On This Day. . .

On this day. . .

A cold day some 37 yares ago. . .

Mama Jones laid down and gave birth to Baby Girl Jones. . .

Mama Jones breathed a sigh of relief, and said… "Let’s name this here baby. . .CELIE"

Papa Jones frowned and adjusted his dashiki.

"No now, Mama Jones. Let’s name her. . ."

*Papa Jones frantically flipping through the pages of his book of Swahili names*

“Uh, Let’s name her. . ."

TAYARI meaning “I am prepared”

And he held her up to the sky, like Omoro Kinte held up Kunta Kinte in the Epic saga Roots, and. . .

A Nurse angrily taps on Papa Jones' shoulder. He turns around.

“Now Mr. Jones... You can’t have that baby out here on this hospital lawn like that in this cold air. And it’s against hospital regulations to take the baby out of the hospital without being properly checked out... Now if I have to keep telling you this, I'm calling the authorities..."

LOL!!!!

Ha, ha… Had to get funny one last time before the end of your birthday week, Tayari!”

LOL!!

Happy Bithday Tayari…

*Oldgirl does the Happy dance*

My oh my… This has been a most fascinating week at the House of LadyLee.

“Tayari shrines” up all over the house. Fascinating Poetry and Short Story readings.

Party people all over the house, crowded shoulder to shoulder, screaming...

"Ain't no party like a LadyLee party, cuz a LadyLee Party don't STOP!"

I am plum tuckered out!! It has been a party indeed...

But, I am her #1 fan.

Yes indeed. I am.

And a number #1 fan must give a “gift” fitting for the #1 Lurker on the LadyLee blog: "The Queen of Lurk City", a.k.a. "Racer X" a.k.a. "Miss Celie".

For Miss Celie scratches out my head when I was ailing has done much to help out LadyLee.

Racer X has done much to keep SpeedRacer on the right path.

For that, I am grateful.

So I thought about what kind of “gift” I could give her.

I am a strange Oldgirl. I don’t like to shop.

I am frugal. But it has to be something terribly expensive... on the sentimental tip.

Something fit for a Diva.

What does one give a writin’ Diva for her birthday?

I am not giving her a book. Nope. I can pretty much guarantee she and I DO NOT read the same books.

It has to be something a bit unique… ya know.

I have A LOT of hobbies and interests that people don’t know about. (My family is extremely artsy.) I have “mentors” in all of these areas. This summer, I discussed a little project with my friend/coworker/“mentor” Cowgirl Cre. She gave her guarded “approval”.

Cowgirl Cre raised her eyebrows and stared me down. . . not even pausing to blink. . .

And spoke her usual words of wisdom...

“Girl, I tried that a couple of times.”
“Ain’t trying to discourage you, but…”
“Hope you work that out LadyLee!”
“You better than me, hon!”

And my favorite word of wisdom:

“That there is MORE than a notion!”

No, teacher… I can do it. I KNOW I can,” I said defiantly in August. “And my deadline is November 15th. That gives me plenty of time to think and plan. I just have to track down the supplies."

*Cowgirl Cre shakes her head and walks away*

So I sat down, and began the journey. Sat on the front porch in a rocking chair to do it...

(N'awl... I don't even have a rocking chair. I did it while sitting on the sofa, watching my football games and Law and Order marathons.)

I missed my deadline by a week, but, uh…

I made the ultimate gift. (Well, ultimate according to me.)

An Original Oldgirl Production (with the help of a pattern of course).



Took me 130 hours. But I did it!!

*LadyLee throws the smokin’ crochet needle to the floor. It BURSTS into flames then explodes into a million pieces*

One thing about me: I like homemade gifts, period. Something I can put my time, effort, and heart into. I like to give a gift that someone will keep and cherish. When I can give something like that? Man oh man… I feel like I’ve accomplished something. I've given a good gift.

And this afghan, which I have named “The Tayari”, is just that.

So Miss Celie got it in the mail on Wednesday.

And she likes it. It matches everything in her crib. Go figure!



You look all comfy, girl!

There are some FUNNY incidents surrounding the creation of “The Tayari”… including my cat Oscar-Tyrone's bizarre guard and candle light vigil over the darn thing.


I will talk about that next week. I had about 8 posts for Tayari’s birthday week, but only made it through 5 (I have been a little busy this week, and I can't stand double posting). But the festivities will spill over into next week… gotta get those posts up AND get back to my normal posts.

I gotta talk about our purse convo and the whole fallout behind that.

And you KNOW I have to anoint Tayari with her Original Oldgirl status, too.

Stay tuned for “The After Party” festivities. This is cool because I can mix it all in with my regular posts...

“The Curse of the Purse”
“The Tale of the Afghan: “The Tayari”.
“Taya.ri Jones: The Original Oldgirl.”

But for now…

Miss Celie. Racer X. Queen of Lurk City. Tayari.

I wish you a very Happy Birthday.

Thanks for being an incredible mentor. And I've been pleasantly suprised to find you are a "normal" homegirl.

I will always be your #1 fan and your #1 self-appointed bootleg "work for free" PR chick.

May your 37th year be your best year yet…

Because we all know the best is yet to come.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

~From the Oldgirl~