So when does the chit-chat start? Right now!

Spira, you're so funny!! I tell you what, if I can get us out of Room 101 now, we'll build a Room 101 annex here for you and Chukkles. And you'll still be able to have Jeeves deliver your sherry there. OK? .....OK! Here goes! .... I'm going to spin really, really fast on my new barstool... ....FASTER!.... .... ......


YAY! Break on through to the other side! ..... oh, oh..... tribewilder, could I borrow some of your Pepto Bismol, pretty please. ..... ohhhhhh ....

[edit on 27-7-2010 by desert]

Jeeves, an organic sprouted wheat bread, organic peanut butter, organic jelly sandwich. Wash it down with organic chocolate milk.

Ok, whaaa, here's my box of stuff to trade. Wait, I might need that Lourdes water to wash the truck if it acts up again. Ooh, and I can't possibly let go of that 3D map of California. And what was I thinking! I gotta keep that coiled fabric rattlesnake! I dunno, whaaa....need an empty haggis can?

Well, this is just a drop by visit. I'll tell more a later time. Hey, we did get our truck back....and it runs great, better than ever. We've been out to the Mojave a couple times already. We were able to get rid of all that old gas....hey, maybe that's what that smell has been in here!

Spira, how's this for a tent?

Love you all!

reply to post by desert


Jeeves - make mine an organic bowl of organic Cheetos with an organic Dr. Pepper on the side...please

and thank you

desert!!! you're back! :-)

I let the fire go out...

it's been pretty cold in here - and quiet

especially after Chuckles split

how you been?

Hey, we did get our truck back....and it runs great, better than ever. We've been out to the Mojave a couple times already.

congratulations desert - and it's about time. Happy to hear you two can get back to living the dream

Spira, how's this for a tent?

you've given me much to think about desert - unfortunately

nice...too nice :-)

I was already thinking about this:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4c5168415c40.jpg[/atsimg]

so nice to see you

hey - got a match?

:-)

Silly Spira, there's no .... hey, wait a minute! This is Lounge Noir! Everything is possible here. Jeeves, I, too, will have the organic Cheetos with an organic Dr. Pepper on the side.

Well, it's been awhile. I had an older sibling pass on before I last dropped by. Her death was unexpected, but she was able to die with dignity, on her terms. Seems my family lives well and dies well....for the most part.

She was a decade older than me. She bought me bongos for my fifth birthday, introduced me to Allen Ginsberg poems, and the writings of Alan Watts by the time I was 10. When I asked her much later on about how to become Enlightened, she told me to continue to fold the laundry. She was right.

She taught me the truth about the family myths that we all grew up with. Untrue, sometimes hurtful, stories made up to help the teller comprehend Life. She herself loved writing, and acting on stage in community theatre.

She told me that finding True Love would be hard work. She was right. But I don't regret any of it, because I found MrD.

I miss her. She swore we were all sisters once before in a past life in China. I would like to believe that, because I want to think that I could have another life with her. Maybe next time I could be the big sister and return the joy she gave me in this Life as the little sister.

Jeeves, could you fill this bag with organic Halloween candy? Have it delivered to that cool tent out back, please.

reply to post by desert


Desert, she sounded like my kind of woman. Bless your heart!

reply to post by desert


that was beautiful desert

I'm so sorry for your loss - I know how close you are to your sisters

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/65ab96da1bd0.jpg[/atsimg]the seven sisters in a desert sky

Jeeves, a Mexican hot chocolate, por favor. Fall has arrived at Lounge Noir. Gorgeous red, yellow, orange, purple leaves....on the lounge floor. Whose idea of decorating was this?

Spira, that is a most beautiful picture of the Seven Sisters. Thank you very much. When I was around 11 years old, I got a telescope for Christmas, and one of the first celestial objects I saw that Winter night in my backyard was the Pleiades. I could not believe I found a treasure chest of jewels clustered on the black velvet sky! The Seven Sisters are very special to me, Spira.

Aye, whaaa, that she was, that she was. And, you know, Santa Fe was her favorite place to visit.

After my sister passed on, my sisters and I had crazy things happen to our cell phones at various days and times. For me, when I placed one call, I got a really strange static I never had heard ever before, then a quick weird drop. When I redialed, the person said they never got the first call.

One sister, a month to the day, had a dream where our sister appeared to her. Very real.

We have had social obligations to attend to, but MrD and I are ready to get back out to the desert. We were last out there for Halloween. No one rode up to our campsite for candy. Maybe the huge gyrating shadows on the trailer, cast by the hellish glow of the campfire, frightened riders off. That, or our hellish loud singing to the loud old classic rock music blaring across the desert from MrD's sound system.

Epiphany this weekend. I always wondered what it would be like to go on a religious pilgrimage. As I was looking at the beautiful pictures in the book, Sacred Journeys, I realized that Life is a sacred pilgrimage. All this time, I have been on a pilgrimage. The experiences, the fellow pilgrims one meets along the way.

Sharing Lounge Noir as a resting place with fellow pilgrims. Lounge Noir a sacred place. ..... whaaa, was that you peeing in the alley out back? ..... Well, fellow travelers, time to go. What has everyone been up to?

....Life as a pilgrimage. What a long strange trip it's been, indeed.

Hi folks! Long time no see!

I have missed you all. Really. I've been busy. I havent read up the last 40 pages but i trust everyone is ok and i still love ya all!

reply to post by desert

Sharing Lounge Noir as a resting place with fellow pilgrims. Lounge Noir a sacred place. ..... whaaa, was that you peeing in the alley out back? ..... Well, fellow travelers, time to go. What has everyone been up to?

up to? I was just explaining to Jeeves why he couldn't have his herb garden in the alley...

I never really saw it before desert - but Lounge Noir really is quite the oasis - and a genuine crossroads

our very own Rick's

....Life as a pilgrimage. What a long strange trip it's been, indeed.

Indeed.

was going to post the obvious...

but, here's this instead:



see ya out there desert

:-)

dg! Great to see you here! I'ld do the pbjellybanana dance, but, as you can see, some things have changed. Here's what hasn't changed....Love and kisses to you!

Also, dg, Jeeves needs some time off, so maybe you could fill in as Guest Gourmet Chef. Just remember to thoroughly wash the herbs.

Spira....what can I say....what an age in which to live!....things that for many were better left unspoken, indeed forgotten, are now readily available for viewing...over and over...a Wonderful Life indeed!

Hey, people, this Friday TSA is sponsoring Love Pat Night at Lounge Noir, in honor of the travel season. Ooohh, David Copafeel is going to appear, to ensure that every last trace of personal dignity disappears.

Ok, see you all, later! Jeeves, a freshly squeezed oj to go, please.

reply to post by desert
Dave Copafeel will be here?

Perhaps he can show us that trick with Ben Wa's marbles.

And yeah that was me in the alley; livin the dream!

Ahhhh, Spira, I am indeed back in the saddle again! I am here from the western Mojave. Hope everyone had a filling Thanksgiving. As usual, Spira, you were a regular Annie Oakley at the LN traditional Wild Turkey Shoot. Went through three cases of the year's empty bottles set up on the bar, and you as usual didn't miss a one.

whaaa, Mr.Fuku Oko's demonstration of his finger puppets was exciting! I can hardly wait for the next TSA sponsored night!

Speaking of the TSA, the other day, MrD told me that he was bored. I told MrD that maybe he needed some retraining. Lord knows I tried to train him myself, but now he needed something new to do.

So I phoned Congressman Nutt Jobbers and asked him if there was any govt money for retraining workers. He started yelling at me about how people need to be self reliant, and that my hard earned tax dollars needed to go for real true patriots who defend my Freedoms, like Ray Theon, Beck Tell, Haley Burton, and KB Arr. I think the last two sounded like some millionaire oilmen from Texas, so why would they need my tax dollars?

Anyway, the Honorable Nutt Jobbers said that if I wanted re-education money, I should ask that Marxist Commie Chairman Maobama to put MrD in one of the re-education camps he's setting up. I ended the call there, and when I came back to MrD, he had already enrolled in a "distance learning" course. In my day, we called them correspondence courses, and they could be found on the covers of matchbooks found in a bar. We sure have fancified our society.

MrD signed up for the fun, exciting, get-to-meet-lots-of-people career as a TSA screener. I think it was all a scam, because he had passed the written part even while misspelling testakulls. Also, there was a trick question...True or False, A scrreener should only masturbate at home to scanner images and not at work. At least it seemed like a trick, because everyone knows those scanner images are erased right away. Then again, maybe by images it meant the images one brings home in one's head after a hard day of looking at scanner images. Then, of course, one could masturbate at home to the images in one's head.

With MrD's tuition, he got to download a bunch of pictures of all kinds of naked people. He was supposed to train himself to not spend too much time on certain people, but I think he needs more practice. I really think this was all a scam, because for the practical part of the exam, MrD had to pat me down while standing in front of the computer, while someone in some room somewhere watched and judged his performance. I had to then get naked for a pat down, then MrD had to get naked while performing a pat down. Weird.

Well, anyway, MrD must have done really well, because he got to download a red-white-blue-gold certificate suitable for framing. Note that it's in color only if you have colored ink in your printer, otherwise it's still a respectable document. We took the certificate to our local airport, and the airport manager laughed and said that we were the third certificate he'd seen that day; apparently this is a growing field. He laughed as he explained that our airport had no passenger service, but then he got real serious and offered to have MrD give him a pat down in his office as he watched those scanner images on his computer. Weird.

Well, at least MrD does seem to be more excited these days, although he still stays at home and doesn't get to meet all those people he was promised. And the red-white-blue-gold certificate does look good hanging on our wall.

Gotta head out on the highway, looking for adventure. Love and kisses to you all!

Evenin' all! Spira, on the veranda before you stepped inside, did you get a pat down and shoulder massage from that gorilla wearing a TSA badge? It took me by surprise, even a little weird by LN standards, and I'll admit I was a trifle scared....but slightly intrigued...until I realized I'd felt that massage before...last New Years Eve. It was whaaa! ....and that's one large banana in his suit...or is it? I'm intrigued.

Well, we finally got my sister's ashes spread. Last count was 5 baggies for various locations. Thank God no one was stopped and searched for drugs. Due to a misunderstanding. a baggie could have ended up in a police evidence locker.

During our private family ceremony, we took turns reading parts of the following. I love it, and wanted to share it here.

A Psalm for the Dying
Relatives and friends,
I am about to leave: my last breath does not say "goodbye,"
for my love for you is truly timeless, beyond the touch of boney death.
I leave myself not to the undertaker, for decoration in this house of the dead,
but to your memory, with love.
I leave my thoughts, my laughter, my dreams to you
whom I have treasured beyond gold and precious gems.
I give you what no thief can steal, the memories of our times together:
the tender, love-filled moments,
the successes we have shared,
the hard times that brought us closer together
and the roads we have walked side by side.

I also leave you a solemn promise that after I am home in the bosom of God,
I will still be present, whenever and wherever you call on me.
My energy will be drawn to you by the magnet of our love.
Whenever you are in need, call me;
I will come to you, with my arms full of wisdom and light
to open up your blocked paths,
to untangle your knots
and to be your avenue to God.

And all I take with me as I leave is your love and the millions of memories of all
that we have shared so I truly enter my new life as a millionaire.
Fear not nor grieve at my departure, you whom I have loved so much,
for my roots and yours are forever intertwined.
- by Edward Hayes, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim

Jeeves, a cold brew Kona to go. Mahalo.

Merry Christmas to everyone far and wide! With hope for a peaceful and blessed 2011 for all!

Well, I finally had my candle luminarias aglow around the campsite. How many years have I had those ready but unable to set them out? It helped this year to have a warm evening...with NO wind!

MrD and I deserve this great weather, after 5 and one half continuous days of rain. There was one stretch when it rained over 24 hours straight. After the storms dumped rain on LA, they continued on out to the desert. All this definitely was not the usual for out here! We were high and dry, but other campers were not so lucky, their trucks getting stuck in clay-like mud.

After a few years of drought, the rain is starting to bring the wildlife back. We have seen more rodents, more lizards, more tortoises, more hawks and borrowing owls, more jackrabbits, more fox, more coyotes. Maybe the eagles will be back this year, too. The sheep herds should return, also, with their shepherds.

Christmas morning brought one of those classic Western sunrises, the kind when an artist faithfully reproduces it, one looks at the painting and says, "That can't be! No sunrise could look like that!"

Well, gotta sign off now, as I am getting a call from one of my sons. More later about other happenings from around our neck of the Mojave.

What a New Years Eve celebration at LN! Woke up on the floor covered by a cozy, warm Afghan, thanks to Jeeves. He sure knows what I like...by the way, Jeeves, what was that young man's name?

Woke up Jan 3rd to 4 inches...of snow! Desert floor covered in white as far as one could see. So cold it lasted a couple days. MrD took some great pix, so my goal this year is to finally get the hang of posting images...I guess that's what it's called.

Hope everyone is fine and well this start of 2011. Spira, hope this year is marvelous for you. whaaa, may you keep on Living the Dream.

The holidays were subdued for me, as right before Christmas an ex-brother-in-law passed on; my kids lost both an aunt and an uncle last year. He was a very nice person, always a gentleman, kind with a sense of humor.

Didn't mention all this before. Also, MrD and I had a Christmas Eve visitor, and he actually helped light those luminarias! An rv camped at a spot about 200 ft from us, and it turned out the guy was about our age, and...a ham radio operator, who had equipment with him. MrD had just recently talked about getting back into ham, after many years since his teen ham years. So here MrD gets a Christmas gift...a ham to talk with in the middle of the Mojave. It is a magical place out here.

I guess we gave the guy a gift, too, as he mentioned how much he missed his wife who had died recently, so we all spent a few holiday days in good spirits together, he not having to spend them alone in the desert. Oh, it turned out that he didn't intentionally camp next to us for companionship but because his site was one he had staked out already, complete with driving 8ft copper poles in the ground for his ham hobby...MrD could give the reason for the poles, but I must say it did impress MrD.

We also helped a couple groups of pilgrims find their way to the Virgin on the Rock, as they had accidentally driven up to our campsite off the main road...ain't no virgin on this side of the hill. They thanked us and offered blessings. What an interesting place this is!

And what an interesting place this is!

Jeeves, a house blend to go, por favor. Oh, as I sit here trying to hang on to the internet signal, 2 weeks after snow, we're looking at sunshine and 68deg today. What an amazing place is this Mojave!

Is LN a great place or what? Sitting naked in a hot tub sharing a libation with the best of people.

When early man looked to the starry sky for entertainment, what happened on a cloudy evening? "Sorry, honey, but it looks like nothing good on tonight. Hey, I've got an idea! Why don't we go over to the cave and paint a picture?"

reply to post by desert


...but, I'm just rambling now - where was I?

let's see if I can catch up...

desert! our woman in the field -

Well, I finally had my candle luminarias aglow around the campsite. How many years have I had those ready but unable to set them out? It helped this year to have a warm evening...with NO wind!

I really felt for you last year - I was missing those luminarias in my imagination myself - my mom always had them at Christmas. It's a good thing you got to use them this year too - what with the whole 2012 situation looming just ahead...lots to do, lots to do...

On that subject, I was told recently that I was going to need a really good tent

:-)

I'm going to need an amazing tent - but, wasn't in the mood to quibble

Christmas morning brought one of those classic Western sunrises, the kind when an artist faithfully reproduces it, one looks at the painting and says, "That can't be! No sunrise could look like that!"

I have a similar reaction to Elvis on velvet. You’re right about that though – spectacular skies here in the West – almost unbelievable

I’m sorry to hear that your holidays were so bittersweet. Strange how new friends have a way of showing up right on time

When early man looked to the starry sky for entertainment, what happened on a cloudy evening?

Sadly, it was the beginning of mime...thank goodness for the talkies

And yes desert, I agree – LN - a place so great and people so grand that with them I’d enjoy sharing a tepid bath. With libations. Same as last year.

So, as January draws to a close, I’m a little late I know...but I wish everyone a very happy new year

very nice to see you again :-)

reply to post by Spiramirabilis



Happy New Year Amigas y Amigos. Interesting days up ahead....and you just crossed over into the....

Peace And Love!

Jeeves! Jeeves! Quick, gimmee a couple of those bar glasses. Yeah, those. Oh, and I need some kinda super glue. Now if I just put them together like this. ...glue here and here...a lot of this gold paint....yes! Jeeves, whadya think? Think whaaa will like our Lounge Noir Best Actor Award? Hey, he probably should get some more for everything else he does. Slide some more of those glasses down here. Oh, and that felt tip marker.

Can't believe the year is this far already. As soon as March hits around here, winter is over.

We stayed home this weekend. Bad weather on the pass, plus we needed to visit a friend to see all the home improvements she had finally completed. Turns out it is Academy Award night, so I showed up in a fur stole, rhinestones, and glittery purse, all to go along with my lounging pants and t-shirt, the required dress for sitting around watching the red carpet arrivals on tv. She set out a Middle Eastern buffet and poured champagne. She put her gold wrapped chocolate Oscar on display.

Earlier in the week while rummaging around my box of saved personal stuff, I found my 1972 44th Annual Academy Awards Presentation program, given to me by a friend who worked there that night. Jeff Bridges was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in "The Last Picture Show". "The French Connection" took Best Picture. Sammy Davis, JR. and Jack Lemmon were two of the Masters of Ceremony.....what memories....

Spira, could you be a Presenter and hand these to whaaa after you announce he's won? Hey, I got some gold paint left. I'll go rustle up some envelopes. These left over red Valentine's Day napkins can be stuffed inside. I'll do a little fancy writing with this marker ...ooooh, I love ceremonies!....

Keep warm and dry, everyone!

reply to post by desert


Thank you, thank you everyone. I want to thank all the little people that helped me get where I am today. No I mean it, just the little people; all the big people can go straight to hell as far as I'm concerned.
And my mother who constantly berated me for wanting to be something I'm not.
And my mentor and friend Salvador Dali for allowing me to be the real me and not just another pretty face.
I only wish I could speak good Spanish so I could thank my costar, Javier for his fine performance. J. this is the
best I can do....solo tu...solo tu...y su potaje de habas secas.
Most of all I want to thank the QOP, Desert, M_B and Spiri for the loan to fix my van and the medicine.

I love you all!