Yes, on what I wrote last week…… saying I was looking at the bigger picture. Over the weekend and today I’ve been ruminating on the BIGGER picture and trying to get out of my own head a bit…. considering the fundamentals not the economics and conflicting b.s.
Loyalty, love, commitment, perseverance, unity, honour.
Now I feel a little ashamed of myself for having thought otherwise.
don’t look directly at the sun
One of these days I’ll get it right; one day at a time.
Tedeschi Trucks Band - Revelator
I borrowed this from the library about a week ago and it has scarcely been off the CD player. There is a rare, fine quality to Susan Tedeschi’s voice that really appeals to my ears. Combining those talents with those of her husband, Derek Trucks on lead guitar, and the fine band they’ve assembled is brilliant music making at it’s finest. Great song writing, wonderful playing, terrific production values all anchored by THAT VOICE.
http://www.tedeschitrucksband.com/
Lemme see…. fave tracks…. Okay, the lead off track – “Come See About Me’, then “Bound For Glory’, and ‘Until You Remember’, ‘These Walls’, & ‘Learn How To Love’. So that’s 5 tracks out of 12 that are faves and I could have substituted another 3 for any of these so I’d say that’s a pretty strong album.
Buy this album and go see them if they tour nearby!
… with a thud.
Showing offWhat'dya mean I've changed?
Yes, so… a little catching up. We had nice summery weather over the Thanksgiving weekend – a beautiful run of temps in the high 20’s which I think set some records around here. It deteriorated come Tuesday and it rained for most of the rest of the week. Gotta take the bad once you’ve enjoyed the good I suppose. Now it has gotten lots cooler – around 7C at night and daytime highs of just 12 or 14C.
That puts Lynda and I at situation normal for the fall and winter months already. She continues in perma-hot-flash mode and complaining that she’s still too hot or reveling in the coolness. I’m chilled all the time and can’t get my hands and feet warm; already layering up and dreading the real cold weather to come.
Back on the TG weekend I saw my next oldest brother Dave and his wife Deb. Dave I see fairly regularly but I hadn’t seen Deb for 2 or 3 years. Good to catch up. Unfortunately it was at a memorial service for her father.
This past weekend our eldest brother passed through town to visit Mom so we slid over there to catch up with them before they take off south for the winter. Hadn’t seen Gord and Roberta for at least 2 years. Sucks that we’re all so spread out at points all over the map.
Had a bit of a shocker from Mom last week, too. She’s intending to sell her condo and move in with sister Linda and her new hubby Mike. They’ve got an agent searching for someplace suitable and have listed the condo.
Stepson #3 is moving his chip truck at the end of the week to a location closer to his home. Walking distance – YAY!!!! That means I won’t have to get up each morning and drive him to work = more time between the sheets for me!!!! Guess what Kel? Poutine has been his top seller through this season; closely followed by his ‘peameal bacon on a kaiser’ slathered with molten cheese.
Me? I’m working on my head space which hasn’t been great lately. I was glad to get that trip out to see my kids and their families but it made me realize how much I miss having them around on a regular basis. Trying to make the best of my work situation too and sort out finances. Lots to do; lots to stay on top of. I’ll see which way the wind blows me.
**Note** I thought this had posted the other day but just found it in ‘drafts’. Looks like it dropped one of the photos too. Oh well – here tis anyway, as is.
Emotion & Commotion
Jeff Beck kicked off his latest North American tour the other night in Halifax, N.S. to rave reviews. He plays tomorrow night at Massey Hall in Toronto. I’m trying to reconcile myself to the fact I won’t be there; without a whole lot of success.
The Emotion is Desire; the Commotion is Frustration.
I’m really off my game not spending much time at the computer for so long else I’d have been on top of this and not finding out last minute. As chance would have it I had the opportunity to re-listen to the above pictured album (hadn’t for a while) back on Friday night and once again it knocked me flat with its virtuosity. What a piece of work!!
And, you know, kudos to Jeff cuz he’ has really worked hard these last few years – recording a couple of fine CDs and DVDs, touring extensively and organizing a couple of big tribute shows. Any time you see him he’s up and energetic and having fun. No spring chicken at 67.
This is a video from his Les Paul tribute concert – ‘How High The Moon’, with Imelda May on vocals.
It looks like I’ll have a bit of time on my hands this week so I might just slash off a couple of posts. (Especially if it continues with this sodded rain…. it is now Sunday night; it’s been raining since Friday evening and is supposed to continue until Wednesday.)
Anyway, this won’t be the ‘big’ reading post I promised to do some time ago. No, I just thought I’d show the strange range of books I keep on the go at any one time. Way, way over HERE at one end of the range is Stephen Hawking’s ‘Brief History of Time’. Having read Bill Bryson’s ‘A Brief History of Nearly Everything’ a few months ago my appetite had been whetted for more science. Bryson’s book fascinated me as he lead the way through the developement of the modern sciences. Hawking’s book is surprisingly accessible and readable considering the concepts he is conveying. (My concept of time must be a little warped because I find it hard to believe this book has been out for over 20 years.)
Now, if you look way, way down that-a-way you’ll see Douglas Adams’ second book of his ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ trilogy, ‘Restaurant at the End of The Universe’. This carries on brilliantly with its sardonic, acerbic, compelling spoofing of science fiction literature. It’s a grand farce that stands up well after about 30 years.
The pace of my recent reading has dropped back a few notches so I’m not plowing through 2 or 3 books a week anymore.
Beady-Eyed
This has nothing at all to do with science but what the h*ll, eh? Lately I’ve been listening to this CD again – Aerosmith’s “Honkin’ On Bobo”, which is mostly covers of songs that had inspired the band. All done with verve & muscle. Here’s a live version of ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’. The only science at work here is they make my gas pedal foot heavier, blind me to red traffic lights and make me corner way too fast. The whole album is best listened to real frickin’ loud. nuf sed.
Music: Lately as I’ve been reading the daily papers (Toronto Star, National Post, NYT) I’ve been clipping items from the entertainment pages that contain ‘tinyurls’ which lead either to audio versions of songs or sometimes the opportunity to download them. Mostly I’ve remembered to hang onto them and when I have some time at the computer check them out. It did get me curious about tinyurls as I’ve really been out of the loop for a long time now and know nothing about them (God bless my tech challenged head.). Yesterday I came across a site strictly for songs and you can plug in a song title or artist / group and listen to it or share it via Twitter, Facebook or email. The main site is http://www.tinysong.com/ (We’ll see if it works here…. ahem, lemme see…) http://tinysong.com/rFWZ Ta-Dahhh!!!! This is the Johnny Cash song which accompanies ‘The Johnny Cash Project – an open source compilation of various artists works for an animated video of the song….. found here. (Be patient; it is large and takes a few seconds to load) http://www.thejohnnycashproject.com/. (Scroll down to watch the video.)
A few others – Neil Young’s new one ‘Walk With Me’ produced by Daniel Lanois. Scroll down to video screen. http://www.speakersincode.com/2010/09/jam-of-day-neil-young-walk-with-me.html
New one by The Cars – ‘Blue Tip’ http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=445115559565
The Decemberists – ‘The King is Dead’ video preview http://www.decemberists.com/
Tired Pony – The Place We Ran From – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC68mAQYstE
(These are the pages which the tiny urls took me to.)
Words: So, since last time around I have read…
actually reread both Jeannette Walls ‘Glass Castles’ and Malachy McCourt’s ‘A Monk Swimming: a Memoir’.
A powerful memoir by David Sheff titled ‘Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction’. I have his son’s book on hold at the library which covers the same ground from his point of view… Nic Sheff – ‘Tweak’.
Bill Bryson’s ‘Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid; a memoir’. I have a couple of his others on hold too…. ‘A History of Nearly Everything’ and; ‘At Home’.
I don’t typically read many novels but I was glad I bought this one at the library’s sale, ‘The Secret Lives of Bees’ by Sue Monk Kidd. Beautifully written… transporting.
A collection of Shel Silverstein’s poetry called ‘Light in the Attic’ which was as entertaining for his illustrastions as his words. (Also bought at the sale – a steal at $2) On the same trip I found a tribute album of Shel’s songs performed posthumously by a variety of artists, including Kris Kristofferson, John Price, Nanci Griffith and Lucinda Williams. It is called ‘Twistable, Turnable Man- A Musical Tribute To The Songs Of Shel Silverstein’.
I’m currently reading a mystery by Harlan Coben which helps pass the time until I make it back to said library.
Other news – Cousin BJ and I will see one another at the end of the month for the first time in 2 to 3 years. The occasion is a celebration for her father (my late father’s eldest brother) who is turning 90 years young. So, barring any screw ups in my work schedule we should get some face time.
Other, other news – Looks like (same proviso) long time blog friend Kel and I may have a face-to-face meeting along toward New Years. She and her hubby are celebrating Xmas on this side of the Pacific and doing a bit of a road tour which will bring them past our front door. This is one of those ‘once in a lifetime opps’, so count me in.
Must get on with the day, accomplish something, have a nap and then off to work for the night. Bye.
A couple of nights working; now a couple of days off. I finally made up my mind to take the severance package so I’m no longer associated with the rehab centre. Guess I’ll finally have to update my profile page here, huh? Last night my A.A. home group was responsible for putting on a meeting at another groups meeting place (a thing called Interchange) and I decided I was ready to speak. Previously I hadn’t felt emotional, mentally or spiritually stable enough to get up and do that. It went off pretty well with a number of people coming to me afterward to talk about what I had to say, including one previous client from ‘the house’ who has been out on another booze and coke run. Anyway, I only choked up once which I thought was pretty good considering circumstances lately.
Other A.A. stuff – my term as chair for our district meetings ends at years end. It’s been a good two years, service-wise. I was elected to a committee chair position which will be lighter duty – another 2 year post. (Spirit of rotation so you don’t have the same crew running things and everyone has a chance to get involved.)
Musical interlude from the ‘Crazy Heart’ soundtrack – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zelvaxvTaUk
Lots to do today once it warms up a little . The trees around here are about 75% bare so I have about a kazillion leaves to bag up before garbage day tomorrow. Shopping to do. Lynda and I are taking Mom out for dinner tonight.
More music? Roseanne Cash’s “September When It Comes”. Duet with Johnny the year before he died. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oqqzwcJwMk
Finished reading Alice Munro’s “Hateship, Friendshhip, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage” and thought it to be very good. Got about 3/4 of the way through George Carlin’s autobiography ‘Last Words’, which was finished posthumously for him by Tony Hendra. You get a good picture of the things that drove his success and his ways of thinking about comedy as a way of confronting society’s foibles. I came across a book of Shel Silverstein’s so that is next up. He’s always struck me as being a bit ‘out there’ so we’ll see how it goes. Should be fun.
A little crooning by Bryan Ferry from his latest “Olympia”…. scroll down and hit play. http://stereogum.com/543642/bryan-ferry-song-to-the-siren-feat-jonny-greenwood-david-gilmour-roxy-music-stereogum-premiere/mp3s/
Would any post be complete without a photo. Some have seen this one before as it was taken at the rehearsal for the wedding in Calgary there about 7 or 8 weeks ago. I like the lighting of the space.
Pause
….. and certainly a welcome, surprising one. Without divulging a great many details let me just say a certain long-time online friend singled me out for a wonderful gift; one which I am unlikely to be able to repay anytime soon. It will require some time, thought, effort, commitment and energy on my part in order to fully benefit from this gift. Without even having started to participate in it it has already begun to affect me – it’s really a ‘feel good’ place to be right now; connected, excited, anticipating the process, learning and growing… some creative stretching. Aaahhh!
What did I ever do to deserve such grace??
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I haven’t been around here much so you might be wondering what exactly I’ve been up to. Well, hours and hours spent at the computer drumming up new sites to search for work and covering off all my usual ones for updates. Normally 2 hours each morning and afternoon. Lots of running around town on errands – yesterday I ran into a few A.A. guys I know and spent a half hour visiting with them before carrying on with my day. I’ve been hitting some meeting places that I don’t normally go to or have never been to before.
I wrote awhile ago about the impacts of ongoing stress on health and associated perceptions regarding health. Turns out some of my imaginings weren’t phantom symptoms after all – I finally went to the Dr to get checked out and I have a pending referral for a specialist and some tests. AHA!! It wasn’t all in my mind like I thought.
totototototototototototototototototototototototototototototototototototo
At the local Goodwill shop I picked up a book that looked promising as it won the Giller Prize – Elizabeth Hay’s ‘Late Nights On Air’. I’m about 80 pages into it and thoroughly enjoying it.
Yesterday as I worked around the house I kept the music system cranking out a variety of music. I started out with Glenn Gould’s 1955 recording of J.S.Bach’s ‘Goldberg Variations’. I’m not really a big classical music fan but I feel like a dose of it every once in awhile. This is supposed to be the definitive recording of this peice.
From there I went to one I borrowed from the library – a compilation album from Allison Moorer’s career in country music. (AKA – Mrs. Steve Earle… now) A beautiful, talented singer / songwriter – good stuff.
Then it was on to George Harrison’s posthumous release ‘Brainwashed’. I love how the spirit of the man comes through in his recordings; especially on ‘Rising Sun’ and ‘Marwa Blues’.
From the soundtrack of ‘Cold Mountain’ I enjoyed a rich dose of bluegrass / early American music / and blues. If I had to pick a favorite it would be Alison Krauss’ haunting rendition of ‘The Scarlet Tide’; written by Elvis Costello and T-Bone Burnett.
… on and on it went…. the ‘Unplugged Collection’, some Jeff Beck, yadda, yadda…
Which reminds me…. Beck and Clapton are playing here in a couple of weeks and I will miss them due to financial constraints. Aaarrrggghhhh!!!! What a show to see; such a show to MISS!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ej3BdMpgZw for your aural enjoyment.
Anyway, must go and DO. Peace out.
time standing still
…. and my problems. So sorry folks – I haven’t exactly been ‘on’ this week what with complaining about back pain, insomnia and fatigue. Sometimes life can get on the sucky side…… but all this too shall pass, eventually.
Shazzam!! Flipside of that is I have things to be grateful for, like:
I was up early this afternoon and got some things done and out of the way, then decided to take it easy and maybe snooze through a movie. Surfing the channels I found a show I actually wanted to see – a rarity in itself – the documentary ‘Johnny Cash’s America’. (2007) It was terrific and I think every / any one would find aspects about it they’d enjoy whether they’re a fan of Cash and his music or not. Lots of historic footage, interviews with family, fellow musicians and songwriters – it managed to give a full picture of the man during it’s 2 hour length. I was especially happy they spent about 15 minutes on the series of sessions he did with Rick Rubin producing for ‘American Recordings’ in the years leading up to Cash’s death. Here is the video that had me on the verge of tears at the end of the show – covering Nine Inch Nails ‘Hurt’.
Once our dogsitter arrived tonight I drove down to check on things at my townhouse. I had to ask my boarder to leave and his time is up at the end of next week. There has been some packing done and some clutter thinned out – a good sign. I’ll have some real gratitude about that whole thing when he has gone and the locks have been changed. Leaving there I headed uptown for a quick visit with Mom before coming to work. She’s happy to be moved, settled and satisfied she made the right decision to give up the house. If she’s happy, I’m happy. I think she made the right move, too – a nice condo in a quiet area.
The weather!?!? Amazing!! We have set a record for the longest period without rain for this time of year because of a big fat high pressure system that has been parked over us for 3 weeks. Beautiful!! It’s just what the farmers needed to finish the growing season after our late, long, cool and wet spring. There has only been a couple of days or nights with short periods of light overcast. It has made for the most excellent star gazing – amazingly clear conditions; no humidity to muddy the view. One of the guys here in tratment loaned me a couple of astronomy magazines he had brought with him; one of which included a sky map for the month. Cool; it’s helping me identify a lot more constellations. Here is a link for the coming week re: celestial events which can be viewed across Canada and the northern US states.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance/59732092.html
It’s been a long week in part because Lynda has worked afternoon shift all week. Later today when I get up we will finally have some face time, T.G. Phone calls and notes just don’t cut it somehow, ya know? Once my work week is done Sunday morning we’ll have the rest of the day after I’ve slept and then attended an A.A. service committee meeting in the early afternoon. Everything is kicking back into gear following the summer down time / break.
I’ll have to get busy again with my camera because this one below is the last one in the media library. It was taken outside the wee country church where we attended the wedding a couple of weeks ago. The bell is inscribed with the donors name and dated 1920.
no way - it's not tolling for me!
Definition according to Websters Dictionary:
1 : a condition of weariness or debility : fatigue
2 : a condition of listlessness : languor
xray; x marks the spot
dimly through the veil; contours
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Unmerited Gifts 