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Button Sunday and Song Challenge, Day 10

Hope everyone remembered to set their clocks forward last night before bed. Today’s song challenge is “a song that makes you sad.” For me, “Time in a Bottle” is a song many people call romantic, but I’ve always heard it as sad, so that’s how it makes me feel.

Yesterday, we had to say goodbye to Debby’s Stewie, who just a few days ago celebrated his seventeenth birthday. He’s had health issues the last few months and among other things, struggled with his appetite. Today, the staff at Gulf Coast offered him a little feast of birthday cake and ice cream, among other goodies, and he loved the bacon. It was already gone from his tray in this photo! He also enjoyed a bit of the birthday cake and ice cream and ate all the Cheetos before his gentle, loving goodbye. Debby’s going to miss the dog she called “the little Frenchman” so much.

Stewie was originally her grandchildren’s dog. When they had to give him up, she invited him to live with her. He and her big black lab Harley became good friends. Harley died in 2019, also on March 9. Now they’re together again.

We may not be able to save time in a bottle, but it has no power over the bonds of love.

Song Challenge: Day 9

Today’s challenge, a song that makes me happy? Without fail, “Love Street” by The Doors. According to someone, who on these two cards calls himself “Stupid” and lives at 301 Lonely Lane, or “Lover,” living in Circle House in Jacksonville, FLA with an unknown zip code (because he was right across town from me in Jacksonville, ALA–if you remember when states didn’t have two code abbreviations, you may be old), anywhere I live is Love Street. He’s also put my birthday on the postmark, and it’s 1971. We were so young. He’s drawn himself on the “BIRTHDAY Stamp.” Apparently at that time, stamps were 6 cents (I checked–it jumped to 8 cents in May of that year).

Could not number the times Riley put on The Doors’ Waiting For The Sun album and dropped the needle on this song. Clearly, picking this month to take on a song challenge was inviting a flood of memories of the man who called me his muse from the time we were children. (We did not think of ourselves as children then, but now that I’m 135, I know we were.)

Song Challenge: Day 8

Today’s challenge, “a song you like with a food in the title,” was super easy, not only to think of immediately but to snag a live video, because some artists never have (or had) trouble filling a venue for live shows.

When you have a monstrous appetite, this can definitely take the edge off.

I present Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band performing “Cheeseburger In Paradise.” How do you like yours (and I know some of those burgers are plant-based, which I fully support)?

Happy birthday, Riley. I love you.

Song Challenge: Day 7

I had an appointment to go to so I turned Thursday into a day of errands: dropping off clothing donations, making a rare visit to the wonderful Texas Art Supply (it used to be so convenient in the old ‘hood, and today they gave me a bunch of help) to buy a couple of gifts and goodies, filling up the car with gas, and grabbing Starbucks along the way.

I have a car playlist called “Driving,” and since today’s song challenge is “a song to drive to,” I switched to it. Songs include Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer,” U2’s “California (There Is No End To Love),” Jackson Browne’s “Chasing You Into the Light,” One Republic’s “Come Home,” Paul Young’s “Everytime You Go Away,” Wesley Dean’s “Hello, I Love You, Goodbye,” Gladys Knight & The Pips’ “Midnight Train to Georgia,” and Gregg Allman’s “Midnight Rider,” “Multi Colored Lady,” and “Please Call Home.”

All excellent songs and fun to sing with as I drive, but for this challenge, I’m sharing what may be my favorite song to drive to or even think about driving to. I love to hear it, sing it, and make up stories to it and have been doing so since I first heard it in 1971. I made an entire video in my head to accompany this song before videos were a thing, and I still remember my mental video all these years later for Carole King’s “Carry Your Load” from the great album Music. Give it a listen if you haven’t heard it or want the nostalgia of remembering it.

I have two of those Barbie convertibles, one from Margret via Lynne, and one from Nurse Lisa. THANK YOU!

Song Challenge: Day 6

Today’s challenge, “a song that makes you want to dance,” reminds me that I’m a person who wants to dance WHILE no one’s watching, not LIKE no one’s watching. I wish I still had access to my family’s home movies that I lost in a computer meltdown, because I think there was footage of young Becky dancing, and I’ll get to that in a minute.

I never went to school dances and even at the mandatory “proms” my last two years of high school, I didn’t dance. My girlfriends and I didn’t dance at slumber parties. I don’t, for example, think I’ve ever seen Lynne dance, and we’ve been friends since we were twelve. During our teen era, kids I hung out with were “too cool” to dance, which was fine, because dancing just wasn’t my thing.

In the 1970s, I did go to bars/clubs during the height of the disco era, but I didn’t dance. In the 1980s, when I finally DID dance at clubs and bars, they were usually slow dances, though I absolutely do remember finally dancing to the songs of Prince and Michael Jackson. Resistance was futile. Then, under the influence of my favorite enabler, Kathy, I learned to Texas two-step at country/cowboy bars. My footwear was red ropers like these, which oddly, I donated to Goodwill when I moved to Texas.

So probably the only time in my life when I danced without feeling self-conscious and awkward, I looked a little like this.

And I absolutely know what I danced to. And I always will. When no one’s watching.

Tiny Tuesday! and Song Challenge: Day 5

For some reason Instagram isn’t working for me at all today. I’m taking that as a message to preserve my sanity by knowing as little as possible about how “Super” Tuesday is making people feel and behave. In honor of those who are willing to endure politics with their popcorn, here’s a wee miniature I received recently. Popcorn kernels added for scale.

Since today’s Song Challenge is “A song that needs to be played loud,” I will handle that immediately as I get back to my writing (I don’t know if this song is referenced in the Neverending Saga, but Led Zeppelin is, more than once). “Stairway To Heaven” has meaning in my life, but I feel no compulsion to elaborate. (It’s fine if you’re glad about that.)

What do you like to listen to LOUD?

Mood: Monday and Song Challenge: Day 4

Photo of painting previously posted here was of Morning Guitar Painting, oil on canvas, date unknown, by artist Elaine Fleck.

From my earliest years, I liked the Beatles, as I like many artists and bands, but because of Riley’s talent for playing their songs on guitar and piano/keyboards, I learned to love the Beatles. I could listen to him play either instrument for as long as he’d let me, or until my parents made him leave. =) (And with that memory, let me note that today is my late mother’s birthday, and Riley was one of the few boys I knew who she kept liking through the decades.)

No matter how many songs Riley played, there would always be one for me, every time, on guitar. Though in this photo, he’s performing on keyboards, my mind will always go to that one song, one guitar, one boy. Any time this song (and a few other songs special to both of us) comes up in my Instagram feed, whether or not those are accounts I follow, I think of it as a message and leave a four-character comment on the post that’s meant to convey, Yes, my friend, I’m thinking of you, too. Riley’s birthday is in four days. How I’d love to be able to say those words in person or even on the phone. I will never stop missing him or appreciating everything we did and said and felt and wrote and listened to in all those years of friendship. I will love him always.

Today’s challenge is “a song that reminds you of someone.”

Button Sunday with Song Challenge: Day 3

In honor of today’s song challenge, what song reminds you of summertime?

Bet you thought I’d choose a Beach Boys song, but no, here’s a deep dive from Mungo Jerry in 1970. You’d have to work hard to feel unhappy when this came over your transistor radio.

Challenges yet to come.

Song Challenge: Day 2

Delta and Anime are waiting for a call from the 1980s.

An ear worm has been on my mind for a few days, since I used the music on an Instagram post with that photo and caption. From 1982, when phone calls were still a dime, I bring you Tommy Tutone.

Here are all 30 days of challenges if you want to play along somewhere or in my comments with a song title containing numbers.

Something I liked

There’s an account I follow on Instagram and every week in her Instagram stories, she publishes “Things I liked this week.” I’ve commented to her before that more of us should follow her example.

I just saw this reel on Instagram (not the same account as the one above, but a similar concept), and I don’t know if this link will work, but I want to try. (Click the little x on the bottom right if you want to hear the music.) Someone wonders in comments, “At what point do people lose the instinct to give unselfishly?”

I don’t know.