My title is a reference to an old Sandpipers song that was the theme for the 1969 film The Sterile Cuckoo, starring Liza Minnelli. I remember when it was overplayed on the radio, but I rarely hear it anymore.
Weekend Part 1:
I’d intended for Friday to be a low-key day. I took Debby to an appointment in the morning, where I read in the car while I waited. Then we picked up lunch and came home. I did some housework, napped, read some more, and chilled. I’d already decided to take the weekend off social media, ignore email, etc., and that’s why I’m now backdating several posts.
Things took an exasperating turn when I accidentally let a pot of potatoes and eggs burn–I was cooking them for expected guests to Saturday’s dinner that would include potato salad. I was furious with myself for the waste of food and time. I really can’t multitask when I’m cooking. I get too distracted…and that’s how I burn stuff. I threw out the mess, cleaned up the kitchen and eliminated the smell with Tom’s help, and boiled another large batch of potatoes and eggs. I was able to complete the potato salad and refrigerate it before I shut everything down for the night.
As I was getting ready for bed, I got a text from Tim letting me know news had just hit that Taylor Hawkins, age 50, drummer of the Foo Fighters from 1997 to present, had died. I’ll grab a bit of info from his Wikipedia page rather than try to sum up his career myself:
…he was [also] the touring drummer for Sass Jordan and for Alanis Morissette, as well as the drummer in the progressive experimental band Sylvia.
In 2004, Hawkins formed his own side project, Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, in which he played drums and sang, releasing three studio albums between 2006 and 2019. He formed the supergroup NHC with Jane’s Addiction members Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney in 2020, where he also took on lead vocal and drumming duties…The band’s sole album is due for release in 2022.
Alongside his work with Foo Fighters and fronting his own projects, Hawkins was an occasional studio session drummer, recording with Elton John, [Miley] Cyrus, [Glen] Campbell, Perry Farrell, Stevie Nicks, Coheed and Cambria, P!nk, Slash, Bob Mould, and Eric Avery, amongst others.
Hawkins was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021 as a member of Foo Fighters. He was voted “Best Rock Drummer” in 2005 by the British drumming magazine Rhythm. He died on March 25, 2022, in Bogotá, Colombia, after emergency services were called to his hotel room, where Hawkins had been suffering from chest pain.
This news gutted me–I have my own musical reasons for loving Taylor Hawkins, and he was known for being a genuinely good guy. He overcame a lot of the afflictions that beset artists in the music industry (early reports imply some of those might be the cause of death), and the joy that emanated from him in public and when he performed was a brilliant light.
At Christmas, one of my gifts from Timothy was this book:
I haven’t read it, because as I’ve said over the last couple of months, I was trying to finish other books, tackle my TBR pile, and by the end of this month, you’ll see that I devoted March to fiction only. Reading Grohl’s book, which I’ve been excited about, will be bittersweet and likely sad, because he and Hawkins were not just bandmates, they were best friends, brothers by choice, and soul mates.
This all put me in a subdued mood on Friday night. I finally checked social media to read reports about his death and to express my sadness on Instagram, where I follow and am followed by musicians and music fans, as his death is one that is getting a strong reaction from those groups.
Just before I turned in, Lynne and I exchanged a few texts, and I went to sleep determined that Saturday would be a better day.
Weekend Part 2:
Tom does several hours of volunteer work on Saturday mornings, so it was just the dogs and me when I woke up. I decided to begin my day by reading in bed for a while, which meant when I heard the doorbell, I had to make a quick stop to the bathroom before I could find out who was getting a delivery.
Turns out it was ME getting the delivery, but it wasn’t flowers or packages. It was Lynne with her little girl Minute arriving as a complete surprise! Since she hasn’t visited since May of last year due to other commitments as well as Covid surges and variants, this was a FANTASTIC beginning of the day. We got to spend five hours talking and catching up, and once Tom got home, sharing my first birthday cake of the day.
OMG, it was so good, and that groovy puzzle is also from her.
We’re planning more get-togethers in the near future. She took home the sketchbook she keeps here for her coloring pages, so she could fill it with all the pages she’s done while we’ve been separated during the pandemic. Also, Mark, she does intend to help me come up with some ideas to make our yard prettier. I got to see lots of photos of what she’s doing with her own yard, which is huge, varied, and already looking like spring.
After she left, Tom and I did a little more housekeeping to prepare for:
Weekend Part 3:
My birthday. I’m so grateful for receiving an abundance of messages, cards, texts, and gifts (many of which will show up in future posts). Getting to see friends ON my birthday for the first time since 2019 was amazing.
Debby baked me a chocolate cake, and that’s a giant cinnamon roll with a candle in it because The Brides wanted to also have a belated celebration of Tom’s birthday; that was his dessert from them. He grilled burgers, ‘dogs, and a couple of steaks Lindsey brought, and my contribution was UNBURNED potato salad.
Jack’s contribution was staying at Debby’s with Stewie so he couldn’t bug Tim, and the other dogs were happy to see Pepper and Tim’s pack after getting to visit with Minute earlier in the day. All of them are the reason, after all, we are called Houndstooth Hall.
Rhonda let me know this is the ONE day of the year I’m allowed to wear this baseball shirt in her presence. Later, I suggested if I wore it any other day, we could get a photo of her holding up a different finger.
Celebrating with Timothy, Lindsey, Rhonda, and that little camera-fiend Eva, who spent the entire party trying to make everyone see that she got a mani-pedi in honor of the day. Not pictured are Tom and Debby. I lamented that even with four photographers present, we hardly take pictures anymore.
Though the weekend got off to a somber start, it turned out to be a wonderful day to celebrate being born and still being on the planet. Thank you to everyone who made it special.
Come Saturday morning, I’m goin’ away with my friend
We’ll Saturday-laugh more than half of the day, just I and my friend
Dressed up in our rings and our Saturday things and then we’ll move on
But we will remember long after Saturday’s gone
I turn my back for five minutes and there’s an avalanche of entries!
I’m sorry I missed your birthday, but so glad to read that you had such a good day. How does it feel to be forty-nine..? Is the Christmas plate in honour of Tom’s birthday too?
How far from you does Lynne live? I appreciate that covid has contributed to keeping you both apart, but I do hope that you will see more of each other from now on. I would have loved to have seen your reaction when your opened the door!
I often forget to take photos, shamefully. I didn’t take a single one the last weekend I was with The Staffy and suddenly thought of it on my way home. D’oh!
In some ways, not taking photos is a good sign that you are living in the moment.
Maybe because I grew up as an Army brat, I felt like places and people had an expiration date–after a year, maybe two, we’d move. So when I got my first camera, especially since I got it before I went away to college, which by its definition has an expiration date, I wanted to capture as much as possible of those experiences and friendships. It became a habit to always point and shoot.
Then there was a time I didn’t use my camera much, and I’m aware of those gaps in my photo albums. So I amped it back up. Apparently, now I’m in a lull again.
The Christmas plates were a way not to have more dishes to wash, lol, but YES, I can now pretend those were for Tom’s birthday.
The drive between Lynne and me is around 3 hours.
Yes, I hope so. I appreciate the time I have with The Staffy, so I don’t even think about recording it!
That’s interesting about your experiences as the child of the armed forces. I was the opposite and never knew my parents living anywhere else.
Three hours is a long way over here, though probably not so much to you guys! It still makes for a long day trip.
Definitely a long trip, especially a round trip on the same day. Some of her family members who live where she does still have a lot of family/friends in Houston, and a couple of them made the trip with her to attend events of their own. So she had company in the car with her, which always makes a trip seem shorter to me.
in that photo of us one should be holding a pitchfork. i guess Eva will have to do
aren’t you glad i didn’t take your picture as you opened the door Saturday morning?!??!
I am VERY glad you did not take such a photo.
I do have, somewhere, a photo that suggests what you describe with the pitchfork. I’ll have to do a little digging….