The Eve of the Hollow

As I write this it is the eve of All Hollow's Eve. I am dressing up tomorrow night for the first time in at least four years. Pippi Longstocking. A character I have wanted to be for Halloween for so long...but my hair has never been long enough. The last time I dressed up I don't think I was anything specific, I just put on a vintage dress and went to a party. funny. The year before that I was Rosie the Riveter, that was a good one.

This past Friday, my friend, Britta & I walked through the Warehouse District downtown (To you non Minneapolitans, this is where all the meat market bars are, think Pioneer Square in Seattle). We sifted through hundreds (okay, well not hundreds, but a lot) of women in leotards & corset type tops masked as a bunny or an elf or in one really bizarre instance, a Firefighter. We laughed and had a really nice discussion of the Pretty Factor on Halloween and how as a woman, there can be a tendency to only be something that you can be pretty and sparkly and show off your legs & cleavage.

Well, Pippi did none of that & my version of her won't either.

So, Halloween.

Growing up, the eve of Halloween was always a night of trying on the costume over and over. Or my mother staying up til the wee hours of the morning finishing hems and making final touches on the costume. She always made the most amazing, detailed & intricate costumes: E.T., Tweety Bird, Princess, Can Can Dancer, Flapper...oh the list goes on and on. And Halloween night, after trick or treating, we would dump our pillow cases of candy on the living room floor and sort, then trade, then gorge. The last to be eaten were always Jolly Ranchers and those funny taffy carmel things that were wrapped in orange or black wax paper. Those were no good. I distinctly remember my 8th grade halloween spent at home, alone, watching the Beverly Hills 90210 Halloween special and handing out candy. It was the first year I wanted to hand out candy and I did just that, happily to all the other kids in my neighborhood.

In junior high I had a Social Studies teacher, Mr. Dentz, who gave a fantastic lecture on Halloween. He talked about it's origins & how it evolved into what it is today. I remember the jist, but the details are vague. I do very clearly remember him walking across our classroom saying, "The Earth is Decaying! Winter is upon us! This marks the beginning of the end of the Harvest!" He had waist length hair he typically kept pulled back in a pony tail, but on this day it was down and it seemed to sway all over as marched in front of us. I think of him every Halloween and through out Autumn with this image in mind.

My first year of college I was naively shocked that people would go out and party on Halloween night as it was a Wednesday and we had classes the next morning. I remember Kajsa & Shelly, two other women in my dorm, in front of our dorm drunk and smoking at 10 or so Halloween night. They were dressed as crayons (not in leotards) & couldn't believe I wasn't going out. I hadn't thought of it. Honestly. The rest of my college Halloweens were definately passed at Parties. I was a cowgirl one year and I remember my college boyfriend & I dressing up as Old People another year. I threw on a housedress and knee high nude nylons and we put baby powder in our hair. That same year I remember a specific foursome (or maybe fivesome) dressing up as a cult of our classmate, Louis. They all wore black, I think & had name tags: Lois, Louise, Lou, maybe Lola...I can't remember the rest, but it was hiliarious & I am laughing about it as I write this. So funny. Louis and his lady (now wife) were Agents Mulder and Scully that year. I am marveling at my memory and how it just spits things at me as I reminisce.

College Halloweens typically entailed a lot of drinking. One year, I think my Sophomore year, 3 friends of mine shared a big botle of Jack Daniels and they all got very drunk but had three very different outcomes. One ended his night laughing hysterically at a party and the entire walk home. Another ended her night throwing up at the same party and through out the same walk home. The third never made it to the party. He passed out early but not before entertaining us with some amazing antics on the dining room floor. Ah, college.

What will this Halloween bring me? A night of waiting tables in costume and maybe a cocktail if I'm lucky. I'm sure it won't hold a candle to those in the past but will probably be alot livlier than the last few. I'll let you know. Enjoy your Halloween, dress up, have fun & most importantly, be safe.

xoxx

eeeek!

so last night i'm leaving my house and as I'm walking on the back walk I notice a softer, squishier step. I look back after about 10 feet and think i see a dead mouse.

whatever. I keep moving, get into my car & drive away.
A couple of hours later I arrive home & as I step through the gate onto the back walk I see it, a white mouse, definately deceased, lying on it's side.

hmph, I think, some owl will eat well tonight, and with that I go inside & I am in for the night.

Well, this morning, I leave the house and the mouse is still there. So, naturally I stop & take a photo (ha ha), then I pick it up by the tail and lay it in a much more comfortable spot: under a bush on a bed of leaves.

Rest in peace little mousy mouse.

call me crazy for any number of the actions described above, but it looked like someone's pet. While I've lived with mice & didn't really enjoy having them as housemates, it just didn't seem right to leave it lay on the walk to potentially be trampled on over and over.

xoxx

p.s. sorry about the photo..but I had to show someone.

weathering the changes.

Spring & fall seem to bring me days filled with self deprication: my state of life, my weight, my checkbook, my car, my toenails! It's a little bit ridiculous & I am currently in the midst of it, though I think I'm almost out. Almost. That is as soon as it snows.

Summer & Winter bring two distinctive lifestyles for me and I tend to think of spring and fall as the warm up to them. I love summer, I love the feel of a hot, humid summer night more than anything (remember this post?). But I also love winter especially the nights quiet from snowfall. So what's the problem? Why is it so hard to adjust to changing seasons when for 24 of my 29 years I have lived through the entire cycle in the same place?

I have come to the conclusion (as I do every equinoxal season) that the changing of weather freaks me out. Change is good, it's essential and I know this. But coming from a place where our regional culture and conversation is quite centered around the weather it's no wonder the change of it has seeped into my psyche. I know I can't control when the last "good day" will be or when the first frost will happen, and that suspense is hard for me to swallow. I like patterns and habit. I like knowing when things are going to happen. For example, I really appreciate that it is typical for the 3rd week of January to be the coldest ever. I don't know that this is really accurate, but for over ten years I have told myself as much and it seems to be true. There will definately be a January where the 3rd week isn't the coldest and I'll live through it. But, in the mean time, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

Because I can not be instrumental in the changes of weather I look inward at changes I can be such as those noted above. So I pick at myself and the things that I mean to work on all summer and get a little down about it. But, I'm almost through it, just as soon as it snows.
xoxx

ny, again.

I am really happy with this shot.

xoxx

synopsis of ny.

this weekend handsome randy and I went to NY.
It was a fanstastic trip. We ate a lot of great food & enjoyed each other's company.
Oh, and our friend, Brother Ali was on Conan O'Brien** on Friday night and Randy was the magic of the soundboard. That entire day was spent at NBC studios in Rockefellar Center...it was really, really great. In addition to Conan O'Brien, we also hooked up with a few old friends and walked all over. I shopped a little & Randy worked more.



A good time was had by all.
xoxx

**To Watch Brother Ali with Mint Condition on Conan O'Brien go here & pick Friday, October 19 & skip ahead to "Act 5".

ny

Royal Crown Cola

The consumption of RC (Royal Crown Cola is yet another tradition (or habit?) of my family. There was a time when the coveted soda was so hard to find that when my cousins or I would see it in stock at the grocery store we'd buy all there was to stock pile at my grandparents' house. Ha. Thankfully it is now in plentiful supply & my aunt, PAL keeps it well stocked in her fridge. Raise your RC can to that!
xoxx

The Nerd Gown.

i have a very large collection of sleepwear. Most are vintage, whispy nightdresses that I've found at thrift stores and estate sales. They are all unique in style and color. They litter the doornobs of our bathrooms and the underspace of our bed pillows. I take a lot of pride in my sleepwear collection and probably have enough to reserve one piece for every week of the year. I have a few favorites and a handful I have only slept in once. I might even venture to suggest that some nights I agonize over which nightdress to wear as much as I would over what clothes to wear for the day. Sometimes I smile for a whole day at a unique nightdress that I've found. This type of find leaves me feeling so much anticipation to put it on when I go to bed that sometimes I'm tempted to go to bed hours early.
When it gets cold those whispy nightdresses just don't cut it. it's time to take out my Cuddleduds: a thick, cotton nightgown complete with polo collar and long sleeves. It's ankle length, white with blue flowers all over it. The Nerd Gown. A Christmas gift from my mother one year. I unwrapped it and politely noted how warm it would be to sleep in, "Thank you SO much." I brought it home and put it in my drawer with no intention to ever take it out again, let alone wear it.
Then January arrived and changed that. January is the coldest month in Minnesota. So cold that sometimes it seems no matter how many blankets you pile on your bed you still wake in the middle of the night FREEZING which prohibits any kind of useful sleep. It was this cold that moved me to abandon my cute, colorful nightdresses & throw on the Nerd Gown. I get through the shock of the cold damp of October and the aforementioned unfathomably cold January with the embrace and warmth of my lovely Nerd Gown. No middle of the night FREEZING, no way, in The Nerd Gown I always sleep through the night quite productively. xoxx

me + a little deer

This was probably taken sometime in 1979 as I look to be a little over a year old. It's almost surreal. I love this photo so much. xoxx

a favourite shot.

i love this shot..one of my favs. This is my friend Channy in the midst of performing as Roma Di Luna with her husband, Alexei and their band at The 331 Club in Minneapolis.

To hear Roma Di Luna (& you should) go to: romadiluna.com
xoxx

ode to gramps.

this is my gramps, Doug Davis. a WWII vet, labor/union activist, retired teacher, volunteer lobbyist (senior citizen health care issues), DFL activist, feminist, advocate, Proud Northeaster, Lutheran.
he's 87. he still drives. he cooks all of his meals and lots of homemade soups. he has a computer and an e mail address. he also has cable and a flat screen television. despite these distractions he spends the majority of his home time writing or reading, and doing his latest hobby, bookbinding. when he's not home he's usually at a meeting, sometimes social, sometimes professional or out walking to keep in shape.
i grew up with this guy giving me rides all over town and waiting with me at my bus stop most mornings. He often sent me to school with a lunch of PBJ, lots of oreo cookies and a can of jolt He let me put as much sugar on my frosted flakes as I wanted. Every car ride was a social studies lesson and I put of getting my license to prolong them. Every year on D-Day he asks young grocery store baggers and clerks who cross his path if they know what day it is. Usually they don't and he reminds them of D-Day and all that happened on those beaches at Normandy on that day.
he taught me to be tolerant, loyal and to have a mind of my own. When i began my second year of college I was incredibly unhappy and he was the only one who told me it would be okay to take a break and just work if I needed to (I didn't).
he lives about a mile from the house he & his 7 siblings grew up in and the house he raised his family in (my aunt lives in that one). he likes his neighborhood.
tonight he participated in a reading that was put on by his writing group, "The Audobon 8". He was in his element and everyone was captivated by his charm and writing (a poem about the labor movement, a prose about winter).
he is a fantastic man and I love him very much. xoxx