No NO No!! People keep dying! We must stop this thing from happening.

All the good ones are dying this year. What I really mean, people i really like or admire are dying this year. Andy Williams passed away and although he lived a long respectable life and made many people happy with his smooth almost innocent sounding crooning, it still sucks when the news flashes a headline that someone we like has passed away.
A quick list of people I didn't know personally, but admired for various reasons who have died include Christopher Hitchens, Nora Ephron and now Andy Williams. Nora Ephron was particularly special to me because i loved her early essays she wrote for Esquire and she entered the literary world in the 60's and 70's when it was dominated by men who prowled their industry like lions, examples of ego and bluster like Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe, Christopher Hitchens, Truman Capote,Gore Vidal and Martin Amis to name a few. In short, you should check out her volumes of hilarious and dry essays sometime- they are like gifts on Christmas, nice surprises of honesty and men and women could enjoy them. Christopher Hitchens was another favorite of mine, I started reading his works in high school, then college, then kept it a habit, using the internet to search for his later Vanity Fair articles and interviews he would do. He was always funny to me, sometimes unwittingly funny, just his purposeful (not on purpose) look of swagger, brushed back mane of hair, large watery eyes that spoke of long nights in British pubs arguing with early friends during his college years. He was a "character" but he had real talent. He was uneven as a writer, sometimes spot on, sometimes rambling but his delivery was honest. He changed his mind about politics later in life, deciding to be pro -war after 9/11 but his ditractors (most of them) forgave him for they seemed to see it is either a sign of his growing old, or just a way to be contradictory. Whatever his personal beliefs, I just kept loving his work. He was human. He was flawed and I do miss seeing something new from him on the web.

Andy Williams is a weird one for me. I am not a big crooner fan, never saw the big deal about Sinatra or anyone in that genre. But, I do have very early memories of my parents playing Andy Williams records in one of our early homes, which may explain why my ears always perk up when his songs are played. One day, years ago, I heard Moon River, and it was love at first sound. Yes we've all heard parts of it in movies, ads, or general pop culture but I heard the entire song and could not believe the sound of his voice. It was, as they say, like "buttah". I am picking on this one song because I've heard his other songs and this one is my favorite. It sounds innocent, sweet but also has a very understated darkness to it, haunting. Of course, during my more moody days, i agreed with other lyric interpreters that Moon River is really talking about death. So, when people slow dance to it at weddings, they are dancing a macabre sweep to crinoline and lace. It may just be about old memories or just happiness. The lyrics are wonderfully open to interpretation and that is it's beauty. RIP Andy Williams, not that ghosts read the internet (but I hear the read FB)...but a lot of people will miss this voice.

Avett Brothers need your vote.

My message to you today is support good music. Everyone has their own taste . I offer the Avett Brothers as a fine example of skill, earnest songwriting, and fine sound. Please support them by buying tracks from their new album and try to catch them live. I am still getting over (mentally) a 3 day music festival. Wish me luck on that. We were in the sand and sun for about 12 hours each day, camping out for our fave bands, stopping in on smaller sets, hearing new talent, meeting cool people from all over the country who trecked onto our pretty beaches. 35, 000 tickets sold to Deluna Fest this year, we have loved every year and this one was the best so far. Live music has always been a priority for me, luckily I met a partner who enjoys it also, and was big into music before we met. Sometimes, it helps when your man has some common ground with you, right? Anyway,enjoy this nice tidy Vanity Fair link http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/10/hot-tracks-avett-brothers and get some Avett Brothers this month. Am I biased, yes. That's what blogs are for. I am hoping Avett Brothers come to Deluna Fest next year, so this is my way of sending them a silent message....

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Hello my friends! Today is "Talk Like a Pirate" day (yes for real) so this will make your day truly fun. To go full on "pirate" here are some helpful tips:

*You really should not have bathed the last 3 days. Pirates lived on ships for log periods of time, so rarely got a real bath in. Just splash some fresh water on your pits and go free into the public confident in your pirate swagger. 

*Brush your teeth- HAR! that's for weaklings. Pick your teeth with the rib bone of a ship rat and join the ranks of the truly scary pirates. 

*Learn how to smell the air for land ahoy. Simply stick your nose in the air, close your eyes, and let the gentle breeze waft past, taking in any signs of land nearby. Reverse pirate- if you're already on land, stick your nose up and wait for the scent of salt water. Hmm. brackish bay stink is always refreshing!

*Make your bad neighbors walk the plank. Build a long plank off a ship (or land bluff) and camouflage it until needed. When your neighbors crank up the Kanye West at 2a.m. (or worse, Katy Perry), just put them in your car, drive to your hidden pirate plank, and make them really walk the line. 

*Pillage the nearest country for their women, food and gold. Just do it! YOLO! What are you waiting for? And other cliches to follow. 

* Father children in many lands..little pirate babies are so much fun and cute to boot. Send their mamas bars of silver often and visit on holidays. Baby pirates need their daddies too.

*Talk like a pirate as much as possible, "Arrg! Ahoy ! " are the only pirate sayings i can think of, so watch Pirates of the Caribbean with Mr. Depp to catch up. 

*Get an eye patch, a parrot, and a pirate flag (most available in Tampa, Florida..trust me). 

Have fun pirates!! 

ponderous

Let's take a moment to ponder the image below. Many people in our country are getting up in arms over the food policing of our nation by politicians. "Get your hands off my fat ass, my vagina, and my children's happy meals!" seems to be a common battle lately, private citizens drawing their lines in the sand on what policy makers have a right to decide for them.

 My thoughts on this issue are unusual for my normal anti- policing stances. This image says alot about how our country "grew" the past century. our houses got bigger, our SUVs got bigger, our dreams got bigger, our wallets (for the most part) got bigger, and our butts got bigger too. I've always been a BIG believer in downsizing and simplifying  - so this NYC law making larger cups of soda less attainable has an appeal to my sensibilities. Sometimes, we need to start with simple changes to create larger solutions. Yes we have the right to eat and drink whatever we want - freedom. But I like that someone is taking a small stance against the soda industry to say that Big Sugar is not a food group. Even if that's not the legal reasoning for it, i like it anyway. Unlike the gun owning issue people get all crazy about, I wish we could appreciate that healthier thinking sometimes begins with a leader who says "enough is enough." 

Marriage Tips from ye old advice dispenser.

Hello cats and dogs, it's been a while again. Since our latest move our lives have been infused with more social activity than ever, which is a good thing, trust that. Now, on the aftermath of my 10 year wedding anniversary, I am offering you a few tips to keep that love alive in your own life. Because, as the oldest child in my family, I know everything and have experienced everything, so feel morally obligated to give you my best advice on my whole 38 years of life experience, especially on my super perfect past love lives and the one I hold dear now.

Here goes:

1. Change the tune - literally, change the radio station in your loved one's vehicles. My husband and I often trade vehicles, depending on what we need it for like shopping, salvaging, beaching, hunting whales, bringing home Milton Florida wildebeasts to graze in our backyard. I like to stir the pot in a relationship, I hear it's good for couples. So, when I "borrow" my husband's usual ride, I like to change his programmed radio stations from rock to NPR, and leave it fully blasted. This makes for a fun moment in love when he gets up at 6 a.m. for work, gets in his vehicle and gets to hear the soothing, nasal, whiny, enduring voices of the NPR morning staff, gently delivering the hard news with a Midwestern twang and subtle left tilt (ever so slight). I find this to be a great way to keep the love alive, and to remind my husband that indeed, love is blind to everything, even our personal music choices.

2. Text with sass - I find texting to be dull, i don't do it often, sometimes during football games or holiday mass text messages (Hey, happy holidays! talk to you next year!). I like the tangible big feel of our home p.c. and keyboard and find texting about as appealing as shaving my toenails. However, sometimes in this modern world of love, texting your sig other can broaden your romantic horizons. For example, when my man sends something like "You are adored, you are a wonderful mother, and I love you", I like to respond via text with something like this - "Whatever,  hooker!".   This warms the cockles of my man's heart for sure and let's him know I have always got his back.

3. Watch violent tv shows together nightly - we have found in our ten years experience that shows like Law and Order (the new ones not the old ones with Lenny that I LOVE), CSI,  Cold Case, and the like...make us feel all warm and cozy when we feel lost in our relationship. So putting on about 4 hours of any of these shows in a row at night, reminds us how lucky we are, not being raped, crimed against (yes that a phrase),  sitting in a jail cell, or being a bad person in general. It's true, these shows further strengthen the bonds that tie us together, enforcing our beliefs that somewhere in a bright neon jungle of strippers, jetskis, aqua water, and lab coats, Horatio from CSI is going to peer at us from our t.v. screen, and say "I think they're going to make it."

4. - don't listen to anyone else's advice folks. Ta ta for now and hold onto your spouse for dear life. It's tough out there.

it's going to be ok.

This is one of my favorite scenes in any Monty Python film, sketch, outtake, or archive (and we have many in our home). I'm not uploading the scene via youtube because sometimes one still from a film says it all. Knowing what happens before this scene, and what happens after the scene is a part of being a Monty Python fan. But if you were to only see this picture what would you think? Fake red blood gushing out like a campy horror movie...well I'm just going to say to all those pulling out their nosehairs about politics, that is really going to be o.k.

We always have comedy and we will always have political history (like the picture above) to spoof.