Halloween 2022

We had a very pleasant time sitting on the porch giving out candy on this Halloween night. It was a little bit chilly but the weather held up after a day of rain and we were dressed for it. I had our little speaker on the table playing my Rockin' Bones Halloween mix. We were rockin'. 

Becky bought a lot of candy but probably not as much as we did pre-pandemic. We were very busy tonight and ran out of candy a little earlier than usual at about 7:40. We usually give out candy from 6 until 8 pm. We had a nice crowd and the kids were once again all very polite and interesting. Lots of great costumes. Saw some friends from the neighborhood too.

There were about ten houses on our block giving out candy which was more than last year but not at the pre-pandemic level of a block party it had felt like in previous years. Mark next door set up his candy shute which was the first time since 2019. He had it lit up and it was a big draw for kids trick or treating on the street. 

We had so many little kids who wanted to talk with us and tell us about their costumes. One group wanted to explain everything in detail.  It was so much fun seeing the little ones.

Maybe things are getting back to normal. This was the first year since 2019 that the Parkside Community Association had their annual Halloween Party in the neighborhood at the church around the corner. That always made a difference when the party let out at around 7 pm with a surge of trick or treaters on the block.

At 8 pm the street went dark and the party was over. I was going to watch game three of the World Series tonight but it is raining in Philadelphia and the game has been rescheduled for tomorrow night.

Bird Guilt Trip

Last week during the very nice Indian Summer weather I took out the bird feeder and attached it to the porch. I was winterizing a lot of things and getting the shed storage area in order and decided to get the feeder out but I did not put any seeds in it yet. It was still early for that and there was plenty of seeds and stuff around for the birds to eat.

Well, it didn't take long for the birds to start coming around the feeder even though it was empty. Then they began to hang around on the porch railing and the shed roof. We actually saw some of them seemingly staring at us through the kitchen window and giving us a guilt trip. This started happening more and more. They wanted their seed. A couple of cardinals have been hanging around looking for their handout.

One of the little juncos has been sitting in the bottom of the feeder and looking longingly at the kitchen window as if pleading for some seeds. This happened again today. Also today a group of sparrows were perched all over the feeder itself and the pole it is hanging from. Then a larger group of them stood around on the shed roof waiting for something to happen.

Yesterday I had the birdseed problem. I had gone down to the basement where I had the bag of birdseed stored in a large covered plastic container. The bag was about a quarter filled. I was going to put the seed in the plastic dispenser to get ready for filling the birdfeeder sometime in the coming week or so. When I opened the container I was hit with a bad stench. Apparently the birdseed had gone bad. Very bad. There was a wet sludge in the bottom of the bag. I threw everything out and then washed out the containers. So now I need to go out and buy a new bag of birdseed sometime this coming week. Maybe tomorrow.

A New Music Screed

I've always been a little irked when someone would say something like there hasn't been any good music since... whenever. The 60's, the 70's, the 80's, the 90's, etc. The other day someone whom I've known online for many years had this to say which started out in a somewhat innocent post... 

"I know that I am completely behind the times when it comes to modern music. I could not name any song in the charts today, or any number 1 from 1990 onwards." OK, that's not too bad because if you just consider the music on the charts like the Billboard 100 then I agree completely. I haven't paid attention to music on the charts for many decades. Then there are responses from other people like this... each quote from a different person. 

• "Nothing new (last 25 years) moves me at all"
• "I’m clueless to most music after 1990"
• "The exact period I gave up on ‘new music’"
• "I have been contentedly out of touch with popular culture for the last 25 years at least"
• "I’ve been progressively more lost with music since I spent two years overseas in 1990-91. Since then I’ve heard maybe half a dozen artists whose albums I’ve enjoyed, and none since around 2010. But 1974 keeps sounding better!"
• "I don’t keep up at all either"

Over the years I've heard many similar responses to a discussion about new music. All of them had not made sense to me. It is something I've heard all of my life and was very prevalent when I was young. All the time we heard how the best music was the big bands from the 40's and and the crooners from the 50's. This was all our parents generation and the idea of the new music of rock and roll was abhorrent to many older people at that time. We heard it all the time about new music. The generation slightly older than us also talked about music in that manner. I can remember my Uncle Charlie, who was about a dozen years older than me, telling me how good the 50's rock and roll was and the new music of the late 60's was trash that he didn't like or understand. We heard that kind of attitude a lot about our music.

For many years I heard similar new music screeds from people of my generation that thought that anything coming after so called classic rock was junk. Then there were people from Gen X who thought that all the new good music ended in the 80's with New Wave, Punk and Hair Metal. Speaking of metal. There were a lot of people who have expressed the opinion that no good music has been made since the rise of Heavy Metal. Then there is Rap and that is it's own particular story that I'll need to devote an essay of some focused criticism and discussion at some other time. I do have my opinions. 

Last month I went out to dinner with some old friends from the neighborhood I grew up in. People I hung with all the time back in the 60's and 70's. The subject of music came up and of course they all knew I had an extensive collection of albums and loved all of my music. As we talked it became very apparent that most of the people sitting at the table only listened to the music of the 60's and 70's and paid no attention to anything released after later than the music of their youth. It was like a damn cliche. 

When asked by someone to name my favorite album or music I like to say it is something I haven't heard yet. It is some music I'm listening to for the first time. I have always loved listening to new music. All of my life I have read the reviews of upcoming albums decade after decade. I would spend hours browsing record stores and in particular the racks of new releases. As the Internet grew I spent more and more time looking at new releases on various music websites. I still do that weekly. Now days I also check out the new release playlists on Spotify. In particular I religiously listen to the weekly new releases of classical music that comes out every Friday. It's usually a Saturday morning ritual for me.

I stopped collecting new music when I retired at the end of 2016 so from 2017 on all of my new music listening has been on Spotify. I still go to my regular music sites each week and look at what has been released. If there is something I am interested in and there are usually at least a dozen albums then I look them up in Spotify and add them to my personal album collection in my account. Then over time I give them a listen. Yep, I love listening to new music.

Bass Clarinet

During my high school years I played the Bass Clarinet in the North Catholic concert band and then again in the Souderton High School band for one year. I started out playing the regular clarinet in grade school and on into high school. I played the clarinet in the marching band.

When I was nearly 12 I joined the Uptown String Band which was a Mummers Band and I started out there playing the clarinet. After about two years I switched to tenor saxophone. I also played the tenor in the Souderton marching band. I briefly tried playing the bass clarinet in the string band but it was too subtle of a sound and didn't really blend in with the other instruments.

I liked playing the bass clarinet in the concert band because it was a lot different than the regular marching band where being loud was the most important characteristic of the band. The concert band had a much greater range of sounds and volume. There were many times when there was a subtle bass clarinet solo happening. Usually there was only one or two bass clarinets in a concert band. I liked doing it. I never owned that instrument like I did with my clarinet and saxophone. It was always just on loan from the school.

I haven't touched a bass clarinet since the spring of 1969. 

Date Night - Trattoria Aroma

Earlier tonight Becky and I went out to dinner to one of our favorite restaurants Trattoria Aroma on Bryant Street. Our reservation was for 6:30 but we arrived at the restaurant a little after 6 and planned to sit at the bar if our table wasn't ready but it was. We soon had a couple of glasses of wine sitting in front of us. I had an amazing super Tuscan red and Becky had a nice Pinot white. Both Italian wines of course.

We had a wonderful dinner which we were started eating by 6:30 with a great Insalata Griglia and a nice basket of a variety of breads with some tasty garlic butter. We followed that with a delicious Pappardelle Bolognesse with homemade pasta and then a fabulous Verde Pizza that was spectacular and probably the best thing we ate all night. We shared everything and we had a some pieces of the pizza to take home too. 

The restaurant was not very crowded when we entered but by 7 it was almost full. The bar area was especially hopping. When we left near 8 o'clock the bar was full of people enjoying that pizza.

This was our first time at this restaurant since going there for my birthday in 2019 with Sean and Ashley. At that time the owner had recently sold off his other two suburban restaurants to concentrate on the Bryant Street one. Back at that time we could see the difference in a very positive way. The food there was definitely better. The restaurant had been going slightly down over the past couple of years and the prices had been going up. Well, in 2019 that changed. The quality of the food was much better and the costs had gone down. Then the pandemic struck. The owner closed the restaurant for awhile and took advantage of the downtime to renovate the place and expand the outside patio. We had been looking forward to getting back there as the pandemic progressed but we just didn't go out very much over the past couple of years. Now we are trying to get back to our weekly going out to dinner routine.

We were originally planning to go to Lombardo's because we have a gift certificate but we couldn't get a reservation. It was booked up a week in advance. We were fortunate to get a table at Trattoria Aroma too. It was mostly booked up on the online reservation service. Sometimes I wonder about the online booking programs and their effectiveness. Are all the tables in the restaurant listed there or are some tables held back for phone call reservations and walk-ins. There have also been issues with staffing in some restaurants since the pandemic and some tables are just not in service on a particular night with staffing problems. We saw that recently at Cole's where we ended up sitting at the bar for dinner with Sean and Tony. 

On our way home from Trattoria Aroma tonight we drove up Elmwood Avenue and from what we could see in windows it looked like every restaurant on the street was crowded. Apparently a lot of people like going out to dinner at a nice restaurant on Thursday nights. We do and it's a lot less crazy than Friday and Saturday nights plus it works with our retirement "schedule".

Many years ago we loved going to this restaurant when it was Just Pasta back in the 1980's. It was one of our favorite restaurants back the too.

Back in the Sunroom

It's a sunny afternoon in late October and our sitting in our backyard sunroom enjoying the day. It's about 47 degrees outside but the temperature in here is 80 degrees with the sun shining in the windows. The music is playing.

I winterized the room last week during our nice warm weather, took down the screens and sealed the windows. I rearranged the room to once again be used during the winter. This will be the third year I've done this which has actually been a pandemic response thing. For a couple of decades I always just stored lawn furniture, wheel barrels and stuff in this room and locked it up for the winter. I still have a little more to do here which includes taking the good chairs from the porch after Halloween and bringing them back here to the sunroom. The chairs in here now and a couple more still in the backyard will then go into the shed behind the sunroom. 

I have the music playing some of the Paste sampler CDs I wrote about last month when I brought them out to the sunroom. 

It is very pleasant out here today. Later this evening Becky and I are going out to dinner at Trattoria Aroma. We're trying to get back to our pre-pandemic retirement going out to dinner routine which was at least once a week.

Right before I came out here Becky and I did a walk through the neighborhood. It was a little chilly but very nice. Got to keep moving.

A Bite of an Apple

After lunch today I took a bite of an apple that suddenly triggered some very intense memories. Over the past several years I've eaten many apples but mostly pieces that Becky had cut up and shared with me after a lunch or dinner. We enjoyed those slices of apple. Today was different. The other day Becky bought home a bag of apples from the Co-Op and so I went into the fridge and came out with an apple. I washed it off and immediately too a bite. Then another. At first I started thinking about eating apples as a kid and the bushels full that my parents got from "the farmer" who delivered fruit and eggs to our door every week. We were always getting baskets of apples, oranges, pears, etc. from him. 

A few bites into that apple and then it really hit me. I was once again eating on board a Navy ship at sea which was actually a rare experience that was occasionally enjoyed and savored by everyone onboard. Fresh food was not always available and was only eaten regularly while in port or for a few days after a at sea replenishment from a supply ship. Otherwise fresh food and in particular fresh fruits were not around very often. A rare treat. So today as I took a bite of an apple I had that rush of memories of how good it was to eat an apple back in the day.

When apples were available onboard there would be piles of them in the mess decks that were there for the taking but they didn't last long. This was true of all fresh fruits and also milk. Fresh milk was something to savor. While at sea there would be plenty of powdered milk but I could never drink any of it. The only other thing to drink at sea was "bug juice" which was actually some cheap imitation of Kool-Aid or something like that. There would be large containers of drink powder in storage near the mess deck. 

Re-supply at sea was a big thing especially during a long deployment. It was an all hands on deck activity and a work detail for everyone except the higher ranking lifers and officers. For us E-4 and below it was a long chain line of guys passing boxes from the deck where the supplies came aboard, through the hatches, down the passageways, and deep into the bowels of the ship where food supplies were put in storage. Everyone worked at it in one way or another. Everyone had to eat.

So over the course of eating that apple I relived some of those experiences from some fifty years ago.

Bad Back and a New Mattress

For the past couple of months Becky has had some recurring back problems. Recently it has been especially bad after sleeping in our bed. It's no fun waking up to a sore back. Her back improved while we were staying at Katie's house in Philly but then she had a relapse when we were back at home and sleeping in our regular bed.

Becky made arrangements with a doctor to go to physical therapy for her back. The sessions were helping but something needed to be done about our mattress which we've had for a very long time.

She began to go out to furniture companies and looking at new mattresses. She went out several times and tried out many mattresses. She narrowed down what she though she needed which was a combination of a firm mattress but with some give to it. She decided to take me with her to City Mattress and try to make a decision.

On Thursday of last week we both went to City Mattress and tried out several mattresses that Becky had previously checked. We had a very efficient salesperson helping us out. He also pointed out some other options. In the end we decided to buy a new Serta mattress.

We arranged to have it delivered the following Tuesday and to have our bedroom mattress moved to the guest room and then have that mattress taken out of the house. That other really old mattress we've had since the 80's.

Two very nice men came and delivered our new mattress on Tuesday morning. They were very efficient and everything was set up in about a half hour. They also marveled at the quality of the old 80's mattress they were removing from our home. They especially liked the old box spring which was probably going to a new home somewhere.

So now we got to try it out and see how it feels. We have 30 days to change it for another if it doesn't work out. We'll see. Becky is also ordering a foam mattress cover that will give it some more comfort. 

Glass of Beer - Go-J

Go-J Soul Ale from Druthers Brewery in Sarasota Springs, NY. Sean have given me several pint cans of beers from this brewery located near his home. I've enjoyed them all. This particular can has been sitting around here since the summer just waiting for that perfect time to drink it. It was delicious. I've always had a fondness for a good sour over the past dozen years or so. It's an acquired taste that I developed and have enjoyed. Especially in the summer. At 7% ABV this brew is a little stronger than the usual sour ale that generally run about 4%. 

Today was a good day to drink this beer because it was the last of the warm weather days of this Indian Summer we are currently enjoying and this great weather will be gone tomorrow. It was such a beautiful day today and I spent most of it in the backyard doing the last of our fall chores and preparing for winter.

It was actually 78 degrees today and sunny. A perfect day to drink a sour ale. 

This is Happiness indeed. The book in the photo is a wonderful story of a man growing up in a very rural countryside Irish village. A very fascinating tale.

Bunny Alert

Earlier this evening at dusk I took a little walk around the backyard. It was still very warm out and a pleasant sunset. I had walked towards the way back and was standing there enjoying the evening when I noticed a rabbit a few feet away. I had missed it because it blended into the grass and fallen leaves. It was quite still and staring at me. Then it started munching grass while keeping an eye on me. Now this would ordinarily not be anything special except for the past couple of months we have not seen very many bunnies in our backyard. We also have not seen any during our walks through the neighborhood.

In late August and early September we had a coyote or maybe it was fox hanging around the neighborhood and seen my many residents including me. I wrote a post about our neighborhood coyote back then. We have seen hardly any rabbits since that time... until this evening.

In mid-August when Katie and the kids were here visiting us we went for walks in the evenings with the kids to look for bunnies. We would see lots of them and Clara in particular was very good at spotting bunnies. One evening we counted ten of them just within a few blocks of our house. Now of course Becky and I are sometimes taking our walks earlier in the evening or sometimes in the late afternoon which may be limiting the number of rabbits we see but recently we haven't seen any at all no matter what time of the day we walk through the neighborhood. It has been a little disturbing and especially in our backyard where I haven't seen a bunny in close to two months. Until this evening.

So I was very happy to see this bunny. I had been used to seeing multiple bunnies all over our yard all summer who would often come within a couple of feet of me while I sat in the yard. I quietly backed away from this cautious rabbit in our yard and went back into the house. I told Becky about seeing this little guy, she was excited too and wanted to see him. She got up from the couch, put on some shoes and and we both went back out. At first she couldn't see the rabbit became of the darkness and the camouflage. He was well hidden but then there he was. Becky was overjoyed to see him too. Then we both went happily back into our house knowing that the bunnies were back.

Down on the Waterfront

It was warm sunny Indian Summer October day. After her morning in her art studio  Becky went over to the CVS for her appointment to receive her Covid-19 booster and her flu shot. I was working in the backyard. After lunch we drove down to the waterfront and parked the car at Gallagher Beach which is part of the Buffalo Harbor State Park. We walked along the beach to the main park area. We sat on a bench and watched the lake for awhile. It was not very crowded down there because after all it was a Monday afternoon.

It actually took us a little longer than usual to get down there today because of two factors. First off there was a ship passing through the Buffalo River and the Michigan Avenue bridge over to the River Works area was closed or I should say open to let the ship pass and traffic was suddenly backed up. We made the left turn on to Ohio Street and went on for a bit before we realized the Ohio Street bridge was still closed for repairs. We decided to take the round about route through the nearby South Buffalo neighborhood rather than doubling back to the Michigan Ave bridge and the traffic problems there. We took another left on to South St and then over to South Park Ave. I used my phone map to guide us down Hopkins Street which took us to Tifft Street and then directly back to the waterfront on Fuhrmann Boulevard. Then we pulled into Gallagher Beach.

We sat on that bench watching the bikers and dog walkers, the skaters and the many people enjoying the wonderful weather along the water. After awhile we decided to head back. At first we thought we would stop at another spot along the water but then decided to go back home as it was getting close to the coming rush hour traffic which we consistently try to avoid. 

On the way back we took Ohio Street and then Ganson heading toward the Michigan Street Bridge which was open again. Along the way near River Works we saw the demolition of one of the grain elevators that had been causing so much controversy and court cases this past year. Well, it's on its way down now. We stopped and I took a photo. A little later we were back home. It was a nice afternoon.

World Series - Phillies vs Astros

The Phillies beat the San Diego Padres on Sunday 4-1 and have earned a place a place in the 2022 World Series. They beat the Cardinals, the Braves and now the Padres to get through the NL playoffs and to the World Series.

Yesterday the Houston Astros beat the New York Yankees 6-5 in a sweep of their four game series to also get to the World Series. They had previously swept the Mariners in the playoffs and going into the Series have not lost a game in the post season.

The series will start this coming Friday and should be interesting. All of he sports magazines and online sites have the Astros as the dominant team and there is even talk of sweeping the Phillies and remaining unbeaten in the post season. 

Well I'm excited about the Phillies getting to the World Series after some exciting playoff baseball. It has been eleven years since they've been in the post season and it was 2009 and 2008 when they were last playing in the Series.

Tom @ 70

Yesterday was my brother Tom's birthday. He would have turned 70 and we would have shared that Irish Twin thing of being the same age for a couple of months. I was thinking about him all day and especially while watching that awesome Phillies game last night. Becky was watching a baking show in the living room and I was sitting at the kitchen table with the game on my laptop. I felt like he was in the room with me talking about the game. I had to open two beers.

Tom was a very intense baseball fan from a very early age. Our grandmother's brother Uncle Tom began taking us down by trolley to Connie Mack Stadium in 1961. Tom became obsessive about filling out the box score sheets as the game progressed. I liked eating hot dogs and watching the crowd. We liked to sit in the outfield and watch Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Richie Allen, etc. In our early teens Tom and I would take the trolley and go to games by ourselves. I think the last time we did that was in 1968. Later we went to some games together at the Vet.

Last night as the Phils came back to whoop the Padres again I was thinking about Tom's fantasy baseball game that he developed back in the early 1960's that we played incessantly for several years. I previously wrote about Tom's Baseball Game here. The teams were made up of real players but were Philly neighborhood teams like Germantown vs Tioga, Port Richmond vs Oak Lane, etc. It was a lot of fun. The plays were made with dice and we kept track of the games and the standings in one of those black and white school notebooks. Each game took about 20 minutes. We played the game up in our room and I can still see our brother Dan, who was in our room too, standing in his crib watching us roll the dice.

I'm sure Tom is somewhere enjoying this baseball season and the Phillies run in the playoffs.

The Tooth Fairy

Our six year old grandson Henry lost his first tooth yesterday. It was an important time for him as he was one of the last kids in his first grade class to not have a gap in his smile from a missing baby tooth. Now he is proudly happy and another one is ready to go soon. He had been wiggling that tooth for what seemed like weeks. The tooth was gone but also not found. The family did wonder a bit about where the tooth ended up. Hopefully Violet didn't find it on the floor.

Last night he got a visit from the tooth fairy and was happy to find a five dollar bill under his pillow. 

I thought about losing my baby teeth back in first grade and our family visits by the tooth fairy. I remember finding a quarter under my pillow. That was a significant amount of money for a six year old back then and with 25 cents you could buy five candy bars down at the corner store. 

Update: Henry lost his second tooth but still nobody could find it.

A Perfect Day... for Rugby in the Park

Today was a perfect day for a walk in Delaware Park on a Saturday afternoon. It was sunny and the mid 70's. Indian Summer in October which was especially nice after a week of cold temperatures and constant rain. We are looking forward to the next few days which will be warm and sunny.

We saw our first rugby game in progress near where we enter the park. There was a big crowd watching the game and there was a lot of excitement. We stopped to watch for a bit and I took some pictures. We were on the path alongside the rugby field. At one point an errant kick came soaring over the crowd towards us. For a split second I thought maybe I could catch it but nope, I let it go and it was actually way too high. It went into a tree next to us and bounced around on some branches before it eventually got stuck in the tree. A player from the sideline came over and jumped up to knock the ball out of the tree and into his hands. A very entertaining moment but the ball was quickly put back into play and the game went on. So did we and continued our walk through the park and around to the zoo.

It is very nice having the park down the street from us and the zoo too. We renewed our zoo membership this year and are looking forward to spending some of our walking time there. We sort of forgot about going through the zoo until we were walking past the parking lot which was full on this nice Saturday afternoon. It is still fun to walk around the outside of the zoo and to see all of the families coming and going. The Halloween decorations were appearing along the zoo walkways.

Usually we see soccer and basketball being played in the park during our walks. It is always interesting during the fall to see those rugby games on Saturday afternoons. Sometimes we can hear the cheering from those games while in our backyard.

Glass of Beer - Dankful IPA

Dankful IPA, an American IPA from Sierra Nevada Brewing. I have generally liked every beer I've ever had from Sierra Nevada and this one included. This is a good IPA but not extraordinary. Very tasty.

I first had this hoppy West Coast style IPA when it was introduced last fall and was part of their Dankful Program that supports nonprofit community organizations.

I enjoyed this beer while watching the Phillies beat the Padres for the second time in game three of their best of seven playoff series. 

Random Album Effect - Little 2

Another set of music with Little in the title of the album. This group was a little more eclectic. 

I started off this evening with the one hit wonder group The Music Explosion with their hit A Little Bit Of Soul from 1967. It was mostly downhill from that point for this Best Of album released in 2002. It was mostly run of the mill white boy garage rock of the mid-1960's. The vocals were usually good but the arrangements sounded like a Young Rascals wannabe band. It was an entertaining peak at a time and a place in the 1960's. Of course they had their share of cover songs on this album too including their version of 96 Tears and a version of The Little White Egg. 

From there the music switched to very drastic modern electronic sound of Groove Armada and their 2015 album Little Black Book. This album had some definite high points and low points. It was dance music that often turned into background music and close to being used on an elevator. That being said I did like this album and I do like this English electronic duo and especially their earlier albums which go back to the late 1990's. I have nine of their albums in my collection.

Next up was a surprise. I had forgotten about the Seattle grunge band Harvey Danger and their later third album Little by Little released in 2005. It actually sounded pretty good and I was pleasantly surprised by the music which had a sound that had moved on from grunge into a more power pop feel. I liked it and I'm sure I probably only listened to this a couple of times when I got it about fifteen years ago. I also have their first album Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone? released in 1997. I'm going to need to listen to that album again soon.

The set ended with one of my favorite bands Talking Heads and an album that I probably don't listen to enough or as much as most of their other albums. Little Creatures from 1985. It sounded great. The album also contained some alternate versions of some of the most popular songs from that album which sounded nice. 

Overall I really liked listening to these albums at this time and it was an example of why l like doing these Random Album Effect sets. This was a variety of music that I hadn't listened to in awhile. Music that was off my radar but on my hard drive there for the experience at any time.

• The Music Explosion - Little Bit of Soul: Best of The Music Explosion, 2002
• Groove Armada - Little Black Book, 2015
• Harvey Danger - Little By Little, 2005
• Talking Heads - Little Creatures, 1985

Like a Head of Lettuce

 

The new prime minister of Great Britain lasted 44 days in office. It seemed like a joke on the news but no one seemed to know what is going to happen next and who will the new Prime Minister next week.

It was fun to watch this person get mocked in Parliament. She obviously didn't know what she was doing and actually made that last guy look good.

The Lake Effect Rain

We are hopefully nearly done with our week of constant lake effect rain. We got a lot of heavy rain at times but the ground just soaked it all up. Our local drought had definitely ended this week and the weather forecast calls for clearing skies tomorrow and gradually warming temperatures. Sunday is supposed to be 70 degrees and sunny.

We didn't get enough rain all summer and although the gardens were fine with enough constant watering the ground was always dry. This past week changed all that and our grass is the greenest it's been in awhile. Most of the leaves in our backyard have come down and we had very few black walnuts this year. Now I'm looking forward to getting some yard work done this weekend and completing the sealing up of the backyard sunroom.  

Pumpkin Pie in a Glass

This is my first Pumking Imperial Pumpkin Ale of the season from Southern Tier. It is something I enjoy every year. Printed on the four pack container is "pumpkin pie in a glass". Indeed. It is my favorite pumpkin ale. I had some of New Belgium's Atomic Pumpkin Spicy Release last month and I still have a couple of cans left. Very tasty too. 

The first time I checked in this beer on Untppd was in November 2014 and I've had it every year since.

We recently got a couple of books on Barcelona and we are planning a trip there next year. It was one of my favorite places I visited fifty years ago while in the Navy.

I was watching the Phillies lose to San Diego 8-5 in another window on my laptop while writing this post. Series tied 1-1. 

Random Album Effect - Little

Random Album Effect - Little

A four pack of albums that I played today that all start with Little in the title. I started off with a Vic Chestnutt album from 1990 called Little. That was the start. I like Vic Chestnutt very much and have a dozen albums of his in my collection. This is the earliest one and was indeed his first recorded record. This album was produced by Michael Stipe of R.E.M. It was just the singer and his guitar. 

The next up in this sequence was from the band Blanche and their album Little Amber Bottles from 2007. Their sound could be described as gothic indie-country-folk-rock influenced by early American folk music coming from snake oil wild eyed preachers. Weird Americana. This band backed up Loretta Lynn on her Van Lear Rose album, toured with The White Stripes and Calexico. I have both their albums and love them both. It was a treat listening to this one today.

This was followed by Little Bird, the seventh album, from Australian country music artist Kasey Chambers. It is a little more pop country than her earlier albums but very entertaining. While listening to this Becky and I were talking about being a country singer in Australia from the outback. I have eight of her albums in my collection. 

I closed this set with Norah Jones' fifth album Little Broken Hearts from 2012 and produced with Danger Mouse which is probably why this record sounded uniquely different from other albums in her catalog. I have seven of her albums and all are were released before this except for one from 2016. All of her albums are on the Blue Note label and I've liked them on. She has a wonderful voice although I'm not always excited by her material. This album certainly had a different sound which could be described as experimental chamber electronic embellished confessional songs that explores the dark side of love. Well, it sounded pretty good.

• Vic Chesnutt - Little, 1990
• Blanche - Little Amber Bottles, 2007
• Kasey Chambers - Little Bird, 2011
• Norah Jones - Little Broken Hearts, 2012

Double Shot

Today I got a double shot of vaccines. The most recent Covid-19 booster from Pfizer which is actually my fifth vaccine shot. I had to get a new vaccine card because my original one was filled up. There was no room to document this new shot. So now I'm carrying around two Covid-19 vaccine cards. I hope that's it. 

So I also got my annual flu shot today. No need for cards with that one. I got both shots in the same arm. Needles to say my left arm is a little sore now. Hopefully I won't feel any negative affects from these shots today and tomorrow. I didn't have any problems following the previous Covid shots but I do sometimes not feel well after a flu shot.

Update: two days later and no issues with the shots.

Leaping Josh Allen

The Buffalo Bills beat the Kansas City Chiefs this past Sunday. It was a great game to watch on TV. Becky was watching one of her shows on the TV ad I was watching the game on my laptop in a window while doing some writing. It was an exciting game and towards the end I thought Becky might want to check out the conclusion which was in doubt. Both teams were pushing hard so at the two minute warning we put it on in the living room. We were both there in time to see the Bills pull out the win at the end but we also got to see Josh Allen's amazing leap over an opposing player. Becky was stunned to see that exciting play just as we turned on the TV to watch the end of the game.  It was also kind of scary to see the franchise player, the quarterback that the team depended on, putting himself at risk of injury in such a spectacular way.

That play was a highlight reel for the ages and in this day and age it quickly became a viral meme on social media all over the place.

Robert Gordon RIP

I was sad to hear that neo-rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon passed away today at the age of 75. I always enjoyed his albums and especially those early ones with Link Wray. I played them a lot during my bar DJ record spinning years back in the day. 

A lot of the regulars in the Pastime liked it when I played this stuff. They knew the songs and having Link Wray playing his killer guitar licks helped a lot. His music always sounded good in a crowded bar.

I'm listening to one of his live albums with Link Wray on guitar as I write this. Rock Billy Boogie indeed. 

Robert Gordon albums in my collection:

• Fresh Fish Special, 1978
• Rock Billy Boogie, 1979
• Bad Boy, 1980
• Greetings From New York City, 1991
• Satisfied Mind, 2004
• The Way I Walk - Live, 2011

I Can Hear Music - Brian Wilsonesque

I Can Here Music - A Brian Wilsonesque Mix

A few years ago I put together some mixes that were Beach Boys music influenced and of course that mainly meant Brian Wilson. 

When I started looking into my collection I was really surprised at how many songs I had that fit the description of being Beach Boys influenced and so many that actually sounded like that band in almost every way. My California Dreamin' Brian Wilsonesque mega mix had about 150 songs. I broke that down and I'm putting together a few short mixes to load on MixCloud like this one.

It turns out that this mix as it is right now cannot be played on MicCloud because apparently there is a limit of 4 songs by one artist on a show. I used the Beach Boys seven times on this mix and therefore it violated their copyright rules. I will need to make some edits and adjustments in order to have this particular mix loaded and playable on MixCloud. In the meantime... here it is.

• I Can Here Music - The Beach Boys
• That's Why God Made The Radio - The Beach Boys
• Ride - Wondermints
• The Love Songs of B Douglas Wilson - Splitzville
• God Only Knows - She & Him
• Ever Thought of Coming Back - Kelley Stoltz
• Forever - The Explorers Club
• Don't Worry Baby - The Beach Boys
• The Little Girl I Once Knew - The Beach Boys
• Back In Your Arms Again - BMX Bandits
• It's Nice To Be Nice - Pugwash
• Pale and Precious - Dukes of Stratosphere
• At My Most Beautiful - R.E.M.
• The Warmth of the Sun - Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs
• Don't Mind - Jason Byrd
• You're The Best - The Paley Brothers
• Sycamore Bay - The Vinyl Kings
• Outta Mind (Outta Sight) - Wilco
• You're So Good To Me - The Beach Boys
• Surf's Up - The Beach Boys
• Falling Apart - Emile Haynie, Andrew Wyatt & Brian Wilson
• Anyway - Frank Ciampi
• London's a Lonely Town - Dave Edmunds
• Criterion - The Ruby Suns
• Cherry Sky - The Pearlfishers
• Blind Date - The Squires of The Subterrain
• Caroline, No - DM3
• Good Vibrations - The Troggs
• Sail On, Sailor - The Beach Boys
• Do It Again - Brian Wilson, Wendy Wilson & Carnie Wilson

The Rings of Power

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is a television series prequel to The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings films currently on Amazon Prime. The first of five seasons has been available this fall on Amazon. I have been watching over the past several weeks and this evening I watched the first season finale. There were eight episodes for this first season. 

I also went back and watched the three Lord of the Rings expanded edition of the films and the three expanded editions of The Hobbit. I wrote about that here in my Lord of the Rings... Again post.

This story takes place thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in what is referred to as the Second Age of Middle Earth. 

I've read J. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings back in the 1970's but never did read any of his stories about the history of Middle Earth which this new series is based on. The main book following the death of Tolkien was The Sirmarillion that was published in 1977. In the 1980's there was a series of books by Tolkien and edited by his son that described this history of Middle Earth. The events that are described in this five season series takes place over several thousand years in these books but for this show are condensed into a much shorter time period. 

I was a little lost in following what was going on although there were lots of familiar people and places especially among the Elves. I did have to read up on the backstory of the Rings in Wikipedia. 

I'm looking forward to seeing more of this fantasy series and I'm thinking of maybe even checking out one of these books. 

I'm The Wolfman

I'm The Wolfman - Monster Vision Mix. Another reworking of an old Halloween mix. Ran it through Audacity and created a one MP3 file mix.

Lots of creepy classics.

• I'm The Wolfman - The Fuzztones
• Goo Goo Muck - The Cramps
• Ghouls Night Out - The Misfits
• Running Through My Nightmares - The Chesterfield Kings
• Night Of The Sadist - Larry & The Blue Notes
• Gary Gilmore's Eyes - The Adverts
• I Put A Spell On You - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
• Monster Mash - Bobby Pickett
• Witch Doctor - David Seville
• The Twilight Zone - The Ventures
• Timothy - The Buoys
• He's Evil - The Kinks
• Witchy Woman - Eagles
• Voodoo Child - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
• Magic Man - Heart
• Spooky - Lydia Lunch
• I Am Stretched Out On Your Grave - Sinead O'Connor
• Tubular Bells Part 1 - Mike Oldfield
• The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash
• Dealing With The Devil - Imelda May
• Devil Doll - X
• Devil In My Car - The B-52's
• Transylvania - Creature With The Atom Brain
• Halloween - Siouxsie & The Banshees

Eye Exam

I had an eye exam today at the Ross Eye Institute out on Sheridan Drive. This was my first time seeing an eye doctor in several years. I wasn't having a problem with anything but I'm nearly 71 years old now and I should get my eyes examined regularly. I hadn't been to Ross Eye in about a dozen years and then I had gone to their downtown office. More recently I had gone to an eye doctor on Elmwood Ave which then closed so it was back to Ross Eye where Becky had also just been for an eye exam.

I was shocked today that the office waiting room was so crowded. I counted about 40 people in chairs packed closely together. There were also several people standing around outside. Everyone was wearing masks. I waited about 45 minutes before seeing a technician who ran some tests. Then it was back to the waiting room for about another 20 minutes before I saw the eye doctor.

The eye doctor gave me a very through exam and she was very knowledgeable. She said I had the very early stages of a cataract which should be watched closely and I also had a very slight indication of early glaucoma although I certainly do not have any symptoms of that problem. She was also very interested in my family history of aneurysms. She was very fascinated about my situation with an aneurysm located directly behind my eye and the potential possibility of a rupture or bleed causing blindness. She is having me tested and scanned to monitor any potential pressure on the eye from a possible growing aneurysm. She considered me a special case. I feel pretty good about it.

It turned out that there were some significant staff shortages today and both the technician and doctor apologized for the long wait time. That being said, everyone I dealt with today was very professional and nice. After my examination with the doctor I then saw another technician who did some eye scan pictures. Then I was back to the checkout desk where I made some future appointments. One for special scan in January and then annual exam next October. My appointment today was at 1:30 and I got out to the parking lot about 3:50 pm. 

Sympathy for the Devil - Monster Vision Halloween Mix

Sympathy For The Devil - Another Monster Vision Halloween Mix that I recently reworked. I used the file edit program Audacity to create the one file mix. I then posted a copy to the Side A Side B social media group.

The original post from October 2015 is here. There have been some rearrangement and significant changes to the mix but basically the same creepy feel.

• Sympathy for The Devil - Rickie Lee Jones
• The Devil's Radio - Robyn Hitchcock
• Red Right Hand - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
• Evil Man - Shelby Lynne
• I Go Evil - Chris Whitley & The Bastard Club
• The Devil Walks - Roma di Luna
• Whistlin' Past The Graveyard - Tom Waits
• Psycho Main Title - Petra Haden
• Vampire Girl - Jonathan Richman
• She's Still Bewitching Me - The Green Pajamas
• Evil Woman - Electric Light Orchestra
• I Been Hoodood - Dr. John
• The Witch Queen Of New Orleans - Redbone
• Devil With The Green Eyes - Matthew Sweet
• Walking Dead - Alex Chilton
• Zombie Dance - The Cramps
• I Walked With A Zombie - Heliotropes
• Stranger Things - Michael Stein
• At The Mountains Of Madness - H.P. Lovecraft
• Psycho Killer - Talking Heads
• Yes, I'm A Witch - Yoko Ono
• Voodoo - Chris Isaak
• Walkin' With The Devil - Seasick Steve & The Level Devils
• Evil (Is Going On) - Howlin' Wolf