Down the Strand in Galveston Texas

Lone Star Rally Galveston Texas 2004

View from a Motorcycle in Texas 

In Memory of Ray Charles Robinson

For what's it worth, I think that Ray Charles was the all time best musical artist ever, anywhere in any time. His 1963 Grammy winner for best rhythm and blues was the album Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul and had a song on it called “Busted”. One of my favorite songs, and I believe the song that probably started me on a journey into the world of Blues, Muddy Waters, Louis Armstrong, , to name just a few of the best.

I didn’t know until a short time ago that the song had originally been recorded by Johnny Cash and I have a hard time believing he could have done it justice like Ray does (Ray and I are on a first name basis-course if we were I would be calling him “RC” which is what his real friends called him).

Some facts: Ray Charles’ last name was really Robinson (Ray was his first name and Charles his middle). I find it sad that he had so many things go terribly wrong when he was young but I think his Mother sounded like a brilliant woman once telling Ray “You’re blind, not stupid.” And she spoke the truth. Even after being busted for Heroin 3 times and addicted for 20 years, he managed to quit cold turkey and stay straight - not many addicts can say that.

Most people don't realize that Ray made most of his hits on other people's songs. He quit writing his own lyrics fairly early on. Considering his life, married twice, lots of girlfriends, 12 children, 20 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, I'm not surprised he didn't have time to write.

He said the most exciting time of his life was when he was hired for a car commercial, and he actually drove the car without any assistance in the Death Valley desert. I would have loved to see that commerical - or better yet, been in the car with him!!

I think my favorite thing I ever saw him do though; with the exception of every single time he ever sang “America” and the hair stands up on my neck and arms, was the Blues Brother Movie where they did “Shake a Tail Feather”. Classic. I leave you with these words:

My bills are all due dnd the baby needs shoes
And I'm busted
Cotton is down to a quarter a pound
But I'm busted

I got a cow that went dry and a hen that won't lay
A big stack of bills that gets bigger each day
The county's gonna haul my belongings away
Cause I'm busted

I went to my brother to ask for a loan
Cause I was busted
I hate to beg like a dog without his bone
But I'm busted
My brother said "There ain't a thing I can do,
my wife and my kids Are all down with the flu,
and I was just thinking about calling on you
Cause I'm busted"

Well, I am no thief but a man can go wrong
When he's busted
The food that we canned last summer is gone
And I'm busted
The fields are all bare and the cotton won't grow,
Me and my family got to pack up and go
But I'll make a living just where I don't know
Cause I'm busted.

I'm broke ... No bread ... I mean like Nothing, Forget it...
Yep, know how that feels.

So Long, Fare Well...BA-BYE!

I heard on the radio that the number of US citizens heading for Canada has grown and I, for one, am ecstatic! I'm not sure they should be called Americans if they are splitting from their homeland just because President Bush won the election.

It is hilarious - now they will get to experience how Canada's health system works, and they will also get to see how much of their money goes to pay their taxes! FAN-TAB-U-LOUS!

I wish we could get more of Hollywood to go, especially that coo-key girl Susan Saranden. That woman is spooky. It's enough that she thinks her phones are tapped but how can she be friends with Sean Penn? Nuts I say! She has said more than once that people who don't agree with her (voted for Bush) are less intelligent, (ignorant) hicks. You know what I have noticed? Most Hollywood types never went to college and many are high school dropouts. Shut-UP!

You know a bunch of them there Holl-lay-wood (speaking like idiot I am accused of being) promised to leave if President Bush won. Now they are reneging. I say "liars, liars, pants on fire!!"

To say that being more religious (Christian) is to increase intolerance is absolutely ignorant and proves that they don't even know a thing about Christianity. I cannot speak for other religions except to say I know some of them aren't tolerant at all - but they seem to be "OK" with the lefties.

I say leave already and don't let the border slap yo' ass on your way out...Enjoy Canada, or wherever you end up migrating to. I think the USA will be much better off without all you narrow minded self-righteous ding-a-lings. Besides it was getting crowded anyway.

Ba-Bye!

Hong Kong Mall

I spent a lot of time at the Hong Kong Mall this weekend. I can actually imagine being in Hong Kong when I am there. We are a minority and have to struggle to communicate sometimes. I love roaming through the shops and looking at the wares offered in the different shops. Mostly I love the food. One day we ate dim sum and I was so stuffed I could barely waddle out the door. Total price? Twelve bucks before tip.

We (I say we meaning my sister, Zelda and I) then bought everything to make Vietnamese sandwiches - which means pickled carrot, cucumber, cilantro, French bread rolls, jalapenos and the meat. She is going for pork, me chicken. We also bought all kinds of interesting items just to try them out and I bought Lychees - which I adore straight from the can.

It's funny how some of the people will treat us very well, and friendly while others will ignore us or snub us. I haven't figured out whether they think maybe we are violating their "place". A lot of the time we are just ignored. But it doesn't really matter because we have a blast anyway!

Friday night there was an art showing of photographs taken by different Asian artists. I could tell a few were using photocopy a little much but overall they were interesting. There was some that were really interesting; I would hang in my home.

In the food court - which is in addition to all the other restaurants - is where the old men play some kind of boardgame with huge round discs that look a little like mutant checker pieces. It isn't anything I have seen before. They are quite serious about it too so I don't interupt to ask.

The smells and the sounds and the language are fabulous. By the end of a visit I could actually start believing I had gone somewhere out of the states. It's sort of a mini vacation.

And then, I go home again.

Ethnical Diversity at Home

I live in a neighborhood that meets the ethnical diversity that would make some on the liberal left vibrate with extreme happiness.

I'm not so happy about it-not that I have any predisposed ideas about anyone or where they come from or their racial makeup. More because I don't like the rooster in one neighbor's yard (and is it wrong to wonder if it is for cock fights because they are from Mexico?), the way none of them will return a wave, a smile or a “Hello” and the lack of common courtesy for your neighbor that I found in other places I lived-even in apartments. Well, if they are this way because of were they came from, maybe I am judging them for their cultural background but I doubt it and I just want them to fit in a little bit into my world.

Across the street from me, whomever bought the house is using it like a boarding house. There are never less than 7 cars parked around it and I cannot begin to figure out how many people live there at any given time. They also have a dog that is allowed to run wild. Is that fair to us when we want to have a party or just some friends over? My friends have to park way at the end of the street and then run from the dog. Now I know these people are breaking the "rules" but there is no one to enforce those rules. I would talk to them but they can’t understand English so I can’t.

I know that my neighbors are unfriendly because some are here illegally and therefore, and understandable, distrustful and probably do not want to draw attention to themselves (although they do this merely by the way they go about their daily business). I saw one neighbor "patting down" his guest when I was leaving for work. What's UP with that??

My neighborhood is not all cut of the same cloth so the bright colors that are incorporated are not a problem for me. I enjoyed New Orleans when I lived there, where houses might be painted purple with orange. The Mexican, Indian and Asian accessories are colorful and interesting to me and I welcome them. The weekend cooking smells are heaven. I will even go so far as to say some of their houses are nicer and better maintained than mine.

However, I would like a place to park our vehicles. I would like to go to sleep a couple nights a week without loud music that I cannot understand blaring, and for people to look at me instead of the sly sideways look and quick head turn to pretend I am invisible. I would like people to not run and hide inside when they see me as if I were INS and to maybe wave or say hello once in a while. Just your basic garden type politeness, they don't have to invite me to lunch.

Oh, and my dogs ate the rooster. But I don't hold it against them. They thought it was lunch and they aren't from here.

Close to Two Mil

I am worth $1,999,354.00 on HumanForSale.com

Well it's official - my exact worth is almost 2 million - I'm thinking ebay? with a reserve of course! (I think I've been held back from my full potential and $price$. Not sure who to blame...Bummer.)

I watched the television show "24" last night and the show is at (as usual) a cliffhanger. Now I have a problem because next Monday night I start a financial class and it goes through May. I guess I am going to have to pull out the video recorder because I HAVE to watch it and class will not end until 9 which means I won't make it home until 10. I haven't used the video since I got the DVD. It's the only show I would bother to record. That drives my mother crazy...that I don't bother to tape anything. She is seriously addicted to television - especially her soap opera. Even if she watches it, she tapes it.

BooBoo and Choodles (my doggies) were being very cute all lined up in their doggie beds last night watching "24". I think they may take after my Mother.

I cannot believe the life of e-mails. I got the one about the Pepsi/Dr. Pepper can and "one nation...indivisible" again. That means it has been alive and bouncing around the net since the end of 2001. I know people who haven't had relationships that long. I use www.snopes.com all the time to try and debunk the junk.

My little attempt at purging the world of junk e-mail.

Your welcome.