Ay No! Cuarenta y Cuatro

Slowly rolling down the hill into the eventual grave, it was nice to pause a moment and have all the kids home for a little celebration...and as usual, I get to share it with my birthday buddy Ruby.   The streamers are always there, maybe one day when the kids are gone, these streamers will be a thing of the past, but everyone must stop what they are doing and watch the video of the birthday person slamming thru all the streamers.   We thought Davis did my numbers incorrectly in the dining room, but he said look in the mirror, and when I looked in the mirror that I typically face during the workday at home, I saw he had it perfect.  

Magan surprised us with some bundlet cakes...not really with the cakes, but with the flavor of churros.   While these were a limited edition, maybe just one that we all could share would have been good, but all were churros, and we all silently thought about the lemon bundlet that is the best.   Magan agreed as well, but in the end, these little cakes are better than most any other cakes, regardless of the flavor.   

I do remember blowing out the candles early just to make Magan mad trying to get the video...44 years, but just a giant kid inside.  Belle got me a coupon for her to make her world famous brownies, which I cashed in on shortly afterwards.   She really does make the best brownies, I don't know how they are perfect, and she always brings me the corners.   Something about the eggs makes hers gooeyer.   Ruby got me the Clue Junior game, which has quickly become a favorite with me and her...currently she has won 3 times, me once.   Mom got me all my favorite candies, and Sam brought me a plastic pizza cutter he grabbed at some job fair swag.   

All the family together for one night, as me and Davis were planning to drive to Mobile the next day for the battleship.   But we were glad we had kept a seat at the table for Sam, I was glad for a big hug from him.   Oh, and why Bruce Lee and Ghenghis Khan?   To help me remember that Ruby got these gifted to her from another family at church, and she asked if the Bruce Lee one was the same guy after his battle.   

Daddy Belle Day - Bham Museum of Art

I can't remember how this day happened, but I do remember that the night before I was trying to find something to do with Belle.   Davis and Ruby were gone for some reason, and I thought this would be an excellent time to connect with my girly with curlies.   She is the sweetest, but somewhere along the lines matured to the point that hanging out with Dad just doesn't happen much anymore.   So I searched and searched, and came up with this...The Birmingham Museum of Art on Hispanic Day.   

Magan told me later that Belle was not very excited and trying to figure out ways to not go, but Mom reminded her that we don't have many Daddy Belle days, and I guess she caved in.   I knew it did not have the ring of a super fun trip, but I also knew that it was different.   And different means new, and new is mysterious, and mysterious can be fun.   

And in hindsight, I think she will agree, it was a day of many laughs, a day where we spoke a little more than the short conversations at home, we picked on each other, and for me...created a day I will treasure for a long time.   My dear sweet Belly Boo...I love you so much, and I am so happy we ventured out on this day.

The day started like any magical day should, at Chick-Fil-A.   It was the most crazy long line ever at CFA, and it really could not move because one car held up the whole line.   They delivered food to like 15 vehicles behind that one car, Belle and I could not believe that the CFA efficiency machine did not send that person to a parking spot.   

Downtown at the museum, we found some parking around Linn Park, which is not the nicest area downtown, but certainly not the worst.   The smells were amazing as we made it to the museum where they had 3 latino food trucks.   But inside was the goal, so into the art museum we went.

We visited some booths and first tried some great watermelon candy with some chili powder kick.   Then we walked upstairs to see what people called art.   And our running joke was how does something make it from that folder in Mom's cabinet or the shelf in the garage into the museum of art?   Because, really, there was stuff in there that is just junk.   

There was a naked lady sculpture outside in the garden area, because that is where the naked ladies hide.   We saw one picture that was just completely white...I can't remember if Belle made this up, or if it was the actual name of the piece..."Polar Bear in a Snowstorm".   One picture below took up the whole wall, and it was just three colors...How did this make it here?

There were some cool artifacts (some as old as 1600 years) from various asian countries.   Belle and I were both fascinated with the tiny carvings in one picture below.   In that same area, Belle told me about these small fish handles on the giant set of drawers...so I bent to look at them, and Belle said "DAD!"  What? I asked.   "You set off the alarm"..."Did you not hear the alarm"...so apparently that pitch is now gone from my hearing...hahaha, as I heard nothing while I was looking at those fish.   

Belle found a picture of Jenny Lind, the opera singer featured in "The Greatest Showman".   And then things just started to get weird all over...A mariachi band starting playing in the lobby, and they were playing Beatles covers.   Ok, that is fine.   Then, into the other room, they were teaching people the tango, while playing the Backstreet Boys.   Again, I am OK, but what is going on here?  And so we left, after seeing way too many sets of tea cups, after seeing a few too many naked folks, after seeing way to much that made no sense at all, after seeing art that someone's momma should have just thrown in the trash, after laughing with Belle over all the crazy things we saw on this day.

And did Belle want one of the yummy desserts from the food truck?   Nope, she wanted a milkshake from CFA, and that was no problem for me.   When we walked in, she quickly called me to the hallway with the bathrooms to show me the "art" hanging from kids in the local area.   We both laughed thinking...some of these could easily be hanging in the Birmingham Museum of Art.   I hope for more days like this one with Belle.   

A visit down memory lane...September 1988

Granddaddy:  This won't mean a lot to anyone else, but in 1981, the day before Scott's 2nd birthday, I walked into Astro Paint in Woodlawn, AL, and started learning about automotive Paint.   From Astron to Southern PBE [I think this was a meat company], ARD to Sherwin Williams, PPG to Reids Auto Color, Thompson PBE [maybe it is not a meat thing], to Fenders & More/Keystone, then finally found a home for 24.5 years at Rozars Auto Paint Supply.   Never dreamed that 42 years later, I would still be selling Paint, but it's been a good [perhaps ride, the message goes blank here as Granddaddy reflects], taking us from an apartment and 1 little boy to a house full of loving family.   I am blessed as I never could have wished.   

Granny:  I remember that little boy wanted to go to work with his Dad and playing in the store window [I remember this...it is vague but still there...the boxes made into cars is a slightly more clear image] 

Granddaddy:  Made cars out of boxes, with gallon lids for tires and a steering wheel [Ha...I remember the steering wheel being the best part, but I could not remember what was used]

Granddaddy:  2 bedroom apartment, 2 bedroom townhouse, 3 bedroom house in Clay [Here is my first memory...scorpion stung me here, and watching He-Man before church on Sundays], 3 bedroom house in center point down the street from MawMaw and PawPaw [I can see the hallway, and the step down into what probably was a garage, but was our living room...I remember this is where I hid the note from school when I was in trouble], finally bought a house in Pinson [This is the source of a crazy amount of dreams, I still walk in this home often, I still hear Queen's "Another one Bites the Dust" with mom in a crazy outfit popular in the 80s, I hear mom reading me all the bible stories from Maxwell's series, I feel the pain of my hand busting into Dad's rear car light after crashing my bike, I can hear the helicopter come to airlift the bicycle rider to the hospital, of course I feel the burn of pot pie, I see my skin turning white and falling off later as it was dressed and redressed, I see Tera bringing me the Karate Kid and Mr. Miyagi for Christmas, because Santa dropped them on the front lawn...this was the home I saw as I read "The Incredible Shrinking Man" when in high school...and the home where we first experienced the VHS tape...then couldn't use it after granddaddy would not let us tape over Spencer's Mountain}, Mammaw and Pappaws house for 2 months [nightmares of this house that finally ended, but left some emotional scars...I blame dad for letting me watch the first scene of Children of the Corn...that destroyed me...the coolest back yard here, and a sad moment after shooting a bird with a BB gun here], then Idle Acres since 1988, settled down and raised up a family.  

Granddaddy:  35 years ago, the little tree in front of the house closest to the sidewalk is the tree there now.   [I remember the mud and the puddles scene in the pic below.   I remember the backyard mostly...ladders into the trees...setting up booby traps with the tree branches]

Thank you granddaddy for the trip down memory lane.   Would have been easier if you just captured this in a blog 35 years ago.  Love you Dad! :)   

Another Visit with Sean

The girls had an AHG meeting, and Davis had something to do with friends, which left me all alone on a Sunday afternoon.  And I knew Sean had one last show in Columbiana, and wouldn't you know it, there was one last ticket...but that ticket was handicap.   So what do you do?   I bought the ticket thinking that if I get there and someone needs it, I will just sit outside, but at least I tried.   Which seems ok, until I checked in with my ticket, and they quickly had me stand to the side and wait for help.   Which is when I realized that the ticket I purchased was not an actual seat, but a spot for a wheelchair to roll.   Yikes, but they were super friendly with my "mistake" and got me a seat that was open on the third row.   You can actually see me to the left of the picture below from stage.   

It was such a great show.   Very similar to the one we attended the previous month, with lots and lots of music, and a few stories.   This show, he had another band up there playing with him, and they were excellent.   The big boy in the blue shirt could play....fingers jumping all over that guitar.   The boy on the banjo was recently married, and Sean invited his wife up on stage to do some yodeling.  But my favorite is when Bruce from SCAC played the harmonica with Sean as he played "Geogia on my mind", but changed it to Columbiana.   Just a great show all around.

Sean's favorite joke it seems, as it was a repeat from last month, was in regards to his buddy Aaron Peters on the fiddle.   He said the band is just never as good with "Peters out".   A slight tap on the mic to make sure all caught his little joke, and the smiles turned to little chuckles...like a fart during church, sometimes you just gotta laugh.   To end the night, he told about going to a Braves game and having good seats behind home plate.   He said it was clear in that game that the Braves did not have it on that night, and in the bottom of the ninth, down by 2, most were already thinking it was over.   But then he heard a kid in his section start yelling over and over again "Let's Go Braves...Clap Clap"..."Let's Go Braves...Clap Clap"...and then others in that section joined him, then the lower bowl joined in then the whole crowd together in unison screaming "LETS GO BRAVES...Clap Clap".   Matt Olson stepped up to the plate and smashed one over the fence for a home run as the braves came back to win.   Sean told the story of how the homerun ball was caught by a fan that ran all the way around to that one little boy that started the chant and handed him the ball.   In hindsight, I second guess this story, but when Sean is talking, his voice holds all captive, it slowly draws you in, forces you to see it with all the imagination of a 11 year old boy in a big league park...and the world becomes a place where anything can happen.   Then as he finished this story about the boy getting that home run ball, he talked about how each of us have been down...thought the game was over...and we just needed that one voice to ring out "LETS GO".   It was a great story, a good lesson, and something that seems to flow so easily from my new favorite storyteller.   

Of course I waited in line to see Sean afterwards, and was a little surprised that the first thing he said when he saw me was "Where are the boys?" looking for Sam and Davis.   He wanted to know about Sam at Alabama, and really blows me away as I was trying to not take up much time, but he takes time for each fan to connect with them in a little way.   And of course, I grabbed a selfie with his beautiful bride who was over selling books to the side.   Had to tell her about how much I laughed reading about them both riding bicycles across Pennsylvania.   I got him to sign my blogbook where I had written about our visit with him in 2022.   He was surprised that I had gotten 4 pages about just a visit with him.  I spoke with Bruce after the show also, and he said that Sean would be back with the same format next year also.   He has now been on the Grand Ole Opry stage 3 times, so I feel like we will lose him to Nashville soon...but excited to see him again next year.   

AHG Grace Klein Workday

 It has become an annual event for our crew, working for Grace Klein on the national day of service.   This day was nice, as we visited the new location in Chelsea.   The girls worked on some flower arrangements with scripture cards to hand out to friends and family.   They also worked on the beds at the home in the location...it is a home where they can host families in need, or large church groups for a retreat, or other gatherings.   Me and Davis worked on clearing an area along the creek, and moving some furniture around.  Davis and I were proud of our large burn pile we stacked up.   And I dropped out when Magan took the girls around to friends/family to pass out the bouquets, but looks like the work brought out a few smiles.