End of August Summer Thoughts

 Around mid-August, I start thinking about whether I did any summer things. While I was thinking about mid-August, it became late August. I keep thinking about this this song. 

I didn't bother to make a summer fun list this year. But I was thinking of my past lists last week when I ordered a lobster roll (the Connecticut version with hot butter.) Lobster rolls are relatively rare on Maryland menus. I should also make a mojito salad--that also means summer to me. 

Yesterday I went swimming in our condo pool for the first time. What the hell was I waiting for? It felt great to get back in the water even if it was only for a short time. I was inspired by a neighbor who told me the pool will close on Labor Day. I need to get more swimming in. 

Jeff and I have plans for a getaway for our anniversary. We're going to Ocean City, Maryland for the first time. We have a room with an ocean view and balcony. It will be a nice way to close out the summer. 

Concert at the Pool

On Tuesday night, our condominium hosted the first of three summer concerts in the parking lot by our pool. There was a food truck (I tried crab cake eggrolls) a lemonade stand, and a cornhole game (featuring the Ravens logo.) The weather was perfect.

At first I thought the singer/guitarist was meh. He grew on me as he played more songs I liked later in the program. He played an eclectic selection ranging from Lionel Richie to Johnny Cash to the Who and Led Zeppelin. I was intrigued when he played Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash and then Pinball Wizard by the Who to the exact same music. 

After the concert, I asked how he came up with that. He credited another singer whose name he didn't remember.

Intriguing. 

Three Birthday Lunches and a Sun-shower

In the last eight days, I've been on three birthday lunches. The first was with Jeff, his sister and her husband. We went to Rive Bistro, a restaurant I've been meaning to visit for a long time. 

Next, it was Jeff and me. We went to the Goose. Today my brother and his girlfriend took us to Sedona Tap House.. 

I could get used to this. But alas, a birthday is just once a year.  

Although I enjoyed our meal at the Goose, I was very disappointed on my birthday. It was also Jace's birthday. Okay, we don't know his real birthday. I learned from asking about Lola's birthday that when stray dogs are taken to a vet, the day of the visit becomes the birthday. We picked a date for Lola's birthday. We liked that Jace and I had the same bday. 

It was cold and damp on our birthday with temperatures topping out around 52. I had hoped for a warm day when we could eat outside. Well, we didn't get out with Jace then, so we owe him a restaurant meal. 

We finally saw some sun today. In fact, when I took Jace out this afternoon, we walked in a sun-shower. I sang parts of this song. I love sun-showers, but it's odd to find them after a nor'easter. But the weather is screwed now. At least there are no sharnados ...yet. 

Book Sale Bonanza

This weekend both the Wilton Library and the Westport Library held book sales. Cynthia and I went to both. Having two book sales in one weekend was a first for us. 

Here are my purchases: 

CDs:

1. Sly and the Family Stone Greatest Hits. I used to have this as an album.

2. Joe Jackson Look Sharp. 

Books:

1. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. I picked this up for a great niece.

2. White Fire by Preston & Child. This is one of my favorite Preston & Child books. I bought a hard cover to replace my paperback.

3. Educated by Tara Westover. This is a memoir by a women who grew up with her survivalist parents, but left to learn about the outside world. 

4. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Bette Smith. This is a classic coming-of-age story. I passed it by at an earlier book sale, but made sure to get it this time. 

5. The Entertainment Weekly Seinfeld Companion by Bruce Fretts. This is just for fun; I'm going to give it to my brother.

6. Go Dog, Go! Another for a great niece.

7. Love & Other Crimes by Sara Paretsky. This collection of 14 short stories includes VI Warshawski as a ten-year-old conducting her first investigation.

8. The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr. This is a sequel to The Alienist, which I recently read and liked.

9. Five Points The 19th-Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, and Became the World's Most Notorious Slum by Tyler Anbinder. I've read several books that featured that infamous neighborhood, so I'm looking forward to reading a historical approach.

10. The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory. This is the story of Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII, and arguably the creator of the Tudor dynasty.

11. The White Princess by Philippa Gregory. The White Princess is Elizabeth of York daughter of King Edward IV and his wife Elizabeth Woodville. She married Henry VII and became the first Tudor queen.

A note on books 10 and 11: I don't respect Gregory as an historian, but I will enjoy these stories. 

I've got a lot of reading to do. 

A Friday in a Life

I started the day in a bad mood. I didn't sleep well Thursday night and overslept. By the time I washed up and dressed, it was 9. I took Jace for a 40 minute walk, had coffee and breakfast, and headed to the gym. Oops. My tire pressure light came on. I thought about driving to Town Fair Tire (two shopping centers past the gym) but then I looked at the tire. Flat.

Roadside assistance took about an hour to arrive. I did a New York Times crossword and started to clean the bathroom as I waited. By the time the tire was fixed, it was lunchtime. I had lunch, finished cleaning the bathroom, and walked Jake. We saw the mean cat on Truman Street lying under a car. When Jace started barking, he got up, took a few steps towards us, and stared at us. I hurried Jace down the block and around the corner. It may seem silly to be intimidated by a cat, but when we saw him before, he swiped at Jace and followed us down the block. I figured a close encounter wouldn't do any of us any good. 

When I got into the car to go to the gym, the tire pressure light was on. So I headed to Town Fair Tire. My morning's plug repair wasn't done correctly. A mechanic made sure my sensors were working correctly, and another filled the tire with air. I have to return Monday to have the tire repaired properly. This time, the quick fix/short cut didn't work. I should know better.

I finally made it to the gym and worked out for a half hour as planned--my fourth visit this week. Back home, I showered and washed my hair and walked Jace. Jeff and I enjoyed a Friday cocktail (gin and lemon elderflower soda.) I made dinner: mac and cheese with pork sausage, asparagus with garlic and parmesan, and sliced tomato. (I had planned to make chicken Milanese but went an easier route.) We watched the Mets lose again (their fourth in a row) and listened to various songs on Youtube. 

I was happy that I didn't let my tire problems ruin my day, despite getting off to a bad start. There's hope for me yet. 

Thursday Thoughts

I recently mentioned that I've been experimenting with the timing and frequency of Jace's walks. Today we drove down to the newish Norwalk River Valley Trail parking lot on Riverside Avenue and walked from there. We could have walked from home, but the last leg coming up Maple Street is tough. I didn't want to deal with Jace needing a rest there. 

I won't go back there anytime soon. I took a dozen ticks off Jace--some on site and some later at home. Yes, I can try to keep him out of plants along the path, but that goes against all his instincts. I'm better off selecting another route. Hmm, I haven't noticed the same tick problem on other parts of the trail. 

I feel guilty complaining about three weeks of high humidity in this crazy weather summer, when others are dealing with much worse. But it's exhausting. I'm trying to strategically cook things to avoid heating up the kitchen more; it never really cools down in the summer. 

I've been waking up in the early morning hours--it can be tough to get back to sleep until it's magically 6:30 AM (time of the alarm.) Why do I still set an alarm? Hopefully, I can sleep through the night tonight.

I often have song lyrics running through my head. Recently, it's been this song since I watched  Monterey Pop. It's a beautiful song and the harmonies are fantastic. I had forgotten how good the Mamas and the Papas were.

Here Comes the Sun

and I say it's alright.

We've had six dreary, chilly, damp, sometime rainy days. I don't think I've seen or felt the sun during that time.

Finally, a break--sunny today with temps warming to the 70s. We have one more day of this before going back to normal--a nice interlude. 

Jace and I went on two long walks. He looked so happy as we walked around Oyster Shell Park. Tomorrow we're meeting friends at Taylor Farm dog park. Anyway, while I was enjoying the sun, I got thinking about sun songs.

Here Comes the Sun, I'll Follow the Sun, and Good Day Sunshine--all by the Beatles

Sunny--Bobby Hebb

Sunshine of Your Love--Cream

Good Day Starshine---Oliver (close enough)

Ain't No Sunshine--Bill Withers

Sunrise--Simply Red

Soak Up the Sun--Sheryl Crow

Sunny Side of the Street--Ted Lewis (?)

You are my Sunshine--Paul Rice (?)

House of the Rising Sun--Animals

Sunshine Superman--Donovan

Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me--Elton John

Walking on Sunshine--Katrina and the Waves

And the Sun Will Shine--Bee Gees

Sunshine on my Shoulder--John Denver

I had a little help with Google, but only listed songs that I know. 

A Weekend of Nature, Art, Music, and Cocktails

There were so many things to do this past weekend, I couldn't do them all. In the previous month, I only had one listing in my engagement calendar (I sound like someone out of a Jane Austen novel.) 

First I went to an Earth Day celebration at the New Canaan Nature Center. I showed my friend the birds that I help care for (more on that in a future post.) We spoke with people from the garden club, Conservation Commission, a bird of prey rescue and rehabilitation group, and a beekeeper. We also listened to music from School of Rock. We watched the release of a red tail hawk. Unfortunately, two other nearby red tail hawks weren't very friendly. Luckily, the released bird wasn't hurt. 

Our next stop was the open studios at Wilson Avenue Loft Artists. We saw works of about a dozen artists and talked to some of them.

On Sunday, Jeff and I went to the Hempening at Sono 1420. We had cocktails and tacos, and listened to music by Residual Groove. It was sad when the bartender asked about Lola--we had always taken her with before.

All-in-all, a nice spring weekend.

Musical Musings: Blue

The New York Times has this great article on Joni Mitchell's Blue with comments from 25 musicians on the groundbreaking album on its 50th anniversary. It's a fascinating read.

My first Joni album was Court and Spark which came out in 1974. Just Like This Train remains one of my favorite songs. 

I did get Blue later--there are so many wonderful songs on that album. I appreciated them, even if I didn't understand Joni's musical innovations.  

I saw Joni once in concert for her Both Sides Now tour. She included A Case of You from Blue as part of her set. 

Paul Simon was the first singer-songwriter whose work played a big part in my life. Then it was Joni Mitchell. Her lyrics flow throw my mind often. 

I just got out my Blue CD to listen to again.

Another (Fictional) Music Memory

One of the things I like about shopping at Shop Rite is the music it plays--many songs of the sixties and seventies. Yesterday I heard "We've Gotta Get You a Woman" by Todd Rundgren. Okay, I hate the line, "they may be stupid but they sure are fun" but otherwise I like the song.

As I was walking out the door, I heard the beginning of "Boogie, Oogie, Oogie" and immediately thought of this scene from the soap One Life to Live. I forgot some of the bad dancing (Rex in the gold hat) but remembered Antonio and Jessica dancing while Nash glared--after all he was in love with Jess's alternate personality Tess. I woke up thinking about the scene.

It's bad enough to have a music memory about iconic fictional characters, it's another to have such strong memories of a random scene. My memory needs to rethink its priorities.

RIP Bill Withers

Just heard the bad news today.

I first heard of Bill Withers when he recorded "Ain't No Sunshine." I loved that song. My other favorites of Bill's were "Use Me" and "Lovely Day." I often think of the latter song on nice walks.

I need to listen to his song "It's All Over Now" that he recorded with Bobby Womack whom we lost six years ago.

Love Songs of the 1960's

Jeff and I went to a concert at the Norwalk Library last night. I was interested because I heard Jim Clark at another event at the library. I wasn't familiar with the other musicians.

Here are the songs I remember: My Guy, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?, It's My Party, Blowing in the Wind, And I Love Her, Wouldn't It Be Nice?, Stop in the Name of Love, Scarborough Fair/Afro Blue, I'll Never Fall in Love Again, The Look of Love, I Say a Little Prayer, and What the World Needs Now. 

I really liked the idea of the program, and I liked all these songs, but I thought there were other songs that would have been better choices than My Guy, It's My Party, Stop in the Name of Love, I Say a Little Prayer, and I'll Never Fall in Love Again. 

I think As Tears Go By or Time is on My Side by the Rolling Stones, Because by the Dave Clark Five, You Really Got a Hold on Me by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Can't Help Myself  by the Four Tops, and Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell/Judy Collins would have been better. Four Burt Bacharach songs were too much.

Oh well, no one put me in charge.

Pride in the Park

I was supposed to proctor on Saturday, but the test was canceled. Because I didn't get 24 hours notice, I got paid anyway. Works for me.

Jeff, Lola, and I walked to Mathews Park for the Pride celebration. We checked out exhibits but weren't happy with the food truck selection. We walked over to Sedona Tap House for sliders, fries, and stuffed jalapenos. Back to Mathews. We sat on the grass, had beers, listened to music, and met Prince.

On the way home we walked an extra block down the NRVT. Then we walked to Wall Street, thinking about Bar Sugo. Banc House was the only open restaurant with outdoor seating. There was even a band. Unfortunately Banc House isn't dog friendly. 

Lola needed a rest before heading back home. A hill is the last step. She conked out when we returned home.

Another good Saturday walking. 

Happy Birthday Joni Mitchell

I was driving home from the gym today and heard four Joni Mitchell songs (at least parts of four) on the radio: Carey, The Jungle Line, Ladies of the Canyon, and one of my favorites to sing The Dry Cleaner of Des Moines. As I arrived home, the announcer mentioned it was Joni's 75th birthday, then played Prince's cover of A Case of You. 

I don't remember when I first discovered Joni; I know the first album of hers that I bought was Court and Spark. Just Like This Train remains a favorite of mine. I later bought several more albums. I saw her in concert once during the Both Sides Now tour on my birthday.

Here's to a wonderful day for Joni.

Sometimes The Show Shouldn't Go On

I heard today the Neil Diamond was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. He canceled his concert dates in Australia and New Zealand.

I couldn't help but think about Tom Petty, who continued to tour with a fractured hip among other ailments. I doubt he made a calculated decision to risk death rather than miss a few concert dates.

I wish he had thought to take care of himself first.

Neil made the right decision.

RIP Tom Petty

After a day of confused and conflicting reports, it became official Monday night: Tom Petty is dead at 66.

For most of yesterday, I had "American Girl" running through my head. Later it was "Free Fallin." Funny how my favorite Tom Petty song, "The Waiting" didn't make an appearance.

This morning I woke up thinking about the song, "You Got Lucky."

No, we didn't.

An August Saturday

 About a month ago, I saw a listing for the Blackberry Festival at the White Silo Winery. We've visited many times before and enjoyed the fruit wine. We returned last Saturday.

Before we went to the Winery, we walked the Still River Greenway. I had read about it here in The New York Times shortly after I saw the notice about the Festival. It seemed like a good idea to combine the two.

On the drive up, we hit a detour, so it took us an extra 20 minutes or so to make the 45 minute ride. Lola was thrilled to get out of the car.

We started at the end of the trail near the police station; my reasoning was that it would be easier to find the police station than a random parking lot. The downside was that we were close to Route 7 with all the traffic noise. It got quieter as we continued. We saw several people on bikes and a few walkers. We didn't think we had enough time to walk the whole Greenway and make it to the winery. We walked one loop for about 35 minutes.

Dogs are no longer allowed in the tasting room at White Silo, so Lola and I secured a table outside. Jeff went in and got blackberry sangria, chips and hummus, and quinoa cakes with blackberry salsa. Unfortunately for Jeff, the quinoa cakes had cilantro in them--he's allergic--so Lola and I split them. As we ate and drank, we listened to singers and guitar players.

On our last visit we found a trail leading from the outdoor patio.

We weren't sure how long the trail was. On Saturday, we agreed to walk for 15 minutes and then return. Here are a few of the sights. 

It was humid and buggy, and a real hike: up an down hills, walking across tree roots, fallen logs and rocks.

We decided to have another glass of wine. Jeff bought a bottle of raspberry wine and had it opened. We took the rest home. We relaxed, listened to more music, but left when Lola got agitated. 

Overall, a nice summer day. 

Live Jazz Night

On Saturday night, Jeff and I went to a jazz show at the Carriage Barn Arts Center in Waveny Park in New Canaan. In addition to the jazz, we saw the current exhibit, and sampled some local spirits and chocolates.

There were a few problems. The venue was too hot; surprisingly that didn't effect me--maybe because I had a cold--but I could see that it bothered Jeff. More importantly, several people just milled around and talked through the entire performance--loudly. I tried to ignore them, but it was hard.

We left a little early because it was hot and I didn't feel well, but enjoyed the music. I expect we'll return to Carriage Barn Arts Center.

Jazz and Poetry

I knew April was National Poetry Month, but I didn't realize it is also National Jazz Appreciation Month. Then I read about "Old as New" a program at the Norwalk Library. Jim Clark, a jazz composer/saxophonist, released a new album and asked Laurel Peterson, Norwalk's Poet Laureate, to collaborate by writing poems in response to his music.

I loved the music.I enjoyed much of the poetry. Most of all I loved the idea of combining jazz and poetry.

It was a lovely way to spend part of a Sunday afternoon.

Since I was at the library, I took out four books to catch up on both the Kinsey Millhone and V.I. Warshawski mystery series.

I need to take a closer look at all the programs at the library.

RIP Chuck Berry

Turned on my pc and saw the news. 

Other, more knowledgeable people have talked (and will continue to talk) about Chuck Berry's musical genius.

On a personal note: I've always loved to sing. I remember singing to family and friends as a little girl. The two songs I remember singing are Mack the Knife and Johnny B. Goode.

There are many great Chuck Berry songs. But to this day, I still feel a rush when I hear Johnny B. Goode.

Thank you Chuck for all the musical memories.