Loose Leaf Notes

Grandsons Bryce and Liam were good enough to lend Joe and me their hats so we could portray Mario and Luigi for Halloween. We put on a dress rehearsal with the only bad part being, it hurt like crazy when I pulled my mustache off.

Last week my son Josh wrote on his Facebook Timeline: “I leave for China in 18 days to be the visiting artist for West Virginia’s international exchange program at The Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen. What once was just “something I am doing this fall” has officially gotten very real.”   He’ll be gone for three months (working and traveling) and so this weekend he came to visit and collect hugs goodbye.  I call the photo above “Homeboy Reads Hometown Paper” (all about the recent floods in Floyd). Love you, Josh!

This sweet boy works for his supper. Last pick before the frost.

I sweat a bucket dancing at Dogtown with my friend Jayn to a band called the Mad Iguanas.  I have to confess that I was a little buzzed on beer when I shouted to my friend Bob, “Folk music, shmoke music! I like it loud!  That just doesn’t sound right today.

It’s always a good day when Nikki Giovanni comes to town. She graciously did a reading, told stories and made some social commentary at the Jacksonville Center for the Arts Sunday afternoon.  Because she has lots of poems about food and likes to cook, I told her in another life she should open a restaurant.  She agreed.  I could also easily see her as a stand-up comic.  She’s got the timing and the punch lines down. Watch a clip HERE. 

The Jacksonville Center’s barn exhibit was not in the barn as much as it was of barns.  This was one of my favorites, done by local artist Howard Wenger.

______Our World Tuesday