I'm Home!

Hello y'all. I got back from California last evening around 7:00 p.m. and I'm still adjusting to the time change. I had a fabulous time with my friend Sarah and her husband John (a delightful man). I also had a marvelous time with my blogami, Marc. It was a pleasure to meet him in person. He joined us for a small gathering on New Year's Eve at friends of Sarah and John. where he charmed everyone. (Photo features Marc, Sarah, Gloria, our hostess, Sally, and Patty).

However, the most fun day began with Sarah, Marc and I going to lunch at The Ivy, a very ritzy restaurant where stars are known to dine. (Photo of Marc looking cool at The Ivy.) The food was actually very good. I had fish and chips, Ivy style, which included shrimp, cod fish, scallops, and calamari, plus french fries and a delicious red cabbage coleslaw. My gal pal Sarah had a salad with a host of greens and chunks of turkey, and Marc had Carne Asada, a Mexican dish consisting of a marinated and grilled steak, sliced thin and served on tortillas. Portions were huge but we managed to find room to share a desert, a nice wedge of key lime pie.

(Photo of Sarah looking cool at The Ivy.)

As for the stars, well, the only one that I could identify was Suzanne Somers. She had a gray sweatshirt with a hood which she pulled up over her head. However, she kept adjusting the hood and I suspect that she may have wanted to be noticed. Can't say that I blame her, once you have tasted the thrill of paparazzi chasing you and documenting your every move, it must be hard to go back to being one of the regular folks. Of course I wouldn't know about that; however, if my friend Sarah would have allowed me to hang out at Isaiah Washington's house (former star on Grey's Anatomy who currently resides in Sarah's neighborhood) like I wanted, I could have made the news. The media always covers stalkers of the rich and famous.

After lunch we were off to CBS studios to watch the taping of the Craig Ferguson show. I highly recommend that if you plan to visit the LA area and want something fun and cost free to do, sign up for tickets to one of the many television shows that film in the area. Ferguson's show comes on late night but the taping was at 3:30 p.m. The warm up guy was hilarious, telling a number of blue jokes that were wickedly funny. Ferguson is a witty and charming host and the entire experience was loads of fun. We were not on camera but that's okay; I'll have to get my 15 minutes of fame some other time.

In case you are wondering, yes, Marc is as delightful a conversationalist as he is a writer. Witty, slightly naughty, and always authentic. He is also very thoughtful and surprised me with a gift of some of his Hy-Art images, matted and framed. He also provided our hostess for the New Year's Eve gathering with a lovely decoupaged vase which I neglected to get a photo of!

He also provided me with a sign for my yard or perhaps my office.

I have a few more photos and additional vacation adventures but I'm pooped and must sleep.

BTW, I've missed reading your blogs and plan to catch up on all that I've missed!

Napoleon Dad

I've been fixin' to write a post all day but I'm just getting around to it. By the way, "fixin'" is southern for "having something to do but delaying getting it done while you distract yourself with doing other things." You can see why we use "fixin'," it's a lot shorter to say. I feel down right multilingual. I speak passable French, a modicum of Spanish, and fluent Southern, Ebonics, and standard English.

A few months ago, my sister and I commissioned Marc Olmsted to create a special picture for our father's birthday. Regular readers are familiar with Marc's Hy-Art in which he combines one or more classic works of art into an original interpretive work of art. Check the Hy-Art logo in my sidebar for a link to Marc's Etsy site where he sells his art. However, the birthday present for my dad is another of Marc's original creations, aptly named "Thou Art," or "you in art" in which Marc inserts you into a classic work of art. I've been the subject of a Thou Art by Marc on more than one occasion. Each time, I loved the results, so I asked him to create a Thou Art of my father.

My mother is the big talker in our family. She is one of the most entertaining gossips that I know, mainly because when she's telling us about the shenanigans of one of her many siblings, she does spot on imitations of not only their voices but their mannerisms. She doesn't just tell me about Aunt Dorothy's worries that her old boyfriend may think that she is still lusting after him if she moves from New York back to North Carolina, she becomes my slightly daft aunt, caught up in worries about a man that she dated some fifty years ago and hasn't seen since.

In comparison, my dad is a quiet man, although he rouses himself if the discussion is about politics or world affairs, subjects that don't interest my mother nearly as much as the continual doings of her siblings. Years ago a good friend told me that my father resembled the actor, Richard Roundtree. I reported her comment to my father and he literally beamed. My dad is still a handsome man, proud of the fact that he is as trim as he was as a 17 year old when he lied about his age to enlist in the military. In addition to being a vet, my dad is also a retired police officer; he served as a police officer on the Wilson police force for 25 years, retiring with the rank of captain. I'm proud of him. He was one of four black men who integrated the Wilson police department. He is featured in a local museum, the Oliver Nestus Freeman Round House Museum, covering the history of African-Americans in Wilson County; when he was asked to provide materials for the museum, including a biographical sketch, he asked me to write it for him. I was proud to do so and I confess that I take delight in visiting the museum and seeing my words about my father on its walls.

I sent Marc a photograph of my father taken 20 years ago. In the picture, he is beaming as he holds his grandson, my nephew, in his arms. I love the smile on his face. Marc selected a setting for dad that delighted me and my sister, and her husband Bob. (Bob likes it when I mention his name in my blog.) He appropriately named it Napoleon Dad.

I framed the image and my sister, Bob, and I presented it to my dad for his birthday on May 27. He was totally delighted, immediately recognizing that the original image was of Napoleon Bonaparte and thrilled with seeing himself sitting astride Napoleon's magnificent steed. He immediately announced his plan to carry the picture (a framed 8 by 10) with him on his walk the next day to show to his buddies. Both of my parents are avid walkers, however my mother walks with a group of mall walkers at the local shopping mall; my dad prefers walking the sidewalks of Wilson that used to be his beat when he was a foot patrolmen, new to the police force. The picture now graces a shelf on the built in bookcases in my parents' living room.

My thanks to Marc for helping us provide my father with such a unique present and one that brought that same wonderful smile to his face.

If you are interested in commissioning Marc to create a one-of-a-kind picture of you or a loved one, click here to see more of his "you in art" creations or email him (makemarc@aol.com) directly.