No wonder my house is such a mess

Thursday night, Amy and I had a little pre-birthday beveraging. Friday we took off for the big adventure around noon. Got to Schedel Gardens in Elmore where it was beautiful and hot. But not near as hot as it got Saturday and today. So in no particular order, here are the pictures. Some big damn lilies. (Remember, you can click on the pictures to see a larger version.)



The wimmen on a bench.

There was a wedding while we were there. At the altar.

The bride gliding into the wedding area.



Manny Enriquez's Bailadores Flamencos. Unfinished.

Note frog on lily pad.









After the gardens, we went to Genoa and had a beer and went to Packer Creek Pottery and then drove up to Point Place and had dinner at Webber's out on the patio and went to a biker bar in East Toledo to hear Tina Lee and Random Blues and then went back to Amy's and continued drinking until after midnight. The next day, I had a radio show and then we went to Lyle and Judy's pond party. Here are some revelers.






Here's a little video of Joe singing Blue Bayou.











So today, I went to Kay's pool because it was about 95 degrees. She has lovely plantings around because apparently they have got some rain in Toledo. Unlike here.

WEirD WorK WEEk

Everybody is in hold mode, like they have Wednesday off so they can't really get into work and then when they come back, they work 2 days and it's a weekend. So it's like the whole week is a weekend.

Yesterday, I accomplished some stuff and did not other stuff. But man that refrigerator looks like a new one. I threw away 4 Meijer bags of detritus. Now there's room for beer in TWO places. Which was my goal. It's good to have goals.

Last night, Amy served up casing dogs and mac salad and we had corn on the cob and pea salad and chocolate Klondike bars for dessert. While drinking wine outdoors in the sunshine. It's what summer's all about.

Now I've decided to take the week between Labor Day and the Swamp off. I'll need the break between summer parties and September, which is non-stop fun and activity.

It looks like Jimmy Davis plays at the Historic Broadway Tavern most Saturday nights. Maybe he'll be there the weekend of Ribberfest.

Now I fear the Kling Riboff is the same night as the Big Fat Momma's Booty Band is at the Toledo Ribfest, the one run by Citifest. Conflicts.

Listening to The Iguanas' "Plastic Silver Nine-Volt Heart."

it's like voodoo

I get all stressed out about my mom and my crazy sister and my stomach feels crappy. Like not hungry but still full. And my shoulders are tight. I called again today and my mom said things were up in the air, like Karen might rent a furnished one-bedroom on her own with some check she claims is coming from California. Like they forgot to forward her mail from her PO box. Then the check will be lost. Hum de dum. Heard this before.

On a much lighter note, we went to see Lyle Lovett and kd lang at Hill Auditorium Thursday. kd has a fabulous voice and Lyle's band is indeed Large. At one point there was Lyle, a drummer, a conga guy, a guy at a grand piano, a pedal steel player, a fiddler, a mandolin player, a guitarist, a cellos player, Francine Reed and three guy backup singers, one of which was Sweet Pea Atkinson who sang with the Boneshakers. It was a great show. We ate at Conor O'Neill's before.

Last night, I volunteered at rally by the river. Question Mark and the Mysterians played and they were great and then Ian McLagan and the Bump Band played and they sucked. But it was a lovely night to be outside and I was home in bed by 11.

Today, I washed the floor in the living room. Last weekend, I did the green room. Just a few more square feet and those floors will look like buttah.

I should probably recognize this turn of events with Karen as a sign to get out now. How far away is far enough, I asked my boss. He said, "Mexico."

not really my problem

OMG I called my mom this morning who had left a message last night when I was outside and I talked to her and she said was I coming down Sunday to help pack up the storage closet because they're moving Monday and then she says Karen needs a bed, did I have one, which I do have a twin in the basement but how would I get that down there? and then Karen has the nerve to get on the phone and say how when they do the credit check for the apartment, since she doesn't have a job yet, she wondered if they could call ME and I told her absolutely not, I'm not being any part of any financial deal for her because I am still annoyed how I gave her all that money to move to California for 4 months and she blew that, so she screams JUST FORGET IT THEN, WE DON'T NEED SHIT FROM YOU and hung up.

one week later

I have not talked to my mom since that phone call when she said she was moving in with my sister. Let sleeping dogs lie, I say.

Went to the Crosby Garden gala, bought a lovely necklace and bracelet. And some earmuffs. Went to Surly Bob's wedding party at Otsego Park Saturday. The Welders were chastised to play softly because of all the babies and children there. Mowed, did two radio shows, watered, had some burgers and potato salad with some wimmen. Bought some used CD's at Finders: reggae, Austin Lounge Lizards, Dr. John, Jimmy Vaughan, some blues compilation.

Amy's birthday is July 6 and we're going to Schedel Arboretum and then to the Jolly Roger in Port Clinton for perch. I'm working the Fourth to take that Friday off.

Didn't go see Jimmy Thackery at Mickey Finn's. Probably not going to see Jimmy Burns at Hines Farm this weekend.

Going to see kd lang and Lyle Lovett Thursday in Ann Arbor. Looking forward to a weekend without many commitments.

more signs of the apocalypse

Tonight I called my mom and lo and behold my sister is getting back to Ohio on Saturday and then she and my mom are moving into some apartment THIS MONDAY in Delaware. So good luck to them. I hope this works out for them. My mom swears she will not pay more than she's paying now ($224 a month, no utilities) and she'll have Karen's 3 cats to hang around with and you know how THEY SAY it's so good for old people to have pets.

SO ANYWAY, it's just the beginning of what I see as a giant CLUSTER FUNK where I will have to pay some money. Sometime. I did tell my mom that I would move her furniture. OMG why do these people do this to me? I'm such a nice girl.

OMFG

So I go to Delaware today, where BTW they have taken down the Marching To Victory Vacation Bible School sign so I didn't get a good picture. And my mom says my sister has called last night to say she's getting evicted from where she lives on Tuesday. Next Tuesday. The woman has been out there in CA all of 4 months and she can't pay the rent. So my mom says that maybe Karen will move back to Ohio and LIVE IN APARTMENT WITH MY MOM. And we discuss the financial arrangements of this, which I point out are VERY BAD.

Mind you, this woman has gone to California with a dog and 3 cats, saying she has a job LA TEE DA and now, four months later, she has thrown in the towel.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE. Just 15 minutes ago Karen calls me TO APOLOGIZE for everything she's put me through (like about $3,000 not counting the $12,000 car I am paying off). And then she meanders on about not being able to FIND HER CENTER and that since Daddy died (in 1985), the family has just fallen apart and what do you have if you don't have family and that she guesses she will be living in her car for a while and that she LOVES ME because I'm her BIG SISTER (she said that part twice) and you know, you can call me a bitch, but I told her that your center is where you are and that for all you thinking someplace geographic is where you should be, THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS. I did not offer financial assistance or any clue as to what she should do now.

PLUS she tells me that my mom doesn't want to move to BG but she feels bad about me coming down there every Sunday and plus she has no one around for emergencies. So instead of packing anything up today and loading prior to the planned-for June 30 move, I left her with a bunch of boxes that she may or may not be using to move in with my sister, assuming she can find enough money to drive across the USA with her menagerie in the vehicle I own.

BUT YOU KNOW, I am still the happiest girl in the world, thanks to all of you are reading this. Party on.

The usual too much of everything

So the latest is I'm moving my mom up here June 30. Got a moving company scheduled. The worst case scenario is that she can't get into the apartment up here right away and she has to stay here for a while with her belongings in storage. Really, how could this be any worse than March.

So here's what's coming up:

June

16-17 Jazz fest (not going)

22 Crosby gala

23 Bob and dottie's wedding reception

28 Kd and lyle at Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor

30 move mom/full moon

July

4 not off

6 off

7 lyle and judy pond party

12 dylan at the zoo

21 kim and jim pond party

28 tunafest

August

4 Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty

Band at the RibFest

17-18 Ribberfest in Madison, IN

September

Five weekends: labor day (Joe Bonnamassa in St. Mary's), swamp, NYC, home, PIB

Going to New York again for the big ABC meetings so I'll go on Saturday to hang with the child

Put in Bay party that last weekend and then

it's

Harvest Party, Halloween, the HOLIDAYS OMG

It's pretty much all I can do is laundry and dishes and food procurement. Because there is just continual hanging out with one friend or another. Not that I'm complaining.

Listening to Todd Snider "Viva Satellite" which Jenks bought off half.com because it's hard to get and it's the last Todd CD we didn't have.

We tried to buy a wedding present for Bob and Dottie at kohls.com but it wouldn't deliver on time so tomorrow night I will stop in there and see if they have the Jack LaLanne Power Juicer, which is what we planned to get them.

June, OMG

Today I went to see my mom. Who has agreed to move up here, so I've been researching places she can be like Abundant Living in Perrysburg or Cedar Park here in BG. Today, we went to the Waldo cemetery where my mom's parents and her sister and her brother are buried. We put flowers on all those grave. I put this Stella d'Ora lily on my aunt's grave. Ada Ruth. Her sisters were named Marjorie Jean, Blanche Geraldine and Arlene Mae. The boys were William and Donald.



Listening to Raul Malo "I Love You for Sentimental Reasons." Drinking white wine and Perrier.

As I drive home every week from my mom's, the other drivers are hideous. Why does some guy think, because HE'S going 67, that he just HAS to pass that semi going 65? Can he not see that I am already in the passing lane going 78????? Plus that part of 75 from Findlay to BG is like the racetrack from Hell. I have to get off at Cygnet and onto 25. Stubbs will recall that I was on the phone with him during that section a few weeks ago and was privy to my bellowing "Get out of my WAYYYYYYYYYYYYY."

Today as I was leaving, Mrs. CL next door came out and I told her I was going to take my mom to some cemetery in Waldo to put flowers on various graves. She told me again about her trip to BG's Oak Grove on Memorial Day where her parents and her husband are buried. Then she says, "You know, we were only married for 10 or 11 years." I must have looked puzzled because she went on to say her first husband was an *ass* . She whispered *ass*. And that the second guy had adopted her daughter as his own. Then she started to segue into a familiar story about some inheritance from the *bitch* wife of her first husband.

Rain Rain Rain! Yay, I thought it never would. But this evening, it's been a deluge here in BG. Between Clay and Curtice Sts.

I've revised my retirement plan. I'll write a blockbuster novel in a few years! Gee, it seems so simple.

Memorial Day

So Doug had this slamming chair, that lounged back in a perfect position and had this excellent tray for, uh, stuff.

Here's Phil making an entrance with a fully folded out chair.


Hi, Chip!

The girls. What DO they talk about?


Donna's butt, which she claimed she had been working off. Looks like that's true.


No pictures please!!!!!!!


A coleus planter.

The lovely Christine. For some reason, I felt obligated to capture the entire Parsons clan.


And, of course, the chow. Meat, Amy's potatoes.


Connie's ensalada caprese, as Gus called and Annette said she thought he was mixing two foreign languages, as he was. So continental, that Gus. Martha's cucumbers, Deb Helmboldt's cole slaw, Chip's beans and rice.


The requested beans, and all those chips. TWO potato salads.


Here's what a plateful looked like.


Cards were played.


Donna thought it would be HIlarious if people all brought beans so here's hers.

Youtube

My first post on YouTube, Todd Snider singing "I Waited All My Life for You" at the Madison Folk Fest.

the folk fest

We meandered into Indiana and stopped at Napoleon's Retreat in Napoleon, IN, about 5 p.m. It had been a long and arduous trip, but in a good way. It was a very cute semi circle bar with about 12 stools max. They were very cordial. They knew we couldn't smoke in bars in Ohio anymore.


Here's the view from our balcony at the Hillside Inn. The hotel was not all that. We've booked for the Best Western for the Ribberfest. $76 a night. Not bad.


Friday night it was pretty dang cold and we saw the Duhks who probably would have been fabulous somewhere a little less breezy and chilly.


The Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band was incredible. This guy could really play the guitars and that washboard woman was out of this world. We hope we can get them at the Swamp.


Here's a close-up of Breezy Peyton.


These guys just played their hearts out. And told some entertaining stories. Unlike the guy after them, Tim Grimm, who was mediocre. Plus they said he won Americana album of the year last year but it was some OTHER Americana award, not the big ones.


We went up to the Broadway Hotel and got a drink for a break in the afternoon of hot sun sitting.


And then there was Todd. I have a video of him singing I Waited All My Life for You but I can't figure out how to get it on the internet. Duh.



We ate some barbecue both nights. Friday night, we took a taxi from the hotel to the fest site and walked back, up this incredibly steep hill to the hotel. The weather was fabulous on Saturday, we got sunburned, we drank a variety of beers.

On the way home, out in the country, we saw a dog and pig running down the side of the road together. We took the interstates home which are faster but so boring. The country road down was nice although we had a detour around Farmland, IN, so we had to go through Ridgeville, IN, where the Top Hat bar served us some Coronas and everybody (OK, there were two guys n there) gave us directions for the detour. We went a different way that we devised on our own. Miss Jenks did some heroic driving.

This weekend, Memorial Day, Cookout Monday eat at 5. I'll have burgers and brats and chips. Have planted a lot of floral display for this. Hope it holds up. My plant luck is marginal.

whirlwindishness

Friday night, I went to the Humane Society wine and cheese with Sal and her sister Lisa who I haven't seen in 20 years or more and Carrie. We had a swell time although we bought nothing in the silent auctions. Then we went to Beckett's and drank and played pool and went outside to smoke (all of us but Sal). We were tanky. I hope Sal got home OK.


Here's Lisa talking to Rodney at Beckett's



Here we are at the wine and cheese.




Here's some chow Sal and Carrie and I had at Rush St. in Ann Arbor when we went to see Norah Jones. Late, but OK.



Saturday, I went and got my new car.

I leased this because (1) my mom, who I have to see a lot more now, had a hard time getting in my Civic and (2) my old friends had a hard time getting in the back seat of my 2-door Civic. Plus now I can sell my Civic for 3 or 4 thousand more than I owe on it and pay that on my loser sister's car loan. Which will defray it by about one-quarter. But at least I have a new car. Which is lovely.

I didn't have a radio show Saturday which is good because I had a ton of stuff to do like yard work. I went to the perennial swap and got some wild ginger from Sherry and a Rose of Sharon. And I got herbs at Calico Sage, basil two kinds and cilantro and parsley, Italian flat leaf.

My kids both called me on Mother's Day although Anne called at 10 pm when I didn't hear the phone so I got the "So you're too busy to take a call from your child on Mother's Day" message. Oh, she's so brusque.

Saturday night, Stubbs and Doug came over and played cards with me and Amy, which was lovely.

Sunday, I went to see my mom and got home about 6:30. Woooh. Tiring. But she seemed to like it. I took her meatloaf and potato salad and beef enchiladas so she'll have something to eat. Which I made after working on the backyard for 3 hours Saturday. How do I do it??? It amazes me.

This Sunday I won't go down because Annie and I are going to the folk fest in Madison, IN, Fri Sat Sun. Actually we just drive home on Sun but I'm taking a week off from going to Delaware.

On the way out of town on Sunday, I saw my old high school boyfriend working in his yard so I stopped and talked for a little bit. When I left, he said, "It's always nice to talk to you. Always." They all still love me. Can't help it that I'm lucky, as Toni Price sings.

Tonight I mowed AND RAKED my front yard so finally it looks good. Maybe tomorrow I can make the back yard look better.

The week after this is Memorial Day already and I'm having the second annual Bean Fest although I hope only Annette and Gus bring beans because theirs are the best. Monday, eat around 5. Tell your friends.

in and out

Note to self: hurricane songs.

So the mom thing continues. She was starving when I got there so we went to Cracker Barrel where she finished off chicken and mashed w/ gravy and cole slaw and biscuits. I had made her a ham/onion/cheese quiche, a chicken pasta hot dish and a cold pasta salad and took some brats with kraut I had cooked and frozen. I hope this holds her til I get back down this Sunday. Hmmmm, what to make this time....

Somehow I lost all her washcloths which I remember bringing home to wash but now they seem to be missing. Gotta get some more o those.

Ana Popovic was v. good but her voice was a little raspy. Monday and Tuesday, yard work and carousing.

Friday night is the Humane Society wine and cheese which I was not going to until Sal said her sister Lisa would be here for it, so I'm going. I may have to bag on Eddie Shaw this Saturday. It's so hectic around here. Because the next weekend is the Folk Festival and I'll be gone Friday - Sunday.

mo music mo music

Today the Atomic Mama announces that K D Lang and Lyle Lovett are at the Hill Auditorium on June 28 and Jenks and I decide to go although we know we cannot get seats together on the main floor so we go for single seats on opposite sides of the main floor about 20 rows back. I hope it will be delightful because I cannot find any seating chart pictures that assure me that they will be better than the mezzanine or balcony. But it's kd and then Lyle with his BIG BAND so how bad can it be?

Last night, Sal and her friend Carrie and I went to see Norah Jones at the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor. It was fabulous. We were very far back and could have used binoculars and the picture I took with my cell phone was worse than the Lucinda one I took so you're not seeing it. The woman sings and plays the grand piano and a keyboard and guitar. We ate at Rush St. where we had some small plates and it was very good although the service was not all that.

Today I had a radio show and then came home and cooked several things to take to my mom tomorrow after which I will go to Mickey Finn's with Jenks to see Ana Popovic. And then back to work on the day the weather clears up. Supposedly. So nighty night.

running on empty

Holy smokes, it's another week gone by. Tomorrow night, it's Norah Jones at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor with Sal and Carrie. I hope to get back in time to see The Recipe at Nate and Wally's. "With elements of funk, fusion, rock and traditional southern influences seeping into their sound, the Recipe do what jambands do best: weave several styles into a seamless whole."

Got my front yard mowed last night before GNO. The back is extremely long but it's going to have to wait until Saturday now. Sunday, go see mom who is having food preparation issues.

Listening to Robert Earl Keen "What I Really Mean." Tonight after work, I got a pedicure and a brow wax from Chip's daughter who is in beauty school. The pedicure was good but the brow wax was not all that. Went to Amy's to drink a bottle of wine.

My crazy next door neighbor has taken to catching me whenever I get home, leave home. This has got to stop. I am not her keeper. Last night, she wanted me to see what her grass cutter guy chopped out of her back yard. Tonight, I had to look at the neighbors' cut grass. Sheesh.

Also, my cats seem to have fleas already. I need to dose them. OK, did that. Probably need to set up the flea catcher: light over pan of soapy water. Did that.

Bought some new clothes today: two pairs of cargo capri pants, a black top with cleavage, a leopard print dress with cleavage. Cleavage is much better with my new haircut.

I think I have a radio show this Saturday and Sunday I go to see my mom and then Ana Popovic.

May 12, Eddie Shaw at Hines Farm . Then the next weekend it's the Madison Folk Fest.

Cleaned the cd player. My, what an exciting life.