Anyone who has traveled to New Orleans knows of its rich history and heritage. Heck, even if you haven’t visited NOLA, you probably have heard and seen a lot about it. New Orleans is well known for unique food (creole), music (jazz) festivals and parades (Mardi Gras and many others).
In one of my more recent trips to the city this past April, I noticed the beaded necklaces. It seemed to be an important part of a visit to New Orleans to be walking the crowded streets with several necklaces around your neck and a drink in your hand. Did I want beads? Did I need beads? How do I get them? Well I did a little bit of research over coffee and beignets at Café Du Monde.
Here’s what I learned about the tradition of “earning” beads:
During Mardi Gras and other parades, social groups (called Krewes) ride the parade route in very large, decorated floats. Most of the floats are 2-tiered, 16 to 18’ tall, and about 50 feet long. The Krewes on the floats throw candy, beads and trinkets to parade spectators. Beaded necklaces are by far the most frequent item thrown from a float. Catching a thrown item symbolizes good luck and joy!
Here are the best ways to “earn” beads:
Make eye contact with a Krewe member and say politely, “Throw me something mister” or “Throw me something lady” Most likely you will have to SCREAM politely…the music blasting from the floats is extremely LOUD!
Bring a child – children are favored for throws from Krewe members.
Buy them at a store – No parade? No problem. All the local stores have loads of beads for sale.
I discovered another way:
If you look up into the trees, you will see many beads growing at their source. Most are ripe and ready to pick and just a little bit of effort will bring rich rewards. If you don’t believe me, look at the close-up of the tree in the photo. You might have to zoom in, but you should be able to see the beads growing on the tree. You will need a ladder or a very tall friend, but the beads are there, they are organic and they are free! Getting them this way will still bring you joy and good luck, as long as you don’t fall off the ladder!
That is how you “earn” beads .
For those of you “Naughty Nellies” that thought I was going to tell you another way to acquire beads… I’ll have you know that it is mostly frowned upon (and still illegal) to “flash” for them.
I am probably not alone when I say that I am a dental chicken.
I am THAT person. I clench my fists, wiggle my foot nervously, and I tighten every muscle in my body into “fight-or-flight” mode. When I hear the dentist coming into the exam room (they always sneak up from behind) I imagine myself rolling sideways off the exam chair and sprinting towards the exit, ripping off the bib and throwing into the air like a glorious flag of freedom!
Who knows where the fear began? As a child who was told to stop squirming? As a teenager with braces? As a young adult with impacted wisdom teeth? I don’t know where it began, but it evolved from general fear to a real issue of delaying proper dental care. As a more-than-middle-aged-grown-up adult, I found it was nearly impossible to voluntarily drive myself to a scheduled torture session. The chicken inside me thought someone should be dragging me in kicking and screaming!
I suppose I thought if I ignored them long enough, my dental issues would go away…. But they didn’t.
Finally, my loving husband convinced me to visit HIS dentist. I was so reluctant, I was absolutely dreading it, and I began reliving every bad dental experience I’ve had in the past and projecting it into my future. Hubby drove me to the DNTL STUDIO (to make sure I didn’t drive myself to an undisclosed location) and he introduced me to the staff. From that moment on, I began to understand what a difference a good dentist can make.
Fast forward several years of excellent care.… My dentist is Dr. Amin. He is thoughtful, gentle and kind. He is perfectly suited to handle a dental chicken like myself, but he also does the same for normal people! Now I go to regular appointments without fear – something new after 60+ years. If I must go in for an emergency issue, I am still fearful, but I’m also confident that I will be treated with compassion (important) and all the up-to-date technology that modern dentistry has to offer (super important).
Everyone at the DNTL STUDIO is friendly, professional and caring. If you live in Southern California, PLEASE do yourself a favor and consider visiting them if you have a dental issue…..or better yet, go see them BEFORE you have an issue!
Fun Fact: Chickens don’t have teeth…..think about it.
If you read the blog last month, you already know that I’ve called attention to the acapella singing group called Home Free. I criticized them singing the wrong lyrics in the song, “Country Roads” (they sang “Blowin’ like a breeze” instead of singing the correct lyrics “Growin’ like a breeze”).
I called it a rookie mistake.
Yes…….I poked the bear.
There is some satisfaction for a ‘little guy’ like me to razz the ‘big guy”. It’s probably a little bit of envy,
and a little bit of spite….for instance, what’s so special about singing acapella?? Singing AND playing an instrument at the same time is TWICE as hard, isn’t it? Pfffft! They needed to get over themselves! I didn’t understand, with more than 6 million views, why no one seemed to notice that they sang it wrong.
So, while I was preparing my blog for this month, I was thinking I would write about another example where song lyrics were mysteriously changed over the years.. There was an odd change in the song “Goodbye Again” written by John Denver that didn’t make much sense. An early OFFICIAL John Denver songbook printed the words, “It seems a shame to leave you now, the day is soft and warm.” The words were actually: “It seems a shame to leave you now, the day is soft and warm.” What is the purpose of this change? The story in the song is about getting up and leaving someone at 5 in the morning….. why talk about the weather at that moment? Makes no sense, and I can clearly hear John singing, “Your lay so soft and warm”.
While I was pondering this….I got a phone call from a venue I was really looking forward to performing at. We had a date all set up in 2026, perfectly lined up with another good date, making travel easy and maximizing the profit margin. Well, it turns out that the venue made a mistake and booked another band (a REALLY popular band, they said, a band that’s hard to get, they said) and they bumped our engagement to 2027.
That band was HOME FREE.
Karma kicked my butt.
Here’s another really good version of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” performed by twin brothers Clint and Bob Moffat. Sounds like they got it right! With an astounding 46 million views…maybe the words of the song won’t be changed after all!
I’m gonna say, for Jim and I, MOST days are diamonds, but if you are familiar with the song John Denver recorded for RCA in 1981, you know that the song goes on to say, “Some days are stone.”
It would be absurd to think everything in life should be perfect and flawless (like a diamond). We do our best to make good plans and avoid as many problems as possible but….
Sometimes, life throws a big fat stone in our way!
Right now, we are in the middle of another cross-country road trip. This time our drive starts in California (our home) to Maryland, Pennsylvania, back West to Arizona, then Colorado, then back home to CA (whew!) When we get ready for these trips, we do everything possible to be fully prepared and anticipate any obstacle. We make detailed lists…everything is checked and double checked.
Off we go! June 16, 8:00 am… But our tally-ho suddenly turned into a tally-NO! 4 hours into our trip, driving through Havasu Lake (a balmy 113 degrees) when the air conditioner stopped working. We rolled the windows down and suffered. We stopped at an auto shop in Kingman, AZ, but our van is too big for his lift, so we went to the Ford dealer – they needed 2 days to work on it. We didn’t have 2 extra days; we HAD to get to where we were going….so we moved on.
Thankfully, with some midnight mechanics and a new compressor from Auto Zone, Jim was able to get the air conditioner working a little bit. The entire system eventually needs to be taken apart and flushed to get it to operate correctly, but Jim did the best he could do in hotel parking lots along the way….and we made it to our destinations on time. We sure appreciated the air-conditioned comfort of the beautiful theaters we performed in!
How did we ever survive without air conditioning? What is your experience in a car without such luxury? Share your experience in the comments!
Never say never is a term we all use when we are caught doing something we said we’d never do. Well, I got caught twice this month!
Never say never #1 is the fact that there is a black car sitting on my driveway. I am KNOWN for saying I’d never own a black car….but there it is, gleaming in the sunlight and soaking up the heat from the sun to temperatures that would cook a Christmas goose. Other than the heat, black cars show the most dirt and dust – so I prefer white cars (because I’m lazy).
Never say never #2 was my stubborn dislike to be TOLD I should have an electric car in California. I was determined NOT to have one just for the pure reason that I thought it was ridiculous to own an electric car in a place where electricity is very expensive and sometimes restricted in use during the hottest summer months.
So yes, makes sense that I am now a proud owner of a black EV……right??!!! I was perfectly happy with my white 2007 Pontiac but it wouldn’t pass the smog test – we tried everything – mechanics wouldn’t work on it, so we were forced to replace it. We were lucky to find a 2017 (old by EV standards – but it had a new battery) Chevrolet Bolt in a price range we could barely afford
There she sits, in the driveway next to Kirby2 (the van): A politically correct vehicle next to a non-politically correct vehicle – yin and yang – order and anarchy – cooperation and defiance. Our neighbors can’t quite figure us out and I can’t quite figure us out either.
The only thing that made this possible is also in the picture. If you look up, you will see (new) solar panels on our roof and these are what will make it all work. The van will be used for long distances and the car will be used for city driving. We are making lemonade out of lemons here, not solving any world issues.
Husband Jim and son Matthew are very optimistic about the economic advantage we will have with solar panels and an electric car. They are not as optimistic about dragging the dinosaur (me) out of the tar pits of the past.
I have a long way to go before feeling comfortable with the changes. What do you think? Do any of you have a good or bad experience with solar panels? What about an EV? Let me know in the comments below:
People STILL ask if Jim had ever met John Denver… it is one of our most frequently asked questions – so please forgive me for repeating an old story (originally posted in 2012 and again in 2021).
:
Jim and Anne Curry, 1978
As long as I’ve known Jim, I’ve known that the one person in the world he most wanted to meet was John Denver. It’s a common question we get at every one of our concerts, and we’ve met so many people and heard so many stories of how they met John and how nice he was to them. We wish we had a story to share!
Jim has never met John Denver, but not for the lack of trying.
The summer after Jim graduated from high school, he bought tickets to see a John Denver concert near his home in Houston, TX. Somehow he obtained a precious backstage pass….this was his chance to meet John! Jim went to the concert with a girlfriend and two other friends from high school. Being a gentleman, Jim handed the pass to his girlfriend and said, “We’ll take turns, you go first.”
But she didn’t return to share the backstage pass.
Jim and his two other friends found themselves waiting for her in the parking lot after the concert. They were an hour away from home, and they didn’t know if they should leave her there, or how they were going to explain to this girl’s parents that they lost her in Houston. After about a half hour, she finally returned to where they were waiting in the parking lot. She was overjoyed and full of stories about hanging out with John Denver and the entire band, and how nice everyone was, and what a wonderful time she had…..
Not too long after that Jim moved to California to resume a relationship with me (we had dated earlier, before Jim’s family moved to Texas). The rest is history, MY history. I kind of think it’s possible that if this girl had not been selfish, Jim might have been able to realize his dream to meet John Denver. But then again, he might have stayed with that girl in Texas instead of moving back to California and marrying me in 1979.
"It was an amazing evening. We have had many different performers at our conferences; The Beach Boys, Tony Bennett, Three Dog Night, America. Jim Curry ranks among these acts. I would book Jim and his band again in a heartbeat."
Daniel Young Corporate Function, Keystone, CO
"I have to tell you I don't know when we've enjoyed a show as much as we enjoyed yours. It just swept us away and we did not want it to end! You are all so gifted. And the music of John Denver speaks for itself. It touches the heart."
