A million years ago, steady misting rain falling on Cherokee Park, we were this close to Bush as they played.  The park is a stunning Olmstead design but a poor venue for a free concert of a popular rock band.  Running late to the show, my best friend and I hiked in the through the back trails to avoid the huge crowd and parking madness.  Entering the dale from that direction, through the trees, we were automatically backstage.  Slipping in between two covered rigs at stage right we arrived just they started to play.  Planets and stars aligned, as they often do when we are together, and Gavin Rossdale sang their entire set directly to us.  It struck me simultaneously how outrageously beautiful he was, how unbelievably close he was and how sincerely modest he was on stage.  He offers songs to the audience as though it were an honor for him to be asked to sing.  At the end of this recent video he again shows that shyness and gratitude for success.

It’s funny about serendipity, if all had gone as planned that day we would have been out in the very front of the stage.  Tightly packed, crowded behind the barricades, slipping in the mud like everyone else.  Later, cozy and dry at the Bristol, noshing on green chili wontons and homemade black bean soup we simply couldn’t believe our good fortune.  Today, aeons later, we still can’t.

(Note: My children contend this is an embellished or entirely fabricated account of that day’s events.  They are wrong and possibly jealous they were too young to attend.)

Speed Art Museum’s current exhibition is composed mostly of pieces held by the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis TN.  Of the many works in the collection I was most intrigued with this small painting by John Singer Sargent. With the play of light and movement created by his brushstrokes one could almost see the fish moving in the water.  I’ll be back to visit you again before you leave us, my new friend.

John Singer Sargent (American, 1856-1925) Ramón Subercassaux in a Gondola, 1880. Oil on canvas mounted on panel. Collection of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Gift of Cornelia Richie.

Click on image to enlarge, photograph of work from wikipaintings.org, John Singer Sargent.  I’m in love with his spectacles!

University of Louisville’s Belknap Campus is an oasis in a sea of urban grey. Complete with priceless outdoor sculptures, gorgeous landscaping and giant trees full of friendly squirrels.  The college actually has a catch and release to the park system policy on our furry friends.  Relentlessly tenacious they return ready to feast with the students.  Squirrels for the win.

Click on image to enlarge.

"The Mysterious X"
Oil on canvas by Tony Hitch

All three of my daughters extend their birthday celebrations to incorporate surrounding holidays or other festivities.  Spanning several weeks they make the most of the occasion with both their Dad’s family and mine.  For my April baby, twenty one this year, that has always included the madness which is Derby in Louisville.  And much sushi, really.

It’s an addiction inherited from and fostered lovingly by me.  One of our favorite haunts, Mimosa Cafe, sits on Bardstown Road in the Highlands.  An extremely hip and intellectual neighborhood, just like X herself.

Since a walk in either direction on Bardstown is bound to lead to amazing adventure, we start at the restaurant and end up where ever the road rises to meet us.  Stellar experience, guaranteed to always exceed expectations.

In conversation the other evening, planning for this year’s sushi explosion, she had a sudden gleeful epiphany.  This year, because I’m ancient, she can have a beer with lunch.  Nothing feels quite like being young, beautiful and free to make one’s own choices.  Especially if it’s springtime in the Highlands.

Words can’t describe the wonders in our garden.  Kentucky, always enchanted, is especially powerful in the Spring.  I can’t imagine living in an environment without towering trees, lush grass and rain fed blossoms.  True to my border reiver heritage I need foothills and forest to be truly comfortable.

  I’m thrilled with the new lenses my love gave me.  Such pure, awesome presents just because.  I haven’t had macro or telephoto capability in almost a decade.  It’s great to be able to shoot without a small range limitation.