The Touring “Blues”

I have a disorder. It’s best if I just get this out in the open.
I group things together in colors. For example, the produce section is my personal heaven.
All the oranges in one bin, the green lettuce in another, the yellow lemons perfectly collected together.
And all is right in the world.

There’s no name for my disorder except ‘weirdness’. When I begin to edit my photos, I see them in groups of colors. And today all that I saw was blue.

Moody blue. The blue awnings on this building and the subtle blueish tint to the awakening sky set a quiet tone to the photo.

A creepy flier for ‘Wiley and the Checkmates’ performing at the local library originally captured my interest. But the hint of blue from an adjacent flier, tacked on the mustard colored wall sealed the deal today.

Need I say more?

Two colors of blue paint, blue books in the window, a blue flier on the door, blue chalk displaying their sales…Blue overload for this girl.

And yet somehow, I survive. In my blue shirt. With my blue eyes.

My Fairly Normal Parents and the Christmas Tree

I have fairly normal parents.
If they were more normal, then I might have had a better chance at not being so weird.
Alas, those are the cards that I have been dealt.
And so, I am weird.

I’m pretty happy with those cards-I like my fairly normal parents.
On a recent tour, Biceps and I were in my parent’s hometown.

Once again, they exhibited signs of weirdness; confirming my suspicions as to why I am so weird.

From across the park, Biceps and I watched as my fairly normal parents investigated the structure of the downtown Christmas tree.

My fairly normal mother realized she was being watched, inviting us over to join them.

Of course, we obliged.
Let’s be honest-Biceps and I were just as curious as my ‘fairly normal parents’ about the tree. We just like to watch from afar and tease a bit first. It’s what we do.
We love you, Mom and Dad. Even if you are weird.

The Seedy Underbelly

I typically show you, my dear readers, the beauty found in the cities we visit.
Today, I want to show you the side of the city that most would find ugly, confusing or perhaps-smelly.
But I find it oddly beautiful.

An abandoned building-boarded up and graffitied, is peaceful.
The dirty sidewalks full of gum takes on the look of pop art.
The grime of pigeon poop-well, that’s just gross.
This side of the city-‘The Seedy Underbelly’-is strangely alluring to me.
But, I hope you can handle it.

Poor RC Cola.
I think it’s singing, ‘All by myself, don’t wanna be, all by myself, ANYMORE!’

How can something so intricately designed become forgotten?

A tourist town’s backside. The riff-raff hangs out in the backside.
Riff-raffers like Biceps and I. And we are some of the worse kind of ‘riff-raff’. Keep your children close.
And lastly….

Why?
That is all I have to ask…

Ole Miss and ‘Ol Mr. Ornery

Being pent up on a tour bus for hours on end can make one crazy. Arriving in a new city just as the sun is coming up, and the world is still asleep, (and of course, there is fresh coffee at hand…)
…that time of solitude makes the long drives worth it.

Ole Miss (Oxford, Ms), is a cutesy little city straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

As soon as we arrived, we grabbed a cup of coffee…

…and had our run of the town-as its inhabitants slept.

When you throw a little caffeine in Biceps after driving all night, he starts to get extra wily.
Especially in front of his most preferred audience of one-me.

He started by jumping into the frame over and over. That’s his blurry, cute face in the frame far left.

And then he started doing this with his coffee cup-over and over and over and over and over….

Boy, did he think he was hilarious.

Knowing he would continue to do this with each shot, I decided to dig into this man’s psyche.
After a thorough analysis, I was able to comprehend the motivation for the orneriness.

Like a little kid, he just wanted his picture taken.
My cute, ornery man can be so easily appeased sometimes.