12/20/12
The clear purplish red lavender Vapeland sky shows ripples and waves and a small gray slit appears and widens and you can see an image of yardbyrd, in flight, his wing feathers separated and turned up on the ends. His head is level with his body and his chunky legs are pulled up tight against his body. Bright light -is it sunlight or moonlight?- is reflecting off his YB medallion and reflecting back with tiny rainbows of color. You hear his deep, smooth, Latin translated voice at first soft and distant and rising in volume until it reaches a converstational tone:
"Hail greetings, and salutations Vapelandians! Viva Vapeland! My duties in other realms have kept me away from you all for far too long. Some may ask, reasonably so, exactly what realm and what did I do there. So I offer, this evening, a glimpse into another -albeit familiar- realm that I visited this day.
My gracious host who has asked to remain anonymous has made an apt statement regarding this sidelong glance into other beings:
A husky high pitched male voice can be heard. "Tell all those good folks over there that it is a slice of life, stream of consciousness, byrd's eye view of this boy's afternoon. Not "A Day In The Life" but more like a patchwork quilt of some of my experiences and how I saw them." The hole in the sky grows fuzzy and dim and slowly the light brightens, like someone turning up a dimmer switch. You're seated behind the wheel of a tiny foreign made compact car as rain lightly drizzles onto the windshield when you start to hear what he heard and see what he saw as he saw it...
The radio is turned up loud and "Interstate Love Affair" is coming in clearly. An upward jostle and downward bump occurs while you cross over the railroad tracks clump a clump at Wesleyan Drive and the intersection of Forsyth Road and wait in a line of cars at the traffic light there.... 'I wonder if Home Depot will have it? I think it's right out there near' (Soundgarten is heartening) "I say too you....DaDaDa Da dadada DA DA...'the Lowe's...I think? Mikey said that the goop I need might fix my issue with my'...(a hand holding 510 Battery with a Vivi Nova attached raises up and you can see a lot of vapor in the air...the light's turned green and you make a right onto Forsyth road....The sky is heavy whitish grey with low thick clouds, not ominous, but regal, as the pine trees blur past you until you reach the light at Forsyth and Zebulon roads...the traffic light is turning green at the front of the row of cars in front of you, and that vapor hand is back again...the radio switches over to Boston "Just another band out of Boston" and as you hit the brakes, before you make your left, you can see a thick hedge of holly on the right side of the road, rain droplets adorning each small thistle and the subdued light is broken by a few brief rays of sunshine that seem to illuminate these droplets and reveal multicolored reflective light crisp and eye pleasing...
Walking up to the front of the Lowe's the wind is blowing from the southeast, unusally balmy for a December day in Georgia, and that vaping hand is back again...'I wonder if they've got the right stuff?'
Insidelowescantfindabasketcantfindhelpcantfindthegoopwandertheislesamanwithapushladderfinallystopsandasksifyouneedhelpandyoufindthegoopcheckoutand...
Walking slowly back to your small blue car the sky is ablaze, a full third of it glowing, orangish-yellow glory as the rain has stopped and the striking image of that sky, only minutes ago grey and dull is like a liquid pineapple-orange drink spilled onto the tapestry of the atmosphere..it's pool sort of house shaped and slowly spreading, lighting the air, spreading out and shining.....
You unlock the door, jump inside the car, fasten the seatbelt, release the emergency brake, and of COURSE turn on the radio-LOUD- WOW What a rush it's one of your favorites! Sammy Hagar just cannot drive 55...
Your mind is on the radio heading back up Zebulon Road, retracing your route, on the right an impossibly green lawn zips by imposing, joyous, and clean...and..as you clumpaclump over the RR crossing and head up Wesleyan drive you wonder...'Will this goop do the trick for fixing my thing?...'
Back at the old homestead she's waiting there for you. Busy cooking dinner she pauses and looks up, "Did you get it?" You answer her even as she starts back to work her gaze returning to you every few seconds, brownish hazel eyes full of concern, "Yes yes I did" -the aroma of cooking meat and steaming vegetables is tantalizing....What's for dinner?.....she pauses a moment...looks up and asks with a smile "How about a shot?"
...after dinner, while she dozes on the couch, brownish blonde hair tousled, arms up with her hands behind your head, fleecey blanket with a large buck and doe on it in brown and white and beige... you polish and clean that thing, apply the goop...and....no dice....Gee I wonder what's next?"
The image grows dim and again the Icon of yardbyrd can be seen his smooth translated voice clear:
"We offer this glimpse to you as a way of saying "Season's Greetings" from the other realms." The ripples are flowing over the spot in the sky and they begin to fold into each other and form that slit again. It slowly grows shorter and shorter until it is gone and you can hear those familiar translated words,
"Viva Vapeland! Viva La Vapeland! Viva La Vita Vapeland!" All is almost silent...but what's that you hear, far away and fading...is it really an interstate love affair?
12/29/12
A fluffy white hat, large on one end and small on the other falls from the sparkling Vapeland sky. Just before it hits the ground it slows, and mounts the head of yardbyrd, who suddenly appears on that farie soil. His every loyal perch rises beneath him and a sparkling spot, to his right, reveals the teleported James. He is dressed all in white, with a white apron, and another chef's hat adorns his head. Yardbyrd's translated voice speaks:
"Hail, lauds, and greetings Vapelandians! Viva Vapeland! Viva La Vapeland! Viva la vita Vapeland! Tonight James and I apppear before you to relate what we believe was a successful attempt to surprise and please our spouses.
We both had been thinking, and planning, for some time of a way to surprise, delight, and gift our spouses. We came up with the idea of cooking a seven course dinner for them. Not my usual potato leak soup or James' heartening, but oft cooked chili, but something new and different.
I hope you're paying attention StereoDreamer!
So here is what we did. We endeavored to cook a 7 course meal; in fact we did. Here is what we prepared for them:
1.) Melba toast with shaved Monterey Jack cheese. 2.) Manhattan clam chowder (yes it was Campbells from a can but it was the best we could do) 3.) Oysters on the half shell. 4.) Bitter type salad greens, endive, radiccio, spinach, and other mediterranean blends bought in a pouch and served with olive oil and red wine vinegar. 5.) Shrimp Spring Rolls. Yes they were pre-prepared and frozen variety served with sweet and sour sauce or Soy sauce. and then the entree:
6.) Garlic, butter, lemon baked Tilapia with truffle mashed potatoes. 7.) Christmas cake or cookies or candies given to us a gift with hot tea.
All courses were served with Berringer White Zinfandel
I am pleased to report that I totally surprised Mrs. Byrd. She held up valiantly under the onslaught of courses but was just too full for course #7.
Our dinner, a tribute of love and wishes for a happy new year, to our respective spouses turned out well. Both wives were so surprised not to get soup or chili. They savored each course.
James and I both surprised ourselves. We studied copiously and looked long and hard for recipes until we settled on our menu. Good planning, an attention to our recipes, and a desire to create a palate pleasing and satisfying meal were met.
So...to my fellow Vapelandians I offer this description of our night, our long planning(3 weeks) and the fruition of our efforts. It has been, indeed, a very pleasant, tasty, and delightful night with the surprise to our spouses well pronounced when we produced our multi course meal! Of course we put up any left over food and washed all of the dishes after dinner; any job worth doing it worth doing well!
Thank you, fellow Vapelandians, for creating and supporting this, our beloved Vapeland, a place where even two old byrds can come and share a little bit of their Holiday whimsy!"
A gigantic food processor appears behind yardbyrd and James and leaning over, its blades whirling, it sucks them both into it's clear plastic bowl an as they go round and round, mixing and blending, you can hear yardbyrd's translated voice:
"Viva Vapeland!" Suddenly the liquify button on the food processor depresses and as it's contents mix and blend they form an oddly blue shaded condiment that slowly disappears along with the food processor.
The clear purplish red lavender Vapeland sky shows ripples and waves and a small gray slit appears and widens and you can see an image of yardbyrd, in flight, his wing feathers separated and turned up on the ends. His head is level with his body and his chunky legs are pulled up tight against his body. Bright light -is it sunlight or moonlight?- is reflecting off his YB medallion and reflecting back with tiny rainbows of color. You hear his deep, smooth, Latin translated voice at first soft and distant and rising in volume until it reaches a converstational tone:
"Hail greetings, and salutations Vapelandians! Viva Vapeland! My duties in other realms have kept me away from you all for far too long. Some may ask, reasonably so, exactly what realm and what did I do there. So I offer, this evening, a glimpse into another -albeit familiar- realm that I visited this day.
My gracious host who has asked to remain anonymous has made an apt statement regarding this sidelong glance into other beings:
A husky high pitched male voice can be heard. "Tell all those good folks over there that it is a slice of life, stream of consciousness, byrd's eye view of this boy's afternoon. Not "A Day In The Life" but more like a patchwork quilt of some of my experiences and how I saw them." The hole in the sky grows fuzzy and dim and slowly the light brightens, like someone turning up a dimmer switch. You're seated behind the wheel of a tiny foreign made compact car as rain lightly drizzles onto the windshield when you start to hear what he heard and see what he saw as he saw it...
The radio is turned up loud and "Interstate Love Affair" is coming in clearly. An upward jostle and downward bump occurs while you cross over the railroad tracks clump a clump at Wesleyan Drive and the intersection of Forsyth Road and wait in a line of cars at the traffic light there.... 'I wonder if Home Depot will have it? I think it's right out there near' (Soundgarten is heartening) "I say too you....DaDaDa Da dadada DA DA...'the Lowe's...I think? Mikey said that the goop I need might fix my issue with my'...(a hand holding 510 Battery with a Vivi Nova attached raises up and you can see a lot of vapor in the air...the light's turned green and you make a right onto Forsyth road....The sky is heavy whitish grey with low thick clouds, not ominous, but regal, as the pine trees blur past you until you reach the light at Forsyth and Zebulon roads...the traffic light is turning green at the front of the row of cars in front of you, and that vapor hand is back again...the radio switches over to Boston "Just another band out of Boston" and as you hit the brakes, before you make your left, you can see a thick hedge of holly on the right side of the road, rain droplets adorning each small thistle and the subdued light is broken by a few brief rays of sunshine that seem to illuminate these droplets and reveal multicolored reflective light crisp and eye pleasing...
Walking up to the front of the Lowe's the wind is blowing from the southeast, unusally balmy for a December day in Georgia, and that vaping hand is back again...'I wonder if they've got the right stuff?'
Insidelowescantfindabasketcantfindhelpcantfindthegoopwandertheislesamanwithapushladderfinallystopsandasksifyouneedhelpandyoufindthegoopcheckoutand...
Walking slowly back to your small blue car the sky is ablaze, a full third of it glowing, orangish-yellow glory as the rain has stopped and the striking image of that sky, only minutes ago grey and dull is like a liquid pineapple-orange drink spilled onto the tapestry of the atmosphere..it's pool sort of house shaped and slowly spreading, lighting the air, spreading out and shining.....
You unlock the door, jump inside the car, fasten the seatbelt, release the emergency brake, and of COURSE turn on the radio-LOUD- WOW What a rush it's one of your favorites! Sammy Hagar just cannot drive 55...
Your mind is on the radio heading back up Zebulon Road, retracing your route, on the right an impossibly green lawn zips by imposing, joyous, and clean...and..as you clumpaclump over the RR crossing and head up Wesleyan drive you wonder...'Will this goop do the trick for fixing my thing?...'
Back at the old homestead she's waiting there for you. Busy cooking dinner she pauses and looks up, "Did you get it?" You answer her even as she starts back to work her gaze returning to you every few seconds, brownish hazel eyes full of concern, "Yes yes I did" -the aroma of cooking meat and steaming vegetables is tantalizing....What's for dinner?.....she pauses a moment...looks up and asks with a smile "How about a shot?"
...after dinner, while she dozes on the couch, brownish blonde hair tousled, arms up with her hands behind your head, fleecey blanket with a large buck and doe on it in brown and white and beige... you polish and clean that thing, apply the goop...and....no dice....Gee I wonder what's next?"
The image grows dim and again the Icon of yardbyrd can be seen his smooth translated voice clear:
"We offer this glimpse to you as a way of saying "Season's Greetings" from the other realms." The ripples are flowing over the spot in the sky and they begin to fold into each other and form that slit again. It slowly grows shorter and shorter until it is gone and you can hear those familiar translated words,
"Viva Vapeland! Viva La Vapeland! Viva La Vita Vapeland!" All is almost silent...but what's that you hear, far away and fading...is it really an interstate love affair?
12/29/12
A fluffy white hat, large on one end and small on the other falls from the sparkling Vapeland sky. Just before it hits the ground it slows, and mounts the head of yardbyrd, who suddenly appears on that farie soil. His every loyal perch rises beneath him and a sparkling spot, to his right, reveals the teleported James. He is dressed all in white, with a white apron, and another chef's hat adorns his head. Yardbyrd's translated voice speaks:
"Hail, lauds, and greetings Vapelandians! Viva Vapeland! Viva La Vapeland! Viva la vita Vapeland! Tonight James and I apppear before you to relate what we believe was a successful attempt to surprise and please our spouses.
We both had been thinking, and planning, for some time of a way to surprise, delight, and gift our spouses. We came up with the idea of cooking a seven course dinner for them. Not my usual potato leak soup or James' heartening, but oft cooked chili, but something new and different.
I hope you're paying attention StereoDreamer!
So here is what we did. We endeavored to cook a 7 course meal; in fact we did. Here is what we prepared for them:
1.) Melba toast with shaved Monterey Jack cheese. 2.) Manhattan clam chowder (yes it was Campbells from a can but it was the best we could do) 3.) Oysters on the half shell. 4.) Bitter type salad greens, endive, radiccio, spinach, and other mediterranean blends bought in a pouch and served with olive oil and red wine vinegar. 5.) Shrimp Spring Rolls. Yes they were pre-prepared and frozen variety served with sweet and sour sauce or Soy sauce. and then the entree:
6.) Garlic, butter, lemon baked Tilapia with truffle mashed potatoes. 7.) Christmas cake or cookies or candies given to us a gift with hot tea.
All courses were served with Berringer White Zinfandel
I am pleased to report that I totally surprised Mrs. Byrd. She held up valiantly under the onslaught of courses but was just too full for course #7.
Our dinner, a tribute of love and wishes for a happy new year, to our respective spouses turned out well. Both wives were so surprised not to get soup or chili. They savored each course.
James and I both surprised ourselves. We studied copiously and looked long and hard for recipes until we settled on our menu. Good planning, an attention to our recipes, and a desire to create a palate pleasing and satisfying meal were met.
So...to my fellow Vapelandians I offer this description of our night, our long planning(3 weeks) and the fruition of our efforts. It has been, indeed, a very pleasant, tasty, and delightful night with the surprise to our spouses well pronounced when we produced our multi course meal! Of course we put up any left over food and washed all of the dishes after dinner; any job worth doing it worth doing well!
Thank you, fellow Vapelandians, for creating and supporting this, our beloved Vapeland, a place where even two old byrds can come and share a little bit of their Holiday whimsy!"
A gigantic food processor appears behind yardbyrd and James and leaning over, its blades whirling, it sucks them both into it's clear plastic bowl an as they go round and round, mixing and blending, you can hear yardbyrd's translated voice:
"Viva Vapeland!" Suddenly the liquify button on the food processor depresses and as it's contents mix and blend they form an oddly blue shaded condiment that slowly disappears along with the food processor.
