can't have a part 1 without a part 2:
on the way over to erika's, meira and i stop to get a bite to eat. we take a little drive and meira falls asleep. the navigator in me decides to take a different route.
i have an innate sense of direction, always have. except on the city streets of atlanta, never will. the map in my head shows that we can go this road, this road and this road and arrive from the opposite direction. it's a good system and a good thing, too. when one comes to the end of one road or a crossroads there is always one road not marked on the sign. i follow my internal map until i see a house that looks like erika's would if coming from the direction we are going...and i drive right past. the instinct said yes, the infuriating know-it-all, butt-in-at-the-wrong-time brain said no. then i saw the yellow bus. the first time we went to erika and geoff's, erika's directions included, "when you see the yellow schoolbus, next drive on the right". so i turn around. stupid brain.
the sleepover party included sylvia, maddie, eowyn, caitlin and joplin. five girls from three years to almost six (sylvia, the birthday girl) and perry who is erika's almost two year old son. so, as you see erika is brave. crazy. nuts. devoted. and she's pregnant with number four! when i walked in with meira, who had awoken the moment the van stopped, the girls and perry were painting magic capes that they were later going to wear outside. each one's cape would confer a super power. sylvia's cape would give her the power to make it snow. caitlin's the power to make it rain. eowyn didn't tell me her power. they had a bubble machine that was a big hit. everyone had to dance around and pop bubbles. perry stood on a chair, that took him what seemed like half an hour of laborious lugging from the kitchen to the living room, and poked his fingers in the machine. then it was time for music.
on the way over i was listening to joni mitchell's "hejira" on my ipod. over the years i kept hearing about "hejira" from various people but never had checked it out. one day i was at an "entertainment" store that sold used cd's, lo and behold they had a copy of "hejira". i couldn't figure out all the fuss at first. sure, jaco patorius is playing bass, but not on every cut, only four. but he does his best jaco performance on the first song "coyote", my favorite. his bell-like use of harmonics on the bass rings out the very first thing. other than jaco i still couldn't understand the hoopla. until i realized that joni paints with words. as she sings and sometimes talks, the words definite images appear one by one in my mind until, at last, there is a complete portrait of the song. brilliant! i went from this sonic high-brow, succulent music to "the little white duck
and other children's favorites" by burl ives. on vinyl, no less!
most of you will remember burl ives from his narration as sam the snowman in "rudolph the red-nosed reindeer". others may remember him for ratting out fellow folksingers, and other's with supposed communist ties, to the house unamerican activities committee. now i'll be the first to say that burl ives has a robust ye
t velvety voice and can deliver a song like no one else. but "the little white duck" with fooba wooba john included was a bit too much in the opposite direction. the cover of the album was priceless, though. with his ham fists and huge sausage fingers, it looks like wherever he would put his fingers on the fretboard would sound the same. and that right hand raking across the strings would most likely rend the strings from the guitar.
after some more playing outside, sans capes as they hadn't dried from the acrylic onslaught, it was time to go. lot's of yelling about not wanting go yet came out of eowyn but i finally convinced her. all the goodbyes said we headed for home...in a roundabout fashion.
eowyn wanted me to tell her a story about "ariel and santa claus". so i began the story i told her a few nights ago. she fell asleep before i finished that night. this time she managed to hand on. the moment i said the word "end", as in "the end" her little eyes slowly shut. meira was already out. i hit play on the ipod and resumed my commiseration with joni and "hejira".
on the way over to erika's, meira and i stop to get a bite to eat. we take a little drive and meira falls asleep. the navigator in me decides to take a different route.
i have an innate sense of direction, always have. except on the city streets of atlanta, never will. the map in my head shows that we can go this road, this road and this road and arrive from the opposite direction. it's a good system and a good thing, too. when one comes to the end of one road or a crossroads there is always one road not marked on the sign. i follow my internal map until i see a house that looks like erika's would if coming from the direction we are going...and i drive right past. the instinct said yes, the infuriating know-it-all, butt-in-at-the-wrong-time brain said no. then i saw the yellow bus. the first time we went to erika and geoff's, erika's directions included, "when you see the yellow schoolbus, next drive on the right". so i turn around. stupid brain.
the sleepover party included sylvia, maddie, eowyn, caitlin and joplin. five girls from three years to almost six (sylvia, the birthday girl) and perry who is erika's almost two year old son. so, as you see erika is brave. crazy. nuts. devoted. and she's pregnant with number four! when i walked in with meira, who had awoken the moment the van stopped, the girls and perry were painting magic capes that they were later going to wear outside. each one's cape would confer a super power. sylvia's cape would give her the power to make it snow. caitlin's the power to make it rain. eowyn didn't tell me her power. they had a bubble machine that was a big hit. everyone had to dance around and pop bubbles. perry stood on a chair, that took him what seemed like half an hour of laborious lugging from the kitchen to the living room, and poked his fingers in the machine. then it was time for music.
on the way over i was listening to joni mitchell's "hejira" on my ipod. over the years i kept hearing about "hejira" from various people but never had checked it out. one day i was at an "entertainment" store that sold used cd's, lo and behold they had a copy of "hejira". i couldn't figure out all the fuss at first. sure, jaco patorius is playing bass, but not on every cut, only four. but he does his best jaco performance on the first song "coyote", my favorite. his bell-like use of harmonics on the bass rings out the very first thing. other than jaco i still couldn't understand the hoopla. until i realized that joni paints with words. as she sings and sometimes talks, the words definite images appear one by one in my mind until, at last, there is a complete portrait of the song. brilliant! i went from this sonic high-brow, succulent music to "the little white duck
and other children's favorites" by burl ives. on vinyl, no less!
most of you will remember burl ives from his narration as sam the snowman in "rudolph the red-nosed reindeer". others may remember him for ratting out fellow folksingers, and other's with supposed communist ties, to the house unamerican activities committee. now i'll be the first to say that burl ives has a robust ye
t velvety voice and can deliver a song like no one else. but "the little white duck" with fooba wooba john included was a bit too much in the opposite direction. the cover of the album was priceless, though. with his ham fists and huge sausage fingers, it looks like wherever he would put his fingers on the fretboard would sound the same. and that right hand raking across the strings would most likely rend the strings from the guitar.after some more playing outside, sans capes as they hadn't dried from the acrylic onslaught, it was time to go. lot's of yelling about not wanting go yet came out of eowyn but i finally convinced her. all the goodbyes said we headed for home...in a roundabout fashion.
eowyn wanted me to tell her a story about "ariel and santa claus". so i began the story i told her a few nights ago. she fell asleep before i finished that night. this time she managed to hand on. the moment i said the word "end", as in "the end" her little eyes slowly shut. meira was already out. i hit play on the ipod and resumed my commiseration with joni and "hejira".
4 comments:
We share a good sense of direction, and mine is also unable to grapple with downtown Minneapolis. Ariel and Santa Clause, quite a combo!
burl ives ratting out communists... excellent mental imagery
i probably should post some of the stories i have to make up to appease eowyn's story appetite. oh, i forgot to put the image of the burl ives' album cover in the blog...it's there now.
We must never forget Mr. Ives fine performance in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."
He should have won an Oscar based solely on his inflection on the word "Mendacity!"
And after all, Pete Seeger WAS a communist.
But I feel that you should've swiped a couple of those Power Capes. I feel certain that I could use one.
But my plans, as always, are nefarious.
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