Current Photo Friday theme: Afternoon
The Houndstooth Hall pack groovin’ on a Friday afternoon: Anime, 10 years; Delta, 9 years; Jack, 8 years; Eva, 5 years. All rescued; all loved.
Author: Becky
Whirly Pigs
A very sweet friend sent a strand of wooden Whirly Pigs for my birthday. She knew and loved Aaron, making this a perfect addition to Aaron’s Garden.
I forgot to take pictures during the daylight after Tom hung it, so the lighting isn’t great. When the wind blows, the feathers become spinners. I can’t wait to see it in action when we get a good breeze. I’ve collected pigs most of my life, and feathers are a reminder of Aaron that his mother once shared with me.
Thank you so much! ❤️
Stream of consciousness
Here’s a stream of consciousness-style post to show how my brain comes up with a blog post.
Watching an Instagram account where dolls are used to reenact scenes from TV shows and movies. Second customer in a fast food joint is portrayed by a BTS doll, Jimin. I remember the time I blogged a photo of one of my characters in the Neverending Saga as portrayed by a Jimin doll that I found on eBay for a few dollars. The doll came without any of his original clothes or accessories, so I had to make the outfit in the photo.
Sometime after that, I was in a Barnes & Noble close to my doctor’s office after an appointment, and there Jimin was again, all nice in the box, at a deeply discounted price. Even though I already had a Jimin doll, I really love this character, so I bought him.
Then I remembered that I’d since found the BTS dolls at Five Below, which means they were priced at $5 or less, except one of the dolls was missing. I got the ones they had, and Tom was kind enough to go to a couple of more Five Below stores closer to his workplace, but no luck. Sad face. Then I decided I couldn’t have everyone in the group except for one (even if I did have Jimin twins). Back to eBay, and I bought the doll I was missing at a reasonable price. Ordered, delivered, the group was reunited!
But I don’t think I ever blogged a photo of them, I thought. I should do that. But what kind of background would I give them?
I then wondered, as I do from time to time, whatever happened to the smoking jacket given as a gift to my father by his civilian staff, all Korean, after his last tour of duty in Korea. It would be a great background for the dolls but I don’t have it. But what DID ever happen to that smoking jacket…
I texted my brother. Yep, at some point after Daddy died, Mother gave it to David. He still has it. He even had a picture of it on his phone, and here’s a detail of the jacket. Funny that I remembered it as bright blue, but I’ve accumulated a lot more memories since the last time I saw it. Thanks, David! I told him I love that he has it.
[I briefly thought about a nap dream I had the other day that began with me dreaming I was taking a nap, woke up, turned over, and my father was standing in the room. He was in uniform, and he looked like he did when I was about seven, but I was adult me in the dream. The absolute joy I felt when I saw him there. “Daddy!” I said, jumped up, and hugged him. “You’re home!” The dream moved on to other things, but every time I think of it, I remember the happiness of seeing him.]
I told my brother that I, too, once had a sort of pajama jacket that Daddy brought back from Korea, and I had no idea where it went to over the years. Suddenly I was pretty sure I had a picture of one of my nieces wearing it in a silly photo shoot I did of nephews and nieces after they created costumes out of clothes from my closet (probably 1986). Here you see Billy Idol, Prince, and two babes who look like they could have been on “Mod Squad” in the 1970s. That babe on the far right is wearing the red and black PJ jacket I was talking about.
But I still hadn’t photographed the BTS crew. So I did, against some of the fabric Debby gave me at Christmas. The end.
BTS Idol K-Pop Dolls: Jin, Jimin, J-Hope, Jung Kook, Suga, V, and RM
Tiny Tuesday!
Time to browse the book that inspired this weekly feature, and today I chose this prompt:
I’ve recently taken out my wee keyboard to see if I can still play any of the easy piano music I learned WAY BACK WHEN. Turns out I can (falteringly); it’d probably be a lot easier on an actual piano. The electronic keyboard really is wee, having only 26 white keys (natural music notes) and 18 black keys (sharps and flats). For comparison, a standard piano of 88 keys has 52 white keys and 36 black keys.
Still a lot of fun though, and coincidentally, this favorite old classic my parents liked to dance to is in the music book, so I took a (very slow) run through it.
Sounds better when Ella sings it.
Where would your sentimental journey take you?
Mood: Monday
The Fool
1997, acrylic on canvas
©Rolf Eichelmann, artist, Germany
Happy April Fool’s Day, and happy birthday to our friend Geri! I hope her day is full of mischief and celebration, if those are what she seeks.
Are you in a foolish mood in honor of the date? Did you know that Mercury goes retrograde today? I hope that planet doesn’t toy with you.
Today, instead of shenanigans, I have the first section of the seventh book in the Neverending Saga to edit: around 82 pages, so that I can pass it to my two readers for comments and criticisms. Then I’ll shift from this brooding character’s point of view to a more lighthearted character–lighthearted FOR NOW. Can’t be fiction without conflict!
Button Sunday
I’ll just trot out my old Easter Beagle button that I’ve used before, along with a new photo of the bunny from the last Easter basket my mother ever gave me (it was in the early 2000s so clearly I was an adult, but you can’t be too old for an Easter basket or a parent’s kindness–and speaking of a parent’s kindness, some of these eggs were gifts from my mother-in-law, many of which she made herself).
Song Challenge: Day 30
Today’s challenge–the last one!–is “a song that reminds you of yourself.” I’ve said Dan Fogelberg’s song “Scarecrow’s Dream” is my theme song since the first time I lay in front of the stereo and listened to the words in the late 1970s. In comments under this video on YouTube, someone says, “Thank you, kind spirit, for all of your wise words.” I will forever now think of Dan Fogelberg as “kind spirit.” And I, too, thank him.
Thank you, too, for sticking with me for the month, especially when/if you commented or shared your own artists and songs for the challenges. If I helped you remember some favorites of your own, I’m glad.
Seldom seen
A scarecrow’s dream
I hang in the hopes of replacement
Castles tall
I built them all
But I dream that I’m trapped in
The basement.
And if you ever hear me calling out
And if you’ve been by paupers crowned
Between the worlds of men and make-believe
I can be found.
Plans I’ve made
A masquerade
Fading in fear of the coming day
Heroes’ tales
Like nightingales
Wrestle the wind as they run away.
And if you ever hear them calling out
And if you’ve been by paupers crowned
Between the worlds of men and make-believe
I can be found.
Garden gate
An empty plate
Waiting for someone to come and fill
Scarecrow’s dreams
Like frozen streams
Thirst for the fall
But they’re running still.
And if you ever hear me calling out
And if you’ve been by paupers crowned
Between the worlds of men and make-believe
I can be found.
Photo Friday, No. 902
Current Photo Friday theme: Wet
Marina del Rey, California
This was shot on film in 1998, and I uploaded it and another photo from the same place to Flickr in 2008, but I don’t think I ever published either photo on my LiveJournal or this blog.
If there’s a place that haunts me, it’s this one. Maybe, as Stevie Nicks sings,
Well, I’ve been afraid of changin’
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m getting older, too
Maybe.
Song Challenge: Day 29
Today’s song challenge is “a song someone sang to you once.” How about sang to me too many times to count? If I was in a bad mood or just feeling playful, and Riley was there with his guitar, I made the same request: “Play ‘Rocky Raccoon,’ please!” I’ve shared on here before how one time when I made that request, he gave me a reproachful look.
Riley and other musicians were doing a tribute in a local bar to John Lennon in December 1980, days after the former Beatle was murdered. As much as everyone there loved playing and hearing the music, there was such a pervasive feeling of sadness among us. I couldn’t take it anymore and mouthed my request: “Rocky Raccoon.”
“That’s a McCartney song,” he answered off mic, not wanting to embarrass me.
“I know,” I said. “Please play it anyway. For me.”
He couldn’t refuse me. I don’t know about anyone else in the bar, but hearing Riley play and sing a song that always made me laugh was what I needed to keep my equilibrium that night. Whether or not John Lennon liked the song, as he once told us in a different song, Whatever gets you thru the night/It’s all right, it’s all right.
I thank Riley, always, for all the days and nights he got me through with his music and poetry, all the other artists’ music he introduced me to, his friendship and love, for sometimes testing me almost to the ends of my patience and endurance, his emotional support during my hardest times, and his ability to make me laugh.
In 2022, on the 42nd anniversary of John Lennon’s death, a group of musicians and fans gathered at the Strawberry Fields/Imagine memorial in Central Park, and there’s a video of them doing the song. I guess I’m not the only one. =)
Here’s the album version by the Beatles.
Song Challenge: Day 28
Today’s song challenge is “a song by an artist whose voice you love.” I was watching some television show one night a long time ago–I mean like 1970s or 1980s long time–I feel like it could have been a cop show–and they played Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me.” Even though the song was already familiar to me, maybe because of the show’s plot or the scene they showed while it played, who knows, it grabbed my attention that night. Despite all those other details having vanished, I’ve never forgotten how the song felt new and became a favorite from that point on.
I can’t say anything better about Sam Cooke’s voice than this quote from Wikipedia: Cooke is widely considered one of the greatest singers and most accomplished vocalists of all time. His incredibly pure tenor voice was big, velvety and expansive, with an instantly recognizable tone. His pitch was remarkable, and his manner of singing was effortlessly soulful. He could go as high as high C without losing purity or volume, and his upper mid-range was coated in a unique rasp. His vocal style was very adaptable, adopting a rather classical sound on jazz and pop songs while maintaining his trademark stylistic soulful hold on R&B, gospel, and soul music.