Search and Destroy
My teenaged daughter was running around talking on her cell phone, tearing up the place looking for something. In a panic. finally she asks, “Where’s my cell phone?”
Poor kid. She has a boyfriend.
Angel Baby
What is that saying again about the devil and idle hands? I know this. I do. Keep the hands busy. That’s how to keep the demons away. That’s my version. Usually it’s something to do with the house. Paint a room. Install some wood floors. Venetian plaster. Retile the shower. That’s how I got started with this mosaic I’m working on right now. It was my first mosaic and was actually turning out so well I decided not to put it in a shower of a house I intended to sell one day. I did something else, a quick mosaic of a compass and put that one in the shower.
So this one, I intend to frame it and hang it on a wall somewhere. It is painstakingly time consuming. To shape every piece, I use a tile saw and a tile biter. It’s all made from scraps. Leftover tile from a floor or shower, broken cups and saucers.
The playing card is so you’ll have an idea of the size of this piece.
Is She Really This Pretty?
She’s pushing forty and she wasn’t this beautiful when she was in her 20’s. Probably some photo editing or plastic surgery. Nobody grows a lock of hair out of the corner of their eye. Still, I’m jealous.
Photo CNN
Come On UPS Man
What’s taking so damn long? Tomorrow makes two weeks that the Apple Genius promised me a new battery for my MacBook Pro. I’m having trouble sitting in one spot trying to bang out these scenes. And I hate having this battery issue as an excuse.
I could never use a desktop computer. Grounded to a plug, everyone knows where to find me now (my desk) and they have no problem stopping me right in the middle of the scene I finally figured out with some question that just yanks me out of The Zone. When that happens, it’s like I just got shot.
In fact, I just got shot with this one, “Come here, quick.” I’m thinking someone got cut or something. It’s just something on tv. Now what was it I was about to tell you?
Buss Those Chops
I usually don’t cook stuff they make on tv. I don’t even usually watch cooking shows. A while back, I came across Emeril’s show, a special one for the police and firefighters who helped out after Katrina. This audience was supercharged and damn, the food looked so good and so easy, I had to make some of that stuff.
Here’s what I made, Double-Cut Pork Chops with Caramelized Onion Gravy and Pecan Glazed Sweet Potatoes.
Man, did it turn out well. The chops were tender and the flavors jumped out atcha.
It was pretty cool the way Emeril served it up to his audience. Two firefighters carried a long ladder horizontally, like a tray, with about ten plates of food on it.
Flyleaf
While at that outdoor mega rock festival this past summer, one of the first things I heard was a band on the main stage saying (not singing), “So if you know anybody who wants to jump, don’t let ‘em do it, man.” Okay. This isn’t the first time I ask myself what the hell am I doing here?
One thing all bands did and I don’t notice it so much here, but over there, it was “motherfucker this” and “motherfucker that”. I asked some people in the crowd if they liked that and they said they did indeed, only if the band was American. Strange.
Then there was this one band we had to hear because the lead singer was female, we knew one of their songs, and we thought we could get up close to the stage. We did. This band came out and this was all they said, “We’re Flyleaf. We’re from Texas.” Then they totally rocked the house.
The lyrics in their songs were so much more hopeful than much of the other stuff we heard out there. They blew us away. I bought their CD as soon as we got home. It’s at the top of my playlist. I love this band.
So imagine the shock when checking them out on the internet. People who listen to Christian rock consider Flyleaf a Christian rock group.
What? Oh, no way. I’ve listened to all those songs and there’s no praise the Lord in there. Um. Wait. Most of the songs do have themes of hope and… What? I don’t listen to that kind of music. Never have. Chant, yes sometimes. Chorus too. But. Not. Christian. Rock.
But here’s the thing. They don’t come out and say, “Jesus was there for me.” It’s more like, “You were there for me.” Fill in the blank type stuff and whatever it is that brings you solace, be it a god or art or a lover, you can plug it into those lyrics. Reminds me of reading Mahfouz’s short story, “Zaabalawi.”
Whatever they are, I’m still listening.
Still, I’m cracked up that all these hard core rockers probably had no idea what they were headbanging to.
Check them out, from Temple, Texas, Flyleaf.
