Coming up for air

After a brief struggle with cancer, my beloved Grams, died on Monday morning at my sister's home surrounded by three generations of her family. Legally blind and survivor of two strokes and a pair of heart attack; she was a testment to tenacity. The cancer that had long gone undetected was the final straw. Those of you who spent anytime with my Grams knew she was a character. Funny and fiesty, generous of spirit. Often a guest at my parties, she had everyone laughing. Sometimes she had little gifts for my friends. She always made our rag tag bunch feel welcome. She had a story for everything. Tales of growing up in Brooklyn, going to dances, riding the CycIone. I especially loved the story about how she met my grandfather in Central Park during World War II. He liked the wiggle in her walk, whistled at her and called her over. Always a flirt, she went to him and they stayed together for 51 years. She taught me everything I know about generosity, unconditional love and how to flirt. She's instilled in me a love for big bands, old movies, and potato chips with onion dip. I'm going to miss her like hell. A memorial visitation service service will be held Friday. There is alot to do to prepare for the memorial. I can't believe how fast the past few days have gone by. I'm working on a slideshow of photos of her. A good portion of yesterday was spent copying old photos. I am so glad I bought that macro lens and never bothered to use before. I still have to upload and prep them. An outfit had to be prepared. I've decided to wear something I already have. Trying on dresses doesn't interest me right now. I've got some fancy grey pants with black flocking that I'll pair with a black tank and silk three quarter length jacket. I wore this to a rehearsal dinner last year and it looked good. Today disappeared on me somehow. I took my first shower since Sunday and made sure it was very hot and very long. Sweets came home for lunch. We had waffles and talked about the future. On my own again for the past four hours, I've managed to do two loads of laundry, reorganize the candy jar, run the dishwasher, sweep out the kitchen, hall and bath, rehang a birdfeeder that a squirrel must have knocked down, put away the set of pots from my Grams' house that have been sitting on my kitchen chairs for the past two months, got my thank you card supply in order to send to all the people sending me kind thoughts right now, made an appointment with my accountant to prepare my taxes and placed an order for plants. Wow. That's actually alot of stuff. While doing all this I listened to the soundtrack for Hedwig and the Angry Inch and some Teena Marie. The duet "Fire and Desire" with Rick James in one of my favorites, so I played it twice, singing both parts. Loudly. After taking a little email/blog break there is plenty more to do. The rest of the house needs attention. Family and friends will be here over the weekend. I don't want them to know I'm a total slob. My email held one gem today. V2 Records sent out the word The Raconteurs first video "Steady, As She Goes,"for is out. Watch it here. There are also some free downloads on the V2 site for songs by Josh Ritter and other stuff like Blanche and Brendan Benson videos. The Raconteurs have a website that looks lke it was designed in DOS and appears to be not operating except for a clock. Hmm. Perhaps Jack White is raging against technology again. Their Myspace profile is a tad more flushed out. I'm seriously excited about this band. It's like putting all your favorite flavors together. The Neopolitan ice cream of rock, if you will. There is the strawberry sweetness of pop rocker, Brendan Benson, the complex chocolately rhythm section of Lil' Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler and the exotic vanilla note provided by Jack White. I'd like some now, please.