Most people prefer the rose in June – and most of me would agree – but one small and important part finds greater beauty in the August rose. They glow differently, because they know they are the last. They are sadder, and sweeter, for it.
Many garden perennials throw out a few blooms before fall arrives in earnest, and though they are usually smaller and less robust than their early summer counterparts, their colors feel richer and more vibrant. I’ve always felt for them a little more.
Take flight, my fine fairy friends, and let us again be carefree, without worry or concern, riding on the winds of fantasy and make-believe… Goodbye cruel world! Farewell wicked place!! Adieu, adieu… to you and you and you…
Rush me ghost you see Every centre my home Fever steam girl Throb the oceans Your candy perfume girl You’re a candy perfume girl You’re a candy perfume girl
From the same wondrous ‘Our Time in Eden’ album that brought us the glory of ‘These Days’ comes the other hit single from that collection, ‘Candy Everybody Wants’. It forms the penultimate entry of this section of The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale, in which everything that seemed so sweet and lovely reveals a sickly, bloody underbelly. The scarlet lollipop melts into hemoglobin, the bracelets of candy bind your wrists together, and a necklace of Necco wafers works its ancient Latin language, choking you out with a death-clutch. And all the while, we eat it up. Try one, swallow some…
The music bounces along happily, the bursts of horns, the jangling guitars, the occasional ‘Hey!’s of Natalie Merchant – and it sounds for a moment like everything is gonna be all right. But it isn’t, is it? It will never be right again, and that’s one of the underlying themes of melancholy that pulls this song down from its lofty pop perch.
So their eyes are growing hazy Cos they wanna turn it on So their minds are soft and lazy, well Hey hey give ’em what they want
Ahh Candice… haven’t we all been you before? Most of us get it out of the way in our youth when we stand a chance of getting away with it. During the time of The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale, I was well beyond my Candice era, but the scars were still with me, and the damages we inflict upon ourselves will never be topped by anyone else.
A deceptively sweet turn in The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale arrives in this delicious post, in which I implore you to try some… eat one… you know you want to lick it…
I know a guy who’s tough but sweet He’s so fine, he can’t be beat He’s got everything that I desire Sets the summer sun on fire I want candy… I want candy
Our tour book is about to take its irrevocable plummet, but the first part of the slide down is so sweet and sugary, you let it all happen because it tastes so good, even when you know it’s bad for you…
Go to see him when the sun goes down Ain’t no finer boy in town You’re my guy, you’re what the doctor ordered So sweet, you make my mouth water I want candy… I want candy… Yeah!
Candy on the beach, there’s nothing better But I like candy when it’s wrapped in a sweater Some day soon, I’ll make you mine Then I’ll have candy all the time I want candy I want candy I want candy…
Back in 1989, it was more of a wish to go back in time just a couple of months, to the start of the summer – the summer before high school, when everything would change.
If I could turn back time If I could find a way I’d take back those words that have hurt you And you’d stay
I don’t know why I did the things I did I don’t know why I said the things I said Pride’s like a knife, it can cut deep inside Words are like weapons, they wound sometimes
I didn’t really mean to hurt you I didn’t wanna see you go I know I made you cry, but baby
If I could turn back time If I could find a way I’d take back those words that have hurt you and you’d stay If I could reach the stars, I’d give ’em all to you Then you’d love me, love me like you used to do (If I could turn back time)
Cher’s video for this single caused an uproar worthy of Madonna’s typical fare at the time. (See ‘Like A Prayer‘ or ‘Express Yourself’.) I happened to love it – the outfit, the big-ass boat canons, and the sailors – all those excited sailors… I’d lose my gay virginity to a sailor many years later on the Mississippi River, but that’s a story that doesn’t need to be retold right now.
My world was shattered, I was torn apart Like someone took a knife and drove it deep in my heart When you walked out that door, I swore that I didn’t care But I lost every thing, darlin’, then and there
Too strong to tell you I was sorry Too proud to tell you I was wrong I know that I was blind, and darlin’
If I could turn back time If I could find a way I’d take back those words that have hurt you and you’d stay If I could reach the stars, I’d give ’em all to you Then you’d love me, love me like you used to do, ohh
If I could turn back time (if I could turn back time) If I could turn back time (if I could turn back time) If I could turn back time, oh, baby
One of the best parts of an office day is the opportunity to walk around downtown Albany and see what’s happening. While COVID definitely did a number on a number of establishments, there are signs of life returning to this once-bustling place. dp: An American Brasserie remains a favorite dinner spot for date nights with Andy, while my favorite lunch places are the following:
The Enchanted Florist provides gorgeous cut flowers, while River Garden Studio has a wide selection of houseplants (the latter will be open again starting September 10). For unique and gorgeous gifts with an Albany emphasis, there is the Fort Orange General Store.
My one main complaint is that the area still needs a market/drug store – and some of us state workers are so desperate we don’t care if it’s a Rite Aid, Walgreen’s or CVS – anything to get us through the day!
There have been a number of notable gifts that I’ve received/begged-for over the years: a Laser Disc player back in the 90’s (which was the only format in which Madonna officially released her Blonde Ambition tour, and the sole reason for me wanting it) that my parents found at Radio Shack one Christmas, a Louis Vuitton Keepall 50 that Andy got me for another Christmas many years later, a small painting that Suzie did of me decades ago that was slightly reminiscent of Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream, and this delicious bottle of Diana Vreeland perfume that Sherri and Skip found on one of my wish lists.
For my 50th birthday, Sherri and Skip gave me what may very well be the best gift of the year, and I don’t mean the pair of precious Hermes fragrances that was part of their offering – it was a box of 50 little colorful notecards in individual envelopes, each with a memory or musing or moment written on it that went back over the past twenty years of shared friendship and office adventures. To say that I was touched, this year and this birthday especially, is an understatement, and I can’t thank them enough for such a meaningful and poignant gift.
While I was tempted to tear instantly into all of them – and started off doing just that with the “Imagine Dragons” card (a very private joke) – I slowed down to savor each one, going over the memory or moment that was mentioned, and smiling or laughing at the thought of it. That sort of warmth and love is not something I wanted to end so quickly, so I paused about halfway through, choosing to open a few each day for as long as they last.
Even better is the idea that once I make it through them this initial time, I can put them away for a darker day, bring out this lovely box, and revisit such happiness again. Sherri and Skip have often provided a reassurance of my dwindling belief in the goodness of people – and it’s still there, especially in the people I am lucky enough to call friends.
For those who missed my social media posts about this, here is Chris Evans in a jockstrap, from his latest movie ‘Honey Don’t!’ in theaters now. It’s been far too long since Evans has graced us with such a glimpse, and this one recalls his breakthrough near-nude moment in ‘Not Another Teen Movie’ which found whipped cream and a banana preserving his modesty instead of a jockstrap. Which is better? That’s what online polls were made for, so perhaps I’ll have to put one up soon.
Evans had been pulling back from revealing such shots, so it’s nice to see him return to form in all the right ways, especially for the gay-gazing blogs that have nothing better to discuss. Here are a few previous blog posts dedicated to Mr. Evans and his much-celebrated moments of disrobing:
Behold the humble and somehow magnificent common daylily. Seen proliferating along roadside banks, the daylily is one of those overlooked gems often maligned for their steadfastness and reliability, yet entirely capable of putting on an exotic show. If these were as rare or delicate as a bird of paradise, especially in these wintry parts, they would be celebrated just as grandly. Alas, we do not reward or appreciate the steadfast and reliable, only the problematic and difficult. It goes against reason or what’s righteous, and illustrates the impossible fickleness of a world designed to cause as much hurt as possible.
Refusing to extoll or praise such noble traits is sadly the way of this world right now, but as long as I have voice and space in which to use it, I’ll keep on plugging the magnificence in something as common as the daylily, even if the blooms lasts but a day. Beauty is as eternal as it is ephemeral, and nothing proves that more than a flower that lives its entire life in a single day. We should all endeavor to live like that.
It may be time to start normalizing letting coleus go to flower, at least if we are being blessed with this almost-blue shade of brilliance. I’m the first one to espouse pinching coleus back hard in the beginning – it creates for a bushier plant with a stronger multi-branching infrastructure, and way more leaves – but by this time of the year, let the plant have its full life-cycle before the first hard frost of fall finishes it off. Some people continue fertilizing and pruning and insisting on the show going on full-throttle until the last possible moment. I find comfort in seeing the natural die-back of the garden starting about now. We need the rest, we need the respite, and we need the winter.
Returning to reality after a fun birthday weekend in Boston is proving more difficult than usual, and I just don’t feel like doing it. To that lazy and stubborn end, this is a filler post until I can whip up the strength and energy to do something worthy of this space – and that likely won’t happen for a while as I have two wonderful birthday dinners with friends coming up in the next two days. When it’s a choice of getting busy living or getting busy blogging, the former will always take precedent over the latter. In the meantime, enjoy the construction-adjacent photo of a canna in bloom before the renovation-in-progress at the Capitol steps.
