• • My imagination begins painting the unseen scene — — those long poles that are used to dislodge pecans (or almonds or walnuts), sturdy nut-brown arms waving the poles around amid the green tangles of the thick branches, the pecan tree wide as a splendid crinoline suitable for an old-fashioned belle like Scarlett O'Hara. With bountiful grace, the pecan-bearing boughs dip and curtsy to the ground. Their generous branches lay along the earth so that it is possible to walk on the bark. And the bark seems almost black, pliable underneath the feet.
• • Nut gathering is not unlike a courtship dance, pliable and elastic.
• • There is an art in being efficient in love, knowing how to break through the shell to extract the goodness, the nourishing mouthfuls.
• • And yet what about all those fairytale maidens of yore? Those innocent hearts entered the clearing, and hoped what they found would be lasting and sweet. Some were luckier or smarter. Even so, it can be hard to tell how long a healthy harvest — — like a good feeling — — will last before it comes up again, tasting like regret.
• • Oh, it's like waiting for spring, waiting for summer, waiting for results — — then what about the certainty that falls with a thud, like pecans too hard to bother with? As with the patrolled perimeters of a nut grove, there are the delicate borders of the heart itself, a limit you might wish to forget, a guard you may want to let down.
• • The lid of another fresh day opens and there are a dozen hopeful hearts set on a meaning, on a catch, on a harvest.
• • But some expect so little in return and what they get is even less, and their green leaves come and go, ruined by unnatural excess. What's left would be a brackish-grey hull, those difficult shells stonier than any torment. And inside awaits an odd nut, so dry and bitter it seems to have gleaned all the spite of stormy dreams nurtured in the dark.
• • The same gentle wind that blows open silent bells of exuberant petunias breezes through all lovers. Some look for love as decorative as arm candy. Some want an hour's pleasure only. Some are alert for money — — a good yield for their efforts. Some are bent on what is tough, unripe, unready.
• • Others seek nurture for their lives — — like the most reliably rich meaty pecans.
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• • Read more — —
view link
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• • How about a date?
• • Get ready to come up and see Mae onstage in New York City when the Annual Fresh Fruit Festival presents "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship and Secrets" (based on true events 1926 — 1932 when Mae West was arrested and jailed) under the direction of Louis Lopardi at the Algonquin Theatre [123 East 24th Street, NYC 10010] July 19th — 22nd, 2008.
• • "COURTING MAE WEST" opens at 7 o'clock on Saturday night July 19, 2008 at the Algonquin Theatre [East 24th Street and Park Avenue South].
• • "COURTING MAE WEST" — — showtimes
• • July 19th, 2008 — — 6:00 PM
• • July 20th, 2008 — — 1:00 PM matinee
• • July 21st, 2008 — — 6:00 PM
• • July 22nd, 2008 — — 9:00 PM
• • Tickets to COURTING MAE WEST will only be $18 per person.
• • The theatre has 99 seats.
• • SPECIAL: $100 - $150 donation — — donor gets name in the Program — — and 1 free ticket to the play.
• • $151 - $500 donation — — donor gets name in Program and TWO free tickets to the play and invited to all parties.
• • A non-profit group organizes this ambitious annual festival [now in its 7th year]. The two-week arts festival is a money-losing venture sustained by funds from The New York City Council, a culture grant from New York State, a stipend from Senator Tom Duane, and donations from good people.
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• • Mae West [1893—1980] returns, phoenix-like, in a new play "COURTING MAE WEST: Sex, Censorship and Secrets" — — based on true events during 1926—1932 — — heading to the Algonquin Theatre [123 East 24th Street] in July 2008 in New York City. In this serious-minded comedy with a cast of seven, Mae West is in her thirties when she is arrested and sent to jail for obscenity. This full-length play is about 95 minutes long (and an Intermission).
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• • Come up and see Mae every day online:
site:http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
site:http://CourtingMaeWest.blogspot.com/
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