conservatory in Columbus, OH. The gardens of this aboretum were just stunning – and it was great that you could wander both inside and outside! 
koi! 
One of the creepier flowers at the Franklin Conservatory – a flowering cactus called a carrion flower.
In any case, looking back: In the last couple of weeks best sound goes to Coffee Amici in Findlay, OH, best audience goes to Columbus Bar in Columbus, IN (sorry Pittsburgh, you’re a very close second but they were SO loud!), Pittsburgh may have been my favourite show though – adding Keren Lee to the mix just felt really, really, really good. Saint Louis had the best THING (City Museum) and Columbus, OH had the best artsy STUFF (that I could and did buy… I lost control a little bit). Best parrot of course goes to Karma in Belleville, IL – but the SCARIEST MOTHERFUCKING PARROT goes to the motherfucker macaw in Columbus, OH.
Well – enough out of me for right now. Congratulations to Maine and Maryland for legalizing same-sex marriage. I’ve got my fingers crossed for Washington and Minnesota. Despite my concerns, I guess we’re going ahead and calling the election – and I guess that’s okay. Yay Obama, I guess – I simply voted against the other guy.
Jason Cox gets threatened by the squiggliest of all cacti, 
We found a lone mammal at the Franklin Park Conservatory. He refused to hang with us and leapt into the cacti instead. 
These were really amazing – the work of Paul Busse really caught my attention. Model railroads and tiny little faerie tale-inspired towers reminescent of Peter Jackson’s “bigatures” – a very cool find in the gardens of the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus, OH. 
There was an old woman who Lived in a shoe… (continued works of Paul Busse) 
What can I say? I thought this stuff was really, really cool! 
Ah, the bag monster. One last moment of mirth at the fabulous Franklin Conservatory before moving on.
