A nice warm breakfast at our neighborhood place was good and fun and Neil Young and Fleetwood Mac were playing as we reminisced about our lives and when these particular sounds backdropped them. It is an amazing thing when your daughter becomes your friend. It is a loose thing too, the mother/daughter relationship. Falling in and out of leading and following and teaching and learning is the norm for both of us these days, but I can truthfully say that we are friends more than not - and we've earned it - so that makes it even more special.
Just look at those pies. Liz picked blackberry/raspberry. Our neighborhood cozy spot - Loretta Jean's - they serve a lot of pie here, everything handmade. That little sign to the left of the photo on the wall says : " Smoke Weed - Listen to Neil Young - Split Wood " . The best kind of place to have a cozy breakfast on a snowy morning.
I put out bread and and snatched red berries from the funny little bush in my back yard for the birds.
It really worries me - where do they go? How do they stay warm? They couldn't reach the branches of the bush anymore, they'd eaten all the berries off the lower ones, but they're not humming birds so they can't hover to pick the ones up high. Oh my god, humming birds. Where do they go??
The birthday day girl has now gone down to "Tom's" (she has 4 wheel drive) to meet Tony. Tom's is another neighborhood spot, they have pool tables and the best Gyros in town (they're Greek, so you know it's good stuff). Liz has been going there since she was a teenage and had her own money and time and power to do as she pleased. They all know her and love her there. She made a new friend recently when she was on a late night "Tom's run". They kind of thing you do when the world has not been particularly nice to you and something warm served by people who are happy to see your face, just hits the spot. This older Italian man came up to her and said " I see you here a lot. Everybody like you. You pretty. You wanna play pool?"........ my imitation of a thick Italian accent, sorry. So of course, my daughter, who just happens to be a damn hot pool player, said "Yeah, sure." and beat him 3 out of 4 games. He now respects her, not only for her pool prowess, but also because they crack each other up (have I told you she is hysterical) and calls once in awhile to say "You wanna play?" So, it's her birthday, she goes to play and that is fine with me.
Tony just happens to live a couple of blocks from us. He's a long time immigrant, hence the accent, but made a good life for himself, his wife and his 3 kids here in Ptown for the last 40 years. He wife has passed away a few years ago so now he gets lonely and thinks that Liz is the best thing to happen to him in a long time. He is 72 and I think he likes Liz better than his own kids. And no, I'm not naive. There really is nothing more than a pals thing there and I am so glad for Liz that she has always been able to make friends like this. Just happy times and lots of laughs. She really is amazing, in so many ways.
Me, I've been playing with artzy-fartzy stuff. I collect all these odds and ends of stuff and then put them together to make other stuff.....just what the world needs.
So anyway, that's what's been going on around here. Hope you all are warm and cozy wherever you are tonight.
Love, Liv