A hashtag I frequently use on Instagram is #artislife, and one of the things I love about Houston is the abundance of art: in museums, in galleries, in graffiti, on train cars that pass by, and in many varieties of public art. I haven’t been to a museum since 2019, so a lot of my art appreciation has become drive-by.
This was a day when traffic light timing gave me a chance to shoot with my phone. The artist is Joy Matheson, and she’s done several mini murals throughout Houston. NASA is such a big part of Houston’s history (how many times have you heard or said the line, “Houston, we have a problem?”).
Moved work into the library so we could have a fire. (Jack is buried under covers on the office couch. It’s apparently one of his non-social days.) Since Tom is in the office and not working from home today, I’ve got the tunes (still in the “D”s) on the big sound system while I write. I’ll post the playlist when I stop for the night. One of today’s CDs I’d sing along to FULL VOICE (alone) in the car in 1992, going to and from the hospital to be Steve’s healthcare advocate. I needed a total escape, and it provided. Still love it, despite its connection to a tough time.
Have a good day, and stay warm or chill, wherever this finds you.
ETA: I’m about to save this chapter and shut down for the night. I always appreciate when I’ve made progress, and here are the “D” CDs that helped.
Miles Davis, Birth of the Cool. Pretty great to write to. Def Leppard, Retroactive. One of my favorite of the “hair” bands, and so much more to them than the hair. Loved their videos. Loved seeing them live. They’re still touring. Celine Dion, Falling Into You. I got this one because I needed the words to one of the songs used at John’s memorial service in 1996. One of his closest friends said “Fly” was the song he most thought of for John, and it is beautiful and sad and uplifting all at once. Dire Straits, On Every Street. This band’s sound always relaxes me. Clay DuBose, Rewriting History. Since members of Tom’s family are thanked in the liner notes of this, I’m certain it was a gift. It’s contemporary country, and another one that’s good to write to. Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits. I never get tired of Dylan and his influence over one of my characters is powerful. Bob Dylan, Love And Theft. I suspect this may have been a Tom purchase because I don’t know it well. I HAVE to replace more of my drowned Dylan albums with CD or vinyl, I don’t care. I just need to listen to them again. Various artists, Tangled Up in Blues: Songs of Bob Dylan. Released by the House of Blues label in 2002, as part of a series featuring 12 separate artists (e.g., Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin), and further subtitled “This Ain’t No Tribute.” Covers on this one are by Taj Mahal, Mavis Staples, Isaac Hayes, R.L. Burnside, Luther “Guitar Jr.” Johnson, John Hammond, James Solberg, Alvin “Youngblood” Hart, Leon Russell, The Holmes Brothers, Larry McCray, and The Band.
The weather got a little crazy in Houston today, but we’re okay here at Houndstooth Hall, Fox Den, and Fairy Cottage. I’ve heard there was tornado damage, but I tried not to stress out about it because the dogs pick that up. Instead, I stayed in cozy PJs all day while it stormed and wrote and rewrote and rewrote again the chapter that I just finished. I think I probably can’t write any more today, though I might edit a little after I cook and we eat dinner.
This is the wee boombox that now sits next to me while I write. I also picked up the kind of old-school headphones that I like and longed for after the previous boombox got unreliable.
I continue to think having music playing while I write is helping the process. Back in the earlier years of this century, when Tim and I wrote in the same room or at least one of the two homes on The Compound, he always had music playing. But for some reason, when I’d try to write alone, I didn’t want music. Maybe I overthought what I should listen to. Now that I’m just going alphabetically through the CD binders, no analyzing required.
These were today’s choices:
Patsy Cline, 12 Greatest Hits; Leonard Cohen, More Best of Leonard Cohen; and Paula Cole, This Fire.
Yesterday…
Front and back covers of B.B. King and Eric Clapton, Riding With the King; Eric Clapton, Reptile; Eric Clapton, Me and Mr. Johnson.
That was a cool selection because it set the mood for an entirely new character I introduced.
I have an anxiety-inducing phone call tomorrow afternoon. Another day to stay away from news and social media. Please send good vibes.
I thought I had a photo of this overpass, which was since painted over, and I think has been painted again somewhere in a different style and place, but regardless, this used to be on I45 Southbound near downtown Houston. I haven’t driven that route in the past few years.
Tom came home the other day and said a house a few blocks away in our neighborhood is having repair/renovation/remodel of some sort, and he told me about the dumpster in the driveway. Today I went to see it for myself, and I shot this photo. I don’t know who owns that company, but I love that they put this iconic image with Houston’s skyline on a piece of their equipment.
Really shocked right now to read the news about Lisa Marie Presley. I’m so sad for her mother and children. That family has known too much tragedy.
Posting this in the wee hours of the morning and then hoping I can sleep through the night and wake up feeling better. Our weather’s beginning to change, with a freeze expected later in the week, and I think my body’s struggling to adjust, so I’m feeling a little rundown.
Happy birthday to Mark in England! I know you enjoyed a celebration with friends earlier in the month and hope you have a good “second” birthday on your actual date.
This is also the birth date of our late nephew Aaron. I can’t believe it’s been ten years since he died. He’s so deeply missed and loved. This photo is from a spontaneous trip David, Geri, Aaron, Tom, Debby, and I made to Galveston during Mardi Gras in 2011. I don’t remember who shot the photo. It’s a day that I always think of with happiness.
I believe this is at a private residence in Houston’s River Oaks neighborhood. That’s why I only paused my car to shoot the photo with my then-new D40, without getting out or even opening my window.
They’ve traveled among homes in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Texas, Utah, and Ohio. They’ve seated us at many Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, birthday, anniversary, retirement, graduation, and wedding meals. They were there for playing cards and other games, coloring, drawing, typing stories, sewing, assembling puzzles, soothing newborns, holding toddlers as they grew heavy with sleep, sneaking goodies from the table to dogs, and smoking and enjoying drinks while telling stories. So many stories. They’ve heard music, laughter, arguments, and borne witness to a million memories shared by the friends and family who sat in them.
It has taken me five years since the flood, when we stopped using them, to remove them from storage and let them go. The consignment shop that took them is part of an organization that in 2023 will mark 100 years of raising money for medical research and development. My mother placed items there when she lived in Houston, and I know she’d be fine with the chairs embarking on another adventure from there.
Debby said it best–she hoped the chairs find a good home with lots of love and laughter. I have dozens of photos showing that’s exactly the kind of family they’ve been with.
Today I’m not myself
And you, you’re someone else
And all these rules don’t fit
And all that starts can quit
What a peculiar state, we’re in
What a peculiar state, we’re in
Let’s play a game
Where all of the lives we lead
Could change
Let’s play a game
Where nothing that we can see
The same
But we’ll find other pieces to the puzzles
Slippin’ out under the locks
I could show you how many moves to checkmate right now
We could take apart this life we’re building
And pack it up inside a box
All that really matters is we’re doing it right now
Right now
But we’ll find other pieces to the puzzles
Slippin’ out under the locks
I could show you how many moves to checkmate right now
We could take apart this life we’re building
And pack it up inside a box
All that really matters is we’re doing it right now
Right now
Mural cherubs representing Houston’s professional sports teams: baseball’s Astros, basketball’s Rockets, and football’s Texans
artist: Sebastien Boileau, West End Church in the Heights, Houston, Texas
