The Daily Delaney

It's a new day in Austin. The sun just came up in the window, taking the place of a bright morning star. Gabi is at school, looking perfectly perfect.  Lindsey is doing yoga in a 105 degree sweatbox, discovering what's possible.  I have the house to myself.  Almost. There's a big black dog on a round brown bed in the corner and another one, a little  older and a little stiffer, upstairs. There are two cats coming repeatedly in and out of the bathroom window, because they can. And I'm thinking about this guy in the picture above. His name was Bill Brown. The smile on his face says it all. For all the years I've know her, he was my friend Brenda's constant companion. In the car, at the dojo, sitting under a bench near the Wild Rose, Bill was always around. He'd sit at the edge of the mat at the Dojo, yearning to come out and play but he knew he wasn't supposed to, so he'd put his paws over the edge and just inch his nose out a tiny bit, trying to ge...

Each year, I come to Austin to do the 'Dillo hoping that i have enough work to get through the show successfully and each year I wind up doing more while I'm down here. This particular year I had hoped to be able to just show up and work the show for a couple of reasons. It was a shorter show and I know from experience that sometimes  my just being there to say "hello" to the guests will make the difference between buying and browsing. So I wanted to be there more.  Also, Lindsey and Gabi are really wonderful about letting me take over their porch and set up a road studio to work in and this year they had work done all over the house and everything looks really great including the porch with new storm windows and a freshly painted floor... and I kind of wanted to make a smaller footprint for their sake... but plans don't always work. I got a bunch of new work done up North, but I was working extra gigs in Seattle right up to my leaving, so I had to set up the sho...

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Today is all about filling orders and looking at the books, shooting work for the website and packing things to ship out. But here's something for the Amazing Shannon, who went above and beyond for me every day this year!

Got the rest of the stuff loaded out today... the decompression has started. I'm almost too tired to stand. Before I crawl off with Jack Reacher and Elvis Cole and Harry Bosch and Stephen Sondheim, I thought I'd share this lovely song... Thanks to Neil Gaiman . More to come, but first rest...

So last night, I got picked up by Carlos in the Cool Cab! This is Carlos This is the cool Cab... This is what it looks like when you try to take a picture in there! Yesterday, the wonderful Albert and Gage... Here's Chris Albert rocking out on "Linus and Lucy".  How can anyone not feel good listening to that piece of music? Today, Hot Club of Cowtown!

Greetings from the Palmer Events Center! austin hit the mid-eighties today. Armadillo Day 7 has come and gone and i'm still standing (just barely).  The word all around is that it's a good show.  Everyone involved with the show is so much happier to be in this space. It's run by the same people who run the Convention Center, but it feels like a whole different world. I guess the  biggest difference is that people actually like to come here! Attendance is up and the guests seem much happier. Last night set a record for a Monday, kids music in the daytime and The Eggmen doing Beatles covers at night. Best Monday i can remember, but the Eggmen made me decide i don't want to be behind the stage next year... if the sound from the monitors was that loud, I hope the boys were wearing earplugs! I spent today making new pieces in the daytime and working the show last night. Marcia Ball and Ruthie Foster played this evening. I couldn't get close enough to get decent shots b...