Goodnight & Good Morning

I didn't blog on Friday but before I go to sleep I wanted to mention that it was the eleven year anniversary of my father's death.

February 16th, 1996

Love to my Pop.

Katie

We wish you a goodnight...

Katie...
Kimba...
and Kiki.

Hungry Like a Wolf

The other day Annie and I were downtown in the car. We were both famished so I got us some roast chicken from the deli and we ate it while double-parked on 73rd Street.

Annie: "Is that blood on the chicken?"

Me: "No."

Annie: "Are you SURE?"

Me: "Yes, I'm sure, it's just the grease."

We continued to eat in silence.

Annie: "Who first thought of killing animals to eat them?"

Me: "I don't know, but could we not talk about killing animals while we're eating animals?"

Annie: ”Okay, okay!"

More silence, more eating.

Annie: "I feel like a wolf who's just broken into a barn and who's killed a chicken."

Me: "Annie, please!"

Long pause, more eating.

Annie: "Mmmmm... I'm in heaven. And apparently so is the chicken!"

Don't Drink & Jive

Katie: "So, what did your friend think of me?"

Kristian: "She thought you were drunk."

Katie: "Drunk? I wasn't DRUNK!"

Kristian: "I know, I told her that."

Katie: "Why would she think I was drunk?"

Kristian: "I dunno."

Katie: "It's probably because I don't make small talk when I first meet someone, she probably found that unusual."

Kristian: "That's true, you sit down and go right into material."

The way things aren't

Last night Annie and I made our way across the snow covered city street.

Annie:"For a second I thought that fire hydrant was a little kid!"

A Favorite Song Title

"'Scuse These Blues"

From the Urban Dictionary

"Grimping "

Grimp: one who pimp's one's grandparent,

or grimpin': the act of going out pimping with one's grandparent.

"The most I ever learned about life was when I went out grimping with my grandpa..."

Lovely Line

You'd be so nice to come home to.

~Cole Porter

Quote

“Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.”

~Golda Meir

Heart Shaped Kiss

My old horse Kiss was born on Valentine's day, and wasn't he clever to come out of his mama with a heart shaped blaze on his head?

He is now being loved and adored by a wonderful family up north.

Wednesday Morning

Victor & Annie




Outside my apartment building door

Secret...

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

The way things aren't

Today I saw a construction worker opening the back door of his truck. For a split second I thought he was pulling out a bunch of yellow roses... but it was only his tool belt.

Fitz Fact

Duke Ellington composed the music for the song, "Love You Madly," and Ella wrote the words.

Sorry for leaving that out, I was in an Ellington frame of mind at the time.

Lovely Lines

Good things come to those who wait
So just relax and wait for fate
To let me see the day you'll say to me,
I love you, love you madly...

...Oh, I got big eyes for you, baby...

~Duke Ellington

Wheat Jesus!

I once sat at a diner across from a friend of mine who'd become a born-again Christian. At one point in our conversation I looked at him and said, "Are you telling me that you honestly think I have less of a life because I haven't found Christ?" He leaned across the table, took my hand and stared into my eyes. "Yes," he answered, "Yes I am."

Well, years later I can finally say that I know exactly how he felt, because I honestly believe that people who haven't found Eli's Health Bread are living less of a life. I really do.

But good news, Eli's Health Bread IS coming!

Click here for shipping options.

One Year Ago Today

Cabrini Blvd., New York City

Listening to at the Moment...

Beauty for Tuesday

I Will...

... drive through San Francisco and visit my childhood neighborhoods, and the old horse stable in Golden Gate Park, a place that holds so many of my memories.

Quote

“We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”

~ Joseph Campbell

Radio Days, 1974

I was eleven-years-old in 1974, my family had just moved to Los Angeles from San Francisco and my radio, as it had been since I was 8, was my best friend. I'd spend hours in my room listening to the Top 40 station, the music providing endless entertainment and comfort as well as a soundtrack for the movie of me that played in my head.

Below are some of the songs from that year, each one served to cement 1974 into my memory, a time of transition both in my external and internal worlds. Some of the songs I loved, some I loathed, and some I would scoff at in front of friends but secretly found painfully and beautifully romantic.


Abra-Ca-Dabra - DeFranco Family (#32)
The Air That I Breathe - The Hollies (#6)
Already Gone - Eagles (#32)
Another Saturday Night - Cat Stevens (#6)
Be Thankful for What You Got - William DeVaughn (#4)
Billy, Don't Be a Hero - Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods (#1)
Boogie Down - Eddie Kendricks (#2)
Bungle in the Jungle - Jethro Tull (#12)
Cat's in the Cradle - Harry Chapin (#1)
Come and Get Your Love - Redbone (#5)
Dancing Machine - The Jackson 5 (#2)
Devotion - Earth, Wind & Fire (#33)
Do It ('Til You're Satisfied) - B.T. Express (#2)
Feel Like Makin' Love - Roberta Flack (#1)
For the Love of Money - The O'Jays (#9)
Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd (#19)
Help Me - Joni Mitchell (#7)
Hooked On A Feeling - Blue Swede (#1)
I Honestly Love You - Olivia Newton-John (#1)
I Shot the Sheriff - Eric Clapton (#1)
I Won't Last A Day Without You - Carpenters (#11)
I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song - Jim Croce (#9)
I'm Leaving It All Up to You – D. & M.Osmond (#4)
I've Been Searchin' So Long - Chicago (#9)
I've Got the Music in Me - The Kiki Dee Band (#12)
Jazzman - Carole King (#2)
Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas (#1)
Let's Get Married - Al Green (#32)
Livin' for You - Al Green (#19)
Midnight at the Oasis - Maria Muldaur (#6)
Midnight Rider - Gregg Allman (#19)
The Night Chicago Died - Paper Lace (#1)
Nothing from Nothing - Billy Preston (#1)
Oh Very Young - Cat Stevens (#10)
Piano Man - Billy Joel (#25)
Please Come To Boston - Dave Loggins (#5)
Radar Love - Golden Earring (#13)
Rikki Don't Lose That Number - Steely Dan (#4)
Rock Me Gently - Andy Kim (#1)
Rock On - David Essex (#5)
Rock the Boat - The Hues Corporation (#1)
Rock Your Baby - George McCrae (#1)
Seasons In the Sun - Terry Jacks (#1)
Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy) - Al Green (#7)
Skin Tight - Ohio Players (#13)

Unlikely Friends

I Will...

... go to a drive-in movie theatre again.

Secret...

It comforts me that my mother has had the same phone number since I was 17.

She speaks to me

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

~Anais Nin

The Reel Me

I removed a picture from the Half Note today, a picture of me wearing a hat. David said it made me look mean and my mother said my nose looked much too broad, and that I looked miserable, haunted and neurotic. "Take it down," she said, "It just doesn't look like YOU."

So I've replaced the photo with another of myself in which I look quite healthy-minded and kind, and my nose is its proper shape. However, I do bear an uncanny resemblance to an immortal elf in love.

Rob Brezsny's Leo Horoscope

Happy Valentine Daze, Leo! I predict that more love will flow into your life in the future. Why? Because beginning now, you will remove the obstructions that have been interfering with that flow. That's not all. More love will flow into your life because you'll decide that you are actually very lovable--more lovable than you've previously acknowledged. That's not all. More love will flow into your life because you will vow to invoke in yourself a tremendous surge of willpower that will make you hungry to give love, to bestow blessings, and to extend favors. You'll derive deep pleasure, a real libidinous thrill, from radiating generous emotions in all directions.

In My Dreams

Last night I dreamed that I was standing outside a hotel room with a very young Greg Allman. Apologetically I told him that although I liked the Allman Brother's Band, I never listened to his solo albums. He understood and said it was okay. When he leaned in toward my lips, I wondered if I could successfully French kiss someone while I had a mint in my mouth. I could, and we stood there kissing for some time.

Annie Said:

"Mommy, your eyes are so pretty, they light up your face."

Quote

“Reality is a crutch for people who can't cope with drugs.”

~Lily Tomlin

Kat and the hat

My mother thinks I look good in hats.

My father used to make me wear a hat when I'd leave the house with wet hair.

My favorite hat is a black Stetson cowboy hat but I never wear it.

David says when I put on Annie’s pink knit Yankees hat it doesn’t look good with my skin color, but I know what he really thinks is that I look ridiculous in it.

I don’t wear a hat in the rain or carry an umbrella.

Every time I hug my friend Frank, I knock off his baseball hat.

My brother Michael has a ten-gallon hat that he wears when he wants to embarrass me.

I have a sheepskin hat that I paid $100 for, but the collar of my jacket pushes up its flaps and makes it come off.

I've been holding a hat for for my friend Natassa while she cares for her mother in Greece.

Annie teases me when on below zero days I wear a hat that covers my head and my face.

It's cute when babies angrily pull off their hats.

The only kind of hat I like on a man is a knit cap.

I once complained that someone was complaining that our doorman wasn't wearing his hat.

It makes me sad that I've forgotten what kind of hat my father wore in winter.

When Annie wears her red hat I call her my little red marble.

I think I look good in a black beret.

I wore the hat pictured here when I was out tonight.

Love Is the Answer

An American soldier, an Iraqi child, a pin-up girl. We are all members of the same family and when we mean not to harm others but know only what to do with what is given us, then our pain, our suffering and our death should be handled with care and held quietly in the hearts of all of us.

~kb

Friday

Annie: "Why do all my friends love you?"

Katie: "Do they?"

Annie: "Yeah."

Katie: "I don't know, why do you think?"

Annie: "I guess they think you're cool and fun and stuff. They just don't know the cruel, cold truth about you."

Something cute for Friday

Pssst...

...There are new postings on Annie's blog.

Who's Your Eddie?

Annie sees the birthday picture of David on my computer screen.

Annie: "Who's that?"

Me: "Daddy."

Annie: "That's not Daddy!"

Me: "Yes, it is."

Annie: "He looks more like an EDDIE!"

Me, laughing: "What do you mean?"

Annie: "I don't know, he looks like his name should be EDDIE, not DAVID!"

Last Night's Menu

Almond stuffed olives, vegetarian pâté, tossed salad, homemade tomato and basil bruschetta on Ciabatta, spaghetti with Maine shrimp in a garlic butter sauce topped with fresh Parmesan cheese.

Okay, I admit it, I rocked the kitchen last night.

A Sign of Sweetness

Last night Annie had this displayed when David walked in the front door.

1967-2007

When a great actor dies I take a moment to remember, I feel it and move on. When a beloved public figure dies I take a moment to remember, I feel it and move on. But when I learned tonight that Anna Nicole Smith died, I thought my heart would break.

I'd forgotten this story, until Tai told it at Aerophant.

Mamma Mia!

Mom: "I read your blog everyday."

Katie: "So you can find out what's going on in my life?"

Mom: "So I can find out what's going on in your head."

Katie: "And what have you discovered is going on in your daughter's head?"

Mom: "Well, she's looking for answers, she's looking for inspiration, she's looking for peace. I just wish she was looking for a job."

Happy Birthday Dave!

I love this picture of David from his college days; a head of messed up hair and a big smile on his sweet face. (I won't tell you what illegal substances he may or may not have been on when this picture was taken...)

Blog on hold today, I've got a celebration to prepare.

Seeing Stars

On my way home tonight I saw Orion in the sky, bright and in full view. Not something we see much here in the city, so even in the cold, I stopped and took notice.

Isolation Thanks

I love a crisp fall night and a cool summer breeze, but I loathe a bitter winter cold. I've been hunkered down for days, leaving my apartment only to bring Annie to and from school and run errands in the neighborhood.

I look forward to spring, to wearing a dress and going downtown for gelato and jazz, but for now I wait inside and give thanks for warm gloves, down blankets and rattling radiators.

Some beauty for Wednesday

Red Shouldered Hawk

Unsolicited Advice From Me

When you're in the parking lot of the supermarket, always return your cart to its proper place. Unless of course you're freezing your ass off, then just leave the cart anywhere, run like hell to your car, get in and drive away as fast as you can.

Always ask yourself if there's more and if the answer is yes, then do your best to get it.

Never let someone attempt to put a filling in your tooth without first administering Novocain.

When your child tells you a story, it's okay if you don't listen to every word they say, but always be present to the sound of their voice and the look on their face.

Don't watch "Lord of the Rings" before bed, even if you're 43-years old and know it's not real.