Janis Joplin - Summertime (Live Gröna Lund 1969)

Summer's Gone Again

No matter where I am the end of summer always seems a tad bit melancholy. I used to notice it much more in Virgina, always around August 17ish.....always late August, a cooler breeze, not as humid, back to school rushed madness, and flyers for boots and sweaters, while bathing suits and suntan lotions and colorful summer towels still littered the bathroom. All of this end of summer rush comes way to fast in my opinion, and the melancholy of the next long seven months, the Holiday craze, the cold weather, the grey sky,the bare trees and pending snow and rain just leaves me feeling sad. I love you summer. Always have, always will. Ever since the days of Claytor Lake...red coolers loaded down with ice and cold Cokes, brown bags loaded with chili hotdogs we picked up at FoodTime on the way to the lake. The juke box by the the concession stand was always playing a good song, maybe Prince's "Little Red Corvette" or "Hound Dog", one that mom would call an oldie but a goodie making my me and my kid sister wonder how old mom really was and never comprehending that someday in the future we would be 31....thinking we would be young forever having summer fun.

M ward- howlin for my baby- true blood soundtrack season 2

Spring Festivals in Cajun Country

April, May and early June make up the festival season here in Cajun Country. There is definitely never a boring weekend around these big and little towns during this time of the year, but the trick is finding all of the festivals and then deciding which one to attend over the other. The last weekend in April is the Festival de Internationale de Louisiane. Since I have fallen in love lately with Lafayette and this is a free festival I decided to check it out. I am glad that I did.

Leaving Spanish Town 2009

This was one of my last Saturday day mornings in Spanish Town, late last summer, 2009, before I moved to Lake Charles, LA, which is only 2 hours due West of this very spot. What's that saying, "you don't know what you've got until it's gone"...well, that is such a true statement. I always knew that lovely space of time in my life would end and I am glad I was aware of that, but just looking at these photos today is making me very nostalgic for that time. Not to mention that when I look outside my front door here in Lake Charles, I see a boring street and that is what I am trying to change by creating this blog.

The morning that I snapped these photos a couple of guys were sitting on the store stoop jamming out some old school blues. I wondered over with my coffee as I was waking up and thought that I would just listen for a bit. I was in no rush. Spanish Town and the deep south in general have that feeling. An older lady was sitting on the porch under the awning. It appeared that she had just finished eating breakfast upon my arrival. She pulled out a compact mirror and a tube of red lipstick from her purse. Quickly she started to reapply a fresh coat of lipstick. The heat of the late summer morning must have melted her lip stick because as she started to apply the red color, the creamy stick suddenly just snapped off and landed in her lap. She looked down in her lap, picked up the broken color with her fingers and stuck it back on.

Getting ahead of myself....

I think I am getting ahead of myself and my story starts much, much earlier than this...then where I now, then this very moment here in Lake Charles, LA and cajun country and McNeese State University. I need to go back, way back, and dig around a bit at least visually for my mental state. Stick with me if you dare otherwise this is a solo adventure not for the weak of heart.

Since I am a visual creature....this has to start with the only visuals I have, so, that is all the images that are buried on my Hard Drive and need to be cleaned up and aired out anyway. I found this image from May 2006, four years after I graduated, but still relevant and since I don't have any Hard Drive images on my computer from my Hollins days then this reference will have to work in its place. I think it fits the vibe. My mind started opening at Hollins and it had led me here, to where I am now.