October is my month of increasing power!!!

Painting by James Jacques Joseph Tissot. Woman from yesteryear tramping through flaming leaves. Maybe I was once that woman, in another time, in France or somewhere. 

There is a pang, kind of a tingling. A force of October, shooting through me and feeling like electrical charges would feel if they were a pleasant thing. It connects me to all things, whether they want to be connected to me or not. Neighborhood squirrel hunting your nut -- you're connected to me!  Pregnant moon, birthing your moon child ---you're connected to me! Beautiful Portuguese accordion player, sending shivers through my car speaker, from a recording you made a long time ago, but now you are walking the earth somewhere, unaware of me --you're connected to me!  You are the galvanic thread on my tongue. My skin sings of you. Because this is October! It's not just that I was born here - I was born to live in October, and my soul knows it. When the calendar finally flips over to the tenth month, I am home again.

 

Squirrellllllll.....!!!!!!!!!  Don't you feel it?  

Live-Blogging My 50th Birthday -- A Wonderful Surprise!

When I got back from my meanderings around town, I walked into the house and immediately knew something was different. It was CLEANER. I caught my breath. "Somebody cleaned," I whispered. I walked over to the dining table, and then I saw Annabelle in the kitchen, scrubbing away. My mouth dropped open. "You're cleaning!" I cried. "Oh my gosh!"  She said, "Well, I didn't have any other present for you."

I began looking around and I saw that the living room floor looked newly vacuumed, the computer table, which had accumulated all kinds of mess and dust, was sparkly clean, the kitchen counters were clean, and all the dishes from the dishwasher put away. The bathroom sink had been cleaned. I was so amazed. I kept finding areas that looked better because she had worked on them. Not only had Annabelle cleaned, but she had put real thought into it. She had gone above and beyond. What a wonderful birthday present! 

Live-blogging my 50th Birthday ---Y J's Snack Bar!

Note: To see the entirety of my birthday festivities, in sequence, start with the first post titled "Live-blogging my 50th birthday" and go up from there. 

For my birthday dinner, I wanted to go to Y J's, because I love Y J's, but never seem to find time to eat there. Lilah was so crashed out from staying up late and studying, volleyball practice, and the typically hectic pace of her teenage life, that she couldn't get off the couch. She really just wanted to sleep, so we let her stay home and Roger and Annabelle went to dinner with me.

As an extra birthday bonus, they were playing Donovan when I walked in --"Season of the Witch." They were serving Mayan Tostados, which came with all kinds of wonderful chopped up things, including pineapple, and black beans and rice and chicken or fish, and were topped with guac and sour cream. The tostados were delicious.

We sat outside, and I felt so lucky, because it was a bee-yootiful October night. It felt so peaceful and rich, sitting out there, sharing good food. I was enjoying every moment of it. I didn't think there was any way to improve on it, but one thing did happen that made it even better. My friend Rick from New York called me to wish me a happy birthday! What a thrill! I was able to wish it to him back, because we are birthday twins - nearly. His birthday is tomorrow.

Y J's SnackBar --eating outside on a beautiful October evening.

Roger and Annabelle dig in

The Mexican hoodie I bought today slung over my chair.

Mayan tostados --Yum!

Inside Y J's ---a large variety of hot sauces are available on top of the piano

Crescent moon visible from 18th street

Live-Blogging my 50th Birthday -- Record Store!

After I left Prosperos with my happy purchase of new used books, I met up with Roger at Vinyl Renaissance, where he bought me some birthday cds. What a haul! I got Dog Poison by Thee Oh Sees, Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water cd, which has "Only living boy in New York" and "So long, Frank Lloyd Wright," two songs I love, and the Roxy Avalon cd, which I only had on cassette tape. Until now! Vinyl Renaissance is having a vinyl art contest. Maybe I will enter. You have to create an original piece of art using vinyl records or pieces of album covers.

Live-blogging my 50th birthday --Books!!

After the hippie shop, I went to Prospero's bookstore, where I bought these books: A Tom Robbins novel and a self-help book. But I'm especially excited about the book by Vollman, in which he describes his experiences traveling America as a train-hopping hobo. Yes! Something for my zen hobo soul.

Live-blogging my 50th birthday --Hippie heaven!

It's my birthday and it IS a beautiful day!

Next stop after the coffee shop I treated myself to a trip to my favorite hippie shop, "It's A Beautiful Day," also known as hemp central. They sell hemp by the yard. I found a pretty cotton shirt for only $4. When I asked why the price was so low, the clerk said because she had worn it a few times. I tried it on. The dressing room "door" was a big tye-dyed cloth (shown here.) The clerk warned me that there was a dead mouse in the wall, so she was burning incense to mask the smell. I was excited that the $4 shirt fit. I bought it, and a mexican woven hoodie, as a birthday present to myself.

Update: When the cashier told me the date, so I could write it on my check, I told her I KNEW what day it was, since it was my birthday. I told her that's the whole reason I came in there. Guess I was getting full of myself. Later today I got a call at the house from the cashier, saying I had written the wrong date on my check: I had written 10/7/63 --my birth date.  Oops!   

Far-out window with me caught up in the groovy reflection. Bob Marley and I are one.

I don't know why people think this is a head shop. 

No this isn't your mind on acid. It's the dressing room curtain at It's a Beautiful Day.

I guess the bears have something to do with Grateful Dead?

Me in the psychedelic dressing room with the dead mouse in the wall.

I bought this! But here the colors are all washed out. It's actually a dusky blue and maroon. Cute!

Live-blogging my 50th birthday --Coffee!

So, I had a cappuccino and a piece of pumpkin bread at the Broadway Cafe in Westport.  I never make it to the Broadway Cafe anymore, but it used to be my regular hang. So I wanted to go there for old time's sake. While I was there, I took a gorgeous close-up picture of the thick, resplendent foam on my cappuccino. But somehow I deleted it and my other Broadway Cafe pictures. Damn my phone. Damn technology!  Yes, I am allowed to curse and utilize technology at the same time. 

This isn't my photo --I got it from Google images. But this is the place. I got a seat by a window, and the cappuccino was really good.   

Live-Blogging My 50th Birthday!

3rd blog entry on THIS, my BIRTHDAY! I feel newly human, having just showered. I had to wash off all the unwashed humanity I was brushing up against at the Renaissance festival yesterday. Now I think it's time for some tea----or coffee. Do I dare to drink the DARK BREW, to make my stomach vulnerable to its witchery? Yes, I do dare! It is my birthday, and acid or no acid, I am going to go get me some coffee!
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2nd installment of the LIVE-BLOGGING of my BIRTHDAY! It is now 7: 45 am!  Since I stayed up so late, I was wiped when my alarm went off at 6:11, and I overslept. So I failed to make the customary breakfast oatmeal the girls have grown to expect. A mother failing her daughters ---normally this is an occasion for guilt, but on your birthday, a mother is exempt. If anything, they should be kicking themselves for their failure to make you breakfast in bed!

Since I had the day off, I decided to drive the girls to school, instead of having Roger do it. Because here was another opportunity for a rare pleasure ---driving about while still wearing my robe. There is an element of danger that I confess gives me a perverse thrill  ---what if I get in a fender bender and have to step out of the car in my robe? The danger is real. The parking lot at Shawnee Mission East high school is swarming with hundreds of groggy teen-aged drivers hurrying to get to class.        

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Good morning! It's 4:00 am and it's my birthday! But not just any birthday. The big  5 0.  Which is why I'm up. I've been up all night, bidding my 40's goodbye and witnessing the approach of the HALF CENTURY MARK.  Originally I was just going to get up early, but then the window for going to bed came and went and it became more convenient to eschew bed altogether.

Convenient nothing--I'm feeling tired. Maybe I'll have to go grab an hour or two of sleep. I can do that and still get up before sunrise. Which was the whole idea--to greet the sunrise. It will be easy to cheat, though, since I can't see the sunrise from my house. I just spent the last five minutes trying to add to this paragraph. I'm having difficulty stringing intelligible words together. Scrap the wake-up shower I was contemplating. I'm going to bed. 

On the eve of my birthday --Renaissance Festival!!

What better way to spend the eve of my birthday than to stroll the grounds of the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. I love Ren Fest! So many colorful sights, smells, and characters!

This woman's strange rigging of hoopage and fabric scraps did not slow her down.

Just your run-of-the-mill jester.
 

Another period dude. Too old to wear tights like the younger guys.

Aw, this fresh-faced young lad walked right into me camera, which I did wantonly shoot, brazen wench that I am.

Lilah and her boyfriend George, atop a camel 

Fire people! Doing dangerous and reckless things with fire! I took many pictures.

A group of Elizabethan minstrels. They asked if we had any requests. Oh sure, sure. I knew all the hits back in the 1500's.   

Welcome October!!!

Bring me your fetes, feasts, festivals, harvests, moons, pumpkins, beers, BiRTHDAYS, rituals, reveries, romances, dances, poems, pomades, peregrines, autumn winds, clearance bins!

 I want it all!