Fall has arrived where I live in the Southern Tier of New York State. Trees are just starting to turn. The sun is disappearing for longer and longer.
These two pictures of honey locust trees (I think) were taken yesterday, accompanied by our fall gloomy skies.
Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.
Ahoy there, mateys! It's Monday and it's time for music!
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.
Our theme this week is: Sep 28th Recently, was International Talk Like a Pirate Day, a fun modern holiday. It would be fun to see where the seven seas take each of you as you share with us songs relating to pirates.
Aye. Let's run that again through the Pirate Speak Translator:
Our theme this here week be: Sept 28th recently, been international talk like a gentleman o' fortune day, a fun modern 'oliday. It would be fun to see where the seven seas take each o' ye as ye share with us songs relatin' to gentlemen o' fortune
Well..it be time to turn to, of all things, Disney.He's A Pirate (Pirates of the Caribbean theme song).
Davy Jones (Epic Version).
Finally, one more Disney song, As we non-pirates would say, Yo, Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me. This 1967 song was written for the opening of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. If you recognize a certain deep male voice, it is that of Thurl Ravenscroft, who voiced Tony the Tiger in Kellogg's commercials and was the deep voice of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" in the famous cartoon.
Now, let's move to some non-Disney songs.
Fifteen Men on the Dead Man's Chest, from Great Master
Last but definitely not least, the Dropkick Murphys and and the Celtic Punk anthem Shipping Up to Boston. Fun fact, this originated as a five line lyric fragment written by Woody Guthrie which was expanded. Maybe not so much about pirates, as true maritime grit, but it's a great song.
Or, as pirates would say: It be a jolly song. And that was a jolly theme.
And that's a wrap!
Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me.
On a gloomy Sunday day, here are some shadows from this past Monday, the last full day of summer.
Joining Lisa at This and That: A Blog for her #ShadowshotSunday.
As summer drew to a close on Tuesday where I live in the Southern Tier of New York, I watched the sky change in the matter of a couple of hours.
It was Saturday at the local farmer's market, and I came across this sign next to a booth selling farm fresh eggs.
The last line before the name of the farm made my day.
Joining with Sandee at Comedy Plus and her #WordlessWednesday.
It's Monday and it's time for music - and time for Rock and Roll Heaven to build a new wing.
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.
Our theme this week is: You Pick. Sadly, this week will again be inductions into Rock and Roll Heaven.
Rosalind Ashford, founding member of Martha and the Vandellas, died September 15 at the age of 83. The cause of death was given only as natural causes.
I loved all of the hits of Martha and the Vandellas. I'm choosing the first of their songs that popped into my mind. Here is "Nowhere to Run", recorded in 1964 and released in 1965.
Musician and songwriter Duncan Sheik also passed away on September 15, several days after he was admitted to the hospital in critical condition. He was only 56. His song "Barely Breathing" from 1996 was his best known but he was also a Tony Award winner and composed soundtracks for movies.
Finally, Gerrit Graham, stage, television and film actor, screenwriter and songwriter who co-wrote a song called "Victim or the Crime" with Bob Weir for the Grateful Dead, also died September 15 died at age 76 from lung disease.
I'm not done with songs yet so here is another from Martha and the Vandellas, 1964's Dancing in the Street.
And that's a wrap!
Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me which, hopefully, will be happier. P.S-I may be late catching up with my blog reading/commenting today and tomorrow, but I will be visiting. Thank you for your patience!
While decluttering the other day, I came across this cutout from a woman's magazine. This recipe coming out of the shadows of my life was one of the first from scratch cakes I ever baked. I believe the recipe would have been published in either the late 1960's or early 1970's.
On September 15, the sky where I live in the Southern Tier of New York featured one of my favorite cloud types.
By September 17, rain.
Next week, fall begins, and the temperatures will start to fall, too.
Joining Yogi and other skywatchers each Friday for #SkywatchFriday.
A friend's sister, N, passed away Friday, after a years long battle with various medical issues.
I had only seen her in person a few times (the last time, I think, was 2020), but years before that, she had become my go-to for wildflower ID and she shared my love of history. We emailed each other on and off when I traveled.
Years ago, I did a Wildflower Wednesday feature on my blog, and N was a great help to me. I will miss her knowledge.
I know N wouldn't want any fuss over her due to her passing, so, instead, I will post some pictures of wildflowers in and around my yard. Unfortunately, I have to depend on my iPhone camera app for wildflower ID and it doesn't always get it right. Unlike N, who was so knowledgeable.
Several years I bought some plants from a wildflower nursery and they gave me a wild aster as a thank you gift. This may be a calico aster but it isn't in the place where I planted that gift aster. I apologize for the blur.
Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.
It's the 15th of September, and time to join other flower lovers for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.
It's a beautiful, sunny day, and crisp.
We are getting an early taste of fall in my zone 6a garden in the Southern Tier of New York. Yesterday, it never got out of the 60'sF (20 C). Last night they were even warning of isolated frosts. But soon fall will be here officially. So, I have to get out and enjoy my outdoor flowers while I still can.
My front yard:
Whitish tall phlox.
Last of the sweet peas. They've reseeded so much that they are going to have to go.
Let's go around the back now to my shady back yard:
Pink turtlehead. I like seeing bumblebees feed on it.
I had toad lilies once, but they seem to have vanished, along with an aster. My back yard has gotten so choked that I have hired a landscaper to thin it out - neither my husband or I, due to physical issues, can manage it anymore. Ditto for my front yard.
As my garden approaches fall, I am also in the season some call the autumn of life. If I need help with my gardens in this season, so be it. As long as I can have it, I will be grateful. Life is too short.
Joining Carol at May Dreams Gardens for her 15th of the month Garden Bloggers Bloom Day meme, as it approaches its December, 2026 end date.
It's Monday and it's time for music!
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.
Our theme this week is: Unbeknown to me, September is National Happy Cat month. You don’t have a cat or any animal to share some songs about these adorable four-legged creatures!
These are songs that have "cat" in their title; they may or may not include lyrics about cats.
Year of the Cat - Al Stewart, from 1976, refers to the Vietnamese year of the Cat (one of their zodiac signs.) It brings back a lot of memories for me in a year that brought a lot of changes to my life. This was recorded at Abby Road studios by engineer Alan Parsons during the Vietnamese year of the cat (but released afterwards). I am bringing you an extended version, although there are longer ones on You Tube, which includes some instrumental passages.
Here's a live performance of Honky Cat - Elton John, released in 1972.
From the Broadway play Cats, "Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats” The Jellicles are a tribe of cats which meet up once a year in a junkyard for their Jellicle Ball, dancing to show their stories and personalities to be picked for a rebirth. The play is based on a 1939 poetry collection written by T.S. Elliot.
The Broadway show ran for a little over 18 years. Not bad!
Meow!
And that's a wrap!
Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me. And join me again tomorrow afternoon for the last September Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.
A staircase, taken September 11, 2026.
Yesterday and this morning, the sky is so gloomy. That angle of the sun reminds us that fall is on its way.
Joining Lisa at This and That: A Blog, for her #ShadowshotSunday.
Permit me to concentrate today on a 25th anniversary. So, if you are looking for my Skywatch Friday post, please click here.
25 years ago today I woke up and prepared to go to work. My spouse was at home - he would be going to work around 12:30 pm.
It was supposed to be a beautiful mid September day with clear blue skies.
Now, 25 years later, I remember that day. Everyone of my generation remembers that day. Residents of New York City and its surrounding communities remember. Residents of the area around the Pentagon remember. Residents of the area around Shanksville, Pennsylvania remember September 11, 2001. The people of Gander, Newfoundland, remember that day, the day we've called "9/11" since that beautiful blue sky late summer morning. Until it wasn't.
Other countries remember dates of tragedy. Here in the United States, we remember, even after 25 years.
According to the World Trade Center Health Program, some 9000 people have died from 9/11 related illnesses.
9/11 is still claiming victims from related illnesses today.
I've blogged about 9/11 every year since I've started to blog in 2009, and I will continue to do so as long as I continue to blog.
Here are some of my posts:
September 11 Reaches Adulthood
In New York City's 9/11 Memorial and Museum there is an art installation called Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on that September Morning". How can I not forget that blue sky?
Finally, we are also called to remember the generosity of the people of Gander, Newfoundland (Canada) on September 11, 2001 after United States closed its airspace and airlines grounded their planes. Some 7000 passengers and crew on 200 planes ended up landing in Gander International Airport, near a city of (then) about 10,000. people.
The people of Gander quickly mobilized to make the people stranded there when airlines grounded their flights feel welcome.
Food and clothing was donated. Schools were turned into dormitories. A hockey rink provided refrigeration for donated food. The people of the planes became known as the Plane People.
The people of Gander never asked for payment but the passengers and crew of one of the flights set up a scholarship fund for students in the Gander area. The fund has grown to over one million dollars.
Tonight, the City of Binghamton, New York will host the LUMA festival, which features light projections onto buildings. I won't be there in person, but I will be there in spirit, as light chases away the darkness.
25 years.
If you read some of my more recent 9/11 posts you can see my concern that the generations unborn on 9/11 will not understand the significance of that day in U.S. and world history or the kindness of 9/12.
Let us never forget those affected.
I am posting early for Yogi's Skywatch Friday with some scenes from the Southern Tier of New York, taken on two consecutive days. Tomorrow, my blog will be devoted to commemorating the 25th anniversary of September 11.
I wonder what is happening with the building. I hope it is just being fixed up and will continue as a diner.
Joining Yogi and other skywatchers for #SkywatchFriday.
At this time of year, I eat corn on the cob several times a week. I can't get enough of it. That sweet goodness is so fleeting. I am fortunate that I live in an area where I can get fresh sweet corn at farm markets or even in a local supermarket chain that buys local when they can.
So, the other day, I peeled the husk off a corn. Seemed like the corn was a bit thicker than normal.
Cuddly corn.
I don't know if this was one corn that split in two while developing, or two separate corns.
Either way, it was delicious.
If you enjoy sweet corn on the cob, have you ever run into this?
Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.
It's Monday and it's time for music!
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.
Our theme this week is: You Pick. But I am choosing as my theme today, last week's theme, which was: It’s the end of the month, summer is drawing to an end unofficially. Share songs that make you think of the end of summer.
Songs for the end of summer, many times, deal with the end of summer romances, or a nostalgic look back at summertime. So here's my selection.
Summer Nights - John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, from the wonderful Grease soundtrack.
Summer's Almost Gone - The Doors, from 1968.Last but not least, out of ideas, I decided to look up the number one song for the week of September 21, 1976 (50 years ago) and came up with this:
This song has nothing to do with the end of summer, but it carries a lot of nostalgia for me. My spouse was undergoing technical training for his military job. We would go to the enlisted persons' club and listen to live music and perhaps eat supper there, and this is one of the songs the cover bands played a lot. Call it an end of summer song.
And that's a wrap!
Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me.
Today, for #ShadowshotSunday, brought to us by Lisa at This and That: A Blog, I'm featuring some shadows from two late August walks in a park.
A wildflower that my iPhone photos app identifies as heal-well.
Update: since my Friday Skywatch Friday post which mentioned the 2026 tornado count in my state of New York, that number has been updated to 22. I hope September is calmer.
Have a shadow photo? Why not join us at Lisa's link above?
Where I live in the Southern Tier of New York, it has been a stormy week. But we've escaped a lot of the severe weather that the central and western part of the state has experienced in the last few days.
As of last night, we've had 18 confirmed tornadoes so far in New York State since the beginning of the year.
I took these pictures on August 27.
Tuesday and Wednesday we had on and off torrential rain. We got at least four inches, and my spouse and I were caught in one of the downpours trying to get to an appointment. A bit over an hour away, the New York State Fair had to close because of flooding.
Our storms Wednesday night came after sunset, and I wasn't going to go out there at 10pm with lightning flashing and lighting up the sky.
Hoping for better weather for all in September.
Joining with Yogi and other skywatchers for #SkywatchFriday.
One of our local libraries has an aquarium set up with monarch butterfly larvae developing. They’ve had several become butterflies.
Here are some pictures of their set up. The larvae are the striped caterpillars, and I hope you can make them out in these pictures.
If you are interested, here is more on the life cycle of a monarch butterfly.
"Monarch Waystations are intentionally managed gardens that provide critical breeding resources and food sources to support monarch butterflies throughout their multi-generational, 3,000-mile migration.....As of 11 August 2026, there have been 57,969 Monarch Waystation habitats registered with Monarch Watch."
The very first monarch waystation was established in 2004 at the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence, Kansas.
Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.
