William Blaze High

Today Blaze would have been 47 years old. I like to think he would have been celebrating his and Shawn's birthdays (who's birthday is Thursday) together, as they did for years. Since it's all wishing anyway, perhaps Joe and I would have met up with them this evening, and joined in celebration with our friends.

Ate at a lovely place here in town the other day called Luna, and it reminded me of the little place we used to go together in Seattle; Cafe Sophie. Dark, quiet with private booths and perfect service. The kind of place that makes you feel comfortable and special. With great drinks! And of course, being with Blaze meant being with celebrity. Every where we would go, someone knew him, someone would dote on us. It was all very fun. A bit of a rush really. I was such a small town kid back then, and he was the city boy with all the contacts and such a strong sense of himself. His living and his passing changed me, for the better I think. I wish I could thank him for giving me so much. Happy Birthday, Blaze.

XO

Kirk

9 years ago...

Alright, so this post is a few weeks behind. But the facts are still the same. On the weekend in question Joe and I attacked the front "yard" (read: dead ghetto grass) and with the help of 2 great Guatamalen brothers took our front yard from ugly, to nearly lovely. (We still have a few things left to do - including adding some crushed rock to the front of the yard, a few more bags of beauty bark and then to paint and plant the front planter). Still, it brings a nice feeling of pride to see the yard look nice and to be able to take care of such great plants.






Fortunately for us we received some of the major plants from a friend who had pulled them up out of her yard. That provided us the basis for our garden, and the impetus to get to planting. We planted some big spikey guys, some pampas grass, iris, blue fescue and even some succulent starts from our neighbor next door.

9 years ago that very weekend my father passed away. All my life he and my mother spent the weekends working in the yard. They always had an amazing flower garden wherever we lived.

It seemed like the perfect way to celebrate my father.

My Mother's Wisteria

...in all thier glory; cascading, dripping, filling the air with their fragrance, and the hum of busy bees working over every flower.





My Mother's Wisteria. My father and mother have...had the greenest thumbs of anyone I have ever met. Where ever we lived, they left the ground and explosion of life. They did that in their professions too. Then my father, and her father, both died 10 years ago. Her brother a few after that. She's pretty much alone. And as health issues have left her crippled and nearly blind and retired at far too early an age, she is having to sell her home in order to consolidate her funds. This means leaving the property where she shared her life with my dad, and raised my sister, myself and most of our friends. This will be her last year with the Wisteria, the pond and the birds that call her yard their home.

Meetin' AnDanna in SanFranna

Every fabulous couple deserves a condecending, snarky nickname. BrAngelina, TomKat, HillBillary...or at least that's the perception of those of us whose brains have been pulverized to mush by LA's mindless "newsertainment". (I know more about Celebrity Gossip than the average middle-american teenage girl, and I learned it all on the 10 o'clock news!). I only say this because I want to explain why I have an uncontrollable urge to refer to our friends Anna and Daniel by an adorable nickname like AnnaDanna (or perhaps BananaDana?). So, all tangents aside, guess who's in the states on a whirlwind tour? Yes, our good friends from Scotland, Dan and Anna. You may remember them from such previous posts as :Daniel and Anna's Wedding in New York. If you don't. Scroll down, or back, or whatever and check out the pix. They are adorable. And you'll find the "Joe meets food" pictures" strangely familiar!

OK - on to our tale. Bananadana were supposed to come stay with us last weekend, but due to some scheduling conflicts or outstanding warrents or something, they could only come as far South as San Fransico. So we decided to meet them for a lovely weekend in the city. And lovely it was!



We found a lovely B&B 2 blocks off of Market on Castro (that's the actual Gay center point of the United States) called the "Whelan House" (http://www.homeguest.com/) where Andy took great care of us. But Modernists, beware. This ode to excess is not for the faint of decor-heart. To say his Victorian is chock full of crap is an understatement. But somehow, it all works and makes for a lovely, homey place to stay.



Now, the real reason to stay in The Castro is because only a few stumbling blocks away are the best pancakes ever made...ever. We refer to them as Crack Pancakes. I know, not orignal, but aptly named. Crack Pancakes can be found at CrepeVine, which is just off Market on Church. 216 Church St, San Francisco, CA 94114, (415) 431-4646 ) Offically named the "Swedish Oatmeal Pancake", these little dollops of heaven are crispy on the outside and so moist on the inside that they are almost like pudding! They have to be tasted to be believed. They must use Oatmeal soaked in condensed milk. I have no idea how they do it, but they do and you should. Eat them, I mean. Droooooooool.



Alright, so before we get to Anna and Dan, let me say they are nothing if not generous. They flew all the way from Scotland, drove down from Seattle, and still thought to bring us gifts from the far north, including this unusual tin of canned Haggis! Incredients are as you can see. Mouthwatering!



To make a short story short, for once, it was great to see Anna and Dan, if only for a short time. While in SF we took in some food, a little shopping,

Time to catch up...

That little nagging voice in Joe's head explained!

There, that ought to get your attention! Ok - we're back. Ever since we returned from New Orleans we've been in a dead run. So many projects, so little time. Even so, we did have a little time for some fun. Let's take a look and see what we were up to!shall we?:



Our good friend Alexa (from New York) came for an extended visit (she was working in town, but staying with us). We promptly shoved her in a Pup-tent in the living room (actually quite comfortable) and made her feel right at home. While here, she and Joe (Joe and she? and Her? argh!)...they...the two blondes took a trip to Joshua Tree to take in the desert experience!







The following weekend we took her for a greuling hike up into Griffith Park to see the Batcave (yes "the batcave" from tv fame!) and the Hollywood sign. Lovely hike, but the toes paid for it! Ouch.







Finally, we took a tour of Watts towers. Look them up online. They are amazing! Like mini-Gaudi's, made from old pottery and cement, and yet incredible and magical. What a great experience. If you're in town, you must go see them!





And to wrap up - this last week I attended the wrap party for "My Friends Tigger and Pooh", the show I've been working on for the last year! It was great to hang out with all my T&P pals, including Angi (striped shirt), my AP and constant source of joy at work. Fun fun fun.





And as a bonus, we just found out that T&P is available as a free download on ITUNES - so GO GET IT! The first episode out the door contains MY show "Tigger's Shadow of a Doubt". Almost every shot, cut and gesture in there is mine, and I'm really proud of it. Check it out!

Thanks for checking in! More soon (and some updates on things I may have forgotten to mention!).

New Orleans, continued....

Well of course, after returning home from a well earned Vacation, I paid for it with a helping of hell equal to the amount of happiness I enjoyed the previous week. End effect: no time to update the blog (or do laundry or anything else for that matter!)

So I'll have to post a quick finish up on New Orleans...and it goes a little something like this:



New Orleans was Fantastic! Staying with great friends, seeing great parades, drinking until we couldn't drink no more....and experiencing the lovely sights and warm, genuinely nice people of New Orleans.



We were half tempted to stay.



It was a fantastic time. And Mardi Gras was a blast!



We are already planning a trip back for the big Jazz festival. It's worth the trip for the beauty of the city, but it's a city that can really use your tourist dollars, and there is a lot to learn about how people are getting on, and our government has, and continues to treat it's poor with contempt. We heard stories that break heart. Hopefully the photos show a little of the glory and the pain that is New Orleans.



And speaking of photos. I've got over 400 of them. If you want to see some, let me know. I'm happy to share.

Thx David, Cheech, Phe, Candice and of course Kathy.