Morning, Hope Valley, CA.
Weekend bonus shot (Tuesday edition), 01.17.12
Alwyn Court, W58th & 7th, New York, New York.
Above image apropos of nothing much in particular, except that I walked by this confectionary extravaganza yesterday on a stroll after work with a colleague and friend (known on the internet as Mr. Lady: that we’re now working together is indeed fitting, since her “handle” is such a nifty complement to Lesbian Dad).
And yep, I’m not a’tall shy about stopping and craning my neck and photographing gothic outbursts like this (got its own NYT article plus a Wikipedia entry). Just one of the manifold benefits of being so far into one’s forties that one is lapping up at the edge of fifty (yep: this is what almost-fifty looks like). As a younger pup in this photogenic town, I kept the camera lens trained in front of me, oftentimes from the midst of a big-ass crowd, at a sea of queer folk marching in the street with or without permit (as yet still consigned to slides, else they’d make regular appearances here). Now I point my lens 360 degrees, tourist-style, and I just don’t even care who takes notice.
~~~
A day late, in honor of Dr. King, some past posts here in recognition:
That which we call a rose by any other name would sound as sweet
The above image of my Pops is from a coupla five years back, which would have made him a spry, debonair 86.
Yesterday he turned 91. In our morning chat, which usually takes place on cell phone as I walk, he is having a harder and harder time making out various words. This morning it was “thrifty.”
Me (concluding a reference to something): “I felt really thrifty.”
Him: “You felt really chesty?!”
Me: “No, thrifty!”
Him: “Risky?!”
Me: “Thrifty! I felt thrifty!”
Him: “Ruskie?!”
Weekend bonus shot (Monday edition), 01.09.12
Pops returning home at the end of the evening, Castro Valley, CA.
I watch him go through these doors to his apartment in the retirement community so long and hard now. Used to be he’d turn and wave and shamble off, only looking back once to wave me away (‘gwan now, doll; go home).
Now, stooped by his ninety-one years (this Wednesday), he turns and looks over and over again. And so do I.
Riverside fairy house
Fairy house-building near the West Fork of the Carson River, Hope Valley, CA.
Her operating assumption, and who am I to doubt it: everywhere you go, there are fairies who would appreciate a home.
Auspicious
His first sentence, Hope Valley, CA.
Behold, above, my boy’s first sentence (beyond a great number of “I [heart symbol] U Baba” sentences, each of which I have kept on their various scraps of paper). The scatological cant of this one, while a touch wince-inducing, cannot diminish my pride in his literary and comic prowess.
We are back now to civilization and our work in it, after a week in the state’s least populous county, up in the Sierra Nevada, utterly sans internet, cell phone reception, or even movies on a TV! Folks, these places exist, and I highly recommend them for periodic purges of digital and media detritus. We were fortunate enough to be staying in a cabin its proprietors call Harmony House, situated at the eastern edge of Hope Valley. A perfectly named spot from which to launch what we all hope will be a splendid new year. My predictions, if it in any way resembles last year: full, busy, challenging. Also rewarding, fulfilling, and an honor to be around to be a part of.
Hope your last year ended splendidly, and that this one began full of promise.
Christmas Lullaby
“Christmas Lullaby,” by Jason Robert Brown, eavesdropped after dinner early December last year. [Ed note: Once you start the video, double-clicking the image expands it to full screen, a decidedly mixed blessing since then you get more jostled by my improv'ed lo-tech iPhone cinematography.]
I couldn’t help but re-run this sweet gem which I first posted a year ago. Still sweet, still–with the exception of the diapers on the boy–true. Love to all who reads and listens here.
- lizk: I'll take it, too! I was not expecting him to ev...
- Lesbian Dad: Amen, is all I can say. As with so much that's ...
- rockyv: damn it. Now I'm choked up at work. You've touc...
- Lesbian Dad: Amen....
- AT: It takes a village, and sometimes that village is ...
- Lesbian Dad: Ah, ol Chum(py). So very nice to see you again! An...
Twelfth Annual Weblog Awards
This? I recently found out about because I read my backlogged Twitter stream:
You’ll see there if you look closely that Lesbian Dad has been nominated for a 2012 Bloggie for Best LGBT Weblog. Those who need know no more than where to vote may do so here until 10pm Eastern; 7pm Pacific, Sunday, February 19. Either scroll down a bit or select “lgbt” from among the categories in the lefthand grey nav bar.
I am honored, flabberghasted, puzzled (can a person’s cumulative contribution really overcome a year of undeniably anemic posting? can it really?), and you name it. But there you go. There was a nomination period, some folks nominated this earnest (if lately anemic) thing–for which: thank you!–and somebody else from a random assemblage of nominators selected it from among the nominated. So there you go.
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