July 31st, 2006.

Heather and her little horse, Scarlett. Scarlett turned out to be kind of obnoxious, but in a very subtle, slacker kind of way. She LOOKED sweet, but as is so often the case, this his a heart of mischeif.

Katie took us horseback riding through the hills of North Charlotte. She’d apparently had a list of things she wanted to accomplish before summer was over. She wanted to go to Ohio and see some silos (check!), pick some blueberries (check!) and ride a horse. She hadn’t been on one since she was MUCH younger, and Heather and I had never ridden a horse (though I think I rode an elephant or something once). They’re HYOOOGE!! Above, Katie and Bill, who’s NOT a boy. DUH!

As you can see, Big Charlie wants to be in the grass. And doesn’t want to keep up. We were given a quick tutorial – something to the effect of “but your foot here and jump. Now, pull the reigns left to go left, right to go right, pull both and say “whoa” to stop. Just like a car.” Uh HUH. We had no control over these animals, they did as they pleased. We were given only one real instruction, to pull their heads up if they tried to stop and eat… well… I did that and from then on Charlie spent all his time trying to scrape me off in the bushes to the side of the trail. I pulled right to TURN right and he turned right and walked sideways. Into bushes. Gurf.

That’s Big Charlie. He’s mine. He’s VERY contrary.

Cats are supposed to be graceful creatures, full of poise and haughty elegance. Here in Asheville, where we’re staying with a new friend named Windy, her two black cats are… well they’re trouble3-000000=-0pppppppppppppppppppppppppp. Clumsy trouble. That was Mia walking across my keyboard. She tripped over my cellphone’s cable a couple of seconds ago and stepped in my rosemary olive oil while I wasn’t looking. No HUGE loss, as I think the OTHER one was drinking out of it while I was in the bathroom.

Utter chaos.

In any case, we’ve fallen on our feet here in Asheville, NC. Windy is actually the sister of someone we met in Savannah, and is putting us up, most kindly, sight unseen. She has a Lovely, tiny house out in the pine woods West of town, and the only problem we’re having. is one particularly elusive mosquito. He’s pissing me off.

Out on the dusty trail, brushing up on my apocolypse skills.

I wish there was a top to my head, but the maneuvering involved in GETTING the camera to Heather in the first place was so impressive, that I’m amazed we got pictures at all! Scarlet did a LITTLE of what she was told.

Last night we played our “big gig” in Concord, NC at the George Washington Bookstore and Tavern. It was an incredible night. We brought in a lot of people, and captured a bunch of new faces and their accompanying ear-parts. I was amazed, because so few of them were local. After the disheartening experience of playing to a nearly empty room for their open mic on Thursday night, I was pretty fearful of playing to 4-5 people on Saturday night. But we had a crew of people drive in from Charlotte to see us (40 minutes, thank you Katherine!) and a microbus-full from Carborro (2 hours, it was great to see you again Joe, we’ll see you in Raleigh!) and two tables courtesy of Ben (see you in Asheville… tonight?) and a particularly beautiful woman, shining as an example to you all, who’d driven down from Maryland the previous night. We had a great audience, we played really, really well – had a fantastic night. happy ilyAIMY, hapy ilyAIMYites, happy owner.

The moon over the Quaker Steak and Lube.

This is a frightening beer thing and our front row of Marks (I think their names were Mark) at the open mic at the Quaker Steak and Lube in Concord, NC. It was the second time I’d ever played underneath a motorcycle, and the first time I’d encountered rest rooms with steering wheels and televisions. It was quite the experience. You have to sign a waiver before they’ll serve you their hottest wings. Oh, and I deserve points for having turned on my camera, set the settings, aimed and taken this photograph DURING my solo in Illinois is Overflowing. Props? Props please? The mad ones. I think they’re to your left.

Today we headed out late to Asheville, and only saw the dim outlines of mountains as we headed West. I’m eager for the sun to rise (well, not TOO soon) and to see our surroundings. I’ve been outside talking on the phone, staring up at the stars and feeling wet grass and lying on the car, probably leaving a dent.

Me sticking my tongue out at Katherine at the George Washington Bookstore and Tavern in Concord, NC.

Yup, the Quaker Steak and Lube was a pretty intense place to play. Neon lights everywhere, video games, motorcycles on the ceiling, race cars in the lobby, and TVs in the FLOOR! I kind of enjoyed stomping on the faces of sports guys. Oh, one other thing this venue had that no other North Carolina had on a Friday night: Sara snuck up behind me from Maryland! Twrr.

It’s been a very good weekend to be me.

I’ve been quite confused all night because I keep letting cats into the house, and haven’t let any cats OUT of the house. Mia and Bigera are close enough in appearance that unless I really wake up and look carefully, I can’t really tell which is which, or for that matter, if it’s a new cat entirely – and though I’m SURE Windy said she only had two cats, I’ve let at least six in, but still only see two at a time. Very grateful to finally find the draped-open screen in the bedroom window that’s been allowing their egress. By sense of the world’s balance has been momentarily restored.