His wife needed new shoelaces. Only one store in town sells replacement laces.
He realized that finding shouldn’t surprise him. When he was a child, it was commonplace to snap a shoelace, forcing imaginative knotting to keep your shoe tied. In these times, the shoes usually wore out before the laces. His wife’s laces were for new shoes; she wanted white laces instead of the stripped ones that came with her shoes. Yes, it is a little first world pain, isn’t it?
It’s about 17 C outside. Minute haze dulls the blue sky’s purity. My wife looks out and says, “I wish it would stay like this for a month.” Welcome to Sunday, August 28, 2022.
It won’t stay like this today. 90 F is expected as a high. The sun showed up this AM at 6:32 and will vacate our sky at 7:52 tonight as the length of daylight continues shrinking. I do miss the ocean and beach where we spent last week. Oh, that lovely air, and the glory of hearing the ocean and watching waves hurry in and crash and then drift away. We had no sinus issues there, whereas we began experiencing sinus blockages and postnasal drip when we were still a hundred miles from home. Today brings me full stoppage and the need to blow a few times.
The Neurons are feeding Echosmith and “Cool Kids” (2013) into the morning mental music stream. I don’t know the course that brought the song in. I suspect it emerged from a spectrum of thoughts and slivers of quicksilver dreams at once reflective and amusing. I was a cool kid. Just sayin’, that’s how I was often described. When I pressed why that was used to describe me, people said, as the song says, that I seemed to get it. Yet, I had issues, loads of family matters, though not as heavy as many endure. At least I had shelter and food security. Nobody was abusing me.
Of course, I sang a slighter different version as I pet my orange buddy, the little ginger bear known as Papi. I sang, “I wish that I could be like the cool cats because all of the cool cats get all the kibble.” Papi was too cool to respond beyond disdain. It’s his standard M.O.
The coffee has landed. Stay positive, test negative, and so on. Dream your dream and pursue your hopes. Here’s the music. Cheers
When they finally broke through to the other side and the dust cleared, they found a material world with many boulevards of broken dreams. No matter; it was Saturday, August 27, 2022. They had that going for them, if nothing else.
It’s overcast in my swath of the world. Though the day advanced with the sun cresting the eastern mountains at 6:31 AM, the sun’s warmth is remote and oblique. 18 C now, we expect 83 F to be the temperature’s peak. Night will take over at 7:53 this evening, when the sun ‘moves on’ as the world turns.
For music, The Neurons are plying the morning mental music stream with a song from Peter Gabriel. Named “Blood of Eden”, you might expect it to be an energetic, uplifting, hard rocker. Surprisingly, it’s not. (Yes, you correctly detected snark. Good for you. You must have already had coffee.) I’ve always been a Peter Gabiel fan. This 1983 song was another one which prompted me to listen carefully as my brain asked, “Wait, what’s he saying?” The Neurons restored the song to active presence in my mind after overhearing an older man and woman chatting over coffee. He said in response to her reply, “She said that she can’t afford the insurance.” And while my brain remained engaged on its task, The Neurons took up that line and hooked it up with the “Blood of Eden” lyric, “I cannot get insurance anymore. They don’t take credit, only gold.” That’s just how The Neurons play.
My coffee is at hand. I wasn’t always a coffee drinker. Didn’t start that until around fifth, sixth grade, while visiting a friend’s house. We had the same first name, Michael, although he was a Mike. People habitually said, here’s Michael and Mike, or M and M. Mike used to have coffee with a lot of sugar and cream. I only drank it this way a few times, always at his house. When our compasses took us in different directions, I quit drinking coffee and didn’t resume until I was twenty and in the military. Even then, I was only an occasional imbiber of the black brew, usually on midnight shifts. I became a regular drinker when I went off shifts and became the Training NCO. My boss would come in each morning and say, “Let’s go get coffee.” That’s where the habit really developed for me. That was at Kadena on Okinawa, after I’d been there a few years, so I was twenty-seven. My relationship with coffee blossomed. By the time I reached Germany a few years later, I was identified as a hard-core coffee drinker.
BTW, the coffee was bought at an Army & Air Force Exchange Services cafeteria upstairs from the command post where I worked. It cost ninety cents.
Stay positive and test negative. Take care of your family, community, tribe, and self. Here’s the music. Cheers
We’re into the middle band of the rainbow of days, a prism that never ends. That’s right, it’s Wednesday. We’re also into the final seven days of August, this being the 24th, and over halfway through the memorable year of 2022.
It’s 71 F right now and we expect to be in the upper nineties by day’s end, although we’re not anticipating passing 100. Not in the cards today, fingers crossed. Air quality isn’t bad today. It’s gone up and down by the hour in the last two days as the winds ebbed and flowed. Nighthold was broken at 6:28 this morning, but the darkness will be restored after sunset at 7:58 PM. “Night is coming,” people whisper. They’re talking about the long night. Others mock them, but those who understand these things are preparing for the long night.
“Lay Lady Lay” by Bob Dylan from 1969 has won the morning mental music stream over. The Neurons allowed me to see the progression made from thought to song today. It involved some writing so I’ll not say anything else. It’s a superstition of mine. The song was a favorite of mine for a bit. It came out when I was thirteen. There was a girl in school who showed interest in me. Sweet Vicky loved this song, so when she asked me about it, I loved it, too! We held hands, went to dances, malls, and movies, necking in secret for a few months, before going toward different lights. I have good memories of her and this song.
Stay positive, test negative, and take care of yourself, family, and community. I’ve had my coffee, thanks. Feel free to have some yerself. Here’s the music. Cheers
Three young girls arrived. He’s not an expert in these matters, but their lithe size and small stature made him guess that they were probably ten to twelve years old. All were white and wore shorts, and four-to-five-inch-high heels with ankle straps. One of the pairs of heels had clear plastic. The other two were stiletto.
These, he was certain, were the youngest people he’d ever seen wearing high heels. He’d certainly never seen them on children this young before. It seemed like they portended something, but he didn’t know what.
Take your cover off and salute Wednesday, June 29, 2022. It’s been selected as the day and date in the great quantum arcade where such things are decided. Okay, that’s it, let’s move on.
Sunrise for this august June day was 5:37 AM. The sun’s turning away will be at … drum roll … 8:51 PM – again. Sunset times are in stasis for us. Probably the wrong term but, coffee hasn’t come yet.
Temperatures remain around our average today. It’s again 20 C right now but we expect 86 F this afternoon. This is all so yesterday, except the day and date.
I wandered around the house singing Frank Sinatra’s cover of “Winchester Cathedral” this morning as I pursued the morning rituals. Mom was a fan of ol’ blue eyes. His album, That’s Life (1968), was heavily featured in her stereo rotation. She’d put that vinyl on, cranked it up, and clean the house. I got to know a lot of those songs and do a pretty good Frank imitation. It surprises people, which is always fun. Singing Winchester today surprised the cats. Might have surprised the neighbors, too.
I was singing the song after some dreams prompted The Neurons to insert the song “That’s Life” into the morning mental music stream. It was just a dreamvella, also known as a dreamette in some cultures, that is, a briefer dream than a full-length production, about being a child, but it made a sufficient impression on The Neurons that they felt it deserved music. I previously knew the The New Vaudeville Band’s version of the song but The Neurons perched on Frank.
Anyway, that probably all makes little sense (cuz, coffee, you know), but here we are. Stay positive and test negative, and so on and so forth. Hit it, Frank, while I seek coffee. Cheers
A sunny flourish and a burst of heat and the calendar was made redundant, useless. We knew summer was here. The weather announced it via blazing sun, clear skies, and a sharply scaling thermometer.
Tis Wednesday, June 22, 2015. Tis summer. Nonetheless, the sunrise was at 5:35 AM and sunset will be at 8:51 PM, about the same as the day before summer began. It’s 67 F right now, with a wonderfully friendly and sweet cool breeze tempering the sun’s attitude. The cats love it. I went with the two into the backyard. After some washing (I didn’t participate), they rolled around on the patio. A scrub jay arrived. They abandoned their domestic posturing and proclaimed they’re mighty hunters, so beware.
Somewhere in all of this, the neurons introduced CCR, aka Creedence Clearwater Revival, and their song from 1970, “Up Around the Bend”. It’s pretty straightforward rock and roll. I first heard it when I was fourteen, and the song still entertains me. Hope it entertains you as well.
Stay positive, and hopeful, even optimistic. Test negative. Wear a mask as needed, and take other precautions. Act like you care about your friends and family and be responsible. I try to, with mixed results, then I try again. Now the neurons are singing the coffee song. Here’s CCR. Oh, it’s lifted from Youtube and a show called American Bandstand. They’re having a dance contest. I love this look at 1970s era pop culture – TV, music, fashion, hair, dancing, all rolled into one scene. The music doesn’t start until about 3:42, but you might want to see what it was like, at least for some, for a moment, back in the day. In reflection, I guess today’s theme is nostalgia. Cheers
Gothic clouds black and white hover perilously over the southern ranges of sloping trees. Sunshine offers a brave front but the clouds, abetted by a chilly northern wind, own today’s weather.
It’s Thursday, June 16, 2022. The temperature since sunrise at 5:34 AM has slowly crept into the mid-fifties. Won’t get much higher, they tell us, before the 8:49 PM sunset, maybe hitting the low sixties, say 63 F.
“Never Ending Song of Love” by Delaney & Bonnie & Friends from 1971 is in the morning mental music stream. I enjoy this song’s vocalizations and beat, and the song is a regular that I sing to myself while walking or doing chores. Surprise registered when I discovered that I’ve never shared it as a choice for theme music.
Stay positive and test negative. COVID-19 in wastewater in our area is the highest recorded levels to date. All agree, this is due to tourism returning, mask use receding, and complacency rising. In parallel, testing kits in the area are sudden in short supply because demand has spiked. The COVID-19 pandemic remains a treacherous situation.
Here’s the music. Sing along, please. I’m gonna go get my coffee. Be right back. Cheers
Twilleekin on Tuesday trimantled toi toward testigenical twellings. But other than that, all is calm in the valley on Jun 14, 2022, at least in this household. Don’t know what’s going behind other walls and winders.
Fifty-one F is the claimed temperature and it feels right by degrees. Sunshine bathes cat furs and plants. We turned toward the sun at 5:33 this morning and will turn away at 8:48 this evening. Temperatures remain cool for spring’s final days, with 70 F being mentioned as the likely high. No rain today, alteough they rain has been welcomed in our area. Even with this added rainy season, our local lakes, rivers, and dams are only measuring at less than a quarter of capacity. Our local cistern is 100%, of course, but that’ll provide the city with about 31 days of water. The irrigation district, which provides water to a lot of farms and orchards, still says it can only provide about thirty days of water, not enough for a proper growing season, especially if we’re seeing regular breakouts above the century mark.
Did yardwork for the past several days — it’s an ongoing project — and discovered black bear scat just off the front porch. Wasn’t big so the bear probably wasn’t either. Sightings are regularly reported all around this area so it’s not a shock, just worth noting.
Jim Seals of Seals & Crofts died recently. They had several pop hits and the neurons have introduced their song, “Summer Breeze” into the morning mental music stream. The song was released in 1972. I entered tenth grade that year and met the girl who would become my spouse three years later. It’s a mellow song for a mellow day.
Stay positive, and so on. I am trying, myself. Speaking of which, here’s my coffee. Enjoy the music and thanks for reading. Cheers
Friday. June 10, 2022. That’s the bare facts of it. It gets interesting when we talk about sunrise and sunset and temperatures. That’s where places show their differences. Here in the Rogue Velly, it’s 72 F with a chance to hit 81 F. Sunny but cloudy, so it’s humid on us. Cats are in floof heaven, coming in to eat and then seeking a pleasant napping space outside, somewhere perchance to do bird watching and insect spying without getting too warm. The world’s spin will take the sun away at 8:46 PM after bringing it around to us at 5:34 AM.
Don’t tell Tucker about the weather, though, he still needs his ration of attention. Entering the office, he fixes a dark stare on me and makes a pitch: “Merow.” Having fed him, refilled all the bowls, and replenished his water, after spending a night petting him whenever the other one, Papi — they’re a tag team — woke me up, I ignore Tucker. He then comes over and sits beside me and asks, “Mmmmw.” I shake my head. A trill is issued and then Tucker jumps up onto the desk, walks around the computer, and waits for my hand to go to the mouse. As soon as it does, he begins rubbing his head and face against my hand, pouring out a purr that would shame an idling dragster.
Received my second COVID-19 booster yesterday, Moderna, and feeling it this morning. Like the body is fighting off a low-grade flu. Aching joints and listless muscles, lethargic brain, and low energy, right? Yeah. Got up late and will probably return to bed shortly. Tucker says, “I’ll join you if you do.”
The neurons are playing “Wishing You Were Here” by Chicago (1974) in the morning mental music stream. There is a chain of events for this. My wife bought me a small pin which says, “Wish you were beer.” I wear it on my Tilly hat. Often while chatting with people, they’ll say, “What’s that say on your hat.” Then they’re read it aloud. Overhearing that happen yesterday, the neurons began with the Chicago song. Why that instead of Pink Floyd, “Wish You Were Here”? Don’t know. They’re not saying.
Here’s the song. Stay pos and test neg, etc. Enjoy your day. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 