Tag: fog

Friday’s Theme Music

Mood: Daytemplative

It’s the day after Thanksgiving and all through the house, everyone is full, as full as a louse.

Yes, it’s November 29, 2024, Friday, and 2024’s penultimate month’s penultimate day. Sunshine filled the valley after dawn’s arrival. Fog has slouched in and the sunshine has fizzled. We’re sitting at 28 F. But there’s potential; fog is expected to thin and drop, and the temperature hopes to top 48.

Friendsgiving was a grand time. Excellent food, delicious desserts, and satisfying drinks. Herb always makes a mulled cider. Add in some rum, and it’s a warming drink that’ll loosen tongues and relax souls. My hoof held up well. First time out for in public with shoes on both feet since October. My friends persisted on gaining details about what’d happened to me and how I was doing, and I indulged them. The tale of the foot was shared four times. We groused and commiserated over the election results. Almost everyone I spoke with said they withdrew from news for several days. Other than that, we talked local politics, books, and entertainment. Time whizzed by on greased tracks.

I have “Day After Day” in the morning mental music stream (Trademark full). Although the 1971 Badfinger song is a ballad, I was musing about going about life day after day, and healing and improving day after day when The Neurons slipped the song into the MMMS. A Beatle named George Harrison helped produce the song and offers his guitarship on it, and I think that combo solidifies the Beatle inflections. Nonetheless, it was a slow-dance favorite during my late teen years. I even have convinced myself that this was the song playing when I danced with Barb H in tenth grade. This video doesn’t do full justice to the song, as it doesn’t show Harrison on slide guitare nor Leon Russell on piano.

Coffee and I have again embraced once again. Time to ride the wave of another day. Hope it’s a better one for you. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Mood: Foggedinmemories

We climbed into a Wednesday November 27, 2024. Day before Thanksgiving in the United States. I know a large of people who will be muttering, I don’t have anything to be thankful about.

It’s foggy and cold, 30 F, in Ashlandia, white with frost and ice, but it will get warmer, with the temperature rising to about 48 F. Blue sky can be spied through the thinning fog. I enjoyed cold, foggy days as a child. Encountering days like this in Penn Hills, PA, I’d step outside and let that cold whip my face. I found it exhilerating. And the fog made the world narrow, small, mysterious. It was also usually quieter. People didn’t go out into it. I soon knew my friends wouldn’t go out into it. Some just didn’t want to, complaining that it was cold and foggy. Others said their mom wouldn’t let them. I’d tramp on my own, verifying that the world still was beyond the fog’s envelope, feeling like an explorer. Being careful about your steps were important. Yards dropped off into steep hills and cement culverts lay in wait. I’d sometimes get lost in that fog, and when it burned off, I’d find myself surprised at where I was. I always thought it was fun. Guess that’s why I was considered a little strange, LOL.

Daily Kos delivered some news to my inbox. “If a Woman Dies from Pregnancy and Texas Refuses to Investigate, Did She Really Die?”

The Texas committee that examines all pregnancy-related deaths in the state will not review cases from 2022 and 2023, the first two years after Texas’s near-total abortion ban took effect, leaving any potential deaths related to abortion bans during those years uninvestigated by the 23 doctors, medical professionals and other specialists who make up the group.

Texas, led by Republicans, doesn’t want to know why women are dying in pregnancy-related deaths. I think they know they will find that their draconian fucking laws are killing women. Then they would need to spin that in a way that makes sense, and they know they can’t. Worse, it would provide facts about how poorly the GOP goes about ‘protecting women’. I’m sure if you read this, you recall that Trump declared as a candidate that he would protect women if elected POTUS. Now firm evidence is emerging that the climate, culture, and policies that he promoted is doing just the fucking opposite. Rather than trying to address the evidence, Republicans are doing what they do best: ignoring facts and creating a fake reality by pretending that all is well. “We just won’t investigate those deaths,” they nod and tell each other. “Then they’ll go away.” Dipshits.

Looking out at the fog this morning, The Neurons kept trying to recall a song about fog and confusion. For a while, “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)” by the Temptations in the morning mental music stream (Trademark hazy). Then, Foghat crowded in, because it has fog in its name. But I wanted to remember that song. Not much of it would come back. I was finally forced to turn to the Internet to restore the details. With about four minutes of searching, the Meat Puppets and their song, “Confusion Fog”, was finally restored to my operating system. A co-worker at PAS in Palo Alto, California, where I worked in the mid to late 1990s, turned me on to them. It’s a unique sound the Meat Puppets provide, more like country from the early 1970s than punk to me, but I like the vocals.

Coffee and I have reached detente. The fog has burned away. Sunshine and blue sky rule the day. Hope you find a better way, to make this one to remember. With fondness, here’s the music. Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Mood: Weathwonderizing

Today is Thursday, October 24, 2024. This kicks off October’s final week. Just seven days remain until November is asserted. Once November kicks on, it’ll be a ride. Time change in America, election in America, Thanksgiving in America…then the December holidays in America. Sorry to give the rest of the world short attention. That’s not my intention. It’s only that I expect November to be intense in the U.S. for multiple reasons.

Peering out the window, fog twirled and swirled, stealing in and out of the scene. But brave sunshine soon burst onto the scene.

With the fog, we were creeping through the low thirties. Sunshine kicked in and managed to kick the fog out and prop up a vividly blue sky. Now we’re romping through the forties, racing toward a high in the low 60s. This is autumn for sure but winter is slanting in.

Eyeing the fog’s weave around the trees, houses, and accoutrements of modern urban life brought up Foghat. Just apparently how my brain works. Soon “Fool for the City” rose in the morning mental music stream.

But as I watched, I rejected the song. Just didn’t feel right for the moment. The fog keep shifting, slinking in and sneaking out, coiling around trees and releasing. I kept judging the visibility. Now I could see further away…ah, but it’s back in and I can only see the houses and trees directly across the street.

From that litany of thought arose “What A Wonderful World.” The 1967 recording released by Louis Armstrong was the first, and it’s hard to top. But a while back, I heard a version by Chris Botti with Mark Knopfler. It was used at the end of an episode of the television series, “Bosch.” It struck me and I went off to hear it again on the net.

Besides Armstrong and Botti’s version, Willy Nelson’s soulful rendition and Joey’s Ramone heartfelt fast paced rock version captivated me. It’s hard to go wrong with the song’s words and the sentiments, if you like that sort of thing.

It is a wonderful world. I worry about humans screwing it up. We adjust it to our needs. Sometimes we’re pretty damn cruel and arrogant. I always have mixed conclusions about us exploring other worlds for that reason. I want the technological achievement, and I want to satisfy the intellectual curiosity of what else exists beyond this planet. But I don’t want us to ruin the other places. It remains a conundrum.

Coffee has invaded my body in a benign takeover. Stay positive, be strong, and vote blue. Here’s the music, friends and neighbors. Cheers

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Mood: not fragile

Another rotation, and here we sit, on a Saturday, on 12 – 23 – 23.

27 F outside, fog obfuscates the scenes past the windows. White has been sketched over the plants as frost settled in last night and isn’t willing to leave. Sunlight is creeping in, casting a phantom aura acoss the optics. No precipitation is expected today, though clouds will be clearing out as the sun carries us to a high of 49 F.

The floofs have been remaining inside during this cold turn, deciding that maybe they’re not as wild as they’ve been claiming in social media. Both still attempted going out and Papi became insistent as Trump claiming to be the greatest, so out he went. In above seven minutes later (because Papi came to his senses, unlike Trump), he’s The Neurons’ inspiration for today’s music.

When I cracked opened the portal to his freedom, I told Papi, “Okay, now you’re on the loose. Enjoy it, dummy. You’ll be back.”

As noted, he was quickly back. Meanwhile The Neurons ended up posting “On the Loose” in my morning mental music stream (Trademark suspicious). I remembered the song but nada else. Turning to the net, I learned that it was by a Canadian band called Saga. Released in 1981, this was their biggest hit in the US. I admit that I only know “On the Loose” from radio play, and haven’t heard any of the rest of their music, but they keep rocking, having released 20 albums, most recenty in 2021.

Stay positive, test negative, be strong, and lean forward. Time for coffee. Here’s the music. See you in the pixels. Cheers

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Sunday’s Theme Music

Mood: blurp

Fog dismays me outside the window, blocking the sun and keeping us chill between its icy fingers, shutting me out from even seeing beyond the houses across the street. I know the sun is out there, first from learned science from my early childhood years, but also from a glimmer of light warring with the gray at the spot where the sun should be. Could be aliens coming to get my coffee, I suppose, but I’m keeping my money on the sun.

It’s November 12, 2023, and Sunday. About to go out and start the writing day but enthusiasm cringes in the face of the fog and 37 F temperature. Supposed to warm up to 58 F but first that sun needs to hammer its heat beat over that fog until the latter fades.

Le chats sure don’t like it, with the number one boy, Tucker, immediately returning from outside with a ‘screw-this-noise’ expression. He’s folded his black and white fur back in bed. Papi, always more stubborn and independent — he is an orange boi — tried to prove what a floof of the wild he is but his path always came back to the door, and quickly. In and out four times, he finally admitted, enough, and is not resting on the sofa after those exhausting forays.

If such creatures as these mighty housepets couldn’t withstand the weather, what hope do I, a mere mortal, hold? Well, for one, I have a coat and gloves, garments which they resist. Two, I won’t be out there long, not in the actual outdoors. I’ll hustle the car from the garage to the coffee shop parking lot and then shift my derriere’s load from the car to the building. There will be walks later, but it does have some measure on dependence about what the sun, fog, and temp do.

With fog stealing the sunshine, The Neurons thought it would be fun to play Len and “Steal My Sunshine” in the morning mental music stream (Trademark indestructible). Coming out in 1999, the song was the group’s big hit. I haven’t heard it in a car’s age at least, so The Neurons’ ability to shift it from my mind’s stasis to the active region surprised me.

Len — who are a brother and sister combo — have a lot of fun with words. Take this example.

I was lying on the grass of Sunday morning of last week
Indulging in my self-defeat
My mind was thugged, all laced and bugged, all twisted, wrong and beat
A comfortable three feet deep
Now the fuzzy stare from not being there on a confusing morning week
Impaired my tribal lunar speak
And of course you can’t become if you only say what you would have done
So I missed a million miles of fun

h/t Genius.com

Anyway, that’s the music. Be strong, stay cool, remain brave, and leeean forward. Fresh coffee is available. Mind if I steal a sip?

Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Fozzley and mute, sliverly gray, the weather’s not much different this day. Temp stuck on 41 F, going neither up nor down with any interest. Sun is shining, it’s that paste up there, but its intent and impact is nada to fear.

Today is Wednesday, December 8, 2021, a sign that the year is less than four weeks from done. Sunglow came with a thin shiver this morn, 7:27 AM, to cite the time, but the difference in weather could be paid with one thin dime. Sunset will be at 4:39, ending the daytime, floating us to night.

“Bust A Move” by Young MC from 1989 is the morning mental music stream squatter. That song was a constant in clubs and radio play back 89/90. It’s catchy with a sweet beat that makes it an inviting dance song. Bust a move as an expression has more meanings than the love and sex alluded to in the song. To bust a move now means to do something other than standing by, holding on, or waiting. That’s why it’s fell into the morning stream. I was chatting with myself about where I was on a project and then announced, “Time to bust a move.”

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the jabs. Besides that, when you feel like you may COVID-19 because of your symptoms, isolate and get yourself tested. Stop the spread and treat yourself. You deserve it.

Speaking of deserving it, I think I deserve a cuppa coffee now. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Mornin’, fellow fogheads. If you’re in my valley, you’re probably a foghead, that is one walking in fog. For it is Thursday, December 2, 2021, and it’s a languid foggy AM. Sunshine is trying to breach the fog wall. It did successfully do so in yesterday’s mid-afternoon. Kind of entrancing right now, with glimmers of sunlight eking through the fog’s western perimeter, above the pine and fir clad mountainside, and a train whistle blowing as a locomotive and its cargo stops traffic on its way north. Temperatures are rolling up through the low forties right now on their way to an expected high in the mid-fifties. All this stagnant, foggy air is expected to last until next week when a new Pacific storm slides in. These temperatures are higher than average, piling more worries up about the mountain snowpacks that feed our water supply throughout the year. Sunrise was at 7:21 AM. Sunset will occur at 4:40 PM. However, we’re in the mountains’ shadow, so it feels like the sun pulls down the night on us earlier than that.

Dreams are also foggy and, prosaic of what I remember of them. All that improbably leads to Boston playing “Peace of Mind” from 1977. I always like those lyrics that demand, “Take a look ahead,” followed by exhortations, “Look ahead,” repeated a few times. Regardless of my frequency of posting about the past or sharing memories, I’m a person who prefers to look ahead. It’s a good theme song as we begin closing down 2021 and start prepping for 2022.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and booster when you’re able. Carpe diem. I’ll start by carpe coffee. Here’s the music. It’s an interesting video of Boston doing the song live in 1979. RIFP, Brad Delp, who committed suicide in 2007, when he was 56. That’s home on vocals, giving his all.

Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

Hello, TPs. TP is net for Terra peeps, people of Earth. Catch up.

The pendulum has swung again, that never pausing pendulum that marks the weeks, bringing a new week on us. Today is Monday, November 15, 2021. Foggy and drizzly here in Ashland. Marks like four straight days of fog. Ashland likes holding onto one look. They promised us 68 F yesterday. Ha, ha, ha. Oh, those weather gods. We were never anywhere near that. Whiffed on spotting any sunshine. I suspect the same today. 53 F now. They speak in television tones of 63. I am doubtful. Maybe 56, 57. Sunshine dribbled through the fog at 7:01 AM. We anticipating it dribbling back out at 4:49 PM.

The music part of my morning mental music stream is occupied by “Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star (1994). When I mention this song or Mazzy Star, I generally receive blank looks in response. Maybe it was the stations which I listened to, but it was regularly played when I cruised the SF Bay Area in the mid nineties. I also hear the song on television shows and in movies once in a while. Anyway, the song is with me today because, dreams. The song wasn’t in the dreams per se, but when I reflected on them, the song arose. 

You live your life, you go in shadows
You'll come apart and you'll go black

H/t to Lyrics.com

While I didn’t go black or come apart in the dream, the situation did, although I handled it in good humor. It was more about the ending, I guess, which faded like steam rising into the air as I drifted awake. Also, the nature of the dream provoked remembering some places and people as I reconstructed the dream’s layers. Sadly, David Roback, one of the forces behind this song and Mazzy Star, died last year, cancer, just 61 years old.

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and booster when you can. Now I’m getting some coffee because I can. And I’ma gonna drink it, because I can, and be thankful about it, because I can. Cheers

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Monday’s Theme Music

Monday in Ashland arrived with thin but all-encompassing fog and a thermostat hovering around 37 F. Sunrise was at 7:39 AM, evidenced by growing light but no visible sun. We’ll see if it shows before sunset, expected at 5:04 PM.

Looking out at the fog, I thought about what a gray day it was. No immediate gray songs leaped into the mental stream, but the 1978 Foreigner song, “Blue Morning, Blue Day”, filled the space. This song about lovers growing apart doesn’t fit anything about today, unless I stretch it as a metaphor for the United States and its political positions growing apart. Or, taking it further, I can apply it to a growing gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world. Or — stay with me here — the song can be about people losing touch with reality, getting swept out of their heads by conspiracy theories.

Naw, doesn’t really work. It’s just about lovers.

Still, the song is in me head, so I’m putting it out to you. Be positive, even when the weather is gray and cold, test negative, and wear a mask, now more than ever as these COVID-19 variants rise and spread. Hey, that’s an intriguing book title: Rise of the Variants. Someone should go write it.

Here’s the music.

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