Category: childhood

Sunday’s Theme Music

Sndy, Sndy. I do like that day.

Today is Sunday, July 11 (7/11), 2021. I remember the first time I ever visited a 7/11 convenience store. I was twelve. One was built along the edges of our housing development. We could walk to it for gum, candy, ice cream bars, whatever. Mom would send me on missions to procure bread, milk, and cigarettes. Salems or Kools. She shifted brands. Walking to the store was our era’s equivalent of surfing the net. Just killing the day.

Today’s daylight began at 5:45 AM and will end at 8:48 PM. Minutes are starting to be shaved off each day. Soon we’ll be heading toward the time change. Then the earth’s trip will move my hemisphere away from the sun’s pleasures. Autumn will drop on us. Winter. We’ll be racing toward the shortest day of sunlight and I’ll be longing for sunshine.

We expect cooler temps today, lows in the lower sixties F, highs around 97 degrees F. No rain in sight. Wildfire smoke soils the blue sky. Two fires east of us by a hundred miles feeds the smoke. Watch your time outside as the air quality slides down the scale into the unhealthy zone.

My brain has opened the day with Don Henley singing “Dirty Laundry” from 1982. The morning music began first with “Those Shoes” by The Eagles. Thinking about that album (The Long Run) took me onto a memory path where I visited with my wife’s family and her sister’s husband. We both enjoy rock, although he, a Vietnam vet and Purple Heart recipient, doesn’t deviate from a narrow definition of what should be heard. He despised disco with a deep passion. Did appreciate soul, R&B, and blues, but had no use for country or rap. He really enjoyed “Dirty Laundry”. And here we are.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask when needed, and get the vax. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Welcome to a new, improved Saturday. Leaner, lighter, lower, stronger, faster, cleaner, more advanced, stays fresher longer, this Saturday is unlike any Saturday you’ve ever experienced. You must try it to believe it. It’s already changed tens of thousands of lives.

“Although I’ve only been awake for about three hours and I have a hangover badgering my brain like a berserk chipmunk, this Saturday has been unbelievable,” says Beverly Beaumont of Texas.

“I don’t think I’d make it to Sunday without this Saturday,” said William Pitt of Pennsylvania.

Duncan Heinz said, “Has to be one of my top seven days of the week.”

Continuing the warm spell again today. Forecasted high of 96 degrees F with a sunrise of 5:41 AM and a sunset coming on at 8:49 PM.

For the first time in recorded history, it is also July 10, 2021. Sip on your coffee and think of that.

Four songs are looping through my mental musical stream this day in history. On top of the list is “Brass in Pocket” by the Pretenders, 1979. Second is “Signs”. Then there’s “Resurrection Shuffle”.

Dreams called out Brass. “Signs” arrived because someone posted “Signs, signs, everywhere signs,” on Twitter yesterday. My pink gray matter summoned the Five Man Electrical Band rendition (1971), followed by the live Tesla version from 1990.

Last, though, came the “Resurrection Shuffle”. Although the lyrics and melody are fresh in the stream, looking up the performer and year was required, delivering the information, Ashton, Gardner & Dyke, 1971. As I never hear that anywhere, I decided this would be today’s tune. Hope you’re familiar with it.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as warranted, and get that vax. Don’t find yourself being mourned because you put off getting the vax for whatever reason. Don’t find yourself mourning others because you got sick and passed it on, and they didn’t survive. Stories of both those flavors are circulating with greater frequency. Get the vax. Here’s the tune. Cheers

Think about nothing now
You're nice and high
You're advocating love
But you don't know why
Now you getting vibrations
All down to your feet
That's the brow beatin'
Heavy leather resurrection beat

h/t Lyrics.com

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

This. Is Wednesday. July 7, 2021.

Currently 75 degrees F. Said to be cooler today. 90 to 94. Today and tomorrow. Hope so. Officially hit 99 yesterday. My home system said it was 101.

Sunrise kicked off at 5:42 AM, a slow growth of light, rosy as pink rose petals at first, then clearing, sharpening, drawing shadows around everything’s backside. Sunset is anticipated at 8:49 PM, if all goes well.

Musically, I’m channeling the Beatles today. Tune is called “Get Back”. Was a 1969 hit for the lads. Billy Preston’s contribution on the keys always delights me. Fun to watch this video of that time, way back when. The hair! The clothes! The antics! The sound! Remember when you were young? Ah, yes, youth — wasted on the young.

Here’s the music. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask if needed, get the vax. And get back to where you once belonged. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

“Today is Tuesday! You know what that means? We’re gonna have a special guest.”

The opening was something that just streamed through me head. Haven’t had my coffee yet.

Today is Tuesday, I think, July 6, 2021. July — and summer — and just streamrolling through. Sol’s first long fingers of rosy light caressed our valley at 5:41 AM. Expecting another 100 degree day, we’ll expect heat to linger for hours after sundown’s official 8:50 time. And there, in those sun up/down numbers is the compressing of the daylight. Two minutes shorter. The countdown to the shortest day of light has begun.

I watched Summer of Soul on Hulu last night. Mind music has been stirred up by it. The documentary is about the 1969 Harlem Culture Festival and a feel for the times, racially, culturally. Great music was brought up. Performers, attendees, and the people behind the production were interviewed. The difficulties encountered. Maxwell House coffee as the sponsor. Mayor Lindsay’s presence.

But the performances. The Fifth Dimension coping with not being black enough, singing “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In”. Billy Davis Jr and Marilyn McCoo’s reactions as they see themselves as they were. Nina Simone’s powerful presence. The amazing talent that is Stevie Wonder. Gospel Music. The Staple Singers. “Grazing in the Grass”. People in the audience dancing. Singing. Those are just off-the-head snippets. The whole thing must be seen. Heard. Those who experienced the times will remember. Those who don’t know them will wonder.

For me, though, Sly and the Family Stone was it. Sly and the Family Stone’s “Everyday People” and “Sing A Simple Song” flushed memories through. Always admired and listened to that group. It’s hardwired into my existence. Their music has been featured here as theme music before. But I’d overlooked “Sing A Simple Song”. Well, not today. It’s my theme music.

[Cynthia:] Sing a simple song
[Rose:] Yeah, yeah, yeah, [etc.]
[Freddie:] I’m talkin’ talkin’ talkin’ talkin’ talkin’ in my sleep
[Larry:] I’m walkin’ walkin’ walkin’ walkin’ walkin’ in the street
[Sly:] Time is passin’ I grow older Things are happening fast
All I have to hold onto is a simple song at last
Let me hear you say
[All:] Yeah, yeah, yeah, [etc.]

[Cynthia:] Sing a simple song
Try a little do re me fa so la ti do

[Rose:] Yeah, yeah, yeah, etc.
[Freddie:] I’m livin’ livin’ livin’ life with all its ups and downs
[Larry:] I’m givin’ givin’ givin’ love and smilin’ at the frowns

[Sly:] You’re in trouble when you find it’s hard for you to smile
A simple song might make it better for a little while
Let me hear you say
[All:] Yeah, yeah. yeah, [etc.]

h/t to AZLyrics.com.

“Time is passing. I grow older. Things are happening fast.” That expresses life well.

Stay postive. Test negative. Wear masks as deemed needed. Get vaxxed. Sing a simple song. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Memory Fuel

Heat fed memories click on. Summertime in Pittsburgh, PA. The Good Humor truck. A race to get money for ice cream. The weight of decisions. Buying for little sisters.

Outside all day. Popping bubbles that rise in the asphalt. Riding bikes. Pedaling as fast as childishly possible to get the wind running your hair back. Playing with Matchbox cars in someone’s shady side yard. Trekking to the creek. Attempting to construct dams. Baseball, softball. Sometimes swimming at a public pool. Chlorine up your nostrils. Red eyes and wrinkled fingers. Walking around. Sweating. Fanning ourselves. Seeking Popsicles. Grinning as we drip with watermelon juice running down our chins. Sunscreen? Suntan lotion was used — at the beach or pool. Never anywhere else.

But…don’t ever recall a hundred degree heat. When ninety was encountered, oh my gosh, is it hot. I’m melting. Ninety now…give me ninety all day. We’re talking 113. 118. Sitting inside by the ‘puter. Or reading. Watching the cats melt.

Same planet. Different world.

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Monday’s Theme Music

The annual rewind has begun. Not what’s happening, of course. More about revolutions and rotations. The essence, though, is that our daylight hours are beginning their seasonal wane.

Today is Monday, June 28, 2021. Sol’s golden beating began at 5:36 AM, a minute later than yesterday. By 7:45, the thermometer was climbing past 86 degrees F. We expected 110 in our southern Oregon valley today. We’ll get some relief tonight, after the sun moves on at 8:51 PM. The temperatures are expected to drop to 66 then.

I was in a work groove yesterday. Finished wall number three. On to number four this week, completing the great room saga, I mean, painting. Then it’ll be…other rooms.

While painting, I was writing in my head, going through plot lines and character arcs, imagining new scenes, re-thinking old ones, working my way toward a better ending. With this going on — writing in my head and painting the great room (and dealing with the heat) (yeah, okay, I turned on the A/C) — a song from 1970 entered the mental musical rotation stream. By King George, the song is called “Groove Me”. It’s a nice taste of R&B. I enjoyed the backstory of how this song came to be. King George worked in a factory a few feet from a young woman. They saw each other every day, but he was too shy to say anything. He finally wrote this song as a poem to give her. But he never saw her again.

Stay positive, test neggy, wear a mask when needed, and get the vax. Thanks. Here’s the music.

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

An afternoon of thunderstorms was Tuesday’s highlight. Rain fell sometimes. With all the thunder, you wonder, where is the lightning striking in this dry land? What part of the tinder is meeting its match? But it brought temperatures down into the eighties, though with a muggy overlay. Overnights fell even lower, forcing us to close windows against getting too cold. Aren’t we precious?

Hi. Today is Wednesday, June 23, 2021. Our ol’ friend Sol entered our valley like a child sneaking in past curfew, arriving at 5:35 AM (again – been several days of 5:35 AM sunrises). The child will sneak back out at 8:51 PM.

All that thunder and questions about lightning caused Eddie Floyd’s song, “Knock on Wood” (1966), to knock on my thoughts. Its fat sound spoke to my mood. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, get the vax, and enjoy the day. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

76 degrees F at 8 AM. Will probably be a warm Monday.

June 21, 2021. This is it: our longest day. That’s the accepted norm. I like the long periods of daylight, so, sigh. Not looking forward to the shorter days of daylight. Sunshine initiated ‘the longest day’ with its faint streams at 5:35 AM. It’ll cease at 8:51 PM. Between those hours, high temperatures in the upper nineties will be enjoyed. It’s interesting that today’s sunrise is a minute later than the last two days, but sunset is later. Result of all these rotations, revolutions, and tilt in play, yeah? Fun to imagine us streaking through the solar system around Sol, along with our planet siblings, while the whole arrangements itself is whizzing through the galaxy and the galaxy is racing through the Universe.

“Summertime Blues” by Eddie Cochran occupies the AM mental music stream. The song was released when I was two but received a lot of airplay throughout my youth. Although the song is about the misery of a teenager with a summer job, I’ve always been enamored of that line, “There ain’t no cure for the summertime blues.” A gaggle of acts have covered the song, including The Who and Brian Seltzer, but I’m loyal to that original. It popped out of memory and into active thought as I finished painting yesterday and contemplated my next summer task. Wonder why. Heh.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

The door to the sky opens at 5:35 AM. The sun’s first impact shades the night gray. Rosy yellows spread as the door grows further ajar. Tuesday, June 8, 2021, has begun its day in Ashland, Oregon. As always, jays acknowledge the event first. Crows add to the dawn conversation after a few minutes.

Air that seems related to fall is outside. Rain fell last night, dropping temperatures into the lower forty F. Thick, broken clouds mottle the blue sky. Temperatures are a far descent from normal, with highs just barely edging over sixty. So it’ll be, a spring fall day, until the door closes on the valley sun at 8:45 PM.

Today’s music of the walking kind. Hopefully dressed for summer, shorts and a tee, with a light fleece, an edgy wind knifes my bare legs, sending chills over my body as I do my thing yesterday. After just three quarters of a mile, smelling rain in the air, I call it and make the turn to home. Thinking of home brings a Delaney & Bonnie song out of mental retirement and into active thinking. Called “Coming Home” The song, made ‘with friends’, was released in the late sixties. It was one of my recurring songs as I traveled during twenty years in the military and then later in marketing for several years. Hope you enjoy it.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get that vax. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

Sitting on the cusp of June, watching the Earth’s rotations roll on. Today is May 31, 2021, a Monday. It’s Memorial Day in the U.S., making this a classic Memorial Day Monday. Now just add a mocha…

Sunshine’s streaming slipped silently in at 0538. I was there to see it, having arisen to tend the bladder’s call. Mountains and trees hide the sun’s early efforts in my house so there was naught to see but the growing emergence of a blue summery sky. Yes, it’s not summer that, but try telling the weather. We’ll be dry and in the nineties today in Ashland. The Earth’s rotation will take the sun away at 2040 or thereabouts. I can see that pretty clearly from the house’s front.

I’d forgotten about the hummingbird episode of the day before yesterday. Out walking toward sunset, I’d gone up the street a few hundred feet in elevation. Turning from one road to another to go up more affording great views of the valley’s northern side. No matter the season, I engage in slowing down to turn and consider the rolling hills and short peaks. Sunshine lingers on that side. They get more snow in winter. Spring greens are rich and lavish. Sunset brings whatever is there into sharper relief.

While doing my contemplating, a green hummingbird darted down and hovered in front of my face. Edging left, right, vertically dancing, the little black-beak friend seemed to be scanning me. This habit of theirs always entertain me. I speak to them with my mind, saying hello and such. This one stayed for about ten seconds before climbing and turning, losing itself behind a veil of leaves. Hummingbird visits are fortifying. I continued on my way a bit happier.

Memorial Day offers a rich memory lode. Mom enjoyed holidays and made the most of these to create memorable family get togethers. In good years, we headed to a state beach, going early to get good parking and good spots. Food was prepared ahead. Think fried chicken, potato salad. Then there was grilling burgers and wieners, lavishing them with condiments. Make mine a cheeseburger, please, with pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, ketchup, and mustard. Dessert — we’re talking pies or cakes here, but often also had watermelon — followed. Augmenting these courses were chips, pretzels, and cookies. None of us were fat, though. Besides all that, we played sports like volleyball or badminton, and went swimming. Time was also spent walking around, enjoying the natural environs.

My wife’s family had a different take. Their Memorial Day was Decoration Day, a time to load up in the car and go visit the family cemeteries, say hello to deceased members, put flowers on graves, and remember those folk. Socializing with other family who lived nearby followed. Then, back home.

For our holiday in 2021, I’m painting more of our house’s interior. We’re far from family. Most of her nucleus has passed away. All of our relatives live thousands of miles from us. It’s a low key celebration and reflection for us.

All this memorifying has me nostalgic for old rock. Enter Jefferson Airplane with their 1967 song, “Somebody to Love”. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask when asked, and get that vax. Cheers

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