Please Happy

From her and about her.

Hollywood Farmers Market.

Rickey Smith has found his life’s work.

He wants to open little kiosks all over Los Angeles that sell food that is grown on site. He wants one day a week to be devoted to feeding the hungry. He wants his cafés and gardens to empower “city dwellers” to take control of their food source. And he wants to do this in a zero waste, environmentally friendly way.

In this audio slideshow, Smith talks about his vision for Urban Green, a company he started in 2001 with the motto “Waste Not, Want Not.” From his flagship kiosk in downtown Los Angeles, Smith describes his dream of splattering Los Angeles with self-sustaining storefronts that will serve the community, educate and inspire.

“We hope that urban green will be there as a voice of reason and as an urban oasis in the chaos,” Smith said.

To fund the nonprofit side, Smith also caters and sells homegrown food to grocery stores. While the sustainability of the flagship project (which began in June) is yet unknown, he has started planting seeds – literally and figuratively – and he’s hoping to watch them grow.

Over the next couple weekends, Smith will host events on subjects ranging from food to music to yoga at the flagship store on Spring Street.

Yes, more gratuitous cat lady pics of the allergy muffins.

I made a personal pledge to stay off Facebook from 10 – 11 a.m. That lasted until about 10:15.

When I see New Photos like these, posted in sequence from two different people (not Friends with each other), snapped thousands of miles away from each other, I’m grateful for such empty promises.

Martin Sexton is the only person who has inspired me to scream Hallelujah! while jumping up and down and dancing.

And the other night, my cousins’ version of Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen by way of Jeff Buckley) had me in tears.

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Another singalong from Grandpa Whaley’s house!

I grew up with jam sessions in the kitchen. Violin, guitar, piano, mandolin, banjo, voices. At Grandma’s, we’d gather around the piano. At Stony, we’d crowd around the campfire.

A few weeks ago, when we were home for a few days, Grandpa Whaley hosted a dinner party for the fam that turned into an engagement party that turned into a jam session. This is a short recording of my dad and his two brothers singing “Paradise” by John Prine. Also known as Muhlenberg County.

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I always loved having music everywhere, but only now that I am sharing this familiar world with the person I love, do I realize how fortunate I have been to have live music coming out of the windows and doors and kitchens of my life.