Godammitydingdong!

IF YOU'RE FOND OF SAND DUNES AND SALTY AIR!!!!! DAY 3

2009-07-21T18:03:00.000-07:00

Day 1

2009-07-19T15:45:00.001-07:00

I have enjoyed the books of Nathaniel Hawthorne since High School, usually reading one every Fall. My two favorites are "The Scarlet Letter", and "The House Of The Seven Gables." It's been a dream of mine to one day go to The House of the Seven Gables for years now, and today we finally realized that dream.

We spent the first day of our trip in beautiful Salem. Now there's a lot of touristy stuff to get around, but once out of the Witch stores, and wax museums, there's a lot of history to be seen in Salem. Of all we saw today, Seven Gables was probably the most amazing.

The house was built in the mid 17th century by a wealthy merchant, John Turner. Through the years it has undergone several transformations, including having gables taken off and put back again. There's a secret stairway that goes up by the fireplace (added in the early 19th century) which winds around the brick chimney and had my head spinning by the time I got to the top. The attic features the oldest surviving living space in America, and is made up of all the original wood work, beams and joists. Sadly we were not allowed to photograph the inside, but if ever in Salem, this house is not to be missed!

The gardens were simple but beautiful. They were small in size, but packed a pretty powerful punch of color with their geraniums, snap dragons, bachelor buttons, roses and many other flora we couldn't name right off. In the photo above Michael showcases one of the trellises, Michael showcases one of the trellises.

After a walk around the "witch quarter" and the cemetery (more photos of all this to come in my Vacation Spectacular once it's all over with), we had a sit down to satisfy our gastronomic cravings--food for Michael, a nice micro-brewed beer for me--ad we were on our way to the beautiful....
And that's where Day one ends for us, after a 2 hour drive, we are here, in the closest thing to heaven either one of us can imagine. More to come

SLAMDANCING DOWN MEMORY LANE

2009-07-16T16:09:00.000-07:00

I have been a Siouxsie and the Banshees/Creatures/Siouxsie/ fan for over 20 years. More to come on that later when I spotlight her in my living divinity feature. Many who know me will wonder why I haven't mentioned her before now...well I just haven't yet had all day to sit down and write what Siouxsie means to me. It would take all day, and be much longer than anyone would want to read (even with heavy editing).

Still, as I sit here in decrepit old age, I think back, and look back. Tonight I was looking back via youtube, and found footage of this show on the "Trick Or Treat" tour in 1999. I was at this show, and have watched it more than once now trying to find my bobbing head somewhere in the first 5 rows. We seem calm...but I don't remember it that way...in fact this was the very show I got head butted in the face at...by some British cunt come over with his attitude in tow. Awww, Teddy, where are you now? A big FUCK YOU where ever you are, I haven't forgotten you...or that ugly ass Salt and Pepa style leather jacket you were wearing.

2009-07-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

ONE OF MY FAVORITE places on earth is Cape Cod. My fascination with the Cape started with my love of this song by Patti Page. I'd enjoyed it for a few years, thinking it sounded wonderful, but no place could really be like that. Even if it had been in the 1950s when this song was recorded, things surely would have changed by now. What a surprise did I have waiting for me....

Last summer, Michael and I were invited to a wedding in Vermont, and because we chose to drive, we decided to see some of New England before the wedding. We couldn't decide where to go though. I'd never been there, and Michael had only raced through on a family trip to Maine as a child. I had "Old Cape Cod" on heavy rotation all summer last summer...because it just sounds like summer to me. One day I was playing it, and we were both enjoying the song, when we looked at each other and said "Well why don't we just go there?"

With our destination picked, Michael (the man of the house) sat about making all the arrangements. We headed out on a steaming July Sunday and drove from Independence VA northward in a gigantic Grand Marquis (my fantasy car). The road was long, the hours hard, and when we finally arrived on the cape, and got off Route 6 onto the sleepy back roads, something hit in my soul and I was hooked.

It is truly like time has stopped on Cape Cod, it's dotted with little towns, and small winding roads. Little inns and cottages right down on the sea shore. I was so moved, that when we got there and got out of the car, while Michael checked in at our hotel, I stepped out on the beach and literally wept with happiness....and it only got better from there.

I've had a longing in my soul for Cape Cod ever since. Any time things are not going well, or I'm stressed, I go back to our little hotel room not 40 feet from a private beach, where we spent what is probably the most peaceful few days of my life.

DELLA SINGS IT!

2009-07-10T05:42:00.000-07:00

Another of my favorite singers of the 50s and 60s--Della Reese. Not many could belt it out quite like she could, and did quite frequently. Della was a fan of repeats at the end. She was forever saying "I got to do this at least one more time" before going back to the precise moment of the send up in the song, and then belting it out perfectly all over again...and again, and sometimes again and again and again--as with this song "Someday" from 1960. The beginning is slow, but it builds up to an amazing finale that just goes on and on...until I suspect the director was about to bring blood sliding his finger across his throat. There's also a great version on her live album from 1962, which is not to be missed!

Grave Desecration in Chicago. Good GOD!

2009-07-09T16:33:00.000-07:00

Scores of people were horrified when it came to light today a group of caretakers and an executive at a cemetery south of Chicago were arrested on felony charges for digging up the bodies in a black cemetery, distributing the remains in a wooded area and weedy field, and then re-selling the plots. They were also accused of burying bodies on top of other previously buried bodies, and just hammering one down on top of the other. After an initial scanning of the article, I was horrified.

THEN...I re-read the article and was sickened and saddened to find out that several prominent African Americans were buried in the cemetery. Civil Rights workers, blues performers, and most horrific of all DINAH WASHINGTON! My beloved Dinah may have been exhumed and spread in a field, coffin shards and all, to be picked over by animals and tramped into the ground.

Dinah Washington is one of my all time favorite singers. I have enjoyed her music for years now, and always imagined her interred in a beautiful cemetery; eternally honored for the genius that she was. Now to find out that officials aren't sure what's happened to her, whether she's there or not, is an outrage and a scandal!!

This harkens back to London in the age of Dickens. Story after story was printed about the abominable way the dead were disposed of in cemeteries in that era. Bodies broken up and crammed into small holes, remains gushing up after a London downpour to be washed back out in the streets. I thought maybe times had changed, clearly I was wrong. We are a cruel and disgusting species!

My heart goes out to all the families who aren't sure what's happened to their loved ones, but to Dinah's family and legacy in particular. I know death is the great leveller, and we're all the same in the end, but this is outright blasphemy! I hope those people, once tried and found guilty burn for all time in a blazing pit of fire! I wish I had their phone numbers!!!

SALUTE TO SYLVESTER

2009-07-09T06:31:00.000-07:00

Sylvester's music has always been something that sent me over the edge. There hasn't been a performer since, and certainly none before that had quite the flare Sylvester did. I've had "Do Ya Wanna Funk" going all morning long, and Michael has been bouncing around the house like Tigger...proclaiming it the the theme song for our upcoming vacation.

RANDOM MADNESS FROM THE MOUNTAINS

2009-07-07T04:37:00.000-07:00

WE PLAY ROUGH up here in the mountains of Virginia. Michael, myself, and our friend "Trashy" John A****n have been exchanging a silk and plastic floral arrangement for 2 1/2 years at various holidays. John is a florist, and this arrangement was given to me at my grand opening by a silk florist who used to be in (pitiful) competition with John when I opened my shop.

The first exchange took place the Christmas after I opened, when John sounded down on the phone--to cheer him up I glittered and tinseled the hideous arrangement and sent it over to him. Since then, it's had diapers added at New Years, Paper heart doilies sprayed with obnoxious perfume at Valentines, Giant bunting on Inauguration day to celebrate Obama's swearing in and all manner of other seasonal effects. It had gotten so bad the arrangement looked like a big pile of garbage, and would no longer sit up.

Our initial thought was to send it on it's way by overloading it with fireworks and setting them off as we went into the house. Sadly, the powers that be in Virginia think it's citizenry haven't the sense to safely set off even a firecracker without hurting themselves. We opted instead to douse the monstrosity with diesel fuel and light it at just the right moment. There wasn't a boom...but it certainly did flare up...nearly high enough to set alight the giant maples in his front yard. Once again, it did it's office and lifted his sagging spirits (he'd had a bad day).

Who knows what he'll do to retailiate, though. I'm sure he's still trying to figure out how to scrape the plastic up off his sidewalk.

RIP MOLLIE SUGDEN

2009-07-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

I was very saddened to learn, this evening, of the death of Mollie Sugden. She was one of the great ladies of British Comedy, and always my favorite on the Anglophile PBS staple "Are You Being Served."

What a sad day. I can certainly say news of this death has saddened me more than any of the other deaths of notable figures we've endured this last week. What a sad night.

In the words of dear Petulant and Ms Sugden..."I think I need another drink...and I am UNANIMOUS in that!" See you on the other side, dear!

DORIS FOR THE DAY

2009-07-01T05:08:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to the "Love Me Or Leave Me" soundtrack from my vinyl collection a lot recently. This one, and "It All Depends On You" are my current favorites from the album. I feel a Doris-fest coming on just as soon as I get a minute to sit down and watch a movie!

AFTERNOON IDYLL

2009-06-30T06:21:00.001-07:00

After a weekend of company, and Michael feeling awful, we got up yesterday sick of being at home. After a few chores were done around the house we decided to go for a ramble through the hills of Virginia. I've lived here over 2 1/2 years now, but rarely ever get out into the hills to see what's there.

We started with a drive through the Elk Creek Valley, up into the mountains to Rural Retreat (fabled to be the place where Dr Pepper was invented), and across to Wytheville. From Wytheville we cut up Route 11 which runs parallel to 81, through Pulaski, Draper, Dublin, Christiansburg and finally into Blacksburg. We toured the town, stopped for beers, toured the campus of Virginia Tech and ended with a dinner at the Cafe Bangkok in Blacksburg. It was nice to see some of Michael's old haunts both for learning and lascivious activity (lol)!

The picture above was taken en route to Rural Retreat. It is a Methodist Church built in 1821, I believe. We were struck by the ornamentation, rarely seen in churches of that period in this area. I plan to research it and find out why it was built the way it was.

GARDEN SHOTS

2009-06-30T06:15:00.001-07:00

Beautiful poppies of the pom pom variety. I think I gave these to Michael in a Valentine's Day basket, we planted them and forgot about them, and got a surprise. They spread like wild fire though, but they're gorgeous!

These geraniums have done beautifully this year as well. I've always been moderately successful with them, but Michael can really make them go!

HAPPY PRIDE!

2009-06-27T12:54:00.001-07:00

HAPPY PRIDE WEEKEND! The entire month of June...and if truth be told every day of every month at most gay locales...has been designated PRIDE month so I forget a lot of times that the last weekend in June is PRIDE weekend historically. So...HAPPY PRIDE! Especially to you Petulant!! YOU'RE A RAINBOW TOO!

I will celebrate the day with a cookout with gay/straight friends. I was going to do that anyway...I've already made the potato salad (7 pounds of it!)...but we'll now spend the evening making the heterosexuals feel inadequate because they prefer members of the opposite sex. Pity I've just watched the Rite Of Spring choreography over at Petulant's site...this evening may involve garish make up and folk dancing in a circle around the poor straight people.

Where's my rainbow flag?

HAPPY PRIDE!

The Public is a Fickle Friend

2009-06-27T05:14:00.000-07:00

WHAT IS UP with the international frenzy of mourning over Michael Jackson's death? I mean, it truly is a sad thing, however for the past 10 years or so, the name Michael Jackson usually brought a jeer, a laugh, or a rude comment. No one would touch him with a 10 foot pole. His endorsements were cancelled, his record sales had plummeted, he was practically run out the country on a rail! Now, when it is too late to do any good, the whole world has come out to mourn Michael Jackson; and proclaim themselves his number 1 fan.

I think the biggest irony is that despite the fact he had so many #1 fans, and so many people were touched and influenced by his music for the past 40 years; nobody seemed to have any of his music on hand when he died. All those #1 fans had to rush quickly to the record store to actually BUY a Michael Jackson CD to play while they mourned.

I enjoyed 3 or 4 of Michael Jackson's singles. "Don't Stop...", "Thriller", "Billie Jean" and "Man In The Mirror." That's it. I was never the biggest fan of Michael Jackson. He couldn't pull off glitz like Madonna could to me as a 9 year old. I will never claim to have been a big fan. If Michael Jackson's death effects me at all, it's that I will no longer have to see and hear him be harassed and maligned by the media anymore. Bye bye "Wacko Jacko", here's your "King Of Pop" sash back!

Having said that, my wish for him is to Rest In Peace, as would be my wish for any other person (particularly one who had lived in so much turmoil over the years). That's just common decency. Peace for his family and a normal upbringing for his children.

DORIS DAY

2009-06-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

I truly adore and idolize Doris Day. Her movies, her music, her wholesome image. She makes me smile from the minute she opens her mouth to sing a song or act a scene. They certainly don't make stars of this quality anymore. Much love to one of my favorite ladies...Ms Doris Day!

HOME, HEARTH & HUSBAND 101: Class 1

2009-06-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

Every successful home-maker from Agrippina The Elder to Tammy Wynette knows one key to a happy home is a happy husband. Ladies have been forgetting about or neglecting their husbands criminally these last few decades...and then they wonder why their men have affairs, stay away from home, and neglect them. Just look at Kate Gosselin--she's neglected and castrated her husband for years on national television. Now she's eating up airtime lamenting the failure of her marriage and blaming it on those children--the same ones she very probably browbeat her husband into having with her in the first place! Had she spent more time on him and given him a bit more attention, do you think he would have trapsed out after the first 20 year old that shook it's tail at him? Doubtful!!

There are many ways to satisfy your husband, but two stand out head and shoulders above the rest: at the table, and in the bedroom. For the sake of decency I'll just address the former for now. Mind you, a man whom you've just satisfied at the table will come a damn sight closer to rolling your own eyes back in your head you while you satisfy him in the bedroom!

I will start with a basic recipe...the very cornerstone of domestic civilization for centuries: BREAD! I do this not only because I believe every home maker should know how to make it, but also because I'm making it for my man this very afternoon. He'll go pink with delight when I greet him with 2 freshly baked loaves of bread to ease his hunger after a hard day in the field.

This is a tried and true recipe. It comes with approximations, which leaves plenty of room to play. The best advice I can give is you will know when the dough is the right consistency and when it's done in the oven etc etc. If not, then apparently you are a failure as a home maker from the word go and had best get thee to a nunnery...where the good sisters can teach you how to make bread!

BASIC BREAD

1 1/2 cups liquid (milk or water or water with powdered milk)
1/2 cup of water warmed to between 100-110F
1 package to 2 T of yeast
Pinch of sugar
6-8 cups of flour (bread flour works best but you can use different combinations of white and wheat flour to taste)
1 T Salt
1/8-1/2 cup sugar or a dollop of honey or a dollop of molasses
2-3 T of oil of some kind (vegetable, olive, canola, butter
1 or 2 eggs

Start your yeast in the 1/2 cup of warm water and sprinkle with sugar, set aside and let sit until the yeast starts to work and become bubbly.

In a large bowl, combine your flour, sugar, and salt and mix well.

Add your oil and mix up until it form balls, work in your egg(s), then add your liquid and yeast mixture. Knead for 10 minutes in the large bowl or on a bread board. After kneading, put dough back in large bowl, drizzle with oil and cover with a damp towel. Place bowl in warm dry place for 1 1/2 to 3 hours to rise, until the dough has doubled in size.

After dough has risen, pour on a bread board and punch down the dough until the air is worked out. Let dough rest for 15 minutes, knead it a bit more and then cut it in half. On a floured board, roll the first half out evenly in a circle about 1" thick with a rolling pin, then roll it back up again, folding in the edges to make a loaf sized roll. Place the roll-seam down-in a greased bread pan. Repeat with the second half of the dough. Place dough-once again covered with a towel-in a warm place to let rise for another 45 minutes or so. When it's risen to about 3/4 the height of the bread pan, place the pans in an oven and bake at 350-400 degrees for between 30-45 minutes. Test the bread to see if it's done by tapping on the sides and bottom of the pan with a knife. If it sounds hollow, then it's done. Take out and let cool, promptly wrapping the loaves to keep in their moisture and store them.

Waking up from a dream

2009-06-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

I feel like I'm just waking up in the 21st century!

Friends have been blogging for years, and I've followed their progress, adding comments along the way. Thus far, however, I have resisted the urge to start my own.

That changed in an alcoholic haze last night when I stumbled on my very own blogspot page and started pressing buttons. As my dearest friend, Petulant will tell you, I've always been one for pressing buttons. Before I knew where I was, I'd created this blog without a clue what I was going to do with it.

So we'll see where it takes us.

WATCH THIS SPACE

2009-06-23T19:54:00.001-07:00

More to come!