There is a tradition at the Soul Food Cafe. Each December, for the past five years, Heather Blakey has launched an Advent Calendar on the first day of December. Advent calendars have long helped build excitement and anticipation on the countdown to Christmas, typically revealing a pretty picture or piece of chocolate behind the cardboard door for each December day along the way. Heather Blakey adopted a new approach to this tradition. Each day during December a new link lights up on the Soul Food Advent Calendar.
The Cafe now has a collection of these beautiful features, kept for posterity and full of prompts and inspiration for eager writers and artists. This lens features all of them.
Today in the Seattle P.I. I read a story about the one of the most interesting cats – so what made Cooper- you may be thinking- so interesting to a woman who has cats-one of whom got into a fight witha Pitbull and won?
Cooper is a photographer – the humans that keep his food bowl restocked are filmakers Michael and Deidre Cross. And given that Cooper has taken some very interesting pictures I’m willing to guess that Michael and Diedre have learned a lot from him:::
One of the comments I’ve run across asks if Coopers pictures are art- he doesn’t control the camera after all.
Look, this is what Cooper sees and not only is there art in that, there is poetry and there are stories too.
So you go Cooper, if anything it will drive home the point that the world is more interesting when we’re able to see it through something other then then our own mind’s eye.
Why…you may be asking yourself … would Anita Marie’s brother give her something like
that?
Well….
When I was about 6 and my brother Doug was 5 years old Chiquita Banana had an ad campaign going on and from what I can remember this woman with a basket on her head used to sing about Chiquita Bananas
“I’m Chiquita banana and I’ve come to say –
Bananas have to ripen in a certain way-
When they are fleck’d with brown and have a golden hue –
Doug loved bananas, he loved that stupid song and he loved to tease me because he could.
So on the day that he discovered Chiquita Anita rhymed and he could sing about his favorite fruit and torture me all in one wonderful stroke he sang that song non-stop.
He sang it on the way to school, he sang it in the bathroom he called me up when I was playing at my friend’s houses and sang it over the phone.
You’d think that he would get bored with the Chiquita Anita thing. And he did. Good thing he discovered Cheetos.
It started off as Anita La Cheeto and then I became Cheeto La Frito.
I never lived it down and on the day they bury me he’s going to magic marker Cheeto La Frito on my headstone.
But over the years I’ve grown and matured ( unlike some OTHER people in our family ) and I’ve learned to deal with my little brother’s stupid sense of humor.
When we were younger every once and awhile I’d deal with it by going into combat mode and I’d spread the stories like the one about how my brother’s girlfriend was such a mean vindictive brat that her pet turtle ran away from home and how my brother went out in the middle of the night to look for it and stepped on it by accident.
Me and Doug are both older and wiser now ( well, that’s HALF true ), Cheeto La Frito is patient, and thoughtful and Cheeto La Frito has learned that male pattern baldness runs in our family.
I am so ready for this Little Brother
Everyone knows Cheeto La Frito shows no Mercy- and if they didn’t before…
My Grandma Ginger was really into songs from the Big Band Era.
This is my second Christmas in my 44 years of life without her.
Who knows- maybe this year I’ll sing and play it for my nieces.
We’ll see.
Anyway.
This song
is dedicated to my Grandma Ginger
Pennsylvania 6-5000 is said to be the oldest continuing phone number in New York City, New York. It belongs to the Hotel Pennsylvania and has been in continuous use since 1919.[1] The telephone number is based on the old telephone exchange name system. The first two letters “PE” in PE6-5000 stand for the rotary dial numbers 7 and 3, making the number (with Manhattan’s area code) +1 (212) 736-5000.
I got my shoes shined up
I got my hair slicked down
‘Cause baby I wanna hit the town
Call me – Pennsylvania 6-5000
I’m gonna shake you up (all night)
Rock you all night long (all right)
Baby you got something
Goin’ on
Call me – Pennsylvania 6-5000
Write it down,in your book
On your wall,oh baby just call
Pennsylvania 6-5000
You got the look I like(oh yeah)
Come on and show it off
Whatever your doin’ blow it off
Call me – Pennsylvania 6-5000
You know I just got paid
I got my hot rod wheels
So if you wanna find out how it feels
Call me – Pennsylvania 6-5000
Write it down,in your book
On your wall,oh baby just call
Pennsylvania 6-5000
In your room,in your bed
Keep it in your head,oh baby just call
Pensylvannia 6-5000
Hey oh(hey oh)
Hey oh(hey oh)
Na na na na(na na na na)
Pensylvania 6-5-0-0-0
Write it down,in your book
On your wall,oh baby just call
Pensylvania 6-5000
In your room,in your bed
Keep it in your head,oh baby just call
Pennsylvania 6-5000
Pennsylvania 6-5-0-0-0
Irregular Bones 
