I know, I know, way too long between posts. Half-written post ideas scribbled into notebooks and doodled on scratch paper at work, hastily stashed in my purse. A list mapping out a succession of good post ideas...somewhere.

So...recommit and go on from here...

A lot has happened and is still happening in the South. A massive oil spill in the Gulf. Flooding in Tennessee. Barry Hannah and Bobby Charles have passed away recently. The economy keeps on squeezing the indie artists and small literary presses and venues and cafes that make this place something besides just more clusters of big-box stores along the highway. It's hard not to feel picked on. Or at least put upon.

Well, when so many big things aren't looking so great, you just have to look to the littler things that are still good. The wildflowers, especially Texas' beloved bluebonnets, have bloomed more spectacularly than in the past decade. Treme is a great new show on HBO about post-Katrina New Orleans, fabulously written. Twisted South Magazine is launching an ambitious debut and looks very promising. After 13 years of hard work and many obstacles, my friend's Buck Owens bio book is finally being released. A talented musician friend is kicking ass on tour with his great new CD. It's almost time to harvest real by-god garden tomatoes. One of my freelance clients actually just paid his outstanding invoice balance. The trees are waving all around outside in that wild cool wind right before a good rain. And I'm off work for a week and a half to get stuff like this unstuck from the back burner. Stay tuned, y'all.