[All I've got is a] Photograph

Two days ago I was in the car and the local classic rock station played Def Leppard's 1983 slog hit Photograph. I turned up the volume to extra-crispy and haven't been able to get that lick out of my head since. I love it! And I'm not ashamed to admit it. Good cowbell. Here are a few random photographs.

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I was sitting on a park bench having my lunch and this lady sat down next to me and cracked open a Budweiser tall boy. I don't suppose there's anything wrong with drinking a Bud at 11:40 a.m.

...unless, of course, you're about seven months pregnant.


Mrs. Wife was looking over my shoulder when I posted this and said, "Are you sure she's not just overweight?" I'm no OB/GYN, but I know a thing or two about breasts and those don't look like overweight breasts to me. They look like pregnant breasts. Mrs. Wife said, "I'll bet she's got a sad story to tell." Are y'all having a good day today? If not, cheer up. You could be in a worse predicament.

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It's August in New Jersey and you know what that means, don't you? It's LOCUST season! [Edit: CICADA. I stand corrected. See Ponita's comment.] Go ahead. Click on it. I dare you.

Do you guys get these things? My finger is in the pic to give you a sense of scale. They're big, ugly and, worst of all, NOISY beasties. Their drone goes on all. Day. Long. I hate insects. They make my flesh crawl.

By the way, that patch of brown, dry, dead plantation is my front lawn. We've had terrible heatwaves and droughts all summer long. This follows the numerous pounding blizzards we had a few months ago. Good thing we blasted a big hole in the ozone layer, otherwise we wouldn't have this entertaining weather.

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If you scroll down, you'll see three posts about some astonishingly good, home cooked meals I had while visiting Cleveland. This post is the antithesis of those meals.

I met a friend at an Irish restaurant called Harp. They serve the usual burgers and bar food that you'd see in any Irish pub/restaurant, but they also serve some (supposedly) authentic Irish dishes. I always go ethnic whenever possible.

I ordered a meal that I had never heard of. I've been asking around and, apparently, it's more common that I thought. Have you guys ever heard of a boxty cake? It can be best describe it as an Irish burrito. It's a massive potato pancake folded over with stuff inside. Harp serves steak boxty, salmon boxty, vegetarian boxty, corned beef boxty and chicken boxty. I had the chicken. Inside were sauteed mushrooms, onions and peppers with a sun-dried tomato pesto cream sauce. Sounds scrumptious, doesn't it? Take a look:


It was truly awful. A massive, heavy, flavorless blob of food. That's the corned beef boxty in the background. When I left the table, I didn't think I'd have to eat again for several days. I'm hoping it was just ill-prepared and not always that bad. Put it on the list of things I'll never order again right next to haggis and camel. (Yes, I ate camel meat once. It tasted kind of rancid.)