Here we are, another September Sunday. Sunshine struggles across a spatter pattern of rainy dark clouds.It’s September 19, 2021, another month darting through, pushing us toward the holiday season and a new year. The sun’s shy appearance came about 6:55 AM. The warmth was appreciated as the temp was down to the upper forties with humidity knocking a chill into the air. We’ll see sunset about 7:14 PM. Highs won’t be much to write about, the mid sixties.
I have the song “Pop Muzik” by M (1979) overflowing from the mental music stream this morning. Put it on the season. Football season. Had many NFL fans. Not infrequently, we’d come together to watch games, cheer heroes and mock rivals.
This is an interesting song from several points of view. Classic techno-pop of that musical era, one of the things about this song was how I had different friends at different times and locations exclaim that they could not stand this song. This was not rock and would not be tolerated. Randy, always of strong opinions, would demand something else be put on. “Gawd, change the station.” All hilarious to me.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Here’s the music. Cheers
Technically, Saturday, 9/18/2021, began at midnight. But we don’t usually acknowledge those morning hours between midnight and rising as part of that day, do we? Well, we do, in a way. It’s a confused state. Because most don’t think of the day starting until they get up. Even though it’s often started hours before.
Smoke played with the sunshine yesterday, lifting the color of a champagne mango’s skin into the space over our heads. Not today. This is Gray Day.
Sunrise struggled to bring anything this morning. Clouds and smoke skewered the sun’s efforts into graylight. Happened about 6:54 AM. But. Rain began at 6:59 AM around my house. I know. This weather change had infused the cats with a youthful, exuberant energy. They were dashing around, going in and out through the pet door, meyelling at one another. Then they wanted food. So I was up to feed them when the first portent of rain came, tink, tink, tink, on the exhaust fan metal protection up on the room.
The initial rain session was a mildly hard one. First I went out to gage it and smell the air. Still smoky. If rain begins as a mist and we assign that a one, and a monsoon drenching is a ten, this was a fall shower, about 3.5. A fall shower is a lot like a spring shower except it smells different.
I returned to bed after that, listening to the rain while warm and cozy. The rain stopped at 7:31. Then started again at 7:35. Wasn’t as hard though. Been going at it until tapering off to stumbling sporadic drops after ninety minutes. Nice having rain in this parched, drought-plagued and fire plagued area, but we really wanted something about a five or a six on my imaginary scale.
Highs today are projected to be in the upper sixties. Might fire up the fireplace, you know? Sunset is planned for 7:15 PM.
But of course a rain song has mindjacked the mental music stream. A 1986 venture by The Pogues, “Rainy Night in Soho”, came up. It’s odd, though, how the brain works. I was hearing the rain. Then remembered conversations. Which prompted me to think of phantom conversations. Things I wished had been said. That kicked in the line, “I hear you talking in my head.” Stopped me in my mental tracks. That was a song. Some rummaging through the cranial zones finally dragged it fully in.
I like this song because it’s different. More like an essay with music. Shane McGowan’s voice and delivery are introspective and blasé. It’s actually a great song when we’re with others having a drink after a long day when rain is pelting down. But it does serve as foundation for thinking about the day, what was, and what will be.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Here’s the music. Now, where’s the coffee? Cheers
If this is Friday, then this must be September 17, 2021. At least I hope so. Otherwise I have one of them wrong. Then I’d need to ponder the whys of screwing up the date and/or missing time. Hate when that happens. Was it a worm hole? Alien abduction? Overfamiliarity with beer or wine?
Sunrise was a pleasant gentle rise of an orange glow. Orange because of the smoke effect. Came at 6:53 AM. We expect sunrise at 7:17 PM. Today’s high will be eighty-ish F. Air quality is Moderate to Unhealthy, fluxing around 97 to 110 so far this AM. A wind can change it all. Rains are forecast for later today — probably won’t come in until night — with more rain and much cooler temperatures — like upper sixties/low seventies — at our house. Can you say Fall?
A mellow song has fluttered into the morning’s mental music stream. Came about while feeding the cats. First I was singing them an actual cartoon theme song. Don’t know if you’re familiar with Underdog. I was singing that song but with lyrics contorted as “Thundercat”, an homage to the black and white streak that Tucker Cat, aka Thundercat, made as he thundered around. You know, “Speedy claws, meows of thunder, fighting all who sleep and slumber. Thundercat, Thundecat.” Once that song was purged, I went on with Steely Dan and “FM (No Static at All)” from 1978. Instead of singing the original lyrics, I sang, “Worry the kibble Mamma, form a breakfast line. Kick off your velvet claws, it’s eating time.” Yeah, makes as much sense as the original lyrics.
Worry the bottle Mamma, it’s grapefruit wine Kick off your high heel sneakers, it’s party time The girls don’t seem to care what’s on As long as they play till dawn Nothin’ but blues and Elvis And somebody else’s favorite song
Give her some funked up music, she treats you nice Feed her some hungry reggae, she’ll love you twice The girls don’t seem to care tonight As long as the mood is right
Time to drink coffee. Remember, stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Let’s be careful out there. (From Hill Street Blues). Here’s the muzak. Cheers
Greetings, life forms. I include the undead who might be reading this, too. And whatever other ethereal forms are browsing the net — or browsing history in some future state.
Anyway, today is Wednesday, September 15, 2021. Sunshine entered the valley at 6:51 AM. We expect it to fade away at 7:21 PM. Our high temperature will be in the low eighties. Our air is serviceable. Light traces of smoke and haze hang along the mountains’ tree lines but the AQI sits at 70, putting us in the Moderate (yellow) range. It’s a continued improvement that we’re happy to have.
In news, it was great to see that the California recall effort fizzled. Don’t live there but I used to. I live in Oregon, in fact, just a few miles north of the California – Oregon border. Have friends in California and still follow their politics. I didn’t want Larry Elder as governor of anywhere. He spouts reactionary garbage. The disaster it would have been were he to have replaced Newsom is nauseating to contemplate.
Most importantly, the loss throttles the precedence and encouragement it would create for Republicans to backdoor the system. Naturally, upon hearing that he was going to lose, that Newsom would not be recalled, Elder immediately cried, “Cheat!” It’s the GOP way of this century. It’s a good thing that they’re doing it. They’re raising an alarm for something that isn’t there. As it’s proven again and again that no fire is behind the smoke only they see, rational individuals will walk away from them and tune them out.
My night was heavy with dreams. It’s a monthly cycle. My mood goes up and down each month. Get quite dark for a day or two. Want nothing to do with the world, writing, cats, or myself in those hours. Being aware of it helps. cope. I just endure and ensure I don’t do anything stupid during the darkness.
Anyway as part of the peak, versus being in the trough, my mind is busy with dreams. After waking up and thinking them over doing all my morning rituals, I settled with my coffee. About then, a 1991 Yes song percolated into the morning music stream. “Life Me Up” was the group’s last hit, as far as I know. Not that I track these things but others do, and I read that. Not my favorite Yes song (hah – funny that, if you know their albums) but no doubt it’s a Yes song.
Stay positive, test negative, stay in the groove, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Here’s the music. Time for more coffee, I believe. Cheers
“Just another manic Monday.” Yes, welcome to Monday, September 13, 2021. I generally wasn’t fond of Mondays in my school days. Monday. Yech. Up early. Off to await the school bus. Then in the building. Didn’t mind school and did well but disliked that routine. Never was routine oriented in those days. Writing changed that for me. A routine was essential. Of course, I centered it around coffee.
We didn’t drink coffee as children when I went to school. Rarely drank sodas, pop, sugary carbonated beverages, whatever you wanted to call them. Our drink was chocolate, as in hot chocolate or chocolate milk. I’ve noticed that every coffee shop close to a school has a regular glut of children in there getting a morning beverage. Chai tea seemed like the fave was the longest. Of course, in my day, we didn’t know about chai tea, or cafe mochas or lattes. There weren’t usually coffee shops. They were rare and small. A place to get a blue plate special. Change, right?
Sunrise today was a proper one. Boosted by a clear sky and just the right angle, full sunshine beamed into the valley at 6:49 AM. We had a clearish day yesterday with good- to moderate- rated air. Green and yellow. Nothing over 90 on the AQI. Today’s AQI is 39. Sweet. Sunset will come to our valley at 7:24 PM tonight.
As for songs, a 1966 cover of an older song is in the mental musical stream. “See You in September” was covered by the Happenings and became a pop hit. Hearing it provides an interesting look back at how pop music sounded then, and how it was evolving. You had the surf sound going on, the Brit invasion, but also songs like this along with others by the Four Seasons, and Motown soul. Rock and roll was growing, and so was folk music. Rock and pop has always been eclectic. One of the reasons I love it. A song for any mood, a sound for any time. I admit that I lean toward blues-based guitar and piano sounds with subtle soul nuances. Sounds like I’m describing a wine, doesn’t it?
Here’s the music. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. If we do these things, then maybe we will see one another in September, out in public, without a mask, enjoying fresh autumn air. Cheers
Good morning. Welcome to Saturday, September 11, 2021. Sunrise came at 6:46 AM. Sunset will be at 7:29 PM.
Gorgeous outside right now. Very excited for that. AQI is 34. Code green! Was also that low last night, prompting me to do a long walk, for which my body thanked me. Been so long that we’ve had such clean air to breath. Ah, to be able to open a window and let in fresh, cool air. To look out and be able to see the green mountains and blue sky again. It’s the little details that sustain us.
Temperatures are also cooperating. We expect highs in the low 80s. Couple with the overnight lows in the sixties and the rain remnants from two nights ago, and the ingredients of a delightful fall day come together. It’s a good day to think about who you are and look forward to who you can be and what you can do. Move the needle.
The mental music stream has “Follow Me” by Uncle Kracker (2001) running. I know, odd choice. Compelled by cats, I tell you. They were awaiting the royal feeding. I called out, “Hungry?” “Yes,” they answered. “Follow me for food,” I answered. “Come on, follow me.”
I started walking. They followed. By then, my neurons had linked with the words, “Follow me.” The association was made and the song began.
Stay positive. Test negative. Wear a mask as needed. Get a vax. Drink coffee. That’s what I’m going to do. Here’s the music. Cheers
First, standard warnings. The outside air is unhealthy. Recommend you avoid going outside. Don’t exert yourself outside. People with respiratory issues should take additional precautions.
COVID-19 positives cases remain high as vaccination rates continue to wane. ICUs are full. Wear a mask when outside your home, especially when in stores and restaurants. Social distance. The library is closed to browsing but there is front door service.
Welcome to Thursday, September 9, 2021.
It’s similar to Wednesday and Tuesday. Many of us wonder, when will this stop? The smoke. COVID-19. Drought. Water shortages.
Sunrise was at 6:44 AM. Sunset will be at 7:33 PM. Saw a big red-orange ball in the sky late yesterday afternoon. Purported to be the sun. And darkness did gather when it disappeared. So, cause and effect, must’ve been the sun.
Temperatures today will remain warm but not hot with a forecast high in the mid to open eighties.
A Wham song is rooted in the morning musical mental stream. This is a dream’s influence. I’m still sorting the dream. The song is “Everything She Wants” from 1984. I respect Wham and George Michael but their music wasn’t the sort I generally paid mind. But my female friends and wife looked their music so I heard it often. I’m still piecing together why it was in my dreamscape’s musical score.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Here’s the music and there’s my coffee. Cheers
Greetings! Happy Labor Day in America! This is a holiday in the U.S. It’s one of the three-day weekend holidays. This was Congress’ gift to the country — particularly the travel industry — in 1968 as part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.
It’s September 6, 2021. Monday, of course. We’re not doing anything special for the holiday. Wildfire smoke and COVID-19 (and the current Delta variation that’s so virulent here in southern Oregon right now) have muted it for us. Might be different if we had family close to us.
Sunrise arrived at 6:41 AM. Sunset, when the Earth turns away from the sun, will come at 7:36 PM. And I think I need to go back and fix an assertion I made on a previous post that we’ve gone below twelve hours of daylight per day. Blame it on a lack of coffee. Or a lack of cogent thinking. Or poor math skills. Temperatures continue to rise but we’re not hitting crazy levels, topping out in the low nineties. AQI for this morning is 163, Unhealthy. We haven’t had a day rated as Moderate since August 25. They’ve all been unhealthy or extremely unhealthy since then, a fact known in many areas out here in the U.S. western states.
Rickie Lee Reynolds died. 72 years old. Heart attack. He was the Black Oak Arkansas guitarist. Black Oak Arkansas was a southern rock band with some glam influences in their stage performances. They came out with a cover of “Jim Dandy” in 1973, while I was a high school junior. Weirdly, I’d encounter this song often on diner and NCO Club jukeboxes for many years. And I’d play it. Which exasperated my wife. She doesn’t like the song. But it’s a throwback, innit?
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, avoid crazy cures like ivermectin, and get vaccinated. Have a enjoyable Labor Day, if that applies to you. Gotta get my coffee. Here’s the music. Cheers
Welcome to Sunday, September 5, 2021. It’s September’s first Sunday, which means tomorrow is September’s first Monday, and that rhymes with Labor Day weekend in America. Yes, it’s the day when summer is considered done. The season is yet to change for a few weeks. That doesn’t matter. Summer is done. Vacations are wound down. Children return to class. Grills are fired up for one last hurrah.
Back east, my family has the grand cookout planned. Sister #3 is coordinating the effort. She is the hostess. Sixteen are attending. Mom is taking dessert: an apple pie, chocolate peanut butter bars, and tuxedo cake. She made the bars, purchased the rest. Yes, it’s overkill. Food overkill is the family tradition on these holidays. My brother-in-law will be at the grill. He’s a master. Wish I cold be there but it’s several thousand miles east of here. Takes a day of flying or several days of driving. Where’s a bullet train when you need it?
They’re two degrees south of us at home in Penn Hills, PA. About 1500 feet lower in elevation. Makes a difference with sunrise and sunrise. Temperatures. Sunrise locally was 6:41 AM. Sunset will be 7:38. Yep, less than twelve hours of sunshine today mitigating the smoke today. Our high will be in the mid-eighties. Mom says it’ll probably be in the seventies at their place. So, cooler there, with a lower AQI. Ours is 237 now. Purple. Very unhealthy to breathe. Penn Hills has an AQI of 16.
My dreams have summoned The Police and their frenetic ballad from 1983, Synchronicity I, to the morning mental music stream (McubedS, patent pending). My dreams didn’t come out wholly baked today. Only mutterings and glimpses in the fog remain. The strongest sensation was of dancing. I was going to a dance or dancing somewhere. Yes, something about a dance but what? No other elements would return.
The thinking sequence stirred me to recall “Synchronicity I” lines: A sleep trance, a dream dance, a shared romance, synhronicity. That became the day’s theme music for me.
Stay positive. Test negative. Wear a mask as needed. Get the vax if you haven’t already. Try to remain somewhat sane. I think it’s a spectrum myself. Fluctuating by the hour. Sanity, that is. Here’s the music. Cheers
Welcome to Saturday, September 4, 2021. Here in Ashland, smoke veils a cloudy spread. We’ll probably see 80 F in our area. The sun arose at 6:39 AM. Pearlescent hues on the cats and walls. Sun fade will be at 7:40 PM. The window of daily sunshine is closing.
After a week of noisy news, my soul seems spent. People are enduring some hard times in the U.S. from coast to coast, Canada to Mexico. Fires and flooding, hurricanes and tornados. Lies and more lies. And, yeah, COVID-19. People who otherwise fasten their seat belts, go through security with shoes off, without water, passing through metal detectors, who otherwise agree that public safety and security are important now can’t wear a mask. Others remain vaccine hesitant. They have their reasons, we’re told, and shouldn’t be mean to them. Meanwhile, others still find time to be racist and cruel. Murders and abuse continue.
I sort of chuckle, though. I’m reading HIlary Mantel. The Mirror and the Light. About Thomas Cromwell and that period. England. Henry VIII. Anne Bolyn’s beheading. Henry’s other wives. Conflict with the Pope. Empires and kingdoms. Dukes and ladies. The church and the state. Wars. Among it all, the poor, the starving, the diseased. We are better off now. I think where my disappointment builds is that we could be so much better. We should be so much better. Guess I watched too much Star Trek as a child.
Muse filled my mental music stream with “Uprising” from 2009. Specific lyrics.
Michael Seidel, writer 