river of gold exhibition

the new exhibitions at Joslyn are awesome.
there's more info at www.joslyn.org
the river of gold is gold artifacts from Panamanian pre-Columbian burial sites. the gold stuff is pretty and fascinating. the details is amazing -- they did lost wax casting, and used copper alloys -- and this is all over a thousand years ago. the burial site in question had 23 people buried there -- around an obviously important man. like in Egypt, when someone important died his servants and wives were buried with him to be with him in the next life. I hope Gordi doesn't think i didn't love him enough to go with him like this chieftan's wives did, because i really would have. i wanted to. He told me to wait. i would go with him in a second. i can't wait until we can really be together again.

The other current exhibit at joslyn is Mexican folk art, which is delightful. it reminded me of shopping in the border towns. There are day of the dead figurines, tin-work toys, papier mache, masks, pottery all in bright colors and designs.

There's also an exhibit of religious iconography from New Mexico -- fasinating depictions of saints and angels and the virgin mostly painted on wood. The three shows complement each other well. i was quite impressed. I spent a very lovely afternoon at the museum.

tattoo

I got a tattoo. since gordi's been gone, i've known i wanted his name over my heart. but a tattoo is a permanent commitment. i was sure about the sentiment, but i wanted to be sure about the design too. i knew i wanted the name. i thought about a scorpion, since he was a scorpio. i drew on some stuff with a marker so i could see if i liked it. i tried it with the name facing out and i hated it. i went to an ambigram generator online to see if i could get a design so i could read the name but it would also read upside down so someone looking at it could read the name, but i couldn't find a design i liked. i tried it with the name so i could read it, and liked that best. and it's for my benefit, no one else's. it's not a show-off tattoo. then i put a heart around it so it wasn't just a name, but more of a design, and liked that ok. i had the general design drawn on me with a sharpie for about three weeks before it got it so i could see if i would want to live with the design. i didn't actually go out with the idea of getting the tattoo that day. i went to watch Melissa get her full back tattoo finished, but came home from the place with my own. the guy at hebe gb's was great and drew several different designs and we put them on as stencils first to make sure it was where i wanted and at a good angle etc. you want to be sure with a tattoo before you start with the permanent ink! it didn't hurt that much getting it. i was sort of achy afterward, and it's been pretty tender the next few days since. but i really like it.

Neil Young concert

The Neil young concert was Another great concert. Gordi and i bought tickets last summer to see Neil young -- he was supposed to have been here in November, but the show was postponed until April. by then of course, Gordi was gone. but i had the tickets to the show, so i went and took a friend. The show was great -- sort of long; with two opening acts, it started at 7 and got over around midnight. we got our money's worth. i thought Neil was awesome. he played some of his old stuff and some good new stuff. i like the new song about change. I was sad that Gordi wasn't in the seat next to me, but i felt his presence. We haven't been to a bad concert yet. Neil himself played like two and a half hours. when he was coming back for the encore, i think everyone thought he would play 'Rockin in the free world' -- he hadn't yet and that was one of his big hits. But when he came back i recognized the opening chord immediately. he was doing a Beatles cover. It was "A Day in the Life."
Years ago, before we could even have any inkling that Gordi was sick, he said he wanted "A Day in the Life" played at his funeral. I misheard and thought he said "In my Life" -- since that seems like a good funeral song, but he had heard of a musician having "A day in the life" at a funeral and thought it was cool. so when i had to arrange a funeral, i did what he wanted. The song that started Gordi's memorial service was the Beatles "A day in the life." so when i heard Neil Young playing it for his encore, I was like a sobbing mess. and i figured that Gordi had something to do with it. He was telling me that he was at the concert with me. then i thought i might be making too much out of it, Even though like no one covers that song, no one plays it live -- the Beatles never even played it live. so i went on line and checked out Neil Young's set lists for the tour -- and he hadn't played it at all on the whole tour. He's been singing "Rockin in the free world" or sometimes "all along the watchtower" for his encore. Omaha was the first time he played that song all year. (he played it the next night in Kansas City, but Omaha set the precedence). which made me believe even more that it was Gordi. Since we had so been looking forward to the show, I'm glad he was there with me. and i'm glad he enjoyed the show. It was outstanding.

Lucky

I know most people would not consider me lucky -- since my husband of three years just died after a brief battle with cancer. And i certainly wish we had more time together here. but i do know how lucky i am. i'm so lucky that gordi and i found each other and spent the past almost ten years together. We started dating in July of 1999 and married in September of 2005. i'm so lucky we had that much time together. i'm so lucky he married me and we found this wonderful house and had so many great experiences together. we travelled around the country and had an amazing time where ever we were. i wish we'd gotten to banff and to europe and to machu picchu, but i'm so grateful for every where we did go. we went to vancouver and fargo and chicago and colorado and hannibal. there was a whole world we wanted to get to, but we really enjoyed the parts we saw together. we had the happiest marriage i've ever even heard of. most of the people i know have something or other about their spouse they would like to change. we were in almost perfect synch. there wasn't anything i would change. i don't know for sure he felt the same, but we got along wonderfully. most people don't get that. i'm so lucky i did. and even though he's not physically here, he is still here, around me all the time, and still talking to me. and i know that not everyone gets that, so i'm extra lucky. i'm very lucky i found the love of my life and i honestly mean it. tennyson was right, "'tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." But of course, our love is not lost. it's still here. and i am so lucky.

cheech and chong

Our first concert for the year was great. Cheech and Chong were wonderful. It was totally an R-rated concert experience. there was adult language, adult situations, and drug references -- because it was Cheech and Chong. they did several of their classic bits from their albums and films. Tommy Chong's wife Shelby was the opening act and did some situational stand-up comedy. In between the skits Tommy also talked about his time in jail on a drug paraphenalia charge and the need to legalize marijuana. There was some good music from "Blind Melon Chitlin" and "Alice Bowie" -- in fact many of their characters made an appearance. There was video enhancement in the background, but the best part was just cheech and chong doing what they do. I did think the sound was too loud, but maybe most of the other old folks there had ruined their hearing at rock concerts in the '70s and needed it that loud. I think the "light up america" tour is a success.