Uptown Charlotte

Randy and I decided to spend a rainy Saturday exploring our city with a camera.





For only around 5 bucks each, we rode the awesome lightrail system that runs from the uptown area south to Pineville.








7th Street Station: the northernmost stop lands us in the middle of "uptown".




We spotted this building just a block from the station. It looks like there are silver sequins on the outside.




Beautiful black glass deco building.











The woman for whom our city
was named: Queen Charlotte.




Restaurants in the Epicentre.






Mirror statue entitled "The Firebird" in front of the newly-opened museum of modern art.









Play hopscotch and learn how to read simultaneously!










Self-explanatory.....








A neon sign inside Spirit Square. Charlotteans have a sense of humor....

Dog in the (Queen) City

Who says a big, black hairy canine can't have fun in a hot southern city in the summer?



Frisbee catching should be done at least 119 times each day


Upsidedown naps FTW


It is imperative to have a handy closet and a lovey available during thunderstorms.


Pretend the bathtub is a lake


Queen-sized bed for a queen-sized dog (in the Queen city)

Frog: "I can see right through you...."
Bug: "Ditto"

Tomato Sandwich Time

I hear they're spectacular if you have the right ingredients:

2 homegrown tomatoes (got those),
Duke's mayonnaise (sorry, Hellmann's only in this household),
salt and pepper (got those, too) and
squishy white bread (time to go to Harris Teeter).

Also add, large glass of iced tea.

Take Me Out......

It's nearly minor league baseball season! McCormick Stadium (home of the Asheville Tourists) is down the block from my house. This morning, "National Anthem" tryouts are being held so locals can show off their pipes in the hopes of singing in front of a home-town crowd. Through my open window, I can hear all the hopefuls since the stadium loudspeaker is definitely turned up to 11. Some sound pretty good, others a bit pitchy. But, congratulations to all the brave souls who get out there and audition.

The first game is April 8th. I'm ready to walk down to the field and join the other locals in a cheap beer and a great hot dog, and share a high-five with "Ted E. Tourist", the beloved team mascot. Go Tourists!

Charlotte and Charlotte

A photo tribute to my dog and to the city I will soon call home.

Tim and Lisa

To my dearest Michigan friends, Tim and Lisa:

Sending all my love, prayers and positive thoughts to you both. Perhaps anyone else who is reading this post will, too.

Buck and Cover

Every Saturday night in the late 60's and early 70's, I was glued to the T.V with my dad, watching Hee Haw. Yup. Cornball, perhaps, but even as a youngster I never discounted the fabulous talent I was witnessing on that B&W screen. My favorite? Buck Owens. Beyond those sparkly "Nudie" suits and that cool red/white/blue acoustic guitar, Buck's harmonies with Don Rich were magical to me. I didn't know his singular sound was called "Bakersfield", but I did know that I loved hearing him.

Hours in the car on long car trips -- no tape player but always willing parents who tried their best to teach me Buck's harmonies. My dad showing me chords to "Act Naturally" on his old Kay acoustic (still my most prized possession...) Who wouldn't want to sing lyrics like: "You've got me, dreamin' those dreams again, thinkin' those things again..." or "I'll give you love, that's above, and beyond the call of luh-huh-huv."

I am always happy to hear Buck's covers, especially when sung by some of my other favorite singers. Yay to youtube for preserving audio/video recordings of the following Buck covers:

Gram Parsons, the original country/rock king, often sang with The Flying Burrito Brothers. Their cover of Buck's Close Up the Honky Tonks is faster than the original, but doesn't lessen the heartbreak.

Emmylou Harris, the queen of Americana Music, does a breathy, dreamy version of "Together Again". Requited love never sounded so good.

And Dwight Yoakam can practically channel Buck, even from beyond the grave.

As great as these covers are, nothin' beats the real thing. So many favorites, it was hard to choose which one to link: "Love's Gonna Live Here" or "Tiger by the Tail" or "Under Your Spell Again"? How about this one...

My Funny Valentine

Goofy, galumphing Charlotte...one of the pearls on my string.

Numbers

It was in the mid-70's when I bought the Cat Steven's album "Numbers (A Pythagorean Theory Tale)". As Wikipedia says:

The idea shaped into a fantastic, spiritual musical set on the planet Polygor. In the story, there is a castle with a number machine. This machine exists to fulfill the sole purpose of the planet: to disperse numbers to the rest of the universe -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 (but notably, not 0). The nine inhabitants of Polygor, called "Polygons", are Monad, Dupey, Trezlar, Cubis, Qizlo, Hexidor, Septo, Octav, and Novim. As the last lines of the book say, they "followed a life of routine that had existed for as long as any could remember. ... It was, therefore, all the more shocking when on an ordinary day things first started to go wrong." The change takes the form of Jzero, who comes from nowhere as a slave and eventually confuses everybody with his simple truth

Whoa. As much as I loved Cat's album, it didn't do much for my "math phobia" but did help me get through high school. In 1976, I even named my shaggy little black dog Jzero, based on one of Cat's songs from this album. But ever since 9th grade algebra (my first and only C+), I have been literally afraid of numbers! I don't like taxes and check books, but I consider my own numbers carefully:

First there were five. Then, there was only one. Then the original five turned into four. Eventually it went back to one. Then the number one turned into two. But only in a matter of a short time, the number went from two, to three, to four! Then, the number went back to three.

Most people want the number "two" in their lives, which is a wonderful and possible thing. I know for me it'll always be three, for ever and ever. Still, these days the numbers on my wish list go from one to two, then on to four, to five, and up to ten, yet my wish-list of numbers has the potential to rise to 6.5 billion.

I am not afraid of numbers any more. And I named my current dog after a TV show, not an album based on numbers.

C.A.B.

The three most important initials in every girl's life......