The Brits…Vol 1:

            This being the 4 th of July week, I thought it might be a good time to talk about that bunch we broke away from. There’s been a poor excuse at humor going around on Facebook the last few weeks poking fun at the UK. When we were there some time ago, they had every reason in the world to poke fun at me…mostly because of my driving, but I gave them ample cause.

            We flew into Gatwick from Frankfort. The lovely Avon and I have never traveled in a pack, with a tour group, we always go like a pair of lone wolves… if a pair could be lone anything. Anyway, we got on a double decker bus that was to take us to King’s Cross, where our hotel was located. The bus dropped us off at a bus station, and we had to find the hotel on our own. Fair enough, I just hailed one of those little black taxies, told the man where we wanted to go, and he said he knew where it was.

            He drove around the block and dropped us at the King’s Cross Hotel, about 50 yards from the station as the crow flies. I didn’t know anything about their money, so it didn’t mean anything when he told me the fair. I had a pocket full of British coins, so I held out 3 or 4 and asked if that would cover it. He said, “Very good, Govnah”, unloaded our luggage, and left. I later found out that I’d paid him $36 to take us around the block.

Books by Lou Bradshaw available on Amazon Kindle

 A Fine Kettle of Fish – Hickory Jack – Blue – Ace High – Blue Norther, and soon - Cain

Visit me on Facebook Lou Bradshaw Artist – Author or www.facebook.com/loubradshawarts

Face Flex:

            The other day Avon looked at me and asked me what was wrong.  “Nothing.” I said. Of course, she wasn’t buying any of that, so she kept after me trying to get an answer. My answer remained the same, “Nothing.” How many times over the past 49 years had the shoe been on the other foot and I would hear, “Nothing.” Sweet revenge – I loved it.

            Actually, there was nothing wrong. She had just caught me practicing my scowl; I use it so seldom that I forget how to do it.

Books by Lou Bradshaw available on Amazon Kindle

 A Fine Kettle of Fish – Hickory Jack – Blue – Ace High…and now… Blue Norther

Visit me on Facebook Lou Bradshaw Artist – Author or www.facebook.com/loubradshawarts

Food:

            Since I retired, I have done most of the cooking in our house. There’s nothing fancy, it’s generally just healthy and simple. The lovely Avon doesn’t really enjoy cooking and I don’t really mind it. She plans the menu and I execute it, usually without disaster. The upside to this arrangement, is that she does the clean up. I haven’t washed a plate or a pot in nearly 8 years.

            Before we both retired, we had a system of divided areas of expertise. She would do what she did well, and I would handle my part. In other words, she took care if the microwave and I managed the can opener.

            This system works for us and it works well, but she never lets me make a casserole. I love casseroles and would have one every night if I could. But… she knows that I will deviate from the recipe. No matter what is called for or what ingredients are listed, I’m going to put twice as much meat and cheese and half as much of the other stuff as is called for.  

Books by Lou Bradshaw available on Amazon Kindle

 A Fine Kettle of Fish – Hickory Jack – Blue – Ace High…and now… Blue Norther

Visit me on Facebook Lou Bradshaw Artist – Author or www.facebook.com/loubradshawarts

Don’t Know if I Like This:

A few years ago, while out in Cody, Wyoming, I met a fella of Shoshone decent. We sat and talked a bit and he told me of growing up on the reservation, which was shared by the Cheyenne and a Shoshone minority. The Cheyenne looked down on the Shoshone, saying that they shouldn’t be on the reservation because their blood lines were so diluted. This went on for years with barbs being tossed by the majority Cheyenne people.

Finally, in the heat of one of those sessions, one old Shoshone stood up and said, “The only reason your blood lines aren’t thinned is because Cheyenne women are so ugly, that even the white men won’t have them.”

We both laughed, but I think he was laughing harder.

Books by Lou Bradshaw available on Amazon Kindle

 A Fine Kettle of Fish – Hickory Jack – Blue – Ace High…and now… Blue Norther

Visit me on Facebook Lou Bradshaw Artist – Author or www.facebook.com/loubradshawarts

How I start my day: 

            The other morning shortly after 5:00 am with coffee cup in hand I opened the garage side door to assess the morning and sort of sniff things out. When I did the light fell on a white tailed doe not 10 feet from me. She froze for an instant then launched into the darkness and was gone; I could hear the thumping of her little hooves for a second then I heard her going through the cedars. It was a good morning. My coffee was cold before I remembered what I had in my hand. For those who wonder why I choose to live in this part of the country there’s your answer. Things like that just don’t happen in New York City. And besides that, I'd never learn the language.

Books by Lou Bradshaw available on Amazon Kindle

 A Fine Kettle of Fish – Hickory Jack – Blue – Ace High…and now… Blue Norther

Visit me on Facebook Lou Bradshaw Artist – Author or www.facebook.com/loubradshawarts

 Did you know?

            Did you know that there is no blue pigment color used in the animal world? That’s right, the color in a blue bird, or a blue eye is created by light colors not pigments. A blue jay in low light will turn a bluish gray, and if you look at a blue eye in the dark… there’s nothing to be seen.  Folks will ask what about a blue heeler dog or a blue roan horse? They’re made up of a mixture of gray, white, and black hairs blended into a blur by your eye to make it look sort of blue. 

            But don’t take my word for it, even though, I’ve devoted several hours of study and research to this over the last 30 or 40 years. I’m still looking for any sign of pigment blue in any animal. If I should find something, I’ll be the first to know… you’ll be the second.

Oh by the way, that little blue bird in the cartoon below, really is blue because he’s painted.

Books by Lou Bradshaw available on Amazon Kindle

 A Fine Kettle of Fish – Hickory Jack – Blue – Ace High…and now… Blue Norther

Visit me on Facebook Lou Bradshaw Artist – Author or www.facebook.com/loubradshawarts

What’s in a name? 

            Johnny Cash had a huge hit record called a Boy named Sue, in which he lamented the problems of a name like that. Well, I’m here to tell you life ain’t easy for a boy named Lou either. For one thing you start out with the dreadful name of Louis, which is what every relative you’ve ever known will call by you for the rest or your life. Once you start school the kids will call you Louie, which is okay for a little kid, but no one will ever take a Louie seriously. My middle initial is E. and with every substitute teacher I could just plan on winding up in the principals office because she would invariably run Louis and E together and make it Louise. Then just like with Johnny Cash’s song the fight would start when someone laughed.

Eventually you survive your school years and start work only to find that Louie is not well received in business meetings or boardrooms, so you have to reinvent yourself all over again and that’s how you become a Lou. In the span of my life I have also been called Lucifer, Loopie Loo, Lucy, Loubee, Luther, Lois, Loo (referring to an English rest room), Lu Lu and Loose Change all of which I bore with a smile because if they didn’t like me they wouldn’t abuse me. For the record, no one takes a Lou very seriously either – I don’t.

Books by Lou Bradshaw available on Amazon Kindle

 A Fine Kettle of Fish – Hickory Jack – Blue – Ace High…and now… Blue Norther

Visit me on Facebook Lou Bradshaw Artist – Author or www.facebook.com/loubradshawarts