October 31: Happy Halloween!

Because Des Moines sends kids out the night before, Halloween here is incredibly anti-climactic!

I'm at home, watching Hocus Pocus with Aria, and stealing all her candy from her cauldron.

Reese's are my favorite, with Almond Joy a close second. I'll continue my samplings throughout the movie...

Happy Halloween, all!

Bobby "Boris" Pickett - Monster Mash

October 30: Beggars Night

Des Moines has two odd pre-Halloween traditions:

The first is that all children trick or treat the night before Halloween. And they call it Beggars Night.

The second is that all children must tell a joke in order to get candy. There is no "Trick or Treat"ing in Des Moines.

The weather was perfect this year! 60 when the sun went down. I took my camera out to capture the evening, but my night time shutter speed combined with my apparently very shaky hands results in some unique photos.

Like this one: Meow.

And this:

I'd love to think the spirits visited us last night, but I think it was the coffee and Kahlua I was walking around with while begging for candy.

Happy pre-Halloween all!

Nina SImone - I Put A Spell on You

October 28 / 29: Sequestered

Truth: I spent October 28 and 29 sequestered in a conference room during a team meeting.

We were asked to provide two truths and a lie for our ice breaker.

Mine were:

• I once moved across the country based upon a dart throw with a uHaul and no place to live / no job once I got there.
• I have dressed as Courtney Love, The Bride of Frankenstein, and Raggedy Andy (yes, Andy) for Halloween.
• I have zip lined and loved it, even though I am rather terrified of heights

Which is the lie?

I'll never tell.

I also went out to dinner with a wonderful, wonderful girlfriend on Wednesday. We ran into a blast from my not so distant past. And I have been singing this song ever since.

Louis Armstrong - That Old Feeling

October 27: Sugar Fairy

Because Aria didn't have school on Friday (her birthday), she got to bring treats to her class today.

I love playing the sugar fairy!

I also love a good song featuring cow bell.

War - Low Rider

October 26: Farewell Fall Soccer

I would love to share a few photos of the absolutely gorgeous Sunday that hosted the final soccer game of the season.

I actually took a plethora of photos during the game.

But I did not put my little tiny data card thingy back into my camera after the last time I downloaded pictures onto my laptop. So my camera stored none of those photos. Not a one. 

Sniff. Sigh. Sob.

I did, however, manage to take a gorgeous photo of the treats brought to the final soccer game.

That's gotta kind of count, right?

Pearl Jam - Soon Forget

October 25: Goldilocks Moments

We went to a Halloween bash tonight where they offered low, medium, and high scare factor haunted house experiences.

Aria tells me she likes her haunted houses like her salsa.

Medium spice.

I hear, "This porridge is too cold. This porridge is too hot. Ah. This one is just right!".

I love Goldilocks. And Halloween. And Aria.

But not haunted houses. Oh, I hate to be scared. I'm a low spice kind of gal.

Michael Jackson - Thriller

October 24: Celebrating Aria

Aria turns 11 today!

She (luckily) didn't have school today, so we headed to a local pumpkin farm to celebrate the day!!

I find myself seeking the little girl within Aria. I can still find her in glimpses. More often I see a 5'7" beauty who leads with kindness and teaches me the journey of selfless love. 

It was a perfect autumn day spent celebrating my girl. 

Our day ended with a movie party and a whole lot of candles to blow out!

I have an abundance of blessings in my life. None rival Aria. She is my greatest. 

Harry Connick Jr. - It Had To Be You

October 22: Book Club

I read voraciously. Mostly fiction, but also some autobiographies and historical works. 

I also am part of a book club. But my book club doesn't read books. 

We read wine labels.

Tonight was book club night! Thank heavens for friends. And wine!

Chris Cornell - Sunshower

October 21: Juggling

Today was one of those days where being a "grown up" sneaks up on you and horrifies your would-be youthful soul. 

Ani Difranco is performing in Ames tonight. I have a friend who offered me free tickets. She used to date the drummer. She even posted a photo hanging with Ani today out on a patio. 

I. Was. In.

Except that I had to work all day, and am banking my PTO for the end of the year when Aria doesn't have school on Winter Break.

And we had piano lessons.

And math tudor.

And I had to reserve the pool for Aria's birthday party.

And I'm a single mom with 24/7 custody so getting away is not easy. Ever.

And even if I got a sitter, Aria won't go to sleep until I'm home. And she has school tomorrow and needs a good sleep.

And I have to be at an 8 a.m. meeting. Driving back from Ames after the concert would get me home very, very late on a "school night."

And. And. And.

I am not at Ani's concert because I am folding laundry tonight. And doing all the little tiny things that culminate into my dutiful adult existence. The details that make up a life.

I am officially a grown up. It kind of snuck up on me.

This is my favorite Ani song. 

Caution for tender ears. She uses the F word. Quite often. 

Ani Difranco - Untouchable Face

October 19: Ryan

I got to see Ryan Adams perform last night. He is fantastic.

If you don't speak Ryan Adams fluently, he rose to fame with Whiskeytown. He's been solo for awhile and he's oozes talent.

He's also married to Mandy Moore, which seemed such an odd match for him.

He's a bit...feisty meets granola. In the best possible way. When he sings, I lose myself in him.

Great show. Blessed to have seen him.

Ryan Adams - Dirty Rain

October 18: Pizza and Kate

We tend to veg out Friday nights. This generally entails delivery from wherever and a movie.

Last night we stepped up our game a bit. We actually got take out pizza. Yup. We left our home to get the food. It's a big deal. Honestly.

Noah's Ark is a Des Moines institution. They've been around forever and serve up traditional Italian food. 

People rave about their pizza but I've never tried it. So we decided to give it a go last night.

It was, indeed, worthy of the title "The Pizza King". A perfect thin crust. A completely swoon-worthy sauce that had complex flavors. A spicy Italian sausage. Marinated portobello mushrooms. Cheese. 

Sigh. Good stuff.

We paired our pizza with water and wine, respectively, and The Tale of Despereaux.

Do you speak Kate DiCamillo? She's one of my favorite authors. Her characters unfold in unexpected ways. There's always a moral of the story. And it's a really good one.

Despereaux is such a fantastic character. So is Botticelli, the rat. 

We read the book forever ago, but have never watched the movie. 

It was a keeper. 

Afterwards, we talked about forgiveness and how powerful it can be. 

Then we danced to this ditty:

Alicia Keys - Fallin'

Happy weekend, all!

October 17: Truly Madly Deeply Aria

My heart's song is beginning a new musical journey today. She's taken on the cello!

She currently takes piano lessons. And she wows me. Truly wows me with her creativity and ability to make up music, not just follow the notes on a page. She composes songs and jams with her teacher each week. 

She gives herself permission to create. This should not be under-valued. It takes allowing yourself to make up something that doesn't make sense until you find a groove that pleases your ear. I tend to be self critical, and this can stop the creative process. Aria doesn't do that.

Aria's kryptonite is the unknown. She's the kid who won't try basketball because she can't play basketball. She wants to excel from the moment she begins. This can make trying new things daunting.

When she's a natural, such as with musical endeavors or in water (she's a mermaid), she'll jump right in. 

When I signed her up for soccer the first time? We had hyperventilating. You would have thought I told her she had to swim with sharks. It took some time to get comfortable with the unknown.

Today, I sent her off with a cello and a smile. What a beautiful way to start the day!

I first heard this sonata in Truly Madly Deeply. It's why I wanted a cello. It's why I have a cello that Aria can now take to school to play. And then hopefully teach me (because I got diverted from learning and am now ready to commit). 

J. S. Bach - Sonata for Viola da Gamba and Clavier in G Minor

October 16: Cornell Memory

It's homecoming weekend at Cornell. That means you get one more 90s tune. My memories are returning for a weekend with friends, even if I cannot make it.

This song finds me sitting in Randal's, a local bar. My shoes are slightly sticky. My hair stinks like cigarette smoke, because you could still smoke in a bar in those days. I'm drinking cheap beer and a thing called Shots of Fun that tastes like Kool-Aid but will knock you on your tail after a shaker or two.

This song is playing. I am young, free and have not a single responsibility beyond finishing my next beverage of choice and deciding if I'll eat cheap bar pizza or scrounge around my room for spare food items. And then stumbling up the hill to my dorm to crash before class tomorrow.

Ah, youth.

Spin Doctors - Two Princes

October 15: Rainy Days

Dreary rainy day. I was in a room without windows all day. This was ok.

Now I'm hanging out with Ben.

He was married to Laura Dern. They've been divorced long enough that I think he's officially ready for me. If he could handle all this.

Sigh.

I love Ben.

Ben Harper - Another Lonely Day

October 14: Mixed Tapes

Did you grow up in the era of mixed tapes? I used to make a mixed tape for every occasion.

I liked a boy? Mixed tape.

Road trip to visit my dad? Mixed tape.

Sunny day that inspired me? Mixed tape.

My iPod shuffle delights my soul for this very reason. It's like the ultimate mixed tape. And the tape never, ever cuts off mid-song. 

Mixed tapes in combination with the radio gave me musical ADD. It is rare for me to listen to an album head to tale. I love things blended. And I don't care if it's a choppy transition, as you have noticed from my playlist. My ears love contrast.

When I was a sophomore at Cornell, we went to the Ozarks for Homecoming with my fellow's social group (Cornell's version of a fraternity). We were driving and had a car full of friends along. 

I drew a mixed tape out of my bag, and my beau's roommate began immediately apologizing that we weren't alone for the tape to be heard. 

I just giggled. (I did in fact have an intimate-type mixed tape for later in our hotel, but this tape was fully gears for a car full of fun). 

I put the tape into the deck and cranked up the sound.

This was the kick-off to an amazing road trip.

Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch: Good Vibrations

October 13: Cinderella

It's a dark and dreary day, perfect for some Anne Sexton:

Cinderella

You always read about it: 
the plumber with the twelve children
who wins the Irish Sweepstakes.
From toilets to riches.
That story.

Or the nursemaid, 
some luscious sweet from Denmark
who captures the oldest son's heart.
from diapers to Dior.
That story.

Or a milkman who serves the wealthy, 
eggs, cream, butter, yogurt, milk, 
the white truck like an ambulance
who goes into real estate
and makes a pile.
From homogenized to martinis at lunch.

Or the charwoman
who is on the bus when it cracks up
and collects enough from the insurance.
From mops to Bonwit Teller.
That story.

Once
the wife of a rich man was on her deathbed
and she said to her daughter Cinderella: 
Be devout. Be good. Then I will smile
down from heaven in the seam of a cloud.
The man took another wife who had
two daughters, pretty enough
but with hearts like blackjacks.
Cinderella was their maid.
She slept on the sooty hearth each night
and walked around looking like Al Jolson.
Her father brought presents home from town, 
jewels and gowns for the other women
but the twig of a tree for Cinderella.
She planted that twig on her mother's grave
and it grew to a tree where a white dove sat.
Whenever she wished for anything the dove
would dropp it like an egg upon the ground.
The bird is important, my dears, so heed him.

Next came the ball, as you all know.
It was a marriage market.
The prince was looking for a wife.
All but Cinderella were preparing
and gussying up for the event.
Cinderella begged to go too.
Her stepmother threw a dish of lentils
into the cinders and said: Pick them
up in an hour and you shall go.
The white dove brought all his friends; 
all the warm wings of the fatherland came, 
and picked up the lentils in a jiffy.
No, Cinderella, said the stepmother, 
you have no clothes and cannot dance.
That's the way with stepmothers.

Cinderella went to the tree at the grave
and cried forth like a gospel singer: 
Mama! Mama! My turtledove, 
send me to the prince's ball! 
The bird dropped down a golden dress
and delicate little slippers.
Rather a large package for a simple bird.
So she went. Which is no surprise.
Her stepmother and sisters didn't
recognize her without her cinder face
and the prince took her hand on the spot
and danced with no other the whole day.

As nightfall came she thought she'd better
get home. The prince walked her home
and she disappeared into the pigeon house
and although the prince took an axe and broke
it open she was gone. Back to her cinders.
These events repeated themselves for three days.
However on the third day the prince
covered the palace steps with cobbler's wax
and Cinderella's gold shoe stuck upon it.
Now he would find whom the shoe fit
and find his strange dancing girl for keeps.
He went to their house and the two sisters
were delighted because they had lovely feet.
The eldest went into a room to try the slipper on
but her big toe got in the way so she simply
sliced it off and put on the slipper.
The prince rode away with her until the white dove
told him to look at the blood pouring forth.
That is the way with amputations.
They just don't heal up like a wish.
The other sister cut off her heel
but the blood told as blood will.
The prince was getting tired.
He began to feel like a shoe salesman.
But he gave it one last try.
This time Cinderella fit into the shoe
like a love letter into its envelope.

At the wedding ceremony
the two sisters came to curry favor
and the white dove pecked their eyes out.
Two hollow spots were left
like soup spoons.

Cinderella and the prince
lived, they say, happily ever after, 
like two dolls in a museum case
never bothered by diapers or dust, 
never arguing over the timing of an egg, 
never telling the same story twice, 
never getting a middle-aged spread, 
their darling smiles pasted on for eternity.
Regular Bobbsey Twins.
That story. 

- Anne Sexton

Warrant - I Saw Red (Acoustic Version)

October 12: Gravel Roads

I saw this today on Facebook. 

I did not share it. I hate those posts that make you feel like you have to share them or you'll have bad luck for 7 years, be a non-believer, or simply not validate a person in some way, shape or form.

But I did love the memory this picture stirred up.

When my parents divorced, my dad built an acreage close to our old farm house. 

When we'd go to visit him, he had this big old pick-up truck. And guess where my sister and I rode?

Yep. In the back. 

The gravel road that led to my dad's house had big wavy hills. My dad used to drive a bit fast so we'd catch air as we went over each hill. 

It was a poor kid's version of a roller coaster. The butterflies floating about and tickling my stomach with delight.

We made the mistake of mentioning how fun it was to my mom upon returning from a visit one. Never did ride that roller coaster again, but it sure was a great ride.

This was the song pouring out the window while we road the coaster through those billowing clouds of dust.

You're The Reason God Made Oklahoma - David Frizzell and Shelly West

October 10: Austin, TX

I have to tell you - Austin, Texas sure does have musical talent!! 

Need a few examples? Want to expand your musical pallet?

Patty Griffin is my favorite. Hands down favorite. From any city. She writes songs I wish I had written. She feels how I feel. She brings me along on her journey as a willing participant with the first strum of her guitar.

Janis Joplin. Yes, Janis hailed from Austin. Can you imagine where her career could have gone, had she not died so young? The Queen of Psychedelic Soul was 27 when she overdosed on heroin. I can't imagine the untapped talent lost.

Shawn Colvin hales from Austin. You know her. Sunny Came Home. Yep. She's talented.

Lou Ann Barton. You don't know her. You might want to learn her. She's sassy. 
Lou Ann Barton with Stevie Ray Vaughan - via 1970s

Terry Bozzio. He's a drummer. He most famously drummed for Frank Zappa. He oozes talent.

Alejandro Escovedo. If you don't speak Alejandro, it's really a language you should learn. He's an unreal talent. I saw him in Des Moines once, and happened to see him after his performance. He was attempting to get some BBQ, and I didn't want to interrupt his evening repast. This was such a mistake. He came up to my shoulder and weighed less than my left thigh, but I wish I had a photo with him anyway. He's raw talent.

I don't typically know musician's hometown or random facts about them, by the way. I don't really trace details. But Austin pops up often. I've never been there. I've often been told I should go. I perhaps should remedy that.

Today's song is from an Austin native, also. I hope you enjoy!

Dan Dyer - Love Chain

PS - Farrah was from Austin, also. She wasn't a musician, that I knew of, but she was a fine woman. So was Lady Bird, the better half of the Johnson's, in my opinion.

October 9: Storytime

Every single night, always and forever, Aria and I have read stories. 

When she was just a slip of a girl, she would pick a story and insist we read it every single night. Picture books. The kind with only a sentence or two on a page, but they would take 30 minutes to get through because she would linger on the page.

"Oh look - a bunny!". "Why did the bunny go in the garden, mama?" We read those books until I had no need of the page to read from, they were emblazed in my heart. For Aria, though, every night was a new experience. She would ask new questions, as though she were developing the characters for her own story. She would count the flowers, spy a new detail, lovingly stroke the page. 

The stories have evolved over time. They don't have pictures anymore. We don't finish an entire book - we typically cover a chapter or two. But her curiosity, her desire to discuss and debate the stories and its characters, is still very much a part of our experience.

It is my very favorite part of the day. 

The Story of Ferdinand the Bull

Dad would come home after too long at work
and I'd sit on his lap to hear
the story of Ferdinand the Bull; every night,
me handing him the red book until I knew
every word, couldn't read,
just recite along with drawings
of a gentle bull, frustrated matadors,
the all-important bee, and flowers—
flowers in meadows and flowers
thrown by the Spanish ladies.
Its lesson, really,
about not being what you're born into
but what you're born to be,
even if that means
not caring about the capes they wave in your face
or the spears they cut into your shoulders.
And Dad, wonderful Dad, came home
after too long at work
and read to me
the same story every night
until I knew every word, couldn't read,
just recite.
- Matt Mason

Brandi Carlile - The Story

October 8: Evolution of a Symbol

When did we rename the pound sign? 

Did Twitter do this? It's a very effective rebranding, I'll grant them that. But icky, too. 

Because honestly, when I hear "hash" I think either of a food item I avoid with extreme prejudice, or cannabis. I don't think of social media. 

What do you see?

#

I still see a pound sign. I don't think "hash tag".

A friend, via Facebook, pointed out that the pound sign was originally simply a "sharp" in musical terms. And so it was. And so it is.

I remember when "pound sign" sounded so very British and distinguished when I first test drove saying it in my middling youth.

I had a band instructor who would always tell me if I got any sharper, I'd have to go to college, during my elementary / junior high flute lessons. A sharp was inside banter. It was witty. It was tied to music, which I loved.

It was....sharp.

Then it became a pound.

Now hash. 

I have spoken before of our de-evolution. This feels like one of them to me. 

I am a #slowadapter, apparently. 

Amos Lee - Windows Are Rolled Down

October 6: Birthday Wishes

Happy birthday to Grandpa Mustache!

Pearl Jam - Man of the Hour

October 5: Change

The leaves are falling. The wind is blowing. It feels like change. The season beckons change.

Autumn Leaves - Nat King Cole

October 4: Traditions

Every year since Aria was perhaps 3, I've taken her to Cambridge, Iowa. 

We pick apples, bounce on an inflated pillow, swim in a corn pool, bring home a random gourd or pumpkin. 

It is Americana.

We have many traditions in our family of two, if I stop to consider them. 

This is hands down one of my favorite.

Jack Johnson - Upside Down

October 1: Darkness

Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift. 

- Mary Oliver

Jakob Dylan - Evil Is Alive And Well