Wednesday, December 20, 2006

December frivolity

Click on the pictures to see them bigger.

We went to Ann Arbor Dec. 13 to see Dr. John. Freewheelin' Franklin got in to see him for a brief interview and to get him to do some 88.1 promos. Here's the guitar player, who looked a lot like Miles we thought.





Here's the whole band.



Dr. John. I had never seen him. Since Frank had got in early, we had really great seats, four rows from the stage, on the floor, where Annie's legs don't touch the floor. Short people.


Lights on the street in Ann Arbor as we waited in line.


OK then there was the party. From outside it was like watching these women on TV.

























So, many people have their children home. Mine come Saturday and Sunday. I cannot wait to hug them. My mom has been in the hospital but I think she will make it until Sunday to see her grandchildren. I've been shopping. I need to get food for Sunday: chicken breasts, baked potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, deviled eggs, pumpkin pie, that's the menu.

And before that I have the Xmas radio show and Santa Baby on Saturday. My floors look like a herd of buffalo was in here and it still smells smoky. I have out dishes of Mexican vanilla to disperse the smell. Plus I have plenty of incense.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Disaster at cooking school

Today, I was making tuna salad, broccoli cheese soup, bean burritos and pear cobbler. When I was getting out the dry mustard for the soup, I dropped the bottle onto my ceramic tile kitchen floor, and it shattered into a million pieces. I clean it up. Later I am grating cheese and I knock over my wine glass which fell onto the ceramic kitchen floor, and broke into a million pieces. So the lesson here is, don't walk on my kitchen floor barefoot.

Also today, I installed a new doorbell button so now you can dingdong me. I saw my ex brother and sister in law at Meijer and Jim Metz. Fortunately, I had put on a bra, which I had considered not doing. It was a beautiful day. I put up a fake Xmas tree and have the lights on. Decorations any minute now.

Friday night, our friends the Jumps were down from Put-in-Bay. So that whole smoking ban thing isn't working. There was profuse smokage. I hope the Health Dept. is not reading this. I was doing shots of whiskey at the bar. I do not do shots of whiskey at the bar. And although I had not eaten any dinner, I was able to maintain until after 11 when we all came over here and ate snacks and drank beer and whatnot until after 1 a.m. Amazingly, I was resilient on Saturday and did a radio show which I made a recording of. AND, I have a show next week wherein I will do the songs of bands I have seen in concert this year. And an Xmas show on the 23rd. Bonus.

And who has decided to throw a holiday extraganza? Moi. It's Dec. 16, starts around 7 p.m., I'll provide snacks and beverages. Why would you not come????

Here's Jeff.



Here's Jeff and his sister and her boyfriend. We were toasty. More Christa and Logan.

Me ane Mel.

I have cleaned up the basement in anticipation of the party and grouted that loose tile in the kichen floor.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

One extreme to the other

It was so lovely Thanksgiving weekend and now it's freezing. Below freezing, to be exact.

Saturday night we went to Wynn and Steve's lovely Red and Green Ball. Many were in attendance. Many were tanked. Me included. I fell down in the back yard on my way back to my car which was parked at Amy's. Bam, full frontal. No seeming injuries. One of my theories of life is that you get one injury and then it leads to another and another. Or at least that's how I've been lately. Maybe not so much with you.

There was a lot of wine drunken at this affair. And promises of future parties.

Watched nine hours of The Sopranos in the last week. Four more and I'll have season six under my belt. Somebody loaned my three seasons of Nip/Tuck but I can't watch it. Too much surgery, blood, slicing of flesh. Plus the characters are all pretty much unlikeable. Like, get a life. Are we to believe this is what the rich side of Miami is like?

Tomorrow night, GNO. The last one where we can smoke in the bar.

Monday, November 27, 2006

You rock, Coma Girl

This is what I promised I would title this post. It's what we were affectionately calling Kim during cards Saturday night when there may have been some meds mix-up, as in double dosing. Chip said this about her as she was raking in a large pot of our chips. It was an intimate and swell time, no pictures.

Thursday, I went to Sandusky to my friend Tim's sister's house for the big dinner. It was very nice of them to invite me at the last minute as otherwise I would have stayed home and watched rented movies. Turkey, all the trimmings, as they say, for 12 and then about 25 people were there when it was time for the loaded down dessert buffet extravaganza.

Friday, Amy and I were going to have another big dinner with Connie Z, but alas, she was stricken down by illness so Amy and I just drank wine and went to the wine tasting.

Saturday morning I watched "Now, Voyager" with Bette Davis who, long story short, meets a married guy, they have a brief thing, they reunite but not as lovers, he wants it to be more, but as she says in the last line of the film, "Don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars." As they stare out a window of her mansion while smoking nonfilter cigs and drinking old fashioneds.

It was a beautiful weekend, weather-wise. I note this so later I can remember. I erected a new mailbox on a post, which seems just the teensiest bit wobbly. Then I tried to install a wireless doorbell but upon inserting all required batteries, hmmm, no ringo. By this time, my old boyfriend Barker had showed up and decided I just needed a new doorbell button because when you touch the wires together, the old doorbell rings. Maybe I'll get on this but it's going to be winter the next day I am home in the daylight. So for now I have black electrical tape over the wires hole.

It was a surprise to hear from Barker. He lives in Brazil now with some under-30 wife he got down there. He was on a one-week layover between working in Portland, Ore., and going home to SA. We drank many beers and ate the Big Chicken Sunday at Jed's, the only place in BG you can eat on Sunday night after 9. His wife called him while we were at the bar and accused of him of being with "that girlfriend" or however this translates from Portuguese. Alas, c'est moi: always the girlfriend, never the bride. I had told him last year he should tell me how to say in Portuguese, "I like your man but he makes me crazy" so I could make small talk with her if I ever got to see her. He told me Brazilian wives would not think that was very funny. I told him that coincidentally, American wives feel the same.

I have some pictures of Turkey Day in Sandusky which I will be getting up here any day now.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Why me, Lord?

A couple of months ago I started receiving the TV Guide magazine in the mail. Ironic, as I watch less TV than about anybody I know. Then last week I started to get another weekly rag, Time Out New York. What up wid dat? If you signed me up for these, stop it. It's all I can do to get through the New Yorker

NEWS FLASH: The Desimone's Rod's Collison date Dec. 2 is in peril. Missed connections etc. Hmmm. Will keep you posted.

The Happy Badger, an incredibly cool Ann Arbor-ish kind of store that I used to frequent in Toledo is moving to Bowling Green! Here are some details:

The address is 331 N. Main three blocks North of Main and Wooster, the heart of downtown. The phone number 419-352-0706 *as of Opening, Tuesday Nov. 28. A Grand Opening party with music is scheduled Sat. Dec. 9

I think it must be that big yellow house there, next to the city parking lot. We'll have to check this out. It's where I got those black wool gloves that I love so much and I got a pair of mittens like them for Amy. For like $6.

Still on the red wine test. Working out pretty good so far.

Last night, me and Ms. Jenks went to the Ark to see Peter Rowan and Tony Rice. They played with those two chicas on mandolin and stand-up bass. Man, she could thump that big thing. It was lovely. Had the usual fun in Connor O'Neil's prior to. Snowed pretty hard on us at the state line on the way up.




Also, there be cards at Kim and Jim's Sat. Nov. 25.

Tomorrow night I have to go to the BG-UT football game at UT. For work. In a suite, with bevs and delicious snacks. Mayhap I will look at the game a couple of times. Or once.

I will wear this stunning new red jacket I got a couple of weeks ago at SteinMart. NO MORE RED JACKETS! I have to tell myself. But I don't listen. Some time I will line them all up for a photo opp.

Thursday, which looks to be a bee-yoo-tee-ful day, I am unencumbered by familial obligation. Don't tell my mom. More leaves going to the yard waste. Friday, Thanksgiving for me at Amy's with turkey and all the trimmings. No radio show Saturday as far as I can tell. I had one this week that I shoulda recorded, but I din't. Hope I can get one for the holidays as I have a lot of new music for that.

Had daughter trauma last week. Possible eviction. Gnashing of teeth. All done by Saturday night. Think good thoughts for her. And all our children.

Who's tanky? Listening to Coco Montoya. Note to self: I Won't Beg.

My friend from high school who lives in Wisconsin emailed today about her daughter's commitment ceremony with another woman. Then it turned into this long report about all her 4 children and their lives, kinda like a holidy letter. This woman's husband is a Methodist minister who left her for another woman and drinks a ton. There ya go. Christians at work. I gotcher family values. I don't mean HIM particularly, just the whole Ted Haggard I didn't buy that crack to use and that man only gave me a massage Christian thing.

Higher and higher.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Go Bucks

Many people attended the Martha garage OSU-UM game festivity.


The hostess displays the fabulous buffet available.


She later chastised Mr. Bomeli. "Where's the greasy bread," you can just imagine her saying.



There was a fire which these nonsports fans remained close to the whole time.



Connie with Doug in the background. As usual.



Mmmmm, buffet.........







Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Go Bucks etc.

Saturday is the Holiday Parade and then Martha is hosting the Border Battle festivities at her garage at 3:30. She is talking about Bloody Marys at the bar right after or maybe during the parade. Hines Farm has decided once again to hold a concert on an already busy night, Dec. 2, with Shirley King, while we will be at Desimone's seeing Rod's Collision.

Hope you like the new look of the blog. They've introduced some new templates so it might look different every time you visit.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Let the holidays begin!

Yessirreee. Just dash these cloudy skies blues and prepare for festivity! Next week is Thanksgiving already and then it's the mad dash to January and Mexico.


Friday night we played some cards at Ron and Deb's. It was election time last Tuesday and it's a blue country now, boy. See this hilarious piece from the Daily Show.


I am trying out that theory for all of you that the more red wine you drink, the healthier you are. Stay tuned for reports.


Cooking school Sunday yielded white chili, poached salmon, baked acorn squash, pear cobbler. Also I made some lovely little bruschetta with the last of my tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and pesto. Mmmm, they were delicious. And so healthful.


Nate Baker is playing at the bar over Cucina de Bette on Saturday after the OSU-UM game. I'm going there tomorrow night to hobnob with some of my former fellow wizards because it is World Usability Day. It's a day to Walk Your Red Balloon, meaning you should go out and take pictures of nonusable stuff and post them at flickr.com. Here's an example of unusability:

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Dreary November

I tried to upload some Halloween photos but they would never take. Let's move on. A couple of things on the horizon:

November 19- Miss Jenks and I have tickets for Peter Rowan and Tony Rice at the Ark.

Thanksgiving-- extra days off, the promise of gluttony.

December 1-- Local bluegrass band Student Loan has a CD release party at Howard's. They wanted to play live on my radio show but ALAS I have no radio show until Oh maybe December. Maybe.

December 2-- Wynn and Steve's Red & Green Gala at 5 p.m. followed by Rod's Collision at Desimone's where we went Sunday to see Rod's open for Debbie Davies.

December 8-- Toledo Symphony at BG Nazarene Church

December 13-- A foursome will be attending the Dr. John show at the Ark

December 23-- Rod's Collision at Nate and Wally's

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Acquisition

I went to the farmers market and bought some eggs and some organic ground beef and onions. These onions are the best ever.


Then Miss Jenks and I went to the 10,000 Villages trunk sale at the TUM church. They had rugs for around $3,000. We bought some baubles and trinkets.


Then I went on a CD buying rampage. The J. Walter Burnett I got at the Finders used and it's fabulous. That new Will Kimbrough is great. It's part anti-war songs and part wacky stuff like "Act Like Nothing's Wrong." The KD Lang is not so good. The Janis Joplin is great. A couple of compilations for radio show use. The Bitter One is a local band they had playing in the Madhatter while I was in there. And how could you not buy a cd called "It's Christmas (Let's Have Sex)" by Duke Tumatoe?


I should have saved some dough as it's a big weekend coming up: Rod's at the FHofM and Popa Chubby at Howard's Saturday and Rod's opening for Debbie Davies on Sunday. Buckle down and cook weather. It's too cold to rake and clean out the garage. It's Girls Night Out this week.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Cooking school

On Sundays, especially cold windy Sundays, I like to have Debbie's Cooking School. I assemble a boatload of ingredients and make enough food to last all week. What's on this week's menu, you may well ask. I have poached a piece of salmon in Limoncello, basil and garlic. I made corn and sweet potato chowder. I have hardboiled 2 eggs and made tuna salad. I have prepared some broccoli to drop in a salad with avocado, green leaf, pecans and gorgonzola. I have a roast in a crockpot to which later I will add some golden potatoes and sweet small onions. It's 4:30 and I'm about 1/3 the way through a lovely bottle of Australian shiraz. YOU should have cooking school at YOUR house.

The last thing I decide to do is make cornbread. Just as I put it in the oven, Video Spectrum called saying they had a copy of the Prairie Home Companion movie. So I think I have 25 minutes. I get back 18 minutes later, the smoke alarms are going off, the cornbread is done in a cast iron skillet in the oven. OK Cooking School Over.

I also watched the movie Junebug, which was strange but good, no big actors, about people in North Carolina (the Souuuuuuuuuth) who say that thing my cousin's kids say when a conversation takes a turn for the weird: "Wellllllllll............." I recommend this movie.

The highlight of the weekend: The Sonnenberg Halloween Party. Music in the barn. Potluck delux. Fire. Libations. And costumery. Catty remarks. Wild dancing. Flirtatious behavior. Herbal uplifts. This holiday brings out a common marital division: men hate Halloween, women love it. So there were several single married women there who were DELIGHTFUL while their spouses stayed home alone, crying in their pumpkin beers.

There was discussion about what could an appropriate outfit for the Kay and Jacqui party NEXT weekend whose theme is Nature vs. Nurture. I'm counting on my bad nurse outfit to be good, what with Nurse = good, nurturing but unfortunately MY nature shines through, i.e. BAD. I saw a t-shirt at Meijer today that said "I'm the reason there are rules."

On to the photos (click on a photo to see a larger version):
Superlfy Stubbs on drums



Annie with Stef in the background (I need those boots) and Gino the mad scientist.

Rod plays

Kay's back. This was a wonderful costume which I did not get a good picture of. Please send me your photos: debweiser@email.com


Cindy P with a broken toe cuts a rug with Jessco.
More band.

Laurie Sears. Hmmmm.

Crowd shot.

Cowfolk.

Crikey and a tattoed guy.

Why do you build me up, Buttercup baby, just to let me down......

Band. Joe is the radioactive chef.

Best picture of the night, in my estimation. This could come back to haunt you, girls.

Marilyn, you're so lovely.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Halfway through October

The IKEA trip was big fun. We didn't NEED any of the stuff we bought, but we bought stuff.

Today I called to get Dr. John tickets for the Ark and alas, I have called two hours too late to get reserved seats. So I'll have to stand in line in the cold Dec. 14. But that's......OK. Connie Z and Front-row Frank and Jenks and I are going after I bought the $100 membership to buy tickets early. I fear when the public buying opens on Saturday, all tickets will be gone.

This Saturday is the Sonnenberg Halloween party. Much angst is going into costume planning.

Dates to remember:
Nov. 4 Rod's at Filling Home of Mercy in Napoleon, 1:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Nov. 4 Popa Chubby at Howard's
Nov. 5 Rod's opens for Debbie Davies at Desimones.

I'm on the radio this Saturday, 2-4 p.m. and then maybe I'm on Nov. 11. Plus it looks like a lot of basketball pre-empts. Hmm. I may have to take this up with the POWERS THAT BE.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Aaah, fall

The Harvest Party. I bet Mr. Doering would never have believed if you had told him 30 years ago that at the 2006 HP he would have a one-year-old child.

The beautiful and talented Sal.
I bet the picture Chip was taking of me is much better than this one I was taking of him.
A beautiful view from where I have my butt parked in a chair.
Annie Lyle Julie
Marky looks as if he has got a bad sandwich.
More scenery.
The full harvest moon.

Sunday, Amy and I went to the Simpson park. They are promising us a waterfall.




Rod's Collision comes out of retirement for two back-to-back performances in November: Sat. the 4th at the Filling Home of Mercy in Napoleon and Sun. the 5th opening for Debbie Davies at Disomones at Laskey and Jackman. $15, tickets in advance at bsbs.net