Luci's first swim

Our week at the lake has been so much fun!

Day and Tom rented a wonderful house on Smith Lake, and Day brought pre-made meals for our dinners, sandwich fixings for lunch.   Tomorrow night I'm taking us all out for dinner. 

The first night I got eaten up by some invisible bugs. I never felt a sting, but welts rose up all over my legs and feet and hands, one huge one on my neck.  For the first few minutes, the skin rises up like a hard marble under the skin, but it doesn't itch intolerably like bed bugs do. (I know whereof I speak--a few years ago, I slept in their attic guest room and woke up with a maddening itch. This led to a complete remodel of the upstairs, after they discovered bats.)

Tom drove to the nearest store, about 20 miles away, and bought Benadryl and calamine lotion.  But to this third day, no one else has been bitten and the bugs continue to bite me. 

Today I was on a float and Luci on the pier.  She cried for me, then jumped off the pier and swam to me, sat down on my float happy as could be.  

Traveling Through the Mountains Today

Yesterday, Bob and Jocelyn brought the U-Haul and two expert movers, longtime friends of theirs, and we watched them load and drive away.  Carlene's house has plenty of furniture to choose from, so they left the Lawrenceville house looking good and plenty.  We sat in the carport and watched the move, Carlene truly excited about her next adventure!

I took a wee nap, then packed up her Malibu for my lake trip. 

I made it to Clayton before the Main Street Gallery closed and Luci and I maneuvered the main floor, the lower floor and the upper floor of my favorite business in Clayton.  I bought two gifts (one for Jan's birthday and one for Day's) and a new pillow for  my sofa.  

Since I got a late start and meandered in Clayton a bit, I only made it as far as Franklin where I found a pretty ragged pet-friendly motel. Had a lovely dinner at Cafe REL, an Italian restaurant Mike introduced me to years ago. I had a Caesar with scallops--delicious--and Luci had a bowl of water and lots of attention from other diners. 

Note to self: learn to use the FIDO app to find better pet-friendly accommodations on the way back.  Day and Jocelyn can show me easier ways to find lodgings. 

So now we're off--for a beautiful drive through the mountains, only five hours to go to get to Smith Lake!

Carlene and I are enjoying these wonderful breezes and sitting outside.  There are so many trees here that it never seems unbearable in the summer--as it does at home in Texas. 

Today friends came to visit--Valerie and Sylvia--who are celebrating their 60th birthday this weekend.

Tonight, Rose and her boyfriend (whom we've not met yet) are coming for dessert after Carlene and I go for a mid-afternoon dinner at Longhorns.

The furniture movers--Bob and his friend David--are coming tomorrow to deliver her bedroom suite, table and chairs, lamps, etc.  Then she'll be ready to complete the move on Thursday.

As for Luci and me--we're heading to Smith Mountain Lake tomorrow to spend a week with Day's family.  The suitcase is packed and Luci knows something's up.  She won't get a foot away from me!

Carlene trying out her new purple rollator

Val feeding Luci by hand--the little diva won't eat it from a bowl! 

New Adventures Begin

We had no doubt about it, but Carlene got accepted into her new Athens home.  Bob and Jocelyn and I went with her to measure her new apartment for furniture and had lunch at one of our favorite places, Amicis. 

The actual move will be within the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, we're enjoying visiting on the porch and all the rooms of Carlene's home for the past 60 years!  

Back home, my new friend and excellent builder/carpenter/painter Fabian is installing windows and assures me I'll return home to tranquility and finished projects. 

1985: Blues, Soul and Rock and Roll.

Today would have been my 57th wedding anniversary if I were still married.   

And that's about all I have to say about that. 

This morning I watched a segment on Sunday Morning about the musicians of our era who created and performed "We are The World" to raise funds for those dying in Africa due to famine and diseases. 

Stevie Wonder

Bruce Springsteen

Bob Dylan

Willie Nelson

Ray Charles

Smokey Robinson

Paul Simon

Kenny Rogers

Tina Turner.....and others

It was Harry Belafonte's idea. He enlisted Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson--(and also Stevie Wonder, who was late returning the phone call)  to get it off the ground. It was hard.  Musicians' schedules are booked long in advance.  But they decided to do it after the American Music Awards, since most of the musicians would be there. 

The Netflix documentary (The Greatest Night of Pop Music) is about the process of getting the artists, sound engineers and camera people all in one place to produce the unforgettable song, "We Are The World." 

Packing practice and performance into one all-nighter, in a hot studio, after an awards ceremony, hosted by Richie, led to the song known all around the world.  

It was poignant watching everyone interact with each other. When Ray Charles arrived, someone said, "It's like seeing the Statue of Liberty walking in."

Bob Dylan had a deer in the headlights expression on his face throughout the hours of practice.  (He wasn't a group singing kind of guy.) When Stevie Wonder (known to be an incredible mimic)  began to imitate Dylan's singing while playing the song on the piano, it was the first time Bob Dylan actually smiled!  He got it. 

After hosting the awards and winning many himself, it was "We Are The World" that meant the most to Lionel Richie.  Thirty years later, he returns to that room for the documentary. He points out where  the singers had stood: "Michael there, Bruce there, Cyndi over there..." 

He compared returning to the place where they co-created the song to going back home after the people who made it home are no longer there. 

"This room," he said, "is my house, my home." 

Paper furniture

Carlene, born in 1925, grew up in a small farmhouse. Papa was a hard-working farmer, and they ate mostly what they grew--"organic before organic was a thing."  Mimi was an excellent cook and made clothes for herself and her five children.  When times were hardest, they even made clothes out of flour sacks. As I was searching for pictures taken during the 20s, 30s, and 40s, it struck me--how smart, frugal and resourceful they were!

Dot and Carlene learned to sew, knit, and crochet. Mimi always said, "My girls are better seamstresses than I am." 

Carlene altered dresses a "friend in town" gave her.  Town girls were better off in those days than country girls.

While in high school, Carlene worked in a dry goods store in downtown Perry and was able to buy fabrics and patterns.  Looking at these pictures, I'm amazed at the variety of clothes she made and what fashionable wardrobes were created in hers and Dot's shared bedroom.  By then, they had indoor water, a utilitarian indoor bathroom (no tile), and a hall closet shared by the whole family. 

She yearned for a room of her own.  Maybe, she thought, her daddy could make her a room in the attic. Even though that room never came to fruition, she loved designing it, cutting out furniture from construction paper. 

Times were still not easy financially, but her parents, seeing her dating years coming, painted the living room and got a sofa and a blue rug. They saved to send her off to college. (She had been valedictorian of her high school class--or would have been had the principal not rearranged #1 and #2 to give that honor to his daughter!) 

In 1944, she did an unusual thing for a farm girl--she saved enough money for her own car, a 1940 Chevy, for $1070.  (The next year she married my daddy, a Navy boy, and teased that she "married him so he could help her pay off her car.") 

The love of her life, Lloyd Harris, was a Tennessee boy.  While she was in college.  he was a radioman in the Navy, stationed in Memphis. They married (eloped) on September 16, 1945, even though she had to wait a month to move in with him in Memphis. 

Here she is at GSCW--Georgia State College For Women---with some college friends. 

Yesterday I got a text from my remarkable mama that hearkened back to her cutting out furniture from construction paper. 

I just today put my paper furniture on a room chart and making the round table with the 4 captain blue chairs and they will double for company if need be.   Excited about furnishing my new haven!!!   Will use my entire bedroom suite in BR - it’s so pretty and I am still thrilled over getting it 50 plus years ago....   

Thank you for helping me be happy!!!!!

A Letter from Anne Lamott to Kids (of all ages)

 

Going Off To College for a Ph.D

 Luci is ready to go!

As soon as I start packing, she jumps into the suitcase as if to say, "Don't even think about leaving ME!"

We have good news from Presbyterian Village in Athens--Carlene can move in this month!  "It's going to be like going to college," she says.  "This time I'm getting my Ph.D--in life!"

"It's time," she says, having had almost a year on the waiting list to get prepared.  No more cooking, no more cleaning, no more washing of clothes even--she's going to live luxuriously, and she is so excited about it. 

Luci and I are flying to Atlanta next week, then Day will join us on the 15th, and we'll work with Bob and Jocelyn to get her packed for her initiation on Wednesday.

I'd thought about driving, but in this intolerable heat dome, in which heat factors are 106-110 in early June,  I didn't want to risk car or foot issues on the road.  So we got a one way ticket for Tuesday and will play it by ear from then.

In the meanwhile since my return is unknown, I'm packing big--including a swimsuit for a week ini a Southern Virginia lake house with the Learys.  I'll keep you posted....

Music Medicine

Since Nathan was a freshman, I've seen his outstanding band play at football games, Fiesta's Battle of the Bands, and competitions. 

Their choreography is impressive, the music wonderful. I always wonder how a band director can take in newbies, teach them to play their instruments, and blend the newbies in with the older students, and actually produce music for the first football game of the season.  Band camp takes up much of their summers, and by the opening of school, they are a kind of school family.

First year, I noticed that Nathan and an adorable girl, both front row in percussion, were grooving to the music exactly the same.  Over their heads you could see a cartoon bubble, filled with tiny sparks, not words.  Her name, Elena told me, was Ava. 

I've watched them at their drums and marimbas and cymbals over the years.  Now Ava is a senior and Nathan a junior and they went to the senior prom together--proving I didn't imagine that bubble of sparks. 

Wednesday night's percussion concert was extraordinary and even more enjoyable than whole-band performances.  I'd had a ragged day, but within minutes, I was transported into music and rhythm, totally engaged, forgetting what had derailed me earlier in the day.

The percussion teacher opened with some heart-felt and funny commentary about how proud he was of his kids.  And then, a girl moved to the front of the closed curtain and played a mesmerizing marimba solo .

The curtain opened and an ensemble played, and this pattern continued for over two hours--solo, ensemble, solo, ensemble.  

If I'd seen this teacher on the street, I'd never have figured he was a musician  Dressed in a plain brown suit,  he didn't look the part.  But when his kids played, and when he told story after story about them during the breaks, you could feel then magic between teacher and kids. 

He told us about the ones who, instead of leaving campus for lunch, stayed in the band room to practice.  About the awards they'd won.  About the senior who plays with YOSA, the Youth Orchestra of San Antonio.  

It was clear that the percussionists love that teacher and vice versa.  

At the end, he introduced all his graduating seniors, telling us about their contributions to the band. When he called Ava's name, she ran from the back of the stage to the front, arms up, smiling--a genuine rock star! 

Music is medicine.  It takes us places way beyond everyday worries.     

On my long drive home, Fresh Air was on the radio.  Just a few lines in to the interview, I recognized the man being interviewed, the famous cellist Yo Yo Ma. Not only did his interview round out my night of music, but the two back to back made me resolve to find more spaces in my life that music could fill.