Hoover Dam

New Year's Eve

Christmas 2005

Marley heartily enjoys a stocking stuffer from Santa. No, not Office Space--the green toothbrush thingy she's chewing on. This gift was a bigger hit than the ill-fated Pet Massager she would later receive. (See below)

From left, MerBear, Mom and Dad at the House of Brooks on Christmas morning.

Can't no one say my dad doesn't know what the ladies like! Mom tries out her brand new broom and dustpan, for which Dad shopped all over town. His criteria included comfort grip, quiet bristles and a sleek ultra-flat plastic design in an effort to eliminate that hard-to-sweep last line of dust.

Chris opens up a dapper shirt and tie combo.


Mer opens up her jewelry box, a new home for all her gauche costume jewelry.



Marley expresses her dissatisfaction with the Pet Massager, a vibrating gadget with a rubberized comb for soothing strokes. In this photo, she politely shows her teeth at it (and me) after growing tired of us using it on her and laughing at her reaction.











A gift for Marley rests unopened with her, as she contemplates how cool it would be to have opposable thumbs like Chris and Kel.

Christmas at 8523 Wagon Wheel! From left, Kathy, Brett and Nesta enjoy the preliminary holiday festivities as we have our Christmas with Kathy, Brett and Andy (and of course, Duke and Nesta!) on Dec. 17 before a nice dinner at Chadwick's in Alexandria.

Brett opens up his Michigan beer mug while Marley uses her laser-beam stare from under the tree to try and get a message to a preoccupied Kelly. Below, Andy (background) and Brett open more stuff.

Hibiscus

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Trey in Princeton

We could tell you, but then we’d have to kill you.

You are looking at the clandestine monolith known in Phish lore as the Rhombus. Its location is a scene secret and remains unknown to many phans. Trey would refer to it every now and then during Phish shows, but now that I know where it is and have been there, I see his “clues” were classic Trey—totally misleading directions designed to keep the secret alive.

Its significance is vague for some phans, and mystifying at best to non-phans. In essence, Trey’s senior thesis, “The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday,” is a heady fable that has a guy (Col. Forbin) walking his dog (McGrupp) and stepping into another world where its inhabitants, the Lizards live under the control of Wilson, worship the Rhombus and live by the code of the Helping Friendly Book. That’s Gamehendge in the smallest of nutshells. Trey is the master raconteur and the story has so many subplots and characters it serves as both a testament to Trey’s genius, as well as an example of the esoteric nature of Phish lore.

Another art installation at the site of the Rhombus.


The Rhombus is a real work of art (actual title: "New Piece") that Trey incorporated into his trippy story. We knew it was around Princeton and that it served as the muse for Trey and Tom Marshall as they wrote some of Phish’s most beloved tunes, in particular “Divided Sky.” (It used to have a trap door on top! But of course it has since been sealed due to horseplay and hijinx.) It has become a sort of mecca for phans on two levels: visiting a tangible site of youthful creativity, as well as fulfilling a quest for a mythical structure.

As Phish is no longer together, Trey has since embarked on a tour with the second incarnation of his post-Phish band, this one known as 70 Volt Parade. Chris was alerted to extra tickets for their Princeton show, which we thought was doubly awesome because Trey is from Princeton and has never performed there. Every true phan wants to find the Rhombus, so we took the opportunity to see Trey on his old stomping grounds and make our pilgrimage. Through the master sleuthing of my husband, we found it and paid our respects. The juxtaposition of autumnal nature and a sleek geometric monolith was very 2001—it looks beautifully out of place, particularly from afar.

Plus it’s super-cool to play around on a structure that indirectly led to some of the most fun times of my life.

Princeton's campus predominantly features a gothic style of architecture that reminds me of both European cathedrals and Virginia Tech's Hokie stone buildings.



Art installation depicting Princeton students before exams.