Here is yet another (really nice) photo of The Fabulous Heftones‘ performance on stage in NYC last Friday (poke around and find four photos of Mad Tea Party in the same photoset while you are there… our photo is number 18 of 19). We are also pictured here .

This guy really got us looking fine. And yes, we really are for real and we really are happy and in love and we sing songs about love and happiness for the most part. And why not? Love is the most real thing we could possibly sing about, in my opinion. It’s more universal, that feeling of love, or the longing for it or the wishing it would return… more than about any other emotion a human might feel. Even if it might not be the state of your life at the moment, it rings true on some level.

What a life I lead! I have been counting my blessings since before I left to teach in Dallas, and I haven’t stopped yet with all the New York experiences I haven’t yet fully processed. How did I get here? I had more challenges than happiness in my life until I was in my early 30’s. Now I’m 48 and I guess I knew other people were this happy, but I didn’t imagine it would happen to me.

The secret to happiness, of course, is to notice the small things. To celebrate a cup of tea, a piece of chocolate or a good olive, the giggle of a child, a sunbeam, chance encounters with good people. If you wait for big things to happen before you are happy, you will surely wait a long time. In my case, April 2007 has brought two very big things (teaching at Dallas-Ft. Worth Fiberfest and singing in New York City at NYUkefest). Today my feelings of gratitude are big along with those experiences.

OK, I’m off to process more of my own photos for you…

On Wednesday we got up earlier than we wanted to, we dropped off my car at the shop and got on the road to go to NYC. It was raining. It kept raining nearly the whole way there. That made it slow going but we enjoyed one another’s company, and good music in the car.

When we arrived in NYC just before 10pm, we decided to drive through Manhattan so that we could just see the city in the dark. Instead of going directly to the parking garage, we checked in to the hotel and took all our luggage/instruments in, then headed out to find some food.

We found a parking spot on the street. We walked a bit and found a Whole Foods grocery (organic food) that was huge. I mean, a wide city block and two stories high. Huge. I just checked the Whole Foods website and it seems we probably were at the Bowery location at Houston and Bowery, near 2nd Avenue and 1st Street.

I love Whole Foods. They have a deli with prepared items which are adventurous and tasty, and they list all the ingredients where you can just read them through the glass without having to ask and ask and ask. For someone like me, that is a big gift in unfamiliar surroundings.

I ended up with salmon and two vegetable dishes, Brian got duck and two veggies. The meal was gourmet but there we sat on the balcony eating it with plastic forks. I was grateful to have food I knew would work out for me on the first day there. It was really tasty, too.

Photos today are street scenes as we made our way from the tunnel to the hotel, and me on the balcony of Whole Foods market. Notice the sign for Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in that last photo.

Article in “Time Out New York” which came out April 26:

Plucked from obscurity

Ukefest movie from Robert Hultman (Sweden) with Fabulous Heftones, Alli Bee and Rufus from the UK, etc. singing in lobby of theatre (unscheduled music between dinner break and evening concert):

Shine On Harvest Moon

One of the Swedish attendees took a great photo of us with one of our British friends, just outside the entry to the Theatre for the New City:

http://www.jukka.eu/jukkalele/NYUF2007/pages/DSC_0066_s.html

Craig Robertson posted a blog about the show we were in, on Ukulelia (this one really pleases me… thanks for that peek, Craig):

http://ukulelia.com/2007/05/backstage.html

Lucky me, Greg at Comp USA figured out a fix for my computer problem. It cost about 10% of what I probably would have spent if I had to buy a new laptop… never mind the hassles and delays of getting used to the layout of a new machine. I’m very happy to have my own old machine back!

Now I have hundreds of photos to download and process, and much to write about our New York musical experience. It was absolutely incredible, intense but comfortable at the same time. Great folks, uke fans are!

We got home at 2am, it was a good trip. We got almost enough sleep last night and there is much to pull together today.

My car is fixed, cha ching goes the cash register. It could have cost much more so I am trying to stay in the attitude of gratitude for that. It’s very good to have the funds needed to fix it.

My computer is also broken, it gave up the ghost two nights ago which is why you did not hear from me recently. I guess I need to buy a new laptop (mine is 4.5 years old), more cha ching there.

I am not excited to spend my first day home shopping online for a laptop. I’m glad Brian has a machine I can use while he is at work. I’m glad again that I have some resources to buy one if need be.

New York makes me happy. We met so many friends and we had so much fun, so much good music, good food, good company!

I took hundreds of photos, almost 400 on one camera and we had 3 cameras with us. Once I figure out how to edit photos on Brian’s computer I’ll give you some of those and a true travelogue. For now, know we’re happy and safe. I’m off to go pick up my car now… more later.