Of a Weekend of events, and thoughts~~~~

Hello Darklings,

Well Sis and I had a wonderful day on Friday! Of course we had our mani-pedi’s at this Salon that she knows in the City. I went with “Devil’s Lure” by Revlon, I’m not sure if it’s made anymore as it was a limited edition, but sometimes it turns up on E-Bay.

Anyway I chose it as the color is much richer, Sis decided to go with “Ginger” by Essie as it goes well with a lot of her clothes and she doesn’t want to off-put her clients by going with a strange color. But it was so nice to be pampered.

For lunch we decided upon salads as we didn’t want to be heavy and sleepy, and then to shopping, Nordstrom was our choice, but we did go into Tiffany’s, if nothing else just to drool.

I love how the staff treats its clientele even if you are window shopping. Sis saw a bracelet she fell in love with, she knew it would be perfect for her daughter. It was simple in Sterling silver and she wanted a heavy flat sterling sliver disk that was sort of thick with rounded edges to hang from it and to be engraved with her daughters’ initials in a flowing script, it was for her daughter’s birthday in November and since she would be up there to visit her at that time she wanted something very special. Her daughter had remarked how she’d like to have something like that but had been putting it off for a while; this would be very nice and classic.

At Nordstrom’s I found a lovely silk blouse in a deep camouflage green but not a boring green, with long sleeves and a shawl type collar, what dressed it up nicely were these gold buttons, and it came with three extra’s. And we had to check out the Channel counter, I was almost out of Channel #5 and purchased a bottle, trust me Darklings, I made my last bottle last for nearly 2 years. Sis found a pair of black Coach shoes that were extremely comfortable, considering that she doesn’t buy many shoes and always has her shoe repair man keep her old pairs going, buying a new pair for her is a treat and an investment.

We took a side trip to another store, I think it was Macy’s, sometimes these stores seem to run together, but we went down to the fine wares clearance area and here Sis indulged again, she found these glass starfish in 4 graduated shades of blue designed to hold things like mints, nuts, or other little goodies, and they were on sale.

Of course I had to ask her why and she said for her Tropical room, that I call her Tiki Lounge or 1950’s Hawaii, her idea of paradise. Frankly I think she was affected many years ago when she saw the singing parrots in the Tiki Room at Disneyland and of course her honeymoon many years ago to Hawaii. She told me many times “The Marriage may have failed but we’re still good friends and the honeymoon was wonderful.” Some day she’ll go back to visit, she’s been thinking of the Alanie Resort, I asked her “do you want to relax or hear the joyous sounds of children?” She replied “The place that will pamper me the most.” And something like that Darklings you should save up for, remember you’re worth it.

I found a nice little treat in the clearance section, a jar that says blood bath salts, complete with a small skull on the lid and a bat on the front of it, at the bottom it says take a relaxing bath in blood red. There were no salts in the large jar but it would be perfect to hold either Epsom salts or my own preferred bath salts. Sis teased me and said it would go perfectly with the “Bates Motel” bath towels that were given to me as a Christmas present last year. I’m putting them out in the guest bathroom for Halloween; I think I’ll put the jar there too.

But all too soon we had to leave, it was going to take forever to get home over the bridge given that it was the last Friday of the Month, and the bicyclists would be out doing their boring monthly “Critical Mass” protest, yes Darklings booooorrrrring, (someday I’ll blog about it), fortunately we didn’t encounter them, I guess we left early enough.

Still it was slow, and we decided upon Chinese take out when we got home, Doyle called and said he had a surprise and was obliging to pick up the food; I sent off several e-mails and went to pick up Belladonna. I bought her a little present, a new sweater with skulls on it as well as a brand new carry all bag, as the old one was wearing out, and it looks very stylish, at first glance one would think it was a large Michael Kors Tote bag, and then you see the mesh for the dog. Belladonna fitted perfectly into both items.

The surprise that Doyle brought home was a conglomeration of Beers, Angry Orchard’s Hard Apple Cider in a special box of 12 bottles consisting of 3 of each Crisp, Traditional Dry, Apple Ginger and Cinnfil Apple---all hard ciders. Doyle also had Pumpkin Ale by two different Breweries, and a special box packed of various Harvest Ales by Blue Moon Brewery.

Then there was Speakeasy Beer from San Francisco’s Speakeasy Brewery, this included the Tallulah pale Ale, Big Daddy, a bottle of Prohibition Porter, (I understand they are not making it anymore), and several others with that 1920’s mobster theme.

I asked him how he got these beers and he replied “A gift from a very happy and very grateful client, and he wasn’t the only one, other staffers who worked with Doyle also got beer as well all as a bonus.

I am not a coinsurer of Beer but Doyle said “we are ready for October fest”. Late September is when the micro breweries come out with their seasonal and specialized beers and ales and Doyle likes to stock up for the Fall and Winter season, I know he’ll be buying more.

So into the spare refrigerator they went in to be properly chilled and ready for that special occasion, although during October and November Doyle will occasionally indulge in the Pumpkin ales when he is relaxing on a Saturday or Sunday late afternoon, but never more than one bottle, too many spoils the enjoyment he says.

We decided to relax Friday evening and watch an old favorite “Perry Mason and the Case of the Fatal Fashion” both Sis and I remarked how we loved Barbara Hale as Della Street, so professional and confident.

In checking the mail after dinner I discovered we’d receive an invitation to an Artist showing for Saturday night, one of my art friends’ friend was doing a presentation of the ghoulish and ghastly works of art in oils and sculpture designed to be “thought pieces”. Sis of course moaned, and Doyle rolled his eyes and I said, “Well it would be interesting to see what depravity goes on in people’s minds.”

And with that remark Sis and Doyle agreed to go, provided said Sis, we all go to see “Rear Window” playing at a nearby historic movie theatre---Hitchcock in October? Perfect Timing!!!

Saturday we were up early, doing the usually grocery shopping and planed to eat dinner early, if we were still hungry when we came home I had things in the freezer that could be heated up. Not being sure when we’d get home and how perky we’d be, I decided to record Svengoolies’ presentation of that 1959 classic “The Leech Woman”, I have to say that it is a story with two morals in it, one that as men grow older their gray hairs seem to give them honor and distinction but for women as they grow older they are cast aside and pitied, the second morality tale is vanity thy name is woman, but I’ve also said you may have woman’s vanity but it is caused by man’s blindness.

Sad to say even if women are more liberated, we still have those same old idea’s running around, and women have to fight even harder.

The art show was by a friend of an artist acquaintance of mine and Sis’s and although the sculptures and paintings were very well done with a lot of thought to the subject matter they were morbid, and unsettling, dealing with the theme of horrific homicides not by shooting but by sick minds, up close and personal, emphasizing the psychopath and how they are being allowed to be free to terrorize us, we are always afraid of the terror without, but forget the terror within.

I don’t think I would have a single one of those art objects in my home, neither would Sis but some people were buying them, as investments I think, although I felt they would be better suited to a chamber of horrors in a wax museum, the gallery had to be very cool as some of the works were done in wax.

Doyle confessed that he preferred the anatomical art exhibits in which dead people were shown with their skin removed and showing the inside of how our bodies worked, those were done with injected plastic for preservation and I remember thinking how informative that exhibit was, but this was something totally different, going into the minds of psychopaths. Sis got the artists’ card she said she like to interview her (yes her) for a paper, perhaps combine it with the interview that she did with our previous ‘ghostly’ painters whose exhibit we’d seen some time ago.

And we were surprised by the artist, a short, rotund, cheerful lady, draped in purple, with a lot of silver bracelets on one wrist that jangled as she moved her hands, her hair was close cropped with natural ringlets, I looked at Sis and remarked “You’d think she’d be baking cookies for her small grandchildren” and Sis replied, “Hansel and Gretel’s old witch may have looked like her and she was going to eat them up.” I could only agree.

We did run into our ghostly couple, she just as pale as ever and he looking like he could disappear into a dark corner, her gallery show in New York went very well, almost all the paintings sold and she is embarking on a new series. “Tombstones” she said, “I’ll have it so they project out of the canvas, some will be physical installations as we are looking for old gates, and things, some will be small studies and some almost like sculptures but with a painting they will emerge from, in some ways I’m being inspired by the Night Gallery stories”. After they drifted away, I asked my Sis if she remembered how they supported themselves between showings, knowing that it does cost money to survive, she couldn’t remember, but said I might have mentioned it in my blog, now I’m going to have to look back to see.

Doyle insisted we go to an ice cream parlor that stays open late that he knows of and indulge in Ice cream, saying “I want to see something that makes me think I’m a kid of 10 again” And considering the huge banana split he ordered and devoured I’d say he got his ‘kid fix’. Sis went with just plain strawberry ice cream and I with rainbow sherbet, we too felt we had to get a strange taste out of mouths.

Sunday dawned cold and a bit overcast which eventually gave way to sunlight, we’d made plans to go to the cemetery to put flowers on our late eldest brother’s grave, something we do every year. This was one of those times when we’d be able to do it together at the same time, given how her work previously would have her traveling.

We decided to go in Doyle’s car and as we were driving to the cemetery like a vision out of the past a parade of 3 vintage cars crossed our path, 2 were from the mid to late 1930’s and the last one was from the late 1940’s, seeing those car’s I screamed “Daddy I WANT!!” Yes Darklings even tho I have my own vintage car, just seeing them was exciting, since we had to go in the same direction we were able to catch up before they turned off in another direction. On the back rear window of each car was a logo in gold lettering “Bay Bombs”, it seems they are a local vintage car club that does fund raising events with their vintage cars, including offering their cars as transportation for weddings and special occasions. What fun!

But on to the cemetery, we’d pack a picnic lunch since our brother’s grave is near a nice shade tree, and although the cemetery does an excellent job of maintenance we pulled a few weeds (good thing we brought gloves) and made sure to have cans to hold the flowers so’d they would last a few days. We ate, talked reminisce of old times, and found ourselves missing him even after these many years, Doyle had brought his Sirius radio and was using the portable to play music, we were rotating from 50’s to 40’s and back.

Suddenly Sis stood up, she looked at our brother’s tombstone and said “If there really is an afterlife, I’d like you to give us a sign! All these years, and it still hurts, I should be able to deal with it, I’m trained to but it still hurts. Do we exist after we die! Show us!”

I was shocked by my sister’s outburst, I knew our brother’s murder had affected her, it affected me too and our younger brother, but I hadn’t realize she was still is so much pain, even with her telling me I had to still work it out, she did too.

I looked at her, then stood up, she continued to look at the headstone and then after a moment we heard Ray Charles singing “Hallelujah, I love her so”. Why that song? Years ago our brother and us performed a pantomime dance to that song at a armature talent show at the Elks Lodge, we did it for fun, we were kids.

Sis looked at me and I started doing the dance moves to the song as best as I remembered it, and Sis joined in. At the end of the song we were laughing and sat down on the picnic blanket. I looked at her and asked “Did you get your answer?” She smiled with tears in her eyes and nodded, maybe it was just a coincidence but at that moment? Right after she asked her question? I was not going to question it and let it lay. Doyle looked at us with his mouth agape, shook his head and said nothing but smiled.

Then on the spur of the moment, Sis took a napkin and wiped some dust off of the smooth surface of the tombstone, put on her red lipstick and kissed it. I did the same. O.K. Darklings we were being silly, but can you imagine someone else coming along and seeing those two lipstick kisses on that headstone and what they will think? I’d like to think they’d be a bit puzzled or something.

For the rest of the day we just relaxed out in the garden, Belladonna had gone with us for the picnic and was glad to be in her familiar territory. And we each had a bottle of one of the harvest beers to relax with.

Later Darklings