What were you thinking? Your noble brow knew only love. I am at a loss for words: You were always such a good dog. Here is the last picture, taken by Mr Lee Welsch:
And here is one from 2003, in a typical Annie Leibowitz pose:
His ashes will be buried in the Welsch Family Pet Cemetery Big Rock, off of Saddlehorn Court, in good company with his fellow golden retrievers, Doobie & Josh, cat Bubbles, & two hamsters Chaos & Captain Eli Stormfield. May squirrels & Stellar's jays serenade you into eternity.
What are your favourite hymns? I am trying to pick some for the service. The family hymn is Guide Me O Thy Great Redeemer, which is always a good sing, but I need two more. In particular, I would like one out of the three song-spaces we have to be occupied by something that might be recognised by a wider group than just the born-and-bred Anglicans. Trouble is it has to be played on a church organ in an 11th century church so anything other than timeless gets shown up for what it really is. And, if the song lacks a certain requisite dignity the organ ends up sounding like a mighty wurlitzer and half the congregation get the giggles. I like Will The Circle Be Unbroken but the lyrics are hardly appropriate.
Are you able to come? If you do will you bring a uke? There will be many opportunities to play it. R
I've been thinking about your quandary. My two thoughts are, my current favorite sacred harp tunes, with words by the immortal Isaac Watts, is a good positively eco-friendly text perfect for the summer solstice:
'Tis by thy strength the mountains stand, God of eternal power; The sea grows calm at thy command, And tempests cease to roar.
The thirsty ridges drink their fill, And ranks of corn appear; The ways abound with blessings still, 'Thy goodness crowns the year.
Hi Pete! Thanks for being my friend. The internet! I'm doing fine. I work [...] jobs in the sf bay area. Life! Sometimes I play the my blue electric ukulele at open mics. How are you?
Ahh, the Intertubes. Is there anything they can't do?
I'm glad to hear you're doing well! [...] sounds wonderful. If you're going to do have a shitty job you may as well do it someplace wonderful like the Bay area. Good for you! I hope you love it there.
I don't think I've ever seen a blue electric ukulele. I'm glad to hear they exist and are in such esteemed custody. I've actually been considering getting myself a uke recently, though more the $30 trash variety than the investment-quality electric sort.
I'm well also. I work as a computer nerd at a small liberal arts college in southwest Michigan. I spend my free time traveling as much as my pocketbook allows. I've been doing state capitals for the past few years. 25 down, 25 to go. Didn't you live in Carson City once upon a time? Tiny little capitol building, Nevada has.
I was raised in Incline Village, NV, an hour from Carson City. It's true, you can walk right in the front door, down a hall, & right into the Gov's office. How many other states boast such intimacy?
No! Spend an extra hundred & order yourself a Fluke from Flea Market music - I am an unofficial spokesman for this wonderful company. Their ukes are magical. http://www.fleamarketmusic.com/ For a couple hundred you can get electro-acoustic pick-up, perfect for open mics & playing with rock bands, or amplified hair-dryers, depending on what night of the week it is. Here's some YouTubes of me playing my blue mountain uke:
Happy Spring! Some new uke-oriented CDs have been released and we're putting them in the online store as soon as we get them. First up are new highly recommended CDs from the lovely Victoria Vox and Janet Klein. ...
I haven't counted them all yet, but Wyoming was just about as welcoming. In the front door, make a right, and don't trip over the Governor. In many cases I haven't been able to actually enter the buildings themselves, as I'm usually traveling on weekends and politicians seem to love time off.
Nice youtubings! And what a lovely instrument! I am smitten with one of your comments in the "Across the Universe" thread, "My sombrero is also backwards."
Congrats on finishing off all 50 states! Alabama was a challenge for me as well; I had the Dakotas and three states west of them left to go, and lonely Alabama as the easternmost I hadn't visited, lost between Florida and Mississippi. I'll be visiting Idaho (#49) this summer, which is exciting. I had a free trip to Hawaii (#50) all but planned, and it disappeared a few weeks ago when ATA Airlines a splode.
You're not that far from Sacramento (at least not by midwestern standards), and it's a lovely one to visit if you're interested in starting.
I lived briefly in midtown Sacramento. You saw the capitol mall, with every California tree represented. Sacramento has more trees per capita than Paris, #2.
I received some nasty comments about backwards flag on youtube (I deleted the ones inappropriate for children). What's with the mean "unpatriotic" "un-American" accusations going all over the blogosphere? Seriously, flag-pin lapels? But enough, Happy May Day, man.
Sure, man! Copacetic! This Boris character seems like a character. He's got my vote if you tell me to. Plus, doesn't appear that the Mayor of London is a spectacularly consequential office anyhow.
James
An excerpt from the New Yorker a few weeks ago:
"When I was traveling to a Boris Johnson campaign appearance one day by taxi, the driver told me that he'd like to meet Johnson. I assumed that he was an admirer: the drivers of what Londoners call black cabs, most of whom are white men of middling years, tend toward conservative political views [...] 'I'd like to ask him why he bumped into my taxi on his bicycle,' the driver went on. 'There he was, big black coat, blond hair, talking on a mobile. Ran right into me. Then he just rode away.'
“ 'Then you’re going to vote against him?' I asked.
“ 'Oh, no,' he said. 'I’d rather have George W. Bush for mayor than fucking Livingstone.'
“ 'You might want to give that one a little thought,' I said.
“I had been finding my way around London mostly by the Underground, despite Johnson's description of the system under Livingstone's management as 'armpit-nuzzling hell,' & I was astonished that when I finally climbed into a taxi it turned out to be the one taxi in London that Boris Johnson had hit with his bicycle. Then it occurred to me that, since Johnson is an inveterate cyclist who seems to have distraction as a default mode, he might have crashed into a majority of the taxis in London."
-Calivin Trillin, "Capital Fellows", The New Yorker, 14 April 2008
Now, for the fourth time in three weeks, I have been verbally mocked for my hair. What exactly they take exception to is a mystery, but it feels more like middle school. Indeed the first two hecklers were middle-school-aged black girls on the streets of Berkeley, both times giggling to their friends "Hey, nice hair."
The third time was on the #5-Ocean Beach bus in San Francisco. A thirty-something black man with dreadlocks, accompanied by a portly white girl, yelled, with heavy mean sarcasm, "Nice Hairdo!" I replied "Thanks," with a cutting eyebrow-raise. After I got off the bus, two perfect repartees came too late to me, the first more surreal - "Nice dreadlocks, very Nineties..." - the second, possibly would have gotten me punched in the face - "Yeah, & nice fat white girlfriend..."
Anyway, it's stung any time, every time. And I was creeping towards the conclusion that, as I explained to my friend Miss Waswo, "black people just don't get my hair." But then today, up on San Pablo Avenue in Albany, California, where I was walking for undisclosed purposes, a white man with a white beard stopped his car to point at me, Uncle Sam style, & yell "YOU... need a haircut," then maniacally drove off.
At this point, I should include a photo of my hair today, but I'll leave it up to your imagination. I remind the reader that I have a career in catering! & if it doesn't offend my employers or their clients, it should be okay for the man on the street. Instead, I'll break into song:
This party will be in two parts, & exists for a host of reasons. All are welcome. First, afternoon lunch in beautiful beautiful Golden Gate Park, with shrimps on the barbie (note: no shrimp). Ahem, this will, specifically be at:
"At the Pits off of JFK Drive betwen Buffalo and Speedway Meadows, on the South side of road (not speedway meadows! smaller meadow you will see us or call Alaine's cellular telephone: _____)"
Then, part two, bring your woodies, we will adjourn on OCEAN BEACH MOMOFUKU, across from the Beach Chalet. There will be several bonfires there, ours will be the one with us at it. My cell phone number, please do not repeat this to telemarketers, is (-Nevada-) eight three zero seven three eight five. Hello!
Reasons: -Fourth Annual Golden Gate Sacred Harp Convention all morning / early afternoon at Potrero Hill. If anyone's interested, please contact me for details. A drink & night of carousing will be necessary after six hours of singing. -Miss Ball will be moving to New Mexico & Mr Golden will be traveling to Morocco, & fare thee wells are in order. -We really haven't been drinking enough in parks or at the beach this month, please. Come!
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