kidsmoke

It's my favorite time of year to have a birthday!

Happy birthday!

Personally, I feel it is the only time of year to have a birthday!

A toast to our own dear huh? What? Basil, without whom VC would have significantly less spice!

And now, Basil cake: this is what came up when I put "Basil cake" in the search engine. Who am I to argue?

Have a wonderful day and a wonderful new year of life, Robert!

Happy day to you my sweet birthday sister!

 

Looking forward to more of this...

 

Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy to my dear birthday sister, who has graced the planet with her beautiful self for half a century now!!!!! (I'm still winning, by the way.... )

I figure, if you're going to share a birthday, only share it with the very best. Love ya, Chris.

Thank you, everyone, for all the love and good wishes. There isn't a better set of internet friends anywhere, and I feel very blessed to be in your company.

The whole show was amazing. the highlights were "Spiders" (the old version), "Jesus, Etc;" (the one song where EVERY drunk shut up and sang :-P), "Acuff Rose", and "Dreamer in My Dreams" (both done completely unplugged.)

 

He was as funny as ever though tonight. The gay joke, impressions of audience members, taking requests from only people who raised their hand...Jeff was on fire.

 

I could've gone for "Wishful Thinking" though ::Sigh:: oh well :-)

Even if it means that you start sipping Seabreezes and walking mincingly, you've gotta figure a show like that makes it worth it, right?

Now excuse me, I need to go put up some drywall in our garage. Where's my damned ballpeen hammer?

I'm the compromiser. To the max. I also hardly ever sleep well, so take it for what you will.

Troubled sleep is usually all about guilt. Do you think it could be that loud, pounding heart beneath your floorboards, Dan?

Jeff referenced this list MULTIPLE times at the new orleans show tonight.

Might've known this wouldn't escape his eagle eye!

I'm speechless. I'm without speech.

In the immortal words of Sunny Baudelaire, "Words fail me."

So last night I had a touch of insomnia, and as I tried to find the road to peaceful sleep, this question occurred to me: what position do you people usually sleep in?

The reason I ask is because if you all will submit replies, then I (and you as well!) will be able to take this information and turn it into clever bits of cocktail hour small talk: "Did you know that most Wilco fans sleep on their backs, in the manner of the royal Egyptians?", or perhaps, "It's intriguing how fans of formerly alt-country musical performers tend to side-sleep, don't you think?"

Who, really, ever has enough scintillating cocktail chatter? I can see this providing a springboard for deeper discussions as the pinot noir flows and the bacon-wrapped water-chestnut chicken livers are consumed. I know you can see it too, because you are imaginative people.

So help me with this sleep-positions study, good VC'ers, and remember: Five out of four frequently-quoted statistics are arrived at through thoroughly unscientific methodologies. Won't you join in? Thank you.

sincerely,

your kidsmoke

I'm loving all these weird and wonderful shots.....y'all have good photographic eyes and a knack for composition. Also that looks like one very happy puppy dog there, Muller! Yours? Essex looks very pretty.

You got some lovely shots, Clay! Great expressions....you captured the mood!

I capured this with with my Canon Powershot. So, here's some humble footage of last night's closer, "Acuff Rose."

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoCiyuB5fZs

Thanks....I always enjoy a bit of "being there" Not "Being There" the album, but...oh, you get what I mean!

Even this brief clip gives a sense of the audience!

GOOD MORNING!!!!

 

I awoke refreshed after a long night's sleep ... then quickly turned my anger on the OKC weather men who are giving us wall-to-wall coverage of the blizzard that wasn't. Nary a flake here in Stillwater.

Morning Grumpy!!!

Sounded like you had plenty of flakes at the show last night.

Thanks for the review, Clay, but yikes! I guess you just have to take away the good & shed the bad.

I read that too, for the same reason! You'll love it. Spooky little book.

Very nice! I really enjoyed that. Thanks for sharing!

I could have sworn I posted birthday wishes here yesterday....I thought them, anyway. But I must've gotten interrupted & then closed VC so my kid could start working on his science project which is due, like, tomorrow.... (Yesterday Brennan said to me, "Mom, what kind of fuel do we have around here? I need to burn some stuff." )

Anyway, my dear catfish, here are my best belated wishes, and the cake I should've posted for your virtual consumption yesterday!

I'm sorry, I couldn't find any catfish cakes. But I did find this wonderful story for your birthday enjoyment. Poor terrified fish!

We have all heard fish stories but this one takes the cake.

This was a pretty interesting story from The Sunday Wichita Eagle Newspaper a couple of weeks ago.

A resident in the area saw a ball bouncing around kind of strange in a nearby pond and went to investigate. It turned out to be a flathead catfish who had obviously tried to swallow a child's basketball which became stuck in its mouth!!

The fish was totally exhausted from trying to dive, but unable to because the ball would always bring him back up to the surface. The resident tried numerous times to get the ball out, but was unsuccessful. He finally had his wife cut the ball in order to deflate it and release the hungry catfish.

Yay, a happy ending.

You crack me up, Tim. Hugs to you and Heather. Stay warm!

I'm a huge Anne LaMott fan. New mothers should absolutely read "Operating Instructions", and I highly recommend all of her books. For spiritual rejuvenation, read either (or both) "Traveling Mercies" and/or "Plan B".....both are beautiful & non-judgemental explorations of trying to live life with a sense of purpose and meaning. She makes me laugh so hard in recognition of how silly and flawed we are as humans, and yet goodness is a thing so worth striving for, even if we fall really short, so very often.

Her books give me hope and make me content to be a clumsy, struggling human being.

That's fascinating! I'm always amazed at the things I learn on this board. Thanks for sharing, Bob.

Yow, can you imagine what must've gone through that driver's head as he heard the cracking sounds and felt the vehicle shifting? I wonder how long he sat there before someone plucked him from his cab & took him to solid ground!

Must've been interesting getting the rig back to land, too.

That looks like the landscape of my soul.

I always suspected that the landscape of your soul had a certain Dr. Seuss quality to it.

I wonder if he slipped St. Peter a c-note or two on the way in....

I know! And now I can't stop thinking how much I need to defrost my big freezer. But even it doesn't look this bad!

What a happy life that must have been, to be able to bring happiness to so many other people! Who knows what differences he made, in so many lives.

Heaven must have swung the gates wide to welcome him.

Happy Birthday, Daniel. You're one of the charms which first drew me to Via Chicago.

This is what cold really looks like. It'll take a moment to load, but these pictures are amazing....like something out of Dr. Seuss! You have to click to advance from picture to picture.

Wow.

Honey, get the hairdryer....and a chisel....

I can only echo what others have already said, Charles. Your talents amaze me. Your photos have captured Jeff, personality and all. The African shots are breathtaking!

Thanks so much for sharing these.