It’s November 28, 2023, a Tuesday. Only seventeen hundred billion shopping days until Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Last Chance Tuesday and Special Deals Wednesdays ads, commercials, mailers, and emails are gone. Then what will we do?
The furnace is busy this morning in Ashlandia, where summers are hot and spring is above average. Faintly gray and softly weak clouds malinger in the blue sky. Awakening temperature was 28 F outside. Inside was a chilly 62 F but at least I was inside and could turn on the fireplace and furnace to warm the house. I count that as a win. We are working our way up through the forties, with expectations that we’ll level off in the mid-fifties.
The floof masters have decided all will be better served by staying in during these cold hours. I appreciate that, as we also have the stagnant air advisory going on, and my nose is feeling it a bit. I worry what it does to the cats. My preference would be that they’re more permanent house cats, going out to nap in the backyard when the air is clear, the sun is bright, and the temperatures are comfortable. But the floofbeasts are obstinate little buggers; it’s one of their main strengths.
Today’s theme music was not a gift from The Neurons. Nor was it dream inspired, or triggered by some conversation. No, I have “Mrs Robinson” by Simon & Garfunkel rounding through the morning mental music stream (Trademark inept). This was inspired by Jill Dennison’s blog about the song. She featured it as her song choice this morning, and tells the story about how the song developed and ended up in the movie, The Graduate. I found an interesting recording of S&G playing it in Central Park, NY, in 1981.
Stay strong, be positive, and keep leaning forward. Hot coffee is being freshly consumed. Here’s the video. Cheers
Lovely fall day is on display today, Monday, November 27, 2023. 45 F under a sunshine drenched blue sky with another stagnant air advisory out for Ashlandia, where the deer are above average and the bears are like Yogi — not. Time is blocked out for activity so I’m spinning this fast.
Gonna be 53 F today. A memory came up of a November snowstorm experienced four years ago. That’s looking out my front window. I did the usual whining about the cold and the inconvenience back then but also was thankful for the snow to help end the drought, which was severe in those days. We’re still working on getting out of it but it’s much better this year, knock on drywall; there were no penalities levied on us for our water use and no cutbacks or limitations announced this year.
Responding to his most royal Floof Papi the First and his 3 AM door service directives, as I walked by a window, I was taken aback, even though the blinds were drawn. Looked like a big ol’ spotlight was trained on my residence. I quickly had ideas that some crime was underway and the police had the place surrounded with a mega spotlight blowing up the scene for all to see. I thought, “There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.” I pulled the blind up to see if there was a man with a gun out there. But it was but a sky cleared away for a Beaver Moon to shine down on us. Let me tell you, without any heavenly obstructions, that moon was a bright puppy. I would have stayed out admiring it but I was half naked and barefoot, and the air temp was settled around 36 F.
The Neurons suggested The Logical Song by Supertramp, 1979, sliding it into the morning mental music stream (Trademark woke) for my AM entertainment. The suggestion was certainly born from my wife and I discussing various things and concluding how much of what we read or saw via videos seemed illogical. More, though, there are frequently questions which run deep in my mind on into the night, not just about politics, news, history, and religion, but more philosophical elements about the state of existence and reality, and then soft mourning about how complicated our world has become in this information age. “The Logical Song” addresses some of these matters.
I went with an interesting version performed by Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. That is the songwriter and the original vocalist, Roger Hodgson from Supertramp on keyboard.
Gonna enjoy the day best that I can and make it successful on my level, using my measuring methods. Hope you will, too. Stay positive, keep strong, and lean forward. I’m sure I’ll do the same, once I get some coffee in me, along with the pumpkin muffins with maple topping my wife made me. Goes super with fresh hot coffee. I’d offer you one but by the time it’s delivered to you, I don’t think it’d be nearly as good.
Hello, and welcome to Saturday, November 25, 2023.
The rythm of days and nights, and darkness, sunshine, and weather continues in Ashlandia, where the nights are cold and the furnaces are working hard. Last night saw a delivery of 28 F, not bad if your usual is 0, but not pleasing if your usual lows are around 33, which is our range. It’s 43 F now with the weather wizards telling us that a scorching 53 F is within reach today. It is blue sky, sunny, and dry.
Coming home from Friendsgiving on Thursday night, I called up some of Mom’s old sayings she used as we drove home. Fer instance, the one about the little piggies going to the market, etc, ending with one going wee, wee, wee all the way home. Then Mom always like announcing, “Home, sweet home,” when we turned onto our road and our house came into view.
So I did those things Thursday night, annoying my wife. This sequence invited The Neurons to plug “Last Child” by Aerosmith from 1976 into the morning mental music stream (Trademark off) intermittently since then, because the chorus is “Home, sweet, home.” So that’s today’s theme song, with the video being an accoustic version.
Hope you have a tremendous day. Stay strong, be positive, and lean forward. Coffee drinking has commenced here; let’s hear the music. Cheers
It’s actually Friday, 11/24/23, which I find fun to type. The Frienday thingy was pure accident. My computer, an HP Envy 17, has been in use for about six years, which is downright geriatric for computers. It’s given to being a little wonky at times, leaping up from where I’m typing to another place on the page, as well as skipping letters that I type. I know it’s the machine and not me because I don’t have these problems on other machines, like my wife’s Apple. Anyway, by unblemished serendipity, the wonkiness spelled out Frienday. As I celebrated Friendsgiving yesterday, keeping it as Frienday was a respectably cool coincidence.
Had a little cold weather last night, as 25 F was our overnight low. Took me by surprise because weather info suppliers were telling us, 31 would be the low. Anyway, that cold weather kept Papi in for most of the night. The one outing somewhere around 3:30 lasted less than ten minutes, and then he stayed in until 6 AM, when his soft pleas to be released re-commenced. Now the sunshine has pulled the mercury up to 44 F in Ashlandia, where all the trees are brown (except for the firs and pines) and the sky is blue. 52 F will be today’s high, if the weather whisperers are to be trusted.
As for me, blood pressure is 130 over 73, and my SpO2 is 99. So, things are going pretty well.
Today’s theme music was inspired by The Falcon and the Snowman, itself an adaptation of the book, The Falcon and the Snowman. The song is the 1985 song, “This Is Not America” by Pat Metheny and David Bowie, words which one of the people in the book said. The Neurons planted it in the morning mental music stream (Trademark dropped) this morning after catching up on the news, and the GOP’s shift away from democracy toward a dictatorship where Donald Trump is their dear leader. Such moves, along with the GOP’s gerrymandering and other actions undermining others’ rights, including the right to vote, has me shaking my head and declaring, “This is not America.” But, to judge by polls and GOP behavior, this is their vision of a fascist America, and they’re pretty happy with their cancel culture attacks, book banning, and tearing down the wall between the church and state.
Stay pos, be strong, and lean forward. Oh, and you may not have heard, but from what I’ve seen in my email, today is Black Friday, a good time to stay away from stores and shopping centers, because they’ll be busy, busy places.
Foggy this morning in Ashlandia, where the atmosphere is holiday bright. Was 48 F but that chill fog kept it, well, chilly. Now we’re nearing our day’s high temp, 52 F, but the sun has cleared off the fog and presented us with a clear blue sky, which looks sweet over mid-autumn’s colors.
Yes, it’s Thanksgiving, so my mind is rich with memories of Thanksgivings from childhood at my grandparent’s house to later Thanksgiving with Mom and family, to various military Thanksgiving scenarios. One which stands tall is Thanksgiving in the Philippines. I was married but on an unaccompanied tour, so my wife was back in the US, living with her family. I was part of a three-man command and control team, and my shift lead, Sal, invited me to his home in base housing for the holiday. Good friends, good day.
Since I’ve been out of the military and living with my wife on the west coast, we do Friendsgiving. Herb and Debra hosts a number of people from 12 to 20. Don’t know how many will be attending this year, our tenth year of going to their home in the country outside of Talent, Oregon. It’s always a good time, though, and I’m looking forward to being there.
Of course, no memories supplant the ones with Mom back in her home, with my sisters. Mom would start cooking the night before, worrying about the turkey being big enough, starting to roast it dark o’clock in the morning, basting it and fretting it would turn out dry. Never did. She made everything from scratch herself in those days, and you know we had pie and all the traditional fixin’s.
For music on this holiday, The Neurons inundated the morning mental music stream (Trademark wishful) with Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow with “INDUSTRY BABY” from 2020. It’s mostly the chorus going through the MMMS:
It’s an interesting video for several reasons, and I hope you enjoy it.
Hope your day is excellent, wherever you are, regardless of whether it’s a holiday for you or not. Be strong, stay positive, and lean forward to better times. Coffee is been consumed; other matters await. Here’s the video. Cheers
Man, it started out as a gray, dry, cold morning, on this Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving in Ashlandia, where the people’s mood seems calm. The temperature has climbed from the mid 30s to the mid 40s and the sky has morphed from flat gray to ashy charcoal streaks with blue hints. Gonna get up to 54 F, we’re told but tonight will see lows in the upper 20s. We hear whispers, “Winter is coming again,” and we’re like, “Yeah, that’s how the seasons work here, like clockwork. Where have you been?”
It’s November 22, 2023, from which I can infer that, barring a collapse of time-keeping, November doesn’t have much time left. Then December will crash into us and we’ll slide through the holidays bang into 2024. And what a year that will be! From elections and trials and sports and economics, we hear so much already about 2024 that it seems like it’ll be a mighty, mighty year, or we’ll squeeze through it with a whimper, bang or bust, right?
Which has fueled today’s music, meaning clock, time, and the calendar. Reading news like the rise of Trump’s overtly anti-democratic rhetoric, I think, we’ll see. We’ll see with time whether Trump’s dreams of being re-elected as POTUS in 2024 will be realized. And we’ll see with time if he escapes conviction in the four trials focused on his behavior and evidence that he was breaking the law. Time will tell us if Trump will be able to complete his new vision of building camps for anyone who doesn’t support him, people he calls ‘vermin’, like many dictators do in their quest to suppress their opposition. Time will tell.
Time will tell if Trump then imprisons political prisoners and ends the dream of U.S. democracy as the founders laid out over two hundred years ago. That’s what he wants, and that’s what his supporters agree to, as long as they end up on top as part of the privileged. Demonstrating remarkably pathetic vision of how things work, the people supporting Trump then think life will be great for them, not realizing, or maybe not caring, what their Trump dreams will lead to. Like, how will all of this play with our current allies and trading partners?
Time will tell if Trump and the Republicans follow through on the plan to fire all Federal employees and then hire back loyalists. Time will tell, if they do, how well the government would then work, and what will happen to revenue if all new people are installed in the IRS to manage the tax code and tax returns. Time will tell how the VA hospitals will do with all new inexperienced administrations, or the FAA, FBI, CIA, NSA, and DHS.
Yes, time will tell if any of these ‘dreams’ are being taken seriously by anyone, and if they are being taken seriously, whether they’ll drive support up or down for Trump and the GOP.
With all that thinking about what ‘time will tell’, is it any surprise that The Neurons cranked up Asia’s 1982 song, “Only Time Will Tell” into the morning mental music stream (Trademark drifting)? I’m on the page with them with this one. With all the crises, wars, problems (like climate change) and divided, polarized opinions about what to do about anything, only time will tell how we, our planet, etc., will end up. Of course, that’s always been the case, but in this hyper information age with bad actors and bots pouring out misinformation, waiting for time to tell keeps many of us anxious, stressed, or even depressed. Guess time will tell what we’ll be like on the other side of 2024.
Stay pos, be strong, and lean into a brighter future. I’ve had coffee, thanks, but wouldn’t mind a warmer, s’il vous plait. Here’s the music. Cheers
With Tuesday, November 21, 2023, here in Ashlandia, where the restaurants are good and the service is above average, we have another weather shift. 58 F, the sun is shining like summer now as late morning rotates through. We’re expecting highs in the low to mid-sixties today. Only problem is the air stagnation advisory. It ends this evening today but we’ve honestly been little affected by it in our valley this time, knock wood.
Les Neurons are messing with me again. Experiencing sound sleep and multiple dreams last night, I was remembering the latter this morning while putzing through the breakfast routine of feeding the cats and making my breakfast when The Neurons delivered a song to the morning mental music stream (Trademark dated).
I’m detouring here to mention that feeding the cats breakfast includes giving Tucker his hip and joint supplement. He’s an elderly cat now, with a few teeth gone after dealing with gingivostomatitis most of his life. When he first arrived on our porch, hungry, matted, and crying, he had serious mouth infections. We had those treated and some teeth removed and have since kept him on a grain-free diet, which works well in keeping the gingivostomatitis at bay.
But now, being older, he’s stiff with arthritis. His supplement helps, lubricating his movement, stimulating his appetite, and increasing his energy levels, but he doesn’t have the teeth to chew it right, so he often tries and then leaves the wet chew on the floor. So, to give it to him, I crumble the chew into boiling water and mix it with his morning and evening wet food, and he’s lapped it down.
Now, I don’t know if you know cats, but many of them want whatever the other is having. I’ve caught Papi, who is much younger, sniffing Tucker’s treated food with interest. He’s decided he wants a little hot water mixed in with his wet food, too. His thinking, I think, is, another cat is getting it, and if it’s good enough for another cat, he deserves to get it as well. Second, hot water helps keep him hydrated, and enhances the food’s smell and flavor, right? I suppose, because he licks his bowl clean.
Anyway, as I’m doing these things this AM, The Neurons begin playing “Young Folks” by Peter Bjorn and John with Victoria Bergsman from 2006 in the morning mental music stream. I’m not privy to why The Neurons brought that song up. They often don’t share with me, treating my requests with disdain. Maybe they just remembered the whistling or the voices or the song’s message and lyrics, and thought this a good day to hear it again. Honestly, I don’t know, but it’s earned its place as today’s theme music.
Stay positive, be strong, and lean forward with growing optimism that we’ll get over the Trump threat and everything he does to encourage others to come forward as hateful, hypocritical, racist, sexist, homophobic, warmongering, privilege-seeking neanderthals. My coffee is going down smooth and tasty. Think I’ll have some more.
T’was the Monday before Thanksgiving, and all through the town, people were hurrying, rushing around, making their plans to have a good meal, or shopping online to get a good deal.
Yes, it’s Monday, the 20th of November of 2023. This is the last time that we’ll experience this day and date combo until three different things happen. One, time travel is finally achieved, enabling us to return to this date to see what really happened; two, the Recreation Society decides that this will be the day/date that is recreated as a do-over. But I know for a fact that time travel is still a few decades off and the Recreation Society won’t be here for over fifty years. In fact, its inventors aren’t even born yet.
Windy is the word for the weather in Ashlandia, where the wind is charged and sharp, and the cats are unhappy. After dipping to 30 F last night, we’re now up to 45 F under a flash blue sky and sterling sunshine.
Looking out and seeing no rain, The Neurons cranked up “I’m Only Happy When It Rains”, 1995, by Garbage, in the morning mental music stream (Trademark drenched). While it was a bit’o mischief by Les Neurons, who love pranking me before I’ve had coffee and I’m defenseless, I’ve always found IOHWIR to be a terrific sing along rocker. Shirley Manson delivers on vocals with audio sneers dripping with contempt. Terrific fun, and hard to resist as she teases, “Pour your misery down on me.”
Stay positive, be strong, and lean forward into that dark wind until we break through the other side. Pour some coffee down for me. Never mind, I’ll do it myself. Here’s the video. Cheers
PS: The third way we can experience Monday, November 20, 2023, again, is if we come unstuck in time. It’s been known to happen, although they didn’t know it at the time.
December’s coming o’er the horizon. Just one more November Sunday to manage — after Thanksgiving this month, of course.
Yes, it’s Sunday, November 19, 2023. It’s 40 F in Ashlandia, where we officially remain in drought condition, but at the lowest level. Rain fell off and on through the night after some prolonged and heavy rain yesterday afternoon but October was labeled the state’s 64th driest since 1895. Which, doesn’t sound that bad to me; 128 years have passed since 1895, so 64th driest puts it dead in the middle.
Today’s high temperature will be 48 F. We’re expecting plentiful sunshine, lots of clouds, and some rain, which adds up to a pretty average Ashlandia autumn day.
For some reason, The Neurons planted some lyrics to “Glycerine” by Bush from 1995 into the morning mental music stream (Trademark slippery). “I’m never alone, I’m alone all the time.” I’ve always admired the simplicity and dichotomy as well as the inherent enigma of that line. I think many of us feel like that: I’m surrounded by others — noise, crowds, family, pets, co-workers, traffic, shoppers, etc. — but I’m alone with my thoughts, emotions, and struggles. I don’t know by number how much we usually share with others. They — health professionals — tell us that we shouldn’t keep things bottled in, that it’s better to share with others. But we so often have private fears and worries which we’d rather not show, often without even knowing why. Just coffee reflections.
Stay positive, be strong, and lean forward. I’m learning toward more coffee, myself. Here’s the music. I went with a recording of a live show featuring Gwen Stefani. Hope you enjoy it. Cheers
Beautiful windy, cloudy, sunny Saturday morning in Ashlandia, where the drivers are average and polite, but getting hit while you’re walking is close to happening all the time. The temperature is 54 F. Light rain might visit, and our high temperature will only be 57 F, but that’s better than 47 F.
It’s November 18, 2023, already. Counting down to all those things that are growing more and more imminent, from tests for students to mark the year’s end or term’s end, to buying presents and cooking foods for different holidays, to making travel arrangements to visit family or run away to somewhere warmer. All of these things speak from positions of privilege and having the money and food security to make these plans. Too, too many people will be scrambling as they have for years, trying to be safe, have a warm place for themselves and their families to sleep, and a decent meal. Their reasons for those situations are many; some are from choices made, but others arrived at their precarious situation through discrimination and bias, personal disasters, or mental health matters. Hope you can keep them in mind and help them out some during this season of celebration.
It’s time for the Leonids meteor show again. I went out to look for them last night,but the sky wasn’t cooperative. While Thursday night was fantastically clear, Friday night was hopelessly overcast. Bummer to me as I like watching the streaks and think about where they’ve been and what they represent. Three trips outside were done, and nada was seen but clouds and light pollution.
The Neurons popped an Isley Brothers song from 1970 into the morning mental music stream (Trademark marginal). “Freedom” is a song off an album called Get Into Something. I first heard it at the house of a girl I was seeing, but it was her mother playing the album. Her mom was about my mom’s age, but their musical selections seemed very different. As a thirteen-year-old heading for fourteen, I found myself listening intently to the vocals and the lyrics, and enjoying the instrumental elements of this R&B sound. I’d heard R&B previously but this was like, wow, there is such energy.
Let me tell you, this particular song, “Freedom” is so apropos as today’s theme music. Check out these lyrics.
Well, I wanna say, I wanna tell you I wanna say when you can do what you wanna do And go where you wanna go And live where you wanna live And love who you wanna love
And be what you wanna be Join what you wanna join Well, well, well, that’s freedom Yeah, yeah, freedom, yes sir
When you can learn what you wanna learn And read what you wanna read (Free, free, free)
And write what you wanna write (Free, free, free) Do what you feel is right (Free, free, free)
Because, I’m remembering this song at a time when a group of misnamed people called “Moms for Liberty” are getting books banned, so students can’t read what they want to read. Red state school systems are pushing to limit what is taught so you can’t learn what you want to learn. And you can’t be who you want to be when state legislatures are making shit up and declaring that people who aren’t binary can’t decide what pronoun they will use or love who they want to love because these narrow-minded cultural dictators think that love and sex is only between a man and a woman. So, “Freedom” by the Isley Brothers is a solid theme music choice for this new wave Era of Repression and Fear that Republicans are pushing.
Stay positive, be strong, and lean forward with optimism and courage toward a brighter future of freedom, equality, and justice. As Martin Luther King, Jr., said, as written in a 1918 book, “Readings from Great Authors”, attributed to Theodore Parker, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” h/t to quoteinvestigator.com.
Ah, the sun is shining and rain is falling. There’s a rainbow somewhere. Here’s the music. See you at the coffee maker. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 