Double Decker Festival Day 2 :: Oxford

Back when I was job hunting I just knew it meant I would have to move far far away from all the things I’ve loved over the years. Not so. Moving to Memphis has given me the chance to do all the things I loved to do in college like, Double Decker. Friday night WMC sent me to the square to report live at 10 :: today I sent myself there to shop and eat!

 

 

I haven’t been in four years. Today Mom and I loaded up and hit every store in Lafayette County. Proof….

 

 

The crowd has gotten bigger and the vendors all have such quality items. We did most of our shopping in all the antique malls around town. The same ones I blew my paychecks in back in college.  This trip, though, I did make it in to a “real” store with new things and got this neat leather/gold plate ring from Amy Head Cosmetics on the square. It wasn’t there when I was in school. Neat addition. Worth walking in. The colors and design of the store will leave you with lots of ideas.

 

With the town soooooo packed we couldn’t find a restaurant spot to take a seat for a bit, so we crammed in a corner at Square Books.

We will be there next year! Great job to all the people who work hard to bring the community such an A + event!! Also nice seeing so many old friends like….Kathleen Jones Hamilton, if you read this.  The four years I was there Mom made the 6 to 7 hour drive from the coast so often. I don’t know how she did it after teaching kids all day! Roaming Oxford together again was sweet.

Tags | Amy Head Cosmetics Oxford Mississippi, Double Decker Festival 2012, Double Decker festival vendors, Oxford Square

Life is so funny :: I cry

I can still feel the gravel in my palms. As expected wearing high wedge sandals, (that are extra cute) I fell while reporting tonight. I was in front of a big crowd on the Oxford square for double decker festival. I didn’t get proper footing in a flower bed and ate gravel.

What’s a girl going to do? Cry? I already did that today.

Sometimes I get extra sensitive. Not often. When it happens you know. I cry at the end of basketball games, excessively when I finish a book that isn’t sad or just driving down the road listening to happy music. I’m not sad at all.

Today it was when I hung up with the leader of an unnamed city that hosts double decker. I called all happy and bubbly, ready to set up interviews and I instead got yelled at :: out of no where. It was so sudden and shocking that as we both growled out our goodbyes down the line, my eyes started to pool. I can take it just like I can give it, but today was just one of those days. No lesson learned from the embarrassing situations, but a lot of grace towards myself. We are all only human.

Moving on. Double decker was very nice tonight. Along with visiting with my best friends in town from Nashville and Chicago, I heard the soothing tunes of Iron and Wine all while earning a paycheck doing something I love. Life is good.

Another train ride

We are passing through Hammond, LA right now. Been on the train since 6:30. Another two hours to go before we get to New Orleans where Mom and Dad will pick me up and head to Stone County.

Sitting next to me is Lonny from Dyersburg, TN.

He’s also heading to NOLA where he hopes to meet some of his Dad’s people. His dad died when he was a baby, so this search is 53 years in the making. Lonny kept me alert this morning with funny statements like,

“I wish people still bought boom boxes.”

“how do I get my Beyonce tapes onto one of those pods.”

And

“those “kardasin” girls are pretty”

I find him refreshing!! He just found this BB King tape and is so excited. It has songs he’s never heard. He told me all about the famous bluesman, who I’ve seen live, as if his music was just released and I need not miss it.

By the way check out these pancakes….impressive

It’s my favorite transition now where the oaks now have Spanish moss. I’m home!!

It’s a miracle :: It really is! MEDICINE

I get this way from time to time. Totally amazed. For the last couple of months it’s been over technology, internet and social media. These things have proven to be mind blowingly cool, despite the fact that I’ve/we’ve been living with it all for quite a while now. I still can’t get over them :: it’s like I just discovered them.

Today I’m astonished by medicine. At the moment :: one medicine :: in particular.

ADVIL COLD & SINUS

This pill single-handedly brought me out of my sick-bed where I dreamed up every possible reason I was dying. First, I was convinced I had contracted meningitis while in England. I ached so badly all over, but also where my neck met my head, but was relieved when my mom reminded me that this started a week ago with a runny nose and sore throat. Safe!

Next, out of nowhere, I remembered the movie that came out recently, Contagion.

This is me. I’m Gwyneth Paltrow sitting at Heathrow infecting everyone around me, not to mention all the people I hugged and shook hands with in England. NOOOOOOO All thanks to that….let’s say cheese and chutney sandwich I ate in that little cafe. It tasted fine?

I was Gwyneth Paltrow and have now infected all my loved ones and colleagues not to mention the whole world, just to make it worse. Though, if were just me, I was surely going to have to go on part-time disability while I racked up medical bills in the hospital and eventually lose my job because Ursula couldn’t possibly fill in for me over the course of the 3 months it would take me to feel like a normal human again. Oh, how the mind wonders when you are home alone and never get sick like this. Is it possible to feel this bad from a cold??

The truth :: whatever crud the English gave me in retaliation for my ancestors leaving them :: has now been masked by Advil Cold and Sinus.

What a blessing that this is out there. It works. Just imagine. Only a hundred of years ago some doctor would rub some sort of ointment on my forehead in hopes it would reduce my fever or poke a hole in me to take out some of my bad blood?. Sure, I’m still sick. I can tell since I’m still sweating when it isn’t at all hot in my apartment. Though, I wouldn’t know it.

Thanks to the upper in this medicine I’m typing faster than I’ve ever typed and I’ve got a new lease on life. I was up early and even met someone for a working breakfast! Hurray for life.

I even felt good enough to pick and stare at these.

From my yard

so pretty

So, I’ve broken my rule about talking about sickness :: no one really cares.

Though, hopefully, when you feel in the way I’ve described you will RUN-DRIVE-BIKE-HITCH HIKE to a store and feel better in 20 minutes like I did

Tags | advil cold and sinus, sick

Peter Diamond and Rich’s Bath

Bath is maybe the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. It depends on what type of beauty you are talking about, but for me the Bath stone and rolling green hills just do it for me. For others, it’s some tropical paradise that gets their juices flowing. Well, despite all the beauty around me, the building below and the stories I know surrounding it were all I could think of and look for around me there.

This is the Bath Police Station on Manvers Street. It was right in front of me as I got off the train. Here I thought I’d have to search for it.

In my books Peter Diamond is the Chief Inspector Detective in Bath. The murders all take place in Bath or surrounding communities and feature many of the well-known spots like the  parks, the abbey, the Roman Baths and the theaters.

While, yes, I’d been wanting to go back to Bath since I was 17, visiting the city where all my favorite books were written was a main reason for the quick trip there.

Problem is none of my new Bath friends had a clue who CID Diamond is. I know I sound crazy, but I’ve read around 12 books featuring him. To me Peter is real. Since I was on vacation my imagination was on super speed and I just allowed it to be since I was on break. I saw Peter walking through Victoria Park, the same park where his wife was found murdered. I saw him, grumpy and out of shape, walking through the pretty streets, just as he would in the stories. The writer, Peter Lovesey, apparently lived very near bath in Bradford on Avon for years, but no longer does. We drove there and it was lovely. I read they are trying to make a television series out of the books. My fingers are crossed!

This is the one shot I got that most looked CID Diamond. This man was a wee bit too thin. It still works for my one shot.

If crime fiction isn’t your thing :: there are many other beautiful things to see in Bath. I’ll post some of my fave pics.

I was lucky enough to meet a friend who hung out with me for the two days I was there.

Rich joined me for a great warm dinner and told me all about his life there in Bath. I try not to act like a reporter, but after only a couple sips of beer I’m slinging the questions his way. The next day he showed me what was tucked away in those amazing green hills surrounding the city that I’d been eying all day and can still remember being enchanted with at 17. Sorry the pics don’t match. I was using 3 different cameras on this trip.

The Crescent

The Bath Abbey

Amazing structure

There is a great space under it with lots of benches

It’s right near the Roman Baths

(Peter Diamond likes to sit here while he ponders the crimes)

The Cricket field

These dudes almost hit me twice as I walked by to my hotel

I saw myself without teeth and it was sad

This is where Rich grew up.

Oh my how different lives we all live

What a view he had in this old manor house

I wonder how long it would take me living in England to stop trying to get in the driver’s seat when I’m a passenger??

I’ve thanked him over and over, but I’ll do it again

What an amazing time I had seeing what was around me and not just staring from a distance

Inside Bath Abbey

Amazing

The drive

The view outside my hotel room

I loved my hotel, The Brindleys

The view outside my hotel the next morning at 5 am

I couldn’t sleep :: sore throat :: at least I caught this shot!!

This is what we were seeing out my window

I didn’t know there was water down there until we walked down a bit

My hotel

If you are ever in Bath :: I recommend it

I had a time I won’t forget

Plus, the bed was so soft :: everything so elegant

Here is their website :: CLICK

Dinner with Rich at the White Hart Inn

They also have some rooms for rent upstairs

The inside was so cozy with local art

The food was good and all the serving pieces were so homey

Rich and I had fun trying to figure out what these ladies were talking about!

You can barely see her, but the pub pooch came for a kiss from Rich

My favorite shot

Just amazing

When am I going back? Sooner than later!

Tags | Bath, Peter Diamond, Peter Lovesey, The Brindley's Hotel, The Brindleys Hotel Bath