"nine years of bliss and hell..."

we went to lake arrowhead for levon's wedding, then to victorville-route 66 museum-elmer's bottle ranch. that last one i've wanted to see for 25 years. that last one was beautiful, spooky, & spiritual, & i found myself sobbing like a loon. the first was exclusive, like an alpine resort. i felt like my bargain-shopper butt was sneaking into the ritz. the drive up to arrowhead, a steep, winding, windy climb, reminded me of the chase scene in a bond film; we should've been in an aston martin instead of ruby the sewing machine (my little ride). the mountaintop lake resort reminded me of years ago, being in switzerland w/james's band. in one of many happy moments, james filmed a video; some of these pix are screenshots from it showing my hubby's happy reaction to my half-joking summary of our marriage... tonight he is not here & i miss him, so i post these pix. i had kissed him right before the video, so his lips look a little funny. those lips. and my gray hair, i shoulda dried it because it looks like silver straw. but overall, we still get to be here, so no complaints... yes, we got to celebrate our anniversary early on the heels of young levon's betrothal. the hotels were nice, the company nicer. my dear james. my dear, dear husband. my dear dear dear dear james... this past weekend i worked like a maniac to finish the trailer (henryed the roof, duck-taped the bottom w/silver insulation & green tarp), & last night the demonic winds screamed over the mountain followed by thunderous rainstorm. boom! the trailer had been completed just in time... except the winds wrenched one of the ceiling vents clean off the roof & threw it over the fence into the front yard. fortunately this vent was over the bathtub, so the tub filled with rainwater, then drained, so i will fix it all later... we are doing the chango jam ("because big manny loved christmas") again this year, this time in pico rivera at a hall. james went to place the downpayment, then got stuck in the southland, so the animals & i sit here & wait for his return. i have played the piano all evening, in my current mood, singing & pounding & rolling, & then i wrote three songs. haven't written songs for over a year. it felt cathartic & right & like i was doing something.... so this is where i sit at age more than one-half century... still not pushing up daisies, as do so many loved ones, dear friends, & heroes of mine... so can't complain... btw, check out the gorgeous boogie-woogie prodigy ladyva. she is astonishing, the mozart of the barrelhouse... i don't have a video handy, but just go check her out right now: she is really something special...

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 james just opened the front door & yelled, "hello?" i'm right here, i yelled back. it's a windy morn up here, in fact, they cancelled school for the fourth time this year. i assume these cancelled days are being taken from our snow day bank, but maybe we will have to work longer this yr as a result.

would like to think that pg&e deeply cares for everyone's safety, thus spurring the public safety power outage. but i think they merely worry about litigation since burning down the town of paradise due to inadequate power line maintenance. our school's in a wind tunnel at the mouth of grapevine canyon, so the other schools in our district, not being suchly located, are open today.

so maddy started subbing. she arrived late last night & this morning i made oatmeal for her & her mommy, my dear little sis, then they headed out. angie stayed the night after teaching kungfooey nearby. she is at a mountain religious conference today. it was great to have them both here. we laughed our butts off this morn, remembering family this & that, but james slept peacefully.

now he is up & singing as cereal clinks into his bowl. today we go to the wedding of a young man i've known since his birth. he is marrying a big bossy woman, maybe a bit like his strong mom. i recall him with blond curls, a friendly little guy with his dad's amiability. when he was three, i found him a mohair mariachi jacket at a thrift store & his family pix snapped him that way, posed like a matador, tom thumb, it's a top-100 lifetime pic, for sure. :)

we're going to have the manny christmas show this yr. james got the venue & jaime sainz has taken the organizing reins. it's going to be swell. :) jaime even liked my dream, where james, him, & i played in a band called the rockin' caballeros. he said the RCs should make a record. ha! i didn't tell him the dream's rhythm section: max bangwell and scott lambert, both r.i.p.

yes, all seems to be well these days, tho windy, & soon we're headed for the wedding to lake arrowhead, where i can see my old friend donna (the old part's true of us both now!), after that to the desert to see (i hope, i hope) elmer's bottle village & the rt 66 museum. pet children will be well-cared-for here, & maddy's coming back mon to sub for me, since i had plans ready for today & someone should use them. i'm hoping if she has great subbing experiences, i can lure her into teaching...

here are some shots from the festival, which went great, we had such a happy time tho i had an anaphylaxis episode & nearly died... we played with geno matteo one day, as you can see, a rough set but still fun fun fun. i love my job but these gigs make me want to "run away with the rocknroll circus" again, as angie put it one time, so maybe i can retire pretty soon. the other pix are from the fantastic little art museum in lancaster. we went there the other day when school was wind-closed & had a wonderul time. the museum never fails to have terrific exhibits, & if you're every in lancaster ca on "the BLVD," you should go: lancaster museum of art & history

ghost town in bodfish, ca, heading back from fest

james & antknee waiting to go on

steven & blake; we really did have fun shooting sh*t

last green rm trailer i remember was w/candye kane (r.i.p.)

james & me

me, tony lopez, blake, james, geno matteo

setting up to play

museum of art & history

our fav artist of the exhibit, cinta vidal (hopper meets escher)