There is a game going around the blogosphere where you post the first 4 lines to the first then everyone tries to guess then song and artist. Here is my version. There are a couple of give aways and a few that are so obscure it realy isn't fair.
1.In a westerly direction this car is my train
I'm driving and I'm wonderin what it is I'm runnin from again
I feel like an eighty year old man but I'm holdin on to twenty nine
And up ahead on that horizon is the California line.
2.Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl,
but she doesn't have a lot to say
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl
but she changes from day to day
3.Don't you feel it growing, day by day
People getting ready for the news
Some are happy, some are sad
Oh, we got to let the music play
4.I've got some pictures
Just some old black and whites
Everything was so simple
Maybe I romanticize
Had to leave these 2 out. Couldn't find the lyrics:
Eric Schwartz Coronation of President Schwartz
Brindle’s Under the Rainbow
5.In my room
On a table by the light
There is a photograph
An old black and white
6.Well, I'm tore down
I'm almost level with the ground
Well, I'm tore down
I'm almost level with the ground
7.My old man never left this town
Except when he went to war
Took a two week vacatioin
Every summer to the shore
8.If I had a magical lamp, with a genie at my command
I'd use my 3 wishes right now, to make you mine
And if I had a harp of gold, like one from the legends old
My songs of love would take, your breath away
9.Mister, can you spare some change for me
I’m a stranger on my own
I know there’s la lot of people out on the street
But now it’s you and me alone
10.My father said some things you learn
By only dong when it come your turn
Everything comes around
So be ready if you can
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
She Cracks Me Up
Rachel Maddow just said that if Wolfowitz were trying to sell a no calorie, bacon flavored arhrodisiac, no one would buy it. That is one of the funniest things I have heard in a long, long time.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
I Could Be a Roadie
I did some recycling today. I loaded up a couple of month's worth of paste board and Reed's Ginger Beer bottles in the back of my Outback. I got the two printers that had gone bottoms up at the same time and put them in the back seat and headed out.
My first stop was at Axcess Technologies. It is in a business/warehouse complex that was on my way downtown. You just pull up behind the building and drop your stuff off where ever you see a where someone else has left theirs. There were a couple of monitors on the back steps so I figured my printers could keep them company.
Next I went to Ecology in Action at the corner of 9th Street and I 35. Since I was in the recycling mood anyway, I decided to go by Ten Thousand Villages and pick up a load for them. The manager had called me Tuesday and asked me to make a run for them because they were about to get a big shipment on Wednesday and had a hallway full of boxes and paper already. I couldn't get there until Tuesday afternoon. By then, they had put it all out on the sidewalk because the shipment had arrived early. I loaded as much of it as I could but didn't want to make a second trip in the almost rush hour traffic. One of the managers took some of the rest when she headed home. I knew that they would be buried in boxes and paper again so I thought I'd help out.
We started with the biggest boxes which had been broken down and flattened. These lie flat in the back of my car when I fold down the back seat. We stacked them up almost as high as the back of the front seat before we added a couple of boxes full of smaller boxes, one just inside the back door behind the passenger seat and the other in the front passenger seat. Next, we cram a couple of lawn and leaf sized trash bags full of paper on top of and around the boxes. The other volunteer who was there was amazed that I was able to get so much in my car. It takes a little planning,but if you look at things in the right way, you can almost always pack more than if you just start throwing things in.
As I was stacking boxes into my car and making decisions in the back room as to which ones had to go first, I realized that I have been organizing and loading stuff as long as I remember. When I was growing up, my family went on long camping vacations almost every summer. A couple of times, my dad took the back seat out of a '59 Chevy and he and my mom packed almost everything behind the front seat then piled bedding on top of it all and covered it with a quilt. This build up a platform that was about a foot shorter than the back of the front seat. My brother and I would ride back there and be able to see out the windows and not miss a thing. It was also good for napping when we were little.
Later on, we had this little trailer that I painted white with red trim. My dad would put a top on it and caulk around the edges to keep it dry. Our tent, army surplus cots and mattresses along with our kitchen stuff went in there. Suit cases full of clothes and the ice chest went in the trunk. By the time I was 12 or 13, I was mostly in charge of loading the trailer. When we pulled up to a campsite, everyone went into motion. Dad would get out the kitchen stuff and set it up so Mom could start supper while my brother and I set up the tent and put the beds together. We had this down to an art by the second night out.
This is pretty much how my roadie skills were developed but I haven't stopped. One time in the 70's I loaded a pair of congas and most of a trap set into a Vega (yeah, I've been hanging out with musicians that long) but that was nothing compared to all the years I traveled with babies. I had twins when my oldest was almost 5 and the middle child was not quite 2. That was some heavy diaper bag.
It's a good day when you discover a skill that you have had forever and did not realize you were good at it.
Soundtrack for this post: Jackson Brown, The Load Out
My first stop was at Axcess Technologies. It is in a business/warehouse complex that was on my way downtown. You just pull up behind the building and drop your stuff off where ever you see a where someone else has left theirs. There were a couple of monitors on the back steps so I figured my printers could keep them company.
Next I went to Ecology in Action at the corner of 9th Street and I 35. Since I was in the recycling mood anyway, I decided to go by Ten Thousand Villages and pick up a load for them. The manager had called me Tuesday and asked me to make a run for them because they were about to get a big shipment on Wednesday and had a hallway full of boxes and paper already. I couldn't get there until Tuesday afternoon. By then, they had put it all out on the sidewalk because the shipment had arrived early. I loaded as much of it as I could but didn't want to make a second trip in the almost rush hour traffic. One of the managers took some of the rest when she headed home. I knew that they would be buried in boxes and paper again so I thought I'd help out.
We started with the biggest boxes which had been broken down and flattened. These lie flat in the back of my car when I fold down the back seat. We stacked them up almost as high as the back of the front seat before we added a couple of boxes full of smaller boxes, one just inside the back door behind the passenger seat and the other in the front passenger seat. Next, we cram a couple of lawn and leaf sized trash bags full of paper on top of and around the boxes. The other volunteer who was there was amazed that I was able to get so much in my car. It takes a little planning,but if you look at things in the right way, you can almost always pack more than if you just start throwing things in.
As I was stacking boxes into my car and making decisions in the back room as to which ones had to go first, I realized that I have been organizing and loading stuff as long as I remember. When I was growing up, my family went on long camping vacations almost every summer. A couple of times, my dad took the back seat out of a '59 Chevy and he and my mom packed almost everything behind the front seat then piled bedding on top of it all and covered it with a quilt. This build up a platform that was about a foot shorter than the back of the front seat. My brother and I would ride back there and be able to see out the windows and not miss a thing. It was also good for napping when we were little.
Later on, we had this little trailer that I painted white with red trim. My dad would put a top on it and caulk around the edges to keep it dry. Our tent, army surplus cots and mattresses along with our kitchen stuff went in there. Suit cases full of clothes and the ice chest went in the trunk. By the time I was 12 or 13, I was mostly in charge of loading the trailer. When we pulled up to a campsite, everyone went into motion. Dad would get out the kitchen stuff and set it up so Mom could start supper while my brother and I set up the tent and put the beds together. We had this down to an art by the second night out.
This is pretty much how my roadie skills were developed but I haven't stopped. One time in the 70's I loaded a pair of congas and most of a trap set into a Vega (yeah, I've been hanging out with musicians that long) but that was nothing compared to all the years I traveled with babies. I had twins when my oldest was almost 5 and the middle child was not quite 2. That was some heavy diaper bag.
It's a good day when you discover a skill that you have had forever and did not realize you were good at it.
Soundtrack for this post: Jackson Brown, The Load Out
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Dinner Party
Seven friends, beautiful equinox weather, candle lit conversation that went on well after dark....and of course, lots of food and weirdly named wine. A magical experience here on the 30th parallel. We have so little fall weather that we appreciate it very much. The high yesterday was about 90 degrees but by 5:30 or so, it was about 80 to 85 in my backyard.
We started with the Bitch wine with appetizers. I don't necessarily buy wine based on its name or label. I did, however, buy my first bottle of Bitch wine as a gag gift. It turns out that this grenache is a great wine for about $10 to $11. It got its name because wine makers sometimes
say that the grape is a bitch to grow and the wine is a bitch to make. This is a light tasting red wine that goes with so many different foods that it could have been called Slut. It is pretty good by itself, too.Dinner began with a fresh green salad. The entrée was eggplant stacks consisting of slices of eggplant which I lightly sautéed before layering them with homemade ricotta mixed with Parmesan and fresh basil and oregano. I put these in a baking dish and baked them at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes before pouring a marinara sauce over them and topping each one with a slice of homemade mozzarella. Then I returned them to the oven for a few minutes to let the sauce get warm and the mozarella melt. A side of linguine in a butter/olive oil sauce with garlic, a few pine nuts and some colorful bell peppers completed the main course.
The wine was Vampire Pinot Noir. Stephen's sister owns a kitchen store in Brevard, NC. She and her husband also sell wine. We had this wine a couple of years ago when we were there in October. It comes from Transylvania and Brevard is in Transylvania County. They always get some and have a tasting near Halloween. It is a lovely wine. They would not sell if it weren't good. It goes wonderfully with tomato-based sauces. It holds its own and doesn't clash with the acidity.
Dessert was an apple streusel made with Medina apples and generously laced with calvados topped with Amy's sweet cream ice cream.
Another feature of this dinner was that most of the ingredients were local. I used a jarred sauce and, of course, the pasta and wine were not local. Almost everything else came from the farmer's market or was made here in town. The milk for the cheeses most likely came from near Waco. The farthest it would have come from would have been Hopkins County which is about six hours away. The apples are from about three hours away and Amy's is a local ice cream shop that is so good that we have decided not to buy our own ice cream maker.
The guests included a couple I met through blogging, another couple who are musicians, artists and authors, and one of my best hippy girlfriends. An eclectic and wonderful mix.
Thanks to Konagod for the photos. Here is the one from Cooking Light magazine that was the inspiration for this alfresco dinner.
Soundtrack for this post: Laura Nyro's Stoned Sould Picnic
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Alaska Rally
There was a rally in Alaska the other day. It seems that there are some folks up there who want the rest of us to know that they aren't proud of their governor. I have purposefully avoided political posts but when I received these photos in an email, I decided they were too good to keep to myself.
The Seance
On a family camping trip to the beautiful eastern Oklahoma hills when I was a teenager, my brother and I met some other kids who were at the campground for a family reunion. The older kids had been charged with looking out for the younger ones and I guess they were getting pretty tired of it.
There was a covered ‘pavilion’ in the campground. It was really just a large rectangular affair with poles on the sides holding a roof over a concrete slab. It did have electricity and a lone light bulb hung down in the center of it. One of the boys was tall enough to easily reach this fixture.
We arranged benches in a circle in the center of the shelter and filled them up with kids of all ages. It was dark by then and we decided to have a séance. The oldest boy stood in the middle of the circle and announced that since we had to try to contact a spirit that we would all be familiar with, we would all concentrate on John F. Kennedy. (This was in 1967 or ’68 so even the younger kids knew who he was.)
Tall Boy instructed everyone to be very quiet and think about JFK. He kept telling us that if we all thought hard enough, the spirit would make contact with us. Everyone got really quiet. You could hear crickets chirping and night birds calling but under the roof of the pavilion, not a sound was being made. Tall boy reached up to unscrew the light bulb which he had loosened earlier. Just as he touched it, it shorted out, creating a bright flash before going completely dark.
Kids screamed bloody murder and knocked over the benches in the their haste to escape. We older kids laughed so hard that it took us a few minutes to start looking for the little ones. I think little kids were being coaxed out from under cots and tables for the rest of the night. I’m pretty sure that all of them were found eventually.
Soundtrack for this post: Awake Ghost Song by the Doors
There was a covered ‘pavilion’ in the campground. It was really just a large rectangular affair with poles on the sides holding a roof over a concrete slab. It did have electricity and a lone light bulb hung down in the center of it. One of the boys was tall enough to easily reach this fixture.
We arranged benches in a circle in the center of the shelter and filled them up with kids of all ages. It was dark by then and we decided to have a séance. The oldest boy stood in the middle of the circle and announced that since we had to try to contact a spirit that we would all be familiar with, we would all concentrate on John F. Kennedy. (This was in 1967 or ’68 so even the younger kids knew who he was.)
Tall Boy instructed everyone to be very quiet and think about JFK. He kept telling us that if we all thought hard enough, the spirit would make contact with us. Everyone got really quiet. You could hear crickets chirping and night birds calling but under the roof of the pavilion, not a sound was being made. Tall boy reached up to unscrew the light bulb which he had loosened earlier. Just as he touched it, it shorted out, creating a bright flash before going completely dark.
Kids screamed bloody murder and knocked over the benches in the their haste to escape. We older kids laughed so hard that it took us a few minutes to start looking for the little ones. I think little kids were being coaxed out from under cots and tables for the rest of the night. I’m pretty sure that all of them were found eventually.
Soundtrack for this post: Awake Ghost Song by the Doors
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