Friday’s Theme Music

You ever think about changing your calendar? I wonder how it would affect us if on each New Year, our first day was 365 (366 for a leap year). Then the days count down, like a Julian calendar in reverse. Today, instead of August 26, 2022, it would be something like Friday, 128, 2022. Then you’d think, oh my goodness there’s only 127 days left to this year. Your conversations would be interesting as people suggesting having a celebration on the 120, and you reply, “Is that a Friday?”

Today’s particulars aren’t notably different from yesterday. When I awoke a few hours ago, the temp. was 61 F. We’re up to 20 C now. Sunset is expected at 7:55 PM after a sunrise of 6:30 AM. Our high will be about 93 F. No clouds in the sky, and it’s blue. Air Quality is 2, so pretty darn good. On the news front, the GOP has shifted targets from the DOJ and are no longer chanting about defunding the FBI. Now they want to defund the IRS. Their cycle, from the false statements of the former GOP POTUS to their continual insistence that the 2020 POTUS election was stolen to some who lost claiming they won (yes, I’m commenting on you, Laura Loomer), to verbal attacks on different government departments seems to be about sowing discord, distrust, and confusion, which destabilizes our government, polarizes our politics, and disrupts our society. So no changes in the news, other than, oh, yeah, flooding, fires, droughts, baseball, football, and other sports. But yea, people cry, Lake Mead’s water level is no longer falling. We’re saved!

From reading news and reflection on my dreams and daily activities and routines, The Neurons feted me with John Lennon, “Watching the Wheels” from 1981. Do you remember when he was gunned down? I surely do. Anyway, The Neurons have “I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round, I really love to watch them roll,” repeatedly playing in the morning mental music stream. That’s how my mood is, to some degree. Moods, like so many things, are a spectrum, so I’ll be sliding along to something else sometime, and then probably back again, and off again, and so on.

Yes, I have my coffee already, and I’ve eaten brekkie — waffles today. Now I’m contemplating the cats washing themselves and contemplating their fur, ears moving as a car passes, a bird breaks cover and tweets, caws, or screeches, pausing as a far dog barks and a prop plane drones closer. Stay positive and test negative and so forth. Here’s the music. Sing along if you will. Cheers

Thursday’s Theme Music

We lined it up and took our shot, which landed on Thursday, August 25, 2022. It’s a good day to celebrate and rejoice, endure and persist, recover and comeback. Aren’t they all, to one person or another? Yes, depends on where everything aligns on the spectrum of the moment that day for that individual.

Our alignments bring us sunrise and sunset at 6:29 AM and 7:56 PM, respectively. Our air temp is 20 C but it feels warmer. Asking why, I realize that my cool mountain air seems to be AWOL because everything was too heated yesterday to properly cool down over night, and much of the snow that helped generate that cooling effect has melted away into the streams, rivers, and cisterns. Today’s alignments of pressure systems, rotation, revolution, and sunny influence will take us to 97 F in our valley.

The nearest fire is Rum Creek, northwest of us by some distance. Favorable winds are keeping us happy as kittens as our air quality is lushly green, but those in other areas must bear the smoke and particles. Fingers crossed for the people of Galice and that region’s plant and animal life that the fire’s destruction is limited.

The Neurons are playing “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel. The song came out in 1983 and was quickly a ubiquitous song, heard on AM, FM, and TV so frequently, one was soon reaching to change the channel when it came on as the overexposure began grating nerves. Inspired by his girlfriend, Elle McPherson, Whitney Houston, and the woman who became his GF and then his wife, Christie Brinkley – a story told frequently back then — who were hanging out that day, the song has a definite throwback sound to an earlier rock and roll era. The Neurons selected it today because I glanced at a headline, Billy Joel Welcomes Olivia Rodrigo for ‘Deja Vu,’ ‘Uptown Girl’ at Madison Square Garden.

Wednesday’s Theme Music

We’re into the middle band of the rainbow of days, a prism that never ends. That’s right, it’s Wednesday. We’re also into the final seven days of August, this being the 24th, and over halfway through the memorable year of 2022.

It’s 71 F right now and we expect to be in the upper nineties by day’s end, although we’re not anticipating passing 100. Not in the cards today, fingers crossed. Air quality isn’t bad today. It’s gone up and down by the hour in the last two days as the winds ebbed and flowed. Nighthold was broken at 6:28 this morning, but the darkness will be restored after sunset at 7:58 PM. “Night is coming,” people whisper. They’re talking about the long night. Others mock them, but those who understand these things are preparing for the long night.

“Lay Lady Lay” by Bob Dylan from 1969 has won the morning mental music stream over. The Neurons allowed me to see the progression made from thought to song today. It involved some writing so I’ll not say anything else. It’s a superstition of mine. The song was a favorite of mine for a bit. It came out when I was thirteen. There was a girl in school who showed interest in me. Sweet Vicky loved this song, so when she asked me about it, I loved it, too! We held hands, went to dances, malls, and movies, necking in secret for a few months, before going toward different lights. I have good memories of her and this song.

Stay positive, test negative, and take care of yourself, family, and community. I’ve had my coffee, thanks. Feel free to have some yerself. Here’s the music. Cheers

Tuesday’s Theme Music

Tuesday has summoned you. How will you respond? Will you hide and cower or face power with power?

I don’t know. See me after I’ve had my coffee.

It’s the 23rd of August, 2022 Common Era. Headlines could be ripped from last year, except that the droughts are broader, wider, deeper. Old towns and war machines are being exposed where they were stopped. Electricity output is being cut because there isn’t enough water to run the generators.

Night surrendered today at 6:27 AM but don’t worry, cuz night will return after sunset at 8 PM. See how that works? All part of the Earth’s rotation while it revolves around the sun. I think I learned that in my early science years. A GOP lawmaker thinks it’s a good idea to cut science until after fifth grade. I would’ve still learned it, I think, though we didn’t have the web back then. Imagine what those children will learn, depending on the web. Hell, why stop there? Do children need to know math before fifth grade? Just tell them to ask their phones, right? In fact, do they need such geography gems as where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are? If they live beside them, they already know. Otherwise, why do they need to know that? No, just drop all of those classes until after fifth grade. Sounds like they don’t even need to go to school during that period. Let them stay home and learn from TV, right? Or maybe put them to work. Streets are dirty. Teach them how to use a broom and pick up litter.

Sorry. Early morning snark attack. The news sometimes brings that on. And I haven’t had my coffee, which contains caffeine, a stimulant, something that I learned in SCIENCE IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.

Right now, it’s 20 C outside, a perfectly chill temperature under a cloudless blue sky awash in sunshine. Our high will kiss the low 90s — F, not C. Wow, can you imagine if it was 90 C out? You can if you take SCIENCE CLASSES.

Anyway…

Today’s theme selection was brought to me by Pacific Ocean waves. I thought of this song the other day, but The Neurons kept song blocking me, slipping other tunes into the morning mental music stream. The Neurons are quiet today — probably because they haven’t had their coffee yet, right? — so I can select whatever song I want. And I want “Waves” by Mr. Probz from 2014.

Here’s the music. The Neurons are clamoring for coffee, and I must abide. Stay positive, test negative, etc. Take care of yourself. Drop a dime. Keep in touch. Cheers

Monday’s Theme Music

Monday has landed. You need to be careful when Monday lands that it doesn’t do serious damage to you. Some people really enjoy Mondays landing. They’re depressingly cheerful, shouting things like, “Woo hoo, it’s Monday,” causing the rest of us to raise our eyebrows so high that they get lost in our hair.

It’s August 27, 2022, which, for some, is the deadline. It’s also birthdays and anniversaries, so salutations to you if it is. Hope it’s memorable and the start of a long line of fantastic years.

I’m in Eugene, Oregon, now, a stop off on our way home. It’s 61 F here, 16 C on the coast, and 64 F in Ashland. Respective highs are 85, 68, and 88 F. Sunrise for this local was a classic, with sunshine piercing the eastern sky with a sharp golden lance at 6:323 this morning. Sunset will be at 8:07. I plan to be home then, where the sunset will be 8:01.

I have a 1957 song by Buddy Holley and the Crickets stuck in the morning mental music stream. My fault, totally my fault. After we checked into the room and settled for the evening, we cruised TV offerings where we found BBC America showing Stand By Me. The 1986 movie is about boys in a 1959 small town, their conflicts with themselves and others, and the quest to find a dead body. It features a terrific cast and music of the era. Well, The Neurons heard, ” Everyday, it’s a-gettin’ closer, goin’ faster than a roller coaster,” and they latched onto that like a cat taking over a chair.

Stay pos, test, neg, and so on. Yes, I’ve had coffee and breakfast. Coffee was very good. The breakfast went down well, breaking back tears of joy from being out in the field and enjoying some fine reconstituted eggs. Here’s the music. Cheers

Sunday’s Theme Music

Well, we come down the hill and turned into a glade, and there it was, majestic as ever: Sunday, August 21, 2022. So I, for one, can say, it does exist. I’ve seen it once and I’ll probably never see it again.

It’s a beautiful day on the beach. Though clouds blanket the sun, its presence is here. The ocean is a sleepy murmur. No fog or marine layer. 64 F. Today will be a little warmer, 70 F.

Sunrise trickle across the eastern skies at 6:26 AM and the sun’s luminescence will leave us with sunset at 8:12 PM.

A dream last night featured Tom Petty saying, “Let’s do the crocodile song, the rock song.” He said this three times, not in a row, but at three different times. I knew he referred to Elton John’s hit. Whenever he said that and his band played, I would go off and tell myself, “I need to be more like Tom Petty, and take more risks, put myself out there.” The dream also featured two-day POTUS Ronald Reagan and four-time NASCAR champ Jeff Gordon. It was an interesting dream.

But when thinking about the dream, “Crocodile Rock” and Tom Petty, The Neurons responded with Tom Petty and “Running Down A Dream”, a hit song from the 1989 album, Full Moon Fever. I was in Germany at Rhein Main Air Base when it was released, returning to America in 1991. The Neurons know I like this song. Who am I to argue with them? Yes, the song has been featured here before, but we’ll survive that.

Yes, I’ve had coffee, so I’m mellow, as are The Neurons. As I say, the ocean is a sweet companion today, in a mellow mood, and it’s infectious. Stay positive, test negative, and so on. Enjoy your Sunday, yeah?

Cheers

Saturday’s Theme Music

The wheel spins and slows. The marble drops. Spying the results and spreading the word, everyone gets into position to begin another life play.

Today’s performance is Saturday, August 20, 2022. Those who went through this day before and remember it know what to expect. Others need to improvise.

A narrator says in a Morgan Freeman voice, “It’s 6:23 in the morning as the sun unloads it light. An overcast sky is shifted into place over the ocean. Birds hang around on the beach, enjoying the scene without making one. Lazy waves roll in, release their splash, and slid back out. It’s cool but comfortable, sixty-four degrees Fahrenheit. The thermometer won’t show much warmer by the ocean’s side, maybe nudging sixty-eight, sixty-nine. Few people are out. Dog walkers dominate, strolling with leashed pooches. This show will go beyond midnight, but the daylight scenes end at 8:14 this evening. Let the play begin.”

The Neurons have pressed buttons on the morning mental music stream. (They’re still updating to clicks.) Hall and Oates are singing a 1981 hit, “You Make My Dreams”. I was in Texas at the beginning of that year, on Okinawa by June. Stayed there until December 31, 1980, calling Kadena Air Base my home. We lived in a small apartment in a small building with other young American couples, for we were young. Hall and Oates were a favorite group in the building, and their songs are deeply etched into my psyche.

Why this song today? Maybe it was the dreams. The Neurons aren’t confessing anytime soon.

Stay positive and test negative. Wear a mask if it’s needed. Use your judgement and heed the experts. Meanwhile, my coffee is here. Time to start the day. Here’s the music.

Cheers

Friday’s Theme Music

We’ve come to Friday. Full stop. What else needs said? Everyone has a Friday sense, a feel for what Friday means for them. We do that with every day, though, depending on schedules and activities, wants and needs, desires and confusion, determination and goals.

Rain is falling on this Oregon coast August 19th. The sun’s reappearance was dampened by clouds but still took place at 6:23 this morning. Turning away from Sol — which often invokes Pink Floyd and someone singing, “On the turning away” — takes place at 8:19 this evening. By that time, we’ll expect to be at 67 F, a small jump from our current 16 C. They say it feels like 60. Whatever, it’s loaded with soft salty fishy oceany fragrances sprinkled with dirt, sand, and asphalt, along with plant smells. Know that melange? It’s a relaxing scent to inhale, one that unfolds the soul and pours out cares, at least for a little while. It also invokes memories for me, of where I’ve been, my present intersection of time, space, and being, and the final leg, who I am. Cue The Who, “Who Are You”.

Falling rain means Elvis Presley for The Neurons, today, though. They could have gone with Blind Melon and “No Rain”, I suppose, but no, they have “Kentucky Rain” (1970) circumambulating my morning mental music stream. Why? Silly one, The Neurons don’t explain their processes and decisions. Perhaps that’s only me. Your Neurons might be much nicer. Well, my neurons are nice, just as wild and free as a clowder of kitties chasing dandelion seeds on the wind.

Here’s the music. Stay positive and test negative. I must go on a coffee quest. (Yes, now The Neurons have folded “The Impossible Dream” into the morning mental music mix.)

Cheers

Thursday’s Theme Music

Lotsa wet out from ocean fog. Drips from everything and sprawls over cars and houses. Thursday morning on the coast. It’s started out much like Wednesday morning on the coast. I’m beginning to have suspicions about Friday morning on the coast, although rain is in the Friday forecast.

For now, it’s quiet and chill, 62 F, sunshine smothered in fog. The sun has been ‘up’ since 6:22 AM but it’s a dim bulb in the eastern fog swirl. A high of 68 F will be probed. We’ll going out on a short boat trip to explore the local marine life and history’s highlights. Should be fun. Sunset will be about 8:19 this evening.

Should note that it’s August 18, 2022, for the record. The record is important, isn’t it? ‘Tis why we’re always tracking and chasing these things. “For the record, what day was it?” “I believe it was August 18, 2022, yer honor.”

The line “walking in the sand” is walking through my morning mental music stream. Yes, thank you, neurons. Not very original of you but I have walked a few miles in the sand in the last few days. Nye Beach has a beautiful flat beach, not very busy on the sand, with gorgeous ocean views, well worth walking as the waves roll in do their splashing, and hurry back out as the gulls meditate and wonder.

Back to the music. I have the Shangri-Las version of “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” dueling the Aerosmith’s rendition, which is an interesting mental flavor to have before coffee. 1964 was the year of the Shangri-Las’s version while Tyler and the boys had a hit in 1979. One is pop and more melodic and the other is rock. I’ll let you guess which.

Here’s Amy Winehouse with the song. Yeah, I thought I’d throw a curve in. Stay positive and test negative, right? Deep breath because we’re still going through this. Meanwhile, I gotta find some coffee. Then I’m gonna go walkin’ in the sand. Hope I remember. Enjoy your day.

Cheers

Wednesday’s Theme Music

We’re on the coast. Fog defined our Wednesday sunrise at *drumroll* at 6:21 AM. The fog burned off about nine-ish, leaving us awash in sunshine.

This August 17, 2022, finds us at 62 F with a high of 71 F in the cards. We’re three short blocks from the beach, with view of the surf from our upper-level windows. Not a bad deal. No writing to be done…for the moment. I am to socialize and be a tourist. I don’t wear those hats well, but I’ll try. Sunset will be at 8:19 PM.

Seagulls sing wherever we go. You’d think The Neurons would pick up on that and sing some music by A Flock of Seagulls, which I think is actually called a flotilla. I think there are other expressions. Guess I should google it…someday… I’ll put it on my TBG list.

Instead, The Neurons have noticed my anti-social tendences, my desire to hasten away somewhere to write. They’ve installed a Helen Reddy song, “Leave Me Along” (1973). You know, it’s a song about a woman telling others, “Leave me alone, won’t you leave me?”

Yeah, not nice of me, is it? It’s against our social conventions for how we define ‘normal’.

Here’s the music. I’ve had my coffee, thanks, a lovely Americano at Ultralife Cafe. Off to sight-see. Stay positive, test negative, and try to socialize. Would it really hurt you? Oh, the things we don’t know.

Cheers

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