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Friday, November 23, 2007

The Egg Bowl

I married a man who doesn't follow football (though he does have a fondness for cheerleaders) and neither does his Dad. My interest has grown from adolescent resentment (jocks, ugh!) to respect for a game that is as much about passion, risk and doing what one can with one's talent as it is about money. Do I follow the SEC? Not generally. DO I prefer Soccer? Yes. Do I wish as many people were interested in art as they are in football? Of course... though all in all, I've realized I have more in common with a football fan than a NASCAR fan... and I prefer an underdog to a superteam.

SO - I always root for the Bulldogs when they play the Rebels and Tech when they play UVA. The Egg Bowl isn't broadcast nationally but I found a website that shows the game's progression here. Rah, rah, rah... lets cross our fingers and cheer for those DAWGS!

update: It looks as if it would have been an exciting game to watch since those Dawgs came from behind in the 4th Quarter (from 0 / 14) to beat Ole Miss 17 / 14. My dad called at the beginning of the 4th Quarter and I knew he was bummed because it wasn't looking good for MSU.. but the sad part is he had already given up on them based on past performance... that's my dad. He doesn't really acknowledge that things can turn on a dime... in life as well as football. My Mom was sitting in the back drinking wine and rooting for her Dawgs because life experience has taught her that things can turn upside down in the blink of an eye. YEAH, team!

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Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Thanksgiving 2007


menu for those who are left behind or who prefer to travel when everyone else isn't... (for the 6 of us...)

one and half roasted chickens
a turkey breast
spinach salad
gingered candied yams
holiday bread
marencho cheese
cranberry sauce
gravy
bread pudding
pecan pie
several bottles of Protocolo!

a complete improvisation...
and another blessing to be counted. The only thing that would make it better would be to have my parents here with us. It is am ambitious drive for youngsters and a bit much for each of us. I miss them.

Mr. dd's parents will be here but we'll miss seeing his niece. We have two friends who have endured divorces from their spouses during the time we've known them - they'll both be here since their children will be with the other branch of their family. I hope it will be fun.

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Monday, November 19, 2007

2007 d i r g e


#1.
As this year speeds to an end I hope to post a number of the blessings mr dd and I have to be thankful for. The brassband that plays in our neighborhood on hot saturday nights is certainly one of them...

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Wednesday, November 07, 2007

The Devil Made Him Do It




By some strange coincidence Mr. dd and I saw the end of a campy, strange film tonite titled "The Prophecy" where we watched Satan, played by Viggo Mortensen eat the heart of Gabriel, played by Christopher Walken... (it was great fun, I only wish we had seen it before October 31...) and then... learned that Joe Morrissey, bad boy disbarred attorney from Richmond, VA is now a member of the House of Delegates of the state of Virginia. He ran unopposed. At least he's a democrat... but is that good or bad? We are very confused.

Um... Did Keith Olbermann really say that Pat Robertson has endorsed Rudy Giuliani?!!! Now we are realllly confused!

Ay, yi, yi, yi, yi!!!!!!! After watching one of the videos below can you determine which character best fits the profile of bullet proof Joe, the teflon former attorney?



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Sunday, November 04, 2007

A Beatnik Wake

a detail of a charcoal drawing at one of the best shows of last season...

A colleague/friend passed through town today enroute to DC. We spent a few hours looking at art, walking the river and drinking coffee and what was once the first integrated restaurant/grill in town. Now it is a very European Bistro and a different place altogether... but there was a time when the long hair, short skirts and left of center lifestyles were radical and this boho hangout contrasted sharply in this sleepy southern town. Now younger parodies of the same ideals are still present... but are countered with high rents, a weak dollar and expensive coffee, wine or microbrew. There is the famous Hemingway quote on the blackboard there:

In Europe we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also a great giver of happiness and well being and delight. Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary."

which is quite sad since a glass is Protocolo (a favorite wine of ours) sells for eight dollars at this chic bistro and a bottle can be purchased at almost any wine retailer for less than seven dollars!

After a lovely afternoon with my friend I collected Mr. dd in order to attend the wake of a well known eccentric, beat poet, art collector, etc. It was facinating ... seeing ancient faces representing well lived and occasionally wasted lives... and wondering if we, Mr dd and I, will still LOOK like who we are when we are in our 70th decade. There were all there... historians with books depicting our departed beatnik in photos with Norman Mailer and James Baldwin... faded beauties who read his beat poems lamenting virgins he couldn't have and the same chain-smoking alcoholics who have talked loudly through every poetry reading they've attended over the past fifty years...

His beverage of choice was some sort of high proof red alcohol that burns all the way down... nothing you'd ever find in the Foam's liquore cabinet... but people were passing the bottle like communion! The two sad things I walked away from this festive wake with are:

a. he loved to collect art, he hoarded it, but didn't like to pay for it. He was pronounced a bonafide thief by many painters of that generation who were present... AND

b. he donated his extensive collection of art to a regional university where I was employed for many years... there wasn't a single representative from this institution... and based on my time there I would have been surprised to see anyone bother to show up. Institutions hire scores of people whose job it is to increase their collections, real estate holdings, etc and I find them to be quite sad... circling the ill on their deathbed. It just gives me the ick... yet I've seen families practically give away artwork from extensive artist collections in estate sales... I don't know which is worse. What do we do with all this stuff? Some artists burn their work at some point in their career. Ya can't take it with you and most cities won't let a family pay a loved ones "death tax" with artwork. Picasso and Paris are the rare exception... but back to the wake....

I knew many these youthful if ragged faces from my many days and nights and that bohemian grill I mentioned earlier in this post. It was the first place I felt comfortable in my own skin after moving here from NOLA and I am grateful for the contributions these boho beatniks made to this city. They've saved historic buildings and cherish many European values that are no longer appreciated in 21st C America...

Someone brought up this division for a minute but then they remembered we were there to celebrate a genuine, if flawed, man who knew Ezra Pound, had a fist fight with Mailer and was once a roomate of Tom Robbins.

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Friday, November 02, 2007

Where did October go?



The Bread and Puppet Theatre came to town a few days ago.
They aren't quite Jon Stewart but you know they are going
to be hitting all the relevant notes regardless of the
weather or the ratings. They are the real deal.


What have I been doing? Missing my blogtime, dealing with slow computers that have been overworked... dealing with a life that is overwhelming at the moment... coping with viruses and allergies that seem to be taking over our fair city... and praying for more rain.


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