Salutations from the third rock from the sun. Today, we mark Monday, April 5, 2021 on the calendar. Here in Ashland, Sol presented at 6:47 AM and is expected to vacate the area at 7:41 PM. Temperatures are cooler today, just 47 degrees F right now, with supposed highs in the mid-sixties. Rain showers are likely.
Had half a cuppa coffee already. Taste buds are singing praises about the flavor and the caffeine is bubbling in my blood. Musically, me mind is mired in 1979 this AM, with Rainbow’s cover of “Since You’ve Been Gone” dominating the neurons. I think this has to do with a dream medley that I experienced that left me thinking about people I socialized with in different locations who I no longer see. Some have died, but with others, different paths were taken and gap emerged that keep us away from one another.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get the vax. Cheers
Hello, good morning, good afternoon, good day, and good night.
Today is Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021, the ninety-fourth day of the year. Sol stepped up at 6:49 AM in Ashland. We expect her to do a fade at 7:40 PM. The hours in between those times are expected to be brimming with sunshine that warms us to the seventy degree F mark. We’re at 54 now, but it doesn’t feel that warm as a cold mountain breeze with a wintry grudge scraps the edge off the sun’s heat.
Today’s music choice is an old Spinners song with Dionne Warwick. “Then Came You” was released in 1974 (hey, my high school senior year) and reached number one. Infused with a little disco vibe into its R&B structure, it stayed popular in dance clubs for several years. As to clues about why it’s in my head this morning…there are none. The little neurons responsible for orchestrating recollection of this tune are staying incognito.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get the vax. Cheers, all.
Good Night. Today is Floofsday, March 32, 2021. Sunset is at 7:01 AM in Ashland and sunrise will be at 7:45 PM. This morning’s temperature is 75 degrees F but we expect to cool down some, reaching 51 by late tonight.
Yesterday’s walk was gloriously perfect. Sunshine burst through, heaving the heat into the high seventies while a mild breeze countered the worst effects. Trees and flowers are blooming, spreading colorful shapes, threading the air with sweet scents. Lot of walkers were out in the hilly streets where I was roaming. Most of us weren’t masked but shied away, keeping proper distance plus.
This situation kicked the 1985 Dire Straits song, “So Far Away”, into my conscious music stream. “So Far Away” was on Brothers in Arms, the album that included “Money for Nothing” and “Walk of Life”, two of my favorite Dire Straits tunes. Stationed at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, I played that album a lot that year, driving my Mazda around the southeastern United States on temporary duty assignments in the Air Force or going north — a straight shot up I-77 — to visit family.
I thought the song works as a theme song for this day. Last April seems so far away. Although we’re marking progress toward the pandemic’s end, a return to normalcy also seems so far away.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get the vax. Cheers
Another new day has arrive, just twenty-four hours after the last one. I think we’ll call this one…Merlin. If not Merlin, then Wednesday, March 31, 2021.
Sol came creeping over the Ashland hills and mountains at 6:55 AM and is now bathing us with warming sunlight. Watch for Sol to slip away around 7:35 PM. Temps yesterday didn’t get as rosy as promised as we struggled to break 55 degrees F. Claims are out that we’ll strike seventy plus today. We’ll see.
We’ve been watching and enjoying NG’s third season of Genius. This year is all about Aretha Franklin. After finishing the episode about the 1972 two-day recording sessions for her Gospel album, Amazing Grace, we again watched the 2018 documentary about making it, for comparison. Robert Altman was on hand filming it back in the day. Technical difficulties prevented it from being completed. When it was finished, Aretha Franklin would not allow it to be released. It stayed on the shelf until after she passed. Then Spike Lee took it up and brought it the public.
Comparisons between the fictionalized events and the real thing were illuminating. To us, the Genius series attempted to show a larger schism between Aretha and her father, Rev. Franklin, than what existed. Just seems that way but we could be wrong, given the small windows which we use to witness their relationship. It was a treat watching and hearing such a talented person sing. though. What a voice.
That delivers us to today’s theme music. While thinking about Aretha Franklin, I recalled one of her later hits. I realized that her 1985 song, “Who’s Zoomin’ Who” is perfect for this era of Zooming meetings, exercise classes, birthdays, weddings, and the many other gatherings we’ve been stopped from doing in person. I’m not the first to recognize that. The comment section is full of others calling this the Zooming anthem.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, get the vax, and keep on Zoomin’. Cheers
Ahoy. Today is Tuesday, March 30, 2021. It’s also national I Am in Control Day in the United States, a holiday to honor Alexander Haig’s famous declaration after President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. The sun broke over the horizon at 6:57 AM in Ashland, and is the world’s rotation is expected to turn us away from it at 7:34 PM. Weather-wise, I’m peering at blue sky as far west as my eyes can see. Sunshine paints everything in view. Although it’s 36 degrees F now, we expect to chip into the seventies today.
Speaking of the seventies, a line from “Mexican Radio” by Wall of Voodoo (1983) was mentioned on another blog that I read yesterday. My brain snapped onto it like a hungry cat stealing a piece of chicken. It (my brain, not the cat, chicken, or blog) has been singing the song to me all yesterday afternoon, continuing the serenade this AM. Let me put an end to this by offering it to others to hear and sing. Not a bad song, although it’s a little repetitious. Most pop/rock songs feature a bit of repetition, though. Give it a listen, see what you think. I’d never seen the video before — was outside of America in 1983 and 1984, and we didn’t receive music channels on our television services — so this is a first for me.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get the vax (if you can figure out if you’re eligible, not so easy to sometimes do as information changes; after forty-five minutes of discussion and study this morning, we concluded we’re still not eligible).
Salutations, and welcome to another Monday, the last of March’s Mondays, making it March 29, 2021. Or is it being March 29, 2021 that makes it Monday?
Sol snuck in around 6:59 AM in Ashland! Woo hoo! Solar exit for our spring-blessed land is anticipated at 7:33 PM Pacific. All kinds of problems are expected if the sun doesn’t do its thing then.
We’re rejoicing in the household. Ever Given, ever stuck — well, six days and nights — in the Suez Canal is finally free. I haven’t read much about it. I’m waiting for the movie. I think Tom Hanks will star in some capacity.
Yesterday was a quintessential spring day. Bold sunshine, warm air, and temperatures that briefly clipped 70 degrees F. I had high hopes for yard work but was sucked into a reading vortex. Nothing that I could do broke the book’s hold. Like I tried (sarcasm). I needed to read it all the way through. Except for eating and some light cleaning and of course, floofwork, reading and writing was all I did. Grand.
Today’s song is a one-hit wonder for Jo Jo Gunne. Called “Run, Run, Run”, the song hit charted number six in the U.K in 1972 but didn’t crack the top ten elsewhere. Haven’t a notion about the Wayback Machine’s machinations in delivering it to my mind’s surface thoughts on this March day. Well, it came about last night while I was gazing out the window, admiring the impending sunset and the illuminating effect on a clot of clouds being lit from behind. See the connection? Neither do I. The records show I selected this as a theme song back in 2019 PC but I was running at the time.
Hope you sample and enjoy it. This video and sound isn’t top quality but I enjoy seeing the era’s hair and clothing. Watching the band play is a kick. Meanwhile, stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get the vax. Cheers
The sun caught the 7:01 AM over the horizon today. The sun plans on spending the day here, visiting with plants, pushing the temperature to 74 degrees F, and showering the area with sunshine. The sun will depart on the 7:32 PM opportunity.
Today, fittingly, is Sunday. It’s also March 28, 2021.
Yesterday was a lovely day. Accompanied by two feline floofervisors, we went out to prep the garden. Soaking up the warmth, I let my mind roam through songs that mention sunshine or the sun. Thinking about it, there are quite a few which are dark songs. After rotating snippets of lyrics and melodies, the Kinks’ 1966 hit, “Sunny Afternoon”, settled into the groove. Its mellow feel was perfect for the process of pulling weeds and mixing in new soil. Give it a listen.
Stay posi, test negy, wear the mask, and get the vax. Cheers
Sorry, coffee on the head. Haven’t had my AM brew. Should go brew it up. Smell does wonder for focus. The contents do more for energy. And the taste…ah, sublime. Dark, no sugar, no milk, thanks.
Today is really Saturday. Sun climb was 7:02 AM while sun fall will be at 7:31 PM in Ashland. Temperature, currently hovering at 47ish, is expected to reach 72ish. I see yard and garden work coming in the afternoon hours.
Theme music today is — yes — dream-related. I was playing Jeopardy in the dream, so the song is the Greg Kinn 1983 hit, “Jeopardy”, with its 80s techno-disco vibe. I thought that it fun could be injected into the proceedings by including the 1984 Weird Al Yankovic parody, “I Lost on Jeopardy”, with Art Fleming. It’s a Saturday twofer. You’re welcome.
Wear your mask, get the vax, test negative, and stay positive. It’s coffee time. See ya.
Thursday salutations. This is March 25, 2021. Welcome to Hard Coffee.
Sorry, have coffee on my mind. Haven’t had it yet today, and the beans are whispering my name in the other room. What is Hard Coffee? I imagine it as a movie in which people must survive without coffee for several hours. Initially hostile or indifferent to one another, they learn that they can get to coffee in a building on the next block, if they work together. A tough ex-Marine who fought at Fallujah, a female with an artificial leg, becomes the de facto leader.
Sol’s first appearance on this cloudy, still, rainy day was at 7:06 AM. The thermometer claims it’s 40 degrees F. outside. Sol will fade out over the horizon at 7:29 PM.
Music choice is driven by a dream in which I was driving a car. “Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car” is a 1988 song by Billy Ocean. No one was in my car in my dream but me; the later lyrics, “I’ll do the driving, I’ll take the wheel,” is what spirited the song into the thinking stream. Yeah, it was a silly chuckle morning. I hadn’t had any coffee yet. Still haven’t actually. Must soon rectify that. You wouldn’t believe how hard typing is. I keep back spacing to correct words. Woof.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get the vax. Cheers
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Welcome to Wednesday, March 17, 2021, where we’re donning green clothing, eating green food, and drinking green beer somewhere. I am wearing a green shirt, a conscious decision to celebrate. ‘Bout all I’ll do in honor of the holiday.
The sun showed itself at 7:20 AM this morning and is expected to disappear for the night at 7:20 PM. Brighter, sunnier, and calmer today, we’ve already crept into the low forties, and we’re expected to hit the mid sixties. This kid will be going for an afternoon walk.
Thinking of Saint Patrick’s Day, I thought I’d go with an Irish rock band. Many of them have plumbed commercial and critical success and achieved international fame and fortune. But when I started thinking of this, I recalled Horslips singing “Trouble With A Capital T”. I know this song and band because when I was stationed in Japan in the early eighties, a co-worker was heavy into them and would sing this song to himself. Hearing him sing it, I asked what it was. I ended up in his dorm room having a beer listening to the Horslips, who he knew through an Irish cousin. He’d gone to stay with them in Ireland one year before joining the military and had seen the band live. After some struggle with memory about the band’s name and the song and some net searching, I found this video.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get the vax. Here is Horslips with “Trouble With A Capital T”.
Michael Seidel, writer 