Welcome! I hope I bring a spot of calm and happiness into these uncertain times. I blog about my photography adventures, flowers, gardening, the importance of chocolate in a well lived life, or anything else on my mind.
To my Canadian readers a few hours from me, Happy Canada Day. On July 1, 1867, the Constitution Act of 1867 took effect, creating the Dominion of Canada.
On July 4, my country celebrates its 250th birthday.
I can't believe it's already July! It's hot, too. I want to go back to some cooler times. How about the first day of summer June 21 (for us in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway).
What was blooming on the first day of summer?
My earliest day lilies, that's what!
The names are long forgotten but day lily season has just begun.
This is one of two fuchsia plants I purchased from Select Seeds. It's a variety called Pink Galore and I am loving those pink blooms.
Honoring Canada Day.
Honoring our Independence Day coming on Saturday.
Times are tough, but I hope the friendship between our two nations can endure.
Who are the Music Moves Me bloggers? We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! We are brought to you by Cathy ofCurious as a Cathy, Stacy of Stacy's Random Thoughts, Marie (Xmas Dolly), and myself, plus other music loving bloggers.
Why not join us? Our theme this week is "You Pick".
It's time for another induction into Rock and Roll Heaven. Actually, two.
Clive Davis died at home on June 22 at the age of 94. He was not a performer but, instead, he had the ability to pick out future music superstars, sign them to recording contracts, and suggest songs or changes in music. He was a music executive for several record companies. I may never have heard of him except for a couple of episodes of American Idol years ago, where he worked with Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, and Fantasia as they were being discovered by the American public, He was also a record producer who won four Grammy Awards. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer.
One of his four children is also a Grammy Award-winning record producer.
Here are some of the artists Clive Davis signed or recommended be signed with the labels he worked for: Billy Joel. Aretha Franklin. Santana. Janis Joplin/Big Brother and the Holding Company, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Bruce Springsteen. Chicago. Aerosmith. Earth, Wind and Fire. Alicia Keyes. Whitney Houston.
One of those bands, Blood, Sweat and Tears (BS&T), was discovered by Davis when they were fronted by Al Kooper. But, due to infighting, the band broke up. Kooper left. As the band's drummer tried to reunite the band, the drummer heard a singer performing at a New York City club. That singer was David Clayton-Thomas, who joined the reformed BS&T as their new lead singer.
Davis then encouraged well, pushed) BS&T towards a more commercial sound, and they were on their way to a few years of success. But by 1972, Thomas left the group and went on to other projects. In 1996, he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
David Clayton-Thomas, aged 84, died June 24 from complications of cancer.
My tribute pick is obvious: Blood, Sweat and Tears' cover of Laura Nyro's And When I Die.
Now, back to Clive Davis.
How about some Billy Joel? A live performance of the song Captain Jack which became a local Philadelphia radio hit in 1972 caught the attention of Davis and the rest is history. This is the recording and I hope you can access it (you will have to do it directly from You Tube so here's a direct link: https://youtu.be/-aMs0AlE3S8?si=tSf9H3oSIoD7K5Pp). Captain Jack, incidentally, was based on a real heroin dealer and this may not be one to play around youngsters.
Davis recommended that country singer Lynn Anderson release a song called Rose Garden as a single in 1970. It became a huge crossover hit for her.
One of the executives Davis hired was a young musician by the name of Tony Orlando, who was signed by Davis when Orlando was 16. This was his first hit, from 1961, a song called Halfway to Paradise, a song co-written by Carole King.
In turn, Orlando signed a musician you may have heard of - Barry Manilow. His first hit was a song called Mandy.
Finally, there was Whitney Houston. Rather than her first 1985 hit, I am picking I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) from 1987.
And that's another sad tribute wrap.
Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me.
This coming week we are going to have a bad heat wave, but, right now, the weather is still decent. I got out and mowed the lawn today, and we didn't have any good shadows. So I'm going with a couple of pictures from Friday.
This was taken while walking in a local park.
While I was at it, I took a closeup picture of one of the several redbud trees in the park.
Here are some skies of the week just past from where I live in the Southern Tier of New York.
First, a selection of skies from the first day of summer:
Then, the weather changed.
Monday was rainy, and I took this picture of mist over our hills.
Thursday, it was cloudy and threatening rain, along with some interesting patterns. It finally decided to drizzle in late afternoon. It finally rained.
We are heading into a heat wave next week, but in the meantime, I hope the terrible heat in Europe abates. I hope you can all stay safe from this dangerous heat.
On the first day of summer, spouse and I walked in a neighborhood park and found these flowering plants Some I knew. Others I used the built in plant ID application within my iPhone photo app. Sadly, some of these wildflowers are actually invasive species, non natives that grow aggressively and crowd out native plants.
Shall we explore?
A note first: I am far from a plant expert and depend a lot on my camera plant ID, which too many times, is not that accurate. So if you know better, please don't hesitate to correct me.
Bedstraw. Some plants called bedstraw are considered invasive; others are native. I don't know which this is.
Cinquefoil. There is a native species and a non-native species. The latter is considered invasive. I suspect this is the latter. There are guides that give pointers for identification but this plant was partially hidden.
Common motherwort. Yup, invasive.
Forget-Me-Not is not invasive. But water-forget-me-not (which this is, according to my app) is. Sadness.
I know this one! Crownvetch is a serious invasive. When I first started gardening in the late 1970's, I remember these plants being sold in catalogs for erosion control on banks. This is another example of good intentions gone way wrong. It is also poisonous to horses and humans.
Creeping jenny is also considered invasive in our area.
Finally, a native! Northern catalpa (Catalpa speciosa) trees are sometimes used in landscaping where I live. They are native trees with showy flowers. After flowers, they develop long bean-like seed pods, which are not edible. I had never seen one in this park before.
It's obvious that I need to sharpen my skills. What a shame that so many of the "wildflowers" I saw are not welcome plants from other parts of the world.
Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.
Who
are the Music Moves Me bloggers? We are a group of music loving
bloggers who blog about music each Sunday or Monday (or even later in
the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to
join! We are brought to you by Cathy of Curious as a Cathy, Stacy of Stacy's Random Thoughts, Marie (Xmas Dolly), and myself, plus other music loving bloggers.
Why not join us? Our theme this week is "Wimbledon kicks off soon. Let a tennis star, the game, England, or traditions guide you in your music discovery picks!"
As for my tennis memories, I have never played it. I did play some badminton back in college but not for long-I was never athletic. Instead, I picked some songs about memories of the "old days".
First, though, it is my sad duty to blog another induction into Rock and Roll Heaven. I would like to start slightly off-theme with a tribute to Walter Parazaider, a founding member of the group Chicago, dead from complications of Alzheimers at the age of 81.
Parazaider specialized in a number of instruments, including sax (alto, tenor and soprano), clarinet, and flute, and also sang backup vocals. He had retired from the group in 2017. In this first song from 1975, Old Days, Parazaider played clarinet.
When I think of Parazaider, I think of this flute solo in the song Color My World. This is a live performance at Tanglewood from 1970. Parazaider plays sax in the other song on this live video, Make Me Smile.
I couldn't help but post this tennis cover of Chicago's Hard To Say I'm Sorry by a group of tennis players called the Federer Backhand Boys.The singers are pro tennis players Grigor Dimitrov, Tommy Haas and Roger Federer just having a little fun. They will never win a Grammy for this but who cares?
How about this tennis related song sung at the end of a 30 Rock episode? (30 Rock was an American sitcom satirical show on from 2006 to 2013). It's Tennis Night in America!
The theme song from the 1970's show All in the Family, sung by Carol O'Conner and Jean Stapleton. This is the complete version, with some lyrics not politically correct today.
A song about England? My pick is The Kinks with The Village Green Preservation Society, from 1968. I just love the lyrics, so I chose a lyrics version.
And that's a wrap!
Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me.
At a shopping center that has had extensive changes since around 2020, one of the last shadow pictures I took this spring.
Yesterday,tree shadows in a local park. Summer began earlier that day.
Joining Lisa at This and That: A Blog, for her #ShadowshotSunday. Why not come out of the shadows and join us? All you need is a photo with shadows in it.
Finally, to all fathers or people who have father roles in the United States, may you have a happy Father's Day. I'm celebrating by linking to a 2023 post about Northern Cardinals and the roles of their males.
I hope you have a happy Sunday, no matter where you live.
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