Tag Archives: Tell My Bones: The Helen LaFrance Story

Wow, What A Terrific Sunday!!

Leave a comment

Even though it’s raining — and will rain most of the day — I have already had a morning full of absolute bliss.

I managed to get all the nematodes out yesterday when I got home from my shift — on all the flowers and flower beds and all the ground that runs along all 4 sides of the house, and especially under all the windows. So I’m not expecting any fleas this season!! Yay!

It’s not hard work at all, it’s just sort of laborious if you don’t have a garden hose and need to use a sprinkling can and have to keep going back inside to the kitchen… But it’s done!!!

So that got done, and all the flowers and plants are out on the porches — so that got done.

And I made that appointment at Honda to get that other stuff done on my car — I’m going on Tuesday, after I spend about an hour at the shooting range! Yay!

So everything is done, scheduled, arranged — and today starts my first of 3 days off in a row.

Hence, waking up in a really great mood this morning! Yay! Yay! Yay!

Today, I’ll be reading over some revisions of our play, “The Guide to being Fabulous” and then tomorrow, I’ll be working on them with Sandra over the phone, but most of today I will FINALLY get to clean my house!!!!

Yay!!!

I can’t tell you how happy I am to finally get this stuff done. It’s really only a little dusting and then a bunch of vacuuming, but I never feel really comfortable when my house isn’t completely clean. It’s mostly because I have a thousand and 5 cats and I never want my home to seem like I have a thousand and 5 cats…

But, to be fair, they do help out in whatever way they can:

In no way is this an accurate depiction of how they help out…

So — my blissful morning.

When I got out of bed at 5AM, it was raining. But it was a light rain. No wind whatsoever. No thunder or anything like that, which would trigger my PTSD. Just summer rain.

And when I stepped out onto my kitchen porch to feed KonTiki, it just felt so peaceful out there, that once all the other cats inside were fed, and breakfast dishes were washed and put away, I took my cup of coffee out onto the porch and sat with KonTiki and just watched it rain as the sun sort of “came up”.

It’s interesting how KonTiki really loves to stay on the kitchen porch now that all the flowers and plants are out there. She got up onto the chair next to mine and we both just sat there together like old times — and it felt like I was finally going to have a good summer again.

After 2 summers in a row that were sort of “from hell”, with last summer being particularly close to hell.

And just FYI — while not related, this is a really great movie!! Johnny Depp:

But we are moving on over here!! And not only that, I will be going to NYC twice this summer! To work on pre-production of an Off-Broadway show!!

*************

It has been a really, really, really long journey.

In fact, this is the third house I’ve lived in since Sandra and I began working on this play together. And during the first few years, I thought I was moving back to New York — to Rhinebeck , where Sandra lives– and resuming a relationship with a guy I’m still crazy about:

He’s the chef there at the back of the photo, and this is his restaurant on the lower level of his home in Rhinebeck:

If you are ever in Rhinebeck, NY, you MUST visit his restaurant– The Tasting Room:

It is small so you must have a reservation. But Chef Daniel is an incredible chef!! {Read about him here.}

Anyway. It seems we are destined to be eternally “friends” (40 years and counting, although those first few years were memorably wild…)

But, long story short, I did not end up moving to Rhinebeck!!

Okay!!

***********

Happy Heavenly Birthday to my best friend on Earth!!

Paul would have been 66 today. He’s been gone 26 years now.

Here is a selection of photos I took of him a long time ago, mostly in my apartment on E.12th Street, although the photo with the huge flowered sofabed is in the Camelot Building on W. 45th Street, when I was married to Chong Foun Kee.

You’ll note that even back then, there was no shortage of photos of Keith on my bedroom wall… (and Bowie, John Lennon, Jim Carroll, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Franz Kafka, etc., etc.).

My bedroom, E.12th Street 1983
My bedroom, E.12th Street 1983
Same bedroom, but more like 1984 or 1985
Kitchen on E.12th Street, Thanksgiving 1987
Late 1981, W.45th Street apartment in the Camelot Building

***********

Well, I’ve managed to get 2 loads of laundry done while I typed this! And now I’m going to actually start cleaning!!

So here’s this and then I’m off!

From the desktop stash!!

And there are now 3 days until Nick Cave’s Solo Tour of Europe (with bass player) begins!! (There are 3 venues with tickets still available, but everything else for the rest of the tour is sold out.)

***********

And now I’m gonna scoot!!

Enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

************

Saturday in the Hinterlands!!

Leave a comment

Okay, well, no, that isn’t really my life pictured above.

At least, not these days. (But oddly enough, that does reflect summers throughout my childhood.)

Okay!!

Prior to my childhood…

73 years ago, on this very day!! At this very synagogue:

Tifereth Israel Synagogue, Columbus, Ohio
In the sanctuary

My adoptive parents were married! And even while they ended up really really REALLY not liking each other at all as the years went by…. (I can’t tell you how mildly I am stating that)…

On their wedding day, they were truly in love (and for several years afterward).

When I was growing up (while they were still married, that is), I loved when June 7th, their anniversary, rolled around because my mom would bring out their huge wedding album and I just loved looking at all the old photos from their wedding day. I especially loved my mom’s wedding gown.

June 7, 1952
Leaving for the Honeymoon, after the reception

Once my parents got divorced, the wedding album came into my possession (my mom wanted to throw it out but I rescued it from the trash) and I still have it. And I still love looking through it.

*************

Okay. Here’s this!!

This photo was taken on Thursday night, but I saw it yesterday (Friday) morning and I immediately sent it to Valerie in Brooklyn!!

This is one of Keith’s daughters that he had with his wife Patti. And during the time when Keith and Patti’s daughters were really young, Valerie was hired by the renowned interior designer (and wife of Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records), Mica Ertegun, to do a bunch of specialty painting and murals inside Keith and Patti’s (at the time) new home in Connecticut.

Everyone in the universe LOVES Valerie. I cannot emphasize this enough. She is the most likable person on planet Earth. Even her dealers — not to imply that she ever got anywhere near any sort of illicit substances that would require some sort of “dealer” — however, even her dealers love Valerie and can’t wait to just hang out with her.

And when they met her, Keith’s daughters were crazy about her, and called her Big Val, and invited her to have tea with them in their tree house. So she did!

Okay. That, alone, has always amused me because Valerie is 6 ft. 2 inches tall, and always weighs in the vicinity of 190 lbs. I cannot imagine a little kids’ treehouse supporting her weight long enough to “have tea”.

Anyway!! I totally digress!

I sent this photo to Valerie because I couldn’t believe how much Alexandra looks like Keith in this specific photo! (She usually looks more like Patti.) (This is a selfie she took on her way to an event, then posted to Instagram.) I just love it!!

**************

So, as luck would have it!!!

I discovered that “Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories”, that show I recently loved on Netflix, was a continuation of a show that ran for 3 seasons on Japanese television, before it was picked up and produced by Netflix Japan for 2 more seasons.

The original show is also carried on Netflix.

So now I get to keep watching the show!! I can’t tell you how happy this makes me. And the 3 previous seasons are just as good — and have the same characters — as the final 2 seasons that I fell in love with.

(Honoring the original show in Tokyo, back in 2015.) (2 minutes)

Wow.

I just looked at the time. And I seriously gotta scoot!! So, here’s this!!

Seriously, this is truly one of my “absolutely all-time favorite Nick Cave photos of all time”. I actually have TWO of these photos (of different sizes) stuck to different areas of my wall…

And FOUR more days until Nick Cave’s Solo Tour of Europe (with bass player) kicks off in Switzerland! (If you’re lucky, you might be able to buy tickets for the tour here.)

**********

And here’s this!

Part of my front porch with flowers yesterday — and KonTiki of the Great Outdoors!!

*********

And now I gotta fly!!

Enjoy your Saturday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

***********

Our new Daily Feature continues!

Gifts Keith Richards gave me when I was a wee bonny girl!!

Wherein I regale you with “songs Keith loved, that he would talk about in an interview in some magazine, and then I’d go out and try to find the record and then buy it with my babysitting money, and then I’d listen to it alone in my intense little room, playing it on the portable record player that my dad bought me, and the song would change my life. “

Today’s selection!! 

I was a little older when I first heard Keith talking about this guy, but I really loved Jimmy Cliff’s music after that, as well as the film of the same name, “The Harder They Come”.

Jimmy Cliff, “The Harder They Come”, 1972. Enjoy, gang.

“The Harder They Come”

Well, they tell me of a pie up in the sky
Waiting for me when I die
But between the day you’re born and when you die
They never seem to hear even your cry

So as sure as the sun will shine
I’m gonna get my share now, what’s mine
And then the harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all
Ooh, the harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all

Well, the oppressors are trying to keep me down
Trying to drive me underground
And they think that they have got the battle won
I say forgive them Lord, they know not what they’ve done

‘Cause, as sure as the sun will shine
I’m gonna get my share now, what’s mine
And then the harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all
Ooh, the harder they come
Harder they fall, one and all

And I keep on fighting for the things I want
Though I know that when you’re dead you can’t
But I’d rather be a free man in my grave
Than living as a puppet or a slave

So as sure as the sun will shine
I’m gonna get my share now, what’s mine
And then the harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all
Ooh, the harder they come
Harder they fall, one and all
Hey, the harder they come
Harder they fall, one and all
What I say now
What I Say now

What I say now
What I say, one time
The harder they come, the harder they fall, one and all
The harder they come, the harder they fall, one and all

c – 1972 – Jimmy Cliff

“It wasn’t a pretty sight, but she did it.”

Leave a comment

It’s raining right now, otherwise I would go downstairs and grab a photo of what my porches look like now with the flowers on them!

I’m really happy, gang. But, wow, what a ton of work. I was so hot and sweaty and covered in potting soil. And really just exhausted by the time I was through. (About 5 hours.)

Mostly because it was really hot and humid out.

But I got everything done and put away about 3 seconds before it began to rain. So it worked out really great.

Another thing that worked out great (after it stopped raining) —

Yesterday evening was the start of what they call “Homecoming Weekend” here in the village. Where they close off most of 2nd Street and there are amusement rides and carnival food, live music, games.

2nd Street is one block over from me and the whole area gets filled with people and kids. So I was really happy that all my flowers were out, since it feels really festive around here and a lot of people walk by.

2nd Street

It’s called “Homecoming Weekend” because anyone who grew up around here and moved away, comes back to visit everyone.

And I was doubly happy about being ready for this because last year, right at Homecoming, that awful tornado hit and destroyed several businesses, dozens of homes, our Veterans Memorial Park, and it uprooted just a ton of beautiful trees.

This (below) had been one of the most beautiful homes in the village — it was the second oldest home, over 200 years old. It was huge, with a big double-veranda in front. And every Christmas, they had a big beautiful Christmas tree lit up right in the front window.

It was just heartbreaking to see, especially since it was the first house you’d come to when entering the village, so I had to drive past it twice a day. It’s completely demolished and gone now.

It feels good to be a part of moving on.

***************

Okay, here’s another thing I love about living out here.

The Honda dealership where I’ve, so far, bought or leased 4 Hondas in the last 8 years — they are really nice and really funny out there. Their Instagram page usually cracks me up. They post short videos that are just really, really sarcastic or just plain silly/stupid.

Anyway.

They are in the next county, where the police department has a volunteer Christian Ministry at the station. If you or someone in your family has been arrested or is the victim of something awful, there is always a minister on duty to counsel you or pray with you.

Just yesterday, the owner of the Honda dealership “got arrested” and wasn’t going to come out of jail until people donated $3500 to pay his bail. (The donations go to the police department’s volunteer Christian Ministry). There was a really cute video on Instagram to publicize it. I donated $20.

And by this morning, they already had $2350 in donations! Less than 12 hours later.

I just find that kind of stuff so cool.

Guys in the Hinterlands who work on cars

******

And of course–

My favorite 94-year-old Japanese man was friends with Mr, Honda back in Tokyo. The real Mr. Honda. Why wouldn’t he be???

Sōichirō Honda

And Hondas are his favorite cars. (Mine, too (!!), but of course I never knew Mr. Honda!)

And once, several decades ago, when my client was a successful electronics engineering executive in Tokyo, he and Mr. Honda took a huge group of Boy Scouts on a campout at the base of Mt. Fuji. It was Japanese Boy Scouts/ US Boy Scouts, “the war is over let’s all be friends” kind of thing. There were about a hundred Boy Scouts in one giant tent!

Stock photo camping at the base of Mt. Fuiji

*************

Okay!

Meanwhile…

Sandra and I have only TWELVE PAGES of revisions to finalize before we head into pre-production in NYC!! This includes 3 musical numbers.

So, rather than needing to have the entire script revised by July 7th, we are doing it in segments, for each of the times we’ll be meeting up in NYC before the staged reading happens in mid-October.

Much more manageable!! Yay!! (And we’re almost done with those 12 pages, actually.)

And since I have 4 days off next week (I am trying hard to focus on getting writing done and cleaning the house, etc., rather than freaking out about the loss of $$$), this means she and I will have no problem being ready by July 7th.

It’s really happening, gang!! Yay!!

**********

From Ronnie Wood‘s newsletter today:

**********

And from my desktop stash!!

And you have FIVE days to buys those 3 remaining tickets to Nick Cave’s Solo Tour of Europe (with bass player)!! Most of the tour is sold out.

**********

Also — if you follow Phil, his livestream last night was very interesting!

Kayfabe – June 5th, 2025 (1 hr):

And I think that’s it for now, gang. I gotta scoot.

Enjoy your glorious Friday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

**********

Our new Daily Feature continues!

Gifts Keith Richards gave me when I was a wee bonny girl!!

Wherein I regale you with “songs Keith loved, that he would talk about in an interview in some magazine, and then I’d go out and try to find the record and then buy it with my babysitting money, and then I’d listen to it alone in my intense little room, playing it on the portable record player that my dad bought me, and the song would change my life. “

Today’s selection!! 

Gram Parsons. A dear friend and inspiration of Keith’s. (2 mins):

I knew of the Flying Burrito Brothers, but did not know anything about Gram Parsons util he died (1973) and Keith spoke about it.

This is a photo that is forever on my wall — Keith, Anita, Gram Parsons (and I think Gram’s girlfriend?) at Keith’s home, Villa Nellcote, in the South of France, during the making of the legendary Exile on Main St double-album. Photo by Dominique Tarle. 1971.

Below is a beautiful cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses”.

Gram Parsons & The Flying Burrito Brothers – “Wild Horses”, 1970. Enjoy, gang.

Finally!!

Leave a comment

Okay, gang!

I finally got all the flowers, potting soil, etc., and today I’m going to be able to get all the flower boxes filled and out on the porches.

Sadly, due to Trump’s tariffs on petunias and impatiens, the price of flowers was really high this season. So I couldn’t buy as many as I usually do.

I am of course JUST KIDDING.

But I couldn’t buy as many as I usually do, only because I usually buy flowers over the Memorial Day holiday, when they are always on sale.

But this holiday season, as perhaps you recall, the Agency had me working like a crazy person. Plus, it was cold and rainy.

Anyway, better late than never and at least I have enough to put a few flowers on each porch. And the weather today is still beautiful, so I’m excited.

*************

On an interesting note–

I have a husband & wife client(s) that I usually see at least twice a week.

Over the past 2 days, for very different reasons, each of them has wound up in the hospital and both are heading to rehab for the rest of the month.

Yes. That means at least 7 shifts, gone. And right before I’m taking a week off to go to NYC.

But you know what??? I mean, I’m sorry that they are both having to go through rehab (again — 2nd time for each in the past 6 months), but I am so excited to finally have some unexpected free time to get the house clean and ready for summer, plant the flowers, work on the novel and the play. AND get back over to the shooting range. It’s been a month since I’ve been able to get back over there.

I am a little bit in shock to suddenly have all this time, but I am really, really happy. Everything will finally get done around here. And I can start keeping up with my neighbors!!

************

Here something that’s disturbing…

It seems that THIS place–

— has switched who they buy their fortune cookies from!! They are now just the regular kind of fortunes you can get in any Asian restaurant across the country.

Gone are the uncanny fortunes at the end of a meal!! No irony whatsoever.

Gone are the reasons to save the little fortunes, take photos of them and post them to the blog!!

It’s a good thing that the staff their is really friendly and that the food there is great, otherwise there would be no point in going there anymore…

***********

Okay!!!

I really don’t have much else I can post about right now. There is some major stuff happening, but it’ll be awhile before I can blog about it.

Meanwhile, I want to get started on the flowers.

So here’s this!! From my personal desktop stash!!

And 6 more days before Switzerland!!! (Buy tickets here, if there are any left in the tour!!)

And now I gotta scoot!

Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

****************

Our Daily Feature continues!

Gifts Keith Richards gave me when I was a wee bonny girl!!

Wherein I regale you with “songs Keith loved, that he would talk about in an interview in some magazine, and then I’d go out and try to find the record and then buy it with my babysitting money, and then I’d listen to it alone in my intense little room, playing it on the portable record player that my dad bought me, and the song would change my life. “

Today’s selection!! 

Although Keith has had nothing too flattering to say about the times he worked with Chuck Berry in later years, Chuck Berry was still a huge influence on Keith’s sound when he was young.

And even though it doesn’t sound like Chuck Berry was a very nice person, I loved a lot of those early songs he wrote — especially this one!! — and I know them all by heart. And it was Keith Richards that first introduced me to his music.

Chuck Berry, “Maybelline”, 1955. Enjoy, gang.

“Maybellene”

Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
Oh Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
You done started doin’ the things you used to do

As I was motorvatin’ over the hill
I saw Maybellene in a Coupe de Ville
A Cadillac a-rollin’ on the open road
Nothin’ will outrun my V8 Ford
The Cadillac doin’ about ninety-five
She’s bumper to bumper, rollin’ side by side

Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
Oh Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
You done started back doin’ the things you used to do

The Cadillac pulled up to a hundred and four
The Ford got hot and wouldn’t do no more
It then got cloudy and started to rain
I tooted my horn for the passin’ lane
The rainwater blowin’ all under my hood
I know that I was doin’ my motor good

Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
Oh Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
You done started back doin’ the things you used to do

[Solo guitar]

Oh Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
Oh Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
You done started back doin’ the things you used to do

The motor cooled down, the heat went down
And that’s when I heard that highway sound
The Cadillac a-sittin’ like a ton of lead
A hundred and ten half a mile ahead
The Cadillac lookin’ like it’s sittin’ still
And I caught Mabellene at the top of the hill

Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
Oh Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
You done started back doin’ the things you used to do

c – 1955 – Chuck Berry

Holy Moly — Back Again!

Leave a comment

Sorry I couldn’t post yesterday, gang, but life got seriously intense.

I will go into it another day, but meanwhile — life is back on track and I am in another incredibly happy mood!

The weather is glorious, for one thing — finally feels like summer!

And I cannot WAIT until I can tell you the details of all that is going on with pre-production for the staged reading of “The Guide to Being Fabulous” in NYC. As soon as I can, I will. But I am so excited!

And, meanwhile, I have a ton of stuff to take care of around the house before I leave for a week in NYC in early July — leaving a very good-natured cat sitter in charge of many kittens and thousands of cats.

But yesterday, my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man and I ran a couple of quick errands –including stopping off and buying most of my flowers to put out on my porches!!

I’m almost there, gang. My little happy paradise in the Hinterlands.

***********

Today, he and I are going out for sashimi and sake! (Or sushi and sake, if hell freezes over again…)

And here’s this!! We uncovered it the other day while looking through really old photos — his dad, doing a pilgrimage climb up Mt. Fuji in the early 1930s:

We also found a 71-year-old handwritten letter in MINT condition, which my client’s mother had written to him from Tokyo while he was in Divinity School in Kansas in 1954!!!

Entirely in Japanese. A very fragile letter, on that old-fashioned “Air Mail” stationary. Incredible! It was in such good condition.

*************

And here’s this!!!

Wendy and Kara and I had dinner here, in Granville, on Monday evening:

I got this on the internet– I don’t know the person in the photo

And I wore one of my new sundresses and it was a HUGE hit, gang. It really was:

*************

And here’s this!

Taken yesterday — Bobbie Jo, Bettie Jo, and Billie Jo.

Billie Jo, the grey one, is the one who is missing her 2 back feet. She’s still really tiny but she does great getting around — except that she can’t climb.

And here’s this!! (But don’t tell Little Blackie!!)–

I’ve finally chosen a local vet — only 15 minutes away, instead of 45. This is where Little Blackie will get spayed as soon as it’s safe for her to get it done (yes, you know you’re in the hills when you see a vet’s office that looks like this):

************

And here’s THIS!!! Yay!!

It is finally available to view for free in the USA (click the LINK to watch it on YouTube):

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds LIVE – Accor Arena, Paris – ARTE Concert (2 hrs 31 mins):

And only 7 more days before Nick Cave’s Solo Tour of Europe (with bass player) gets underway in Switzerland!!

Most shows on the tour are sold out but buy remaining tickets here!

And here’s this!!

Another fave “yesteryear” photo of Nick Cave from my desktop stash!!!

************

And other than that — every spare moment I can find, I am going over my unpublished novel from 1998, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, in preparation for its possible home with a small press in Pennsylvania.

And just FYI:

Fall 2001: The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, Top 10 Winner (4th Place) New Century Writer Awards
 
The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, Finalist, novel-in-progress, William Faulkner Writing Competition, New Orleans

October 1998: Honorable Mention in the 5th Annual Writer’s Network Screenplay & Fiction Competition: Curse of Our Profound Disorder, Chapter One

Okay!!

I gotta get ready to head to town.

Have a wonder-filled Wednesday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting!

I love you guys. See ya!

***********

Our new Daily Feature continues!

Gifts Keith Richards gave me when I was a wee bonny girl!!

Wherein I regale you with “songs Keith loved, that he would talk about in an interview in some magazine, and then I’d go out and try to find the record and then buy it with my babysitting money, and then I’d listen to it alone in my intense little room, playing it on the portable record player that my dad bought me, and the song would change my life. “

Today’s selection!! 

(And FYI — Little Richard blew my wee bonny little mind!! I loved him!! And here’s a cool story — when I finally found my birth father, he told me a story about being 15 and how he and his older brother Earl, jumped a freight train in Greenfield, Ohio, and went to a small club by the railroad tracks in Cincinnati to see Little Richard. They had to sneak into the club because they were underage. And then they hopped a freight train back home, in the wee small hours, and never got caught. My dad said that Little Richard was incredible. The club was packed. And Little Richard was totally flying, totally fucked up, and at one point he even threw up on his piano keys but kept right on playing!!)

Okay!!

Little Richard, “Good Golly Miss Molly”, 1958. Enjoy, gang!!

“Good Golly Miss Molly”

Good Golly Miss Molly, sure like to ball.
Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like to ball.
When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’ can’t hear your momma call.

From the early early mornin’ till the early early night
You can see Miss Molly rockin’ at the house of blue lights.
Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like to ball.
When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’ can’t hear your momma call.

Well, now momma, poppa told me: “Son, you better watch your step.”
If I about Miss Molly, have to watch my dad myself.

Good golly, Miss Molly, so like to ball.
When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’ can’t hear your momma call.

Good Golly Miss Molly, so like to ball.
Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like to ball.
When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’ can’t hear your momma call.

I am going to the corner, gonna buy a diamond ring.
Would you pardon me a clip if it’s a ting a-ling a-ling
Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like a ball.
When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’ can’t hear your momma call.

Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like a ball.
Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like a ball.
When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’ can’t hear your momma call.

c – 1958 – John Marascalco, R. Blackwell

“I’ve heard that thing about a day making a difference and all, but this is like night & day…”

Leave a comment

Wow, gang!!

I slept great. My wee bonny peepers didn’t pop open until 5:28 AM!! The sun was coming up! It felt incredible, knowing I didn’t need to spring out of bed; didn’t need to go anywhere or do anything today unless I wanted to…

And it turns out — I want to!!

Me and Wendy and Kara are meeting up in Granville, later, to either have a late lunch or an early dinner and I am so excited!!

Downtown Granville

Not only because I get to hang out with them (yay!!), but also the weather is going to be fantastic!! Sunny. Upper-70s Fahrenheit. Which means I get to wear one of my new sun dresses. And sandals. So I’m finally going to paint my toenails!!

I usually keep them painted from May through September, but it’s been so cold and rainy this Spring, that I haven’t bothered. Until today… Yay!

************

Okay.

A Happy Heavenly Birthday to Charlie Watts!!

I know people really like Steve Jordan, and I know Keith loves playing with him a lot. I have nothing against Steve Jordan, but for me, it’s just not the Stones sound without Charlie.

**********

Another happy thing about today, gang — I’m gonna go outside for a bit and pull some weeds, and then get the pots and stands and flowerboxes out of the barn and ready for when I buy the flowers and put them all out on the porches.

One step closer, gang! It makes my heart sing.

*****************

Oh, and speaking of making my heart sing…

The other day, when I was in Rural King, there was a guy working the register that I’d never seen before, but it was clear he’d worked there a long time, just not on the register.

I was going to his lane but the customer in front of me had a lot of items, so I moved to the next lane, instead. But his lane freed up right away, so he actually called me back over.

“Come on, ” he said, waving. “I’m free.”

You don’t usually see that kind of enthusiasm in a checkout lane, least of all from a guy. So I went right over.

Let me say here that I am absolutely 100% old enough to be his grandmother… but, wow, was this guy totally my type.

The kind of long-haired, tall, dark, skinny guy that you can tell is nothing but trouble when he’s not on the clock. The kind of guy who would have driven a race car way too fast back in the old days. While smoking. You know, a wild thing.

And when he asked me what my “rewards” number was, and I told it to him, he stared right at me, while entering the numbers into the register — he never had to look down at the keyboard once and he got it completely right. “Marilyn?” he said. And then he sort of flirted with me … but not too much.

And , yes, my heart sang!

Shit! I couldn’t believe God still made guys like him!!! Wow. What a great day at the Rural King.

[Tom Petty & the Heart breakers, “Wild Thing ( You Make My Heart Sing)”, 1982]

***************

Nick Cave sent out a really beautiful Red Hand File this morning, affirming the value of having children, regardless of the state of the world at any given time. In part, he said:

“...I think that if we are to attribute any value to the future of the world and invest in its continuance, we must keep on populating it. Children are indicators of our faith in the world itself, they are emissaries of optimism, charging into the future with their pockets full of hope…“

You can read it in full here.

***************

And what finally happens one week from tomorrow???

That’s right!! A mandatory meeting at the Agency to get new uniforms NO!!! Nick Cave’s Solo Tour of Europe (with bass player) begins!! It is mostly sold out, but buy those few remaining tickets here!

And here’s another one from my desktop stash of fave photos of Nick Cave!!

And I think that’s going to be it for now.

I turned in all the revisions to Peitor yesterday afternoon and until I hear back from him, I get to sit here and work on my novel!! Yay!!

Honestly, such a great day around here. So different from yesterday.

Enjoy your Monday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

***************

Okay!!!

Our new Daily Feature continues!

Gifts Keith Richards gave me when I was a wee bonny girl!!

Wherein I regale you with “songs Keith loved, that he would talk about in an interview in some magazine, and then I’d go out and try to find the record and then buy it with my babysitting money, and then I’d listen to it alone in my intense little room, playing it on the portable record player that my dad bought me, and the song would change my life. “

Today’s selection!! 

Howlin’ Wolf, “Little Red Rooster”, 1962. Enjoy, gang!!

“Little Red Rooster”

I have a little red rooster
Too lazy to crow for day
I have a little red rooster
Too lazy to crow for day
Keep everything in the barnyard
Upset in every way

Oh the dogs begin to bark
And the hound begin to howl
Oh the dogs begin to bark
Hound begin to howl
Ooh watch out strange kind people
Cause little red rooster is on the prowl

If you see my little red rooster
Please drag him home
If you see my little red rooster
Please drag him home
There ain’t no peace in the barnyard
Since the little red rooster been gone

I have a little red rooster
Too lazy to crow for day
I have a little red rooster
Too lazy to crow for day
Keep everything in the barnyard
Upset in every way

c- 1961 – Willie Dixon

What Is It About June??

Leave a comment

Or perhaps I should ask, “What is it about September?”

Is it a particularly frisky month? Because I know more people who have birthdays in June than in any other month of the year.

Well, I don’t actually “know” all of these people — but still.

A very happy birthday today to Wayne Lewis!! A previous husband and a dear friend!

These photos are kind of how I still think of Wayne — in the kitchen! We were both really good cooks and had dinner parties all the time. He’s in the kitchen in our apartment on West End Avenue here, preparing for a Christmas dinner party, early 90s (photos by moi!):

************
And a very happy 78th birthday to Ronnie Wood!!

Officially, the first song he played on with the Rolling Stones was in 1974, “It’s Only Rock & Roll (But I Like It)”. And his first live song with them was on May 1st, 1975, “Brown Sugar.”

But here’s one of my favorite Ronnie Wood songs — with Rod Stewart and The Faces. (I think I posted this song here on his birthday last year…)

It is so hard to believe that I was listening to this stuff back in 1973 (and earlier)… I was still just a girl. But I didn’t feel as young as I was. Anyway, back then, music was my life.

*****************

Okay!

I am moving really slow here today. I think I’m actually depressed. I am just ridiculously overworked these days. And I can’t keep the house clean, and haven’t even planted my summer flowers yet that I put out on my various porches every year. And that alone really depresses me.

I feel like I don’t have time to stop and focus, or enjoy my own life because of all these caregiver jobs that take so much out of me. And this is, allegedly, only part-time!! Because I’m semi-retired!! Whatever the fuck that means. Anyway.

It won’t last forever, but for now, I need the work.

Peitor’s expecting me to send him over the revisions of Acts 1, 2 and 3 of Episode 2 of the TV project by noon, and I still have about 15 more pages to edit, so I better scoot.

*************

But first!

I think I should have an entire category called “My absolute favorite Nick Cave photo of all time” because I don’t think I can narrow it down to just one photo–

So here’s another “absolute favorite of all time”!

Okay, enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

*************

Meanwhile…

Our new Daily Feature continues!

Gifts Keith Richards gave me when I was a wee bonny girl!!

Wherein I regale you with “songs Keith loved, that he would talk about in an interview in some magazine, and then I’d go out and try to find the record and then buy it with my babysitting money, and then I’d listen to it alone in my intense little room, playing it on the portable record player that my dad bought me, and the song would change my life. “

Today’s selection!! 

Jimmy Reed, “I Ain’t Got You”, 1960. Enjoy, gang!

“I Ain’t Got You”

I got a Eldorado Cadillac
Wit’s a spare tire on the back
I got the charge account at Goldblatt
But I ain’t got you

I got a tavern and a package store
Don’t matter where I go
You keep the ring in my nose
But I ain’t got you

I got a tavern an’a package store
I hit the numbers, four-forty four
I got a mojo and don’t you know?
I’m all dressed up, no place to go

I got a-women to the right of me
I got a-women to the left of me
I got a-womens all around me
But I ain’t got you

I got a-women on the right of me
I got a-women to the left of me
I got a-women all around me
But I ain’t got you
But I ain’t got you
But I ain’t got you
But I ain’t got you

c – 1960 – Calvin Carter

The Joy Doesn’t Quit, Gang!

Leave a comment

Just keep a bunch of 7-week-old kittens closed up in your bedroom/office 24/7, and see what it does to the joy factor in your living space!

Although a couple of them are really, really wanting to go out into the hallway now, so I have to be careful when I open the door.

And a couple of the fully grown cats out in the hallway really, really want to know what the heck is going on in here.

But since Mommy (Little Blackie) still ferociously attacks all the other cats in the house (she got out once), I’m not ready to start introducing everyone yet.

But meanwhile, the frolicking in here never stops. (I can’t even get a decent photo anymore because they don’t stay still long enough — unless, for a nano second, they’re sleeping.)

***********

There’s not much to post about today. I spent yesterday afternoon/evening, working on pages that Peitor had sent over.

Although I did manage to get some yoga done, too. Yay. And it was during that nano second when all the kittens were asleep, so I was actually able to focus on the yoga (and relax) and not on trying to not step on any kittens. So, double yay.

Oh, and the interesting thing that happened yesterday — my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man did NOT want to go out for Japanese food.

This is a first, gang. He always wants to go out for lunch. But he said he just wasn’t up to going anywhere, which alarmed me a little bit. But we still had a great afternoon, chatting, laughing, uncovering the meaning of vodka martinis Life…

***********

Overall, I’m just kind of a little overwhelmed here. Mostly with stuff pertaining to the TV series project.

Mostly because, every time I find a moment to sit at my desk and get some edits done to Episode 2, Peitor sends over more edits to the edits-in-progress. So I have to stop everything and start over.

I don’t think he has a “pause” button… if he does, it’s broken.

But anyway. I am trying to find a way to balance everything. So far, I’m feeling kind of lucky that at least I’m still waking up in the morning. So we’ll start with that — Square One.

***********

Okay, here’s this!

*************

And here’s this!

A fave photo from my desktop stash, as we await the passage of 13 more days before the next Nick Cave tour begins (buy tickets here! I think there are maybe 4 tickets left…)

Blixa and Nick from yesteryear:

******

And that’s it for today. I gotta scoot and — yes — call the Honda dealership!

They texted me yesterday to say they had discovered that I need 2 different filters and a windshield wiper blade replaced. I don’t know about you, but I’m thinkin’ that sounds like a 15-minute fix, right???

Here’s hoping it won’t take another 3 fucking hours. I like the guys at the Honda dealership but, like, not THAT much.

But we shall see. (My car is leased, so anything that needs fixing, I gotta fix. That way, when I trade it in for a new lease, the value remains really high. And the payments on the next lease go really low…)

Meanwhile, enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

**********

Our new Daily Feature continues!

Gifts Keith Richards gave me when I was a wee bonny girl!!

Wherein I regale you with “songs Keith loved, that he would talk about in an interview in some magazine, and then I’d go out and try to find the record and then buy it with my babysitting money, and then I’d listen to it alone in my intense little room, playing it on the portable record player that my dad bought me, and the song would change my life. “

Today’s selection!!

Robert Johnson, “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom”, 1937. Enjoy, gang!!

“I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom”

I’m gointa get up in the mornin
I believe I’ll dust my broom
I’m gointa get up in the mornin
I believe I’ll dust my broom
Girlfriend the black man you’ve been lovin
Girlfriend can get my room

I’m gonna write a letter
Telephone every town I know
I’m gonna write a letter
Telephone every town I know
If I can’t find her in West Helena
She must be in East Monroe I know

I don’t want no woman
Wants every downtown man she meets
I don’t want no woman
Wants every downtown man she meets
She’s a no good dooney
They shouldn’t allow her on the street

I believe, I believe I’ll go back home
I believe, I believe I’ll go back home
You can mistreat me here babe,
But you can’t when I’m back home

And I’m gettin up in the mornin
I believe I’ll dust my broom
I’m gettin up in the mornin
I believe I’ll dust my broom
Girlfriend the black man you been lovin
Girlfriend can get my room

I’m gonna call up Chiney
See is my good girl over there
I’m gonna call up China
See is my good girl over there
I can’t find her on Phillipine’s island
She must be in Ethiopia somewhere

c – 1937 – Robert Leroy Johnson

Good Morning, Good Morning!!

Leave a comment

Yes, I am up! I’m outta bed!!

And — NO!! — it wasn’t anywhere near 4AM.

It’s seems like 5AM is the best I can really do right now. So why fight it??

Okay, gang. Things just get better and better. Even though I had to wait 3 HOURS (!!) at the Honda dealership after my shift yesterday, so basically my entire day was a washout…

I did get a very quick update yesterday from the small press that has agreed to read my unpublished novel from 26 years ago, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, with an eye toward perhaps publishing it — and she said that just after having read the opening sentence of the novel, she was VERY interested. [Her caps, not mine.]

Yay!

This still doesn’t mean a “book deal” — she’ll have to read the whole thing. But it made me feel fantastic, gang. (When her email came through, I was up to my eyeballs, trying to find out why the nurse hadn’t come to see my client last FRIDAY to see if she had a UTI. And we needed someone to come out and see her ASAP. The last time she had a UTI, she was in rehab for over a month.) Anyway. Many phone calls. Trying to be polite. Not wanting to bite anyone’s head off because I know everyone, including the quite comely but rapidly aging moi, is so fucking busy right now…

Anyway. The mobile urgent care was on its way as I was clocking out.

So that email just made me feel so happy, gang.

And then, while sitting for an eternity in the Honda waiting room… the Agency texted me and said that the wife of my client who’s in the facility with deep cognitive impairment issues, can no longer afford us so he is no longer on my schedule, at all.

Even though it’s a difficult situation for his family, and I really like him, that news suddenly and quite wonderfully freed up FIVE HOURS of my schedule, indefinitely!!! Yay!!

Because I of course received many many WhatsApp texts from Peitor yesterday, needing me to look over many many edits on Episode 2. (And I did finally get to sit down at my desk last night, after dinner. And the edits were GREAT.)

And I’ve decided to start illegally acquiring Adderall in order to get all of this stuff — revise a novel, revise a play for Off-Broadway, write a television series — DONE! Yay!

[I am, of course, totally kidding. Who the fuck has time to be addicted to Adderall right now??]

************

Okay!!

Here’s this!!

Yesterday, I discovered a playlist of ALL my favorite songs from 2024!! So I thought, hmmm, and I hit the play button and drove off to town.

Wow, so bittersweet. So amazing. Most of the songs were the songs I’d listen to while driving back & forth to see my dad last year, during the final year of his life.

When THIS song came on, my heart hit the moon!! I immediately remembered how much I not only LOVE the sound of Johnny Depp’s voice, but this song, specifically, means so much to me. I loved Jim Carroll so much. He was such a big part of NYC for me in the 1980s.

The Hollywood Vampires’ version of “People Who Died”. (Song written by Jim Carroll, who, as fate would have it, died.)

I don’t really know what Johnny Depp is up to. The last I saw on Instagram was this (not smoking, but at least drinking…so, yay!):

*************

And here’s this!!

Just coz I’m not sure how he thinks we’re supposed to wait 14 more days before he goes on tour again for 912 months… (most shows are sold out already, but buy tickets here!!) Another personal fave photo from my desktop stash!!

And speaking of Nick Cave…

He sent out a quick Red Hand File yesterday, wherein he revealed that he and I have only ONE movie in common on the “favorites” list. He chose Living In Oblivion as the “movie that makes him laugh”.

[I love this movie, gang. I have seen it I don’t know how many times!!}

Anyway. You can read Nick’s favorite films in various categories HERE.

*************

From James Tabor — A Young Christian Believer Asks Dr Tabor Four Questions about Paul (47 mins):

*************

And that’s it! I gotta scoot and drive 30 miles to see my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man!! We’ll be going out for either sashimi and sake, or sushi and sake today. We’ll see what he decides.

Have a wonder-filled Wednesday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

************

Okay!

Our new Daily Feature continues!

Gifts Keith Richards gave me when I was a wee bonny girl!!

Wherein I regale you with “songs Keith loved, that he would talk about in an interview in some magazine, and then I’d go out and try to find the record and then buy it with my babysitting money, and then I’d listen to it alone in my intense little room, playing it on the portable record player that my dad bought me, and the song would change my life. “

Today’s selection!!

Hank Williams, “Honky Tonk Blues”, 1952. Enjoy, gang!!

“Honky Tonk Blues”

Well I left my home down on the rural route
I told my Pa I’m going steppin out and get the
Honky tonk blues,
Yeah the honky tonk blues
Well Lord I got ’em,
I got the ho-on-ky tonk blues.

Well I went to a dance and I wore out my shoes
Woke up this mornin wishin I could lose
Them jumpin honky tonk blues,
Yeah the honky tonk blues
Well Lord I got ’em,
I got the ho-on-ky tonk blues.

Well I stopped into every place in town
This city life has really got me down
I got the honky tonk blues,
Yeah the honky tonk blues
Well Lord I got em,
got the ho-on-ky tonk blues.

I’m gonna tuck my worries underneath my arm
And scat right back to my Pappy’s farm
And leave these honky tonk blues,
Yeah the honky tonk blues
Well Lord I got ’em,
I got the ho-on-ky tonk blues.

c – 1952 – Henry B. Glover, Shep Sheppard, Bill Doggett, Billy (usa) Butler, Clifford Scott

It’s Gonna be that Kind of Day!

Leave a comment

Yes, just when I thought today was going to be an easy one.

To town and back. One client. A really sweet lady who is (generally) easy to take care of. Get home in the early afternoon, get some more work done at my desk on Ep. 2 for the TV series project. Do some yoga. Have a quiet dinner in the kitchen, sitting in front of one of my all-time favorite shows (I only watch the old ones, with John Nettle in them):

Then off to bed, to study French, then Chinese, then read a little more from James Tabor’s great new (re-issued) book:

Then…

Alas.

Coming home from my evening client last night, one of those things you never enjoy seeing — a dashboard warning light pops up on the beloved Honda Civic Sport while tootling along on the freeway.

So, today is all about driving to my client’s house in town.

Dashing over to the mall to pop in at Rural King then at Aldi’s, to do some quick grocery shopping, since I will suddenly be over there. Then over to the Honda dealership, to get the oil changed, the tires checked and rotated. And SIT in the (albeit, really nice) Honda waiting room….forever.

Then drive home in rush hour traffic.

Maybe get a TINY bit of work done on the TV script — after dinner.

(I’m not going to mention any of this to Peitor because he’s already freaked out by my intensely overloaded schedule this week.) (He’s over in his part of the world, working like a crazy person on Ep. 2 because so much stuff is happening right now regarding our TV Pilot script.) (Whereas, I’m just a crazy person.)

*************

Okay!

I just want to mention a little bit about that client last evening, that I had posted about yesterday.

It went very well — partly because his daughter popped in to see him right when I got there and her visit left him in really good spirits. Plus, it was a gorgeous afternoon, so I was able to take him out into the garden for a while before dinner, and he loved being in the sun and looking at all the flowers.

I was working very hard to keep him in good spirits after dinner. Trying to avoid anything that could trigger him. I tried to keep the “conversations” going, in whatever direction they veered off to, since I generally have no clue what he’s talking about at any given moment.

And when my replacement came, and I was getting ready to go home, I went over to say goodbye to him, and in a really quiet voice (so quiet that I had to lean in really close to hear him), he said; “Why are you trying to save me?”

Wow.

Of course, I have no clue if he even knew he had said it. But, wow.

***********

Okay. So here are a couple of Nick Cave photos from my own really huge, non-Instagram stash!!

And this is a photo from 5 or 6 years ago, when Kara had bought me this really cute photo holder, specifically to put this photo in, because it’s probably my favorite Nick Cave photo from yesteryear:

I have to say, Kara always buys me the best gifts!!

*************

All righty.

I gotta scoot and get this insane day underway.

Have a terrific Tuesday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

*************

Okay!

I think I’m starting a new daily feature:

Gifts Keith Richards gave me when I was a wee bonny girl!!

I am, of course, referring to songs Keith loved, that he would talk about in an interview in some magazine, and then I’d go out and try to find the record and then buy it with my babysitting money, and then I’d listen to it alone in my intense little room, playing it on the portable record player that my dad bought me, and the song would change my life. Here’s one!!

Merle Haggard’s “Sing Me Back Home”. 1967. Enjoy, gang.

“Sing Me Back Home”

The warden led a prisoner down the hallway to his doom
I stood up to say good-bye like all the rest
And I heard him tell the warden just before he reached my cell
“Let my guitar playing friend do my request.” (Let him…)

Sing me back home with a song I used to hear
Make my old memories come alive
Take me away and turn back the years
Sing Me Back Home before I die

I recall last Sunday morning a choir from off the street
Came in to sing a few old gospel songs
And I heard him tell the singers “There’s a song my mama sang
Could I hear it once before you move along?”

Sing me back home with a song I used to hear
Make my old memories come alive
Take me away and turn back the years
Sing Me Back Home before I die

Sing Me Back Home before I die

c- 1967 Merle Haggard