Archive for February 2018
Sing a Traveling Song: Johnny Cash
February 18, 2018Sing a Song: The Carpenters
February 18, 2018
“Talent is useful, but always keep your dagger sharp.”
February 18, 2018The predicted snow stayed north of us. My sister who lives 14 miles from Boston got 5″. We got rain. The rain storm started around eleven and was still going strong at 12:30 when I fell asleep. Today is bright with sun. The blue sky is almost cloudless. The breeze is strong, and the pine branches are swaying and bending enough to make noise. It is a chilly day.
Tonight is game night, and we’ll also celebrate Chinese New Year. One year we did origami and folded the different color papers into dragons and kites and other symbols. I was horrible at it. I thought I had folded the papers just right according to the illustrations, but the finished produces had no resemblance to the pictures of them. It was frustrating, but I knew it would be as I had learned from experience I can put almost anything together by following the word directions and not the picture directions. There’s that old left brain in action.
When I was kid in elementary school, we had art every couple of weeks. It alternated with music. There was no music teacher and there was no art teacher. The teacher or the nun I had did it all. Sister Hildegarde, my eighth grade teacher, had music class more often than once every other week. She had a keyboard which one of my classmates played. She also had pitch pipe which was round and had the keys listed next to the hole to blow. She’d blow the note then start us off with the first line. She sang so badly we had to hide behind our music books so she wouldn’t catch us laughing at her. I think it was also in her class I learned Gregorian chant notes. We even had tests of reading and writing chant.
I don’t remember much about my art classes. The only one I remember is when we made paper mâché puppets. We also had to write a small play and team up with classmates. I made a devil, and it was the best thing I ever created in any art class.
As I grew older, I found out that words strung together in the right way created beauty, a beauty of language which conjured images and memories and feelings. It was my talent.
Flash: Queen
February 17, 2018
Alley Oop: The Hollywood Argyles
February 17, 2018
Sunshine Superman: Donovan
February 17, 2018
Johnny Thunder: The Kinks
February 17, 2018
“Is the spring coming?” he said. “What is it like?”… “It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine…”
February 17, 2018This morning I had a home visit from a woman and her boxer. She was from Boxer Rescue and was checking to make sure both my house and I were perfect for one of their rescue dogs. We are now on the list for a dog. She said puppies were coming from Puerto Rico, and I was going to get one. Her two boxers had also come from Puerto Rico. I had put Maddie in her crate because of the dog but it didn’t lock it so Maddie came sauntering out, looked at the dog and just kept walking. That was perfect. Even Maddie passed the dog test.
Today is a beautiful day with lots of sun. It is a bit chilly but warmer than it has been. I think that winter makes the coming of spring all that more delightful. The first warm days pull us all outside to have a bit of sun on our faces. We exult in the changing of the seasons. About this time of year when I was a kid, I got rid of winter and wore my spring jacket. I never admitted how cold I was.
I finally got to that wash from a few weeks back. I had moved it to the cellar thinking out of sight out of mind, but I couldn’t take it any longer. I needed some off those clothes. It was three full loads with lots of sweatshirts and flannel pants, my stay at home outfits; however, with my bad arm, I couldn’t move anything upstairs. All that laundry is sitting in the basket in the cellar. I’ll ask Leandro, half of my cleaning couple, to bring it upstairs when he comes on Thursday. Until then, the cellar will be the annex for my closet and bureau, and I’ll got down and pick from the pile.
When I only had a little money, I used to buy comic books at the 5&10 or at the drug store. Each had racks of comics in the fronts of their stores. Classics Illustrated were the best comics of them all. They had these great covers, and inside, I got glimpses of novels I couldn’t wait to read. I knew all about Moby Dick before I even turned the first page. I had seen all the action in the panels of my Classics Illustrated which left out the boring part, the chapters in the middle about the kinds of whales. I read Hamlet and Les Miserables, both in easy to understand English. Kidnapped was another favorite comic of mine, and it led me to read the book. A few years ago, in her stocking, I gave my sister the Classic illustrated Treasure island, one of her favorite books. Of course, I read it first.
I have a few errands today, but I don’t mind. I love riding in the car on a sunny winter’s day. It seems to lift my spirits above the cold and thoughts of snow.
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