Dangerous Coats

Random Mixola

Sundown - Gordon Lightfoot

Fanfare for the Common Man - Michael Tilson Thomas

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - The Band

Up, Up and Away - Johnny Mathis 

Living a Boy's Adventure Tale - a-ha

Safe - Gabriel-Kane feat Pixie Lott

Loving Loving - Vera Sola

BLUE - Troye Sivan

Where Am I Going? - Barbra Streisand

Les Indes Galantes - Le Concert d'Astrée

Rain On Me - Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande

Locked Out of Heaven - Bruno Mars

The Shady Dame From Seville - Julie Andrews

- late Summer 2021

Last Seen

Friday night I caught the first two eps of this Apple TV series from Australia, starring the incredible Patrick Brammall, who I knew previously in Colin from Accounts. I hate that streaming networks are going back to releasing episodes weekly rather than a full drop so that we can binge. I resent it and it makes me not want to watch at all. Imagine my rage at 2AM when I was waiting for episode three to begin and realised I had to wait four whole days. I was livid! Anyway, ranting aside, the series hooked me right away and I am so looking forward to the next four episodes. 

My People!

27 May 2022

The Old Heart Beet Kitchen

Pre-COVID I used to love to visit Heart Beet Kitchen in Westmont. It was vegan and gluten free and beyond delicious. Once lockdown was lifted, they changed hands as well as renaming the place Goodbeet (how dumb is that?!) and I've never returned. The menu is still very similar but it appears that all the dishes went up five dollars in price. Insanity. In going through my photos, I found screenshots of the original menu. Maybe one day I'll try to make my own Coconut BLT - the yummiest sandwich of all time!

Apps & Salads

Brunch:

Entrees:

Smoothies:

Boatlift

It's so hard to believe that it's been two and a half decades. Today I rewatched a brilliant short film entitled Boatlift, narrated by Tom Hanks. It told of the ferries and boats that descended on Manhattan island and spirited people away from the fallen towers and the dust filled sky and transported them to safety. To see the images of boats, owned and operated individually, flock toward danger in order to help was so powerfully moving. It's impossible not to cry throughout the entire eleven plus minute film. The part that always makes me bawl is when Hanks says "...larger than the evacuation of Dunkirk in World War II, where 339,000 British and French soldiers were rescued over the course of nine days. On 9/11, nearly 500,000 civilians were rescued from Manhattan by boat. It took less than nine hours." It reminded me of how in the months following the attacks that people kept out their American flags all year round. They had bumper-stickers that read "These colors don't run." It felt like how the country is supposed to be - united. 

See You Later

More from Mel Odom

Statue of Liberty

Country of Desire

Night Flight

(kidnapped from Mel Odom's Instagram account: a13mel.odom)

Man or Bear

Last year I kept seeing posts on Instagram and hearing about a debate. It went like this: would you rather (as a woman) be alone in the forest with a man or a bear? When posed to a man it would be: would you rather your daughter be alone in the woods with a man or a bear? Not once did anyone online, that I read/saw, or the people I asked in real life, choose a man. 

These were some of the comments on posts about the debate that left me shuddering:

• If I survive the bear attack, I won't have to see the bear at family reunions.

• The worst thing the bear can do is kill me.

• The bear sees me as a human being.

• After what those men did to that monitor lizard, the bears are not safe with men either.

• The bear doesn't get enjoyment out of it.

• The bear didn't pretend to be my friend for months beforehand.

• No one will say that I liked the bear attack.

• No one will talk about the bear's "bright future".

• If the bear and the man both wanna hurt me and I scream loud enough, there's a better chance that the bear will actually run away.

• A bear wouldn't film it and send it to all of his friends.

• The men getting angry at this don't realise that there are fates worse than death.

Growing

Look at this GORGEOUS artwork by Barbara's lovely daughter Sophie. I am beyond impressed and wish I could see it in real life...

(Here's a link to Sophie's Instagram account.)

Fuselage Sorrows

Love Is All I Have - LP

From the Start - Laufey ¹ 

Waste Your Heart - Magnus Ferrell

Let 'Em In - Wings

I Knew It, I Knew You - Taylor Swift 

I Was Made For Lovin' You (orchestral version) - Yungblud

Maybe Not Tonight - Glen Hansard *

Devil Always Made Me Think Twice - Chris Stapleton

Wuthering Heights - Kate Bush

All I Wanted - Paramore ¹ 

Suffocation - Against Me!

The Wolf Is Getting Married - Sinéad O'Connor

Save Me - Kelly Osbourne

Don't Save Me - HAIM

Spirits in the Material World - The Police

Holding On - The War On Drugs

Tonight Is Forever - Liza Minnelli

Goodbye - Ozzy Osbourne

East Coasting - Charles Mingus

Hanging Out to Dry - Florence Road

Jane! - The Long Faces ¹ 

Hold Tight! - Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich

Working Man - Rush ¹ 

Midnight Rider - The Allman Brothers

Easy - Troye Sivan

Joker and the Thief - Wolfmother ¹ 

The Tear of the Year - Jackie Wilson

Il sole sorge ancora - MOTS

Dear Heart - Thin Lizzy ¹ 

De-Luxe - Lush

Way Down We Go - KALEO

The Payoff - Father John Misty 

Conscious Uncoupling - Pool Kids

Blue Blood - Foals

Dagger Through The Heart - Dolly Parton

Cigarettes in the Theatre - Two Door CInema Club

BDR - Chelsea Peretti w/ Kathleen Hanna, Ad-Rock, & Money Mark 

She Bangs the Drums - The Stone Roses

June - IDLES

Diane - Hüsker Dü

Fighter - Imanbek & LP

A Fragile Thing - The Cure

And I Love Her - Kurt Cobain ¹ 

 - Summer 2026 Playlist

*In mid June I was in a shop in Phoenixville and they had this song playing. I Shazamed it, chatted with the shop-lady about how gorgeous Glen Hansard's voice is and added it to my playlist. A month later he would be gone. 

¹ - These songs were introduced to me through Jackson.

Come See Me In The Good Light

When Andrea Gibson was ill and eventually passed, I kept seeing their name on Instagram and made a mental note to check them out. I finally have Apple TV for the month and watched the documentary Come See Me In The Good Light. I was so impressed with Andrea's resilience and especially the love they had with their wife, Megan Falley. Can't wait to check out both Andrea and Megan's writing!

The Dix by Coldwell

I'm going through all the photos stored on my Mac and it is seemingly endless. So many duplicates and screenshots. However, I loved coming across this sketch from June 2016 that she did of Daryl Dixon. So good!!

Barbara and Co. in Firenze

It took getting this postcard from Barbara to remind me to post the photos she Signaled me back in May when she and her lovely family traveled to Italy for a wedding.

P.S. No Airbnb any more - Sophie has moved in!

Hello Lisa!

We spent a week in Tuscany back in May - for the wedding of my niece and her Brazilian husband. It was absolutely fabulous! No complaints about our Summer; all is going well. Hope you're good too!

Barbara

Barbara and her charming partner, Kevin.

Draw Something

Back in 2016 I used to love to play Draw Something on my phone with pals. If memory serves you were also able to play with strangers and this drawing for the clue lipstick was so fabulous that I had to snap a screenshot.

Alan’s Place

Uncle Alan’s old house was so gorgeous and he always had cool stuff on his walls. I miss that place…

Will & Harper

I recently rewatched this doc, since I have Netflix for the month. The big takeaway once again was what a truly sweet man Will Ferrell is. He has never been one of my favourite comedians because he can be so over the top that it feels phony as hell, and there are few things in this world that I dislike as much as fakeness. In Will & Harper it is refreshing to see Ferrell being real as he embarks on a cross country road trip with former SNL writer and good pal, Harper Steele. There's some laughs, tears, and lots of touching moments between the two friends. This film was just as good the second time around. 

August 2026 Donations

Paws on Death Row

We’re a community of animal lovers, advocates, and big-hearted people working together to give shelter dogs the care, resources, and second chances they deserve.

At Paws on Death Row, our mission is simple: give animals facing uncertain futures the care, resources, and second chances they deserve. Through the generosity of donors across the country, we provide food, toys, bedding, and other essential supplies to shelters in need. We’ve also sponsored animals, helped cover life-saving medical care, and connected pets with loving forever homes.

While we’re making a difference today, we’re also building for tomorrow. We’ve begun construction on our sanctuary in Siler City, NC, creating a safe place where dogs in need can receive comfort, care, and the chance to heal.

Every animal deserves a second chance, and every act of kindness helps us get closer to a future where more shelter animals get the opportunity to find theirs.

Please join me in the Low Budget Philanthropy movement and help out your community and beyond in the simplest way - donating any amount to whatever charity or organisation that you care about!

Grounds at Night with the Kids

Last night, as an end of Summer outing, I grabbed Jax and Lucy and we went to Grounds for Sculpture from dusk til 9pm. These two are four years apart and this may be the last time the three of us do a long outing (I picked them up at 3 and didn't get them home til near 11) for a while. The difference between ten and fourteen is immense. Lucy still wants to play and be loud and silly and Jax is hitting full teenage years when life is at its hardest. I want these two to stay close and grow to be true pals, so I decided that we will keep our trinity outings to grabbing pizza or ice cream and not an eight hour day together. Jax was super sweet though and played tag with Lucy by her beloved snake. 

Dragon's Shrill in the Cosmic Void by Yuyu Yang 1991