It’s not everyday you get the chance to meet history, but last week at The Moth Mainstage in Boston, I shared a stage with Rick Carrier, a 90-year-old WWII veteran. Selected to close the show, he stood at the microphone in his uniform, now decorated with endless medals, and started to tell his story.
The Moth Mainstage
Coming Clean
My apologies. I have been home only 10 days in the last five weeks, which is why I have been absent from my weekly blogs. Had I been more organized, perhaps I could have written a post or two, but alas, it was all I could do to make sure I had my phone charged and clean underwear.
My travels took me to Dublin for the last leg of The Moth’s European invasion, New York City, Nashville, Little Rock, Tampa, and finally Ocala, Florida for my niece’s wedding. Every trip except the last involved performing or other creative endeavors, and every stop featured food. Lots and lots of food.
In Ireland, at dinner with dear friends, we had a sumptuous meal followed by dessert — a lovely ice cream with fruit — where guests actually poured cream on their ice cream. Ireland is the land of cream and butter and then more cream and more butter, which you smear all over your bread (and there is so much bread) that you eat right before you eat a tasty baked good in a long line of tasty baked goods (e.g., strawberry and rhubarb tart, Irish whiskey cake). And New York is New York — delicacies are everywhere and I sampled them all. In Nashville, I ate my weight in buttermilk pie, shrimp and grits, and pimento cheese spread with tomato jam, delighting in the three essential Southern food groups — lard, sugar, and salt. In Little Rock, I was a bit more constrained because I was performing (if you don’t count the pork tacos). But in Tampa and Ocala, I celebrated my hometown and my niece’s wedding with gusto. Luckily, Spanx have a little give.
Back home in NH, I am now on Day 3 of a 21-Day Purification Program. I’ve been wanting to do a cleanse for months and my five-week culinary bacchanal pushed me over the edge. While it’s a big commitment — primarily vegetables and fruit for three weeks — I’ve done several cleanses before and I know what awaits: restored energy, clearer thinking, and jeans that fit. Just in time for the holidays. Wish me luck.
*****
Please Help Me Build My Online Audience!
- Share this blog with your friends — just use the icons below.
- Leave a comment. Feedback is great.
- Want to receive these blogs in your email inbox? Please register at the top right of this page. While you’re there, you can like my artist’s Facebook page and follow me on Twitter.
- Spread the word — your voice is invaluable in bringing my work to new audiences.
- Thanks for your support!
You Know You’re In Trouble When…
I woke up this morning to -8 degrees. AGAIN. As everyone knows, this winter has been brutal, particularly for this displaced Florida girl whose thermostat, as my dear friend Carroll says, is set to orchid. Here, alone in my studio in the NH woods, I knew I was in trouble when I started to relate to Jack Nicholson’s character in The Shining, where he types over and over “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” except mine would say, “All cold and no warm makes Tricia very, very hostile.”
From the Stage to the Page
Lucky for me, I was asked by The Moth to help them promote their bestselling new book, The Moth: 50 True Stories at Boston’s Trident Bookstore last week. There were about 100 people in the sold-out venue, with 150 more people on the waiting list. The art of storytelling just keeps getting more popular and The Moth is leading the charge. [Read more…] about From the Stage to the Page