Inside Gloria's Mind

Things to do if you're bored this weekend

Mysterious Home Zoo

(thanks Mike)

I know what I did this summer: Moments

The day's been a blur, so I'm going to hold off on the news stories and continue my little personal saga.......

It was a month filled with memorable little events. Here are a few snapshots:

Happiest day this summer: Birthday - especially the brunch with my partners Will and Jen and two wonderful women friends. We all dressed up and felt FINE. It was a perfect summer day, the restaurant was inside a greenhouse whose orchids were blooming heavily, and the 5 of us ended up squooshed into a table for 4. Instead of feeling crowded it felt intimate. Afterwards we played with racoon and woodpecker handpuppets at the garden giftshop.

Most fun experience this summer: Deciding to buy ourselves a new Scion for our birthdays (Will's bday is a week ahead of mine) then getting it two days later! Kooky little toaster-looking car but on the inside it feels like an SUV. Jen got a Scion last year and we looooove it. Even more fun was driving it home from the showroom.

Best stressbuster this summer: For the month of August, I quit reading the news on-line and fought back my inclination to get absorbed in all the criminal manoeverings of our president's men. I read real books and focused on stuff that's meaningful to me, including lots of research for my new book project. I feel whole again. Ommmm.

Best gadget this summer: Jen bought Will the the most amusing kitchen toy in the world. Personally I feel they should have put that tummy notch just a little bit lower to make it more dominatrix-friendly... but the "voodoo knife man" is by far the coolest thing in our kitchen now.

Most embarrassing experience this summer: for my birthday, one of my submissive beaux got me a gift certificate at a fancy on-line boutique. When the email notice of the GC arrived, I was so delighted both by his generosity and the submissively sexy message he added at the bottom, I quickly shot back a diva-like thank you. In explicit language. To send him into a rut of panting lust. I might even have said something about my ass and his face...ahem...but don't quote me.

Anyway, pleased with myself, I smugly watched my X-rated note vanish into the Internet...only to realize I'd just sent it to the GC center. Not to him. Oopsie.

*reaching for one of those knives*

I know what I did this summer: Music

OK, now this is more like it...something autobiographical to welcome you back to the Mind which, as you know, has been in an induced coma for the past 4 weeks.

I've got a few news items and images stored up from August that I will run today and tomorrow...but will also catch you on some of the stuff I did during my time away from the blog. The good, the bad, the strange.....even the deeply embarrassing....I'll do it as a mini-series over the next few days, starting with this summer's rediscovered joy:

I've had time to listen, really listen, to music. I mean, I always have music on - Napster when I'm on the laptop. I got outdoor speakers so I can garden with music too. But the month I had the leisure to LISTEN to every note, every chord, every instrument. I studied classical piano for about 10 years of my young life, and performed a bit. In my teens, I fell in love with the acoustic guitar and played into my late 20s. I started college as a music major, then switched to English the second year, making a conscious decision to pursue my stronger passion (writing). So my relationship with music is complicated. The last year or so, I've been so preoccupied, I'm just hearing it. This month, I took the time to listen to it and let it breathe into the center of my soul.

I listen mostly to jazz and vocalists. Lots of Stephan Grappelli and Louis Armstrong. Some Coltrane, some McCoy Tyner, more Rahsan Roland Kirk, and Ray Charles. Lots of women (Billie Holliday, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Edith Piaf, Blossom Dearie, Rosemary Clooney, Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich). A bunch of world music, most of it Brazilian and African. Love Milton Nascimento. Also love Deep Forest. Any fans of Yiddish/Klezmer? Rock tastes are limited: Pretenders, Steely Dan, a little Who, some Cream, lots of Talking Heads. A little Joni Mitchell. A little Leonard Cohen. A little Arethra. And a bunch of gospel and bluegrass a la Mark O'Connor and Doc Watson.

It may be said that I enjoy a good yodel too.

True addictions: Van Morrison. Randy Newman. Bob Dylan. If I had to listen to one song every morning of my life I think it would be..."Singing in the Rain."

Any other music fanatics? What did you listen to this summer?

What answer could he give?

...Ward had no answers for why he had sex with the corpse of a woman he found dead inside a camper home.

Well what kind of lie do they expect a necrophiliac to come up with?

"You saying she was dead? Really? I just though she was being selfish."

(Hello everybody. I'm baaaaack. And I swear, I hadn't planned to restart this blog on such a grim note - or so early in the day! - but the damn bichon woke me up at 6 a.m.....which isn't fun when your typical bedtime is around 2 or 3 a.m.....)