Hello, life forms. Today is Wednesday, December 22, 2021. Sunset came on us in our valley at 7:37 AM and sunset will be at 4:42 PM. The current temperature is 44 F under mostly cloudy skies. The present clouds don’t promise much of anything now, but rain is in the forecast with a high temperature of 50. Winter storm advisories are out. Predictions call for seven to sixteen inches, but the snow level will be 3,000 feet or more, and we’re below 2,000.
I heard today’s theme song on Ted Lasso the other night. I hadn’t heard this song in a long time it seemed, and it stayed with me, showing up on my walk last night as I took in the valley and the mountain’s shadow spreading across it, and then popping back up in the morning mental music stream today. “Somewhere Only We Know” by Keane came out in the first few years of this century. It’s a moody song about changes. Seems to fit.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, don’t be complacent, and get the vaccine and boosters when you can. Now, I need to go see a cup about a coffee. Here’s the music. Cheers
Tuesday has come upon us, sunshine, clouds, and wind in my region. Looks like an artist took spray cans of gray, blue and white and began spraying, but ran out before anything was finished. The temperature is a comfortable 50 F although the wind has a bite that’s worse than its bark in the way that some wintry winds can manage. The weather prognosticators claim that the high is going to be 50. We’ll see.
But, happy solstice! Yes, it’s December 21st. Some years it’s on the 21st, others, it’s on the 22nd. Don’t know what it is this year, but this is supposed to be our shortest period of daylight. Previous years of observations show that, no, it probably won’t be. But we celebrate solstice as a holiday in our household, picking it up from the pagans. It’s all about meeting with friends, eating earthy foods, drinking wine, making wishes for the future, and stoking a fire against the cold darkness.
For the record, today’s sunrise was 7:36 AM and sunset is scheduled for 4:42 PM.
Today’s song comes from reading various accounts of people who dismissed COVID-19, dissed wearing masks, scoffed at the vaccines, and smirked at social distancing. Then, some — can’t say how many — contracted the virus, and went through some horrible shit, becoming hospitalized and intubated. Then — can’t say how many — some died, leaving relatives to write the follow up posts. Moms, fathers, sons, and daughters.
Out of that stew of reading and thinking about learning and not learning, arose Alanis Morissette with “You Learn” from Jagged Little Pill (1996). What’s ironic about this release (sorry about that) is that the other side of this single (what a quaint idea that is now, the flip side of a single record) was a song called “You Oughta Know”, an angry, sexually explicit rage-on about a terminated relationship that swept across the country. It’s ironic because it was the B side. The A side is supposed to be the major hit.
Here’s the music. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as need be, and get the vaccine and boosters when you can. Don’t force another to finish writing your story. Now, I need to rescue a lonely cuppa coffee from the kitchen. It’s my good deed for the day. Cheers
Haven’t done a ‘what I’m watching’ update in a few months.I know it’s critically important for others to know what I watch. Actually, I always hope that someone reads it and steers me to something new.
First, a word on Hulu. I don’t think they get the whole ‘cut the cable’ angle. They’re claTiming to be part of that movement but then turn around and do Hulu Live, which is essentially a repackaged cable offering, except it’s streaming. It doesn’t address the element that triggered the cable cutting wave, that you can have a zillion channels and have nothing because — 1, it’s old and you’ve seen it a gajillion times. 2, it’s shite, and does not draw you in. So, Hulu offers Hulu Live for just under $70 a month. Ooh, such a bargain! I don’t watch much Hulu. I have basic. They haven’t enticed me to try more. BTW, Paramount + is following the same pattern. Oh, boy, look at our old NBC stuff. Isn’t it great? No, it isn’t.
One that my wife enjoyed twenty years ago is a show called Third Watch. She was lamenting at the month’s beginning that she wouldn’t mind seeing that show again. She’s a big Bobby Canavale fan. Well, ‘lo, the streaming Gods heard her because the next night, I checked out The Roku Channel, and they had just added a ‘new’ show, Third Watch. So we inhale one of those episodes each night.
Likewise, a current favorite has returned for another season. This is a show called The Expanse. We watched the first five seasons. When the new season showed up on Amazon Prime, we started watching the series over again. Featuring a lot of strong female and minority characters, along with a solid hard science fiction plotting, thrilling action, multiple story lines, and politics, it’s an engrossing experience. I finished Ray Donovan, and will watch the movie when it arrives in Feb. I’m also looking forward to the Jack Reacher series. I never bought into Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher. Sorry, but Reacher was supposed to be a lean 250 pounds muscular presence. Cruise was significantly shorter and less muscular. I’d watch Goliath in its initial seasons but it took a strange turn to us in its latest offering, turning us off rather than pulling us in. I’m watching Dexter New Blood, but my wife wants nothing to do with it. Dexter seems off to her, and the villain isn’t villainy enough.
Just finished Amsterdam Undercover on Walter Presents via PBS via Amazon Prime. Just four episodes to it, but I enjoyed the chemistry between the actors and the fast-paced stories.
Over on Apple Plus, we’re treating ourselves to Ted Lasso and Mythic Quest.We finished Invasion, which had potential but dawdled too much for my taste. We tried Foundation, but after watching the first one, I thought, that’s not how I remember it. So I pulled out my copy of the novel and confirmed that they’d made significant ‘updates’. I understand and accept some, but it mostly put me off the series.
On Netflix, we’re watching Bordertown.I’d started it before; when I resumed, my wife expressed interest, so we started it over. We also watched The Unforgiveable because I’d watched the original Sally Wainwright series. Put Sally Wainwright’s name on something, and I’m there.
We tried Disney Plus (Apple Plus, Hulu Plus, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus — I see a ‘me, too’ pattern) to check out some Marvel offerings. Most Marvel offerings don’t move us. Sadly, that’s the case with Hawkeye. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was okay. We did watch and enjoy Jungle Cruise, because it was campy and silly and didn’t take itself seriously. Hard to go wrong with Dwayne Johnson, though. We watched Red Notice because he was in the cast, but it was with a shrug, some interesting moments strewn along long chase and fight scenes.
That’s all that comes to mind. There are probably other shows and movies, but my coffee cup is empty. Cheers
Another Monday has dragged itself to our doorstep, whimpering, here I am. We have no choice but to take the poor critter in and make the best of the day. “We’ll call it December 20, 2021,” we declare.
This Monday is little different from others this season. Windy, with temperatures slogging through the forties. A bleak sun huddles among clouds, displaying a marbled blue-gray sky. Daybreak came at 7:36 AM and sunset is due at 7:41 in the afternoon. Of course, we’re in a valley and the sun sets behind the mountains. Mountain shadows overtake us about 3:30 in the afternoon, cutting off the sun’s scant heat almost instantly.
Was out last night checking out the moon. Strong one, it burst through the clouds, which anointed it with a colorful corona. The clouds restlessly paced and squirmed. Stars and planets showed their faces but were gone in seconds. All that kicked in a David Bowie song, “Starman”, 1972, into the mental music stream. It still resided there this AM. Because the song sings about a starman being out there.
Well, let’s hope we don’t blow it. We often seem on the verge.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and boosters when you can. Stay informed and alert. I have my coffee. Now I’m gonna listen to the music. Cheers
It’s either the start or the end but it seems like the middle, too, because there’s never a pause. The days keep coming and going.
Today’s visitor is Sunday, December 19, 2021. Weather here is blustery, my friends, with bloated clouds puffing up their white chests and declaring, “Maybe I’ll rain. Who knows? Depends on how I feel.” The temperature is climbing the incline toward a high of 47 F. After trudging since sunup at 7:35 AM, it’s reached 46. Should manage 47 by sunset at 4:41 PM, donchathink?
That holds one of the period’s more interesting aspects for me. Sunrise continues getting later, minute by minute. But sunset had a pause, and now is slowly scaling back. Of course, we’re coming to that symbolic day when it’s the shortest of the year up north and longest of the year down south. Call it symbolic because your days may vary.
I’m in a funk again. Never a merry person at the yearly holidays — they want to socialize, and I’m not adept at the s thing — it adds stress, you know? — and I like my routines — a myriad of minor issues has sprouted to layer more stress and frustration. Lay this all on top of COVID restrictions and I’m as happy as a clam on warm cement road: not where I desire to be. So, today’s morning music mental stream occupant — the MMMSO, pronounced meso, if you’re tracking at home — is a 1966 Cream song, “I Feel Free”. Yes, this is a redundant theme song offering. Was just used on a Friday in March of 2021, when the sun rose at 7:06 AM and set at 7:30 PM. So, sue me. Or turn the page. Swipe right. Click away. (“Give me the beat, boys, and free my soul, I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and click away…”) But it’s special circumstances, innit? Motivation music to break out of the encumbrances levied on us by season, situation, and strife.
Stay positive, test negative, and be circumspect, as Doctor Fauci suggests — weigh the risks, wear masks as needed, and get the vaccine and booster when ye can. I’m off on a coffee quest. It’ll take me far away from here, all the way into the kitchen, almost twenty-two feet as the cats jog. Here’s the music. Cheers
It’s good to set goals. You feel so good when you achieve them. Making it to Saturday was a modest but important one. It kept me going through the other days, which were sometimes sucky.
Today is December 18, 2021. The sun popped in, spreading sunshine like butter on hot pancakes, at 7:34 AM. A hazy shade of winter is overlaid on the blue. The snowmess of Wednesday and Thursday leaves no local trace except for tales. Current temp is 32 F and a high of 50 F is being dangled in front of our faces.
“Given to Fly” by Pearl Jam (1998) is flying through the morning mental music stream. It’s one of those songs that starts softly but when I used to hear it on the car FM, I’d end up, pressing the volume button to up as the song rushed through the middle.
These were the words that opened the window for PJ to sail through:
He floated back down cause he wanted to share His key to the locks on the chains he saw everywhere But first he was stripped and then he was stabbed by faceless men Well, fuckers, he still stands
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and boosters. I have a new goal: coffee, here I come. And here’s the music. Cheers
Zounds. It’s already Friday again — Friday, December 17, 2021, to use its fully nomenclature. I’m staggered that it’s already Friday. What happened to the week? And, just two weeks remain in the month. Just two weeks remain in 2021. We are bolting toward 2022.
Okay, many respond. That’s how calendars work. How we hooman beasts track time for physical needs, work, and play. Why are you surprised that all this has transpired, Michael? Have you not been paying attention?
Nah, I think I pay too much attention. Maybe I need to let go about.
Ah, it’s sunshine streaming through blue skies obscured with filmy white ribbons. Fog is struggling to establish control, attaining some success among the trees in the mountain’s folds. Snow still reigns over the peaks and ridges, presenting them with a friendlier white majesty. Sunrise kicked in at 7:34 AM and is due to kick out at 4:40 PM. The temperature has climbed to 31 F. Should reach 44 F, which is about where we went yesterday, and is all in accordance with average expectations.
I was watching a small bird threading on and off a tree’s naked branches, a little sparrow beast. Neurons said, “I appreciate what that expression, ‘free as a bird’, means.” Because he was just going wherever, flitting about. Of course, he — or she — couldn’t see the sex from where I was — was in the elements, looking for food, a-flying and a-flittin’ to remain alive.
All that neural activity prompted a song to jump into the morning mental music stream. “Play ‘Free Bird’,” is a shout parodied in movies, but my neurons started jumping up and down, shouting, “Play ‘Free Bird’.” “Free Bird” is a song by Lynyrd Skynyrd that came out in 1974. 1974 is my high school graduation year, so this rocking song was my theme music for that year.
Keep rockin’, stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vaxes and boosters when ye can. I have my coffee, so if you’ll excuse me, destiny awaits. Cheers
And yea, verily, snow did come unto the valley, kissing all with fat white lips and leaving its imprint. But lo, clouds parted, and the sun did see the snow and said, let me shine on the scene, and thus most of the snow was melted away, although remnants remained as a mark of what hath transpired. Or something like that.
Today is Thursday, December 16, 2021. Yesterday was a snow battle arena here. Snowed and rained alternatively throughout the daylight hours with the temperature darting up to 35 and slinking down to 31 during the same period. Darkness would stretch hands over us and the lights would come on. Then the sun managed a mild breakthrough and sunlight dazzled us.
That’s down here. The story on the upper elevations, say over 3,000 feet, had a solid snow onslaught. A boon for the snowpack but a curse on the Interstate. Siskiyou Pass on I5 was closed, and the California side remains closed. Stopped cars and trucks snaked alongside the Interstate for miles. Online videos show harrowing scenes of sliding and spun-out vehicles. Onramps were blocked by emergency vehicles sending their blue, red, and amber marks into the night, signs, and orange pylons. Winter was here.
Now it’s 36 F. Sunny with bloated and uneasy clouds crowding in like shoppers on the last shopping day. A mix of rain and snow is expected with highs in the lows 40s. Daylight began at 7:33 AM and will cease at 4:40 PM.
A Peter Gabriel song featuring Kate Bush is hovering over the morning mental music stream. I’ve featured it before and am disinclined to dub it this day’s theme music. Fortunately, Simple Minds song was recalled. I told the cat — Papi, who keeps trying to believe that the weather is gonna improve at any second, but is then driven back in by the mean elements — “Come in, get out of the rain.” Also, come in, get out of the snow. And the cold. And the wind. Anyway, these exhortations triggered memory of the song, “Waterfront”.
Hope you enjoy it. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the booster and vaccine jabs when you can. There’s a new variant in town, you know. We’re all watching to see what they’ll do.
Wind chuckles and snarls. Snow rides gravity and wind in helter-skelter frenzy. I pet the cats and watch out a window. The cats turn happy faces up to me and purr.
Today is Wednesday, December 15, 2021. The sunrise fingered the valley at 7:32 AM and the world’s spin will take its influence away at 4:40 PM. It’s 31 degrees F. The snowman cometh. The city opens up the Grove as a no-frills shelter for the homeless. Churches cautiously invite the homeless in from the cold, too.
With the snow falling, I squandered time trying to remember snow-themed rock songs outside of holiday offerings. “Snowblind” and “Snow Blind Friend” answer the neurons. “Yellow Snow”. “Sand Castles in the Snow”. Oh, yeah, the Moody Blues one, “December Snow”, too sad and mellow for now. Of course, the first two songs are about drug addiction, so. Not really the spirit sought.
I started thinking about change, seasons, and the nature of 2021. Half-remembered lyrics engaged me.
One summer never ends One summer never began It keeps me standing still It takes all my will
Ah. The Motels. “Suddenly Last Summer”. Not exactly fast paced nor uplifting, yet here it was in the morning mental music stream.
The wind has tired out but sings a higher, steady note. One cat remains in the window perch, weather gazing, while the others have surrendered to naps. Temperature has climbed to 34 F, close to today’s high. Snow still falls but it’s melted off the streets. Suddenly, you know?
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vaccines and booster shots. Cause suddenly, things change. Not so suddenly, I need my morning cuppa. Here’s the tune. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 