Soulshine

A good time was had by all yesterday, or at least by everyone except the drunk girl next to me who fell asleep mid-concert then later mistakenly stole another girl's purse and was eventually escorted out by the guys in the red coats. But who wants to think about that?

I want to focus on the positive.

Yoga with this guy.

Jacquie may or may not have a slew of additional Soulshine photos for you tomorrow....

13

Right after the turn of the century, in the earliest year of the new millennium, a little baby girl was born.

So Mistah and I drove to San Diego to meet her.

 And we all got along swimmingly.

The only bad thing was saying good-bye every year.

2002:

The good thing was that we got to see her every year.

Sometimes she came to visit us in Connecticut . . .

2003:

And sometimes we visited her in California.

2004:

The really good years were when we got to see her in both places.

One of my all-time faves.

She ruled the school at our family party in Phelps.

(A rare moment when she wasn't driving the pontoon boat.)

2005:

She really is quite a pip.

As her oldest cousin, whom she adores, texted me after a recent visit: "She's rather adorable." You're not so bad yourself, Colleenie.

2006:

Giving "the look" from the earliest years of her life.

. . . and the life of the party, always.

2007:

The Birthday Girl!  June 20, 2007.  Six!

She -- and her brudder -- are Westy-Lovers . . .

. . . and Porgie lovers. Aw, Porgie.

2008:

Way back when she was seven, she was a mere surfing spectator . . . unlike now.

. . . and a fierce karate expert . . .

. . . and who can forget . . .

. . . Little Girl, Big Dog.

Dressy dress girls.

2008 also marked the beginning of the annual Uncle-Bill-photo-session-at-Ocean-Beach-East series.

I die.

2009:

Like Phelps five years before, our whole family got together in 2009 in the Poconos . . .

. . . as I may have mentioned.

Yeah, that worked out pretty well.

2010:

Where does the time go?

Don't ask me because I have no earthly idea.

2011:

Aren't they cooperative and well-behaved children?

It's true.

2012:

We're excited for the 2022 version of this photo.

2013:

In 2013 we got to see lots of our then-12-year-old friend; we had her all to ourselves for a few days. She was a delight . . .

. . . a goober . . .

. . . terribly fierce . . .

. . . incredibly gorgeous . . .

. . . and pure joy.

And now? Let's see what 13 brings.

Happy Birthday, Ms. Boogsie!

DBABAB

It feels totally uninspired for me to write about how addicted I am to the show that everyone else was addicted to last year. I read Orange is the New Black, and thought it really wasn’t very good.  I was expecting high intensity prison drama, but got entitled whiny middle school angst. Sure, there was plenty of sex and drugs and fighting and bad language, and it held my attention long enough to finish, but I kept thinking that something really big was about to happen then I got to the last page and… meh. When the show came out,  I didn’t care about missing it because I wasn’t subscribing to Netflix at the time.  I heard that it was good, and I am a fan of Jenji Kohan so if it had been on Showtime I know I would have watched it. But it came, and it went, and who cared.

When the season 2 hoopla began, I couldn’t help but notice that people I like whose opinions I trust were getting excited. People I’m related to, even! It still wasn’t enough to get me subscribed, but I was admittedly more intrigued.  Then one day I tore up my playloom and ended up with a stupid gnarled mess of cords that pissed me off. Why do I have so many wires when the world is so quickly becoming a wireless place? I called to ask Da Man (I still can't find that post about being shy of the guy).

A couple of hours later, I broke up with Da Man. I don’t need no stinkin wires, Man. I ordered up a whole uverse of technology for a lower price and with nicer Mans.

And I subscribed to Netflix.

And then, timed nicely with the season finales of all my shows and the onset of all-sports-mania early summer, I popped in some ear buds and decided to see what all the fuss was about.

My friend Janet accused me of falling for a trend because everyone was talking about OITNB so I started watching it. She gave me a pass though, since I read the book. Thanks Janet!

My sisters were talking about it in a recent email conversation, Ellie said when she opens her laptop she says: "I'm going back to jail."

Jane apologized for addressing all of us as Bitch. I get that. It's a term of endearment, or at the very least a simple greeting. It's the new "Hey buddy!"My favorite line from a recently viewed episode was Taystee saying: "Don't be a bitch ass bitch." That's going to be my new catchphrase.

My family is not accustomed to me being the one deaf to all conversation. I always say I'm just going to watch one episode, but there have been more than a few occasions when I said as much and then looked up hours later to find that everyone had gone off to bed. Oops.  Bill keeps calling it Cellblock H, I need to look that up because I have no clue what he's talking about. He cracks himself up.

The cool thing about being immersed in a trend is that everyone gets it. The other day at the gym I mentioned to another woman that I was afraid I'd get shanked in the shower, and she didn't even flinch before asking how far in to season two I was.

I'm about halfway.

Now please excuse me while I go back to prison.

Jai Hanuman

I stepped out of time for a bit last week. Left my work, and my girls, and my other responsibilities and  headed to Boulder, Colorado.

I've been to Boulder before, but it had been years. It's still as beautiful as I remember, but this particular weekend had the added bonus of world-class yoga and music -- the Hanuman Festival.

My friend Carlee suggested we go to it this winter. It sounded like a good idea at the time. Let me assure you now, after the fact, it WAS a good idea.

We arrived on Thursday to spend some time in town and to make it to that night's kirtan, the kick-off of the festival. (If you don't know what kirtan is, you can look it up. A description here will just make me look like an om-ing, chanting, ecstatic weirdo.)

 [Hanuman Festival 2014 Photo Credit: Tony Felgueiras Photograph]

Friday was right into classes.

Carlee and I are in both these photos. See us? ha!

Oh wait, there's Carlee! (I didn't make the cut. I'm next to her on the right.)

 [Hanuman Festival 2014 Photo Credit: Tony Felgueiras Photograph] 

 At one point on Saturday there were lightning strikes, so the two classes going on in outside tents had to be relocated/merged with inside classes. This meant that 80 or so extra people joined our class. It made for extra teachers on stage too, but Saul there (see him?), is my new boyfriend, so I was very happy to welcome him and his tribe into the space. (As was everybody else.)

Okay, wait, did I say that Saul was my new boyfriend? Because that's not really true. Xavier is my new boyfriend.

He was Friday night's featured musical artist at the Boulder Theater.

At one point this kid got on stage and danced his face off.

Later on, Xavier did the same. Sigh.

 [Hanuman Festival 2014 Photo Credit: Tony Felgueiras Photograph]

He's an Aussie. And an amazing musician.

And well, just look at him!

He really did put us in quite the good mood. As did meeting Saturday's music headliner after the show. Yep. Trevor Hall was in the house listening to Xavier, and was nice enough to take some time to hang out with us.

 We were pretty estatic by the time we exited the venue.

Yay for the Boulder Theater!

But we were in for even more music fun, because in addtion to his Saturday night set, Trevor played a Sunday afternoon set at the Hanuman festival site. It was small, intimate, relaxed, and fun.

[Hanuman Festival 2014 Photo Credit: Tony Felgueiras Photograph]

And did I mention we were really, really close to the stage?

Right behind the elephant's behind!

Wacky panoramic shot.

His afternoon set ran a little long, we literally had to run back to the hotel to grab the car and head to the airport.

After one last photo....

Jai Hanuman. We'll see you next year!