2020 Photodump II

Valentine's Day dinner at Ginos

on the way to Ginos on Vday

taking a 'tubbie' in the kitchen sink

Frex McGoo and Basil Mae

froyo

he was screaming in this picture and i laugh every time i see it

dinner at Louie's

breakfast at the Griddle

Iceland

 kickass Icelandic Facts

• 100% of Iceland’s population has the internet, the only country in the world.
• Iceland is the only country without mosquitoes.
• Iceland has such a small population that they have an anti-incest app so you don’t end up hooking up with a family member on a night out.
• In Iceland, the phone book is sorted by first names because everyone’s surname is basically their father’s first name followed by -son or –dottir
• Iceland has no army and is also recognized as the world’s most peaceful country. 
• In Iceland, books are exchanged on Christmas Eve & you spend the rest of the night reading. Iceland publishes more books per capita than any other country; & new books are typically published only during the Christmas season. This frenzy is called Jólabókaflóð, or “Christmas Book Flood.” 
• In Iceland, criminals are put on a waiting list to serve their time in prison because there aren’t enough available jail cells. Many people who are on this list pay fines or do community service as an alternative to prison. 
• In Iceland, parents cannot legally threaten their kids with fictional characters.
• Archaeological evidence has been uncovered in Iceland which indicates that Gaelic Monks from Ireland discovered and settled Iceland before the Norse.
• There isn’t a single McDonald in Iceland.
• Iceland has a registry of approved names that a parent can give their child. All names are regulated by the Icelandic Naming Committee and must conform to Icelandic grammar, cultural tradition, and be non-embarrassing for the child. 
• There is a large banana plantation in Iceland, just 177 miles from the Arctic Circle. 
• In Iceland, people protested construction of a highway in fear of disturbing local elf habitat. 
• To rewrite their constitution in 2011, Iceland allowed the public to make suggestions and alterations via Facebook.
• In Iceland, there’s a traditional bread that you can bake in a pot by burying it in the ground near a hot spring. 
• In Iceland, the belief in Elves is so pervasive that it can determine government action. From roads avoiding large rocks (where the Elves “live”) to construction permits sometimes requiring the aid of a mystic who can ask the elves to move.
• In the year 1000, to save Iceland from civil war, both parties elected the wisest man to suggest a peaceful solution. He decided on a mass conversion to Christianity that tolerated pagan worship in private. And everyone agreed. He even converted himself.
• Iceland’s SWAT unit (the closest thing they have to an army), is called “The Viking Squad”
• There was a successful peaceful revolution in Iceland from 2009-2011 where the citizens of Iceland forced their prime minister & his whole government to resign by banging pots & pans. –
• In 1783 when the volcanic fissure Laki erupted, the fallout in Iceland caused around 80% of sheep, 50% of cattle and 50% of horses to die as well as killing an estimated 20–25% of the countries’ human population while also creating worldwide effects.
•  Iceland has never won a Winter Olympic medal.
• Chess boxing is a sport played with frequency in Iceland.
• n Iceland, you can hand-draw a map on a piece of mail without an address, and it will still make it to its destination.

dinner was an Icelandic cod dish with cheese, breadcrumbs and cream

Poland Date Night

Our Polish date night!

awesome polish facts!

1. The world’s thinnest house is just 4 feet wide – set between two buildings in Warsaw, Poland, the home is 33 feet in depth and about 30 feet tall.
2. In Poland, everyone is automatically an organ donor, unless they refuse beforehand.
3. The president of Poland awards a medal to couples that remain married for at least 50 years. 
4. Syphilis had been called the “French disease” in Poland, Italy, and Germany, the “Italian disease” in France, the “Spanish disease” by the Dutch, the “Polish disease” by Russians, and the Turks called it the “Christian disease.” 
5. In WWII there was a bear named Voytek fighting for Poland. He would carry ammunition to the front lines and helped recapture Italy for the Allies.
6.  Vodka was originally produced in the 8th century in Poland.
7. People born in a public transport vehicle are entitled to free travel until they die in Warsaw, Poland.
8. There is a statue of a dragon in Poland that breathes actual fire on demand when a text message is received. 
9. ABBA: The Album was so popular that it drained all of Poland’s supply of foreign currency
10. Jadwiga of Poland (d. 1399) was a female king. Polish law had no provision for a female ruler (queen regnant) but did not specify that kings had to be male.
11. In Poland, near Gryfino, a mysterious forest has 400 pine trees all with a 90-degree bend at the base of their trunks – all northward.
12. Upon its discovery by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898, the element polonium was named after Poland (in latin Polonia) to shed light on the country’s lack of independence. It may be the first element named to highlight a political controversy.
13. 24. The Polish Beer-Lovers Party won 360,000+ votes in Poland’s first free and fair election, in 1991, winning 16 seats in the lower house (Sejm)
14. In 1991 the tallest structure in the world at the time (a radio tower in Poland) collapsed due to poor maintenance. No structure exceeded the height of the collapsed Warsaw Radio Tower until the Burj Khalifa was completed in Dubai nearly two decades later.
15. Poland has a desert named Błędów Desert.
16.  According to the Beer Price Index, the cheapest city in the world for beer is Krakow, Poland.
17. In some parts of Poland, it’s uncommon to casually celebrate birthdays, and instead, “name days”, the day a patron saint a person has been named after is dedicated, is celebrated by coworkers, etc. 
18. It took about 40 years for Poland’s population to return to its 1939 level.
19. In early 2015, a Dutch activist group used a drone to deliver “pregnancy termination” drugs to women in Poland, because abortion is illegal in the country.
20. It will take 1,334 years for Poland to double it’s population.
21. Many Poles added ‘ski’ to their names to attain a higher social status since such names were accorded more respect from people of Polish extraction. Thus a larger proportion of Polish names carried this termination in America and Australia than in Poland
22. There is a street in Poland named after Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi
23. On Halloween in Poland, believers are encouraged to walk through forests whilst praying out loud so that the souls of the dead might find 
24.  has an “underground” university to teach subjects that were illegal under government repression. Madame Currie was an alumna.ort. 
25. Poland has a Saint of Pierogies. 
26. There is a cathedral in Poland with “dragon bones” hanging outside.

the makings for kopot, a polish fruit drink. also made in russia

finally dinner time! kielbasa, potato and cheese pierogie and polish vegetable salad