Thread Drift

[salsabike]

Before I met Mr. Salsa, I spent seven years with a guy who turned out to be your basic liar, cheater, etc. I ended that relationship just before I met Mr. Salsa, fall of ‘85. Was looking forward to a year or so of being totally alone before even thinking about any guy seriously, when I met Mr. Salsa and the sparks flew, much against our wills. On Christmas Eve the seven-year guy stopped by and gave me a present (he never could let his exes go—liked to hang on to everyone). Three hours later, Mr. Salsa stopped by and gave me a present. After he left, I cried out of sheer confusion, and then I got mad and said, “OK. I don’t know what either of YOU guys are doing, but I AM GOING TO GO TO JAPAN THIS SUMMER, SO HAHA.” ---a place I’d always wanted to go. I did, too. Went by myself, traveled around for five weeks, climbed Mt. Fuji alone, had many adventures. The day after I came down the mountain I went back to Kyoto and spent the day buying friends and relatives presents at the Kyoto Handicraft Center. That’s where I saw the wedding kimono. Didn’t have much money in those days, so I obsessed over the kimono for several hours before I finally gave in and bought it. It’s lived on the wall of wherever I’ve lived ever since.

I did use the wedding kimono for some professionally done, "sensuous" photos I sent to Mr. Salsa the following summer (he was tugboating in Alaska for six months at a time). We both fondly remember those pictures. But the wedding kimono is so huge and heavy, it never seemed like a fun wedding dress idea. When we did get married in ’91, I had had to quit ballet (fibromyalgia) and had gained a lot of weight (medication for said fibromyalgia). I knew I would either have to get very brave and buy something very colorful, or I would revert to the urge to cut a hole in a dark-colored sheet and just stick my head through it. So I bought a tropical print, sequined and beaded sort of thing from Nordstroms to get married in.

After I became a weaver and took some color classes in the late 90s, I got brave enough to mess with wall colors. We painted one wall in the living room the dark blue that you saw in the pic, and that’s where the kimono lived until this house remodel started. It will once again get a blue wall in the ochre living room, when everything’s done, as long as they’ll let me out of debtor’s prison long enough to hang it up, of course.

That photo of Rousillon—we are actually thinking of painting the entryway that green color of the shutters, with ochre trim; then you would walk from there into the ochre living room with the blue wall.

Nanci, Addy sounds as entertaining as I expected. But poor hungry girl. And good for Choco to have done his shed and eaten.

What is the #1 snake you want?