Unmitigated

Shopping for Bargains

When vacationing with Leslie and Larry, one must expect to shop. Husband Styro is not a big shopper, but is a very patient man. We do two kinds of shopping together: for original art, and for, shall we say, pre-owned merchandise.

We love to peruse local galleries, and the west coast of Michigan is loaded with art galleries, I suppose to appeal to the Chicago crowd, as well as anyone in Michigan who still has money in their possession. I love to shop just about every booth at the Harbor Springs Art Fair on July 4th. There are a sprinkling of "craft" booths, and many for jewelry, but most are original art of differing media.

As many artists tend to be somewhat introverted, we've noticed that the more successful bring with them an assistant of sorts; a shill. Someone to go out and engage the crowd, talk about technique, and share the artist's vision. Leslie is a big chatter, and has decided this is the job she will pursue upon retirement from her regular profession.

At the other end of the spectrum, on this trip we have hit just about every resale shop in town, ranging from the one that looked like a gigantic garage sale in too little space, to the one that took up a warehouse floor, and was organized by categories. My favorite thrift store up here is the Habitat for Humanity store, which is a fundraiser for its parent organization. There are no clothes there, but every sort of home goods you can imagine.

The fun part at these stores is finding the extremes; the ugliest, the biggest, the most ridiculous. Occasionally, there are just awesome bargains. I found a beautiful, tiny framed print of a goldfinch that looks like an Audubon for 85 cents. Leslie found four gorgeous green and blue Pfaltzgraff coffee mugs for 40 cents apiece.

We haven't forgotten our souvenirs, though. There's a shop in town called Momentum that sells embroidered t-shirts, hoodies, and sweatshirts. Husband Styro and I each got one that says Petoskey, his in steel blue, mine in tie dyed royal blue and lime green. Soon my Michigan hoodie collection will be sufficient to clothe everyone at BlogHer. We can be toasty warm together.

Shades of Green

With a title like that, this could be a post about a hangover, no? But I stay away from alcohol now, because in combination with pain meds, I feel as though I am walking on the surface of the sun. Imagine if hot flashes lasted for 30-45 minutes at a time. Not fun.

The shades of green up here are many and varied. Northern Michigan is an interesting place to try to cultivate plants. Technically, this is taiga, the biome north of temperate and just south of tundra. This may sound familiar to some northerners out there, but in Detroit, we are not accustomed to daylight that ends after 10 p.m., even at the height of summer. Yet, that will be moved back later and later until the solstice in August. The fireworks show on the 4th didn't start until about 10:40, because it wasn't dark enough til then.

Anyway, the temperature is different here, and the deer are quite prolific, which is another problem. It's hard to find something to plant that won't be devoured by the fauna up here.

Leslie loves to garden, and is always experimenting with new things up here. I love to take pictures, so we both win.

Burger K*ng Can Bite Me

We are in Petoskey, Michigan having a lovely, mostly internet-free, vacation with Leslie and Larry. In order to post, we have come to visit the Burger King down the street from the condo for the wireless internet connection and the Oreo shakes. Well, okay, I came for the Oreo shakes. Leslie had ice tea. Anyway, the BK network keeps knocking me off.

On the 4th, we carried on our four-year tradition of attending the Harbor Springs Art Fair. We start with some Kiwanis hot dogs, and take an art fair break long enough to enjoy the local 4th of July parade. A startling difference between where we live and Up North: we were able to pick out our spot for the evening fireworks show, set up our blanket and chairs, and walk away and leave them there, undisturbed all day. Had we attempted this in lower Michigan, back home, we'd have come back to not only find the blanket gone, and someone in our place, they'd have been waving the $20 in our face that they got for selling our stuff.

This year's parade featured a great inspiration for me. A few weeks ago, I asked Captain Dumbass about sending me a Vancouver Olympics souvenir, in exchange for which, I would send him a local t-shirt for his collection (he wears a large, ladies). One of the parade floats was sponsored by a local business that was perfect for that purpose, but I'll let you keep guessing until he has a chance to do a reveal on his own blog.

Leslie and Larry, great art collectors, showed tremendous restraint at this year's art show. Usually, they come away with a new investment piece for one of their places. This year's big purchase was Mercury, Bringer of Coffee:

He's in the condo garden, now. Here's Husband Styro, enjoying some morning reading:

More pictures tomorrow of the beautiful green up here.

An Experiment

I am currently in an idyllic setting in Northern Michigan, and will be for the next eight days. Count on some very short posts next week, as I attempt to channel my writing bug into a slightly different direction. I'll be back around the 13th with more stuff to share, and a progress report.

Sometimes It's Worth Being Dragged Out of the House

As Husband Styro and I listened to Brian Wilson's newest CD in the car on Sunday, I started trying to mentally rank my favorite concert experiences. Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order.

Brian Wilson at the Michigan Theater 2008 - the first half of the show was all Beach Boys and Brian Wilson solo hits. A real blast. The second half of the show was a complete, live re-creation of his latest CD, That Lucky Old Sun. His band is amazing, and his voice still sounds great after all these years. He gets help on some of the high notes by Jeff Foskett, and Scott Bennett.

Randy Newman at Interlochen 2000 - see more details about this show here.

Billy Joel at Chrysler Arena, probably late 1984  - this was the tour for his Innocent Man album. He was at his peak, with tremendous musicians, and great voice. The song I remember most is Goodnight Saigon, which he intro'd with Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man.

Peter Gabriel's Us Tour at the Palace, probably early 1993 - this whole album can still make me melt. There's something about Gabriel's smoky voice, along with the rhythms he puts together. I can sway along with the best shoe-gazers in town. This show had a round stage, out in the middle of the crown, connected to the main stage by a conveyor-belt. The theatrical aspect of this show is unsurpassed, in my experience.

Donald Fagen's New York Rock N' Soul Revue, probably Summer of 1993 - we saw this at Pine Knob (now called the DTE Energy Music Theater [blech]), which is consistently rated one of the best places to see a rock concert. This show featured lots of great soul music, in addition to some of Steely Dan's stuff, and a few Fagen solo numbers. It also feature Boz Scaggs, Phoebe Snow, and Michael McDonald. Walter Becker made a guest appearance, as well, a precursor to their reunion in the very late 90's.

Paul Simon's Graceland Tour at Pine Knob, probably Summer of 1987 - In addition to featuring the finest sound engineering I have ever experienced at a concert, this show featured Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. An amazing experience all around. A version of the same show was recorded in Africa, and is available on DVD. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Elvis Costello's solo tour at Hill Auditorium 1989 - remember the date on this one because I was pregnant with Marie at the time. The opening act at this beautiful, old venue was Nick Lowe, who came out to play with nothing more than a guitar and amp, which he switched for a bass and amp for a solo version of Jumbo Ark. When E.C. played, he was on stage, alone, playing guitar and singing audience requests. Really! A pink gorilla wandered the aisles, picking people who got to come up on stage, meet the man, and pick a song for him to play. And there were no drugs involved, as far as I recall.

k.d. lang at Pine Knob, probably summer of 1993 or 1994 - I saw this show not long after the release of Ingenue, still one of my favorite CDs by k.d. The rockin' part? We had front row seats. Nobody was in line that Saturday morning when tickets went on sale, and we put a request for three seats into the Ticketmaster terminal, just for grins. When first row seats came up, I nearly fainted.

R.E.M. at Cobo Arena 1989 - Another show I remember the timing of because of pregnancy, and although R.E.M. was great that night, I remember this show mostly because it began my association with Indigo Girls, who opened for that night's show. I like listening to music, but I mostly love to sing. Amy and Emily spoke to my heart, and in my key! They blew me away the first time I heard them, and went looking for them at my favorite CD store, Repeat the Beat in Dearborn, the next day. Roman didn't have any, but had had several requests just that day, so I placed an order, and have loved them since.

Amazing how long I can natter on about such inconsequential things, isn't it? Your turn. What's the best or most memorable concert you've ever seen?

Technically, It's a Fungus

When we returned from our visit to Lake Huron, I found these growing in the terrarium where I keep Nora Claire.

That little minx.

I'm SO glad they didn't show up when we were still in school.

Juggling Bones

See, the title is a clever (very) combination of "Juggling Life" and "Throw Me a Friggin' Bone, Here," my last two tales of bouts with Modern Medicine. Since this is an up date on both, I thought I'd be clever (very), and....never mind. Just read.

The Back

My back is still kind of sucky, although there are lights on several frontiers. Those could be trains waiting to squish me into oblivion, and some days, I might well appreciate that. About ten days ago, I started physical therapy at a new place that treats only back and neck pain. I have already begun to see results, and had one morning where both my legs were entirely pain-free, which has not happened since September. Thursday, I had my second Test Procedure, a Medial Branch Block of the Lumbar area. I'm developing quite a facility with the related terminology. If this test provides relief, we will schedule two separate procedures, a left- and a right-side version of Radio Frequency Rhizotomy, during which they will use electrodes to burn the ends of the nerves that are transmitting pain to my brain. Speaking of which...

The Head

To deal with the depression, Dr. R. sent me to Dr. W., a very cool, hippie-type psychiatrist, who upped slightly my anti-depressants, and sent me to a social worker, Ms. M. to work with me on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) a technique used both for pain sufferers and veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. So you see, I am in elite company. Wednesday, she let me natter on about myself for an hour. What's not to love? Speaking of love....

The Girly Bits

Doctor Stirrrups ordered an ultrasound which showed that the object on my ovary is only a cyst. "It's not a too-mah."* That just doesn't come across when you read it, does it? And there are a few uterine fibroids, but small, so nothing to worry about. The abnormal pap came back with a result of Abnormal Squamous Cells of Unknown Source (ASCUS), so he performed an unpleasant little procedure called a colposcopy, during which little bits of me were snipped off. It was quick, at least. Dr. Stirrups is mostly unconcerned, and the procedure was a precaution. Nonetheless, I await the results for ten days. That is so not right, to make someone (ME!) wait that long (although by the time you read this post, it will only be two more days. See? That wasn't so bad, was it?).

*Amazing factoid for the day: I've never actually seen Kindergarten Cop.

16,790 Things*

Image from MySpace Happy Birthday Graphics

Today is the 46th birthday of the most important man in my life. You know him as Husband, Styro, or both. Some of you know him as Captain DH, Hacker, or just plain Jim. I know him as Buddy.

As a high-schooler, I was not a girly-girl. All my best friends were guys, and my favorite pair of shoes were lemon yellow Nikes with a sky-blue swoosh stripe. One of the six guys I hung out with was Jim, Maureen's boyfriend. Ever the Huntress, I once wrote in his play program, "If there was not a Jim and Mo, there would definitely be a Jim and Mary." Alcohol may have played a part in this very forward behavior.

Within a year, he and Maureen broke up (much to my future mother-in-law's chagrin at the time), and we started dating. Our first date was January 31st, 1981. Jeezus Crispies, that was a long time ago.

I don't know when I first started calling him Buddy, or Bud. I am big on nicknames (intimacy problems, much?). Maybe that's one of the reasons I love blogging. Anyway, it didn't feel awkward to say "I take you, James Stewart,..." so it was probably after we were married. What it signifies to me is that I married my best friend nearly twenty-four years ago.

For his birthday, I thought I'd share some things about him...

- He is among the most intelligent people I've ever met.

- Although electronic equipment will never defeat him, the Handyman's toolbox has never been his best
    friend.

- He has a wonderful singing voice and actively works to maintain his range from mid-tenor to bass.

- He is deeply committed to his religion, and is an example of the Christian who leads by living a good     life.

- He's the kind of person you want as an employee. Hard-working, committed, and competent.

- He is probably embarrassed by now reading this list, because he's pretty modest.

- He can make me laugh at the most awful things. I can forgive anything as long as it's funny and he    
    knows it.

- He watches more movies in a year than many people watch in a lifetime.

I love you, Buddy. Happy Birthday!

* 46 X 365 = 16,790. See, I'm playing off the 365 Things post I wrote last....never mind.

Don't You Wish You Were Me

These are from where I am right now...







A bridge to nowhere...



Northward view...



It's heavily fortified here.

365 Things

 
Image from WikiMedia PD Open Clip Art

Yeah, right, like I'm gonna come up with a list of three hundred sixty-five things. I cheated on my 100th post, I'm certainly going to wimp out now on my Blogoversary!

Happy Blogoversary to me! So here's my cheat:

3 Difficult Things About Having a Blog

1. Nobody reads on the damn weekend.
2. The occasional lack of inspiration (rare, though).
3. Having to schedule blogging around full time employment.

6 Awesome Things About Having a Blog

1. All the awesome, amazing people I have met online, and even some in person.
2. A wonderful creative outlet.
3. An even better outlet for b*tching!
4. All the Tea and Sympathy you can get when you have a bad day.
5. Tears of joy, laughter, and sorrow.
6. The fact that six is way too few to list the things I love about blogging.

5 Things I Never Expected That Resulted From Having a Blog

1. That my heart could be so broken from others' losses.
2. That my heart could soar so easily from others' good news (Yay! X-Box!)
3. That Husband Styro would start his own blog to share.
4. That I would want to travel to places like Vancouver, Utah, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Houston, and
    a dozen other places, just to meet people. I don't even like people. Ask my husband!
5. That I would discover an idea for a book I want to write.

For my Blogoversary gift, I am registered at Tiffany's. Every girl loves a little blue box. Wait, that sounds wrong. Blue package? No that's not right, either. Blue bag? Oh, dear. Just leave me a comment!