My Guy!

I have many favorite artists when it comes to music. My tastes are eclectic, to say the least. It runs the gamut from folk to rock 'n roll to country to womyn’s music to southern soul to blues to… Favorite artists include Holly Near, John Prine, Kid Rock, George Jones, Johnny Taylor, to name but a few.

But one of my very favorites is performing in Michigan on October 18th. Arlo Guthrie!




According to Arlo's website www.arlo.net he's performing at Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort on that date.

The casino refuses to acknowledge the upcoming date saying their posted schedule only goes until September, check back, blah blah blah.

The good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I'm hoping to be in the audience that night. I love me some Arlo!

Years ago, when I used to travel to Michigan's Upper Peninsula at least twice a month, I'd always stop at a gas station on US2, the highway that runs west of the Mackinac Bridge along Lake Michigan. For the life of me I can't remember the name of the town there (don't you hate when that happens?), but the gas station was one of those typical 'out in the boonies' ones where the owner lived on premise in a house attached to the gas stations office.

Every time I'd stop, this same guy would come out to pump my gas. He was about 5'10" and had long, long, long wild grey hair. He was the spitting image of Arlo!

I'd always say 'hey Arlo, how's it going?' and the guy always muttered 'my name's not Arlo'. 'Yeah, sure, Arlo,' I'd respond, 'you're going incognito, I understand'.

It got to the point where I'd pull in for gas and the Arlo look-alike would immediately say 'my name's not Arlo!' and I'd laugh and say 'anything you say, Arlo, your secrets safe with me' (smile).

Okay, more than likely the gas station attendant wasn't Arlo, but he sure did look like my guy. And he walked like him. And he sort of talked like him too.

I don't know if you're an Arlo fan or not, but you should check his music out. Do google search and you'll find oodles of film clips where he's singing. It's great fun.

Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.

Hugs, Tawny
www.tawnyford.com

Are You Lonesome Tonight?

If you are, have I got the solution for you! Cal me! That's right, call me. I'm only a phone call away. Chatting with me will make all of your lonesome feelings go bye bye. Trust me. I know about this!

And speaking of lonely, take a look at this rhinoceros.




He's all by himself. Tallulah snapped this a few weeks ago when she was at the Detroit Zoo. Here are a couple links if you'd like to see and learn more about the Detroit Zoo:

www.detroitzoo.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Zoo

HSM says the Detroit Zoo is okay, but the one in Toledo, Ohio is even nicer.

www.toledozoo.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_zoo

And speaking of HSM, her oldest son, the one in college, got 4.0 in each of the four classes he took last semester! And he had perfect attendance! And he's made the Deans List! How cool is that?!

His brother under him, the soon-to-be 16 year old, who is always looking to one up him, says this will be a tough one to top (smile).

Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong. And remember, call me. I'm the best cure for loneliness.

Hugs, Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
248-615-1300

Do You Know The Way To San Jose?

Over the weekend Tallulah took a road trip, a small road trip, to Gwinn, Michigan, a small town approximately 20 miles from her home in Marquette. That's 20 miles if you take the short cut, more like 40 miles if you take the more scenic route.

Here is one of her photos:




This is the Escanaba River, the part of it you pass on the road to Gwinn. Pretty, huh?

There's a wholesaler in Gwinn, Sav-On-Wholesale,
www.sav-on-wholesale.com that sells a little bit of everything at close to rock bottom prices. That was Tallulah's destination. Remember, I told you she was a shopper (smile).

On the way to Gwinn she had an opportunity to see a lot of pretty, pretty scenery. Never without her digital camera, she was able to take a number of photos that I'll more than likely get around to sharing with you sooner or later.

As she spoke of her 'trip' it made me realize that often it's not where we're going so much, but rather how we get there that's important.

The wholesaler turned out to be a big disappointment for her, but she thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

In my head when I began writing this I knew where I was going with it. Somewhere along the way I seem to have lost it. Here's hoping you can figure it out.

Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.


Hugs, Tawny
www.tawnyford.com

My Favorite Bird!

No, it's not the turkey, although there's really nothing better for dinner on a cold night than a lovely roasted turkey with all the trimmings (smile)!

It's seagulls! I love seagulls! Okay, I know, they're noisy, serious pests, and rats with wings (as some stupid people would say), but I love them.

When I was a child we used to spend at least one week every summer in Canada, our neighbor to the north. My father's sister and her family owned a cottage at Stokes Bay, Ontario, Canada and, while we never stayed with them, we would often rent the cottage right next to theirs.

The two cottages were built out of logs. Three bedrooms each, a kitchen and a living room. Bathroom? That was outside and down the trail. An outhouse. I hated using an outhouse. No indoor plumbing at all. Need water? Outside at the pump, you pumped it, lugged it into the cottage and heated it on the big, old, black cast iron woodstove. It was well water and it took some getting used to.

The perk was having the beach and lake right out front of the cottage. It was glorious, soft sand and warm water lapping at your toes.

I wish I could say having my cousins next door was a perk but it wasn't. They were so much older than me that I didn't exist in their world. Oh well. I had sun and sand. Who could ask for anything more!

And I had sea gulls. Here's a photo Tallulah sent me of one.




One of my favorite photos from those summers was one I took of my father. I wish I could share it with you but I don't have a scanner.

He was down at the lake cleaning the fish he'd caught. There were seagulls up the ying yang flying about him and I snapped the shutter just at the right moment to catch them. It's a great shot.

Stokes Bay is just north of Wiarton, Ontario.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiarton_ontario

www.thebrucepeninsula.com/wiarton/

On our way in at the beginning of our vacation we'd stop in Wiarton for last minute groceries. Never mind that my folks brought a weeks worth of provisions with them, packed neatly in the boat we towed behind our car, there was always something last minute to pick up (smile).

We'd always drive over to Lions Head at least once during our vacation to look around and get an ice cream and also to purchase double-yoked eggs from the farmers.

If you've never been to Canada, well, you're missing something quite wonderful. It's a beautiful country.

You be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.


Hugs, Tawny
www.tawnyford.com

Memories, Sweet Memories

I hope you had a nice Memorial Day weekend. Having a few days off from work can do wonderful things for your psyche, can't it?

Did you do the barbecue thing? Go to the beach? Watch a parade?

Me, well, I flat out forgot it was Memorial Day weekend. I was talking to someone on the phone last week and he asked if I was barbecuing chicken wings and that's when it dawned on me. How do you forget something like that? I don't know, but I sure did until he mentioned it.

So no, no friends over for a barbecue for me. Instead I dragged lawn furniture out of the shed, washed it off and set it up on the outdoor-carpeted 'patio' I have going on under the big shade trees in my backyard. I bought a new grate for the barbecue grill and cleaned up the entire unit. Even assembled a new glass topped eating table for the patio.

Essentially, I got everything ready for the rest of the summer and future barbecues.

Today I took the day off (good for my psyche too! smile) and went shopping. JoAnn Fabric was having an enormous sale. Just about everything in the store--from home decor to yarn--was on deep discount.

I picked up some steel crochet hooks for 50 cents apiece! And a book on Tunisian crocheting.

Next stop was Michaels here in Farmington Hills, an arts and crafts type store, where I swear I am never going to set foot in again. Why? For many, many months, as their yarn supply dwindled down to pretty much nothing but last years dregs, they have had signs posted saying 'new yarn department coming in Spring'. Well, it's been Spring for a while now and there still isn't anything new. I'm sick and tired of going in only to be disappointed.

My Uncle David came by when I got home and we had dinner together. Okay, it was not a well-planned dinner. He had a big hot ‘n’ spicy noodle bowl with cooked, cut-up beef sausages and cheese that he added to it. I had a hot dog and some potato chips and chip dip. Root beer was our beverage of choice.

For dessert I had a piece of still frozen double fudge cake. Uncle David had honeydew melon. Kathleen, my beloved cat, was hawking Uncle David's melon--she loves honeydews, it's her favorite. He grudgingly shared it with her (smile).

When I spoke with Tallulah, after thanking her for sending me this pretty sunrise photo…




…and told her what dinner was, she laughed. My Uncle David, if you'll remember, did thirty years in prison. Tallulah said he must have choose oodle noodles for dinner with sausage and cheese stir-ins in memory of his time served, and in memory of all the convicts left behind. (For those unfamiliar with prison, oodle noodles is a convicts staple food.)

Hope you had a few minutes this weekend to remember those who have gone on to glory.

Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.


Hugs, Tawny
www.tawnyford.com