Friday’s Theme Music
It’s a sunshine slathered Friday in May. We never had the thunderstorms expected yesterday. Out working on the yard — it seems like I’m doing this forever, but I work a section at a time after my writing sessions end — I looked up at the sky and saw no clouds. Not one. Blue as far as vision took me.
Today, the 19th, might be the same. It’s 62F now. Doors are open for breezes. Cats floof* the front and back, washing in the entry ways. They’re contented, it seems. Weather prophets spread news, upper eighties, lower nineties. Sunshine. Maybe clouds, they add, covering.
From yard work came a Joe Walsh song from 1972, “Turn To Stone”. That was in reference to upending weeds. We let dandelions stay because the bees enjoy them but the others must go. One yard section by the driveway is pretty much empty space with decorative bushes. Weeds take over. I don’t use herbicides. That means dig them up. Parts of that area felt like it turned to stone, which invited The Neurons to bring the song into the mental music stream, where it has continued through into the morning. But it’s a song I enjoyed in my yud and it brings back some solidly fun memories.
In other news, as mentioned yesterday, the measure, which would have amended the city charter and changed what happens with the Food & Beverage Tax collected, remains alive but will probably be defeated. I voted for it to go down. Here’s where it gets interesting. Based on how it was written, presented, and debated, it was all about revenue collected via that mechanism being directed to the parks and recs folks. Hold on, many opponents said. The city needs a lot of other things, too. Now, as it’s going down, the mayor and other proponents are stepping forward to say that if it had passed, it would have freed up money in the budgetary process that would have allowed us to hire more, fix things, etc. Wait, wait, wait. All of my reading, all my video watching, and discussions with others, that was never mentioned. Then the major closes her reports by saying that opponents misled voters by lying to them. Excuse me, mayor, but you proponents did a piss poor job of explaining what would happen. It’s freakin’ nuts.
Anyway…
I’m also working on a simple DIY project to replace the slider’s screen door screening. Fairly straightforward process except I can’t get the door off to do it. I’ve reviewed videos, etc, but the door just doesn’t rise high enough to access the wheels and remove the door. Driving me bonkers.
Well, here’s the music. Stay pos, and embrace Friday like it might be your last and make it count for something which matters to you. Coffee’s up! Want some?
Cheers
*In this case, floof is used as a verb, much as man can be a noun or verb.
Thursday’s Theme Music
Sunshine and thunderstorms are today’s specials. Toaster waffles are on the breakfast plate. Coffee on the side.
It was cool today, Thursday, May 18, 2023, but it’s warming. Started at 54 F. Now 67 F on its way to 84 F. Sun shooed night out before six AM. Night will push back tonight around 8:15 PM.
We’re still holding our breaths about election results. Measure 15-214, which I voted against, is failing at the moment, but it’s by less than 1%. Like many issues, we’re narrowly divided around here.
We’re also celebrating the case against Rudy Giuliani, worrying about fires in Canada and flooding in Italy, and despairing about too many things to write about.
For today’s theme music, I decided to ignore The Neurons’ input and go with the splashy Eurovision winner, “Tattoo” by Lorreen. It’s a dramatic, interesting song and video, catches attention and doesn’t let up. It’s a love song, but not sunny love, a reflection of the modern realization that emotions are tangled and hard to control.
Time to eat and drink up. Stay pos and champion yourself. Here’s the music. Cheers
Monday’s Theme Music
Dateline: Monday. This just in: it’s May 8, 2023. Mother’s Day will be in the U.S. this weekend. Details later in the show.
Ashlandia police suspect that sunrise was a few minutes after six AM. Several alleged witnesses claimed to have seen the sun coming over the hill. Police are saying that the incident is still being investigated. We will keep you abreast of developments.
Now our sunset expert, Joanne McCall will tell us how to best see the sunset. Joanne, what can we expect from sunset today? Thank you, Heather. Our sunset should be after 8 PM in Ashlandia. The best angle for viewing the sunset will be toward the west. A day like today, with the clouds and rain, provide additional challenges. People will need to find a place without clouds to view the sunset.
Okay, thank you Joanne. Later, we’ll talk about the upcoming elections and the issues facing our voters. But first, here’s a word from our sponsor, coffee.
Coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee —
Time to turn that off. Dreams ruled the night. Some were complicated and hilarious. Several television stars visited. For a while, The Neurons turned on the theme music to The Patty Duke Show. After a few hours of that, “People Got to Be Free” by the Rascals, 1968, replaced it. Maybe I’m moving through the sixties this week.
“People Got to Be Free” is a good theme song. Many want to be free. Dare I declare that it’s most? Sure, I’ll step onto that limb. Greatest challenges become, what does it mean to be free? Who has the right to declare what rights others have? Right now, the GOP is insisting that they have the right, and they’re trying to make it so by reducing voting rights, limiting access to books and knowledge, insisting that their religion is the religion and should drive decisions (unless it’s contrary to what their paymasters say), and gerrymandering voting districts to keep themselves in power. Hell of a way to declare freedom, by abolishing them for many.
I’ve had coffee, thanks, but you go ahead and have some. Stay pos, yo? Try to refrain from taking an assault rifle and killing several people. I know that’s becoming more popular, but it really is counterproductive to being free and civilized.
Here’s the tune. Cheers
Saturday’s Theme Music
Sunshine! Blue skies. Been wondering when they’d come a-calling again. Beginning to think blue skies and sunshine were ghosting me. I thought we were getting on well but then suddenly, nothing. Honesty, this weather is so fickle.
Back home in the manse. Cats thrilled to see us, demanding that we show how much we missed them. Attention and affection. Treats and food. More attention and affection. More. More.
It’s 54 F outside and feels like a pastoral spring day under development. 6:17 AM saw the sun step into Ashlandia. It’ll be here until 8:01. Weather debates offer us a range of high temps from 67 F to 71 F possible. I’ll take the higher one, thanks.
Came back to news of a death, cousin’s wife. Cousin died two years ago, cancer. Few years younger than me. Nobody has details about her death. Just catching up on more general news, mostly political, and Alphabet’s CEO’s pay of $200M per, local news. Been off the grid basically.
Songwise, Der Neurons plugged “My Generation” by The Who from 1965. I was nine when it was released but I became an enduring Who fan. That line, “People try to put us down,” is pretty apt. We’re boomers and oh how some of the youngsters are pissed with us. Speaks huge tomes about generational attitudes toward one another, doesn’t it? We were being put down as teenagers and put down as oldagers. Well, screw ’em, we say, but with more words. Of course, the most famous line out of the song is, “I hope I die before I get old.” Talkin’ ’bout our cynicism. Let’s not all just f-f-f-fade away.
Stay strong and positive. Hope the sunrise favors you with a satisfying day on each and every one. Here’s the music. Half my coffee is already gone. Good stuff.
Cheers
Wednesday’s Theme Music
“I love the smell of snow in the spring. It reminds me of winter.”
Yes, snow continues in Ashlandia’s April on Wednesday, Apil 19, 2023. Just another inch. Sort of fun, interesting, and unsettling for the cats, who firmly believe winter was supposedly over and sunshine was expected to be ruling. They go and seek it each day in their own way. Papi the young ginger fellow dashes out, finds the sun disappointing and dashes back in. Not trusting just one result, he duplicates his efforts at least three or four times to validate his findings.
Tucker, the black and white low-haired dude with the thick layers and big paws, strolls out, takes the sun he finds, tests the air with his nose and then grooms in the sun until a nap takes over.
Here in Ashlandia, where the coffee is made of ground roasted beans and boiling water, sunshine arrived without an entourage at 6:23 AM and will abandon our valley before eight PM strikes. If it doesn’t get out in time, the sun turns into a car shaped like a pumpkin and stays in Ashlandia giving floof rides. Weather scribes tell us — drum roll — it’s 30 F now, will reach about 50 F, and we can expect rain. Not much change from the last few days.
Today’s theme music is by Bob Marley and comes via The Neurons to the morning mental music stream from a streaming TV experience called Ted Lasso. “Three Little Birds” was released in 1980. I felt like a relaxing and hopeful song was essential for what could be a hump day for so many people.
Stay pos. Take a coffee break now and then. Think I’ll take one now. Here’s the music. Cheers
Mooday’s Wandering Thoughts
Heck of a week for guns in the news.
Missouri – A Black teenager is shot in the head and chest by an 85-year-old white male homeowner. Homeowner accused the teenager of trying to break in. Teenager was at the wrong house to pick up his siblings.
Sweet sixteen party was rocked by four deaths and thirty-two injured in a mass shooting in rural Alabama.
A Louisville park saw two killed and four others wounded in a mass shooting this past weekend.
Up in New York, a car full of girls turned up the wrong driveway and was fired upon by the homeowner. One of the girls died. She was twenty.
We were just recovering from the Louisville bank shooting last week where five were killed, along with the young killer, and eight others were injured, and the Nashville Christian school a few weeks before, were three children and three adults were killed, and now we have this weekend to remind us of the effectiveness of thoughts and prayers when it comes to guns and murder.
Monday, the first day of the week, is just closing down. Could be a long week.
Mooday’s Theme Music
Today’s weather – 30 F, clear skies, rain drying on the ground, clouds circling the valley on the horizons — feels like mid-March. This is Mooday, Apil 17, 2023.
The sun is ‘climbing’ into the sky. Isn’t that a fascinating perception, that the sun is rising into the sky as a matter of the planet’s spin, tilt, and flight around the sun? Went out to see meteors last night but, rain. Clouds. No go.
My house weather system says it’s 37 F out there. Papi galloped in after being in for twenty minutes, wet paws sending him sliding and spinning. He’s no Aryton Senna. Weather spies warn Ashandia to expect more rain today, just showers. Sunrise was 0627 and sunset will be at 1954. Highs will crowd the mid-fifties by teatime and then drop as rain showers take over.
News today continues to focus mainly on the SCOTUS and the abortion pill, and the military ‘leak’ of classified info. Many decry this leak and suggest, shake things up. Change how classified is handled. Based on how many leaks? We had several more mass shootings over the weekend. Thoughts and prayers are being offered for actual loss of life by the pro-life party behind the abortion issues. Surely thoughts and prayers can work for the classified leak.
Weather inspired The Neurons today, coming up with “The Sound of Winter” by Bush (2011 – looked it up) in the morning mental music stream. The line is, “Hold on to yourself, it’s like the sound of winter,” which makes The Neurons ask, “What?”
Stay pos. Enjoy the sunshine as it comes until it becomes too much. So we, my beer friends and I, mused as we watched a snow squall flashed through followed by sunshine and then a rain shower. “Wait,” we told each other. “Probably by next month, it’ll be hot as hell and we’ll be wishing for rain.” Yeah, ‘cuz we’re like that.
I got coffee and music. Here’s the tune. Cheers
Thursday’s Theme Music
Thursday’s raised itself out of the Earth and declared, “I am April 13, 2023.” A sun sprinting over the horizon concurred and cast a wide net of shine and warmth over the land.
That was at 6:34 AM. It was 30 degrees F at the time. Faint, indifferent white clouds said, “Yo.” Rain and snow didn’t fail. The spring and winter yo-yo continues.
Sunset in Ashlandia, where the beer is excellent and the children are above average, will be at 7:50 PM. The weather messengers spread word, high will be at 55 F, nice, but a little disappointing. Sunday’s high of 73, with spring buoyancy, spoiled us. There is sunshine, though, so the cats are out there sopping it up.
We toasted friends with beer last night and chatted about the weather. Snow fell outside. It cleared. Then it rained but the sun shined still, converting each raindrop into a falling diamond. What is with the weather this year echoed from person to person.
Politic watching again this morning. Eyeing the Trump trials and tribulations, wondering, what will come? Reading of the GOP’s legislative efforts to protect Trump and the Manhatten DA’s lawsuit against Rep. Jim Jordan. Following the spillage over Justice Thomas and his relationship with a wealthy sponsor, and the emails between his wife and others. Thinking about Connor Sturgeon’s murders and his mother’s frantic 911 call that morning.
Wonder and thought, speculations and reflections.
Then there is the Pythia’s Oasis, fifty miles off the coast of Newport, Oregon.
Oddly quiet on the dream front last night. The Neurons ply me with Cheap Trick and “Dream Police”. That’s been used, I scoff. And it’s so obvious. What else you got?
The Neurons responded with “One of these Days” by Pink Floyd from 1971. Basically an instrumental. Just one line of words: “One of these days I’m going to cut you into little pieces.” Nick Mason delivers it.
Stay positive, endure, and overcome. Here’s the music. I’m going to go overcome a cuppa joe. Cheers
Friday’s Theme Music
We have safely reached the familiar territory called ‘Friday’. Of less familiarity is the date, April 7, 2023. April has been logged in the past, so we have some expectations sunk into us. 2023 has been going long enough to see how the pattern might be shifting. But humans, you know. They make things change.
It’s 44 today in Ashlandia, with rain expected off and on throughout the day. Clouds have been assembled to make it so. Daylight hours are from 6:43 to 7:43, AM/PM respectively, Ashlandia Time. High temperature will find the thermometer licking the mid fifties.
Much U.S. news is about the different elections held across the nation this week and their results, and what’s it all mean, along with former POTUS Trump’s arrest, and what it means, and Supreme Court Justice Thomas and the gifts he received from a wealthy conservative donor, and what it means. Some columnists and talking heads are suggesting that if the former president is convicted, President Biden should pardon him. One columnist cites former President Ford’s comments about impeached President Nixon:
“Our nation is under the severest of challenges now to employ its full energies and efforts in the pursuit of a sound and growing economy at home and a stable and peaceful world around us. We would needlessly be diverted from meeting those challenges if we as a people were to remain sharply divided over whether to indict, bring to trial, and punish a former president.”
A noble thought. I’m not sure it’s the wisest idea. First, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and other countries flexing their military muscle, I don’t know that I’d call the world stable and peaceful, though was it when President Ford pardoned the former president? Richard Nixon didn’t have a base threatening violence while flying NAZI and Confederate flags and pursuing a fascist agenda. Nor was the Republican Party of that era busy stripping the government of regulatory oversight in multiple areas, trying to remain in power through gerrymandering and limiting voting to favor their ranks and candidates. The cultural rollback which the GOP fronts is not supported by the nation’s majority, but they are determined to do it.
Coffee shop eavesdropping once again — Writer 101 — found two young women speaking with an older women. Young = twentyish, older = fortyish. Had me wondering about relationships as I often do watching people meet in the coffee place. They were within my immediate circle, ten feet away. Like everyone, they were noticed, catalogued, and then dismissed as full-bore writing mood was engaged. Their voices were loud, reminding me of one family group we have who have booming stage voices employed non-stop, and a like friend, who was always attracting attention (and counseling at work) because of her loud voice. Two of these women were loud voiced, and their statements kept puncturing the writing barrier. As part of that, one said, “Well, the reason is you.”
Oh, damn. The Neurons immediately dialed up Hobostank with their 2004 song, “The Reason”, because their main refrain is, “The reason is you.” The song gained strength when I was walking later, and now occupies the morning mental music stream. I believe sharing is needed to dislodge it. Here you are. I find this recorded ‘live’ version very engaging.
Stay pos, and storm Friday like it’s a pivotal day for you, because it could be. I’m gonna storm a cup of coffee now. Here’s ‘stank and their tune. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 