LOL! When Jay dropped down from the sky, I almost lost it!  Is it just me or does it seem like they were trying to be Fresh Prince & Jazzy Jeff?

Often times I get emails and IMs from others asking questions about the Lifestyle.  Many are simple questions and others are quite complex.  I am not an expert on swinging but I have closing in on 8 years of experience.  I warn them that what I share comes from MY perspective on things and should never be taken as the end all or authority on the subject.

On the forums on swinger sites it is often hard to ask questions if you are new for fear of appearing less educated.  It also never fails that a question will launch a bunch of responses that turn into a free for all debate, mud slinging and the thread is usually hi-jacked and turned into something far from the original poster’s question.

With that in mind I’ve decided that I wanted to use this blog at times for a question/answer type format.  If you have a lifestyle question, or for that matter a question pertaining to me, why not ask? I will add my contact information to the sidebar of the blog but meanwhile, if you have a question, feel free to email me and ask!  I will of course keep your information private and just post your question with my answer as a blog entry.

AskJaz@yahoo.com

Looking forward to answering your questions!

Hugs & LONG, slow licks,

Jaz

Its Thursday I think. I gave up trying to keep track of the dates days ago, but now the days are going too! After my walk into town last night, a cooling beer and bottle of water at the Soleil de Minuit, I found I couldn’t get on to the internet anymore. Had they discovered me? I wondered. Well, no. Chab Touré the owner curator of Gallerie Carpe Diem and Dolo joined me and I heard that all the internet in the Business Quarter was down.

La Soleil de Minuit

Sylvie has contracted Paludisme – that’s Malaria. She went to a clinic in Bamako, where they pricked her finger and she was told she was positive. So she came back to Ségou last night on the “mad bus”; her words, not mine. She had some bad nights in Bamako feeling very ill, but she is on her feet, again, though I wonder whether she shouldn’t be resting. She just strolled in to the atelier and plans to go into town today to see a Doctor, then return to paint her new flat, up by the road. I’ve offered to go and help.. anything to stop her from making herself worse.

I’ve heard some new words, so amendments to brain needed. Banko is the red earth, Argile is the name for clay around here.
The delicious fonio breakfast Moussa gave me to eat last week sometime, is called Djuká
The delicious leaves I’ve been making tea from are called Kankaliba. It tastes very like Lime leaf tea, and is good for the digestion.

Showing your artwork is always a little nerve wracking, but it is good to hear other peoples opinions of it. Dolo looked at my work last night, in the semi dark atelier. “Super, congratulations, its tres tres bon, tres, tres fort!” A very positive response to the work id done since he was last here.

A large wooden sculpure by Dolo

I’ve been up since before dawn, preparing more backgrounds and finding new combinations for the work to work in. One of the latest boards has a more interesting imprint left behind worth framing. I’ve glued together, symmetrically, two similar looking, but opposite pages of the Wall street Journal, a bit like a squared off yin and yang symbol. Half can be read one way, half the other. I’ve then cut a big circle in it. (not easy without my glasses – I left them at Dolo’s last night after supper). This circle, I’ve stuck to a small white board. The remainder of this, I’ll use for the frame of the icy looking planet.

Early this morning a young woman from the Troaré compound repeatedly came to the well to draw water. You take off the galvanised tin sheet lid, and lower on a rope, the cut in half plastic Palm Oil container. We exchanged Bamanan hellos and then she talked to me in French, unusual for  woman around here, as its mostly the men in this village who speak French. She told me that her name was Aminatta, that she goes to college and that her baby had died just the other evening. I was sure that’s what she had said. I said I was sorry to hear that. All this was over the washing up. She helped me by getting more water, and we talked on. I wondered how she must feel, and wished to talk to her more about it, but my poor French failed me.
Mali unfortunately has a high death rate in children. The average life expectancy here is 40.When Sylvie called in later I told her about the conversation. She translated to Madou, who wasn’t aware of a death. He checked it and later told us that yes, she has lost her baby. The sick child was taken to the fathers village. He didn’t know what the child had died of, but suspected Malaria.

Another visit from Dolo, carting in the new boards id decided to buy. He very kindly said he’d arrange it and transport them for me. He had a better look at my work to. He clearly loves it. Saying how impressed he was at the thinking, the experimentation, how beautiful it all is, even the bits id put together this morning. He doesn’t know anyone else in the world working in this way. Nor do I. Its important to me that I am creating new methods and new work, it always has been. What I’ve done is not huge leap for man or woman kind, but a taking apart and putting back of the layers of basic painting. Using earth as a pigment, mixing it with water, creating a layer of pigment and then washing it away, or partially disturbing it. Watching the residue settle and holding it fast.

Later after helping Sylvie to decorate for a bit, Dolo and I went into town to the Gallerie Carpe Diem. We had an espresso each, and chatted to Katherine and Chab.

This guy can blow two trumpets

He left for a meeting elsewhere and I stayed to chat with them and to give them some images id taken at the Jazz event there. Katherine spotted other photos on my memory stick and so they saw my work photos too. We talked about lots of exciting possibilities for recycled art work in the future. Mali is such a good place to find inspirational beautifully made objects with recycled materials.

I drank my first glass of red wine since I came to Mali, (very good) and a lovely tall glass of Bissap. This is made with Hibiscus flowers, water and sugar, by a friend of Aisha’s. It has a really lovely pinky purple colour.

Gallerie Carpe Diem lit for concert

I walked back to Soleil de Minuit and chatted to ‘D’artagnion‘, the last remaining Musketeer in Segou. Herve and Gils have departed for now, but promise to be back by the festival. Adama ordered me a taxi. They wanted a staggering 1500CFAs. A toubab price. So I said I wouldn’t pay more than 1000 (500 is the price Alasanne asks) The taxi was brim full of large African women, but I managed to squeeze in on the back seat anyway. I said hello in Bamanan and they smiled and said hello back. We lostled and wobbled our way home.

Friday
I woke before the dawn again today, my head brimming with ideas, for big recycled material sculptures here in Mali, so had to scribble them down quick.

Having prepared the new boards yesterday, I decided to get on and do a mixing pit painting, while it was cool enough to do it. After gathering and sieving the dry Banko and wheel barrowing it back to the atelier, Madou’s shy younger brother arrived clearly expecting to help and started to pour in the water into the wheel barrow. No stop! I had to grab the wheelbarrow and move it before it became to heavy to handle. I needed to do the painting on the soft sandy ground, as the board is quite thin, and the concrete inside the atelier is uneven. Clearly he thought I was more than mad, when I started digging and moving sand under the board, and treading on it to see if it would bear my weight. Instead we poured the dry Banko into the centre of the sheet of ply, then all the other clays id mixed too. He added liberal dosed of water, and I stepped in to his surprise. He was really unable to grasp that I wanted to make the mix in the middle, and in the end I just let him do his own thing. He even started to wedge the clay, at the side of the board, then went off to do his own work, while I happily mushed all the clay and mud together with my feet. Then, at the moment of mud up to my knees, in walk Chab and Katherine!
I explained that this was an action painting, but with feet. And they looked around the atelier at my work while I cleaned up. Chab says he will come back to see how the work develops over the next few weeks.

Gardens on the banks of the River Niger

I caught a taxi into town this evening as I was too tired after cycling in earlier for a late breakfast and espresso. I love the word for lazy – Paraseuse, from the same root as parasitic. I found the Musketeers eating on the terrace of the poshest hotel in town, all in good spirits. Later that evening Chab was hosting their first concert at the Carpe Diem. Around 11, they started. They were made up of musicians from various bands, a trumpeter, a drummer, and two guitarists, one double Bassist. They had come together just for the experience of playing in Mali and at the Festival of the Desert. You might think the sound of Jazz blasting out at 11 in the evening, in the tranquil town, would be jarring, but it wasn’t. It felt perfectly right in this most contemporary of settings. The pieces, lingered and soared, the trumpeter keeping us aloft with romantic riffs, the bassist providing a funkiness, reminiscent of that wonderful album called Boulevard Saint Germaine. I lay on a mat on the courtyard floor, staring up to the stars, watching the bats fly over head, caressed by the music.

It was interesting to see one of the excellent young Kora groups, who I’d heard play in one of the bars, had come to hear them. Their reaction to the Jazz, was like watching contemporary dancing by clowns- they shook, crawled around the floor and climbed on each other, clearly enjoying the freedom to do what ever they liked. We could not help but laugh at them, and they played to the crowd, with more antics and grins.

Unless I can find something warmer to sleep in I’m going back indoors. I must have chosen the coldest night of the year. Madou, wore a thick jumper all morning, even though I though it was getting hot around 11. I spend a bit of the morning recovering from having been awake most of the night with the cold, I did my daily Pilates exercise on the roof, then read for a while.

I decided to go and dig that red clay before it got too hot, and interrupted Madou and friends, from his tea ceremony. He brought a sieve and a hoe, I brought bags and hands.  I collected a small lump of the banko left over from building the wall over the road, too.

I started by testing the materials, mixing water into the sieved red earth, testing it to see if it was good for forming by using the worm test. A 10 cm long, sausage shaped, pencil thin sample is bent, and if it cracks, it’s a sign its not got enough stretch, because of lack of clay particles. This sample cracks, indicating it’s a very silty red earth, best mixed with more clay rich samples if I want to use it for making forms.

So, after testing, I played on, making a pressed owl form with the silty earth and water, then mixing the three clays together, dabbing them on to card, creating monoprints, sprinkling the dry powder on to wet paper and on to rivulets. Dropping water onto the paper from above. These dry quickly, and im pleased with them. Dolo turns up and starts to play too. He gets a pot of glue out and lets a pool of diluted glue/water walk around his paper, then sprinkles it with the red earth. The theme of the festival is water, this year, so im excited to have started making steps towards an end result, even though I don’t yet know what that will be.

IS THIS THE CLARIFICATION  THAT JAY-Z IS A FREEMASON?

So we came across this video Jay -Z’s on to the next one explained by someone who believes Jay-Z is a free mason. Is it real a battle between GOD & The Devil?? Some became a fan of Jay-Z since day one everything else is really irrelevant. Check it out!! What do you think?

It has been awhile since I have posted a blog.  Hubby and I were on a much needed and long over due break from the lifestyle.  We’re easing our way back in slowly. You could say that ‘life’ was getting in the way of our ’style’.

Many of our friends in swingland have asked what happened to our group, The Naughty Neighborhood.  We started the group to be a place for all swingers regardless of what they looked like, what color they were, or if they were a single/couple.  For years we did enjoy hosting parties and bringing people together.  But it also put us right in the middle of the drama between individuals and clubs.  We discussed it and decided that we no longer wished to maintain the group and host the events.  Being in the spot light that way was just not our desire.

Many noted that my voice was no longer being heard on ROCK In The USA.  First let me say that I love DJ Tony and the station, he has done wonderful things with it all and I applaud him for being a fantastic DJ, radio host, and promoter of events and people.  There is no one better out there.  The station is great and I highly recommend it to everyone, just go to  www.rockintheusa.net and click on ‘listen now’ to catch whatever is being broadcast.  Watch the site I hear that many new changes etc are coming soon!

As for my involvement with ROCK..I loved what I did! My talk show was a blast and I looked forward to that time on air with Tony each week. (some of my shows are still in the archives for those that want to listen) I enjoyed the DJing side when I was playing the music on Tuesdays, Saturdays and filling in for Tony when he had business to attend too.  But the down side was that ROCK must be loyal to its sponsors and that meant I could not promote sites/clubs that were not sponsors of the station.  For me this was very difficult.  My group and my personal goal was always to promote all events swinger related.  I decided it was time for me to pull off of ROCK and go back to promoting all things, stations, sites etc that are swinger related.  Within a few days  came the decision to dissolve our group as well.

I will still blog and share my personal insight and opinions about the lifestyle, and on occasion Jon and I do still plan to host a party at a club or meet and greet at a bar.  But we’ve backed off being in the center of so much feeling this is what is best for us.

Not to worry friends, we are still in the lifestyle just approaching things from a different angle. Change is good!

We still highly recommend the swinger sites listed on my blog page, and ROCK In The USA with DJ Tony and Nova Joe and encourage all swingers to tune in and support these sites.  And of course, we recommend Club Sinday in Middletown, OH as the best club around!

Hugs & LONG, Slow Licks,

Jaz

Tako sem se zbudil danes, ko sem prišel s kratkega sprehoda. Sprehodil sem se do našega najbližjega BabyCentra, kjer sem si kupil rokavičke. Saj veste, da se mrzli čas približuje in da me ne bo zeblo , sem si vzel takšne rokavičke za dojenčke. To so tiste, ki nimajo nastavkov za prstke , so kot kakšna vrečka.

Veste pa včeraj sem dobil čisto svojega stolčka. In to ne takšnega, ki ga lahko kupiš kjerkoli v trgovini. Dobil sem čisto svojega in lesenega. Gor je narisan en lep slonček in lepo izpisano moje ime . No, da ne bom toliko govoril, tukaj je slikca, da se malo považim .

Aja, dobil sem ga od atijeve tete in strica iz Kopra. A ni fleten?

Danes sem kočno prišla pri svoji ginekologinji na vrsto , čeprav je po pravilih prvi poporodni pregled okrog 6. tedna. Pri meni to ni bilo mogoče, saj je bila na izobraževanju.

Tako sem bila naročena za danes med 9. in 10. uro. Ko sem čakala v čakalnici sem opazovala vse preostale nosečke in jim malce zavidala ta čas. In čas, ki pride takoj po porodu. Ko v rokah držiš novo bitjece, ki je tako ZELO tvoje, ki je tako ZELO lepo in še tako nedolžno . Vmes prebirala svoje odpustno pismo s poroda ter se z nasmehom na obrazu spominjala prvih trenutkov z Maksom.

Ne vem, kaj je z menoj narobe, ampak jaz si želim še ene . Kmalu me je sestra poklicala k sebi, da me je stehtala, izmerila pritisk . Tehnice sem bila kar vesela, saj mi je ostal le še 1kg viška. In zaradi tega se ne mislim niti malo sekirat .

Najbolj smešen je bil naslednji pogovor:

MS: kakšen je bil porod?

MM: vredu

MS: kakšne težave?

MM: ne

MS: potrebujete kakšno kontracepcijo?

MM: ne

temu je sledil smeh .

Nato sem še malo počakala v čakalnici in šla na tisti meni čudni, grdi stol. Ampak kar je treba, je treba. Z menoj vse ok, odvzet bris. Dobila sem še napotnico za laboratorij. Namreč v času nosečnosti in po porodu sem bila precej slabokrvna. Tukaj sem bila že malce nejevoljna, ker sem mislila, da delajo samo do 10.00. Tako namreč delajo v laboratoriju nasproti mariborskega sodišča, vendar je rekla, da lahko grem kar pri njih.

Jupi, torej si moj Lump, ne bo rabil jemati dodatnih ur dopusta, da bom jaz lahko šla dat par kapljic krvi. Namreč moja mami, ga ne zna previt in nahraniti .  Vmes sem dobila še opozorilo, da naj redno uporabljava kondome, saj tako hitra druga nosečnost ni dobra.

Pri tem sem se zlahka nasmehnila, da ni nobene panike. Se ne bomo igrali, saj trenutno NI pogojev za še enega lumpija. Naslednje leto, ko bo Maks korakal proti 1. rojstnemu dnevu, bom pospešeno iskala zaposlitev. V vmesnem času pa moram še diplomirat. Ker državna porodniška 190€ in ostanek Lumpove plače , trenutno zadostuje za naše potrebe, z dodatnim članom, bi bilo pa malce težje.

Vendar grem z optimizmom naprej. Naslednje leto služba (karkoli, tudi delo v proizvodnji) vsaj za eno leto, nato porodniška. Po porodniški bi se pa verjetno lotila samozaposlitve. K temu me moj Lump preprečuje že za naslednje leto, vendar si tega še pred drugim otrokom ne želim . Potem s kakšno dobro idejo, s kakšnimi delovnimi izkušnjami in morebitnimi novimi poznanstvi ter dobrim načrtom, z največjim veseljem .

Ah, sem tečna, ne . Nič grem se cartat k moji mali, lepi štručki .

Torej včeraj sta me mami in ati peljala k teti zdravnici. Tam me je prijazna medicinska sestra ponovno zmerila in stehtala. Sedaj sem velik 57 cm in tehtam 4600g.

Pri tej teti zdravnici mi ni bilo preveč všeč. Sem jokal, ko me je ati slačil. Mami je takrat podpisovala nekaj o mojem izbranem zdravniku. In te prijazne tete prosila za druge kapljice namesto AD3. Namreč ati je od enega zelo prijaznega strica lekarnarja izvedel, da so D3 enako dobre kapljice, vendar manj mučijo dojenčke kot sem jaz. Namreč kakam samo enkrat na teden… Potem, ko sta me pa oblekla, sem spet postal dobrovoljček. Sem se smejal in pogovarjal, samo kaj, ko me je hitro začelo kolcat. Čaj, mi ni bil preveč všeč, je mamino mleko in tisti dodatek, ki ga dobim boljši. Čaj, le kdo bo to pil?!

Samo sedaj je mami pogruntala, da ga pijem samo, ko sem malo lačen in mi ga da takrat, preden mi da za jest. Namreč ta čajek bi naj bil dober za mojo prebavo. Sedaj, ko sem star že dva meseca, je ugotovila, da lahko pijem še en čajek. in sedaj samo čakam, kdaj mi bo tega podvalila . Najbrž takrat, ko bo šla v trgovino. No, saj sedaj je že bila nekajkrat in ga očitno ni našla. Upam, da bo še nekaj časa tako .

Z zamudo, ker je mami imela veliko veliko trojanskih konjev na računalniku, vas obveščam, da sem sedaj star že 2 meseca. Sedaj znam že marsikaj . Znam se nasmehnit, znam kravice past, znam jezička pokazat. Tudi vem, da imam rokice. Zato sedaj zelo preiskušam svoje prstke.

Koliko sem zrasel in se zredil bom poročal med tednom. Namreč posvetovalnico imam jutri .

se vidi razlika?

Derrière chaque conflit se trouve une femme! Il sautait après chaque fille que je lui présentait sans se soucier de savoir si elles étaient miennes. Cette fois ci la femme que j’aimais. Il était de ceux qui ne savent se contrôler face aux charmes féminin, de ceux qui en font toujours plus pour impressionner… Constamment interpelé dans cette vie privée, il fini par craquer. Voulant le protéger, lui qui était attiré par ce regard que j’avais déjà croisée, j’ai voulu juste l’alerter. Finalement le seul qui connaissait mon aventure dans ses vert pâture, trahira mon murmure tel une caricature. Je n’ai jamais fais promesse de fidélité, mais je n’étais pas aller le crier… L’histoire élucidée, les ténèbres dissipé, le coupable fut trouvé… En voulant le mettre en garde je lui ai confié la boite de pandore. Morale de l’histoire une amitié gâchée pour un fruit jamais gouté!

kravice, ovčke, kozice . Meni je večino časa fajn .

Edino kakam bolj poredko, zato me v obdobju nekakanja veliko napenja. Takrat jokam precej na glas, ker me zelo boli. tudi v vozičku. Edino na rokah je fajn . sedaj je mami tudi ugotovila, da ni to da nisem rad v vozičku ali zunaj. Samo nekaj me mantra :9 . Upam, da bo to čimprej za menoj in bova lahko šla na daljše razdalje.

Če ne prej, spomladi, ko bo na Dravi veliko malih labodov, račk,… ko bo vse na novo cvetelo .

Hanging bed linens on the clothesline on a frosty crisp November morning.

Pink hair on spirited daughters.

A viral infection loosening its tenacious grip on my spent bronchial tubes.

posted by Wendy

Tole zelo cenjeno sliko je naredil moj najboljši Lumb ob prvem obisku moje babice in njunega srečanja. Ta slika mi pomeni ZELO veliko. Všče je bila tudi moji teti, ki ni njena mama. In meni je ni bilo problem natisnit eno z zelo dobrim canonovim printerjem .

In so jo je dala v kredenco. Ta teta je Tinkarina babica in si jo je namestila na kredenco. Tinkara se včasih pazi pri njej, včasij doma. In danes jo je videla in rekla:”Mak” (tako kliče Maksa). Teta ni vedela kaj ji govori, zato je sledila njenemu pogledu, ki jo je pripeljal do te slavne slike .

Te male glavice so pametne in jih preveč podcenjujemo . Hvala Tinkara, da me poznaš tudi tako malega kot sem na tej sliki .