Mostly B Sides #MusicMovesMe

It's Monday and it's time for music!

Let's introduce the Music Moves me bloggers:  We blog about music each Sunday or Monday and if you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video, please! Otherwise, your post may be removed, or may  be labeled "No Music".)   Our head host is Xmas Dolly, and our co-hosts are Cathy from Curious as a Cathy, joined by the knowledgeable Stacy of Stacy Uncorked and, last but not least, ME.

We have a guest host this month-Mary Burris from "Jingle Jangle Jungle". 

For today, she has chosen the theme of "You Pick" so we get to post whatever music we want.

And my picks, as they sometimes are, may be a little eclectic.  My theme is "B" sides.  Back in the days when songs were released on 45 rpm singles (one song on one side, one song on the other side), the A side held the song that the label thought would be the hit, and the B side was usually something they didn't expect to do that well, or at least less well as the A side.

Sometimes, B sides became hits.  Sometimes, they even became bigger hits than the A side.

Here are several B sides for your consideration.

Nowadays, there really isn't such a thing (as far as I know!) and, in a way, it's too bad.

The Beatles and "She's a Woman".  This song was the B side of "I Feel Fine" and I loved both these songs, but I loved "She's a Woman" more. 

The Rolling Stones released their hit "The Last Time" with a B side "Play with Fire" which may be one of the lessor known Rolling Stones song (I never seem to hear it) but I have always loved this song.  Here it is,  from 1965. Fun fact, its title was originally "Mess with Fire".

Simon and Garfunkel released "Cecelia" as an A side in 1970.  I have to admit, it may be one of my least favorite Simon and Garfunkel songs (and I couldn't tell you why).  But, its B side?  "The Only Living Boy in New York", a song I Love with a capital L.

The Pretenders released "Back on the Chain Gang" as an A side in 1982.  On the B side was a song that is perhaps my favorite Pretenders song:  "My City Was Gone". The city in question was Akron, Ohio.

The song "How Soon is Now" from the Smiths was originally a B side, released in 1984.  Eventually, it was released as an A side in both Great Britain and the United States because...well, because.  And that's why I have to title my post "Mostly B Sides"- because this song was both a B side and an A side.

Go figure.

And that's a wrap!

Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me.

Snow Shadows at Last #ShadowshotSunday

We had snow overnight Friday night and woke up Saturday morning to about an inch (2.54 cm) of snow.  We are way behind on snowfall this year (unless we get a big storm in March or April, and that has happened before). 

Saturday, the sun came out for some of the morning, and it was snow shadow picture time.

Our front flower garden sleeps underneath the snow.
 

One can only hope, despite this, that we may get an early spring.

Joining Lisa at Lisa's Garden Adventures for #ShadowshotSunday.  Why not come out of the shadows and join us with your shadow pictures?

Backyard Bird Count 2023

One of my fond childhood memories, growing up in a New York City Housing Authority complex , is watching my mother throwing a slice of white bread out the window onto the small lawn below.  I would watch as pigeons and sparrows descended on the bread.

I had no way of knowing that bread was probably the worst thing to feed a bird, but no matter - I was transfixed by the sight below.  One bird in particular caught my eye - a bird that I now know may have been a male house sparrow in breeding plumage.

In fact, don't think you can't bird if you live in a city.

Some 60 years later, my spouse, increasingly fascinated by birds himself, bought our first bird feeder.  We've been feeding birds since 2020 and learning more about them.

Now it's time, once again, to give back to science.

It's time for the Great Backyard Bird Count.  It started yesterday and continues through Monday.  You you can participate from anywhere in the world.    No registration is required. No experience level is required. No backyard is required.  All you need is 15 minutes of your time, but you can devote as much time (just a minimum of 15 minutes) per watch.  

You can watch anywhere.  Watch like we do from our kitchen window, or from an exercise walk.  Watch from a stroll along a river, on the beach, or a city park.  Anywhere counts, city or country. If you are traveling, no problem!  Any location counts.  All bird lovers are welcome.

All birds count, whether you see them or hear them (or both).

Chances are, you already are familiar with some of the birds in your area.  If not, there are various online ways to identify your new friends.

This is the home page of the Count.  

There are several ways to report your finding.  Take pictures if you want.  (We don't submit pictures).  Also, you can win a pair of Zeiss binoculars just for posting your entries.

If you already post using Merlin or  eBird free apps and eBird is also available via your computer) you are automatically entered just for doing what you already do.  If you are new to birding, it's recommended that you use the Merlin app, which will also generate a life list (list of birds you've seen or heard in your lifetime) and allow you to identify the birds through recordings or photos.

This count is important to scientists who study birds to understand bird population changes, and much more.

I hope you will join in.

We didn't participate but are today, from the comfort of our kitchen and dining room windows.  In case you are interested, birds we've seen today include:  Canada geese, dark-eyed juncos, Northern cardinals, black-capped chickadees, and Carolina wrens, although we've only had one 15 minute stretch of viewing.  We hope to be able to see downy woodpeckers and mourning doves, at least, before the Count ends. 

Will you be participating?

February 7 Sunset Part II #SkywatchFriday

Part two of a nice February sunset, one of the few we've had recently.  As I explained last Friday, at this time of year, we have to hoard sunsets.  Otherwise, we'll run out of good ones.

This is about where I left us last Friday. 

What impressed me the most about this sunset were the clouds above the sunset.  Let's zoom in a little.

This shot through sleeping trees seems a little spooky to me.

Sunset reflected on the river.

Grand finale.
 

Joining Yogi and other skywatching bloggers each Friday for #SkywatchFriday.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day February 2024

Winter has returned to my zone 6a (recently reclassed from zone 5b) New York State garden.  But today is Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, and time to celebrate what is blooming inside and outside.

Our high yesterday was 30F (-1.1C) and breezy.  After on and off mild temperatures it was a shock.  But the good news is, I have an outdoor flower in the garden.

This white Lenten Rose doesn't bloom every year.  Sometimes it puts out buds in late December and then bitterly cold weather comes along.  That's what happened last year - the flowers died before the buds could open.  But this year we have the flowers, and we've had them for several weeks now.

Let's move it indoors.

One of my Thanksgiving cactii lost track of the calendar and put out three flowers.  They are just about finishing up.

Each year I take cuttings of my impatiens and root them indoors.  Here's what is happening with them.  One is blooming....

One almost blooming.

One of my Tradescentia plants (I have three varieties) is blooming.  The blooms are small but they count.

One of my three African violet plants is blooming.  I somehow almost killed this one, and I guess it has forgiven me.

One more.  Let's go outside and see my other Lenten Rose, which blooms in March, putting out buds.

Thank you's go, once again, to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for her 15th of the month Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

Library Valentines #Wordless Wednesday

Once again, it's time to give Your Home Library, my home's public library, a Valentine.  It's only fair - they give one to me.

It's time to unveil my Valentine's Day gift from the local library.

Since at least 2017, our local library wraps up various books and displays them.  Each patron can pick one.  

The book we pick is ours to keep.  We make our selection based on a short description.

Here's this year's Valentine book, all wrapped up.  I picked mine because I had a feeling who had written it.

I was right.  Thank you, Your Home Library.

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for #WordlessWednesday.

Twenty Six Years Later

On February 13, 1998 a friend and co-worker passed on to wherever we go after this life after a 16 month battle with lung cancer.

She had found a lump on her neck.  She went to her family doctor and he immediately knew something was wrong.  The bottom line was that she had cancer all through her body, so much so that it took almost two months to trace back where the cancer had originated.  

By then it was almost Christmastime, and she started treatment. From the first she knew the cancer was terminal but the hope was to prolong her life.

She was a talented crafts person and spent her first Christmas with cancer making the homemade gifts she loved to make, including for her teen-aged grandson and her co-workers:  and that Christmas we got the final homemade ornaments she made for us every year.

By that first February after her diagnosis she was no longer able to work.

Sometime that summer, she called me at work and invited me to a picnic lunch.  She drove down to her former office, picked me up, and took me to a local park, where she unpacked a lovely picnic set, complete with tiny salt and pepper shakers.  She was having a good day.  We had a lovely lunch.  She said she did not feel sorry for herself, that although she had quit smoking years ago the diagnosis did not come as a shock because of what her husband and she had loved to do-restore old homes.  During this work, she had been exposed to asbestos.

She lived in an old Victorian home, which she and her husband had restored.

At the time we picnicked, our office was falling apart.  Due to mismanagement, people were leaving, one after another.  As summer passed into fall, the last three of us from before this regional manager was hired quit.

One of us got another job right away.  The other two of us, along with our former office manager (another victim of the mismanagement), decided we would visit our former co-worker and have lunch with her every week.    We did for several weeks, but she was getting weaker and weaker and we stopped-although we kept in touch with her husband.

Her second Christmas was not filled with homemade gifts.  Instead, we went to her house (it was the first time I had been there) where her husband gave us a tour. She tried to show us around but had to quit when she couldn't catch her breath.

She was under hospice care.

In January she and her husband were watching the Winter Olympics ice skating. She had fallen asleep on the couch but when he tried to wake her, she would not rouse.  He called Hospice, and they came over.  They determined she had suffered a stroke.

She never regained consciousness.

The Tuesday before she died, the three of us visited her bedside.  She lay on a bed in the living room, a radio nearby softly playing the country music she loved. Medicine from a morphine pump dulled her pain.  Her husband told us that although it seemed like she was in a coma, she did have some awareness.  If we wanted to, we could talk to her and she probably would understand, but would not be able to respond.

What do you say?  What can you say?  I spoke to her for a couple of minutes and said goodbye to her.  I squeezed her hand.

I would love to imagine that she tried to squeeze it back.

On Saturday, February 14, I got "the" phone call saying she had passed the day before.  My spouse was at work.  My then young son was going to a birthday party in a couple of hours and I did not want him to know I was crying.  I vacuumed the floor, silent tears running down my face.

 Her husband and her loved each other deeply.  I think she always expected him to "go" first but that was not to be.  She was only 56 years old.

At the funeral home, photos of her family and her artwork were placed near her coffin.  At the church service, the family invited the three of us to go to the graveside with them, as if we were family.  We declined as we felt the family should be together.

The three of us kept in some touch with her husband but finally, as these things go many times, we drifted apart. Her husband died several years ago.  He had remarried and I hope that marriage was happy.

 In our flood of 2006, I lost almost all of the homemade ornaments she had made for me. What I have left goes on our tree each year and I treasure each piece.

I still think of her every Valentine's Day. 

Rest in peace.

Breakups and Loves #MusicMovesMe

It's Monday and time for some music.

Let's introduce the Music Moves me bloggers:  We blog about music each Sunday or Monday and if you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video, please! Otherwise, your post may be removed, or may  be labeled "No Music".)   Our head host is Xmas Dolly, and our co-hosts are Cathy from Curious as a Cathy, joined by the knowledgeable Stacy of Stacy Uncorked and, last but not least, ME.

We have a guest host this month-Mary Burris from "Jingle Jangle Jungle". 

Before I begin, I want to give a shoutout to Mary, who is undergoing cancer treatment once again.  If you are so inclined, could you send some love or prayer her way? I'm sure she would appreciate it.

Today, our theme is "Love Songs, Breakup Songs or a combination of the two".

Let's get started!  This is going to be mostly about breakup songs with a love song at the end.

There was one song I thought of instantly:  The Greg Kihn Band and The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em) from 1981.

Neil Sedaka and "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do".  I have to admit that I like Neil's newer, slower version better than the speedy original. I chose a live version that also incorporates a little "Stormy Weather" towards the end.  His daughter Dara is an actor and also sings.

The 5th Dimension and one of my favorite songs "One Less Bell to Answer".

In researching Harry Nilsson's "Without You", I discovered this was a cover of a 1970 song by the group Badfinger.  I still prefer Harry Nilsson's cover, but I also read this has been covered at least 180 times.  And, sadly, both of the co-writers of this song, Pete Ham and Tom Evans, died by suicide, one in 1975 and one in 1983.

I am wanting to end this on a slightly happier note of love, so how about one of my favorite songs, the Beach Boys and their 1966 song "God Only Knows".  Some, including Paul McCartney, think that the album this came from, Pet Sounds, was the best rock album ever.

And that's a wrap!

Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me.

Houseplant Shadows and Superbowl Tears #ShadowshotSunday

For Superbowl Sunday, I don't have shadow pictures of football games, but I do have shadow pictures taken at home.

Here's a shadow of one of my windows on a closet door.

More houseplant shadows, this time on a curtain.

And speaking of the Superbowl, at least one commercial has already gone viral.  It's a commercial for a face moisterizer - and a lot more.  You don't have to be an American and you certainly don't have to be an American football fan. But this is a special game for us today thanks to...well, you'll see. Get out the tissues, and enjoy.
 

Joining up this Superbowl Sunday with Lisa's Garden Adventures for #ShadowshotSunday.

Earl Grey Chocolate Mousse?

I love Earl Grey tea.

I love dark chocolate.  I somehow almost never manage to blog about chocolate, although, in the description of my blog, I mention "the importance of chocolate in a well-lived life".

Just in time for chocolate prices to soar. 

I am fortunate that my life situation right now allows me to indulge in chocolate.  And, I have someone to celebrate Valentine's Day with.

For years, my spouse has made chocolate mousse for me for Valentine's Day.  True, he has, the past few years, switched to chocolate covered strawberries, but this year, the strawberries he found in the supermarket that were affordable also didn't look that great.  So I was intrigued when I opened up a supermarket magazine and found a recipe for Earl Grey Tea Chocolate Mousse.

Apparently the combination isn't a new thing.

I never would have thought of combining the two.  It turns out the combination of Earl Grey tea (which is flavored with oil of bergamot.  Bergamot (Citrus bergamia), I am told, is a type of citrus fruit grown in Southern Italy. The fruit itself is said not to be edible, but the oil extracted from the rind is prized.

And, it (and Earl Grey tea) pairs well with chocolate.

So my mental wheels started to spin.  As a lifetime member of Weight Watchers, I do eat dessert but in small quantities.  What if....???

I found a recipe online for a two ingredient earl grey chocolate mousse.  

I can't vouch for it and I don't know if my spouse will like it but I am going to mention it to him.

We'll see.  Of course, there is always the chocolate covered strawberries.

Enjoy it while we can?

February 7 Sunset #SkywatchFriday

February 7.  Normally it's cold (sometimes bitterly cold) and certainly not sunny at this time of year.  But this year's weather has been full of surprises.

One of the surprises was the sunset February 7.  We had had several mild-ish sunny days without clouds (another rarity) but when I saw clouds building the afternoon of February 7, I hoped a nice sunset will follow.

We arrived right after the sun set.
 

The color tints the river.

And the clouds.  I zoomed in a little where the second picture was taken.

There's still more to come.  Maybe I'll show those next week.  At this time of year, one has to hoard sunsets.

I hope the weather has been kind to you.

Joining Yogi and other skywatchers once again for #SkywatchFriday.

Blue Skies Starlings and Trees #ThursdayTreeLove

"I heard a winter tree in song.  Its leaves were birds, a hundred strong. When all at once it ceased to sing. For every leaf had taken wing." Mervyn Peake.

February has given us in the Southern Tier of New York a gift.  We've had four days in a row with blue skies (a break from our normally whitish and dreary winter skies) and mildish temperatures.

Well, mildish for us, anyway.  Yesterday it got up to 43 degrees F (6.1 C).

Our local trees celebrated, along with a flock of European starlings (the tiny black dots at the tops of the trees), who were settling down for the night.

 I tried to zoom in a little, but didn't want to cut off the parts of the trees full of birds.

This tree even has visible buds on it - it's one of the earliest trees in our neighborhood to bud out, although that is still months away. 

And this?  It's just hanging out, waiting for the signal to wake up from its long winter sleep.  In the meantime, the European starlings may seek it out, too.

I hope this weather doesn't fool the trees.  Actually, it won't - we are supposed to be back in the freezer by Sunday, and may get some snow next week.

Joining Parul at Happiness and Food for her twice a month #ThursdayTreeLove.

The 2024 Seed Library #WordlessWednesday

It's time to think of planting seeds.  Fortunately, there are seed options in this area for those of limited income.  One of them is our local library, called (yes) Your Home Library.

The Your Home Library seed catalog is located in an old card catalog.  The seeds?  About 60 varieties total were donated by a combination of Seed Savers Exchange and also the Hudson Valley Seed Co. Thanks go to both of these companies.

How it works:  "Please take only what you will use". I'm a little surprised they didn't limit the number of seed packets one patron could take, as they've done in previous years.

Brassicas.

 

Lettuce

The packets are small, and I thank the librarians for their efforts packaging and arranging these packets.

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday

Eulogy for a Polymath

I found out about his death nearly two weeks ago. A few times, I had started to blog about him and could not find the words to put down on the blank computer screen.  Finally, it's time.

I had read his blog for years.  I think I had been introduced to it, 10 or more years ago, through a blogging challenge.  We had also become Facebook friends.

He had gone into the hospital yet again and wrote about it on his blog.  He had been battling serious health issues for several years and blogged about them, one of many, many topics he blogged about.

His inventions and interests spanned (per his biography) the fields of kidney dialysis, colon electrolyte lavages, water reuse systems, and more.  He was an enrolled agent and blogged about tax matters, and also was a chemical engineer, among several career changes.  Self described as a polymath, I will call him one, too.

He blogged about civil rights 

He wrote about anti-Semitism.

He also loved music.  Here is one of his music posts.  I was honored to have him read, in turn, my Monday music posts.  

He loved wine.  He loved art, and collected art. 

He blogged about our duty to repair our world.  For him, it was a religious obligation.

He never hesitated to DM me on Facebook if I made a mistake in my blog.

Through his blog, I felt like I had come to know something about him.  I know few bloggers who shared as much about himself as he did.  Some of his blog posts, in all honesty (the scientific ones and the tax ones) were way above my head, but I looked at them, anyway.  He would have expected no less from me.  His was not a light and fluffy blog.  I learned from it.

Along all this, he loved his family and his children.  He was so proud of them.  One of the last interactions I had with Roy, in fact, was him sending me a copy of a book "One Bold Move a Day" written by one of his children.  I didn't ask for it.  He just did it.

Several days after he blogged about going into the hospital (for the last time, it turned out) I had a sinking feeling.  I've learned never to ignore that feeling.  I went online and, in mere seconds, found his obituary.  It wasn't hard.  Sadly, he had passed away a couple of days before I had that sinking feeling.

His earthly battles are over.

I miss his blog posts already.  

Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A.  May your memory be for a blessing.

Music for the Birds #MusicMovesMe

It's Monday and it's time for music with the Music Moves Me Bloggers.

 

Let's introduce the Music Moves me bloggers:  We blog about music each Sunday or Monday and if you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video, please! Otherwise, your post may be removed, or may  be labeled "No Music".)   Our head host is Xmas Dolly, and our co-hosts are Cathy from Curious as a Cathy, joined by the knowledgeable Stacy of Stacy Uncorked and, last but not least, ME.

We have a guest host this month-Mary Burris from "Jingle Jangle Jungle".

Today, our theme is "You Pick Your Own Theme."  So let's rock! I'm choosing songs with birds in the title.

Free Bird - Leonard Skynyrd, released in 1974.

El Condor Pasa (If I Could) - Simon and Garfunkel's 1970 cover of a Peruvian song.

Mockingbird - Carly Simon and James Taylor.  This live performance is from 1979.

The Beatles - Blue Jay Way, from 1967.  It's amazing how George Harrison can play the floor so well.

Bonus song if you have time:  1975's Fly Robin Fly from the West German group Silver Convention.

And that's a wrap!

Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me.

Library Shadows #ShadowshotSunday

From the Four County Library Road Trip, July 2023.

Shadows at the Moore Memorial Library in Greene, New York.

Shadows (a little hard to see) on a birding poster at the Vestal Public Library, Vestal, New York.

Joining Lisa at Lisa's Garden Adventure for #ShadowshotSunday.

A Gardening Milestone

We reached a gardening decision today which is a kind of milestone, but maybe not a totally happy one.

My spouse has gardened in a community garden for many years.  For most of this time, he has rented two in ground beds. Perhaps three years ago, I was able to get a raised bed for myself, because of my back issues.  

Raised Bed 6-17-21

At about the same time, spouse downsized to one inground bed.

Inground plot

Spouse took over my raised bed two years ago.  Last year, he was able to get two raised beds.  He has garlic in one of them, busy slumbering under a mulch.

But now, we are both in our 70's and have to face the fact that our bodies aren't what they used to be.

Due to a fall several years ago, spouse has damage (not fixable by surgery) in both shoulders, and this year he came to the reluctant conclusion that he can no longer manage the one remaining inground bed.

So spouse has made a reluctant decision.

No more inground beds.

Sunflower, 2018

I'm going to miss our sunflowers.  (we did grow dwarf sunflowers last year, but the varieties are limited).  We also grew potatoes.

Zucchini flower

 

I'll miss our zucchini.  It isn't that we can't grow it, it's that our space is going to be way reduced.  We are limited to two raised beds so everyone who needs one can get one.  That's understandable.

What we won't miss are the rocks, which we always have a bumper crop of.

There are two types of raised beds.  Our original bed was a "tall" bed, four feet by twelve feet, 30 inches high.  We also have one "short" bed, four feet by 10 feet, 16 inches high; the one we obtained last summer.

But with change comes new opportunities.  We do limited gardening at our home, where the only sunny area is in the front yard (and where all my flowers reside).  Last year we grew some potatoes in a bag and some kale (we still have some, in fact-it's survived the winter!) in a large barrel type planter.  The year before, we tried peppers (not too successful, for some reason) and chard (sucessful).

I know we'll make it work.

It is a kind of milestone, though, and a little sad.

Another Rare Winter Sunset #SkywatchFriday

On this Groundhog Day, I'm not featuring today's sky.  The skies have been so grim and white recently and the sunsets haven't been visible.  Rather, I want to think back to January 5, when we had one of our winter sunsets we could actually see.

Let's go down to the park where we view most all our sunsets.

There's that rare winter ball of sun, getting ready to set.

The clouds are just as impressive as the sunset colors.

In fact, how about concentrating on the clouds in this picture?

The sun has set, and it feels so serene.

Joining Yogi and other sky watching bloggers each Friday for #SkywatchFriday.

Groundhog Day Minus One

Are we already at the first day of February?  We are, and you know what that means.  Groundhog day is just around the corner. 

A happy summer groundhog near a local walking trail

February 2 is Skywatch Friday, so let me talk about February 2 today.

Tomorrow will be Groundhog Day in the United States, where we pull a groundhog out of the ground to predict the weather.   It's purely scientific, of course, and this is how it works: If the groundhog sees its shadow, we have six more weeks of winter.  If the groundhog doesn't see its shadow, we get an early spring.  

Of course, statistics tell us the groundhog is right less than 40% of the time. But tell that to the good people of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, who host the most famous groundhog of all.

The prediction for this year:  right now, tough to call.

I've been doing these posts for years because they are fun.

Last year a high of 36F (2.2C) and a low of 13F (-10.5 C).

2019 was the year of the polar vortex.  We in upstate New York didn't get the brunt of it, but still.  The morning before we set a new record of -10 (-23 C) with gusting winds.

2020, as we prepared to enter a pandemic period, the groundhog did not see its shadow.  But the weather did not listen, and we had a miserable spring, in the midst of our lockdown.  We even got snow in May, where I live in New York State.

2017?  It got up to 42F (5.5 Celsius) at our house.

In 2016, it was unseasonably warm for us. 

In 2015, one of our harshest Northeast winters in many years, the ground hog saw its shadow, despite the fact that it was overcast, and a rain/snow mix was moving in.  

In 2013, it didn't see its shadow and we still got six more weeks of winter.

The groundhog almost got the death penalty for that one.  Poor groundhog. (On the other hand, considering how many of my plants groundhogs have destroyed over the years, good thing I wasn't on that jury.) 

There are multiple predicting groundhogs in the United States, and they even compete with each other.  

And tomorrow, we do it again.