I think the combination of patterns I'm wearing, and the colour of my jacket was too much for the (very) stoned teenager working at the health food store. She couldn't stop talking, then she'd kind of trail off, sorta come back to a point, and then stare transfixed at my jacket like a bowl of Spaghetti-O's mated with a lime. and this was their neon offspring. The fact that she looked exactly like Grace Slick circa 1968 only made it better. Danny picked-up that there was something odd about her, but was shocked when I explained that she was in fact, quite high.
"Can't you get sacked for being stoned at work?" He asked.
"Nah, not there, as long as the weed was organic."
I've noticed a similarly relaxed attitude next door at the art supply shop (though theirs might really be due to paint fumes or something). It is a bit surprising to see it so out in the open these days, though it would have been commonplace when I was Danny's age. I'm not a drug user (I'm a control freak, and I can't be in control if I'm wasted) but I'm also not too worried about casual dope smokers. To each their own. Anyway, I think it might be best for all parties concerned if I started dressing drab to go buy my tofu as I don't want to be too distracting to the hippies.
The necklaces might have been somewhat distracting as well. Friends, I believe I have reached, "Peak Beads." I'm now in possession of enough multi-stranded beaded necklaces to accommodate any outfit, in any colour, for the rest of my life. I'm not kidding. Even with my tendency to wear three or four sets at a time, I might need to make a New Year's resolution or something, because I really don't need any more. They're hard to resist, only being a couple bucks at most.
Outfit Particulars:
Velvet cut-out skirt-Hand-Me-Ups
Black tunic-Dots, 12 years ago (and still wearing well)
Neon green jacket-Goodwill
Vintage necklaces-all three, Hand-Me-Ups
Vintage crystal clip earrings-Hand-Me-Ups
Carved white plastic bangle-Goodwill
Shoes-Hand-Me-Ups
Vintage patent leather bag-Salvation Army
Lippy-Cherries in the Snow
Fragrance-Cabochard
I like the look of white accessories in wintertime.
Our snow didn't last. Fly swatters and Christmas trees-I'm afraid this picture might be summing up our fate this year. I don't really mind the mild weather, but it is hard getting excited about the holidays when it looks like Seattle outside. I'm tempted to buy some white, fluffy fleeces to cover the garden with at night-from a distance it might look like snow! I decorated the door with some wrapping paper, and a homemade wreath. It was fun.
I'm helpless when faced with nice wrapping paper, and anything designed to look like knit reindeer is going to win me over. I've tried bigger wreaths in years past, but I just end up knocking them off the door. This one is just about the perfect size.
Outfit Particulars:
Vintage swing jacket-Hand-Me-Ups (1950's by the union label that still reads, AFL-CIO which changed after '55)
Beige Twinset-Sears(?)
Pendleton skirt-Goodwill
Vintage glass beads (stamped, Western Germany) Hand-Me-Ups
Glass snowman earrings-Big Lots
Shiny Brite vintage Christmas corsage-Thrift World
Vintage Gaymode shoes-Thrift World
Vintage bag-Goodwill
Fragrance-Guerlain Voilette de Madame re-issue
Finally, Danny found this grasshopper outside in our garden. It was cold, and a bit stunned when we brought him inside to warm up. He's now living in a jar with a widely woven cloth lid, and he's been enjoying a salad. This is the latest I've seen a surviving grasshopper in Nebraska, so we'll try and help him along as he clearly isn't in the mood to hibernate. I think I know who's been nibbling at my turnip greens when I assumed all the munchers were gone. Anyway, he can do less harm inside, and it will be interesting to see how he does. So far, he's been eating and pooping just as you'd expect a grasshopper to do.
I tried to find a live recording of Eat Starch Mom, with Gracie singing, but YouTube wasn't cooperating. I did get to see some horrifying videos of the latest lineup for the" Pensioner Tour". The time comes when you have to switch from LSD to Geritol. It happens. Geez, I wish I could un-watch that. *Shudder*
8 comments:
White accessories fill in more than adequately for a snow-less landscape (although the fleece blankets for the garden might work if you tossed in some flocked evergreens). The Pendleton skirt with a twin set is a classic look for this season of odd temps, very hot cider at the Country Club with Muffie.
I, too, overlook casual consumption of herbal remedies unless the consumer is supposed to be counting out my change or coloring my hair or chauffering my taxi. Then, I get grumpy because, like you, I'm a control freak who never indulged.
Ah, Grace Slick back in the day is no-contest to the Hot Mama that Grace is today. Saw an amateur vid of a music fest in a wooded park that featured a tribute band of kids on a simple stage, making a lot of noise. You hear them calling, "C'mon, please!" and then a very large older lady in a muumuu lumbers up onboard and picks up the mic.
Pixie cut silver hair, funky earrings, big grin -- and then ol' Grace lifts her voice in song and belts the leaves off the trees. Like, wow.
Grace was never that fond of MaryJane. That old demon EtOH was her vice. She's lived in Marin county just north of San Francisco for years. The papers were always full of her drunken mishaps & she often landed herself in the Marin county hoosgow. She once shot up her house & pointed a gun at a police officer while snockered. A few years ago she suffered with some serious health problems that started with diverticulitis & ended up with her in an induced coma for 2 months. I think she's dried out since then & does a few musical gigs as well as painting portraits of fellow artists.
Loving the Cherries in the Snow lippy with that celery green jacket.
That's some fabulous door decor too!
Lighting up a big spliff was not an unusual sight in northern California. Frighteningly, you'd also see smoke filled cars with the driver clutching a doobie in between his fingers. A certain percentage of our tourist economy here in Nepal is devoted to tea heads also. The local police tend to ignore tourists who indulge. Zigzags are on offer at the local departmental store that caters to foreign visitors. I really don't care for the feeling of being spaced out- unless it becomes a choice of horrible pain of feeling spaced out. Then I'll put up with being spaced out.
Our very own Maggie Doyne of Kopila valley here in Nepal is one of this year's CNN Heroes! How come we don't see more news stories about people like her?
@Beth
If you ever locate that video again, share a link-it sounds fun.
I love the thought of you freaking out the hippies. You win at being alternative! Maybe she enjoyed the experience, you could have given her her most interesting moment in months.
I can't be doing with drugs, never could. My university was noted for the amount done there - rural Wales, not much else going on - but I just couldn't be bothered when booze was cheap and legal...
@Mim
It seems like that store attracts strangeness-both staff and customers, but in a good way. I suppose it only stands out because people are generally so nasty and hostile, that running across mellow people is outside the norm.
@Bibi
I cannot imagine driving, looking over to the next car and seeing someone lighting-up. I'm too uptight for California, I guess. Though now that I think about it, some of the other things people do whilst driving (phones, texts, etc.) are probably more distracting.
Stoned shop assistants and reaching your peak with beads!? Never. What a cool mum you are to explain the stoned worker to Danny, he is lucky to have such a down to earth mother.
@Sue
Most of the drug-education in the US leans to the slightly hysterical ("If you try it once you'll be hooked forever!!")so I do try to give him a more reasonable perspective. There's some really terrible stuff out there, and I want him to be aware of it, but if you tell kids that it is all the same, they just end up distrusting whatever you tell them.
The biggest risk from weed in the US is getting caught, thrown into the legal system, and effectively having your life ruined over a joint. It seems like a better thing to emphasise than hysterical warnings about becoming a dope fiend.
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