Yes! It is currently only 68 degrees Fahrenheit!! Yay!

And even though the weather app on my phone claims that the air quality is “worse than yesterday” it doesn’t actually feel like that outside!

My hydrangeas are finally blooming around my kitchen porch!

The morning glories are blooming around my back door!

I can at least see the foothills at the end of the road — even if it looks a little “foggy”, I can actually see them.

So I’m in a really happy place.

Plus, I slept in until 6AM, since I came in a little later than usual last night (and had a bit of a difficult final shift with my favorite retired Chaplain , so I was exhausted emotionally). But it felt great to sleep in. And to wake up feeling like certain chapters are simply over now…

And this afternoon, my shift with the retired Minister and his lovely wife and cat is my actual FINAL shift—

And I am already feeling like I have my life back, gang.

And at around 6PM this evening, I will be free.

I have not felt really free (in terms of having the time to just devote to my writing projects) since before the scamdemic hit, 6 years ago. Wherein I basically lost everything except “The Guide to being Fabulous” — the play with Sandra Caldwell.

Anyway!

The sun was up when I was having breakfast, which never happens around here. And since it was Sunday, I decided to watch the EWTN Mass. Even though I’m not Catholic, there are certain things about the Mass that I enjoy thinking about.

It was too early for this morning’s Mass, so I watched yesterday’s, and I really liked Father Ricardo Pineda’s sermon and remarks. He starts at about 4 minutes in:

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Okay, there was a great blog post on Stage 32 on Friday (that I read yesterday) — very timely for me, and maybe it will be for you, too, if you have a new book coming out:

6 Free Marketing Resources Every Author Needs to Know by Jonathan Jordan :

“No matter what, book marketing is hard, but at least these tools will help you make some serious headway without having to spend a ton of money upfront.”

I found the post concise and just really helpful.

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And I also found Andrew Lloyd Weber’s remarks about Broadway extremely interesting.

He made the comments on Instagram on Tuesday, but I only got around to reading them this morning in the Broadway World weekly roundup:

Andrew Lloyd Webber Says Broadway Is In ‘Dire Danger’ After CATS Closing

He said, in part:

"The truth is that, for any show, it makes practically no financial sense to come to Broadway with things as they are. Creators, writers and directors have been forced to take minimal royalties from new shows, often surviving on a fixed weekly fee rather than a royalty. It makes it impossible for young creatives to make a living from theatre alone. Investors count themselves fortunate indeed if they see a portion of their money back. Of course, the established big hits are still profitable. But Broadway can’t survive because of three old shows."

He ends the statement by begging executives to come up with a solution to fix its current financial issues.

"As someone who is still as in love with Broadway as I was when I was a teenager, I beg the theatre owners, unions and producers to come together urgently to address what is a crisis coming to a head. Broadway is in dire danger of rivalling Hollywood’s empty soundstages with increasingly dark theatres."

All of the above has a lot to do with why Sandra and I are shelving the TV project, and also why we’ve changed venues for the Staged Reading of “The Guide to being Fabulous” but I can’t go into any of those details here.

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Okay.

Here’s this–

A shot of the Strand Bookstore in NYC:

But upon closer inspection, we see why I really love the Strand Bookstore in NYC! (It was just up the street from my paradise-apartment on E.12th Street!!)

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What is weirder than this — the fact that I can recognize Iggy Pop’s back in a nanosecond??

From Phyllis Stein! Iggy in Miami:

And Phyllis also posted another great one of Johnny Thunders — a screen shot off YouTube:

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And it looks like we missed ANOTHER one, gang! Jeepers! SO many birthdays in July!! (Including, you know, “hint hint“: the initials are MJL.)

Someone else I totally loved throughout my wee bonny teenaged girlhood and on up into my lofty adult years (wherein he allegedly died by “suicide”)–

But I never really knew when his birthday was!

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Hunter S. Thompson (it was yesterday):

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And, yes! Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds are on a break until Friday, July 31st!! So, you know, here’s this instead–

From that Facebook page that never gives photo credits or the where or when info, but I still loved seeing it yesterday morning:

And after the great big SOLD OUT homecoming bash in Brighton, the tour resumes on August 2nd, in Germany. Buy tickets here!

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All right.

That is it for now.

I still have a few hours before I need to head to town, so I’m gonna go water the many flowers, do yoga, think about LIFE (which is returning to me even as I type!!)…

Have a super Sunday, wherever you are in the world, gang!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Let’s close with this!!

You know, the week coming up will be my week of “vacation”. And it includes my birthday, and my adoptive dad’s Heavenly Birthday. And dinner out with my dear friend, Kara, to celebrate.

And while I have a stack of all my notes for the Caiaphas play on one side of my tiny desk, and all my notes for the M. Christian tribute anthology on the other side of my tiny desk, I really, really think it’s time to FINALLY focus on getting my memoir about my life in the 1970s, Joy: The Shortest Season, underway.

So with that in mind, here’s this!

From 1974!! Yes, the very same year as the nadir of my existence! From the British band, The First Class, a song I just loved!! “Beach Baby”. Play it super loud, dance around a little, sing along and enjoy, gang!!