Category: coffee

Friday’s Theme Music

Mood: coffeenated

It’s blue skies and sunshine forever for Friday, June 7, 2024, from my Ashlandia place on the town’s southern realms. Sprummer is holding strong but summer is leaning in. Air feels fresh and comfortable at 79 F, but we’re expected to climb the ladder to over 90 F before the sun delivers its final daily ration.

Mom has her new hospital bed. She seems pleased with it but. Yes, one but is that she claims it’s eleven feet long. Huh? Second criticism is that the mattress (which she says is plastic) is hard and uncomfortable. My wife warned me about that so I’ve ordered a topper for Mom. It’ll arrive tomorrow.

The weather’s sunny disposition pleases Tucker and Papi. They eat a few breakfasts in the morning and then take to the outdoors. Finding a comfy place, they sack out. Their comfort level goes to eleven on a scale of one to ten. After evenings long shadows spread, they come back in for more food.

I spent some time this morning reading news reports about the findings of the judiciary watchdog Fix the Court and how much Justice Clarence Thomas has been given over the years by his wealthy friends. Later, the Supremes released their own financial disclosures. Justice Thomas received more by far in number of gifts and their value. They weren’t cheap but we’re assured that they’re wholly innocent. My snark alarm immediately lit up, with my brain clamoring, “Sure, he wasn’t affected by expensive trips and baubles. No one ever is.”

Meanwhile, since I’d not had coffee at that moment, The Neurons introduced “Moneytalks” by AC/DC from 1990 into the morning mental music stream (Trademark bidding open). While the song is about a woman being attracted to wealth and how wealth affects judgement, ‘money talks’ as an idiom seems like it’s been around as long as money has been around. It’s the popular belief that having money opens doors, solves problems, and buys favors. In short, the wealthy are above the rest of us because their money affects outcomes. They can bribe their way to avenues the rest of us dream about, and they use their money to curry favors and get out of jams.

Yet, we’re to believe that friends like Harlan Crowe paid for Clarence and Ginny’s $160,000 cruise around the Greek Islands in 2007 because Clarence and Ginny are such awesome people. I’m certain that it’s just me because I’m a mad cynic, but I think deals like that are to gain subtle control over people. You know, tit for tat. It may not be bribes but it sure feels like buying influence.

Be positive and stay strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. The power of coffee is reverberating through my body. Let’s do this! Here’s the music. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Mood: Coffeefied

Tuesday, June 4, 2024, has crept in. Sun and clouds play keep away. Air feels cool but humid. A sense of a storm is sneaking in. None is projected. Sunshine is expected to crack through and send the high to 84 F. We’re told it’s a heat wave starting but I don’t believe them. That’s science and facts, which is cover for made-up bullshit. Yeah, that’s some low-grade early morning snark.

Ashlandia is quiet and still this morning. Saw my first fawn of the year two hours ago. No bigger than Papi, my ginger flooft, the fawn was prancing up the street alongside momma. Love those little miniatures.

There’s all manner of news out there around the world. Most of it seems to fall in the ‘not-so-good’ bucket, like large and venomous invasive flying spiders and invasive snake-head fish which can stay on land for several days. The spiders aren’t flying like birds with wings. I would like to see spiders with wings, who also maybe sing. Then they’d start landing on our trees, singing us awake. Singing, flying spiders.

These flying spiders are actually ballooning. If they’re like ballooning humans, expect some festivals and an increase in wine sales.

I’m staying in Ashland for a comment about our newly paved Ashland Street. One of two main drags — the other is Siskiyou Boulevard — it’s actually half-paved at this point. No matter. It’s a vast improvement. I’m hoping the rest is paved before this re-paved piece begins crumbling. That’s the nature of our streets. We’re not the Romans, you know.

With the new pavement has come bold and vibrant street markings. But there’s new green lines, too. No locals I spoke with knew what they were, forcing me to investigate via the net. These green lines are apparently ‘bike boxes’.

“When the traffic signal is yellow or red, motorists must stop behind the white stop line behind the green bike box. Don’t stop on top of the bike box. Keep it clear for cyclists to use. No right turns on red at these intersections.” h/t to Marty Smith @ Williamette Week.

Well, wait then. These are now no-right turn on red intersections? That makes a huge impact on our driving habits.

My morning mental music stream (Trademark chillin’) features Smash Mouth performing “Then the Morning Comes” from 1999. “Why that song?” I coolly asked Les Neurons.

“That’s how it is with some people,” they replied. “Some just say and do shit out of the blue. They walk by and drop a bomb like it ain’t no thing. Just like the song implies.”

“Anyone in particular?” I inquired.

The Neurons snickered. “You probably have some ideas.”

I think these are the lyrics The Neurons are talking about:

[Pre-Chorus 1]
And the world’s a stage(And the world’s a faze)
And the end is near
So push rewind, just in time, thank anybody
You’re gonna do it again

[Chorus]
The way that you walk
It’s just the way that you talk, like it ain’t no thing
And every single day is just a fling
Then the morning comes

h/t to Genius.com

Stay positive, be strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. Time for some clickety-click. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

Mood: Persistfee (a sense of persistence fueled by coffee)

It’s a day of indifferent clouds and sunshine, this Monday, June 3, 2024. Rain spits and dries. Temperatures fall and bounce. 76 F, thermometers declare, but a chiller feel hangs in the air. Today’s high temperature is at hand.

Spoke with Mom this morning. She related bureaucratic issues keeping her hospital bed from coming on. I depend on her for the info so I can only accept her explanation. According to the PCP’s nurse, aka John, everything has been forwarded to the company who will deliver the bed. But they claim something is missing and hold that the bed can’t be delivered until this unknown element is delivered. It all has Mom and I swearing and wondering.

She sounds good, spirited and energetic. She’s been cleaning, she said. So what will the hired help clean when she comes this Thursday?  Mom declares, “I’m not going to pay her to come if there’s nothing here to clean.”

My sisters and I predicted this as a real possibility. Mom prides herself in a clean house. It’s a large part of her persona. Once the cleaner began coming, Mom rose up and began cleaning in anticipation of the cleaner’s arrival. She’d already said the cleaner wasn’t allowed to clean the kitchen because that’s Mom’s territory. Nor could the cleaner help with the laundry; Mom is very particular about how her clothes are washed and dried.

I think Mom is taking a narrow view of having a cleaner come in every week or two. Mom has rallied now but is that sustainable? When will she overdo her poor stenosis-plagued back and cause herself a new injection of pain and immobility? What if she falls – again – and hurts herself? Those are what-ifs, and pieces of logic. Mom’s issues with cleaning are emotional and psychological. Just one son’s opinion. I hope that these worries never see light.

Today’s song is “Green Tambourine” by The Lemon Pipers. The 1967 psychedelic pop hit is playing in my morning mental music stream (Trademark freeze-dried), and I don’t know why. Following the usual course, I interrogated The Neurons, but they closed ranks and shut down. Couldn’t even get a word out of them after plying them with coffee. Stupid little boogerheads.

Off to the coffee shop to let the muses play with words. Be strong, stay pos, and Vote Blue in 2024. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Mood: flightrupted

It’s Thursday, May 30, 2024. Beautiful light blue sky with a little haze is outside the window. Sunny and 52 F.

I’m seeing the world through the Pittsburgh airport windows waiting for my Alaska Air flight. I was supposed to be leaving at 7:50 AM. About six minutes from now. Instead, estimated take off is now 9:18 AM.

That prevents me from my next leg, which was to be my final leg, Seattle WA to Medford OR. Now I’m going from Seattle to Salt Lake City to Medford. Instead of arriving about noon in Medord, I’m arriving about midnight. That sucks for my wife, who is picking me up.

Yeah, it’s all first world blues, innit? Still have food and a decent life. Just a series of bumps on this travel day, so I’m whining about it. I mean, I’m not out in a storm or getting shot at. I’m wired with a computer and reading the news.

And there’s a comic aspect. As I cope with these fight changes, the airline is urging me to start planning my next flight with them.

With this skewed schedule echoing in my head, The Neurons have Molly Hatchett performing “Flirtin’ with Disaster” in the morning mental music stream (Trademark delayed). The 1979 song isn’t quite right for the situation but I’d need to feed them more java before The Neurons will come up with something better.

Thank you to my sweetheart of a little sister and her daughter for getting up and picking me up and driving me to the airport. They’re both awesome people. They’re always doing things for me and treating me like a friggin’ prince, so I’m always in debt to them.

I’m coffeeing up. Stay positive, be strong, and lean forward. Let’s Vote Blue this year, shall we?

Here’s the music. Cheers

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Mood: Cofflective

Here we go, Tuesday, May 28, 2024. Tornados have been messing with large swaths of the U.S. resulting in death and destruction. I’m thankful it’s milder here in the Churchill Valley, although it’s worrisome that lightning apparently struck a house and put it on fire.

Unevenly shaped, rough clouds muddle this morning’s pale blue sky. Sunshine skates in and out. It’s a cool but pleasant 60 F out. Today’s high will flex around 70 F. Thunderstorms and rain are in our close future.

Mom is doing well. Well is a relative term. She’s always expressing weariness and pain; those are regular life features for her. But she buzzed around the house, getting downstairs to do her laundry as only she can do it. She ate well. And she watched television, cursing Trump, wondering again who and why anyone would vote for “that thug”. ‘Idiot’ is sometimes subbed for ‘thug’. I need to remind her to do her property tax senior rebate.

After all the local holidays and birthday parties, I’m afraid that we’re running out of desserts. We only have remnants of angel food cake, a chocolate chip cake, coconut cream pie, an almost whole large apple pie, half of a tuxedo cake with chocolate mousse, and pecan sticky buns. It’s looking grim.

Tonight I visit with my sister’s family again. Tomorrow night is my nephew’s graduation. Thursday, I wing my way out of the area on an Alaska Air flight. Fingers crossed that all goes well with the flight and weather. I’m already working out the packing logistics to account for items added while here.

I ended up with “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan (2020) in the morning mental music stream (Trademark sharp). This almost stream of consciousness song about who the singer is after the changes wrapped up with a relationship’s end just mesmerizes me. It felt like a natural as I thought of my relatives’ lives, as well as my own, and where I’m at, and where they’re at. In our conversations about these things, struggles, failures, success, and frustrations were discussed, sometimes in short, sharp anecdotes and confidential revelations, but often through a long lens of reflection.

Let’s get on the move. Stay positive, be strong, and go forward. Also Vote Blue this year, okay? It’ll help us be strong and move forward.

Coffee is being gulped down and my pulse has resumed. Here’s the music. Have a strong day. Cheers

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Monday’s Wandering Thoughts

Boys and girls in clean baseball uniforms come into the coffee shop and wait for drinks. Last names and numbers adorn the jerseys. The young players all wear their caps with its team insignia. Crocs, or Croc wannabes adorn their feet so they’re not wearing their cleats into the shop.

The parent situation varies. Sometimes a solitary adult accompanies the young athletes; less frequently, it’s a couple. I wonder about the family situation and whether about the significance of the adult situation.

None seem particularly happy. Phones are often studied, arms crossed, as they wait. But one father and the children talk, joke, and laugh.

All so different from my years of young ball playing. This is part of the new Americana, Starbucks, phones, and Crocs. I wonder how many times these scenes play out across the land on this Monday American holiday.

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Monday’s Theme Music

Mood: Coffee’dup.

It’s Monday morning on Ma 27, 2024.

Like many on the east coast of the U.S., it’s a wet one here in the Churchill Valley. Blue sky has retreated as gray clouds carpet out most of the sun. 66 degrees F at this point, 79 F might be the temperatures’ upside.

I’m staying in one of the suburban areas east of Pittsburgh. Many parts of the city lost power due to storms this past weekend. We’ve been fortunate, knock wood.

Awoke today feeling little rested after a night of scarcely remembered fractious dreams. One dream piece recalled featured police officers. One turned into a human sized cat. The other cop became a frog and hopped away. I awoke wondering what their names were. I usually remember dreams pretty vividly so not remembering them causes me to ask, “Damn, what’s wrong with me that I’m not remembering my dreams?”

Had a satisfying and comfortable Memorial Day visit with my sister’s family. This is again one of the young sisters. I have three of them, all smart, who always throw open their doors and welcome me to their home and their table. None of them will let me pay for anything, which, while I appreciate, also vexes me. I love them and their families.

Satisfying and delicious food was on the table yesterday, of course. Pasta salad. Calico beans without the bacon. Corn souffle. Rice and cheese with broccoli, meatballs, and hamburgers with or without cheese. Hard to resist my stomach’s urgers to “Eat more, eat more,” even though I was quite full. Desserts included cakes, fruit with angel food cat, and key lime and apple pies. Yeah, we’re a fortunate family in regards of having food and shelter security, and a family that gets along reasonably well.

Mom is doing okay. She was down a bit yesterday, with a cranky overlay. I suspect this came around from getting up early to dress and leave for the cookout. It was starting at 1, so the timing forced her out of her returns and comfort zones.

When I wrote a previous phrase, ‘It’s a wet one,’ Der Neurons pushed “Smooth” into the morning mental music stream (Trademark flooded). “Smooth” is a ’99 collaboration between Carlos Santana and Rob Thomas, and was written by Itaal Shur and Thomas. It’s a smooth rock offering, with strong lyrics, wonderful percussion, and some soaring Santana licks.

Stay positive, be strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee is already fueling me and sunshine has overcome some of the clouds. Hey, ho, here we go, slinking toward the May’s finish. Here’s the music.

Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Mood: Dreamspired

Pervasive bright sunshine announced another day was starting in the Churchill Valley.

It’s Saturday, May 25, 2024. A brand-new Saturday, its warranty covers everyhing that might happen, except climate change, politics, war, protests, and natural disasters.* Besides the forementioned sunshine, it was 68 F outside. Clouds were forming for a parade but not stopping the heat from coming on. We expect a high of 83 F but we’re also expecting thunderstorms.

Reading the news today, The Neurons ended up putting “The Pretender” by the Foo Fighters (2007) into the morning mental music stream (Trademark indicted). With all the ‘pretender possibilities out there in rock music land, I had to pause to hunt down, why is this rocker stomper prevailing in the MMMS?

Coffee-fueled noodling about the song, and I concluded, it’s about the song’s chaos, tension, and its threats of violence, and what might happen. Reminds me of the here and now in he U.S.

Fresh coffee has been poured and consumed. I’m ready to keep on keeping on. Be strong, remain positive, and Vote Blue in 2024. Here is the music. Hang on. Cheers

*Other restrictions may apply. Warranty voided at midnight. Non-transferrable.

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Friday’s Theme Music

Mood: Inconcoffeeiated

Today is Friday, May 24, 24. The door to the four-day Memorial Day weekend has cracked open. While the valley’s high will be about 83 F today, it’s now 69 F under a blue sky marred by sketchy cotton being stretched apart.

Started early today, helping Mom log on to a video call to get her hospital bed approved. Now I’m on the coffee shop spaceship, accepting coffee gifts to pour into my mouth. I’ve found it’s best to drink the coffee. I’ve tried pouring it on me but the results of that aren’t nearly as refreshing.

Tomorrow night, several sisters and I and a BIL are going to Oakmont to watch Pitt Floyd. Then, Sunday is a cookout at another sister’s house. Wednesday is my nephew’s graduation ceremony. Thursday I’m on a manmade bird out of here and winging west.

Today’s music was because The Neurons like a particular set of versus. The Lemon Twigs came out with “Small Victories on Later” back in 2018. The Neurons like these lyrics and have them rotating through the morning mental music stream (Trademark later).

But all is well and all is merry
Even when the times are scary
Every generation is the same
Resulting in this fear illusion
Is a void that breeds confusion
Leading to a population tame

h/t to Genuis.com

Now I can tell you for certain that this song’s place in me head was triggered by my ruminations about politics. The Republicans have evolved this fear-filled message that’s all they’re really running on for over twenty years. No real policies, just fears about what Democrats will do — take your guns, cause inflation, let illegal immigrants in, change your children into something else — a nauseating fabric predicated on baseless conspiracies and consistent lying. “Climate change is fake,” they scream as weather becomes more violent and extreme. GOP leadership responds by changing lies to disallow saying climate change or taking action against climate change. Their supporters respond, “We’re saved. Thank God they outlawed those words and actions. Let’s go make money.”

Meanwhile, Dems are establishing policies, coming up with plans, working with the international community, etc., managing threats against the country, and managing the economy. As those don’t seem to hold most voters attention, they’re now pointing out how the Trump-led is a threat against our democratic republic. Democrats and liberals point out Trump’s many lies, and the growing number of lies the GOP put out there, like the big lie, that the 2020 election was stolen.

It’s bizarrely becoming a war of fear vs fear that reminds me of the old Mad Magazine’s feature, “Spy vs. Spy”.

Enjoy the weather, enjoy the day, enjoy whatever games you play. Enjoy the coffee, enjoy the drink, and try to understand what others think.

Here’s the music. Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Mood: Coffstained

Today is Thursday, May 23, 2024.

The weather has dialed it back a scooch. Only 65 F now, we’ll peak at only 80 F today in the Churchill Valley. Thunderstorms are suggested for later today but we didn’t get within sniffy distance of them yesterday. Was supposed to rain, too. Around 4 PM, I asked Alexa when it would rain. Alexa replied, “The rain will stop in a few minutes.”

That flabbergasted me. There was naught but sunshine and some towering cumulonimbus beast. We did eventually catch rain but that was after the sun’s show had gone over the horizon.

In personal news, Mom’s first cleaning service went well. Mom and the cleaner have known one another for over 20 years, and like each other. Kathy did an impressive job. I was pleased all around.

I’ve bought my tickets to return to Ashlandia at the end of next week.

One of last night’s dream featured my wife. We were both young and healthy, as it once was. The dream triggered The Neurons’ memories. They ended up inserting “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya” into the morning mental music stream (Trademark dreamy). This was a Culture Club song. My wife likes it because it’s one of her exercise tunes, and the base of several jokes with her exercise instructor and fellow exercise mates.

Stay positive, remain strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. I have coffee spilling into the body. Here’s the video. Cheers

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