Loose Leaf Notes

1. I call the photo below: “I found Mitch McConnell.” When I pointed him out to a friend, he said ‘he doesn’t look dead enough.’

2. I got a great picture of our Small Town Summer crowd last Thursday but had to crop out a dad changing his baby’s diaper…

3. I think the American Aquarium band, who played at last week’s Thursday night’s Small Town Summer, is Raliegh’s version of Charlottsville’s Dave Matthews Band. They’re that good. Story coming soon…

4. “Turn on the news and it breaks my heart / Another family being torn apart /How many times does it havе to/ Happen to them beforе it happens to you? / I refuse to believe this is who we are / And I won’t sit back and watch it fall apart / You’re either saying okay or absolutely not / You’re either giving up or giving it all you got” – From American Aquarium’s History Repeats Itself, #7 on the Americana music chart.

5. Sunday I went on a downtown Walking Tour hosted by the Historical Society. When we passed the old (closed) Harris Laundromat, I shouted ‘that’s where I met my husband!’

6. It was 1987. He was new in town. He was in the laundromat tie-dying shirts with friends of mine for a Blue Mountain School fundraiser, and I was filling the trunk of my car with apples from a nearby tree when we met. More HERE.

7. There They Go! Here They Come! It’s a Tractor Fun Run Fundraiser to benefit children facing health challenges and their families who are facing increased medical bills.

8. I met a man named Floyd at the Floyd Tractor Run who said, “Since they named this whole town for me, I figured I ought to come.” He bought a 1949 tractor just so he could join the Fun Run Fundraiser… Story coming soon.

9. I call this my “Scrabble Study Group.”

10. I can swing in the hammock and chew gum at the same time. It’s called self-regulating.

11. Art has been a gateway to healing for Starroot, who also writes poetry and songs and performs in bands. In 1992 while she and her late husband were settling into their newly purchased 100-acre Floyd County property, Starroot became ill and was bedridden. Her husband bought her paints and paintbrushes and encouraged her to paint. Her first foray into painting, which included bold images of spirit beings such as aliens, angels, fairies and totem animals, was prolific. She hasn’t stopped painting since then…  Read the entire news story I wrote about Starroot for Floyd Times HERE.

12. “This ain’t the country my grandfather fought for / But I still see the hate he fought against / Give rest to the tired, give mercy to the poor / Give warmth to the huddled masses / And I’ll show you freedom / The load is heavy and the road is long / And we’ve only begun to fight / We just can’t give in, we just can’t give up / We must go boldly into the darkness / And be the light…”  From The World is on Fire by American Aquarium

13. Leaves glide from trees / like swallowtails surfing / Bird calls grow faint / and unconvincing / The muted cheers of crickets / invade the stillness / An indigo-tailed chameleon / scurries to hide / Weeds drop seeds / and tomatoes crack open / A boastful chicken crows / about her henhouse production… Read my poem Summer’s Exhale in its entirety HERE.

_________Thirteen Thursday