MONDAY NIGHT MUSIC: SALSA CELTICA "ESPERANZA"

 

Curious fusion of salsa with traditional Scottish instruments with a dash of folk and jazz. In this piece, a tasty violin is added. Enjoy on a warm Summer evening.

AVIAN KERFUFFLE

I was working in the yard when I heard what sounded like a crying cat nearby. Only one call. Then, a bit further away, a crow replied with a double caw-caw. Overhead, a jay let loose with a long shout. At first I thought the cat cry was some odd vocalization from crow or jay but then I realized that it was a catbird, I've seen a male around the feeder the past couple of days. The calling began again and in the same sequence: catbird, crow, jay and repeated three times. Suddenly, with the final jay call, it stopped. No final words, thrown over the shoulder, just silence. I reckoned that they had in unison flew off. 

 

"What was this about?" I thought. Probably nest related but the odd thing was that this involved three individuals not, as one would expect, one or a pair from a species squaring off against another species that was threatening the eggs. Over supper, C and I tossed around ideas: the romantic: a neighbor coming to the defense of a Mom against a bad actor in the 'hood or the Mom nightmare: Mom against two bad actors.

 

Consultation with Wiki may shed some light on the event. Catbirds have a peculiar nesting strategy and to our human sensibilities, a bit rude and uncaring. Catbirds don't make nests instead they lay eggs in existing nests, abandoning their young to the foster family. Naturally, they lose a good percentage of young but they make up for it by producing upwards of three dozen eggs per summer. 

 

Was Mama catbird caught in the act of dropping eggs in someone's nest? Were crow and jay acting as neighborhood watch and hollering to let the folks know that there was a catbird in their midst? You know what happens when they're in the 'hood. It was a mysterious and curious thing to earwitness.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

Molls chillin' on a fine, late May evening.

 

Mature fox squirrel and Big Bun foraging.

Maple tree whirligig seeds are flying all over.

SOUND AND VISION MEMORIES 1973

 

I was 19, still living at home and working overnights at Kroger throwing stock. It was a rite of passage for baggers, to leave the front end and work night stock. A couple days a week after work, I would go to classes at LCC. This song was on frequent rotation on the station we listened to while we worked. One of the guys had a radio and he would tape down the on button on one of the intercom receivers and put it next to the speaker. I always liked the jazzy guitar licks and the lines "I'd like to remind you at four in the morning, my world is very still/The air is fresh under diamond skies/Makes me glad to be alive."

 

The job was a massive eye-opener for me. The North End where the store was located was a mix of established white and black folk, some Latino and later, as the Vietnam War ended, Vietnamese and Hmong refugees moved to the area. I grew up in the country, went to a rural district so white that the only minorities in my graduating class were a Latina girl and (of all things) a Hawaiian guy. 

 

The manager was a gruff old boy whose name was Bud. He had about a zillion years in the company and one day I overheard a couple of senior grocery guys discussing whether Bud would make it to retirement. "Why not?" I asked. They explained to me that Kroger (at the time) had a nasty habit of finding some reason to fire senior managers who were on the brink of retiring, presumably saving the company money. I was shocked. I thought to myself: you spend a good chunk of your life with a company, put up with all the bullshit that this entails only to be fucked out of a pension in the end? This was a watershed moment in how I viewed work and how I viewed my future. Good grief, how can Kroger get away with this and is this the prevailing attitude in most companies? To my mind, why then bother with a career? Now, I was awfully young and impressionable at the time but this stuck in my mind. I stayed with Krogs for 25 years, vested a pension (thanks Union) and left to do something different.

CATASTROPHE: 536 AD

 

Fascinating theory by David Keys, an archaeology correspondent for the London daily paper, The Independent and a writer on historical climate change. His book Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of the Modern World (2000) on a 6th-century AD climatic disaster has had a mixed reception and controversy from the experts. Still, a interesting idea reminiscent of the 1979 BBC show Connections with James Burke. In a nutshell:

 

Historically ill-tempered volcano Krakatoa blows up and the resulting ash thrown into the atmosphere creates the worst climate change event on the planet in eons. This, as the show explains, sets up conditions for the bubonic plague to take hold in fleas who begin to feed on human hosts, beginning in Africa. Meanwhile, in Rome, the elite are absolutely infatuated with anything made of ivory. Tons are shipped out and this trade route, you guessed it,  passes through the Plague infection area which finally terminates in Constantinople. Thousands perish and people flee (v bad pun!) and the Plague spreads to Rome (the Plague of Justinian) and beyond to the rest of Europe.

ANNOYING, UNWANTED ROOMMATES

The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Halyomorpha halys)

 

For some reason early this year, we noticed that these guys weren't just warm weather pests, we had several in residence over the winter. There always seemed to be one lurking around the kitchen and now its offspring are turning up in unexpected places.

One early evening I was in the kitchen and had set down my glass of beer next to the Aerogarden to check on some food. I return to the couch with the beer and as I raised the glass for a sip, I saw that one of these guys has fallen into the glass. He is doing a backstroke. I pulled his scaly ass out and placed him on a napkin to dry. Not cool, dude.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

 

 

The wind had picked up, straight out of the south, bringing up such humid Gulf air that I had to mostly shut the windows to keep the house cool. In front of the house across the street, two wives stood talking, one wearing her black beautician smock from her home business. Her hairstyle is reminiscent of Linda McCartney's 70's mullet although she is not as old. While they chatted, the husband began mowing the yard only 4 days after surgery. He has a very quiet electric mower which from my vantage point sitting in the living room at the back of the ranch style house, cannot be seen. Everything vegetative is in motion and so is the husband, walking steadily back and forth like a duck in a carnival shooting gallery. As he continues his pattern, he goes down a bit of a slope by the road so with each passage, less and less of him is seen until all that is left is the profile of his head. Unseen geese fly low overhead, honking.

CRITTERS DOING THEIR THING

 

This guy had more hip thrusts than a Kpop boy band!

This season's baby bun enjoying some tasty, homegrown dandelion stems. Evidently, this is considered a delicacy by the rabs. We've never seen this before and wonder if in their world, this is some Dandelion Festival. Like Christmas, it only comes once a year. We saw Big Bun, presumably this little guy's Father, snip the stem off at the base and then slurp it up like a strand of spaghetti while putting his incisors in fast mode. Kinda like feeding tree limbs into a chipper.

Mr. Redbird gobsmacked witnessing this lavish feasting.

I had to shoot a lot of pics to catch the process. He imbibed so fast!

 

FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

C is in Greenville, NC attending a conference with two of her students. She wrote me last night highlighting the place where the attendees went after that day's session ended: Stumpy's Hatchet House. That's right, nothing says team building and family fun like flinging sharpened pieces of metal! And, this is not a one-off-it's a franchise! My immediate thought, after years in the insurance biz, was "what an effin' liability nightmare, with drunks and pot heads being stupid." I doubt that they serve booze or allow BYO but that doesn't stop folks from kicking back shots in the parking lot. C came up with a little ditty for their company song:

"Our man Stumpy -- he's a real pro!

He's lost three fingers and his left big toe!"

https://www.stumpyshh.com/greenvillenc/

This brought to mind one of the most famous events on Johnny Carson where Ed Ames, who was playing an Indigenous man, Mingo, side kick of Daniel Boone on their TV show, demonstrates the art of hatchet throwing. From 1965.

 

A bit of historical explanation of the times. Hollywood was pretty much closed to hiring Indigenous folk to play Indigenous folk so they chose people who looked swarthy to do the job. Italians and East Europeans fitted the bill. In the case of Mr. Ames, he was a Ukrainian Jew! Mel Brooks in his film "Blazing Saddles" pokes fun at this, casting himself as a warrior chief who, upon meeting African-American settlers for the first time, shakes his head in astonishment  that they are "darker than us." Such a different time.

FIVE SECOND STORIES

 

She arched her tail, high, while "Miss you" by the Stones was playing.

Old guy grumble: I'm retired and yet, sometimes to get anything done, I have to do other people's jobs for them.  

Nature will let you know that you are in her territory. Any time spent working outside will inevitably result in scrapes and cuts, some, not realized until days later. Humility, apes! she cries.

 

A writer, his wife of 37 years filing for divorce, moves out in late Winter. By mid-April, he takes a job on a resort island joining a workforce of mainly teenagers who are there for the summer season. He takes his red clown nose and routine with him.

BLIND FAITH "PRESENCE OF THE LORD": QUIET HIPPIE HUMOUR

 

Written in 1969 by Eric Clapton during the brief existence of what was termed a "super group" Blind Faith: Steve Winwood on vocals, with Ginger Baker on drums, Ric Grech on bass. It begins with a throbbing organ launching into a pretty staid Anglican hymn-probably something all the lads had been exposed to in their childhoods. What's remarkable is the fiery guitar solo by Clapton which turns the hymn genre on it's head. I always wondered if this was just a bit of cheeky fun especially by a group whose name was Blind Faith for crying out loud. At the time and continuing into to early 70's, the Jesus Freak movement was happening with notable examples receiving massive airplay: Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" and the Doobie Bros's "Jesus is Just Alright."

TIMELESS SUMMER LOVE TALE

They were both 15 when they met at the 4-H fair where they both were exhibiting. They hit it off immediately and they spent one evening together while their families were at the amusement park section of the fair. Her parents had her on a long leash as she was a good girl. They rode all the rides, played all the games and on the walk back to her meeting point with the folks, they stopped and kissed. Her parting words were "cya next summer." He came back each summer for several years but he never saw her again.

NIP N SIP

 

One of the last drive ins left in Lansing. I've been unable to confirm when they first opened-the nearest I can tell either late 50's or early 60's. I've been eating here since I was a kid. My Dad and I used to go have chili dogs, onion rings and root beer served in a frosted mug for lunch, sit in the car and listen to Detroit Tiger baseball on the radio. I've never been much of a sports fan but I liked the Tigers. Al Kaline was my fav-helluva hitter and rightfielder. Nip n Sip is located on N. East St on the north side of Lansing just beyond where the old Motor Wheel factory was. My favorite sandwich is the Smokey Joe-a large smokey flavored burger w/lettuce, tomato and mayo on a huge roll resembling a torta bun.

10TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION 5/18

 

Take out from Carrabba's

C's dish: linguine with fresh tomatoes topped with grilled asparagus and basil

I'd picked up a wee bit o'sun during planting the day before

Watergirl enjoying music from Putumayo's Cafe Latino vid

 

 

 

 

 

 

~A splendid time was had by all!~

10TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!!!

 

One enters a marriage with such optimism and hope.

 

                                                                                                               Karen Stock

 

SPRING PLANTING

Yesterday's effort:

 

 

THE PROPER WAY TO TIP A LAWN MOWER OVER

 

This is just begging to be parodied. The Python's would have had fun. Having said this, I have to say that I found this helpful.

MS KRABAPPEL IN HER GLORY

 

SUMMER CRUISING MUSIC: TAME IMPALA-"BORDERLINE"

SUMMER CRUISING MUSIC: WAR - "ALL DAY MUSIC"

I DON'T GET OUT MUCH

C had attended an event at the Broad and brought back these cool LED ice cubes. I had never seen these despite they have been around since 2001!!! They change colors and look fab in our dragonfly glasses (click to enlarge). 

She bought Seedlip non-alcoholic distilled spirits for cocktails and our first experience included the cubes. Seedlip comes in three flavors: aromatic Spice 94, the fresh & herbal Garden 108 & the citrus Grove 42. As with many of alcoholic beverages, Seedlips can be an acquired taste. We generally serve over ice with a neutral sparkling water such as San Pellegrino. Our current fav is citrus with a slice of lemon.



 

POOR PRINCE CHUCK

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Ben Stansall

This photo says it all: Prince Chuck, awaiting ascension now for 73 years, at Parliament to give The Queen's statement to open proceedings. Mumsy who is 96, still present, not dying, not abdicating, turning over the reins at a glacial pace, seemingly sending a message of lack of confidence in her eldest son.  Such as (using the Royal Voice) ..."when he was a child, we had to make sure to keep sharp objects away from him out of fear he might stumble and hurt himself or others."

INSANITY

 

Ads for the Jeep Grand Wagoneer are appearing in YouTube. List price: $90,000!!! Nutty!

5 SECOND STORIES

 

She could hear hail on the roof while watching a fitness video at her office desk during lunch. At one point, the instructor mentioned "if you are hearing a clatter, it's because the wind is up here (TX) and the pecans are falling on the roof".

 

Quintessential 1960's teen memory trope: his first exposure to Clapton, Hendrix, the Yardbirds, the Beatles, the Byrds, Soul and R&B came late at night, under the covers, listening to his tiny transistor radio.

That summer, "Sunny Afternoon" by the Kinks was in heavy rotation on the radio. His mother was a fan. It would be playing as she came through the breezeway where he was sitting at the picnic table, drawing, and she would smile. The song had been around so long that commentary between them had become needless.

He realized that he was not a good fit in the coffee business when he discovered that he, unlike his colleagues, took no delight in creating patterns in the milk foam on lattes.  He especially loathed performing this for demanding customers during peak business hours.

 

From the Akira Kurosawa film "Dreams"...

A village known for it's expansive peach orchards has an annual festival devoted to the visual immersive experience of being enveloped in a blizzard of peach blossoms lifted by a stiff breeze.

 

 

SOUND AND VISION MEMORIES: DOMENICO MODUGNO: "NEL BLU DIPINTO DI BLU" aka (VOLARE)

 

I think it's 1958 or 1959 and I am 4 years old. I'm in my folk's yellow and white Chevy Bel Air and we are driving to Charlotte on Old Lansing Road. I'm sitting in the back on the enormous bench seats (no seat belts in those days) and as we're heading into thunderstorms-the western sky is black-when this song comes on.

What’s Up With the Weird Pockmarks Up and Down the East Coast?

 

Cool info! Who knew about these crystals?

VERY COOL PIC

                                                                                                                Paige Klee

 

SATURDAY NIGHT MUSIC: PAUL SIMON "PEACE LIKE A RIVER"

 

From 1972. The sentiment was true then and continues today.

SEEN WHILE OUT AND ABOUT

Cool billboard similar to this on Kalamazoo St. featuring Ukrainian national colors and flower, which has become the symbol of Ukrainian resistance against Russian aggression.

SOUND AND VISION MEMORIES 1981

 

Quite high, my best pal James and I were driving in my Nova going down Oakland Ave. on a warm, partly cloudy day in late Spring with this song playing on the car radio.

HAPPY MAY DAY!

 A couple more harbingers of Spring:

                                                                                                                                                                                                            Medford Taylor

We were driving home on an off-ramp next to a man-made pond adjacent to an insurance company when I had the first visual of this year's Canadian goose goslings. Ma and Pa and kids were on the bank of the pond. Being next to a hotel parking lot and containing a paved path around the pond (for workers to get some exercise on their breaks) we circled around for a looksee. As usual, Ma was with the kids while Pa was keeping guard. He allowed us to come within 10 ft or so before moving his family away from potential harm. There were 5 goslings identical in their stage of growth to those depicted above. They moved down the bank into the pond and paddled to the other side.

We also saw that the mayapples had emerged, probably not in bloom yet.

MODERN FABLE: HOW THE HOUSE FINCH GOT HIS COLORS

 

For some time, the house finch was depressed about his plumage. It was nothing special and in fact he looked very much like most sparrows. Sparrows! He was so envious of brightly colored fellows from other species-cardinals, bluebirds and gold finches. One day he was hanging out on a branch with a robin who asked about his relations with the gold finches, after all, they were cousins.The house finch grumbled that the gold finches were flashy and ostentatious. A gold finch, hearing this nearby, flew over and said to the house finch "I think you are beautiful." The house finch blushed.