People Soundtrack

Music.

It's a large part of me, of how I feel and express, create and connect.

You've likely heard about the concept of a personal sound track, like in the movies but for your life - songs that are indelibly embedded with memories of places, times, emotions.  Songs that unfailingly remind you of your moments.

I have those songs.

I find that I've got a track within the track, too,


It's my People Soundtrack.

I'm feeling...things...and decided that I'd like to share some of my people with you.


John Watson

John was a dear young man.  I'd never heard this song  before his memorial.  It's sweet, and lovely, and when I hear it I always say "Hello, John Watson" and smile a little.  I miss him so.

Matt from PHP
He's married and has at least one child, now, but I knew him when he was sweet, painfully young, and attending a social group of which I was also a member.  He recorded a version of The Moldau for me when he learned that I adore it.  I believe that he is still sweet, if not quite so young (the years, they do fly).

Gypsy (not her real name, but excepting those passed through the veil or already public in persona, I don't tend to use given appellations)
One of my dearest friends, Gypsy.  Before kids and life and whatnot, we spent a lot more time together.  She played this lush song for me and my French brain struggled to translate to English, but whether I understand every word or not (and there's a lot of "not", these days, but thank goodness for translating programs and my hazy memory of youthful French), I enjoy it.

K2

Sister of my heart, Godmother to my son, one of the dearest people in my life, this is but one of the many songs I found through her.  Decadent, dark chocolate song...

E
He's married to K2, and he's one of the very few people with whom I will discuss politics.  He's also one of my favorite tech wizards, and I appreciate how often he doesn't make me feel like an idiot.

Mizz R Green
Dear woman, Godmother to my daughter, we've shared a love for another that has brought us joy, pain, laughter, and commiseration.  With her I've learned lessons about polyamoury, some easy, some difficult.  She brought me this song during some dark days.

Manx
I've listened to s LOT of Neil Diamond in my lifetime, but until Manx did a karaoke version of this, I'd never heard it!  Now, when I listen to it, I think of my friend singing at the Starwood radio station by the road, waiting for others to come do some karaoke in the summer sun.

Mr. Grey (nothing near his real name, but it's the name he used when we met, and not, it's nothing to do with that awful book...as far as I know)
He didn't introduce me to this song, but I heard it just after we met and it struck me as sweet, and he's rather sweet, and somehow it stuck.  I'm rather fond of both Mr. Grey AND this song.  The video never fails to bring a smile to my face.  Lort, but how I wish I could dance!

Donna Donnovan
I am comfortable using her name because she is fairly public - she founded and is part of Appalachian Pagan Ministry, and they to good work.  She used this song for a video she did for the APM, and it stuck in my head.  I say hello to her whenever I hear it.  She is John Watson's mother, and I love her.

There are so many more, but I think it wise to stop here before a too-long blog becomes too-longer.

How about you?  Any songs that bring your people to mind?

2010, A Casa de Crazy Odd-yssey

January - Casa de Crazy grounds invaded by neighbors' dogs, much irritation ensues. Evil Genius turns seven. Snow. Someone cooks me up some fried okra, I photograph it for proof that a feller CAN TOO cook. I fall headlong into a case of the beiges (because I like blue, but beige? Depressing...). I get musically political with some friends.

February - I make a quilt square...woo-hoo, right? Cruise. Take second place with my quilt square. I get older. My friend K has her baby boy - Elvis has entered the building!

March - Casa de Crazy gets a jump on Spring. The bats return to Capistrano...er...Casa de Crazy. The Evil Genius joins humanity as a tool-user. We learn about the joys of K'Nex. We celebrate St. Patrick's Day. We celebrate Ostara. We celebrate Someone's birthday. We are exhausted. The garden goes to the dogs.

April - Spring is springing on apace. Someone and I head off into the wilds of Southern Ga to run a friend's booth for the weekend - it's our first quasi-camping experience together! Mum has a birthday. I have another stint in the beiges.

May - We celebrate Beltane with fire and frolic. Although we don't know it yet, I'm pregnant. Mum's truck won't give us a brake. The Evil Genius dabbles in art. Someone's Mom comes for a visit and we go to the RenFest, where Someone meets the Kissing Wench. The septic tank has a fit right before we have to leave for Baton Rouge.

June - We putter along, then go to Ohio for Solstice at Wisteria. It is Someone's first big gathering, and he takes to it like a Swan to water, drumming all night, frolicking in the woods, and attending one of my concerts for the first time; the Evil Genius runs wild and loves every minute of it. The garden is greening. We confirm what we've suspected - I'm knocked up!

July - Independence Day frolics occur. Knocked-Uppedness becomes more real. I enter a contest (which I do not win, dang). It's hot. Someone and I get busy in the kitchen - cooking dinner!

August - It's still hot. We celebrate Lammas. I sew...a lot. I give you a glimpse of life with cats. Dragon Con exhausts me.

September - My friend Snake dies. I ruminate about Jesus. We learn we're having a girl! I work the race and introduce Someone to my racing family and another part of my world.

October - We score free movie passes and have an actual, adult-type date! I explore polyamoury and what it means to us. The beiges kick my ass. We celebrate Samhain.

November - I vote, despite misgivings about the candidates and the futility of the entire process. Pregnancy is so glamorous I could cry. We clean the garage. Thanksgiving leaves us stuffed.

December - The Evil Genius discovers sudden-onset gravity. My friend Lo dies. The beiges chew me up and spit me out and I try to lighten up a little. I bake many cookies, then swap them. I finish the baby quilt. Someone has been here a year! We celebrate Yule. I enjoy more of the wonders of knocked-uppedness. We get the crib assembled - there's no bloodshed and very little adult language. The new year approaches and we wonder where the time went.

I wonder what next year will bring...
~~~~~
Have a safe, happy New Year's Eve, y'all...and I hope your new year is splendid.

Out of the Blue

I had an interesting e-mail today.

"I thought you’d be interested to read and share with your readers this Guideposts story..."

Huh? Has this person read my blog? And, umm...isn't Guideposts a Christian magazine? Have they not noticed that I'm not only not Christian, I am very much pagan?

"...written by actress Glenn Close. She talks about her attempts to help remove the stigma from mental illnesses by talking openly about people affected by them as well as their families’ struggles..."

Oooohhh...

Yeah.

About that...

Seems being nuttier than a Claxton fruitcake gets a body noticed.

So I read the article, and Glen Close owes me a tissue. It's only fair, she made me cry.

See, the thing is...I've been about as open as I could be about my variety-plate of crazy. Not only do I not hide it, I crack jokes about it and try very hard to make some of my...erm...quirks...useful. Wait, you mean you don't think having an OCD housekeeper would be useful? Dang...

One of the thoughts I had while reading the piece (which isn't awfully long or preachy, contains some interesting facts and poses a few good questions about the social stigma of nuttery) was about treatment...about people who receive it successfully and people who don't.

I'm glad there are folks out there who benefit from medication and modern treatment options. I don't. Meds don't do anything for me besides take away that which I consider to be most me...my creativity. It seems that my own brand of crazy shares the wellspring with whatever artistry I can lay claim to (and some days, I have to admit, I can't claim much)(most days, in truth).

I also had the thought...what if I can't get better? What if I have become so wrapped up in these conditions that they're how I identify myself? What if I can't be anything but the me I am now? What if sometimes, the idea of not feeling this way is terrifying and leaves me feeling lost instead? How depressing. And yet...

I'm oddly lucky. I've had a lifetime of my conditions. I know when what I'm feeling is true, is real, and when it's a figment of misfiring neurons and chemistry gone awry. That doesn't change the hurt, confusion, or frustration that I frequently feel...but somehow, knowing the source help me. I know I can weather it, because I have weathered it since I was a child. It may beat me down, but I'm never entirely beaten.

Which doesn't make it any easier. And while I'm blessed with a host of wonderful friends and several family members who are patient, compassionate, and understanding about my weirdness, most folks aren't so lucky. There are plenty of people...probably a few in your own life (and here's a hint - if you can't find the crazy person in the room, find a mirror instead....it may be you) who are hiding what they're experiencing and trying very hard to paste a facade of normalcy onto their lives because they fear being outcast, shunned, or otherwise stigmatized.

I have long held that depression (and other psychological conditions, too) is like emotional cancer, eating a person alive, riddling them with its sickness. It's not always survivable. And unlike cancer, which has causes, which has walks and runs and pink ribbons and fundraisers and survivors and sufferers who share their triumphs and tragedies publicly, mental illness is still largely a secret, remaining hidden in the shadows. We're still burdened with not only our conditions, but with shame...shame for something we can't control any more than someone with MS or Parkinson's can control their illnesses.

I applaud Ms. Close and her efforts to help open the doors and windows of the house of crazy, to let in light and air and stir the cobwebs and dust out of the corners. I wish her well in her endeavors.

On bad days, yeah, I struggle to breathe, to keep on moving forward on my life's path...I feel sorrow and pain and am ashamed because I am a burden, worthless, useless, pointless...

On my better days, I don't suffer from insanity...I enjoy every minute of it.

Either way, I've never been one to shut up about it...because it's part of who I am, part of how I live my life, like missing a finger or having a stutter, or tasting the color orange...as much a part of me as anything else.

So if you didn't click the link (provided several time above), here's one more chance. And then, if you feel like it and haven't been bored to tears already, check out my own take on the crazies by looking at the variety plate.

Oh...and I may be crazy, but I also have a long memory. Next time Ms. Close and I are lunching (yeah, that'll happen), I hope she brings a hankie...or at least one of those little pocket packs of Kleenex...

A Little Perspective

I ran across this on Magpie Musing. It gives one a bit of perspective on the scope of the mess in the Gulf. Have a go yourself, if you like. She managed to get the map to show on her blog, but I'm not that slick, so...hit the link and see what happens...

If It Was My Home

It lets you put in where you live and shows the spill in relation to your home...and when I punched in Redneck Central's real name, it covered most of Georgia and some of Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. Wowzers.

The Evil Genius, when told that tar was washing up on Florida beaches, wanted to know why. I explained about the oil spill and how it will affect things. He said "Holy cow, how do we clean that up??"

Exactly.

Fun Stuff

Want to see something neat? Go here: Websites as graphs. Type in your blog name (or any web address) and watch. Cool.
~~~~~
Cruise report: Today, St Lucia, being a tourist. Tomorrow, St. Maarten and the butterfly farm (and, with any luck, the open market where I got some fantastic shots of a spice-seller's table and wares...wonder what we'll find this time...)

I posted over at my other blog...in case you missed me...

Well don't I feel silly??

Honestly, if my head wasn't firmly attached, I'd leave it somewhere.

I swear, I thought I posted a link to Beth's blog in my post welcoming her to the Blue nowhere...but it seems either I am sadly mistaken or once again Electronica (the gremlin of the Internet) has gobbled up something I've done.

Sigh.

Here's the link: Beth' Blog

Thanks, y'all!!

Welcome to Blogopolis, Mizz B!!

Can't talk, baking...and decorating...and wrapping...and cleaning...and...snzzzzzkxkxkxkx...

Wha...?

Who...?

Ahem.

I am baking up a storm, and getting decorations up outside, and hauling the Yule boxes up from the closet under the stairs (if Harry Potter had come here to live, he would have had to content himself with an ordinary bedroom or the crawlspace under the house - the closet under the stairs is full of...umm...I don't know what, but a lot of stuff, including my few seasonal decorations that I often don't bother with) and cleaning house because I have band practice here next Wednesday and also...umm...well, I have another reason to get the place tidy, but I ain't sayin' what...yet.

Anyway.

So, because I am clearly far too busy to write a blog post of any substance (hah!), I'm taking this opportunity to introduce you to a good friend. She's my band manager and booking agent, mother to K (the sister of my heart), a cruise agent, and generally full of the Awesome. Her name's Beth (I'm only telling you because she's got it on her blog, so it'd be silly for me to keep it secret, now, wouldn't it??), and she has a brand spankin' new blog. Go give her a look-see and let her know what you think, m'kay?

Welcome to the Blue Nowhere and Blogopolis, Mizz B - glad to have the company!!

Slack, Slack, Slackity, Slacker

I'm headed to the gallery today. T has the Evil Genius, my house is somewhat clean, and I've had very little sleep - although more, I suspect, than some.

I'm going to meet my friend K, first, for a little kid-free shopping and perhaps some lunch.

I'm sure we'll chat, laugh, and share some gossip. K is one of the friends with whom I can discuss anything.

I'll be working on pinecone ornaments for the most part, although I may do cards, too. Whoopsie...I just remembered - I forgot to finish cutting fabric last night! See y'all later!

Bear With Meme

I'm working at the track this weekend, long days in the communications tower with a very nice woman who smokes like an industrial chimney, so my mind and body are being taxed. I don't have it in me to write anything interesting or original, so...it's time for another meme.
~~~~~

1. Is there anybody you just wish would fall off the planet? Wouldn't that be flying? Or does flying mean they'd come back down eventually? And how would someone fall off, any way? Doesn't there have to be an edge or promontory or something, to fall from? Or, if one person can fall off, wouldn't we all, because wouldn't that mean cessation of gravity? In which case we'd all have one heck of a ride...

2. How do you flush the toilet in public? I don't use the toilet in public - I'm not an exhibitionist. However, I flush a public toilet carefully, just as I would at home, by using the handle, lever, or button provided on the apparatus. Sometimes they flush themselves...it's spooky...how do they know I'm done? Sometimes they flush before I'm ready...disconcerting, that...because I almost always have a wet bum and the feeling that the potty is trying to hurry me along...which leads to a host of thoughts about inanimate objects being alive, and if they had Karma, what did the toilet do to deserve its job?

3. Do you wear your seatbelt in the car? Well, it matches my shoes so nicely...

4. Do you have a crush on someone? No. I find crushing people to be so messy. I love Someone, though...

5. Name one thing you worry about running out of. Time.

6. What famous person do you (or other people) think you resemble? I don't think I look like anyone famous, but someone once told me I look like that actress in that show about the legal firm...I don't think it was LA Law...it was popular a few years ago...she's a big woman...aww, Hell...never mind...I don't look like anyone famous.

7. What is your favourite pizza topping? Pizza.

8.Do you crack your knuckles? Well...it would be rude to crack someone else's...

9. What song do you hate the most? Anything sung by that horrid purple dinosaur.

10. Did just mentioning that song make it get stuck in your head? Nope.

11. What are your super powers? Mom's kiss - it can make anything all better.

12. Peppermint or spearmint? Wintergreen.

13. Where are your car keys? On a key ring. I'd tell you where that is, but then maybe you'd come to Casa de Crazy and steal my van...

14. Last song you listened to? Karma Slave.

15. What's your most annoying habit? I don't have just one, and many of them are annoying to one degree or another.

16. Where did you last go on vacation? Houston Texas...yeehaw, y'all.

17. What is your best physical feature? I'm bendy.

18. What CD is closest to you right now? The Ragbirds, Wanderlove.

19. What 3 things can always be found in your refrigerator? Pickles, some sort of cheese, and fruit.

20. What superstition do you believe/practice? Hello, I'm a witch...

21. What colour are your bed sheets? Blue.

22. Would you rather be a fish or a bird? Phoenix.

23. Last thing you broke? The side-view mirror on my van.

24. What are you having to eat tonight? I don't know...something healthy, I hope, especially if I really want to be rid of the remaining forty acres of my ass.

25. What colour shirt are you wearing? Blue.

26. If you could be doing anything else today, what would you rather be doing? Umm...well...nothing I feel like sharing publicly...

27. Do security cameras make you nervous? Nope.

28. If you wrote a book about your life, what would the title be? Yawn.

29. Last time you went to a cemetery? Hmm...I think last fall in Clarkesville...

30. Last concert you went to? I'm guessing this means attended and not performed...and I think that would be the Aerosmith/Cheap Trick concert a few years back...unless the Ragbirds counts, although I performed at that same event, so I'm not sure...

31. Favourite musician(s)/bands you've seen in concert? Sorry, can't name just one. Ragbirds, Kellianna, Sting, The Moody Blues, Bonnie Raitt...

32. Next concert you're planning to attend? No plans just now...unless performing counts, and then I am hoping there's one next spring...

33. Do you talk to yourself? Often. Sometimes it's the only somewhat adult conversation I have for days...

34. Have you ever adopted or purchased a pet? No. They adopt me.

35. Have you ever been present when an animal is being born? I'll go one better - I've reached inside the mum and pulled the baby out when it was stuck. Two words: texture fiesta.

You're So Vain...

...I bet you think this blog is about you...

Well...it could be. But...nah. Not this time. I was over at Foolery's little corner of Blogopolis and took the little narcissism quiz she'd taken and below are my results. I guess even I don't think it's all about me!
~~~~~

Your score is
6
Maximum is 40. Average for Americans is 15. Highest tested celebrity is Robin Quivers, with 34.

Your score for Authority is LOW
Your score for Self-sufficiency is MEDIUM
Your score for Superiority is LOW
Your score for Exhibitionism is LOW
Your score for Exploitativeness is LOW
Your score for Vanity is LOW
Your score for Entitlement is LOW

Robin Quivers is, I believe, one of the people on the Howard Stern radio show...although I could be very wrong. Yes, I know I could Google search it...but I'm too lazy. If there was a laziness quiz I wouldn't even have a score because I'd be too lazy to take it.

I did take this quiz again because some of the answers could have gone both ways, and wound up with a 2, scoring low in every category. What I am wondering is, does having a blog negate/alter any of that? I mean...isn't the very nature of a blog an invitation for others to make one the center of attention, if only for as long as it takes to read and maybe comment on a post? Eh, whatever.

So, go, see how you do and share the fun!

Snort

So tired. Today is the last day of the race week - 10 hours or one-thousand miles, whichever comes first. We've never done the whole ten hours. I am officially done registering people at ten this morning - I'll spend the rest of the day doing what I haven't been able to do all week...actually watching some racing! That or napping. It's a toss-up.

Go here for info on the race. If you happen to watch and see the people in white on the corners and responding to incidents, or the folks driving the wreckers and rollbacks...they're the folks I have been registering all week, making coffee for, bringing ice and water to, and chilling beer for. I know every one of them.

Or, if you don't much care about cars going 200+ miles per hour, go here. It's not race related, and you'll laugh.

The New and Ongoing Adventure of Flat Aunt Becky (Part the First)...

...In which Flat Aunt Becky (or "FAB" for ease of typing) visits the Georgia Heritage Center for the Arts and finds herself fundamentally changed (as good art is known to do).

Aunt Becky* had a little contest thing for her blog. Being preoccupied with cleaning house, procrastinating and then having to sew like crazy, and trifling things like a divorce, I failed to even start my entry until yesterday, the day after the deadline. Typical. I decided to play along, anyway, because I'm like that.

*Not my real aunt, for which she may be eternally grateful!
~~~~~
I wanted to show Aunt Becky a good time. Unfortunately, I'm not really a fun-and-games, party type of gal. I know! So I brought her with me to meet some of the most creative, outrageous women I know, the Thursday group at the GHCA.

At first, Aunt Becky felt a little...square...around the gals. She was a wee shy, and stuck close to me and Bob the Wonder Computer, the only people she knew at the gallery.

She warmed up to The Bad Fairy, though - there's something about TBF that brings out the worst best in a person...she's sassy, delightfully sharp witted and is marvelously skewed - right up Aunt Becky's alley!

Aunt Becky was feeling a little under-dressed - her black-and-white attire just wasn't gallery material. "Come on, let's have a makeover!" she cried. I tried to warn her that I failed Girl 101, but she wasn't having any of it. She dumped my art supplies on the table and dove right in.

She demanded a boob job and asked me to shave a little off her hips. I told her I thought she looked just fine the way she was, but she scoffed at me and told me to get cutting. Hey, I'm no plastic surgeon, but she was so pushy I had to comply or risk her causing a scene.

"Quit fucking around and give me Kate Beckinsale's ass!!"

When the cutting was done, Aunt Becky was down to her essentials - transformed to Flat Aunt Becky!!

I did my best with her coif...but remember, I failed Girl 101 and my idea of highly styled hair is putting a flower in my bun. Still...she seemed satisfied, and was easily distracted from her hair-y musings when I pointed out her distressing lack of clothing. The gallery is, after all, a family-friendly place!

Fashionably attired in blue jeans, a t-shirt pimping her blog site, foofy scarf and hot pink boots, FAB was ready to jump into gallery culture.

She decided to help TBF put together a new rolly cart, meant to hold TBF's glass oddments - TBF is a stained-glass artist when she's not being a Bad Fairy.
To be continued...

Sweet!

Lookit that! My friend Kit gave me an award, bless her pea-pickin' little heart! All I ever gave her was...umm...hey, Kit...have I ever given you anything? Yeah, I can't remember, either. I think there may have been some asparagus handed off in the past...

Anyway.

Thanks, Kit - you're an inspiring, artistic, sister-type friend, and I adore sharing hours and child-rearing with you. It's nice to know you care.

So there seem to be rules to these things, and according to the site I backtracked to, I should name five people who embody this award. What I'm wondering is, do they have to be people in the Blue Nowhere? Or can I name folks outside of Blogopolis and this strange electronic world? I'm thinking I may have to limit myself to bloggers, or it's a little self-defeating - the award would never get passed along!

So, who to name, who to name?

I'm going to cheat a little and name my Mum...unless you are part of may daily life, you have no idea what she means to me, to my son, and to our well being. She is an artist (especially with copper jewelry!), got me involved with the gallery and the sometimes outrageous, often hilarious group of women there. Knowing that she raised two kids, largely alone, has helped me wrap my mind around being a somewhat single mum - only I'll have her, and my amazing community of friends to help me find my feet, and she had...umm...yeah...

Next I'll name my friend Gypsy. Her son and mine are like brothers - they try to kill each other on a regular basis, someone always ends up in tears when they play, and they constantly want to know when they'll be together again. She's beautiful, intelligent, and has an opinion. She writes, too, quite beautifully, and she's always ready to lend an ear, a thoughtful response (whether she thinks you'll like what she has to say or not), and hard liquor as needed. Except the hard liquor part.

Third is Susan. I've never met her in real life, but I hope to remedy that one day. I read her blog like it's oxygen and I'm out of breath. She's also e-mailed me kind, supportive messages of late, for which I am grateful. Susan has had a few bobbles in her personal life and handled them far better than I believe I would have, and often with grace and humor (you have too, Susan, so hush!). She's clever and funny, a deadly combination, and I'm right fond of her.

Then there's MereCat. Another one I've not met in person. She keeps dodging my offers of a free kitten, but I like her anyway. She's raising twins. Twins! And she doesn't want a kitten? How odd. I am envious of her current yard project, but not of the disasters that led up to the project to begin with. Another funny, charming, disarmingly honest woman, and did I mention the twins? I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

Suzy Soro springs to mind next. Her blog isn't always funny, but that's on purpose...comedians don't have to be "on" all the time! She is a funny, intelligent, well written woman who takes the time to respond to her readers and let us in on the fun of living in Hollywood, land of the deeply weird. I haven't met Suzy IRL, either (hey, look, I used an Internetz abbreviation back there!)(Why is "abbreviation" such a long word?), and likely won't unless her tour bus breaks down outside Casa de Crazy in Redneck Central, which could totally happen! Umm...or not.

And last, but not least, is Rachel. Yes, yes, I know, this makes six...but I cannot leave her out of a list that is meant to name people who embody art, inspiration, friendship, sisterhood, sharing, and caring. Rachel writes poetry, and thoughtful, thought-provoking posts on her blog. She is creative in her home life, and with her beautiful children. She inspires me, when she points out the iniquities between humans and our animal brethren and sithren (yes, I made that word up...you'll survive), how we impact our environment, and how to make a difference in our daily lives. She's been a friend in the truest sense of the word for years. We've never clapped eyes on each other, but we've been through each other's rough times, offered virtual shoulders to cry on, offered to don shit-kicking boots and head to each other's distant home to teach someone a lesson, and made each other laugh, cry, and feel loved and supported across the miles. If she doesn't embody what this award is about, I don't know anyone who does.

Y'all, I know a lot of clever, funny, artistic, creative, inspiring, caring, kind, give-you-the-last-olive-in-the-jar type people, on and off line. People who e-mail when you're down and offer sympathy, empathy, and humor to help you up again. People who offer a place to sleep and a meal when you're in town. People who care, deeply, for this peculiar community I call Blogopolis in the world of the Blue Nowhere. I couldn't choose everyone, but if you know someone who deserves to be recognized, pass this award along!

Thanks again, Kit - you totally deserve to be on the list too, only I figure that's just be redundant.

It's Meme Again...

I'm surrounded by memes...they're following me, I swear. I just started reading a new blog, and this meme was on it. Sigh. At least it is moderately different and interesting.

As always, tag yourself if you like, or just tell me how lame I am in the comments.
~~~~~

1. Do you like blue cheese? Not even a little...

2. Have you ever smoked heroin? No...but I've smoked a haddock...is that worth any points?

3. Do you own a gun? Does a squirt gun count?

4. What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? I get cherry-limeade with extra cherry.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? No...but I'm usually irritated that I had to wait so long...

6. What do you think of hot dogs? Mmmm...lips and assholes...with cheese, onions, mustard, ketchup(Catchup? Catsup? Whatever) and relish...

7. Favorite Christmas movie? A Wish for Wings That Work

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Water.

9. Can you do push ups? I can't even do a pushup bra.

10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? There's a pentacle I never take off...and there's the glass piece K made me...

11. Favorite hobby? Ummm...all of them...

12. Do you have A.D.D.? Nope, but I have OCD...

13. What's one trait you hate about yourself? I only get only one?

14. Middle name? Don't have one.

15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: (1) I am so in love. (2)I need a shower - I'm all spider-webby from cleaning kittens out of the garage. Don't ask. (3) Should I microwave the bacon, or fry it, and do I want it IN the spinach omelet or as a side?

16. Name 3 things you bought yesterday. Ummm....I fueled the van...aaannnnd....did some shopping for K (she was out of some merchandice)....and...umm...I don't know that I bought anything else...

17. Name 4 drinks you regularly drink? Water, not very sweet tea, water, and...umm...water.

18. Current worry? How the divorce will affect the Evil Genius.

19. Current hate right now? I try not to hate.

20. Favorite place to be? With the Evil Genius and/or Someone.

21. How did you bring in the New Year? Quietly, watching TV, playing games, and going to sleep.

22. Where would you like to go? To the lottery commission with the winning ticket.

23. Name two people who will complete this? I have no idea...who else has MCD (meme-compulsive-disorder)?

24. Do you own slippers? Do I ever! Cows, leopards, teddy bears, big blue monster feet with sparkly blue toenails...and pink flamingos. Yep...I AM a nutter...

25. What shirt are you wearing? One I made from a sarong.

26. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? No...too slide-y and hot. I like cotton, especially Egyptian cotton, or maybe flannel in winter if I'm somewhere really cold.

27. Can you whistle? Not very well, alas, but I can sing.

28. Favorite color? Blue.

29. Would you be a pirate? Depends...what kind? Captain Jack Sparrow, lovable rogue? Sure. The kind that steals music or video, copies and sells it? Nope.

30. What songs do you sing in the shower? Sometimes I sin whatever I'm working on at the moment, sometimes an old favorite, sometimes I tone, and sometimes I sing a cleansing song.

31. Favorite girl's name? Katherine.

32. Favorite boy's name? Richard.

33. What's in your pocket right now? Three different shades of Burt's Bees Lip Shimmers, a fairy bell, a marble, a tiny pocket knife, a Guam quarter, a gold dollar, and a Chuck-E-Cheese token in the right front. Some lint in the left front (that's my money pocket - it's feeling a little empty and forlorn right now). Two card cases in the left rear, and my wallet in the right rear.

34. Last thing that made you laugh? Oddly enough, the same thing that made me cry - a wedding video.

35. Best bed sheets as a child? Hmm...the blue Snoopy ones, where he was flying the Sopwith Camel (doghouse) and Woodstock was fluttering past.

36. Worst injury you've ever had? Hmm...perhaps the one wherein I tried to rapidly force my head through a windshield while also attempting to puncture the dashboard with my hand.

37. Do you love where you live? I am right fond of it, yes...although there is one thing that would make it better...

38. How many TV's do you have in your house? Too bloody many...four! Three adults, four televisions...why? Why??

39. Who is your loudest friend? I have loud friends?

40. How many dogs do you have? None.

41. Does someone have a crush on you? Not that I know of...although I believe Someone loves me...

42. What is your favorite book(s)? Book series? I don't have a favorite...but if pressed I could maybe narrow a few thousand down to a handful.

43. What is your favorite candy? I don't have a favorite...although right now I am keen on Whatchamacallit and Snickers bars.

44. Favorite Sports Team? Umm...the Gladiators, if I have to have one.

45. What song do you want played at your funeral? Whatever the people actually listening to it want to hear - I'll be dead, it won't matter a whit to me.

46. What were you doing 12 AM last night? Writing, talking on the phone.

47. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? If I keep having dreams like that, I won't ever want to wake up! Whew!

Meeting an E-quaintance

First, I owe Cygnus thanks for the term "e-quaintance", which is way better than "e-buddy" or "blog-buddy", the phrases I've used in the past.

Second, I'd like to introduce you to some new friends I made while in Houston:

Meet CB - he has such vivid eyes...I wonder if they glow in the dark?
And this fellow? Is Smokey. He's a little camera shy, kept looking away as if everything in the world was more interesting than me...which, hey, he's a cat...so no surprise there.

I don't have a photo of their human, and even if I did I wouldn't post it - but if you want to get to know The Hermit, go give him a read - I do, every day.

Mister hermit, Sir, it was a pleasure to meet you...and, of course, the cats who keep you!

In any Language

Thank to M (Gypsy Guru) for sending me the lyrics to this song, which led me to seek out a YouTube video, because I wanted to hear the beautiful words...

L'amoureuse

How Does Her Garden Grow?

Not at all, to be honest.

I had the best of intentions - I was going to plant cucumbers, if nothing else, but Spring got away from me.

It's probably all for the best, though - with all the travelling I've been doing, the poor things wouldn't have stood a chance.

When spent the summers on Martha's Vineyard with Dad, Stepmum, and Stepmum's family, we had a huge garden. Well, her father did, anyway. I miss those days, but I had it easy - all I had to do was harvest veggies and remember to bring the compost over in the evening.

I would head down to the shore with a pig's foot and some string, fish up some blue crabs, dig 'taties from the garden, maybe cut some asparagus, gather salad greens, and dinner was on. It doesn't get any fresher than that, folks.

I believe in fresh, whole, as close to source as one can get foods. I believe in them...but I don't eat them as often as I could. Last year taught me one thing - I'm not ready for a full-on garden and its attendant issues yet, but I hope to be, soon.

There's something wonderful about growing one's own food. I don't know that I'll ever butcher my own meat again, but fruits and veg? I can do that...eventually.

How wonderful it would be to can my own jams and jellies, preserves, vegetables, relishes, see the jars lined up on shelves, glass pillars filled with beautiful jewels from the earth...

Oh, well...some day...

Beautiful Lady, Beautiful Words

Hey, y'all - while I'm off at the gallery wasting time being artistic, go check out my friend Rachel - we've known each other in the Blue Nowhere for many years, and if we weren't cut from the same cloth, well...we were cut from complementary bolts, at least.

Of Time and Tide

But mostly Tide.

I was over at Suzy's blog (thanks for following, Mizz Suzy - soon I'll have enough minions to take over Blogopolis...or at least the corner cafe) reading about a fund-raising program, and even though I am not part of the BlogHer network...what the hey...I figured I'd play along anyway.

P&G (Proctor and Gamble for folks who don't speak Initials or Abbreviations) has a nifty program going on, wherein they are selling vintage-look Tide T-shirts to help fund Loads of Hope.

I've seen blurbs about Loads of Hope before, and I must say - ingenious. When you see nature pounding the crap out of a community, laundry is the last thing you think they may need doing. Probably, you think food, water, shelter, maybe pets or evacuation...but clean clothes? Hmm...not so much.

But think about it. When you have been out in foul weather, playing or tarping the roof, or just trying to get into the house from the car, and you get inside all wet and cold and mucky...do you want to sit around in those clothes, or do you want to slip into something cozy, clean, and warm? So if families, communities, are covered in muck, wet, cold, devastated...wouldn't clean things just be a blessing? I think so. So, to the point. Click the t-shirt link or go to Suzy's and click hers (it's bigger) - if you use these specific links, you help show how useful social networking and blogging can be, and apparently there's a friendly rivalry going on between networks...and since one day I'd like to suckle at the BlogHer teat (yes, yes I did type that), I'm using their link.

And now a little Tide-back-in-time story.

A long time ago, when the world was new and working as a corner marshall (back then we called it "F&C") was still fun, we worked just about every weekend at Road Atlanta. Back then, they didn't have the cement walls, Jersey barriers, fencing, and widened track - it was raw, rough, often dusty, muddy, and filthy. Corner workers wear white in order to be more visible than the terrain, the flags, and the spectators.

Road Atlanta is in Georgia. North-ish Georgia. North-ish Georgia is famous for several things - the Mayfield visitor's center where you can get fresh-scooped ice cream cones that are the size of a cat's head for a quarter, chicken farms and the smell they perfume the early morning air with, small towns selling themselves to mediocre actresses, and red clay soil.

The old track had many, many banks which workers would run along and then slide down to reach "incidents", a fancy word for "wrecks".

I repeat - we wore white clothing, played at a greasy, grimy, dirty track, and slid down red clay embankments to reach dirty, nasty race cars that had likely spilled fluids, were possible in flames, and definitely landed in the most difficult places to reach.

When it was a dry day, the clay turned into a fine, fine dust. When cars drove off course, they would kick up a cloud that floated for ages before settling back down - only to be kicked up again by another car. We breathed that dust in, squinted through it, and knew we'd be sneezing red and scrubbing dust off our faces for days.

When it was wet, the clay got slick, sticky, and nasty. No matter where we worked a race in the world, people knew we'd been at Road Atlanta by the clay stains on our whites.

It was only a matter of time before we instituted The Tide Challenge. It was very simple - the worker who had the nastiest, most clay/dust smirched whites at the end of the weekend won a jumbo bottle of Tide. It did a fine job of getting most of the clay out, better than anything else, really...but nothing can get all of the stuff out in the wash. I won a few bottle, myself, thanks to some spectacular incidents, a few wobbly tire walls full of water and ick, and more than one really long slide down a bank.

The smell of Tide is indelibly linked in my mind to the smell of Nomex, racing fuel, clay, and the unique perfume of a road-racing course on a summer's day when the biggest worry I had was whether I could make the bus back to school and would the professor mind if there were clay stains on my homework.