The fall of Kenya

The agony of defeat

The leader falls

this was the women's leader and she got severe cramps and had to quit the race.  I sat with her for over an hour. I almost had to call an ambulance.  I wrapped her in blankets and got her water and a tissue. she peed her pants.

The leaders of the pack

Beneath the spires

Honeysuckle and white Iris

Mescal Pot

Miss Jessie's Brown Iris'

Beautiful Bearded

Our house in the middle of our street

Pesto Basil and Pinapple Mint

Pope Basil

Russian basil chocolate mint and grass

Tater's gate

The most showy of them all

White Blossoms

WHITE RUFFLE

Lush

Hummus

Sugar Seared Butterfly Porkchop

Burlesque

It was a cold and wet weekend. I usually look forward to the marathon.  I watched for Kat from here but never did see her.  This poor little girl from Kenya had to quit the race because of cramps. My keyboard isn't working very well. I have letters sticking and it is tough typing. I gardened and planted.  Gourds, Hollyhocks, Sweet Peas, dill, lettuce, cosmos, and morning glories.

Gully is having a tough time.  We are spending many hours just holding him and keeping him at ease.

I cooked dinner tonight.  It was good. I made Hummus and flat bread.

I am buying this painting. I  have loved it for twenty years and will have it in my home once again. I am surprised they are willing to sell it to me after all these years. My friend Tuesday Cohen painted it.

We're here, just preoccupied with our little old guy. Hope you are all well. 

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Ama Duende tagged me:

Fill in the blank. It can be as simple or elaborate as you'd like. But as Megan said, it's a good way to get to know some of your vox neighbors you don't know well. :)

1. I can’t believe I’ve never…
found anything I wasn't willing to try at least once.

2. Every time I think about … I still cringe.
my drunken years

3. I wish I’d …when I had the chance.
gone to college

4. I’ve never felt so out of place as when I…
I can't think of anything.  I don't generally feel out of place anywhere.

5. … is my guiltiest pleasure.
Drinking (was)

6. I hope … knows how grateful I am for …
Kevin's mom     her goodness and influence in my life.

7. In my darkest hours, I secretly blame … for my dysfunction.
Society

8. … changed my life forever.
Work

So now I'm tagging some neighbors I don't know well. Give it a try, and if you've already done it give me a howl.

Now YOU'RE IT
Zola Kathryn, Kat, Drude, Artzy Carmen

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Green

Apple Mint

Grassy Knoll

Hostas

Jasmine

Lillies

Vinca and Yarrow

Quince

You Go Girl

Purple

Pink Dogwood

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Biting towel

I need ideas for a raffle.  I am doing some fund-raising for our Employee Assistance Program and I need a no-fail item that people would buy raffle tickets for. I'd like to keep the cost under $5,000.00 in case the idea tanks,lol. My boss suggested perhaps a Mini-Cooper. Hah! A good idea but how many tickets do I have to sell and what would be left over to go into the EAP fund?  I thought maybe a motorcycle, a laptop, a cruise. Maybe a Mac Alien.  A large screen flat panel TV. Let's hear it.  I am open to suggestions. What can I use that would generate current interest and help me raise money for our employee hardship fund? A year supply of Gas? Dinner with Heidi Fleiss? An audience with the Pope?

In other news...

I have been so busy lately that I have pretty much fallen off the map. The weather is nice so you will find me outside planting, weeding, mowing or something of that ilk. I cleaned the kitchen and dining room yesterday and it took all freakin' day. I use a scrub brush on the floors (Mommie Dearest) and have way too many trinkets and chatchkas to clean than I need. Today is dog baths, lawn mowing, and Basil planting. Kevin is claiming to clean the barn. I am guessing that may be a future event from the looks of his sleeping mass across the room.

Between my drug habit and my porno addiction my time has been scarce and my ability to cope with the world seems marginal at best.

I had my review at work and I am a "Super Star"! To that I say humbly "Money Talks"!

This will be my first attempt at a Raffle.  The next one would be for Camp Hope (for burned kids) but we thought we would test the waters with one for the EAP. I would get lots of support from he staff for this one and learn valuable lessons for future programs. Plus I may have to hit them up for a loan when it's all over with.

Ali, I'm okay,lol.  I have been getting calls from people wondering if things are okay because I haven't been online that much for a few weeks. It's just me playing catch- up for everything I have neglected for a few months. Now that our Athletic season is over I will be home several more evenings and all weekends. I'm also looking into opening a gllery when the time is rght.  Currently the time isn't right. Most people don't have disposable cashish to throw at tacky paintings. I alway do though.  I found a watercolor for 45 cents at Goodwill and it is of the Wildwood Boardwalk in NJ.  I am certain Cranky has been there.  It is a little bit Surreal though (the painting) so I had to have it. The hope is that if I sell apintings they will go for a bit more than 45 cents. Perhaps Fiddy Sent.

I have been lurking and have been keeping up with as much as I can. I just haven't been posting or responding much. I am trying to keep my big mouth shut for a few weeks and see if my bad attitude improves.

Let's hear those idea's. Nothing is out of the question. 

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Dogwood starting

Tulips and Pansies

Is that Jan and Peter Brady

Yellow Jasmine

Poke Salad

Salmon Blossom

Florabunda

Tub o' Tater

My fountain

Handsome

Lantern

Tater in a pot

Gate and Jasmine

Southern Spring

Violets

Paperweights on the window sill

Garden Cherubs

Back Door knocker

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I have been missing Los Angeles lately. I have been missing "my" Los Angeles, not what it would be if I went back.  I'm missing what I had when I was there. I miss my home, my friends, my job.

I miss favorite restaurants and thrift stores.

I miss so many things.  Smells.  Sounds.  Temperatures.

I love Nashville. I just was listening to music this morning and BAM!!!!!!!

California Dreaming

Going to California

Californication

These songs all played important parts in my views of LA and also my desire to go there and also leave. As a kid California Dreaming was all I needed to hear to get the "wander lust". I'm a bit nomadic and hate spending too much time in one place. A Rolling Stone of sorts and perhaps my moss is showing.

Late teen years and Led Zeppelin and Going to California brings back another whole set of memories leading up to the cross country challenge.

I was fairly young and had just gotten out of a rehab in Connecticut.  I lived with three older gay guys and met a young man who really loved California.  He took me there on vacation and we moved out a few weeks later. My relationship with him didn't work out but my relationship with California did. I loved it.  I met lots of famous people and even more rich people and it didn't matter what I had or what I was I just fit in. I led a relatively quiet life with lots of activity. I spent many evenings chasing around the mean streets of Hollywood and West Hollywood.

At some point the strangeness of it all became overwhelming and I was crying for my mommy.  I just wanted to go home. I wanted things to be more familiar for longer periods of time. Less transient. I met Kevin and settled down.  I think that in LA, if you are like me, you can't settle down.  You have to keep going or it gets tired fast.  And it did.

Then you hear The Chilli Peppers sing Californication and you get a resentment to a city you love and and become jaded at the shallowness of much of what you see and the emptiness that surrounds you. I just love the gritty streets though. I'm still a rolling stone but I'm totally coated with moss and rolling lumpily along. I miss the anonymity of a large city. Nashville isn't tiny.  It's like the 23rd largest city but when you live in potentially the future largest city everything seems small in comparison.

So I was just thinking about my old haunts and my old buds and thinking how much fun it would be to wake up and be back in my faster life with daily excitement and interest around every corner.  No drudgery.  No time for drudgery. I guess age and time heal things but when you are sailing into midlife it is sometimes comforting to look back where you came from. Look back but don't stare.  Otherwise the future won't stand a chance.

I love the fact that I lived there as a nobody.  If I had tried to be "a somebody" I am guessing I would be on my downward spiral into being a has-been by now. That wouldn't bode well for future happiness.

I'm okay, just missing my youth? Shit, I wasn't even that young there. I'm actually glad I left when I did.  It was just funny hearing those three songs in less than a half hour. I noticed a pattern. I'm sharp as a tack,lol.

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Joe

First the good news.  We will be getting a Trader Joe's in a few months. It will replace one of our Whole Foods Markets. I miss having a Trader Joe's. It will be well worth the trip across town.

Ipod Purple Shuffle

I won an Ipod shuffle as a door prize to our annual State of the Medical Center Address this evening.

I'm a Medical Commercial

There is a commercial with me in it next to a medical information monitor in several hundred locations thoughout the facility. I was walking by one with my assistant and she started laughing.  She said "Look at that ass-hole they have on the commercial". I looked and saw myself looking very stupid,lol! I'm not sure if I matched the medical condition they were describing or if the money I raise supports the treatment of it. I'll ask somebody. I hate having my picture taken.  I hate it even more when I have to walk by a video of myself several hundred times a day. I cannot avoid them all day long. Perhaps a little vandalism ? 

Ball Head

Did Jack in the Box have an accident or did Marketing lose their collective minds.

 I work with Sharon here on our Life Flight Helicopter program.

My Boss

When they were announcing door prize winners I kept hoping my boss would win the huge aerobic exercise ball and have to sit with it in his lap all the way through the meeting. Alas, some girl who will benefit much more was the winner. Could it have been rigged? My boss and I have fun at company things because I get really out of hand and he likes to unwind a bit himself. He's worked here for 40 years.

Chow

State of the Medical Center

Langford Auditorium

White Coats and a Bumble Bee

Some chick just won "Make me a Supermodel" and Kevin said "This woman winning bodes well for Hillary". Dipshit,lol.

Oh, the Medical Center is in good shape. We all knew that anyway.

Somebody must have wanted a few glasses of wine or has a brother-in-law that is a caterer.

I'll spare you the link to the Webcast unless it shows me high fiving everybody as I ran down the aisle for my Ipod. I believe they may edit that out. It seemed like all the department heads won door prizes. 

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