My boots listened to live jazz Monday night at the gold dome (Prohibition Room) in stereo, but got left and right mixed up
I just can’t make myself join Facebook with the 77 million of you that are already there. I’m really sorry, sister and daughter and son and all the others who’ve invited me. I know for a certain fact that if I were to join Facebook, it would be all that I ever did for the rest of my life. It’s like television, alcohol and heroin. There are just some things I’d best avoid. However, I do know that MCARP posts there and has an ouevre of putting in photos of his feet. This is my homage to him, since most of my posts nowadays seem to include or respond to him. When the jazz gets going sometime after 9 p.m., you never know what’ll happen. Often it’s OK, but just OK. However, every once in awhile, it’s a real treat. The mix of musicians and crowd and the selection of music just goes magical. I go most Mondays for those magical moments that can’t be captured. It’s emphemeral art that must be experienced. Cami Stimpson, a chanteuse who just returned from a major gig in North Carolina with Mark Conner, is the organizer and doyenne and has such a lovely voice. She a beautiful blonde woman and is so very pleasant to be around. I’m a big, big fan. Ah, to be 30 again. Oh, well.
Just to remind you, there were some cool nights lately that reined in my convertible joys and I understand Monday will also cool off substantially from the 90 degrees we enjoyed Sunday afternoon. Spring has definitely come to mi casa:
The azaleas in my front yard are budding out and starting to bloom
I went out to get my mail midweek and as I turned to go into the house, I spotted a bit of unexpected pink. The buds covered the three or four bushes of azaleas I have left and they are already beautiful. I can’t claim credit; it was mother nature all the way. I took my mail into the bedroom I use as a studio and office in the back of the house and looked out the window into the back yard and what to my wondering eyes did appear but lush pastel purples and blues.
The vine will take over the world if you don't cut it back, but it's so lovely when it blooms
Then, Thursday morning as I sat in my breakfast nook having coffee, I gazed out into the front courtyard and was greeted by little dots of yellow:
Even a "weed" can be beautiful if you let it
There are other little yellow flowers in my yards, but I’m told they are NOT in any way shape or form lovely to my neighbors who keep immaculate yards. I’ve hired a yard boy to mow and edge and I’ll have to find out what he will charge to spread poison into the watershed or I will face angry villagers with pitchforks, or so I’ve been led to believe by the lady across the street who has a yard that is a full time job at no pay. It’s her son that’s doing my mowing, btw.
Friday, April Fool’s Day, was also First Friday on the Paseo and I went there hoping to see my buddies, even though I was late to the party. Had dinner at Picasso’s with 4-5 of my AA friends and set out to see the art and artists. I wish I’d taken a short note and a photo of the work in JRB Gallery’s front room. I LOVED the bright palette of colors, but I don’t know the artist and haven’t gone back to look at Joy Reed’s invite email. I also was charmed by the micro sculptures in the side room. The crowds seem larger this year and some of the art seems a bit less boring than sometimes in the past. I finally caught up with Oz and the lovely Debster and we even had our pictures taken. You can look that up yourself at www.ionokmag.com, click photo gallery and go to town, I think it’s gallery #2.
I mostly did AA stuff over the weekend. I have new sponsees and I met with them and heard their tales of woe and lined them out with instructions for the next three months. It’s very rewarding to help people get sober and I consider it me paying back a debt that can never be fully repaid. Someone helped me and now it’s my turn. I also watched a packet of movies, the most interesting one was a foreign film, Hong Kong, named “2046”. If you get a Netflix chance, I recommend it. It’s not a martial arts movie, by the way, it’s sort of an erotic thriller, character sketch, I don’t know exactly how to describe it. I can say I liked it and will watch it again. Other than that, it was pretty much classic movies: Philadelphia Story with Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart and Katherine Hepburn is one of my all time favorites; Treasure of the Sierra Madre with Bogart, Tim Holt and Walter Huston directed by his son, John, another great old movie; and, The Lady Vanishes, an early Hitchcock English film.
Last but not least, I had lunch Friday with my Mom and an old high school buddy, Richard Robinson of Robinson and Hoover law firm. We debated together in the way back days and he went on to Yale, marriage to a high school sweetheart, and a lovely home in Crown Heights. I adore this guy. He’s smart and kind and funny. If you ever need someone to collect a debt, he is the MAN in Oklahoma. His wife, Linna, was just about the most beautiful woman in Oklahoma City when we were young and she still is, in my humble opinion. I look forward to our next lunch, especially since Mr. Robinson made me laugh and remember the good old days.
I’m a pretty happy camper these days.
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