Confessions of a French Cowgirl

my main band site

2012-01-25T02:39:00.000-08:00

Shell Creek Station is right here, check us out if you haven't already:

www.shellcreekstation.com

And now I'm grabbing a pastis and some pistachios because it is WAY too beautiful outside to be online any longer! Love you guys!

The first rule is... we don't talk about it.

2012-01-24T09:33:00.000-08:00

Simple winter clothes for my son

2011-02-26T12:25:00.001-08:00

I've made a few clothes for Dorian this winter, but I am especially pleased with these. Both pants and vest are a blend of wool and alpaca, very soft, warm and durable. And just over-sized enough to keep for another year.

The chevron on the back turned out especially well.

I like the cuffs and the little buttons on the side...

This could almost be a dress for a little girl. Meanwhile, it looks cool and almost Japanese on a little boy with long sleeves in a sober color.

The story of a robot, Austin edition

2011-02-26T11:54:00.000-08:00

There once was a robot, from a faraway planet... his ship took him to a distant galaxy, where he learned that playing guitar could connect him to other cultures and ways of life. He set the world on fire.

Black Apple Beauty

2011-01-31T09:45:00.001-08:00

I love this pattern from Sublime Stitching called Black Apple - the texture on Elektra's sweater made it a little hard to stitch, but I'm pleased with the overall result.

Stuff we made, plastic bag edition #1

2011-01-31T09:22:00.000-08:00

These bags are made of bags. Bread bags and regular shopping bags from the Farmer's market. I had to save them up for a long time to make enough "plarn" for these beauties.

The big one is Elektra's, and the small one is Dorian's... Elektra's strap is quite plushy and squishy. This bag is big enough for all her notebooks, pencil cases and Pet Shops.

Stuff we made, denim edition

2011-01-31T06:56:00.000-08:00

Around here, we believe in hand-me-downs and recycling/reusing just about anything possible, if we didn't make it ourselves. Elektra gets a lot of nice hand-me-downs from generous friends, and we dress them up sometimes with a little embroidery. Here are a couple of Elektra's choices, patterns courtesy of Sublime Stitching (cute little hand is courtesy of Dorian):

Technically, this isn't even Elektra's jacket anymore, as she has outgrown it and passed it down to a little cousin... but there's a new one waiting on the ironing board to get some ironed-on splendor... stay tuned!

Man, I miss the 80s

2010-06-14T13:34:00.000-07:00

Is there anybody around any more like Cyndi Lauper?

What a singular individual, so unafraid to be her wacky, strange self.

I love the trailer in this video; my parents lived in something similar, when first married:

My amazing, unexpected afternoon...

2010-06-01T08:31:00.000-07:00

Schuyler, my adopted stray kitten who was supposedly maybe just old enough for an operation on her girl parts, has just birthed four kittens.

We all underestimated her age, including the vet. She must be at least 7 or 8 months old and is obviously a very petite cat; we thought her around 6 months.

Last week we had written "spay Schuyler" on our to-do list. Then I went to pick her up, and felt a distinctly round belly and well-developed nipples.

Oh no, Francois, how did this happen? She didn't even show any symptoms of going into heat. We've always been responsible pet owners, who wouldn't allow such a thing to happen... I feel a bit like I've birthed a teen mother myself.

But I'm proud of her, just the same. She let out a yowl, stood up, and out came the first baby; a runty, skinny, rat-like creature, white with some black spots. After chasing the poor dangling creature as if she were chasing her tail for a few seconds, I managed to get her into a basket. Now there are three others, and I think she loves her runty first-born the most. It is so sweet.

I will post pictures once they are presentable!

Not for the faint at heart

2010-05-12T00:14:00.000-07:00

This is my fearless sister Rebecca with Pandofilando of the Frowning Gaze. Feel free to use him to scare your children into submission tonight, when they refuse to eat their brussel sprouts, or whatever annoying thing it is that your children refuse to do. Because he is coming to get them.

(This is not real life... not even art imitating life, really. It's El Quixote, at Miracle Theatre in Portland, OR.)

I've quit facebook

2010-05-11T05:46:00.000-07:00

And have started up my blog again.

I feel like getting back to basics. With two children, more music work and other life changes coming up, my attention is scattered in too many places around this world-wide web. And even though it's more difficult, I'd like to get back to exchanging some personal emails with family and friends; can we do that?

In upcoming days I'll be taking down the myspace music site and working on some slideshows for youtube, where there's a great audience for singer/songwriters. When the new videos are up, you guys will be the first to know about it.

Thank you, as always, for your patience with my tedious explanations.

My daughter's favorite youtube video...

2008-12-09T06:54:00.001-08:00

... at the moment, is this ridiculous thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWms8INIJoM

PS - projects

2008-11-25T07:13:00.001-08:00

I've had quite a few projects going on these last few months...

I helped re-edit a scholarly book called "Beware of Vegetarian Sharks." It's the compiled work of a lifelong green/anti-war activist, Richard Greeman. He is probably the world's most prominent scholar of the life and works of Victor Serge, an author worth knowing.

I also turned in the papers to start a new association today, called "American Folk en Languedoc." I'm looking forward to the possibilities of collaborating with other cultural associations in this area: line-dance groups, quilters, you name it. English is being taught younger and younger in the public schools here, so there's a good chance of working and having fun with youngsters, by sharing our cultural patrimony in a hands-on and inspiring way. We hope to play music in schools and retirement homes, as well.

I've constructed a blog for our new association and will post the address here just as soon as it's developed to my satisfaction.

My last - but not least - project for upcoming days... taking the French driver's license test! This is no picnic; any of you who have managed to do it, bravo and I hope to soon walk in your footsteps. (Drive in your tiremarks? Help me out with a good metaphor, here!)

More updates...

2008-11-25T06:58:00.000-08:00

Lots has happened these last few months.

First of all, many of you have asked about my mom. She's done with her external radiation treatments, recovering from some medication withdrawals (especially the vicodin) and otherwise, enjoying the still nice-weather in Austin, where it's been in the 70s and sunny! Not the case of this otherwise lovely south of France.

Mom will start the internal radiation just as soon as she feels up to it. Her tumor has shrunk a good deal.

In my belly, quite different things are going on. Dorian is 25 weeks now, very lively (day and night, it seems) and long-limbed for one his age. That's his picture up there, in case you were wondering.

Hospital decor

2008-11-25T05:57:00.000-08:00

My mom hated the faded faux-Monet print hanging in her hospital room, so we replaced it with this cool African hennaed cloth.

(That's my bro & sis-in-law, by the way, sippin' away at that delicious free hospital coffee.)

I suggested to my mother that when she got out of the hospital, she could take up a new career at designing hospital rooms.

Couldn't more people be arrested for this?

2008-11-25T05:31:00.000-08:00

I could make a list right now!

In any case, this is one of the funniest news stories I've seen in a long time:

http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/2008/11/24/D94LK7JO0_odd_flatulence_arrest/index.html?source=refresh

Student arrested for 'passing gas' at Fla. school

Nov 24th, 2008 | STUART, Fla. -- A student at a Florida school has been arrested after authorities said he was "passing gas" and turning off his classmates' computers. According to a report released Friday by the Martin County Sheriff's Office, the 13-year-old boy "continually disrupted his classroom environment" by intentionally breaking wind. He then shut off some computers other students were using.

The Spectrum Junior-Senior High School was arrested Nov. 4.

A school resource officer placed the boy under arrest after he confessed about his behavior, according to the report. He was charged with disruption of school function and released to his mother.

------

Information from: The Stuart News, http://www.tcpalm.com

My new Jade mandolin

2008-10-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

I picked up this little baby in Austin. This hand-carved beauty sounds as good as it looks.

More info here:
http://www.jademandolins.com/

Welcome to fall in Montpellier

2008-10-06T08:12:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

I don't mean for this blog to be seasonal, though it seems to have turned out this way. Summer has been a long, strange and interesting trip.

For one, you may notice in the June/July pictures that my waist is looking a bit thick. This makes me about 4 1/2 months pregnant right now! The baby is due for mid-March or so.

I was wondering why I felt so tired in Corsica, and why I felt drunk after only one (delicious) Corsican beer!

My mother went through her course of treatment in Mexico, and felt great. She had energy, at well, went out and did things in the area. At the clinic, supposedly they could no longer find the tumor in her cervix... Outdated equipment aside, it was still there. I think they take on too many patients at that clinic and fail to give them the attention they need! For anyone who would like to know, it's St. Joseph's Medical Center in Acuna, Mexico. I think the vitamin concoctions they gave my mother were good for her energy levels but beyond that...?

Needless to say, one week after leaving the clinic, my mother fell ill again; this time with a blood clot in the other leg. After all sorts of harrowing tests, complications and drugs, they've found colon cancer, spread from the original cervical tumor. This puts her at what they term stage 4, an pretty unpleasant place to be. They say she doesn't have much of a chance to live a lot longer, statistically speaking, but who really knows the future?

Mom's back home now, quit the chemo and is still getting radiation treatments every day, for as long as they last. I hope a little time at her new place in Austin (where my brother and his family live as well) will make her feel a little better. Sure beats another winter in Omaha.

News of (almost) mid July

2008-07-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

Before anything else, let's catch up a bit...

First photo, Fête de la Musique... if me & the band look hot & sweaty, it's because we are!

Next you see me & Elektra sampling the beach, then settling down for the night in a cozy campground with the best little restaurant on earth, where all the food (pretty much) is raised right on the grounds. Mmmmm.

Today my neighbor brought me a giant basket of little red plums - they are ambrosia from heaven! We're going to cook & freeze them with just a little bit of sugar, so we have something good to put on our yogurt all winter. Double yum.

Bye bye Corsica

2008-07-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

Hello friends, here we are pulling away from the port of Propriano. Arrived back home this morning after a hearty week of camping, hiking, snorkeling, cheese, sausage and Pietra beer.

Bonifacio is a place everyone should see at least once - like Paris or New York.

Good times ahead

2008-06-19T04:29:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

I'm busy getting ready for the Fête de la Musique this weekend, and hunting up some new gigs. I have the impression that they're not that difficult to find, so we'll be keeping busy in upcoming days.

After the weekend, I'm taking a boat to Corsica with the family; we'll be gone until June 3.

Bisous to all of you; full report coming in July!

Austin, here we come!

2008-06-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

My brother sold his house on the Spanish coast and bought a new one in Austin. A big old house on the hill, 5 acres round about, view of the city and just minutes from downtown, apparently.

My parents will be moving there 'ere long; when exactly depends on my mother's energy levels and recovery, but it's definitely in the planning.

The fiddler from my band is from Houston, and we're getting all revved up on the idea of a TX tour in the not-so-distant future... Right now we're getting at least 20 original songs together, maybe more.

My mother's alternative cancer treatment

2008-06-12T08:56:00.000-07:00

For one reason or another, I decided to visit the States in April this year. My daughter had two weeks of school vacation. The weather in Nebraska would be lousy, but it's always more or less lousy, so we chanced it with a couple of sweaters and travel umbrellas. As it turned out, my sister and oldest brother were able to join us, so we ended up having a mini-family reunion.

It's good that we came when we did. My mother had been feeling poorly more or less all winter; and fell very ill just before we left. As it turns out, she had a massive blood clot in her right leg, cervical cancer and diabetes on top of it.

Thankfully, the nicest hospital in Omaha, Alegent Health Center, is right across the street from their house. What a friendly place, and how good they were to her. When it came to cancer treatment, however, she had to cross town to another place... After a sample of the treatments and a view of the patients, she decided, in her own words: "I'd rather die of cancer than die of torture."

Surgery was not an option for her sort of cancer... so right now she is in Del Rio, TX, at a clinic that specializes in a natural chemotherapy and radiation treatment, and she's feeling more energetic by the day... Bravo to her for sticking to her deeply-felt standards. I wonder if it isn't the fear of dying that sometimes kills people? In any case, she is not afraid, and I applaud her for this, with all my heart.

I know another guy (an old friend in fact) who cured his own prostate cancer with "black salve" treatments. I've done some hunting around on the internet and have seen that there are many, many ways to treat cancer; this was very encouraging. Thanks to everyone who has written such a story.

I snubbed my biggest fan in the supermarket!

2008-06-12T08:04:00.000-07:00

... and I am so ashamed.

My band has played regularly in a country music-themed bar/restaurant for almost a year now. The owner used to be in a French version of Sha-Na-Na, so a number of middle-aged rockabilly dudes hang out there.

(I'll bet you didn't even know there were rockabilly dudes in France.)

Well, one of them, who we will call "A," seems to think I am Patsy Cline back from the dead. I get teased all the time by a certain member of my band in an 8th grade sort of way about how this guy likes me. That aside, he's a nice person and I should feel lucky that I have any fans at all, right?

I thought I was a gracious, friendly sort of person; the sort who would talk to anyone about anything, at any time. But no! I have discovered that I don't like getting caught at 9 pm, no makeup and hippie clothes, searching for toilet paper while trying to keep my five-year-old from destroying the store because she insists on pushing the cart even though she can't see over the top of it...

Snubbing is a strong word - I saw the fan from the corner of my eye and avoided him, then we locked eyes from down the aisle and I fled. This guy is rockabilly to the core, at supermarket closing time and probably in his pajamas; whereas I am glamorous while performing and a slob in public, where nobody is supposed to see me.

My husband says, why didn't you just say "hi?" I don't know; I was stricken with shyness over this simple matter... suffice to say, if this attitude keeps up, I'm going to be pretty poor at that paparazzi stuff!

Tornadoes! and other family catastrophes

2008-06-11T01:44:00.001-07:00

Nebraska sure has been action-packed these last few weeks, hasn't it?

As I write, it looks as if a severe thunderstorm warning is on for Colfax County. I just learned about the the tornado that struck at 156th and Giles in Omaha/Millard, about 2 miles from my parents' house (they're in Del Rio TX, where my mom is getting treated for cancer).

As it turns out, the sirens went off after some guy called in to say that his roof was gone. Delightful!

Will I be helping my parents search through the rubble for their possessions the next time I visit? Heavens knows I've done this sort of thing before (think 1990 flood in Schuyler, my in-laws' flooded house here in France and my own house fire where I lost pert near everything).

This is making us sound like a very disastrous family. My brother Chuck is building a house across from Rocky Mountain National Forest - let's hope the tourists keep their fires under control, eh? I remember watching massive forest fires from my backyard as a kid, with little escaping animals streaking across the yard. We lived not far from Red Rocks, in Lakewood (suburb of Denver).

In this area, there's always the risk of flooding from the Mosson river (just down the hill from us); our house will never be under water, unless the whole region is, but the town where Elektra goes to school is every now and again. Funny, in spite of all the rain, everything is intact and happy, just very green.

Snails, yum

2008-06-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

So, we raised and cooked our first batch of snails. I think our first error was to not pre-cook the snails first... but to toss them right into the sauce.

It seems the recipes asked for already cooked snails, because these guys were rubbier than I remember.... the sauce was good, though, even better the next day!

So we'll improve the recipe for next time, and I'll pass it right along for all you snail enthusiasts.

There WILL be a next time, I guarantee you, because these pesky squirts are still devouring our (apparently) delicious little baby flowers!

MMMMMMM-mmmmmmm good

2008-05-21T08:38:00.000-07:00

Gettin' ready to cook up a bit of the free meat, my friends!

And I'm going to go right out and take pictures right now. I've let the snails stretch their legs (leg?) a bit just now.

It's about to rain, maybe I'll find more?

In any case, today and tomorrow are good days to stay put... A friend who lives in a village a little way out out of town called to ask me if I knew any places that had gas nearby. There's a general strike tomorrow, and the fuel pumps round about her house are empty. There's a run on gas, and we're not sure why...

Snail Ranching

2008-05-20T06:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a bad year for snails here. Good for them, bad for us.

It's rained a ton, so everything is nice and green. This is perfect weather for snails, and we've found them every morning, munching up our little flowers. And good strawberries!! It's criminal.

So I think I've found a solution... we are going to eat them.

This is a big experiment, and part of my new "eat all the free food you can get" philosophy.

We're purging them with couscous, oatmeal, mint leaves, etc. They don't seem to care much for the mint leaves, but will eat them anyway. Hopefully it'll flavor them up well enough.

I'm going to try cooking some this weekend... wish me luck!

Good morning, America (& everywhere else) - how are ya?

2008-05-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

Howdy y'all!

Is blogging a good way to keep in touch? Let's find out.

:D