ChrisandDave.com     

Not that simply looking at the site anyone would be able to tell I've been working on updating the backend for the past day, but I have.  We're finally running on an updated version of Joomla, which should allow for some interesting new things.  All this comes with a renewed 'vision'... no, not of the Virgin Mary, although I've been known to have those too.... but the love affair with Facebook has become slightly sour, so it's time to reinvest in our little site here.

Now all I have to do is get crackin' on some of that work I should have been doing.

Hmmmm.

We've all seen them, and we've all felt the inexorable pull to stop and browse, perhaps even purchase one... the black velvet painting.  The draw is only stronger if there is a tasteful selection displayed at an abandoned gas station or vacant lot.  To many, the velvet painting screams "MIDDLE AMERICA" at its worst, but in all actuality the practice of painting on velvet dates back long before there was that dirty underbelly of american pop culture.

In Black Velvet Artist  (Running Press, Philadelphia, 2003) Pamela Liflandera offers a brief history of the  craft.  She notes that "The birthplace of black velvet paintings can be traced to ancient Kashmir, which is considered to be the fabric's original homeland. These paintings were religious in nature, portraying the iconic artwork of the Caucasus region by Russian Orthodox priests." She goes on to report that Marco Polo and others introduced the West to this art form, and that some of these early works still hang in the Vatican.  (Get OUT!)  Liflander also details the life of Edgar Leeteg (1904–1953), "the father of American black velvet kitsch," whose "raucous and bawdy" life was previously captured by James Michener in Rascals in Paradise (1957).

It was a simple plan:  get married. 

A lot of people do it.  Most of our friends have done it.  Some of my siblings have done it multiple times.  It's a 'cornerstone' of our society, something so simple yet vitally important to so many.  Well, perhaps it's not all that simple.  And it's definitely not that simple when you are us.  Having to wait until it was actually LEGAL to do so kind of put a damper on the act for many, many years. 

So in the spring of this year when California began allowing same sex marriages we thought, 'Hmmmmm.'  (Massachusetts had allowed for marriages to that point, but you had to be a resident of the state to do so.  That has recently changed.) 

The threat of it all being overturned this November still hangs over our heads but at least for now we're 'equal not separate.'

But WAIT!  There's more! 

This year's Turkey Sandwich Party set a new standard in 'maximum capacity' for our apartment.  Yes, it was bigger and better than any party we've had in the past, including the cassoulet fests and the themed Christmas parties.  (I still liked the Moroccan party the best)  Seventy people, thirty bottles of wine, three 17 lb turkeys, four cases of beer and cider, persimmon pudding, curry-poofs, all the standards and a lot more brought by all the guests contributed to a most enjoyable time.

Here are a few 'memorable moments', enjoy.