extra large versus medium-sized

james looking extra-cinematic at his bd show in seal beach

our dear bro-in-law has been in hospital, so please send kindnesses to doug, who is a ball-of-fiery life like my hubby, & who also does not always care most dutifully for his body-temple... (i guess who does?)
when you're extra-large sick, nothing can register due to the sick-suffering. i was that the other day, in the bed just a sore, writhing lump. now i'm merely medium-sized sick, which means i want to read my book & do productive stuff, but my mind won't allow it bc it's still tossing & turning some, dog-paddling instead of drowning in sick.
yesterday james took me on a country drive in air force one & what a nice time that was. i love soaring out 138 east toward the high desert there, a wide & clean valley beneath huge blue skies, popping with color right now. he of unquenchable stomach was hungry, so we stopped in at the neenach cafe, which has turned half-hipster, meaning the decor & staff look big-city hipsters move to the sticks, but the food is laughably gross. at the poppy preserve, there were no poppies, so we parked across the road & hiked to the top (me extremely slowly), joining scores of others on a wide hillside to view the popping poppies, which didn't know they were supposed to blossom at the state park.
last wkend we went to happy wedding of girl (young woman) i've known since she was 3 months old, child of one of my dearest friends. james was moved by & loved the family closeness, the cheerful cumbia & norteno tunes of the band, & stepped in to play & shout a louis jordan song, to delight of large crowd. the song sounded extra-great w/accordion, esp after our recent return from the gumbo music scene of new orleans, & my friend's ex-husband, band leader ruben, warmed up to james. i realized he's been afraid of james all this time since he's only known OF james from his past reputation as a head-buster so was grateful to see ruben glimpse the real james, the guy his best friend, dear departed manuel, appreciated & loved. sweet for me, too, was getting to sit w/the beautiful, friendly wife of someone i used to treat like sh*t, then make amends of sort to the fellow... that &, of course, getting to take a trip w/dear hubby & girl dog to someplace nice, & then next day hang out w/dear donna & her children & grub mexican food at a place we've been visiting for near-30 yrs, waited on by same tall, black-haired, mustachioed man who still calls us "mija"... life's never exactly what i would want were i in Complete Control, but it's pretty danged good, despite. yes, it's quite a bless-ed life i get to have.

mid-city lanes rock'n'bowl watching nathan & zydeco cha-chas

mighty-lunged young brass band on frenchman, new orleans

this morn i got up so, so late, still sick, you know, & toasted a left-over sour-milk pancake & had it with bananas, powdered sugar, some molasses, & community coffee straight from mardi gras world in new orleans, la, eating & reading the most urgently fine book i've read since "moaning at midnight," but this itchy thing from being ill makes me restless & unable to get back regularly to reading, so now i blablablog. the book, "nine lives," was at the louis armstrong airport on our way back to california, so i requested it from the library, & whatta whatta read!! it's so good, it's nearly too much. here's the link, & i urge & plead with you to read it. Nine Lives by Dan Baum

effigy on bourbon st of hero of the lower 9th ward & the world