13 Thursday: Open for Business
1. My brother Joey is addicted to scratch tickets. I thought it was strange how often he stopped to buy them when he was here for my son’s wedding, but then I realized that it wasn’t that much different than me stopping several times a day to see if I have any blog comments.
2. On a hot night I feel like I’m sleeping on a grille, flipping myself over and over and from side to side so as not to get overdone.
3. I wrote the above in my sleep.
4. This past Saturday night I was really wishing that the Café Del Sol had a web camera. I was unable to attend our July Spoken Word Open Mic because I was doing foster respite care. It’s the first one I’ve missed since we started them and with only 3 from our writer’s workshop attending, I was worried that we wouldn’t have enough readers. I called Mara at the Café towards the end of the evening and she said there had been 10 readers and a packed house. Progress!
5. New bloggers in town? I thought about posting the photo to the right with that caption. In reality it’s my brother-in-law, mother, brother Joey, and sister Sherry in town for my son’s wedding and sitting in the very seats that we bloggers usually do when we get together for our regional meet-ups. There was no meet-up this month because our host, David St. Lawrence, who has several new blogs and a new job as the director of the Jacksonville Center for the Arts, was busy.
6. There are some people I like to follow around with a pen because they say such interesting things. In reference to the Café Del Sol’s phone number, 745-ACUP, posted in big letters on the side of their building, Doug Thompson recently remarked that people passing by would think the café was either a coffee shop or a lingerie shop. So should this photo be called “window shopping” or “peeping tom?”
7. Wedding party reception tables always remind me of the Last Supper.
8. Leaving comments on other blogs is like how we wave to each other from our cars on the back roads in Floyd. Sometimes we have so much to say that we pull over.
9. We seem to have a new breed of hardy mice living amongst us. It started when they set up house in our grille over the winter and lived off the dog food. Now I’m not sure if the poison I put out is killing them or luring them into the house.
10. I’ve lived in Virginia for 20 years. It took me nearly 15 years of living here to like country music. Here’s how it happened.
11. I like the Dixie Chicks’ music and admire them as people. Last year they suffered a negative backlash when lead singer Natalie Maines said she was embarrassed that President Bush came from Texas. When asked recently if she was concerned about the response to her continued criticism of him, she said, “Well, these days there's no danger in that …” You can read the whole interview HERE.
12. Earlier in the summer, I got a phone invitation from my friend Rain’s husband, inviting me to her birthday bash at Over the Moon café and art gallery. When I finally met up with him at the party, I said, “What did you mean on the phone when you said “No holds barred? Just what did you have in mind?” He looked perplexed and then figured it out, “I said NO HOST BAR, Colleen!” We both cracked up.
13. There’s an ocean in my near future. Posting here may be choppy while I navigate my way there.
Comments
I decided that I liked country music when I first heard "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," and never looked back. Just like in any genre, there's a lot that I don't like, but separating the wheat from the chaff is a pleasure within itself.
I'm back in the 13 swing today.
Posted by: terrilynn | July 20, 2006 9:11 AM
Well, I'm not on the Thursday 13 list any longer but still love to visit some friends made over the months...
Love your #2 and then the #3 was really cute!! I like that. I like humor!!
Happy Thursday
Posted by: Wystful 1 | July 20, 2006 9:29 AM
I had never noticed the "last supper" resemblance but there it is! And religiously speaking my mom had a fit when we bought my nephew a scratch off the other day during his visit...
I have seen the Dixie Chicks twice and loved them before, during and after the comment. Though I miss their original grit and don't love this overproduced new stuff as much as their old stuff. (Seems to happen every time you get too famous)
Have a nice Thursday Colleen! Stay Cool up there!
Posted by: Deana | July 20, 2006 9:36 AM
I haven't heard the Dixie Chicks new stuff yet. Sometimes I think musicians have a couple of good albums in them and then they feel pressure to produce something whether or not there heart is in it. Of course there are exceptions. I think they are not relating to their country music roots right now because the majority of that community turned their backs on them ... as she talks about in the interview.
I have the cover to Entertainment Magazine with them posing nude with words like "saddam's angels and shut up etc" stamped on them posted on my bulletin board, which I can look up from my computer and see. Now that's feisty.
Posted by: colleen | July 20, 2006 9:41 AM
LOL at #12!
enjoy the ocean! Lord knows that's the place to be!
Posted by: amy | July 20, 2006 9:45 AM
You make me want to move to Floyd! I want one of my pictures to hang in the Cafe del Sol ;-) I want to wave at people from my car. I want to play scrabble; I want to meet these interesting folks you talk about.
Any maybe there's a reason those tables are set up to look like the Last Supper...hmmm...
I always mishear things, too, and make a game of it now ROFLMAO!
Have fun at the ocean! I need it, too.
Thanks for stopping by :-)
Posted by: Janet | July 20, 2006 9:52 AM
# 2 was familiar! I always end up incorporating my honey's snore into my dreams...
My TT is up!
Posted by: Jen | July 20, 2006 10:26 AM
I LOVE the Dixie Chicks!!!!
Great list!
Mine is up, too
Posted by: meredith | July 20, 2006 10:44 AM
Ahhh.....visitng you is like walking down the streets of Mayberry, it always feel homey and comfortable. Love your list and as always enjoyed my visit.
Posted by: Lazy Daisy | July 20, 2006 10:44 AM
I'm a Dixie Chicks fan, too. You know they're playing at MCI on Aug 5 - I can't find anyone to go with me. :)
Posted by: carmen | July 20, 2006 10:49 AM
Gram Parsons turned me onto country music. If you haven't heard him, please do yourself a favor and get hold of his two albums: GP & Grievous Angel.
Posted by: Jamie | July 20, 2006 10:58 AM
Trying to sleep in the heat is difficult. I found my 6 year old son rotating two pillows: when one got too hot, he'd swap it for the other which was near the air conditioning. Just flipping the pillow over wasn't enough for him.
Posted by: Amy the Black | July 20, 2006 11:00 AM
I enjoyed reading your list today! LOL at #2. That is how it feels when I get overheated at night, too. And I never thought of wedding party tables (which my husband and I actually did not use at our wedding) of Last Supper-like, but they are! Except with more women. And I am a Chicks fan, myself.
Posted by: Christina | July 20, 2006 11:05 AM
OMG! Wedding head tables+last supper. Never thought about it, but you are SO right!
Posted by: shannon | July 20, 2006 12:02 PM
Great list! Happy TT, mine's up ;).
Posted by: MamaDuck | July 20, 2006 12:35 PM
Number 7... I've always thought the same thing. Ya know... I'm sure to some it is the last supper in more ways than one! ;)
Happy T13!
Posted by: Kimmy | July 20, 2006 12:55 PM
Hope you have as much fun at the ocean as I did last weekend.
Posted by: kenju | July 20, 2006 3:09 PM
I just love your Thursday Thirteen's Colleen. I know I've said it before so forgive me for repeating myself....They are always filled with lots of interest8ing tidbits---each could be a whole post in and unto itself!
The Cafe Del Sol is so inviting looking...warm and welcoming and someday I think I am going to call there and ask for you! Wou;dn't it be fun if you were there!! Hey! Maybe let me know by email when you will be there....I'd love to talk to you.
I'm intrigued by your very last one--#13. And Ocean? Hmmmm. Are you taking a trip across the seas? Or down towards the Caribbean? Now, I can't wait to hear about this...!
I like the Dixie Chicks too and I was glad when she said what she did and dismayed at the reaction!! But...the tide has turned a bit, hasn't it? Great TT, as always, dear Colleen.
Posted by: OldOldLady Of The Hills | July 20, 2006 3:18 PM
Our brother Joey (#1) does indeed love those scratch tickets. I do too but I could never afford to buy them the way he does and you could never afford it either if cost $ to check your comments (whereas I could. LOL.)
I did my second TT about my passion. Rug hooking.
Have fun at the ocean Col.
Posted by: Kathy | July 20, 2006 3:26 PM
Oh, yes, wedding head tables... Stay well and happy wherever you are while I am gone!
Posted by: mar | July 20, 2006 3:58 PM
If memory serves, an ocean in your future means an influx of refreshing, insightful posts for us. I'd say that's a win-win.
Have fun!
Posted by: Jennifer | July 20, 2006 4:34 PM
Great List!
My TT is up
Posted by: Raggedy | July 20, 2006 4:40 PM
As always, a great list. I give the Dixie Chicks all kinds of credit for speaking up. What is that saying when the truth is spoken? First they scream at you, then they ignore you....you know that one? I feel like that is happening a lot lately.
Posted by: Nancy | July 20, 2006 4:50 PM
i love your thursday 13's. so lovely to catch up with your life each week ;)
Posted by: keda | July 20, 2006 4:51 PM
#2 is so true trying to get comfortable, good analogy!!
#7 is the Head Table........have a good trip xoxox
Love the DIXIE CHICKS and always have.
Posted by: Sherry | July 20, 2006 5:22 PM
Thanks for stopping by! I don't get the last one... is it a metaphor or for real? I'm still not a country fan, but I can appreciate the lyrics... sometimes. Maybe it's the emotion I can appreciate. At my house, it's kind of like sleeping in a fancy gas stove because there's a fan blowing hot air over me as I bake. :0)
Posted by: bobealia | July 20, 2006 6:08 PM
In the minority here. Not a fan of the Dixie Chicks, Natalie's voice has a whine. I personally liked the girl she replaced and their music when they were a struggling local Texas band playing small venues. Then they were good.
You are off the the beach, I'm off to the Big Apple. Have fun.
Posted by: srp | July 20, 2006 8:35 PM
That is a great list! I have thought the same thing about the wedding reception tables!
My TT is up!
Posted by: Tracie | July 20, 2006 9:48 PM
Colly Wog,
Have a good trip!
My TT is posted too
Luv ya,
Chrissie
Posted by: Chrissie | July 20, 2006 10:47 PM
I have tons of relatives in Jacksonville. Next time I'm there, maybe I'll stop in a visit Mr. Lawrence.
Posted by: Paul N. | July 21, 2006 2:56 PM
My husband hated country music with a passion when we met and now he loves it more than any other kind (except classical.) I can't say why, but I find that immensely amusing. :)
Posted by: Kestrel | July 21, 2006 5:14 PM
#2 I'm there. #6 lingerie from that photo? # 7 I can see. #10 there is hope for my husband then. going to say more about #13?
Posted by: Pearl | July 21, 2006 5:49 PM
Thanks for the dixie Chicks info; fascinating stuff.
Posted by: Pearl | July 21, 2006 6:51 PM
Lots of interesting stuff here--as always. Glad to know I'm not the only reader who wants to move to Floyd and hang out in the Cafe del Sol. Somehow, just reading your posts, I already feel like a regular.
Posted by: patry | July 21, 2006 11:33 PM
Love number 7.
Posted by: Beverly | July 22, 2006 12:53 AM
aaaah, I see 6.
Posted by: Pearl | July 22, 2006 1:42 PM
I love #8! I wish I lived in a town like that. I tend to run into people I know everywhere I go, but everyone's always busy.
Thanks for stopping by, we're still having tummy troubles.
Posted by: Jen | July 22, 2006 2:35 PM
I had so much fun with you guys this week! I love your site! I check it daily now. Tell Joe I said "Hi!"
Posted by: Marin | July 27, 2006 8:56 PM