1st Saturday in October Stroll

Even a city sign becomes part of a sculpted topiary...
Alocal restaurant at the end of my street undergoing renovations...
Love the metal scuplture water fountain in this side gallery house.

I love this sign.Everytime I see if I burst out laughing. New Orleanians have some a delicious sense of humor.

This morning I realized the sun was rising later then its usual 6am when I like to walk. I left at 7am to take my walk enjoying the coolness & the quiet of Sat morning while those who normally don't get to do, I suppose, sleep late. I was please that I walked a total of 12 blocks round trip.

It felt good, but even more so was drinking in the beauty of some of the lovely homes I encountered
This morning I realized the sun was rising later then its usual 6am when I like to walk. I left at 7am to take my walk enjoying the coolness & the quiet of Sat morning while those who normally don't get to do, I suppose, sleep late. I was please that I walked a total of 12 blocks round trip.

It felt good, but even more so was drinking in the beauty of some of the lovely homes I encountered and reveling in how the sunlight caught some of the most common things in uncommon ways.

I still see things with the delight of a child & the appreciation of a mature woman. And still can drool, yet dream of owning one of these interesting homes with a bevy of history, sounds & memories. Very affordable tis dreaming...

I will take strolling through the neighborhood for 45 minutes any day of the week rather then walking a treadmill going no place although the physical benefit are the same. I can recharge, revitalize and rejuvenate my senses as well as my body. SO why not double the pleasure?

A Man Named Pearl Coming to New Orleans

If you are in the New Orleans area, you must come & see this extraordinary man speak. Otherwise search out the documentary "A Man Named Pearl". It is the most warming,restorative story of the human spirit,humilty & artistry.

He will appear on CBS affliate WWL-4 Thursday morning

SELF-TAUGHT TOPIARY ARTIST PEARL FRYAR
Fryar to Speak on a Panel with Leah Chase and Edward "Kidd" Jordan

When Pearl Fryar and his wife sought to buy a house in an all-white neighborhood of Bishopville, SC, they were discouraged with the explanation that "Black people don't keep up their yards."

Remarkably, instead of fueling bitterness and anger, this comment motivated Pearl to win the Bishopville "Yard of the Month Award," and eventually to transform his ordinary suburban yard into a horticultural wonderland.

The garden's topiary centerpiece emblazons both its message and Pearl's own philosophy: "Love, Peace, and Goodwill."

Schedule:

WHAT: "An Evening with Pearl Fryar"
WHEN: 5:30 p.m., Thursday, October 14
WHERE: Longue Vue's Playhouse
COST: $10 Suggested Donation

WHAT: A Man Named Pearl Screening
WHEN: 9 a.m., Friday, October 15
WHERE: Dillard University Lawless Chapel

COST: FREE

WHAT: Topiary Sculpture Demonstration by Pearl Fryar
WHEN: 10:15 a.m., Friday, October 15
WHERE: Dillard University Lawless Chapel
COST: FREE

For more information, contact Hilairie Schackai at 504.488.5488, ext. 401 or hschackai@longuevue.com

Ya Ya,Crawfish & New Dat~ 1 year home.

This is my 1 year anniversary back home in New Orleans. On one hand it seems like time has whizzed by but then on the other hand it seem like it was just yesterday.

I am glad I allowed myself the 1st year to acclimatized & adjust to all the changes since 2005.

How little I knew it was really going to be a course of wisdom to do just that to give a year in adjusting.

I do not regret coming home and truly look forward now to be more of a participant. Without a doubt it has been scary at times. Nothing to do with the city, but all of us being tossed around because of the recession.

If I had to rate the year I would give it a strong B.

Several things that I was bound & intent to care for were done though sometimes with bated breath. I look and pray for in this second year to see some quantum leaps forward, to get myself integrated back into the arts community producing work (and shall I dare?) actually be able to begin providing for myself independently.

What I truly need at this juncture is a modest start-up dollars. All funds are exhausted and because of all the medical issues nothing is coming in. I know it is that way for many, but I am only 1 person and now things are at a critical mass. If I don't do something and do it soon, well the alternatives are unimaginable.

There is always a way out of "no way". I just have to find it. I was to receive an endowment in November & just had the rug pulled out from under me. It is not cancelled just redirected into mid 2011, but that will not help me now.

One good thing is I do not spend money I do not have nor have expectations until it is in hand. Too many times in the past I like many artists have people make offers and then pull out.

Unless I have a retainer or the full amount, I do not put hope in empty offers, so while disappointed I am not devastated.

So on to the next day. And the next and the next.

I'm Walkin', Yes Indeed~Exploring the neighborhoods again...

Creole "cottage" on steroids :=) (above)
Creole cottage(above)

A couple of days ago I started back to walking albeit micro-walks in order to gain strength & endurance.

Each week I will add a couple of blocks on so I can get around the neighborhood while regaining strength. It is always delightful to see what my neighboirs (or their gardeners) are doing in their yards!


I double the block from yesterday and managed 4.4 blocks. I think for this week it is my set point. It was enough to bring me into a slight sweat & took me 15 minutes to complete, but that is good considering I am re-entering after convalescing. I live in a neighborhood that has lovely architecture & lots of interesting things to look at o I always have my trusty camera with me just in case.

I've have missed a number of things while being ill. I enjoyed being outside, feeling the sun, filling my eyes with a myraid of visuals & an occasionaly chat.

I am going at it slowly as I still have healing time in front of me, but doing it with my doctor's blessing.

Way to Know ALL the ways Healing takes Place...

Blooming Basils 9-6-10 All rightsreservedJHM

There are many who do not know I had an emergency hospital emergency 8 day stay with a 2nd surgery August 27th following a previous surgery stay August 11th. The second surgery came out of the blue while I was recuperating from the 1st surgery. I am ok home resting, weaken, but thankfully managing to survive 2 surgeries in 3 1/2 weeks!

Needless to say it has run a major curve for me the next few weeks. But I am here and I am healing! Which brings me to this story...


Today I had two unexpected visitors both bringing unexpected gifts. Funny thing in their way these two women brought me exactly what I needed for the day, their time attention & love.

While not knowing one another are very similar in personality and close in age (66 & 68) The 68 year old is very scattered brain, but huge heart, very passionate about New Orleans spending time before coming up my way helping others use Labor Day (how appropriately) to mow down all the high weeds & grass in a part of the Lower 9th Ward putting their time not talk into the community, health food,/organic living. She taught in Berkley on the reservations for a number of years, very hippie-ish and a very vocal advocate. Just really scattered, I tease her calling her Mrs. Magoo as driving with her is an experience.

. Anyway she went our local store and brought me lots of fresh fruit, some jambalaya (with shrimp only) a couple of newspapers & her company.

The 66 year old clean up my kitchen swept my floor, took out my garbage and visited. She also is very scattered, loud, unrefined but heart as big as all out doors. I was so tickled when she went to take out my garbage she out it in my compost because all the other times she came I gave her my compost bag to dispose so she thought this was going there too. She had never seen a compost or a organic garden before, very prim & proper knows very little about community activism, but can be verrrry vocal about ppl abusing the neighborhood.

But I watched her as she swept up my porch, bringing in all my clippings to go into my bag for my compost. (hmm maybe she's learning?) While I tried to figure out her cell phone as she knows nothing but the basics (on & off).

Shows you 60-something can be very eclectic eh?

And they are here for me as I am for them in ways that cannot always be measured. And while there are those days their collective scattering may send me up the wall, I KNOW they will be with me when the chips are down...


So now I tire and will lay down for awhile & thankful for this day.

Way to Mold~Rock the Moon

"A positive attitude may not solve all your
problems, but it will annoy enough people that it will be worth the
effort"~H.Albright





It is official...

I have now entered the ranks of an elder and THIS moon has prepared to rock the moon!

I do indeed feel different. No it is not euphoria of it being the day I was born. In fact, I've been prepping or seeing changes in my life in a significant way in the last couple of years. SInce the body literally has every cell die and another one replaces it every 7 years signifies that we are not the person we used to be.

Awhile back I ordered a poster from a company where they will go back to the day of your birth + the city you were born in and show you where the moon, the stars and the earth was on the day of your birth, at that precise moment. I was curious to see what phase of the moon was in when I made my entrance...

And the quote on it read:"She rocks from the day she was born" ...

How appropos! And how funny it was a waxing crescent moon on that date. It amuses me so.

So for now I am holding me..I feel more ME right now.

Feeling full with the promise & the possibilities that this 6th decade will yield. And I am not naive to believe there will be the bumps in the roads, people who will not act right coming along the way, I just know that I will be just fine despite them.

They will be who they are, I will be who I am...

For those who have yet to each this stage, turning 60, know that there is nothing to dread...

Don't be overwhelmed behind the hype... It feels really cool.

I am pumped and ready to roll!

I will be having surgery, putting things in orde as the 1st move toward rocking the moon.


I love this quote by Bob Marley:

'The truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for".

And there are many who are worth it...

How cool is that!

Just the Two of us~Still Under Construction

Oil rig
Carved in the payment in neighborhood. Apparently done in 2007
Westbank bridge over Mississippi
New Growth
Amazing what a Little TLC & attention can do to something neglected...

A neighbor's lawn guy had tossed this in the trash & I discovered & retrieved as I was returning from wandering the neighborhood. To lok at it now you would not have believed what it look like 3 weeks ago.

We throw too many things away without even a try...

I am still working on changing the layout of this blog, so for now this is the one I am playing around with... I'm a little slow, but once I get it, I really get it.

So the blog & I are under construction for the next couple of weeks. Unlike the blog, it will take me a little longer to get all the kinks hammered out, but then I will be doing so much better. I am looking forward to it, D-day August 11th where I will have corrected "what had not been done".