In 1936, my grandmother wrote a letter to her parents in which she announced that her younger brother David had written her a "note with only 9 lines on it." She included a transcription:
I imagine the hounds racing through the woods chasing deer and then camping in an abandoned cabin, drinking whiskey, and toasting their freedom.

I had a dream last night in which singing a particular song underwater in a particular muddy lake would give me a particularly exciting reward. I didn't know what the reward might be, but I sang. And I suddenly found myself face to face with my smiling granny. I hadn't talked to her in a long time.

And I don't remember what song I sang. Pretty sure it wasn't this one. Though I might give it a try if I ever find that lake again.

Damn These Vampires will be track 1 on All Eternals Deck.

Apparently magnetic moose play violin like Ben Sollee plays cello.

My aunt Carey took that pic. She took this one, too. And this one. And this one. And thousands and thousands more, of everyone in the family and everything we love. And we don't thank her nearly enough for it.

Been a little slack on the blogging over the past few days.  Writing lots of postcards instead. And Valentine's Day cards.  For all my cousins.  Because that's what my granny used to do.

But there's always time to kick some brand new flava in ya ear. 

I actually kind of can't believe I haven't posted this yet.  Been loving it for couple of years now.  Big thanks to Joey Headset.

I have no idea who Craig Mack is, let alone what track this is on what album.

Just got this from my sister.  She says it reminds her of Mimi, our granny, who died last January.  It's from The Velveteen Rabbit.

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

Wisdom and inspiration come from unexpected places.  Glad Giuls is always on the lookout.

My cousin Parker and I just watched a movie we made five years ago.  A full family effort.  Our tribute to Best in Show. 

Below the Belt. 

The story of the greatest heavyweight title fight in history.

Last Christmas, Zoe, another cousin, put the movie on a DVD and added interviews from the movie premiere, outtakes, and deleted scenes.

When we made the movie, my grandmother was very much alive, very much a part of the summer when we shot the movie and the winter when we edited and released it to our world.

And Parker and I saw her tonight, on that DVD.  She walked through the party at the premiere, dressed in her costume ball finest, and she walked through a scene in the outtakes, making a joke.  Making us laugh.  Doing what she did best.

No one I would have rather seen.  Been almost 8 months.

I talked to the Nevinator last night about the future of the remnants of LanguageCalls, his day job plans moving forward, and what I see lying ahead for The Carrot Project.  Nevin's an unusual guy, but I'm glad to know him and have him in the carrot project orbit.

Overwhelmed by the document clutter on my desktop, a had a scan a few minutes ago for things I could delete or drop into folders.  I found a note titled Andrew Nevin Jan 13.  Given last night's call, I opened it up.

There were a couple of questions in there, a couple of ideas Andrew had given me back in January, and a two line dialogue I'd wanted not to forget.

Jake: What are you gonna do tomorrow?
Mimi: Get into as much trouble as I can.

Mimi died five days later. 

Hard for me to imagine a better granny. 

http://www.moreperfectmarket.com/2008/01/used-tissues.html

And hard for me to imagine a more characteristic joke.  Mimi was funny right through the morphine, right down to the very end.  It made things so much easier, knowing that she was still having fun.

Great to come across a little something like that.  I'm glad I wrote it down, glad I left it on my cluttered desktop, and glad the conversation with Nevin last night led me back to it today.