Still Alive

I'm here.

Just have not been feeling chatty.

A blue funk indeed.

Here, look at this great picture my brilliant teenager took the other day.

People Die, That's What they Do

12/25/95
Julie,
Have a wonderful Christmas and always remember me at my best -
surrounded by beauty with my nose planted in the bible. :-)
(yes, seriously he wrote out a smiley face....remember when people used to do that?)

Jesus, look how skinny I am.

People have died.
That's what people do!
That's what Moriarty screamed at Sherlock.
And he's right.

Is there a word for the feeling you get when you Google the name of an old friend because you were too lazy to look for it and wanted to give him a call because you thought "man it has been awhile" only to find out said friend had passed away?
Because that just happened to me. My friend Frank Miranti has been dead since 2009 and I had no idea.
How much do I suck?
I need something cool and hip that describes the drowning sadness I feel at the loss of one of the most extraordinary people I've ever know known most of my life. Not just my adult life, but all my teen years and the whole time I've been a wife and mother. He was THE ONE who became the friend who refused to let me just drift away like I have a habit of doing with people.

I still dream about him, he was the hottest guy I ever kissed (we never dated which was a good thing...even though he did tell me, years later, that the one time I met his dad he told Frank he should marry me or that I was a "Keeper" or something like that....).

Hot, right?

But I lost touch with him in the last few years because I suck as a friend.
What is the name of the feeling you have when realize that you really SHOULD have called him back in April 2009 when he made his yearly birthday call to you.
But you, being the lazy bitch that you are just let it go and figured you would talk to him at Christmas instead. And then when Christmas came and he didn't call you just filed it away in your head until today when you think "you know Frank didn't call me at all last year, I'll see if he is on Facebook (which he would never have been) or Twitter (what a ridiculous idea) and get in touch and apologize for being such a shitty friend...again" but instead you find out that he didn't call because he was dead.
I guess fucking shitty is a good word to cover how I feel right now. Yeah and I'm pretty pissed off at myself too.

I used to think about driving up to see him (it's not that far away from here) but that never happened and I thought there would be time later to be more then the "over the phone" friends we had become.

Frank took me to see The Wall stoned and kissed me in his car after (I was 17) and broke my silly teenage heart. He was there when I graduated from high school, when I came back from Arizona and when I got married, he wrote me tons of letters when he went away to college (I still have them) and made sure I was sure and happy when I got married and ignored how uneducated I was about the world at times and really thought I could be more then I was and he always had advice about my sad pathetic gardens and worried about my spiritual life more then I did over the years.
He was brilliant and funny and so fucking generous and kind and was a better friend then I ever could possibly deserve.

I know...still cute for a middle aged guy.

So better late then never...I loved Frank and I think I'll go get drunk now and take to my bed for a few days in his honor and then start getting the gardens ready for spring.

So here is his obituary that even mentions his old car that he had when I first met him in the early 80's.
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/obits/obit/1369/

And a lovely post from a friend about Frank and his lemon tree and his life.
http://marciemcguire2.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/lemon-tree-very-pretty/

And since Sustainable Farms and Communities, Inc in Columbia Mo. seemed to be an organization important to him you can always donate in his name:
http://farmersmarketpavilion.org/donate/


(Frank would have also looked over this post and marked my grammatical/spelling errors....now all I have is spell check.)

Saturday Baking

I baked my own hamburger buns yesterday.
Delish.
I guess making buns (really they are good for all types of sandwiches) needs to be added to the weekly baking list.
Got the recipe here.
I cut the sugar to just 2 mostly because the hubby would have bitched about them being too sweet.
I made 10, but I think next time I will divide the dough into 12.

My Betsy Johnson....

Well, maybe vintage, not sure.
I've had this great Betsy Johnson neck scarf for a few years and I get to wear it once or twice a year. Today was one of those days.
So I wore it on the walk up the drive (SHUT UP!) to get the mail.

Brilliant Idea

There are a good number of networking sites that allow you to point others to interesting finds, but I don't think any are specifically focused on vintage until now.
Vintage Find It is "is the first independent social bookmarking site specifically for vintage. Shopping for vintage finds can be overwhelming. There are so many sites to look at. Here, you will find the best vintage on the web. Whether you love vintage clothing, home decor, art, you name it. Found by you. Curated by you. Show us your favorite vintage finds."

The site is the brainchild of Sandra at Debutante Clothing.

Brilliant!

http://vintagefindit.com/

The 1920's amazing silk embroidered coat at the top is in the possession of Ang at Dorothea's Vintage, but you can have it for $1200.

My God...Dior

From Tom and Lorenzo:
John Galliano once again goes back to the archives of the House of Dior for his inspirations, offering beautiful, whimsical, feminine looks that remind you of classic Dior without replicating it outright.

Calling Nora Charles

Via a link from Mary at Vintage Kitsch & Collectibles.

Winter in the City 1940's....

Downtown Little Rock in the 40's.....or is it?
Click to see the full photograph.



Nice bit of luck makes for a fun composition.

How to Respond

On Little Green Footballs some mook posted this about the shooting today:

I believe that people are ultimately responsible for their own actions. If it turns out he is a lefty wacko who thinks she did not go far enough provide health care or some other lefty cause who will you blame then?

In response a most awesome regular poster responded:

People are ultimately responsible for their own actions. However, if it turns out that the shooter was motivated by violent rhetoric from left-wing figures, I will hold THEM accountable for what they said.

See, this is the thing. If the Baader-Meinhof Gang, or the Weathermen, or WTF, come back from the crypt and start spewing hate and blowing shit up, I will not be backing them, because, you see, I am an American liberal, and they are freakazoid assholes, and will be even if I find one or two basic ideas we agree on. If their rhetoric starts to be parroted by Democrats in Washington, I will not vote for those people, and will actively campaign for non-crazy Democrats.

And I certainly won't be caught dead on LGF pretending that the Weathermen are 'really a mix' of extreme right-wing and left-wing ideas, I will just be condemning their asses as radical terrorists. I don't like radical terrorists.

This isn't so hard. No conservative is diminished by the actions of radical wingnuts. It's a fucking radical wingnut! But pretending that there is no problem, that the rhetoric isn't out there, that it isn't bad, and that we don't have a problem, is just plain dumb.

And all I can say is THIS!

Dear Sarah.

Dear Sarah step up, be an adult and please take a bit of personal responsibility for your part in how crazy things have gotten. It does not matter why. What matters is that what you said could have resulted in a shooting. As a public figure you have a responsibility for the tone of the conversations. In an effort to tone down the rhetoric you might want to apologize for the targets and vow to never use gun/violent language when it comes to political rivals.
Or make maps.
Maps seem to get you in trouble.
There should be no place in our society for that type of talk.

and I'll begin by apologizing for anything I might have said in the past.
Now it is your turn Sarah.

And a Happy New Year (with the Thin Man)...

Happy New Year....

Enjoy some epic drinking with the Charleses.

Oh Yeah....Merry Christmas!

Time for my yearly "Christmas Nap", but before I lay down, here is the most awesome creepy Christmas poem ever by Neil Gaiman (NICHOLAS WAS) and animated by the folks at Vimeo.
If you enjoy Nightmare Before Christmas, you will enjoy this short video.

39 Degrees North: Christmas Card 2010 from 39 Degrees North on Vimeo.

Christmas Tree

Oh Ye Of Little Faith

In light of today's historic nature this is just a reminder for those who were bitching how much Obama sucked and was so weak just a few weeks ago.

Cats in Planters

I'm sure there is a website that collects pictures of cats curled up in planters somewhere...here are mine.

Baby It is Cold Outside!

Two great vintage coats listed today!

1940's Black Gabardine swing coat with swanky top stitching.



1950's Brown wool swing coat with velvet inserts.

Adorable

I got this adorable desk calendar in the mail today...it is too sweet and just right for my desk.
Purchased from Sweetlifepaper on Etsy.

Haven

I'm sick of all the "Obama is the worst President evah" from all the libs/progressives/whiny ass babies on the internet.
So here's a haven from the crazy:
The Only Adult in the Room



EDIT:
I just wanted to add that yes, not everything Obama has done or is doing or will do makes me happy, BUT I blame the majority of our problems on the Congress he gets to work with. I think instead of bitching about how Obama has failed Progressives and liberals and talking about primarying him in 2012 (and screw you Daily Kos I can't even visit you anymore) the true conversation should be how to get rid of the Blue Dog Democrats in the House and Senate who refuse to support the President's (or the Democratic party's) agenda.

Dear Yankee Candle,

Seriously?
There is NO FRAKING way it should take you 10-12 days to ship an order from your website. It would have been faster to have a friend go to a Yankee Candle store, buy what I want and ship it to me via priority mail.
And yes, I should have read the shipping info...but who would think it would take 10-12 fraking days to get an item from ya'll.
I would go out of business if it took me that long to ship an item.
Sheesh.

Signed,
a moron who is still going to patiently wait for my order because I really, really want that North Pole Reed Diffuser....it better smell good.

All Will Love and Fear Me....

Reality sucks.
Thank God for designers like Chinese Couturier Guo Pei who allows us to see inside her overthetop "White Witch-Red Queen-Scheherazade" Chinese fantasy:

Make sure you go to T Lo and checkout the whole set of photographs AND the video. You must watch the video.