Dirtshoe Blog

As promised, here are a few pics from the show last Saturday.

I am now officially in the market for a washboard.

See those red wrist bands on their arms. This was the magic wrist band. Without it, you could not get a drink. To get the wrist band you must show your driver’s license. Guess who couldn’t find her driver’s license? This girl. It was 95 degrees, I might mention. Finally, my pal Duy showed up with a pitcher of margaritas. He never disappoints!

Matt won the best shirt of the day.

I may have perfected the 1970′s filter with this pic.

It is my opinion that the best show of the day may have been much later …

On Duy’s back porch.

There are several Oklahoma-based bands that are dear to my heart – Honeywagon, Spitfire Quire, Love County and Medicine Park. All are long gone with the exception of Medicine Park.

And, this weekend — these bands sorta melded into a musical stew that almost brought a tear to my eye. Several members of each of these bands played a show in OKC for Cinco de Mayo. Nathan was asked to play guitar and all the people in the group are great friends of ours. It was kinda like a reunion. Lots of laughing and listening to old songs that really bring back memories.

The weekend started off with a Friday night practice at a very colorful downtown location.

We were upstairs in this building. It was hot. But, there was plenty to take our minds off the heat.

Or, maybe the heat got to us a little bit.

Brent drove in from Odessa for the show. We call him the “Odessa Kid.”

Warren came up from Chickasha, Erol drove in from Tulsa and Tony, Toni, Tone … he and his washboard came from the rolling hills of NW Oklahoma City.

Clay drove in from Austin. And, Roy drove in … no really, he drove right into the building.

There he is leaving the building.

I took pictures and listened to songs that I truly treasure. I also contemplated how to blend all the names of the bands — I finally settled on Honey Fire Love Park. Has a nice ring to it I think.

I’ll update with photos from the show when I get a chance. For now, here’s a few more pics from practice.

I took a rare Saturday completely away from work today. The Arts Festival was in town and I haven’t been in a long time. So, we headed there pretty early to beat the traffic. I heard there was going to be lots of parking problems.

We got there so early it was pretty easy to park — though it was expensive!

Since we were so early, we went to the Myriad Gardens. It’s always pretty and I’m very impressed with all the upgrades to the grounds. So impressed, in fact, that I didn’t take one single picture of the outdoor areas.

Here are some views from inside.

I want one of these at my house.

The water feature, not sure about the rabbit on the bicycle. I’m not saying I’m opposed to it, but I don’t think it matches my other decor very well. Maybe the monkey would blend in a little better …

Saw lots of interesting art. I could have spent my whole paycheck on some of the pieces.

And then we sampled some local food and drove on the new I-40 home…

Just for the record, we did all of this before noon-thirty. Not a bad way to spend an Oklahoma Saturday morning.

Sometimes a photo just grabs me. I know I’ve taken better, but this one just said, “Spring!” to me.  I think it’s the dead branch in the middle of all that color. We have had a nice wet Spring and I’m so glad. If we could possible keep the 165 degree summer at bay until July, I would be so excited.

I just realized I’m talking about the weather. My only other option for blog posts right now is to talk about work. I refuse to blog about the countless hours I’m at work right now. However, I do think a post showing the mountains of paperwork piled on my desk might be interesting. Not.

Let’s get back to better things … like Spring! I would like to particularly address butterflies. I like the challenge of photographing them in the wild. You know, like in my friends’ backyard – otherwise known as the Great Outdoors.

Here are a few highlights from our culinary world lately.

We made sushi again. It was delicious. I think sushi is also very photogenic.

We were pretty proud of our sushi adventure. Then, our friends Duy and Winnie invited us over for dinner with some friends. Oh my!  My photos do not do justice to the food. Not to mention that I failed to capture the fact that Winnie looks like a model while she’s serving it!

These are the crab cakes I dream about these days.

I either love or hate crab cakes. These = Love.

Here’s part of the spread. It included Brussels Sprouts, seared scallops, green mussels, grilled quail and steaks the size of my head.

I loved the quail.

Okay. I loved it all.

But, of course, they had me at the Brussels Sprouts!

Thinking about inviting myself back over there very soon for round two.

When my friend Duy and I haven’t seen or talked to each other in a long time, it’s customary when one of us finally breaks down and calls — the other answers the phone by saying, “Welllll, welllll, well…”

So, right now anyone reading this should be saying in their head right this minute, ”Welllll, welllll, well…”

Please make sure you say it slowly and add plenty of sarcasm and a tone that implies I should have updated this blog months ago and you can’t believe I have the nerve to just post something out of the blue. I offer no lame excuses. Just know that I am fully aware that I am perhaps the lamest blogger in the blogosphere.

So, I looked back at my photos and I know that we’ve got some catching up to do. I’m going to start with a party that my friend Angee planned for my friend Andria. I met Andria through our super duper brunch group which may now be officially defunct. As a matter of fact, the next time I see any of those girls, we’ll all probably be saying, ”Welllll, welllll, well…”

I can see a pattern in my life lately.

So, Angee owns The Social Butterflies. She makes pretty things, cooks tasty food and plans events of all kinds. This party was a birthday party for Andria’s sister and it had a Mad Men theme. At the time of the party I had not watched a single episode of Mad Men. So, I just trusted that the candy cigarettes Angee bought online were a good idea.  Since the party, I have watched around a thousand episodes of Mad Men. I love it and Nathan asks every night if we can watch something else on Netflix. I hate to tell him no, but I’m addicted. I think they put nicotine in those episodes.

Anyway, this party was cool and full of cool people. I’m not sure I was cool enough to attend, but I just smoked a few candy cigarettes like all the cool kids and took some photos.

See, they looked like Lucky Strikes. Clever.

The cupcakes were yummy!

I could make this blog a lot longer, but I’ve got another Mad Men episode to watch before Nathan comes in here and tells me he wants to watch a National Geographic Episode about something as exciting as the Gobi Desert.

Mya has been tested a lot lately.

We had chili right before Thanksgiving. Mya loves chili.

She waited oh so patiently just in case some chili might fall on the floor. It helps to touch the person who is eating so they won’t forget you are there. I think that’s her strategy anyway.

I’m calling this one … Dog Waiting For Chili.

Then before Christmas we hosted a Tastefully Simple Party. It’s like a Tupperware party, but it’s for food. My friend Angee has these parties and she came in and whipped up a bunch of dips, breads and cakes. There was a big spread of food.

And, there was one guest who was particularly interested in the products that were offered.

I’m pretty sure it was Mya who ordered all beer bread and chocolate cake.