Ive decided to not try to fill in the 3 year gap chronologically so I'll just blast off...

2/14/02 - 2/17/02--- Our little micro tour -- we played in Athens, Atlanta, Knoxville, and Asheville. The first two shows were with Jonathan Richman. It was great to see him again -- he's such a sweet guy and he's absolutely WONDERFUL on stage. Im so proud of him!!

The night before our first show I went to Athens to see my son Richard's band (Mother Jackson) play their first show. Richard graduated from high school in '99 and went to the University of Tennessee in Memphis for a year. However, when it was time to go back last fall I noticed he wasnt packing!! He didnt really want to go back--he wanted to start being a musician so I didnt try to talk him out of it.

Richard moved to Athens and it was awhile before he found someone to play with, but a few months ago he joined Mother Jackson. They played at a place called the Roadhouse and had a good crowd. As a surprise his brother Keith came from Atlanta and his brother Austen from Asheville. I was so happy for him -- he was really excited and I shed a few tears of happiness, too! However it was weird to see my "baby" on stage WITH A BEER ON HIS AMP!!!! I played one song with them -- a version of "Fired Up" which we (me and Mother Jackson) had recorded for a Village Voice CD . It will be released in April; has various artists doing songs about New York.

10/13/01 -- My son Austen had his first art show! It was at a place called Nucci's Space in Athens, Ga. Me and my son Keith and his girlfriend Melissa took over the "production" -- Austen is rather un-organized and a procrastinator (dont know where he got that from!) so we thought it would be a good idea to help him. Keith and Melissa had invitations and business cards printed; the three of us bought the food/beer; Melissa and I set up the food table and decorated it; Keith took care of preparing the food and helped Austen hang the artwork It went really well--about 150 people showed up and Austen was delighted. His friends were amazed -- even though most of them have been friends since teenhood and knew he was a good artist, they didnt realize how good he is and that he can draw more then just cartoon type drawings. He got lots of compliments and even made a few sales. Needless to say I was very proud of him and of course I had teary eyes. I AM too sentimental!!

10/18/01 -- My sister and I went to Kerry's for her baby shower. Kerry lives in Louisiana. We had left from Tampa (where my sister lives) so it was about a 10 hour drive. We stopped just west of Mobile and the next morning as we were heading across I-10 I started seeing signs for Casino's in Biloxi. Ive never been to a Casino, so we pulled off and spent two hours gambling!! I tried shooting craps but lost my two bucks! The rest of our time was spent at the slot machines (nickels only!!). I won quite a few times ( 2 nickels, 10 nickels, nothing big) but of course put them right back in the machine. We got to Kerry's at about 2 pm, had lunch, drove around to see the area, etc. The shower was on the 20th. Im not at all into that type of function, but of course I had to attend . It was fine and she got alot of nice presents. We spent 3 more nights there and then headed home.

11/21/01 -- My daugher Kerry called at 8 a.m. to say she was heading for the hospital to have her baby! Luckily my car was all packed -- I was going to go to my son Keiths for Thanksgiving and was prepared to head for Kerry's (in Louisiana) from Atlanta if she called. Anyway, I leapt in the car and arrived 8 hours later--2 minutes before they wheeled her away to have a c-section. Phew! So a half hour or so later I was a gramma. The baby's name is Holden and of course he's the sweetest baby ever (except for MY babies!). I had planned to stay with Kerry and her hubby for a week or so but wound up staying for three weeks. Holden has a cleft palate and had to stay in the hospital for about 12 days. I stayed so that I could take Kerry to the hospital to see him. He had to learn how to drink from a bottle -- baby's with this problem have a hard time because they cant get any suction going. However, they make a prosthesis palate and he had to learn to deal with it and Kerry had to learn how deal with it too! So we went to the hospital 4 or 5 times a day for feedings. But he's fine and doing well and will get the palate fixed in a couple of months. Meanwhile, I hadnt made any preparations for Christmas.

I got home Dec. 13th and was exhausted so our Christmas was much simpler then usual. In fact, it was rather nice! Two days after Christmas Kate and Austen and I went to Kerry's to see the baby. We stayed two nights and had a fine time. This may not sound like news to some of you, but sometime in January we had snow in Douglas!!!

5/5/00 -- My sister Margo and I went on little vacation. We headed for the northern part of Georgia with the idea that we'd just drive around with no plans. My sister likes to know where she's going to sleep when on the road (she wouldnt do well travelling with my band!), so I told her she could make a reservation for the first night but that after that we'd just stop when we wanted to. We had a great time and discovered that just about every little town has wonderful old houses. We were gone only for 5 days but it was a nice break and it was nice to spend time with her.