Direct from my Yahoo 360 blog and now my WordPress blog…here’s some of my favorite things, an ongoing series…
Entry for February 07, 2008
Desperately needing something positive…
The weather has been absolutely atrocious. I know it can be worse, but it’s been pretty bad this winter (Maybe writing in green will spur some green things!)
So, it’s time to do a favorite things post to ward off cabin fever/winter blahs/weatherpeople strangulation…
Today I’ll do a music edition…
All anybody has to do is look at my music favorites to get a taste of my music favorite things. But there are other songs that aren’t listed. Here’s a few that always make me sit up and take notice…
Honesty – Billy Joel
I can deal with most of Billy Joel’s 70s songs, but this one, which I rarely hear, always gets my attention. The melody is pretty, but it’s the lyrics that really get me. There aren’t that many song lyrics that just feel like the writer was in my brain, but this song is definately one of them. “Honesty is such a lonely word – everyone is so untrue. Honesty is hardly ever heard, and mostly what I need from you.” Hits it right on the head for me. I’ve yet to find one man who will be honest. To me, honesty IS a lonely word. So this song really cuts to the bone.
They’re Tearing Us Apart – Eric Clapton with Tina Turner
From the minute I heard this song in the mid 80s, it got me moving. The rhythm is awesome, the guitar playing burns, and Tina Turner lets it rips. It’s a great song.
Hot Child in the City – Nick Gilder
One that just happened to come on Live365 right now. At first, I wasn’t that into this song. However, when an older guy (of 25) mentioned that I (at eighteen) reminded him of this song, it took on a whole new meaning. I definately had a crush on him. Of course, he married an older woman than me. Rats.
Bullet in the Blue Sky – U2 – Joshua Tree
An oldie from the Joshua Tree. I had the album, which I loved. Then they played the album at an Urbana house party during my grad school year down there. There was lots of “entertainment” going on, and I had had a few beers. This song sounded great – I was very relaxed, everyone else was in a great mood, and we were all sitting around having a great time. The grad-school parties in Urbana were the best!
Silly Love Songs – Paul McCartney & Wings
Me, sitting in the tv box that I was trying to turn into my personal space in the back yard, listening to this song on my transitor radio in the middle of summer in 1976, enjoying my “space.” My rebellion at 13…
That’s just a few. I’m sure I’ll do another music edition in the future.
Entry for December 08, 2007
Time for another edition of favorite things…
Going to Girl Scout camp at Butternut Springs in Valparaiso, Indiana. The food seemed to taste better there, got to hike, have campfires, get away from the parental units, swim, cook, and have fun. I also liked the winter camp we did in Bartlett. Played soccer, made stuff, slid down hills, danced to Aerosmith’s Dream On (it’s karma – as I sit here blogging this, Dream On has come on!!) and Queen. I wish there was a Girl Scout camp for adults…
The Christmas tree after it’s put up. This year was not fun, given that there were more lights out than I had replacements for. Tried LED lights, but they looked blue, not white. Bought the energy hog white ones and now finally have the tree up. It’s very calming to just look at it with all the room lights off, knowing how much work I put into it. I look forward to it every year…
Rudolph, Grinch, and Charlie Brown Christmas. You do not mess with the trifecta of Christmas. They must all be watched, every year. Period.
The faithful old Christmas ornaments, one each from first grade, and the Christmas Nativity scene, from the same time. It reminds me of my kid Christmases, of making the one ornament, and receiving the other in religion school. It reminds me of a six year old who believed in Santa and was cute…
Looking at the picture of my old dog, Holly, totally covered in used wrapping paper, “smiling” up at the camera. She enjoyed opening other people’s presents for them. Good ol’ Snout. She’ll be gone 20 years February 1. Sniff.
Looking at the picture of Holly staring up at the Thanksgiving turkey. We tried to distract her with toys and other food, but nope, she would not be swayed from staring up at the turkey like a statue. Thus, the caption of the photo, “two turkeys.” This year was the 30 year anniversary of that classic photo. Sigh.
My favorite things are memories that are making me sad , so I think I’ll end this edition here. They still were/are my favorite things, though…
Entry for October 08, 2007
My favorite things…Time for something completely different. Time to get back a little more to discussing myself and ideas, not commenting on sports teams (although it was great that the Bears managed to beat the cheddarheads. That I did not see coming at all. Yay. Maybe that should be one of my favorite things…)
I’m just going to see what I come up with off the top of my head…it’s time for something happy in here!
TV show DVDs – Entourage and Welcome Back Kotter have been on the agenda lately
Great music all in a row on an Internet classical station – my favorites are WCNY Syracuse, KBAQ Phoenix, KVOD Denver, and ABC Classical Australia – Gershwin, Ravel, Debussey, Elgar, and others
Cuteoverload.com awww
What I’m able to do on a computer…12 1/2 years ago, I got Netscape on my office computer for the first time…it was fun to play with, going to the what’s new and what’s cool sections to find websites…I’m still on alert for new websites that will entertain and enlighten me…now I’m searching blogs more and trying to find tech info where I can. 12 1/2 years ago, I didn’t know that I could listen to classical music in the middle of the night in Australia as I sat near a sunny 7AM window in Chicago. It still boggles my mind that the world as it is going on right now is at my fingertips. I could listen to news tomorrow morning in England, see a midafternoon Hawaii beach via a webcam, check out the weather radar to see if the clouds over me are rain clouds and if they would start raining within a few minutes, listen to somebody’s Ipod shuffle with commentary, or watch live video of coverage of a San Francisco disaster via video on a tv website. None of this was possible 12 1/2 years ago. I love that the world literally is at the end of my fingertips and I could decide to go anywhere I want right now.
Seeing blue jays that I haven’t seen in three years flying around in flashes of blue, screeching. They are surviving the West Nile virus somehow.
The feeling of accomplishment I had driving down I-17 10 years ago, coming out of the mountains and seeing Phoenix below me. I had driven the entire 1900 miles alone with no car problems. It was a beautiful sight.
The northern shore of Lake Superior. Gorgeous.
Driving through the forest preserves about the 14th of October, give or take a week.
My first car, my aquamarine 1994 Saturn SC2, which drove to Phoenix and back, around the Great Lakes, to and from upstate New York, to and from New Orleans, and had many pictures taken of it in ancestor cemeteries (it liked cemeteries ) What a great first car.
That’s just some of my favorite things…I think I’ll just do this occasionally to see what I come up with.
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I had a holiday themed edition, a music edition, and today, a summer edition. I still have to figure out how I’m going to organize my Faves page (summer laziness?!), but for now, this’ll go on there, too…
Lightning bugs just after dusk
The reawakening of the annual summer cicada in the tree outside my kitchen window. Some people hate the loud sound, but I can deal with it. It means the cicada survived the nasty winter before (even more so this year!) It’ll be around until September and usually signals summer won’t be around too much longer…
Hearing my version of summer songs on the radio (everyone has their own batch. Mine, of course, reflect when I grew up (which I supposedly did…hmm…) Baker Street – Gerry Rafferty All over the place in 1978. A true summer song could not be avoided during its summer. Falling in Love Again – Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds A beach song I heard a lot at Fish Lake Any song from that beach or going to it brings back great mid 70s memories. I loved that beach! Don’t Bring me Down – ELO I’ve always loved the song, but I usually remember hearing it at my friend’s neighbor’s swimming pool in Phoenix in August, with us posing on the diving board and swimming around in the 100 plus dry heat. Fun.
Girl scout summer camp, already mentioned in a favorite things entry, but appropriate for a summer edition. Tons of stars overhead and owl hoots. Hiking on logs. Blasting transitor radios filled with summer music!
The cool breeze after a humid thunderstorm – always refreshing
My annual summer chocolate milk shake. Gotta have one every year and that’s usually the only time I get ‘em (I’ve already had this year’s)
The fact that it IS summer and not below zero – that fact should especially be remembered at the height of summer!
Milwaukee summer festivals. Great food, right by the lake, and great bands
I haven’t done a Favorite Things edition in a long time. Time to remedy that…
Random thoughts on my favorite things as of January 2009
Starship Trooper – Yes – 1971 – Cool song to get lost into for a bunch of minutes
Leroy Anderson music for Christmas – Known for “Sleigh Ride,” but so much more. He also wrote “A Christmas Festival,” a great grouping of carols that brings back memories every time I hear it. Every year, my dad would bring up his vinyl copy, which eventually included skips, and play it around Christmas. Love “A Christmas Festival”
Harp music – I really don’t like Baroque music, but I can deal with it only if there’s harp music involved. Harp music is very calming.
Organ music – sometimes organ music can be a bit overwhelming, but it usually sounds very majestic. The acoustics in the halls are usually pretty good for organ music – great echoes…and this is the only other instrument for which I can tolerate Baroque music.
American Gangster – didn’t think I’d be that into this movie since I’m not that into more violent movies. The violence was tolerable and the acting and the story were riveting. I don’t remember the last time I was so involved in a story…oh, that’s right…
Milk – I do remember hearing about his death with George Moscone in San Francisco in 1978. Seeing the movie and the background helped me understand what happened and why a bit better. Sean Penn, James Franco, Josh Brolin, and Emile Hirsch are great.
Blogging – I’ve only been at this for about two years, but as I have explored/mentioned before, I find it very helpful to figuring out who I am and, surprise, “connecting the dots.” More and more as time goes on, I think my blog name fits this blog like a glove…
Going to the vet’s office – No animal right now, but I met a lot friendly animals/owners/kids/vets while picking up a newly fixed kitty for a friend. Of course, some animals aren’t too fond of the vet (my dog would literally drag her heels across the threshold – hmmm, kinda reminds me of Blago…)
Pink – love her “So What” video. She’s got a great sense of humor and doesn’t pull any punches.
That 70s Show – That Show got me through plenty the past year. I’ve loved it since it first came on the air and have all the DVDs (with the exception of the last two seasons) A lot of it rings true as some who could have been the fifth member of the circle (Donna and I could have been buds – haha.) My go-to choice for stress relief. Damn funny stuff.
That’s it for this edition. Another one will follow at some point on some whim…
It’s dull and gloomy outside…time once again to brighten my day with another edition of favorite things…
The instrumental edition of Bob Stroud’s Rock and Roll Roots on WDRV (the Drive) I’ve always loved instrumental songs. Listening today, I noticed that a lot of the guitar gods base their instrumentals on classical music – Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance, Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A (which I’ve actually played.)
Speaking of instrumentals, Dick Dale’s guitar prowess, noted by Quentin Tarentino in Pulp Fiction…
Future Games – Fleetwood Mac – 1971 Heard this today on the Stroud show. It’s Fleetwood Mac before the crazy days of Rumors…and minus Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. A somewhat different sound, very dreamy with great guitar work…this video emphasizes the dreaminess and 1971 time frame. The video would have worked perfectly for me at an old Urbana house party after I’d imbibed a few…
Finding old photos that I’d never seen before. I met a third cousin through my posting of my great great grandmother Farrell’s obituary (it’s on the blogroll.) She had her great grandmother’s old trunk which included two old falling-apart photo albums. She came downtown for a visit, brought the albums, and we poured through them. Lots of 1880s pictures, one that we both agreed was probably our great great grandmother Farrell and one that looked like my bad great grandpa looking dandy in his early 20s. Very exciting.
Breaking through a brick wall, often due to finding a new batch of records. It’s frustrating when you want to go back further, and don’t have the information necessary to do that. My Polish ancestors have been a challenge, which is ironic since they were the last of my ancestors to arrive in the U.S. The later the arrival, the better quality and amount of records available. Irish potato famine ancestors are extremely difficult due to the earliness of their arrival and the 1922 Irish Archive fire, taking nearly all of the Irish census records from the 1800s. By managing to get my great grandmother Pruchnick’s Social Security application from February 1937, I finally got back another generation – she had to list her parent’s names…
Another example, finally found out what happened to my renegade great uncle Lawrence Farrell. My uncle knew he ran off with my great grandfather, but no one ever heard from him ever again. There was a theory that he went to Mexico. I couldn’t find anything after 1917 for him. In a dusty book in the Saint Louis Library which hosts the National Genealogical Society library, too, was a book from a Perry County, Missouri Catholic church listing baptisms, marriages, and burials. A single mention of a Perryville bank account in my great grandfather’s probate papers alerted me to this location. In the book was great uncle Lawrence’s burial information…and I was probably the first Farrell family member to ever visit his grave. That was a big breakthrough…he died at age 43 in 1938 from typhoid fever, alone except for his father.
When everything goes my way. Like for most people, these days don’t happen very often, so when they do, they’re sweet. No lines anywhere, no bottlenecks, no tailgaters, no pokey drivers, continual great songs on the radio, hearing from someone who you haven’t heard from in awhile, no bills in the mail. I love those days.
Well, that’s it for this time. More in the future…
