Category: childhood

Tuesday’s Theme Music – Fixed

We’re striding through the week, marching through Tuesday, October 19, 2021. The winds here think it’s March. They’re roaring like a lion. Sunrise arrived sans fanfare at 7:28 AM, with sunset due at 6:23 PM. Temps will reach into the mid sixties from their present point of 56 F before dropping down into the low forties tonight. It’ll be a dry day, with a bit o’ wind. If the wind ceases later, as expected, I’ll head out for a walk.

Was a beautiful walk yesterday afternoon. Two miles burnished by bright sunshine and cool, mild breezes. Colorful trees provided companionship, along with deer, squirrels, jays, and cats. With an AQI of ten, the view across the valley was unhindered and inspiring.

With the cooler temperatures, we have the house heat turned on for the season. We keep the house at 68 F during the day. While that’s the agreed temperature and I find it comfortable, my wife likes it hotter. Not so much a personal request on her part; more a matter of coping with her health conditions. As compromise to the situation, we have a small electric heater employed in the snug. It’s like a little sun in there. She cranked it up to Medium yesterday, or, as I call it, broil. Had the room a toasty 81 degrees F. That inspired the morning mental music stream, of course. I ended up singing lyrics to myself from “Some Like It Hot” by The Power Station, way back in 1985.

Feel the heat pushing you to decide
Feel the heat burning you up, ready or not

Some like it hot, and some sweat when the heat is on
Some feel the heat and decide that they can’t go on
Some like it hot, but you can’t tell how hot till you try
Some like it hot, so let’s turn up the heat till we fry

h/t to AZLyrics.com

The last time I used this song as theme music was June, 2019, when a heat wave was crashing o’er us. Whenever I think of the song’s title, I can’t stop the movie, “Some Like It Hot”, from crashing in. A silly farce from Billy Wilder that won six Academy Awards, it had a helluva cast, with Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Marilyn Monroe headlining. Not PC for these times. A remake would require substantial re-scripting. But it came out in 1959. I saw it on television, of course, a looong time later.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Here’s the music. Time for me to rassle up some coffee. Cheers

Well. Left the link to the video out. Sorry. That’s what I get, trying to post without hot-starting my brain with spot of coffee first.

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Good morning, peeps. Today is Wednesday, October 13, 2021 in our slice of the valley. Rain is descending. Began last night and just was having so much fun, it kept going. Not heavy rain. Sporadic. Sprinkles to light, you know?

Temperatures are hovering in the mid-forties right now. Expect to flutter toward the mid-fifties before winding down to a cold 34 F for the night. With those brooding, swollen clouds out there, don’t expect much sun relief. Sunrise petered in at 7:21 AM. Sunset comes at 6:32 PM.

Heavy dream play for me last night. Vignettes that danced with memories, leaving me with fading thoughts about things that happened before and questions about what happened to different childhood friends. One of them was John. Haven’t seen him since I was sixteen. He and I hung out all the time between the ages of twelve and fifteen. Then just moved away from one another like a magnet’s polar opposites.

But he’s responsible for today’s morning mental music stream. He brought my attention to a song called “Leader of the Pack” by the Shangri-Las. The song came out in 1964 but John and I were probably talking about it a few years after that. He didn’t care for the song. No; he said, “That sucked.” What John liked was the motorcycle sounds imbued in the music. Early signs were emerging that he was destined to be a motorhead. I later heard through friends and family that he’d moved to North Carolina and opened up a garage. Get the picture?

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Let’s be safe out there. Now. Need to see a machine about a cup of coffee. Here’s the music. Enjoy.

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Saturday falls on us like a time-released drug. So much to do! Or not to do. Depends on your point of view. I speak of Saturday but for some, Saturday comes on a Wednesday. That’s how their work or school week flows.

Today is October 2, 2021. October 4, 1974 is when I enlisted in the USAF, so back on October 2, 1974, I was readying myself to leave. First airplane flight; until then, it’d been buses or cars. Now here was the big jet, carrying me across the country to Texas. My girlfriend, who became my wife a year later, was more nervous than me. I was just going away. My childhood would officially end. Eighteen years old, a few months removed from high school graduation, I was ready.

Sunrise today was at 7:09 AM. Sunset will arrive at 6:51 PM. Temperatures again, cool this morning, 50 F, will rise into the seventies. The world keeps on turning.

With that, I go to the mental music stream, where Fleetwood Mac is performing “World Turning” from 1975. I heard it when I was on leave, readying myself to go on my first overseas tour, fifteen months without my wife. We’ve done a lot together since then. Have had many disagreements. Separated with plans to end it. But here we are, still together. World keeps turning. Shit happens but the world keeps turning. Probably sums up my general approach to existence.

I like this live recording (love that paradox of modern terminology) of the song. Had not heard this version before now. It works.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get the vax and boosters. Also get coffee. That’s where I’m going. Peace out.

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Monday’s Theme Music

“Just another manic Monday.” Yes, welcome to Monday, September 13, 2021. I generally wasn’t fond of Mondays in my school days. Monday. Yech. Up early. Off to await the school bus. Then in the building. Didn’t mind school and did well but disliked that routine. Never was routine oriented in those days. Writing changed that for me. A routine was essential. Of course, I centered it around coffee.

We didn’t drink coffee as children when I went to school. Rarely drank sodas, pop, sugary carbonated beverages, whatever you wanted to call them. Our drink was chocolate, as in hot chocolate or chocolate milk. I’ve noticed that every coffee shop close to a school has a regular glut of children in there getting a morning beverage. Chai tea seemed like the fave was the longest. Of course, in my day, we didn’t know about chai tea, or cafe mochas or lattes. There weren’t usually coffee shops. They were rare and small. A place to get a blue plate special. Change, right?

Sunrise today was a proper one. Boosted by a clear sky and just the right angle, full sunshine beamed into the valley at 6:49 AM. We had a clearish day yesterday with good- to moderate- rated air. Green and yellow. Nothing over 90 on the AQI. Today’s AQI is 39. Sweet. Sunset will come to our valley at 7:24 PM tonight.

As for songs, a 1966 cover of an older song is in the mental musical stream. “See You in September” was covered by the Happenings and became a pop hit. Hearing it provides an interesting look back at how pop music sounded then, and how it was evolving. You had the surf sound going on, the Brit invasion, but also songs like this along with others by the Four Seasons, and Motown soul. Rock and roll was growing, and so was folk music. Rock and pop has always been eclectic. One of the reasons I love it. A song for any mood, a sound for any time. I admit that I lean toward blues-based guitar and piano sounds with subtle soul nuances. Sounds like I’m describing a wine, doesn’t it?

Here’s the music. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. If we do these things, then maybe we will see one another in September, out in public, without a mask, enjoying fresh autumn air. Cheers

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Sunday’s Theme Music

Woo-hoo. Welcome to Sunday, September 12, 2021, National Video Games Day! Yes, today is set aside as a day of observance and remembrance to the video games we loved and played. Yeah. A popular social media device is to ask you what your favorite video game was a child. I think mine was Etch-A-Sketch. Does that qualify? I do remember when Pong came out and we all played it for about twenty minutes. Ah, the seventies. What a period for video games.

Sunrise was 6:44 AM today. Sunrise cometh at 7:27 PM as daylight hours accordion down. AQI is moderate, mid seventies, and the high today will be in the low 80s F here in Ashland, southern Oregon.

I’ve already dated myself with my video game recollections. So, nothing to lose. I awoke with “25 or 6 to4” by the Chicago Transit Authority playing in the mental music stream. Its emergence for here and now isn’t clear. What is clear is that it’s stuck and must be shared to be removed. Chicago later dropped the last two words of its name. Its style changed, too. But, that’s how it goes with music.

So here it is, from pre-Internet, pre-worldwide web, pre-video games. Why I listened to this song on vinyl. Then tape. Now I listen to it on digits. Remember, stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get the vax. Now go play a video game while I get coffee. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

A cool one is expected today, in the mid to upper eighties. Had some wind yesterday. The heat dome shrugged its shoulders. Smoke lessened. The sun became familiar, ah, sunny hues instead of a red hole in hell.

Sunrise today, Monday, 8/16/2021, will come at 6:17 AM. Sunset will bless us at 8:12 PM. For music, I’m stuck on a 1970 song, “The Rapper”, by The Jaggertz. “So he starts his rapping. Hoping something will happen. He’ll say he needs you, a companion, a girl he can talk to. He’s made up his mind, he wants someone to sock it to!”

Ha, sock it to. Have you heard anyone use that recently. It’s like, “Where’s the beef?” Or, “Mama mia, that’s some spicy meatball.” “Oh, he likes it. Hey, Mikey.” Or, um, twenty-one skidoo. Or groovy. Or even, “Who let the dogs out? Who, who, who?”

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, get the vax, you know? Enjoy the music. Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Sunrise, sunset, smoke, weak sun, high temperatures, COVID-19 spiking. Yes, this is Saturday, 8/14/21. Hope your Friday the 13th went well.

So the sunrise, sunset, air quality, and temperature numbers go 6:12 AM, 8:11 PM, 162 (very unhealthy) and 100 F, again. COVID-19 case numbers are in the hundreds in our county. Highest ever. Delta variant. Unvaccinated account fo over 98 percent, according one doc. Hospitals overcrowded. ICUs full. Emergency assistance sought from the state. Plans to put up field hospitals. COVID-19 deaths are also the highest ever in our southern Oregon county.

Our town, though, remains a small oasis. More were vaccinated. Wore masks. Took precautions. Most cases in the county originate in two towns that went heavy for Trump. Who eschewed masking with extreme contempt. Sneered at vaccines. Fighting to keep their children from being vaccinated or wearing masks. Yep, even while they have the highest COVID-19 case numbers in the state. I think there’s some moral there. If I could just put my finger on it.

Busy, busy, dream night. Cats contributed. Keeping two of the three in due to heavy smoke. Third, the youngest, is too adamant to be kept in. Paws at windows. Beats blinds. Screams for freedom. Raises a ruckus with the other two. Because I’m keeping the two older bois in, the pet door is closed. Hence my multiple sleep interruptions.

Anyway, while brewing desperately desired coffee this AM, I was pondering dreams. So real. Was that a dream or is that a memory? Wasn’t sure with some of them. Worried me about my state of mind. Anyway, from that arose a song by Mister John Lennon. “#9 Dream” (1974). When I heard it on the radio, I also heard the DJ saying that the song came to Lennon in a dream. But the word, “Was it in a dream, was it just a dream? I know, yes, I know, seemed so very real, it seemed so real to me.” Had never seen this video until today. Eye opening and thought provoking, IMO.

Study hard and stay in school. No, wait. Started on the wrong phrases, didn’t I? Guess it was a slip back to 1974. Test negative and stay positive. Wear a mask as needed and get the vax. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Sunday’s Theme Music

“Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.” That echoing baritone used to herald local events during television and radio commercials. Monster truck shows. Wrestling at the armory. That sort of thing.

Today is Sunday, August 8, 2021. Smoke continues plaguing us. It’s better than fire. So many fires continue burning out here in the western U.S. that only the most positive of people can stay upbeat. White clouds are skulking through the sky. Temperatures will be on the cool side, with a high around 82 F, they say. But Alexa told me yesterday that it would only get to 86. Then 90. Then 91. That’s where it peaked. Hope it stays cool

Sunrise’s gray, gold, and pink marbleized lights and shadows came into the valley at 6:09 AM. We’ll have another red ball sunset at 8:27 PM.

COVID-19, the Delta variant, vaccines, and masks continue to dominate my news cycle. Despite the Olympics and the new U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan. All ‘water is wet’ news anymore. The U.S. has been bombing someone throughout my lifetime. Probably will be after I’m gone.

Yesterday had me getting rid of some old exercise equipment. I disassembled things to make it easier to load, transport, and unload at the dump. (Yes, nobody wanted any of it, further depressing me.) The bike required an allen wrench. I have several sets. When I realized I needed one and headed to the workbench, Billy Joel began singing “Allentown” (1982).

Well, we’re living here in Allentown
And they’re closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem, they’re killing time
Filling out forms, standing in line

h/t to Genius.com

Well, the song won’t leave my head. It played even when I was lying in bed. Even while feeding the cat getting a drink by the kitchen sink. So, I must spread it out to others to remove it from my mind. Sorry, friends. That’s how these things work. It’s been so since the first recorded song.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed — and they do seem needed again in the U.S. as the nation records record numbers of new cases — and get the vax, if you can. The vax may not fully and completely protect you from the virus but it will mitigate its symptoms and the probable results. In other words, you’re more likely to survive with the vaccine than without it.

Cheers

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Friday’s Theme Music

Today is Friday, July, 2021’s, final Friday offering, the fifth Friday of the month. July 30.

It’s a humid morning. 76 F at 7:30 AM. Sky of indiscriminate color. Maybe off-white. Tinged faint yellow. Little of this from smoke, little of that from clouds. Nothing blue. Just a long flat plain.

Sunrise — or daylight — began at 6:02 AM. Sunset will be 8:32. Anticipated highs will be like yesterday, touching 97 to 100, depending on small variations caused by geography. We were at 100 but other friends reported only 98.

Went with ZZ Top this morning for my theme music. “La Grange”. 1973. Dusty Hill – the bassist passed away so they’re on my mind. I first experienced ZZ Top in high school art class. Thanks to Scott M for bringing them in. Tres Hombres. Went out and bought that album as soon as possible. Introduced my wife to it. “Jesus Left Chicago”. “Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers”. You know it. Maybe you don’t. Good album.

Anyone else having WordPress issues? I find that the toolbar for the blocks disappear. I can see it over on top on the left. Select a block. Gone. Oh, fun. Those features on that toolbar aren’t available once it disappears. Say, bold. Italics. Even the keystroke commands fail. For that matter, just selecting and highlighting a block is impossible. WordPress says, “Nope. Not gonna do it.” Not for all posts. Just for some. Here and there. Enough to make you ask your computer, “WTF, WordPress.” Enough for you to glower and grit and think, “Surely there’s something better out there.” Oh, but the inertia to search for a new one isn’t there. They know this, I think. Depend on it. I can hear their sinister little voices dripping with contempt. “They won’t leave. They’ll just post snide little comments and give us low ratings. But they’ll stay.” Snort. Snicker. I work around, using Word to type and format everything, then cut and paste. Anyone else having these issues? Or should I take it personally?

Stay positive. Test negative. Hope you can. D variant is striking even if you’re vaxxed. Difference is that less vaccinated head to the hospital. Fewer die. So wear a mask as needed. Looks like it’s needed again. And get the vax. Every little bit will help.

Here’s the music. Cheers

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