T-shirt #339: Dead Can Dance

T-shirt #339: Dead Can Dance

This shirt came from the concert that Liesel and I attended in Chicago at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park in August of 2012.

This was a memorable time as we had just met our baby, our boo-boo, Satchel, the tiny runt who was hiding away from the rest of the litter and when she climbed out from behind some old farm equipment, Liersel tossed aside the puppy she had been holding and decided to adopt our Satchel booness. However, we could not take her home right then because we had already planned to go to Chicago, and so I convinced Liesel to wait until we returned.

We actually stopped on the way home to pick her up and adopt her into our family. Neither Liesel nor I will ever forget it.

We were already fans of DEAD CAN DANCE WIKIPEDIA.

This is something Liesel and I had in common from before we met. I love that Liesel and I share a great deal of mutually loved music. She does not like the Cocteau Twins later years, about which she is clearly in the wrong, and she did not like THE SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS when I discovered them last year, though I think she would have liked them had she discovered them first. I like to tease her about these opinions, though my wife, Liesel, has incredible taste in all things. I like that we do not intersect in every way. How boring that would be.

DEAD CAN DANCE OFFICIAL SITE.

Dead Can Dance are described in Wikipedia as a English/Australian, neo-classical "dark wave" band. I guess this as good a description as any. Songs have a medieval style or are actual medieval songs re-imagined.

Though Dead Can Dance formed in the 1980s, I did not discover them until the early 1990s, probably around 1993.

This next video isn't from the show we saw, but it's from right around the same time during the course of that tour, so it's close enough to what we actually saw in concert.

This next video is one of my favourite Dead Can Dance songs.

Dead Can Dance Host of Seraphim Live Montreal 2012 HD 1080

I was not too impressed with the new Dead Can Dance material from the band's 2012 release promoted during the tour we saw: Anastasis. It's good because it's Dead Can Dance. But it's not great.

Many fans are clearly more heels over head in love with Lisa Gerard than Brendan Perry. The best Dead Can Dance song featuring Brendan principally is "American Dreaming," which I will add to the collection of videos that I share at the end of this entry.

Lisa Gerard also has produced solo work and has contributed to movie soundtracks.

Lisa Gerard's voice is like something from another world. The sound of an angel both beautiful and fierce, both lovely and frightening.

I think Dead Can Dance is a good subject to explore some other material, notably, the following PODCAST.


WELCOME TO NIGHTVALE

Okay, I know. It's about time I started listening to WELCOME TO NIGHTVALE. Actually, Josh Hall at Fanfare recommended it to me months ago, and it has sat on my "to do" list since then. I was reminded of its existence, again, by WARREN ELLIS, and opened the link to

COMMONPLACE BOOKS: WELCOME TO NIGHTVALE

in my browser, vowing to start listening to these podcasts once I finished my current audio book, GONE GIRL.

Welcome to Nightvale is described as

WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE is a twice-monthly podcast in the style of community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, featuring local weather, news, announcements from the Sheriff's Secret Police, mysterious lights in the night sky, dark hooded figures with unknowable powers, and cultural events.

WELCOME  TO NIGHTVALE is a wonderful pastiche of mixed genre satire and fiction. As one reviewer characterized it: ""Welcome to Night Vale" is relentlessly witty, morbidly hilarious, chaotically unique and often unexpectedly profound. I'm pretty sure the restless soul of H.P. Lovecraft ..." I would add that Lovercraft's restless soul is propelling them onward, watching on with rapt but silent approval. I did not like the rest of what the reviewer wrote.

There are currently 41 episodes of twenty minutes each in length, so it's not too difficult to catch up as I am doing.

Here's some more information if you need to read up on it to be convinced.

Do Not Approach the Dog Park: Welcome to Night Vale
by ALEX BROWN: a snippet:

In the darkest spaces between nightmares and hallucinations is a place unlike any other. The town is populated by hollow-eyed messenger children and ominous hooded figures, haunted by non-existent angels and towers of roaches in deer masks, and tormented by a tiny underground army and wheat and wheat byproducts. A hellscaped sky stretches its gaping maw over the Sand Wastes and Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex, and citizens who aren’t busy battling their evil doppelgangers or being converted into buzzing shadowpeople defined only by the absence of light in the vague shape of a torso and limbs go about their daily lives and try not to get on the bad side of the City Council or the Sheriff’s Secret Police.
Welcome to Night Vale.

WELCOME TO NIGHTVALE WIKIPEDIA

THE STRENGTH OF NIGHT VALE'S LIVE SHOWS

WELCOME TO NIGHVALE: Where David Lynch meets the Twilight Zone

WELCOME TO NIGHTVALE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Check it out!
Trust me.
I'm a doctor.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Since I just wrote about the Lovecraftian inspired WELCOME TO NIGHTVALE, I also wanted to promote another Lovecraft influenced art thing I recently discovered: CTHULU SLIPPERS.

I must confess that Lovecraft is one of those authors at which I have taken several runs but have not fully invested. I have read a few stories, started and failed to finish others, but also I have not really applied myself. I am determined to rectify this oversight. It's time for some LOVECRAFTIAN absorption.

This comic, CTHULU SLIPPERS, is a very divertisement. Updates every Monday. Here's the latest reprinted without permission. I am sure creators Andrew Jack and Natalie Metzger would not mind. I am spreading the good word of the great work. ENJOY.

It's really good stuff.

Trust me.

I'm a doctor.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn

I liked Gone Girl. I did not consider it "misogynistic." Fatal Attraction is misogynistic. But even so, ascribing to feminist politics does not mean never writing a woman as a villain. Sometimes I think reviewers write criticism just to stir up controversy and sell papers not because they actual believe the crap they espouse. Though it's overwritten and a bit too kitschy in places, Gone Girl is a taut and gripping thriller about the murder of Amy Elliott Dunne, Nick Dunne's wife, and what happens as Nick tries to defend himself as evidence consistently points to him as the lead suspect. The sound of the basic plot may not inspire, but the book is so full of twists and "gotcha" moments that I really want to share nothing about the plot beyond the one sentence I wrote. I am disappointed to read that Gillian Flynn chose to rewrite the ending of the story for the film. I may not even read these articles to get any sense for why she did this rewrite. "The ending is perfect," which is what my wife said to me when we discussed the book (as she recommended it to me), and I happen to agree. Great thriller, great page turner, a very strong read by a fresh new novelist. I will definitely read her other two books when time permits.

VARIOUS GONE GIRL REVIEWS AND ARTICLE LINKS

Gone Girl - NY Times review

Gone Girl - Chicago Tribune review

GONE GIRL on GOOD READS

GONE GIRL ON WIKIPEDIA

MARY GAITSKILL HATES GONE GIRL

Gillian Flynn on Gone Girl and accusations of misogyny

Gone Girl to be a movie

Gillian Flyyn rewrote book ending of Gone Girl for film

DEAD CAN DANCE VIDEOS

Sanvean (I am your shadow) - Lisa Gerrard

Dead Can Dance - Yulunga (Spirit Dance)

Dead Can Dance - The Arrival and the Reunion

Dead Can Dance - American Dreaming

Dead Can Dance - Towards the Within

Dead Can Dance - The Spider's Stratagem

COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 26 shirts remaining

- chris tower - first published - 1402.23 - 18:23
updated - 1402.24 - 20:32
final publication - 1402.25 - 10:04

T-shirt # 295 - Simple Elements ... Hard to Understand

T-shirt # 295 - Simple Elements ... Hard to Understand

"Il n'y a qu'un bonheur dans la vie, c'est d'aimer et d'être aimé."
- George Sand
(There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.)

Five years ago today, my wife Liesel and I went on our first date. I wish to share the story of our meeting, re-meeting, and falling in love.

I shared about marrying my wife in T-shirt #279, in which I reproduced our wedding ceremony script and included some choice pictures from our wedding. At that time, I wanted to relate the story of how we met, re-met, started dating, and fell in love, but the post had already grown quite long, so I decided to save that story for today, the anniversary of our first date.

Liesel and I originally met in 1990. She was dating a friend of mine, John Kasdorf. I was the host of a thing I called Cafe, which was an open mike night music and poetry (mostly poetry) wine and cheeser that I held in the English Department's lounge in Brown Hall at Western Michigan University. Around the time that John brought Liesel to some of these Cafe events my relationship at the time was ending, and I was giving up hosting the Cafe events, being replaced by the very man my girlfriend left me for, which I find a bit ironic (and not just in an Alanis Morrissette way).

Liesel developed quite a crush on me and kept an eye out for what I was doing in the years that followed. Now, Liesel does not believe the next part, but it's true. I had a little bit of a crush on her, too. I remember feeling the same thing I felt when I re-met her as when I met her originally. I thought to myself: "she's perfect for me. How come John got to meet her and date her first? Why couldn't I meet her first?" Unlike Liesel, my crush was less memorable. I did not remember her name. But from time to time over the years, I would wonder what happened to John's hot Hawaiian girlfriend who seemed so perfect for me. Heck, for years, I wondered what happened to John Kasdorf as we had lost touch.

text reads: sun, moon, earth, water, mountain
man & woman
Simple elements... hard to understand

Liesel reminded me of a hug we exchanged during one of these Cafes. I did not remember it until she recalled it for me, but I did recall it once she described it. I remembered where in the hall it took place and had a sense of what she was wearing, though I am not sure I could describe it. I felt her energy, which was a strong feeling and felt a connection with her. I also believe that may have been the moment that I thought most strongly how perfect for me she was and how disappointed I was that she was "off-limits" as she was dating and living with my friend John. In discussions about our history, we may have figured out which night this hug took place. I believe it happened after my break-up with my then girlfriend, at a time when I was either no longer host of the Cafe or in my last hosting, when I had written a story called "600 Cows" about a couple getting a divorce, drawing on my experiences with my recent break-up. I was a bit drunk that night, which may have heightened all my emotions. Whether the hug with Liesel took place that night or not, she had her crush from back then, and I had my feeling that she was perfect for me, though I forgot her name and only thought of her from time to time as that woman who seemed so perfect for me who was lost in time.

Fast forward 18 years. December third 2008. I am in Sawall health food store, and I am wearing my suit. I had just helped Chris Dilley give a presentation to the Kiwanis to raise awareness about the good work of the People's Food Co-Op. I was on the board at the time, and I was helping to gain more owners as part of our ownership drive to lead up to the PFC's expansion. I had met my friend Ryan Walters after the Kiwanis thing, and we were enroute to his place to hang out and talk comics. I had planned to change out of my suit there as I had a PFC meeting to attend in a few hours. But first, we stopped at Sawall because he worked there and needed his pay check, and I needed to buy a few things.

Liesel 2008

As I walked the aisles, I saw this BEAUTIFUL woman, and she smiled at me. I guessed she was a college student shopping with her roommate though really it was Liesel shopping with her thirteen year old daughter Piper. She looked almost exactly like she looks in the picture to the left, which I took from Facebook, printed, and carried around to show people this amazing woman I had met.

As I saw her shopping, I thought the exact thing I had thought when I met her all those years ago during the Cafe hostings: "She's perfect for me. Why can't I be dating her or someone like her?" Kicking myself all the time in the store, I bought my purchases and was waiting for Walters when she bought her purchases and prepared to leave. I was kicking myself because I knew she was about to walk out the door, and I would never see her again. I wanted to go up to her and say "Excuse me, you are absolutely perfect for me. I can tell. I have a feeling that we will be madly in love and I would like to take you out to dinner." But how do you tell someone something like that? I knew I wouldn't even have the courage to speak to her let alone try to make the kind of contact that would be useful (like an exchange of emails or phone numbers or even NAMES).

another picture of Liesel
and her kids circa 2008

So, I am standing by the door, when she is about to exit, and I hear her say: "you're Chris Tower." Not a question. A statement. SHE KNOWS ME!!! If my heart had wings, at that moment, it would have sprouted them, burst from my chest cavity, and soared to the sun and back. I felt such elation. I can't even properly describe it. With Piper averting her eyes and clearly radiating intense embarrassment over her mother talking to a man in a grocery store, Liesel explained who she was and how she knew me (see previous text). She introduced her daughter. I am not sure if she mentioned that she was divorced, though I left the store knowing she was single. She mentioned that she was back in touch with John, and I was unsure if she meant as friends or something more, so I remember feeling some doubt and worry that she and John were "together," which turned out to be the case. The conversation ended with us both discussing that we were on Facebook and could get in touch there. Piper really did an "Oh geez, Mom" when she mentioned being on Facebook, and we both laughed at the angsty thirteen-year-old.

this is Liesel with her mom

I went flying out of Sawall and flew through the rest of my day. I was high as a kite. I was heels over head in love at first sight. Ryan Walters can attest to this fact as I could talk of little else when we left the store. Later in the day, the entire board of the PFC, especially my good friends Chris Dilley and Hether Frayer saw me coming out of my skin with joy and excitement. I wrote my best friend Tom Meyers soon after who will relate that I was completely nuts about this woman I met in Sawall. Luckily for me, I had bumped into John Kasdorf outside Fanfare sometime that year, and we had become Facebook friends. I searched all his friends for a Liselle or a Liesel or actually any woman whose name was close to that spelling. Nothing. It took Liesel 26 hours to send me a friend request via Facebook. Meanwhile, I am dying in agony every second. What if she never makes contact on Facebook? How will I find her? Do I ask John? Are they dating? I was not even sure how to spell her name.

Liesel and Piper - 1998?

With Facebook contact initiated, flirting began. The courtship began. But there was a snag. She WAS dating John Kasdorf, again. Ten days later, I attended a KAPOW event, John's improv group: Some Kind of Pretty Woman at the Whole Art Theater. Liesel said she would attend as well but could not go out after. I had several other friends in the audience, one of whom knew what was going on with Liesel. I showed up with her and a crew of her friends because I did not want to walk in and sit alone. The other was just someone I had not seen in some time, who actually was brought on stage for the improv. Aftewards, the other friends bailed, and I was left chatting with Liesel and John. Liesel agreed to go out, but she had to take her daughter home first and make sure Ivan was all right. We all agreed to meet at the London Grille. John made it clear that when Liesel showed up that she would want to sit next to him, which did not happen. However, despite a nice time of drinking and laughing and conversation with a bunch of folks from the improv group, it was clear that Liesel and John were "together." I felt like a third wheel when they invited me to go with them as they moved the party to Sushiya, which stayed open later than the Grille. I excused myself and went home. Oddly, as I walked back to my car, I saw my friend Chris Dilley in Old Burdicks. I was feeling dejected and low. Once again, years later, this woman who was perfect for me in every way (I was more convinced of this than ever) was dating someone else, and it was THE SAME GUY.

In a weird twist of fate, I actually started dating someone else, thinking that I had lost out with Liesel. However, the Facebook communication continued. Flirting continued. And eventually there was some discussion of getting together for drinks. I could not figure out this woman, who was supposedly dating a friend of mine, and yet still paying attention to me. I was not committed to the woman I was dating, so Liesel and I made plans and had our first date on January 10th 2009. We mat at Fandango. It was a Saturday. On the way to meet Liesel, I had a conversation with my friend Elizabeth Hughey, who can also attest to how out of my mind excited I was. I did not realize that people could pre-drink before a date. When Liesel stopped at two glasses of wine, I wondered if she was a light-weight, as I wanted a third glass. I did not know she had drank before the date. Just one of the many things I learned from this amazing woman.

To say that the date went fabulously would be an understatement. I had fantasized that I might kiss her that evening, knowing that first dates did not usually go this way. I will not disclose all the details of that first night, but let's just say that my fantasies were more than realized. She was no longer dating John Kasdorf. She was free. We had a wonderful time.

I was completely and madly in love with her from the very start, really from the time I first set eyes on her. Liesel doesn't believe me, but it's true. I tried to safeguard my heart at first. I confessed to love much later only because I was afraid of being hurt. Though in this story "much later" is only ELEVEN days after that first date.

On March 11th, we decide to get married. On April 4th, I ask her to marry me, officially proposing. On October 3rd, 2009, we get married.

Now, I cannot imagine my life without her. Liesel is the love of my life and confirms every day that she is and always has been (and always will be) the perfect person for me to spend the rest of my life with.


I chose this shirt for today because I wanted something that would embody our spiritual connection. From the start, we felt a spiritual bond with each other, which is something we shared about at our wedding. It has to do with AKA CORDS, which is a concept of HUNA mysticism (see link).

If anything has changed, it is only that I love Liesel even more today than I did at first sight or when we got married.

Our spiritual connection has grown and strengthened, cultivating a deeper and richer experience with each passing day.

AND not only is John Kasdorf still a friend of ours, each of us, but he played drums in our wedding! Thanks John!

Here's a very select and small gallery of photos, mostly from 2009.

Liesel and I on St. Patrick's Day 2009

Liesel and I at her step-dad's wedding 2009

Liesel and I on Halloween 2009

Liesel and I at a wedding Dec. 2012

Liesel and I outside
Olde Penninsula
1312.17

COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 70 shirts remaining

- chris tower - first published - 1401.10 - 17:34
final publication - 1401.12 - 11:59

T-shirt #286 - Michigan - The Rose Bowl 2005

T-shirt #286 - Michigan - The Rose Bowl 2005 - Happy New Year!

I do not own any Michigan State University Spartans gear. I wish the Spartans well and a victory today in the Rose Bowl.

I am ashamed of Michigan's performance in the so coveted (that's sarcasm) Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. I don't even want to write about it.

I know I promised comic book content today, but that will have to wait. Today's entry will be short. But I will share a few photos or images that have been sitting in my T-shirts blog folder. I know I did photos yesterday, but I promise to only share a few.

Hey, it's New Year's Day!! Happy New Year to you and yours. 

Oh, and I don't make New Year's Resolutions. I make resolutions all year. I have lived up to many of mine as evidenced by this damn thing.

So instead of resolutions, some geeky and sundry various nonsense. Enjoy.

But I do like this resolution that I posted to Facebook (via Warren Ellis via someone else).

These next two links may not work unless you are registered to and/or logged in to Facebook and/or Good Reads. But I post them here for posterity or my own reference. But give them a try. Or try them via my Facebook and/or Good Reads pages.

YEAR IN REVIEW - FACEBOOK

My books from 2013 on Good Reads

If not, here's the books.

I love this cartoon. I am posting it separately to Facebook to make sure more people see it. Thank you Twitter-world.

I also love the following cartoon.

Along with yesterday's Roald Dahl quote, this was one of my favorite things Liesel posted all year.

Just because.

Well, not really.

A student of mine got this as a tattoo.

And I am teaching mythology, so it was meaningful.

From my wife, just this morning.

THE BEST TIME TO BLOG

I may return to the subject above in a future post.

Crazy big win in fantasy football.

The awesome New Yorker cover by Chris Ware.

If you do not know Chris Ware, click his name. Or Google Search images of Chris Ware to see his amazing art.

The equally awesome New Yorker cover by Adrian Tomine. I wrote about Adrian Tomine most notably in T-shirt #98 - Optic Nerve. 

The pets, recent photos. First Vespers and then Satchel.

Sleeping puppy...

sleepy puppy.

'Nuff said. (following photo via Warren Ellis)

COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 79 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1401.01 - 10:16

T-shirt #285 - Hawaii, the Land, and the Kilauea Lodge

Here's a suggestion for my fans and friends: use the above as graffiti. I want to see the quote above on a bathroom stall or on a highway underpass or a railway car.

As you can see my wife posted it, and I think it's a fitting way to the end the year.

The quote captures the spirit of what I have tried to provide since March 22nd on these pages.

And I want to start today's post by proclaiming loud and clear: "I believe."

T-shirt #285 - Hawaii, the Land, and the Kilauea Lodge

Today is a picture fest. I realized the other day that I let my Hawaii trip shuffle through the cracks. I still have three shirts (counting today's) from my Hawaii trip to feature on the blog. So, I figured it was time to get busy. Welcome to the photo fest, dedicated to my wife Liesel.

When I originally planned this blog entry, I decided to extend my story from Christmas Day on the Greatest Gift Ever for how Liesel and I met (re-met, actually as I will explain), fell in love, and got married, the last of which, the marriage part, was the subject of T-shirt #279. My plan formed a nice capstone: marriage in the Christmas Day post and falling in love in the New Year's Eve post. Then it occurred to me that there's a more significant day coming up to commemorate: the date of our first date, which by the time I report on it, will be five years ago to the day (January 10th). So, you, dear reader, have this awesome story to look forward to. Meanwhile, I restrict myself to a travel log, returning to comic books tomorrow for an early Weekly Comic List post, and then sundry and various, some easy, some pre-written, as Mr. T-shirt Blogger Man takes a little blog vacation for the visit of his best friend, the Lord of Chaos. Just a little preview of what's to come.

Today's shirt  was purchased at a cool little shop in downtown Hilo on Hawaii, the Big Island, called Hawaiian Force. The shop is run by local activists who believe in the spirit of the land, which is a "mainland" to them. I learned that many people on Hawaii do not like that the rest of the United States is called "the mainland" and Hawaii is referred to as just an island, so these folks refer to the rest as "the continent" and Hawaii as "the land."


I am sorry that the picture below is a bit blurry. The shirt bears the inscription in Hawaiian, which means "How you care for the land, is how the land cares for you."

One thing I was told that stuck with me was a story shared by the tour guide who took us to the top of Mauna Kea (which I have written about -- see T-shirt #197 and  T-shirt #198 and I have more to share about it). He talked about the way many Hawaiians believe that the land is sacred and that taking anything from the island that is not freely given, even a little sand in a jar, will bring great misfortune upon the thief of the sacred land. He told us this story standing next to an altar on our way up the mountain. The altar was made of many sacred stones, family stones, special stones that had been in families for many generations. He told us of a special office kept by the Volcano National Park that has hundreds, possibly thousands of packages of sand, stones, and all kinds material taken from the island that people later regretted taking, possibly because of all the misfortune that they began to suffer, and so they returned the items in the hopes of balancing the karmic scales.

The guide, Deano, talked for quite a while, and I cannot recreate all that he shared, but one bit struck me. When he decided to become a guide, he spoke with many elders of the families on the Big Island, so that he could best represent it, its people, and its spirit in taking people on what would be, for many of them, one of the most memorable experiences of their lives as they journey to the top of Mauna Kea. He shared what one old Auntie said to him. When someone takes a rock or a jar of sand from the island, it's like cutting off her ear or her little finger and taking the piece away to the continent. "Would you cut off my ear to take with you? Would you cut off one of my fingers?" she asked. This, she explained, is what it felt like to have someone take something from Hawaii that was not meant to leave, something that was a part of Hawaii and it's spirit.

Essentially this story illuminates the shirt's inscription.

"How you care for the land, is how the land cares for you."

HAWAIIAN TRAVEL LOG part # Unknown

When we stayed on Hawaii in October, Liesel's Aunt and Uncle gave us a night in Kilauea Lodge in the village of Volcano (named for the, um, volcano...), as a way to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary. It was a lovely time, so some of the pictures to follow are from that stay, but I included a few others with a theme of the land and caring for the land. I insert a bit of text in between some of the shots.

The photo to the right is from the Ribbentrop's backyard. Below is my favorite tree from the entire trip. It's in Hilo, near the downtown area. It's a shower tree or Rainbow Shower Tree, though at this time it was not so rainbowed. I feel strongly spiritually connected to this tree and trees like it. Something about it speaks to me. The sense of shelter is palpable.

When I saw this tree, I had a strong desire to live in Hawaii.

These are the majority of the pictures I shot when were at the Lodge, except the first two, which are from the Lodge's website.

The dining room. This was taken at breakfast the next morning.

My dinner. German chef's meatloaf. AMAZING and delicious.

The lovely place setting for our anniversary dinner.

 I really liked this "Friendship" fireplace, with many Rotary plaques from all over the world.

The German influence is also clear again here with the steins.

I tried for a close up of one of the plaques from England (below) but it did not come up too clearly.

Many shots from the gardens. These are mainly what I had in mind with the shirt today and its inscription. I could research all these plants and give identification, but that's way too much. Just enjoy the visual beauty. Though the pictures my wife took were much better.

Above is the backside of the secondary lodge house (there's two) where we stayed.

Yes, I was quite fascinated with getting a good picture of this flower. Not sure that I succeeded.

Here's the hot tub where we has a pre-dinner soak and Liesel asked me to read Night Film as I explained in T-shirt #204 (the first mention in which I explained how Liesel asked me to read it) and T-shirt #215 with the review once I finished it.

View from the hot tub.

The next two shots are of the Lodge common room.

Our room.

Anniversary love at the Kilauea Lodge.

COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 80 shirts remaining

- chris tower - first published - 1312.31 - 19:32
final publication - 1401.01 - 8:12