Dainty Cuss

Oh happy happy joy joy, it’s officially Spring!

I can’t believe it. Exactly one year ago today, Groom and I were flying home from Japan, having spent two weeks retracing steps of an important journey I made years before. It was a dream come true to take Groom in hand and show him traces of my past.

In our modern culture, it is hip to express oneself through the art of tattoo, but mine are on the inside. I might have been born in the USA, but parts of me are definitely “Made in Japan.” That country has made indelible marks on me, and if I could peel back the layers, you’d see my interior embossed with cherry blossoms, the walls of my heart decorated with temple pagodas, the smell of aged wood and incense buried deep within.

A bittersweet moment was making the sojourn to one of my dearest friend’s grave. The Japanese have a single word to encompass the entire concept called Ohakamairi. It means to visit someone’s grave, to clean it, honor the person’s memory, light candles and incense, and pay one’s respects. Of course, it takes a string of English words to convey a similar meaning, but using one word or many, we made it to his temporal resting place on the 15th anniversary of his death.

I’ve thought of him every one of those days and I still miss him like crazy.

It was a calm spring day as we made the climb up the hill to his tombstone, the sun starting to show its muscle after a wintry rest. As we said our greetings, the wind suddenly kicked up, enough to catch a pile of leaves on fire from the incense ritual.

Interaction with the elements: Earth as in dust-to-dust. Water, I cried an ocean. Fire, spontaneous combustion. And Air. Something knew we were there and I found comfort that his reply arrived on the wind. When we finally said our goodbyes, the wind died down and it became hot and calm as before. Goosebumps.

It is now one year later, and the 16th anniversary of his leaving me behind (yes, I’ve taken his death quite personally), coincided with an especially bad moon-cycle. Aaargh, those nasty hormonal cocktails that the bartender in the sky uses to unleash March Madness.

So it was with prickly nerves that I made a little pre-production drama out of getting up to read my Oscar Wilde material at Poetry Night in Cottage Grove on Tuesday. The theme was “Irish/Green” and I took that directive quite seriously. I duded up in a Kelly-green wig and spent too much energy trying to memorize the whole thing, which served me not at all, because when I finally took the stage in front of the authentic 1970’s psychedelic lightshow, I just read the darmn thing and nobody knew the difference.

And had I only known. The poetry class from the University got wind of it and their professor was giving extra credit to anyone enrolled who would get up and read their original works. Well, first of all, only one other person bothered to dress up at all, and that would be Kimmmm, naturally. She designed a make you weak in the knees outfit that should have gotten air time at the Fashion Show, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

At 7 o’clock, as I was trying not to hyperventilate before my performance, I looked around at the crowd, or should I say, at the sea of flannel. The first poet of the night was a young girl, ever so casually dressed, who shlepped up to the front of the room, took her time ascending the mini-flight of stairs, and then made us wait (and wait) as she thumbed through her notebook, stopping every once in a while to mumble one of her scribbles. Completely monotone, none of us understood what she was saying. I don’t mean we didn’t “get her poetry,” I mean, it was just a jumble of microphone cack.

The second person dressed neither in green nor mentioned anything Irish. She read an uplifting tome about cancer and the burn of chemo. Great, ‘cause next it was me in my stripey stockings, steampunk goggles and giggles pertaining to Oscar Wilde’s emasculated tomb and then a limerick which went like this:

A limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical.
But the good ones I've seen
So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.

Then one of the extra-credit slam poets tossed off this line which I appreciated.

“No one can make you feel less,

Unless,

You have something to address.”

Oh boy, seems like I’m always having something to address…

Kimmmm, in her crazy wild outfit, did her impression of a recording of William Butler Yeats, and my favorite take-away phrase from the evening was “Dainty Cuss.” I think that’s a great description. I told Zolo, who also got up to read two of his originals, that he and I were dainty cusses.

As if one trip in a week to Cabbage Groove wasn’t enough, Groom and I returned Friday night to witness the 4th annual Paradise Fashion Show at Centro del Sol with Kimmmm. We sat front and center, believing our choice of seats would provide ample opportunity to capture couture shots just like real fashion paparazzi. Ha! As you can see, I’ve got a lot to learn.

The models walked the gray catwalk and climbed a few stairs to a higher level, took a spin, and then walked back down. I did my best to represent, but this is what my camera angle managed to reveal. And when I told a few folks what I did over the weekend, the common response was, “Fashion? Cottage Grove? Aren’t those words mutually incompatible?” Well, I’ll let you be the judge of that. (For Kimmmm's photo take on the evening, visit her Flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/lampadina/ )

On a final note, several of you have asked what song I sang at Karaoke when I did my stretch goal. Ah, it was Shania Twain’s Still the One. I sang it to Groom and it’s a love song about a couple who have been together for a long time and lo, after all these years,

“You're still the one I run to

The one that I belong to

You're the one I want for life

You're still the one that I love
The only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss good night”

Well, some might consider that a romantic gesture, which was my intention, but as I described, it came out more like a comedy bit.

Yesterday, a street guy begging change told me I dropped something. I stopped and looked back, just in case. He said, “You dropped your smile, don’t step on it.”

To recap, my week has been filled with Japanese memories, the color green, a bit O’ the Irish, hormonal angst, dramedy, comedy, the Vernal Equinox, dainty cusses and smile-stepping fashion.

Oh, and in case you forgot, you can always click on any photo to enlarge, then just hit the back button to return to the blog. Did you notice in photo #2, the one with the statues having their own fashion show, that somewhere hidden in the fabric, it says, "Made in Japan?"

Kampai!

Burnt Cream

Our DVD player has a feature on its remote control for the fast forward button. When pressed once, the function will do as the phrase indicates: Go forward fast. If pressed again, it will go even faster. Press it a third time and zoom, the images flash by in a blur.

I think I have just solved the mystery of our current space/time continuum. Somebody in the celestial hemisphere is sitting on the remote control, making time a speed ball in triplicate fast forward. I mean, how can it be time to sit down and write the blog already? This week has flown by. It was just my birthday, and what a birthday it’s been!

To briefly recap, Groom and I get out of Dodge each February, but this year, our jewelry classes kept us staying local. I was feeling a bit miffed, a tad out of sorts, but it’s turned out to be an amazing birthday week, ne month, with all kinds of friends expressing all kinds of wuv. Aaaah.

The first were the Goat People - you know, the Capra Chronicles? They surprised me by showing up in Roseburg, the halfway point between where we live. To justify getting me in the car for an hour and a half on a rainy Sunday morning, a story was concocted that we were going on an adventure to take pictures. “In the rain?” I asked.

“That or antiquing.”

I got in the car. Me loves to antique, thrift, yard sale and flea market. Yes, those are verbs. Oh, hunting for treasures to transform, retrofit, repurpose into funky, semi-precious salvage art jewelry. The thrill!

As I already told you, our friends were the surprise, meeting and treating us to a delicious grilled salmon meal. But the best part of lunch was dessert. “Burnt Cream.” It’s usually called crème brulee, but this was Roseburg and you gotta love a town where “burnt cream” appeals more to the locals than the fancier, frenchier version. I’m kicking myself a little that I did not take a photo of le menu. Drats.

The next day, Nanny BeeBugg drove down from Portland to spend the night. We spent all day Monday and part of Tuesday noshing (oh, Groom is such a good cook), visiting, and playing booth-dress up. Yes Folks, it’s that time already. We need to upgrade the look of our jewelry booth as we upgrade the jewelry itself.

She helped us decide on a new color scheme (ooh, you’ll just have to wait for the unveiling…) and we worked on establishing theme and focus. The idea is to create a booth beautiful enough to draw people in, but not too elaborate so that it competes with the merchandise. A very fine line.

Tuesday we had classes, but Kimmm managed to meet us during our hour break and we had a lovely tea party, which included charming presents.

Then we zipped up to Portland for a day, beginning with a fantastic breakfast spot, La Petite Provence of Division, chosen by God’s Minion. We had a great time visiting and laughing and drinking too much coffee and she also spoiled me with colorful packages. I love birthdays.

We said our goodbyes after a stroll down Hawthorne (so many little shops to peruse), then met with Nanny BeeBugg again to play for the rest of the day. She took us from one end of the Rose City to the other, being a great tour guide, showing us enchanting places to thrift. We revisited a favorite, Flutter, and discovered, much to our dismay, that Unicorns Don’t Believe in Us. How sad.

But to assuage the shock, we happily encountered a mustachioed elk, a crowned hyena, and a chorus of Greek hippos in fashionably appropriate togas.

Too see how much we could cram into a few short days, we also attended the Asian Festival (pssst… it is now the year of the Tiger) where we found one of our favorites, Spam Musubi!!!

Oh yes, and there was the Market of Fleas (I’m guessing that’s what they prefer to call it in Roseburg), where three guys were playing music with a cardboard sign reading “Hope for Haiti.” After the quake, many enterprising people donated time and money for the cause, but I’m not sure selling Haitian people for $5 each is really helping, do you?

(Now remember, you can always click on the photos to enlarge them and then just hit the back arrow to return to the blog).

Speaking of needing help, I’m not sure the Americans are faring much better by the state of Barbie and Ken. Something’s gotten them all in a twist.

After the Asian Festival and Flea Market, we toodled on down to Cottage Grove – or as I’ve been given permission to call it from a local – Cabbage Groove, to meet Kimmm and her husband Dean of the Aprovecho, Prince Charles Ashden Award, and The New Yorker fame. Now we can add meeting with Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton’s people to the list. He just returned from Washington D.C. where he survived Snowmaggedon, the snowpacalypse storm and made more progress on behalf of his non-profit stove organization.

It’s a little humbling to be talking about making jewelry, thrifting and birthdays when people are out saving the world. There, we can fix that by pausing for a moment of silence.

Okey dokey, back to being tourists in our own back yard, we were shown the pride and joy of Cottage Grove by Dean in his top hat. Drum roll please. May I present to you, the “Privy Gallery by C.G. Art Guild!”

And what’s not to love about a shop that sells Marie Antoinette wigs? Let them eat burnt cream.

Well, I’d love to stop there, but it wouldn’t be right not to thank all of you who sent birthday cards, gift enclosures, flowers, emails, texts, phone messages and songs, to those of you who took us out for delicious meals, gave generous gift certificates, fancy bottles of wine, surprise packages of books, jewelry supplies and yes, even license plates. Loveit loveit loveit!

I adored you all before the time and attention, but even on Fast Forward, I’ll continue to do so. Thank you for making my Z0L0 birthday one to remember fondly.