Turkey Shirt for the Well-Dressed Redneck:)

No, it’s not a newly coined, misspelled curse word. I bought a turkey shirt at the Mast General Store here in Greenville, South Carolina this morning. The shirt’s comfy ... flannel in a dense pattern of browns, greens and a touch of red ... your basic turkeys, tree branches and dirt design:)

I’m sure I’ll get kidded at the theater, but I like this shirt! It amuses me. It reminds me of a flannel shirt I had when I was in middle school ... flannel with golden retrievers on it. It looked like the inside of a sleeping bag and every time I wore that shirt, it felt like I was headed to the woods on a camping trip with my family.

The turkey shirt will also serve as a trigger to bust my deer-huntin’ brother who’s idea of success is appearing on the cover of Deer Hunter Magazine:) I’ll have to remind him that his Big Bubba in the turkey shirt isn’t a target. Otherwise, I’ll wind up as a stuffed head on the wall in his “Dead Animals Room”, more commonly known as a living room among common folk:) At last count, I think there were ten trophies on his wall. I would be his first bear.

After ordering fried green tomatoes at lunch again today at the Spoonbread Restaurant in our hotel, I headed down Main Street to the Confederate Memorial. I took a couple of pictures ... of Civil War cannons, Confederate insignia on a statue dedicated to the city by the Daughters of the Confederacy; of a plaque honoring Robert E. Lee; and another sign, this one honoring men who signed Greenville's papers of Secession from the Union.

Coming back from the photo shoot, I ran into six of our dancin’ boys who had just finished an all-you-can-eat Wings feast at a restaurant called Wild Wings. Hopefully by show time, they will have digested their meal (Tony ate 20 wings) and not be ground-bound during their choreographed leaps in “Look Out, Buenes Aires” :)

I missed the balding man with a sandwich board today; he marches up and down Main, passin out flyers tellin’ folks they are going to hell, askin’ them if they’ve been saved. Saved from what? People like him? I told him yesterday that he was most likely going’ to hell if he continued to bother me. I also told him that I often prayed to be saved from people like him:)

Toward the other end of the spectrum, my dresser here told me she’s pagan, something of a witch. She gave me some homemade tea yesterday for my illness. Maybe, it’s a potion filled with all kinds of magic. More likely, it's just an herbal tea, but I like the idea that it contains magic. I think I’ll try it. In one week, I’ve gone from a Flying Wallenda dresser to Witchy Poo coordinating my costume changes. Life can be full of surprises:)

I’m a bit loopy from the medication I’m taking for the creeping crud, but in general I feel much better. It’s been an adventure singing all of this week. I mean, why couldn’t all of us have been sick next week when we have a month to recover. It only seems right. We’ve got a good group though. Tonight everyone was in, the first time since we regrouped after Christmas that we had a full cast.

If anyone else is having this sinus crap and chest congestion and it isn’t accompanied by fever and chills, my best friend from college is a doctor in Navasota, Texas, a doctor who doesn’t believe in prescribing antibiotics for every sneeze and sniffle. C.H. recommended MucinexDM, an over-the-counter mucus-thinner with an anti-cough suppressant (similar to Humibid) and it’s doing the trick pretty fast. Be sure to drink lots of water with it! I may be a stopped-up tenor, but I’m still hittin’ the high Cs and coughing a lot less onstage than at any time sinceI got nailed with the bug in Florida.

So the tally is four more shows in Deliverance country and then we’re out of here, reconvening in Wallingford, CT in early February. Meanwhile, I’ll be home in Brenham, Texas sittin’ around in comfort in my new flannel turkey shirt. Gobble, gobble! (burp!)

Turkey Shirt for the Well-Dressed Redneck:)

No, it’s not a newly coined, misspelled curse word. I bought a turkey shirt at the Mast General Store here in Greenville, South Carolina this morning. The shirt’s comfy ... flannel in a dense pattern of browns, greens and a touch of red ... your basic turkeys, tree branches and dirt design:)

I’m sure I’ll get kidded at the theater, but I like this shirt! It amuses me. It reminds me of a flannel shirt I had when I was in middle school ... flannel with golden retrievers on it. It looked like the inside of a sleeping bag and every time I wore that shirt, it felt like I was headed to the woods on a camping trip with my family.

The turkey shirt will also serve as a trigger to bust my deer-huntin’ brother who’s idea of success is appearing on the cover of Deer Hunter Magazine:) I’ll have to remind him that his Big Bubba in the turkey shirt isn’t a target. Otherwise, I’ll wind up as a stuffed head on the wall in his “Dead Animals Room”, more commonly known as a living room among common folk:) At last count, I think there were ten trophies on his wall. I would be his first bear.

After ordering fried green tomatoes at lunch again today at the Spoonbread Restaurant in our hotel, I headed down Main Street to the Confederate Memorial. I took a couple of pictures ... of Civil War cannons, Confederate insignia on a statue dedicated to the city by the Daughters of the Confederacy; of a plaque honoring Robert E. Lee; and another sign, this one honoring men who signed Greenville's papers of Secession from the Union.

Coming back from the photo shoot, I ran into six of our dancin’ boys who had just finished an all-you-can-eat Wings feast at a restaurant called Wild Wings. Hopefully by show time, they will have digested their meal (Tony ate 20 wings) and not be ground-bound during their choreographed leaps in “Look Out, Buenes Aires” :)

I missed the balding man with a sandwich board today; he marches up and down Main, passin out flyers tellin’ folks they are going to hell, askin’ them if they’ve been saved. Saved from what? People like him? I told him yesterday that he was most likely going’ to hell if he continued to bother me. I also told him that I often prayed to be saved from people like him:)

Toward the other end of the spectrum, my dresser here told me she’s pagan, something of a witch. She gave me some homemade tea yesterday for my illness. Maybe, it’s a potion filled with all kinds of magic. More likely, it's just an herbal tea, but I like the idea that it contains magic. I think I’ll try it. In one week, I’ve gone from a Flying Wallenda dresser to Witchy Poo coordinating my costume changes. Life can be full of surprises:)

I’m a bit loopy from the medication I’m taking for the creeping crud, but in general I feel much better. It’s been an adventure singing all of this week. I mean, why couldn’t all of us have been sick next week when we have a month to recover. It only seems right. We’ve got a good group though. Tonight everyone was in, the first time since we regrouped after Christmas that we had a full cast.

If anyone else is having this sinus crap and chest congestion and it isn’t accompanied by fever and chills, my best friend from college is a doctor in Navasota, Texas, a doctor who doesn’t believe in prescribing antibiotics for every sneeze and sniffle. C.H. recommended MucinexDM, an over-the-counter mucus-thinner with an anti-cough suppressant (similar to Humibid) and it’s doing the trick pretty fast. Be sure to drink lots of water with it! I may be a stopped-up tenor, but I’m still hittin’ the high Cs and coughing a lot less onstage than at any time sinceI got nailed with the bug in Florida.

So the tally is four more shows in Deliverance country and then we’re out of here, reconvening in Wallingford, CT in early February. Meanwhile, I’ll be home in Brenham, Texas sittin’ around in comfort in my new flannel turkey shirt. Gobble, gobble! (burp!)