We’re on the Oregon coast in Yachats in the rain. Left the cats with a house sitter and bugged out. Drove from lightly falling snow through multiple rain showers to pouring rain on the coach. But the air is fresh and the ocean offers spiritual medicines you just can’t find anywhere else but the ocean.
Today is April 20, 2023, Thursday. Yes, it’s 4/20, if you’re into that. We just ate at a coast favorite, The Green Salmon, enjoying vegan egg and sausage sandwiches. Yep, the eggs were Just Eggs and the sausage was plant-based. Fantastic, as was the vegan glazed maple croissant we split. Seriously, you wouldn’t know it’s vegan if I’d not told you.
Except for being at the coast, the weather is the same. High 51 F, rain. But it’s the coast. We’re gonna go see Thor’s Well.
After doing tarot cards at breakfast, The Neurons planted “Changes” by D. Bowie (1972) in the morning mental music stream, supplanting “Hey, Baby”.
Off to walk the coast. Stay pos. Seize the Thursday, yeahhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJSv6JXKS_I? Here’s the music. I’m continuing with some delicious coffee. Cheers
Blue skies and frosty white. This is Thursday. Our temperature is either 30, 37 or 40, all degrees in Fahrenheit. My house station where the furnace runs to warm us claims it is 30 F. Alexa says it’s 37 and another net site claims 40.
Today is January 26, 2023. We’re almost done with the two-faced month. Walking around the house at 6:37 AM, I was impressed by how much daylight I was seeing. That was despite us being in night mode, with all the blinds closed. Sunrise stepped in at 7:32, and off we went.
Today will reach 55 F or so before the sun vanishes from the Ashlandia sky around the 5:20 PM time period — it’ll be earlier in the mountains’ shadows by an hour or seem like the sun has set — but the forecasters are warning us. Winter is going to get serious. Lower temperatures will be coming by, clouds are collecting, and rain and snow are possible. Then, fanfare, Monday will see an Arctic blast. Lows will freefall into the teens. Daytime highs will scrap into the thirties. Break out extra binkies and some space heaters, hope power doesn’t fail, and take measures to ensure your pipes don’t freeze. The hardest part, though, will be convincing Papi to stay in. He’s gonna test the temps, I know.
First question for me as I pulled up the net was a cynical thought, what celebrity died today? It used to be ‘always in threes’ but now it seems to be evolving to one a day. Not a surprise if you think about it. We created an age of celebrity with the electronic age, lionizing those among us who rise in sports, politics, entertainment, and industry. Now they’re aging. Some, inevitably, will pass.
Speaking of passing, a 1972 Moody Blues song, “I’m Just A Singer (In A Rock and Roll Band)” has passed into the morning mental music stream. This came about as a character was going through a scene change as I did my morning business. He was lamenting about what he did and didn’t know and the limitations on what he could do as a result of his chaos sister’s death.
Stay pos. Hope your Thursday will be a fine venture. I’m off to refresh my coffee. Cheers
A colorless, empty sky drips on us. Friday, 12/30/2022 — 30/12/2022, if you will — has come in from the wild.
Three songs share the rotation in the morning mental music stream. I don’t know if the dream caused it, but they were regurgitated out of memory when I started thinking about the dream. Mom and two of my sisters featured in the dream about crosswalk safety and clogged sinks.
But, first, daylight commenced at 7:39 when light slowly gained influence behind the cloud lid over the valley. Rain was falling and the furnace’s warm air passed against me like a friendly animal waiting for attention. Daylight’s end is expected at 4:48 PM. We’re sitting at 42 F and the day has a lofty goal of 46 F in mind. Between light, rain, and temperature — and my activities of reading, writing, cleaning, plus the usual bio needs for human and felines — it’s a narrowly defined day. Getting ready for the big 2022 send-off. What do you think, will 2023 be a better year? I think another average year is in store. With averages, it’s different for each of us, innit?
Led Zeppelin kicked off its residence in the morning mental music stream with “Whole Lotta Love” from good old 1969. It wasn’t long as the dream elements arose for inspection that Gerry Rafferty began “Baker Street”, a song he released in 1978. The musical trio was completed with Loggins and Messina, “Your Mama Don’t Dance”, 1972. An interesting grouping of sounds, artists, and years. Don’t know the connection to the dream. Maybe one isn’t there. Perhaps Les Neurons just said, “Boy, I really like this song.” Or maybe something embedded in the environment, noted by the senses, ordered, “Play this song.”
Well, Rafferty with “Baker Street” is playing loudest and most frequently, so that’ll be the day’s theme music. “Light in your head and dead on your feet, well another crazy day,” and so on.
Stay positive if you can — I know it can be hard and varies for each of us — and test negative, if you can. Got any New Year’s Eve plans? I do, starting a cuppa coffee, a little flavor of normalcy for another rainy winter day. Cheers
Do your Saturday dance if you got one. Because, yes, it is Saturday.
It’s also December 10, 2022. If it’s your birthday or anniversary, happiest of them to you. Do your celebration dance. And if you’re having donuts or a special breakfast, do your celebration dance for that. I’m doing my celebration dance in honor of coffee. I got it, I’m drinking it, I’m dancing.
The windstorm ended shortly after dawn at 7:28 this morning. Rain stopped a little before, leaving large puddles across the back patio which greatly displeased Papi, the ginger floof prince. Clouds broke their clinch. Sunshine and blue sky are squinting out, asking, “Is it over?” Snow still dusts and crusts many ridges, tree lines, and peaks above our elevation. No snow down here toward the valley floor, though. We’re happy for the snow where it added to the pack or entertains others. Looking out, the windstorm didn’t take over any trees, fences, houses, roofs, etc. It was a lot of noise and a jolt of tension but it’s done. 37 F outside right now. 48 F is the anticipated high temperature. Sunset comes at 4:39 PM.
Without irony nor surprise, I can tell you that The Neurons picked up on the wind theme for the morning music. I heard them talking in my head, remembering wind songs. There is a chunk of them from the rock era. Some surprise was found when they pulled up Santana and “Song of the Wind”. Released on an album in 1972, I listened to the album pretty extensively. It has more of a jazz infusion that the harder rock or progressive rock that The Neurons usually cheer on, but back when I was sixteen and drawing and painting, I found this comfortable music as accompaniment. Later on, when I was living in the Philippines, I would listen to it and sip wine while I drew or read. So good memories come with this album. There is beautiful guitar work on it, of course, cuz it’s Carlos, but there are also impressive musicans who gravitated to him, and the interesting percussion work often featured in his songs.
Stay positive, test negative, and celebrate what you can. I’m celebrating more coffee. Here’s the song. Hope it helps move your day in the right ways. Cheers
Well, I did my duty. I popped the time back. I initially screwed up, though, setting it back a thousand years because it was two in the morning, I was cat tired, and had been out bringing a cat in and looking at the moon when a BIG bear ambled through the neighbor’s yard. Suddenly, getting the cat into the house wasn’t a problem. By the time the bear’s sound registered and I looked and saw the bear, the cat had looked, seen the bear, told me, “See you,” and was back at the door, ready to go in. So my mind wasn’t all in on the attention needed to set time back. A few wrong buttons were pressed. No harm, though, I caught it as soon as I stepped out of the time booth and discovered I was outside because the house didn’t exist here back then. Back into the booth I went, hissing to myself, “Oh crap oh crap oh crap,” as I saw in my mind’s memory that I’d done centuries instead of hours. Thank Dogs I only pressed the one instead of the four or nine below.
A heck of a morning. How is your day going?
Today is November 6, 2022, a Sunday. It’s 36 F and sunny outside, a real treat of a fall morning. Rain is forecast for later, when the temperature is 51 F. Then the temp will drop and the rain will turn to snow, 8 – 14 inches in some places, but not mine. Sunrise bulldozed out the darkness at 6:50 AM and the day night shift will begin changover at sunset, 4:58 PM.
In my little morning tale, the part about setting the clock back was my imagination having fun. The bear and cat part were true. I went to the door to see if Papi wanted in. He was sitting there awaiting moment but was clearly interested in something going on out there. Asking him what he was looking at, I noticed the fantastic almost full moon, which was taken advantage of the clouds’ absence to spill light everywhere. Between that moonlight and the cold but fresh night air, I was entranced and went out onto the walk to take full advantage of it. That’s when the bear made their noises and picked up and slammed down a trash can. Fascinating as this was, I thought, oh my, is that the time? Papi and I went in as the bear headed on down the road. I think the bear was really showing off for my benefit, you know?
A 1972 EOL song is in the morning mental music stream. I first heard “10538” when I was sixteen years old. A crazy song, I wasn’t sure what it was about, doing some careful listening before some radio DJ finally illuminated that the song was about an escaped prisoner. My dream wasn’t about being a prisoner, yet this was the song that ended up invading my head when I was thinking about the dream this morning. The Neurons had to drill really deeply into the memory banks to find it.
Remain positive in your attitude and keep testing negative. If you do test negative, take appropriate measures. You know what that stuff is, right? Not like the whole COVID started yesterday. Not unless you’ve been time-traveling.
Here’s the tune. Got my coffee and going outside to enjoy some sunshine and liquid gold. Cheers
Drizzle filled our skies all day yesterday, posturing it as an ideal day to stay in and read. We naturally hit the road for some shopping, as supplies had dwindled. Sure, we had coffee and many of the other essentials, but we lacked a few of our regularly required items conducive to be healthy, happy, and full.
Today, Tuesday, October 25, 2022, is cloudy but without precipitation. Sunrise brought in velvet fingers of light at about 7:35 in the morning. The sun will pull its influence at 6:14 in the evening. It’s currently 41 F but will jump to 13 C before we cross midnight. Rain is expected to start falling at ten PM and continue until 1 PM tomorrow. Dress right, you know? (Had to stop myself from putting in “Dress right, dress,” right? Ingrained stuff, right?)
I had “Cracklin’ Rose” by the Taylor lad playing in the morning mental music stream. The Neurons then replaced it with “Big Bad John” by Jimmy Dean, followed by “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” by Jim Croce. “On a story-telling song kick,” I queried The Neurons. They pivoted to “We didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel, riffing of my thoughts of turning on the fire because it’s a damp morning. Oh, those neurons crack me up.
They weren’t done yet. I was outside, sipping hot coffee on the cool porch, enjoying the sun’s silvery presence behind bruised clouds and the smell left behind by the rain, when The Neurons pulled up Duane and Gregg Allman with “In the Morning When I’m Real”. The song was part of their first band’s efforts, a group called The 31st of February. Now I knew the song ITMWIR but didn’t know the Allman boys were behind it. Didn’t sound like them as it lacked their guitar-sharp rock blues sound I place against their names. Wasn’t till the mid-seventies, when I was back at Mom’s house when she presented me with a box of stuff I’d left behind that I re-discovered the album and this song and realized it was the Allmann Brothers. I don’t know how I acquired the album. I suspect someone left it behind at my house but it’s one of those things which remains unknown, kind of like, have extraterrestrials visited Earth?
Keep on being positive and testing negative. Wear masks as needed to protect you and yours. You deserve it, don’t you? I have coffee, started drinking it when I ate a warm buttered blueberry scone. Why don’t you go get yourself something? I’ll wait here. I’m gonna go ahead and play the song, though, ‘kay? Here it is.
Inspiring sunshine scored the morning clouds, lighting the valley and the house’s eastern face. I put my face to it and breathed in cold, fresh air, admiring birds, squirrels, and chip monks as they took up business.
This was 7:30 AM, just after Tuesday’s sunrise at 7:12 on this 27th of September, 2022, in the Common Era. Umbrellas are called for this day as clouds have taken over and rain scents pepper the air. 55 F now, they tell us not to expect anything over 60 today. Yet I’m in shorts. Wear jeans, back to shorts today. Not like they’re glued or stapled to me. I can always swap my shorts for pants before sunset at 7:09 PM, if needed.
Mom had a rough morning. So did her partner, and my sisters, and me. That’s how it rolls. Diarrhea caused as a side effect of her antibiotics debilitated her. That all happened before 6 AM. She was to see her cardiologist but he went out sick. They still wanted Mom to come in and see the cardiologist’s nurse, but she convinced them that she was too weak, and the appointment was cancelled. They’ll reschedule after the cardiologist returns. A health care nurse is coming by at 2 to check on her, per a schedule set up yesterday.
My younger sisters vent a lot to me. This has impacted them, along with their children. All regularly visit Mom as they live in the area. I act psychologist to them, listening without giving advice. Seems to help.
Their thoughts about change and mortality prompted The Neurons to pull up a favorite song of mine. “Breathe (In the Air)” by Pink Floyd was part of the monumental album, “The Dark Side of the Moon”, released in 1972. I saw the group perform the album in concert. It felt like a transcendental experience. I’ve since seen them in concert several more times. I originally had the album on 8 track, then got it on cassette tape, vinyl, and finally, a digitally remastered CD. Yes, I like the album.
So life seems to be for so many, dig a hole, and then dig another, metaphors for work, work, work, work, work.
Hope you enjoy it. Stay positive, test negative, take care of yourselves and others. I’ve had coffee, thanks. I am ready for lunch and will have leftover chicken tortellini soup which my sister made and brought over yesterday. There’s plenty, if you care to have some.
The wheels of time rolled through another day into Thirstday, August 11, 2022. Thirstday, the time of week when you pause to think of the things for which you thirst. Maybe it’s unrequited love. Or something simpler and more personal, like a cancer cure. Perhaps you thirst for food security and shelter, social justice, or equality. It could be that you thirst for another time, when you knew yourself as a younger person with a wide-open horizon before you. Our thirsts are different, Thirstday reminds us.
Sunshine tore the night covers back at 6:14 AM. The sun’s valley reign will go on to 8:17 PM, taking our temperatures from 18 C where we now sit to 90 F by late afternoon. A wondrously blue sky highlights the day’s placid nature. Everything looks calm, peaceful, and serene. Only arguing jays break the morning stillness.
Wasn’t so a short while again. The house floofs love this weather. Papi turned in a record mad dash as the halls and rooms became LeMans. He took the Mulsanne Straight chicanes flat out, demonstrating mind-blowing speed and control as Tucker watched with bristling white whiskers.
The Neurons have turned to Bill Withers, sliding an old high-school favorite by him from 1972, “Use Me”, into the morning mental music stream. I understand The Neurons’ reasoning. It’s a dream thing which I’m still unknotting. It’s a good song to hear again, to help look back on things in a quiet pause between more urgent matters. Though we never knew one another, Bill and I lived in the same town, Beckley, WV, for a few years. Yeah, it was separated by about six years, so meeting him was remote. Did see him in concert once and have great admiration for him.
My Thirstday coffee is a-calling from the kitchen counter. Stay positive, test negative, etc., endure, survive, and go on to thrive. Here’s the music. Cheers
Yesterday nicked 99 to a 100 F locally. The high temp experienced is a spectrum dictated by microvariables. Today is cooling, touching 95 to 97. An hour ago, it was 19 C. Now it’s up to 22 C.
Sunrise on this day, Thursday, 7/21/22, was 5:53 AM. Sunset has drawn down to 8:41. Was it a month ago where I noted that sunset was 8:51 day after day?
Our heat isn’t as bad as other regions. Wildfire stories are growing, of course, as Texas, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Alaska, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, and other places fight the flames. Extreme heat shut down data centers in several countries. Roads and runways were reported melted. Droughts are spreading, threatening food supplies. Yes, and numerous people around the world have succumbed to the high heat.
Deep breath. Hang on, I need coffee to continue.
The Neurons are singing a 1972 Rod Stewart song called, “You Wear It Well”. Why? You ask them. They won’t give the reasons to me. Not a bad choice by any means. I like the mellow and folksy rock sound delivered with down-to-earth lyrics about time, love, and the past.
Here’s the music. Need to see a man about a garage door. He’s just arrived to put in a strut to solve the bowing issue. Fingers crossed, etc. I would’ve done it but couldn’t find an appropriate sixteen feet strut and didn’t have a vehicle to transport said strut. Bummer; I like the DIY challenge.
Twilleekin on Tuesday trimantled toi toward testigenical twellings. But other than that, all is calm in the valley on Jun 14, 2022, at least in this household. Don’t know what’s going behind other walls and winders.
Fifty-one F is the claimed temperature and it feels right by degrees. Sunshine bathes cat furs and plants. We turned toward the sun at 5:33 this morning and will turn away at 8:48 this evening. Temperatures remain cool for spring’s final days, with 70 F being mentioned as the likely high. No rain today, alteough they rain has been welcomed in our area. Even with this added rainy season, our local lakes, rivers, and dams are only measuring at less than a quarter of capacity. Our local cistern is 100%, of course, but that’ll provide the city with about 31 days of water. The irrigation district, which provides water to a lot of farms and orchards, still says it can only provide about thirty days of water, not enough for a proper growing season, especially if we’re seeing regular breakouts above the century mark.
Did yardwork for the past several days — it’s an ongoing project — and discovered black bear scat just off the front porch. Wasn’t big so the bear probably wasn’t either. Sightings are regularly reported all around this area so it’s not a shock, just worth noting.
Jim Seals of Seals & Crofts died recently. They had several pop hits and the neurons have introduced their song, “Summer Breeze” into the morning mental music stream. The song was released in 1972. I entered tenth grade that year and met the girl who would become my spouse three years later. It’s a mellow song for a mellow day.
Stay positive, and so on. I am trying, myself. Speaking of which, here’s my coffee. Enjoy the music and thanks for reading. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 