Rant 2,396: Purple Haze

I overslept today, which was understandable based on the circumstances of this past weekend.

To celebrate Father's Day, we had a barbecue at my house, and a houseful of people to feed.

And I did just that, with the food flowing like water out of a park fountain.

Food, food and more food, and then some more.

And the weather held up, which made the day even better.

Weather forecasters had warned us that this Father's Day would be a wet one, but we got lots of rain early in the morning and then nothing until the early evening, so there was plenty of time to have a great time outdoors.

And it went so well, and I am so pooped right now, that I am going to proclaim that yesterday's barbecue is my final large barbecue. I am getting older, and I simply cannot do it anymore.

It was very difficult on not only myself, but my wife and my mother, and while we will continue to have smaller barbecues--like the one I plan to have on July 4--I think the days of the larger barbecues are over.

Starting with my father, my family has always had large barbecues dating back to the early 1970s, but after nearly 50 years of doing these things, I think the time has come for me to hang up my utensils, and just have smaller ones, intimate ones for the immediate family only.

This might be famous last words, so I won't rule out such bigger events altogether, but I think that this one is it.

Heck, it was such a good barbecue at least I can say that I went out with a bang!

And yes, today I am in something of a "purple haze" because of it.

But how does "purple haze" figure into all of this to begin with?

I have been a fan of Jimi Hendrix since as far back as I can remember, even before my family started doing barbecues.

I have to tell you, to me, growing up when I did, I didn't even have to hear his music--this guy was so out there, so odd looking, so different than what I was used to seeing as a kid, that I was drawn to his look before I was drawn to his music.

And then, when I heard his music, in particular on his first album, "Are You Experienced?," I was hooked for good.

He put out other albums during his short lifetime, but that LP stands head and above anything else he released, in my humble opinion.

And when he died, along with the death of Janis Joplin, I remember that in my school, there was a big mural of the two of them painted on the wall, honoring them for what they were and, I guess, for what they could have been.

So how does this fit into Father's Day?

Let the "wind cry Mary" ...

My wife is a smart lady, and she always gets me nice gifts on the occasions that demand such things.

Yesterday, to honor Father's Day, she got me a nice card, a nice eBay card, and a Jimi Hendrix T-shirt, which I wore yesterday as I was cooking away.

(And my kids got me nice gifts too.)

I got some comments on the T-shirt--it is really nice, a color caricature of Hendrix on a black background--and it got me to talking about Hendrix and his legacy with some of our guests.

So, yes, in spirit, I guess that Jimi Hendrix was with us yesterday while I was cooking away.

Where is the shirt now?

Well, because of the "fire" and the sweat and toil that I practiced yesterday, it is in the washing machine, ready to be cleaned and made new again.

If I took it out, I think it would smell so much that it would put me into a 'manic depression."

So you are just going to have to rely on my recollections about the shirt to go with right now.

And I hope everybody had as good a Father's Day that I did, but now, it is time to get back to the grind of the workweek.

But thanks to my wife, thanks to my guests, thanks to Mother Nature--the real "foxey lady" of this whole deal--and thanks to Jimi for making everything just right yesterday.