Tag: friends

TJB, part two

Timmy and Paul arrived safely. We have given Paul the official stamp of Friend Approval. (Like Timmy cared; he already knows how great Paul is.)

Here are the men folks–minus Tom–behind the birthday cake I make every April 28 in memory of my friend Steve R. (Well, it’s a different cake every year, but it’s always chocolate–Steve’s favorite–and it always has Pooh characters on it because Winnie the Pooh and Piglet were a Steve and Becky thing.)

And Paul, in return for taking fantastic photographs throughout the weekend, wanted only some Southern cooking on his first trip to the South. (Technically, it’s the Southwest, but I’m a Southerner, so within the boundaries of The Compound, it’s the South. At the very least, I know how to put together a Southern table.)

So here’s Paul, holding his plate of fried chicken, purple hull peas, corn, cornbread, fried okra, salad, mashed potatoes, and gravy.

Weekend

Tomorrow is Earth Day, and as U2 might sing, I’m “tryin’ to throw my arms around the world.” Got a card from a thoughtful Wisconsin treehugger in honor of the day–thanks, Todd. =)

So…my husband is sharing a tent with a lesbian and a rabbi… That might sound like the beginning of a good joke, but it’s for a worthy cause, as Tom and Lindsey (and Lindsey’s rabbi) give their support to the MS-150 this weekend. Y’all have fun–and kudos to you for volunteering.

I’ll be using Tom’s time away to CLEAN THIS HOUSE–because as you know, I always go into a cleaning frenzy before people come from out of town. I can’t wait to see Jim, Timmy, Paul, and Greg. =)

JOY!

I’ve known for quite some time that Jim is coming in next week for our SOMEONE LIKE YOU signing, and of course, it promises to be a rollicking good time because we’re signing with New Orleans author Greg Herren, whose new release is MARDI GRAS MAMBO.

But–I just got word that our other writing partner, Timothy Forry, is also a definite. He’ll be accompanied by his partner Paul, who Tim and I have never met. Even though they’ve been together several years, this is the first occasion when the timing has worked out for everyone.

I am SO EXCITED. This is the face–with way too much teeth and gums–of a SO EXCITED writer.

More springishness

Even though I’m not a mother, I kind of experience some mom things. Like…I’m rarely in holiday photos because I’m always taking them. In the photo albums, there are more pictures of the “kids” (in this case, dogs and Tim) than of the “parents” (me and Tom).

I’m the one who willingly cooks, organizes occasions, bakes birthday cakes. And I’m the one who does stuff like this…

…with a complete sense of acceptance that it likely won’t be done for me.

Since my own mother recently moved into “Shady Pines,” my resignation to being the grown-up who won’t get treated to kid things has become more entrenched. So imagine my surprise when I got to her apartment yesterday to find this:
Continue reading “More springishness”

Currently reading…

You just can’t beat for sheer fun with language. The first book of his I ever attempted to read was Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, and after a few pages of going, “Huh?” and “Do what?”, I put it down and vowed never to try again.

A few years later, my brother told me that I must read Another Roadside Attraction. Maybe I just needed to be older, because suddenly I plugged in to the way Robbins writes and became an ardent fan. To the point that if I ever had written that Master’s thesis that I didn’t write, its subject was Tom Robbins’s work.

Maybe it’s better than I left him in the realm of pleasure and didn’t turn him into another halfhearted academic exercise. Although I wasn’t as deeply thrilled with his later works (Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates, Villa Incognito), even those are crisper and more inventive than almost anything else I read.

The ones I enjoy most–in addition to Even Cowgirls… and Another Roadside Attraction–are Still Life with Woodpecker and Jitterbug Perfume (the latter’s descriptions of New Orleans remain among my favorites), with Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas and Skinny Legs and All in that middle land between the ones I love and the ones I sort of love.

Trivia: Tom Robbins played the toymaker in one of my favorite quirky movies Made in Heaven, and I just discovered he’s also in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, a film I haven’t seen.

Wild Ducks Flying Backward is not a novel, but a collection of shorter works and essays spanning Robbins’s career. Sometimes he’s playful, sometimes profound, but Robbins is always a master of words, whether with imaginative metaphors or frivolous puns. I just love him, and Marla, if you’re reading this LJ entry, thanks again for this book.