Paris Clothes

  I have been in a creative slump, a mini one, but it has concerned me.
  The wedding is over, I can think, yet.....putting paint to paper...I feel stuck.
  The weather is perfect, and I think that may be the culprit. How do you just paint, when you need to be out in the sunshine. Yes I could drag all my stuff, out back, and I may, but.....moving stuff around can also, stop my progress.
  This morning, I was thinking about my little problem, and got out my Paris uniform. Black shirt and pants(shorts) and ruby red lipstick ( I wear that all the time, but this morning it was with a plan). I feel inspired, I feel free, and I have that itch, to explore my art. Its my clothes!! wearing cute colors in the summer, sandals, matching earrings, little dresses, stop my mojo! No wonder Europe has so many artists, they paint to see the colors, they don't wear them. I am waiting for my family to say, " Mom, why are you all in Black?" Its coming, that is a fact. This girl is ready, " I need to paint the colors, I need to see them on the paper." How do you explain art? Often I will paint the same picture, with different mediums, and at different times in my life. I love to see the differences, and remember how I felt while painting. I can look at the picture and tell you, about me. I hope all the art you look at, you can see the person, know the person, from the photo they took, to the brush stroke that was used. Art is amazing, and we are all artists, trust me.
BIG LEAP......
  My farmers market is full of artist. My lettuce man, arranges each piece of lettuce in a bowl and it looks like a big rose. All kinds of colors and shapes of leaves. The flavor of farm to table is art. This summer, the lettuce man, inspired me.
  A friend of mine from high school, travels with his wife, all around the world . He takes pictures, that will take you to your knees. Singular shots of beauty, in all corners he travels. His work should be in galleries, he is a master. He inspires me.
  A friend of mine from high school, preaches, and fishes with a voice and hook from God. He is a storyteller, and an artist. He has a "fish tale" that will inspire all.
  This week, our supreme court, became artist, they changed the colors of perception.
   Also the stars and bars, of a long ago flag, is coming down for the right reason. Not to diminish our heritage of being southern, but to be put away as a reminder of what was wrong. People can inspire.
  We are all artists, and some just need some old black Paris clothes, a few precious friends, a country that embraces change, and time.......take time, to love, and look around you....its a masterpiece.

June Bug, Slow Down

    Is there a June bug? There must be, I have heard the simple term, most of my life.
    This June bug, metaphorically, is on crack.
     We are on our third week of high 90's, and I cannot get enough of it.
    I dare not look at a calendar for fear, of winters breath! ( you know I will borrow trouble, way in advance!) ( but....I need to store- up, this sunshine! so my timeline is brief)
    I need to share just a couple of things before, this month escapes me.
    One, read the book Bettyville. Especially if you have older parents, or you are old!!!( Its coming!)
     Second, NEVER LET YOUR BROTHER BE IN CHARGE OF THE SHOES!
     Recently, my son Hart, was married in New Orleans. A lovely affair, with new (OK, mine were old, but brother does not need to know) shoes. All of us ladies, painted toes galore, pulled out the heels. Cousin Leigh ( most prepared woman I know) had a bag for our flip-flops to bring, for wearing, as soon as the "I-Do's" came out of their precious mouths!
     When we entered the reception palace, off they came, and went into the cute pink bag. Three pairs of beautiful high heels! Under the table they went, and the party could begin.
     The evening was full, and came to an end. Brother Benjie, had the bag! The cute pink bag, with all the shoes. What happened after that is up for discussion. We called a cab, Leigh made friends with the driver, and we headed to our pad. We get out of the cab, laughing and talking continues, when Leigh says, " B, where is the bag?" Please note, the cab is long gone.
    My brother says, " I left it in the cab, or I did not have it?" I just keep walking, thinking good-bye shoes. Leigh and Bill(the hubs) ( organized people) start calling, all over New Orleans! Nothing, nada, no shoes!
By now laughter has consumed us. I'm sure there are street walkers very happy this evening to have some new heels for their clients!! We are too tired, so we all retire.
    This story is not near over! The next morning , Benjie feels semi-bad? about loss of our shoes, and he offers to buy us some new ones. ( Good parenting mom and dad) So we three girls, tell him they are Manolo's, and every other expensive shoe we can think of!!! He begins to back pedal, a bit.
We are hysterical, from fatigue and its just so funny, so we all head off for breakfast and to catch planes, trains and automobiles! We are not even out of the car, when I tell him I spotted my shoes on some LARGE woman, on the corner , and I want him to go get them off her stank feet! They are turquoise, I know my shoes. We are now crying and the people are scared to seat us for breakfast! Leigh says that when he is ordering her new shoes, 10 is her size, but she will squeeze into a 9 if they are cute and expensive. Malia, our third sister with lost shoes, says that the ones that are lost, were some of her favorites! We will not let up!! Only a man would leave shoes in a cab!! It was the most fun of the entire weekend, and it continues to make me laugh. I think I will send him some pictures of shoes, that will be to my liking! Plus he has to buy Leigh-Leigh a new pink bag! We were all walking back to the cars, to say our good-byes , Benjie and I hung back, and he said, " You know its all worth it, for this story!"  " The Best!"
  This has been a hectic month, hot and filled with love, a good book, a few stories, wonderful fresh food from the farmers market ( The lettuce story to come) and it needs to slow down, you old bug you!

  

And The Brass Band Played On

    We may not all settle down, after the New Orleans Wedding, but we will try.
     The return to normalcy, to each of our own normals, is welcoming.
  
   It was a wedding for the books, and I choose to remember the best parts.

   My kids, all grown and cute, stood out among the multitudes. I think all mothers, probably think the same thing. Not often are we all in the same house, town or country, so this was nice. Brian, so tall and loving every minute of a party, he lead the parade. Keith, quiet and steady, sweating like someone who lives in New Hampshire! Hart, the groom, excited and nervous. ( I was not really going to TWERK!?) Ward, with us in every thought and heart. ( I carried his picture with me, down the aisle. He was never far from any of us)
Emma, taking care of so many, she looked beautiful. Kelly, Emily and the new Nicole, help round out the Baron Family. It was a very exciting time for us, to celebrate happiness.

I had many favorite things, too many to mention, so I will mention two. ( how can I only mention two?)
   The brass band, playing jazz and dixieland music, as we walked down in the park. It was fantastic. No wedding music, or terrible singing, just good music to celebrate love. For one second, I almost started to sing, but instead tapped my feet for a long time.
   Second favorite were the trees in this park. HUGE, OLD, Oak trees, bowed as we strolled down the walk. Moss hung long and low, on every thick branch, it was breathtaking. You wanted to tip-toe, around them, they were the star of this show. I will never forget them, never. The oaks stole my heart, dripped in humidity, and the brass band kept it pumping.

Joy was in the park, that sweet day, and for that I am thankful.
May all weddings have hope, moss covered trees and a brass band to start your journey.
Hart and Nicole, it was grand.
We love you both, very much.
Keep marching........

All Good Thongs Must Come To An End

Thank you R.M. for the above blog title, its a good one!

This is either a blog about flip-flops or my son's upcoming nuptials, you decide.

Maybe I can marry the two ideas?

  Soon my baby boy, is going to be married. In New Orleans, in June! ( pause and gasp, thinking about the humidity!) ( I know)
 My DIL to be Nicole, asked me what kind of shoes I will be wearing for the outdoor, June, hoopla? I told her flip-flops, and was serious. I bought some silver ones, so don't judge me yet! She responded with a " To the WEDDING?"
 "It is in a park, my dress is long, no one will see my feet, I do not want to fall! and it is June in New Orleans!" oh sweet almost bride to my favorite child.
" I thought you were wearing the teal little slid on heels?" Nicole continuing the confab!
" Oh, I forgot about those, OK, I will put them on for the pictures, and carry my flip-flops.", said I, the adoring MIL. ( Now I have to find a bigger purse to carry my gear!)

 Compromise, is a new thing for both of us, but its working. ( I will take a picture of my cute shoes, both pair!) ( soon to come)

Some people call them thongs, I think I have always called them flip-flops, and my panic button is rearing up to anticipate winter waiting for me! and Its just going to be June! How long do I have to be free of foot claustrophobia, socks, boots........I want year round foot freedom......Key West is calling me.....maybe no shoes is the answer.....So I will wear my flops at the wedding and rehearsal dinner and to the pool for as long as I have. Yes I have some black cute slid on sandals for the rehearsal dinner, flops will be in my bag! that someone will be carrying! ( thank goodness for my brothers and having all these boys! and Bill!!!) ( trying to let Bill enjoy the wedding, as much as possible!) ( BUT wife and momma come first, all my girls learn this lesson early on!)
  As for my thirty year old baby boy, whom I nursed until you told me, THEY were empty! Love your wife, like dad has loved me. Be sweet most of the time, and if you feel mean, go run or clean up the garage. Help your wife, clean and cook, it takes a village ! not one person. You have been the best baby , toddler, teenager, grown-up human ever, keep it going. Being married is work, period. Have fun and laugh everyday, hard! Laugh Hard! Listen to all kinds of music, and fill your house with love. Plus do some service projects for others, its good to take all direction of of yourself and help others, I think that is why we are here. Love the God that makes you happy, whomever that is. If you vote Republican ever, which I know you wont, but if that happens, lets talk! The apron strings are now cut, but there are threads that will always be wrapped around my heart. Nicole, he chose you, that is a wonderful thing. Love each other, and laugh, promise me, you will laugh. Take care of what was mine, ( OK he is still mine, he is on loan!) ( OK, he is yours, baby steps) Seriously, you are both so lucky and blessed.
 See you soon, at the park, in June, wearing......many kinds of shoes....in New Orleans with the chicken voodoo people, spreading love and joy!! Lord have mercy, I can smell the gumbo and hear the music, its a Baron/Charbonnet wedding, and people will have a blast. ( would say something in French, but that would require me looking it up and that is not happening, so Grab A Beignet! Bon Temps? Geux be happy?

My May Muse

   David Sedaris is my muse on so many occasions. So when he recommends a book, I snap at it.
   And....he never disappoints...god bless him...an unusual character quality in a human! ( plus, if you know him, he picks up trash all over the place, every day on his daily walks!!) ( love him)

  I thought since I have not mentioned reading to my readers, that I should do so today.

 We are on countdown to The Wedding, mixed in with spring, summer, kidney stones, and concrete!
 My reading has dwindled to a couple of books a month, maybe three if I try hard, so much is going on.  Planting tomatoes, and flowers, photography and painting consume my time. If the sun is shinning, I will be near it, lathered in sunscreen, and happy as a clam! Reading will still find a way, and what a delight to have two good books to tell you about.

  The Undertaker's Daughter by Kate Mayfield and The Splendid Things We Planned: A Family Portrait by Blake Bailey

The first, I read in honor of the Cox Family. I respect anyone whose family is in the undertaker business.
I knew before I opened the Kindle!, that this was going to be a jewel.

Here are some quotes;
     * the obituaries, which my mother proofread with a  magnifying glass like Sherlock Holmes! ( Mary B)
     *My mother, intolerant of noise at any time, was perfectly suited to this line of work. ( I think I may have missed my calling)
     * He addressed most people by their first and middle names, as if to remind them of their whole selves. ( The south is forever doing this!)
     * She could beat a horse down to its knees with one of her prayers! ( Amen)
     *She has never lost her melancholy charm. ( We love melancholy in the south, dripping with sweat!!)
     * Somewhere along the line of development Evelyn made a sharp turn and never looked back!)
     * But when it comes to death, all bets are off, they come flying out of the corners, unleashing emotions that have been pent up, decorum out the window!)
     * they either combust or they are buried deep in the grave ( secrets)
      * there is nothing calm about her
      * we had an awful lot of God in our town
      * I'd felt more air circulate inside a mausoleum than in a school classroom!
I highlighted something on every page of this book, it is rich and yummy.

The second book, which I am still reading, is turning out just so darn good, below I will leave you with some pearls.....
       *cuss out his best bird dog, then pet him as he would a child.
       *The disinclination was mutual
       *who looked as though she excreted marshmallows!! ( a great line, no girl ever Poops!)
       * Weeds don't Die ( a great blog title that I will steal in the future)
       *her frantic smile dissembling some pretty complicated emotional weather
I love emotional weather in people, that is where the stories are. The south, to me, produces the best.
These are two books, that cause you to take a breath and wish that you had said it! wrote it! thought it!

Yes its summer, and so much to do, you can still bring a friend. A good book or three!

   

Throw It Into Reverse, Not Finished!

     I found another Jimi Hendrix movie/documentary on Netflix. Yes that is right, I have gone crazy about my Jimi, research continues.
     Jimi Hendrix-My Train a Commin-and our boy plays himself! This is a true story, very much like the fiction one I watched earlier in the week, but this one had music, lots of music. Its all original footage, and its wicked good.
    When you go back and look at this, you are transported in time. Then at the end when this 27 year old genius has died, you have to take pause. Mother of Jesus, 27 is young, but he lived seventy years in those few. I think he was done, I have to believe this. What he left behind, is still amazing.
   One man, a yes man, who worked for Rolling Stone said, " When Jimi Hendrix came to be, the stars were aligned. Where were those stars on that day in 1970, when he did not wake up?"

                             "The Wind Cries Mary"
                         After all the Jacks are in their boxes,
                         and the clowns have all gone to bed,
               you can hear happiness staggering on down the street,
                         footprints dress in red.

                         And the wind whispers Mary.

                         A broom is drearily sweeping
               up broken pieces of yesterday's life.
                          Somewhere a Queen is weeping,
                          somewhere a King has no wife.

                        And the wind it cries Mary.

               The traffic lights they turn blue tomorrow
               and shine their emptiness down on my bed,
                      The tiny island sags downstream
                      'Cos the life that they lived is dead.

                      And the wind screams Mary.

                      Will the wind remember
               The names it has blown in the past,
               And with this crutch, its old age and its wisdom
               It whispers, " No, this will be the last."

                      And The Wind Cries Mary.

He was a sexual toothpick of a boy, oozing magic. A poet and a charmer, who touched the guitar and it sang.
He sang to thousands and to one.
The one, being me.

                      

Purple Haze, Little Red Corvette, Lucille, and Kurt.

 The above title to this blog may baffle you, but if you are a music lover, probably not.
  Starting last week, I began a look-see into several musicians.
  Some by chance, and some by fate.
  Again, my ride, is a wild one!

  My number four son, and favorite child told me that I should watch the Kurt Cobain documentary. So when my best friend Susan was here, and she loves music like I, we started to watch. Note we watched whenever we took a breath from talking. After a few minutes, we stopped, and shook our heads at the sadness we had seen. Later in the week, I watched it again. Horror filled my heart, and wonder at his gift, left me with a strange sense of "why". I hate too many "whys", they consume me. One documentary is not enough, then I have to read three books, to help me see the big picture, and the big picture is never there. Drugs, alcohol, surrounding yourself with loser people, will never help you crawl out of the whole, yet....there is his music. Amazing.

As the week continued, I heard early in the morning, that the beloved B.B. King died. He lived a long life, so I was not sad, I was so happy that I had seen him live, and he had lived in my lifetime. His Blues could lift you up or take you down in a minute. My guitar gently weeps, as George would say.

Then I got to thinking about all the guitar genius people that I love, and on top of the list is always and forever, Jimi Hendrix. I combed Netflex and found a new film about him, so my research began. It was an enjoyable movie, in showing his shy self, however it never showed his prowess on the guitar. It was his early years, and his playing was always better then the best, I just wanted to hear the songs of my heart.
His sexual being, played by Andre Benjamin, was nice. I think Jimi's sexual tension, was probably palpable, and for sure electric! and people that was without the guitar plugged in. Jesus, he was a master, and drugs were his master. So happy to live in his lifetime, and have his music. My heart is full of Joy!

I finally. I think its Saturday, settle down and turn on the telly and, PRINCE is on , in Purple Rain!

I look around the room, to see if anyone can figure out, why I am having these wonderful experiences with all these greats. From acoustic with Kurt, Blues with B.B. and Lucille, Jimi at Monterey, then Prince! Holla at your girl, this has been a week of guitar playing giants, pioneer singers with their own style, and they are mine!! Well, they have been with me all week, it has been lovely and I am purely drained.
 You can only handle so much great music, said who?
  I am going to crank out some as soon, as I purge my love on my blog.
  Music heals me, thrills me, consumes me, music is me! My soul sings, and this week has been filled UP!