Word Overload

I'm experiencing a bit of a blogging slump this week. It could be because I'm working on no less than three books, and reading two, when I'm not online. I haven't slept well the past two nights either, so I'll probably nap throughout the day. Just wanted to report. If anything breaks through my lethargy, you'll be the first to know.

Tuesdays with Mozart: Over the Edge

Photo by Micah Atwell

Not-So-Still Life with Cat

"You haven't forgotten that 5:00 is coming, have you?"

"Yeah, that's what I wait for every day!"

"Is it ready yet?"

"Thank you, but I'm trying to dine."

"Would you please just leave me alone?"

Monday is a Good Day, Really

On Friday I began what I hope will develop into another book. I'm not sure about it yet because it's so completely different from anything I've ever written. For once, I'm writing something that doesn't require years of research and a mountain of books cluttering up the floor around my computer. All it requires is my being willing (and able) to, as journalist Red Smith once said, "sit down and open a vein". The working title is White On White. I'm not really sure where it's going, if anywhere. I'm not following any rules or formulas and I'm not writing for a publisher. That just adds to the 90% crap pile that fills both the bookstores and the online publishing companies. I'm just writing. "A slice of life" as Henry Miller said.

We had a great weekend. A little gathering here at our house, with good food and wine and too many laughs to recall. Everyone was in rare form. Yesterday, Nettl, Micah and I went to the university (where we met up with Allen) for a professional recital that spotlighted an exact replica of an 1802 Viennese Anton Walter fortepiano.

I have to confess that Beethoven's "Moonlight" sonata has never been one of my favorite pieces. It's one of those, like Vivaldi's "Seasons" and Mozart's "Eine kleine Nachtmusik", that you hear on every passenger jet's onboard radio station. I guess I'd heard it too many times and my brain was shut off to it, but hearing it live, and performed on an instrument like Beethoven owned, introduced me to a brand new piece. It was like I'd never heard it before. I'll never be able to listen to 18th and early 19th century piano music on a modern instrument now. Well, and like it, that is. And if you can't give me Bach on a harpsichord, then you know what you can do with your Steinway.

Nettl and I are now determined to own a fortepiano. I don't need the more expensive McNulty 1802 replica. In fact, I'd rather have the 1788. I've even decided that I'll give up my dream of owning a Jeep so that we can put that money on the instrument. Who needs two cars anyway? I'm more than willing to give up my vision of driving with the top off and a dog beside me. Where would I go except to the store or to Sonic? A fortepiano could take me back in time, where I would hear the music of Mozart and Haydn as they heard it! Besides, then I could accompany Nettl at our parties as she sings the repertoire of the era.

And now, to work, to write, to start the new week.

Thank You

I love waking up on mornings like this one. It's crisp and clear as a bell outside and the cat was curled around my feet. Sleeping was nice last night. All night long I dreamt that I was singing Don McLean's "And I Love You So" to Nettl, playing my guitar as accompaniment. That song used to be in my repertoire, back in the days when I did club gigs. Guess I need to do it again.

I got some cool stuff yesterday!

• Tiki shirt
• Candle
• Sock Monkey
• Christmas Pickle
• Bottle of wine
• Box of wine
• Chocolate
• Dinner at El Tapatio
  
• (Censored)

No, I'm not telling you what that last item is. Don't ask. I also received mountains of online wishes and E-cards. Seriously, this was the best birthday I've had in ages. Big ole' honkin' thanks to everyone!

It's My Birthday!

Deni posted this on Facebook and I just had to share it with you on this, of all days. Enjoy!

Peep Show

As I predicted, it's time to open the sock drawer again. It got downright cold this morning before the sun came up. Even now, I'm a little chilly sitting here, socks and all. I put the heat on for the first time in this cottage, too. Only for about five minutes, but it counts. I find I'm actually looking forward to cooler temperatures though.

I've learned a secret about the huge bank of windows in the master bath. Up until now, it has been a little unnerving to leave the ugly forest green mini-blinds up, because there is a clear view of the neighbors' house. True, there's a bunch of trees and an entire fence of grape vines, but still. I've been in the back yard to check out the privacy factor but sitting there with the entire outside beside you can be, well, intimidating.

What I want to do is get some of that window film that looks like frosted glass, but I can't afford that right now. So far, we've been forced to keep the blinds down and closed, which is awful. Who decided to put a bank of windows in there in the first place? I mean, if you install a feature like that, don't you also build a privacy fence? And then who decided dark green mini-blinds would look good, considering they'd have to be closed all the time. UGH! And why put in the window in the first place, knowing you'll have to keep the blinds down all the time? They will come down and be stashed in the attic as soon as the window film is in. I want the frosted window look, with etchings around the corners that Nettl and I can make using stencils and exacto knives.

Yesterday I put up some white sheers, which look nice. Lace is what I really want though. Then, I went outside to find out if I could see in. Nope! No matter how hard I tried -- unless I was right up to the window -- there was nothing but absolute privacy. Last night though, when I turned on the vanity lights and went outside again, I saw a clear view of our bathroom. So the secret is this: If you can see out, no one can see in; if you can't see out, the neighbors may start charging for tickets. It's still a little weird being able to see out like that; it will take some getting used to. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish the room soon. In the meantime, the blinds will be let down at night. They're really not that noticeable then anyway.

September Afternoon

It looks like summer is really gone. Today is gray in turns and a little chilly, the leaves on the old oak tree in our yard are beginning to turn, and the AC hasn't come on once.

I love September. I love the shorter days. Soon, it will be time to drag out the crock pot and to start making soups and stews. I'll put the blanket back on the bed and socks will begin to show up in the laundry basket. The wind chimes will ring more frequently and I'll be putting on fleece tops to drink my coffee on the front porch.

Lauren (who turned 21 yesterday) is coming up this weekend. We'll be giving her a small, intimate party (for adults over 21) to celebrate this rite of passage. We can't afford to take her to Zanotti's, so we're turning our home into a wine bar, complete with hors d'oeuvres ("horse doovers", as Alan says), wine, candles, and soft Jazz. My birthday is on Thursday, but I want the party to be all about her. You only turn 21 once, after all! My next big rite of passage will be 60. Ugh... let's not even go there...

Until the the weekend arrives, I'm dusting, vacuuming, and rearranging chotchkies. Oh, yeah, and I'm working on my clients' sites as well. It's great to have work again!

All You Need is Love

Before I say anything, I need to preface this entry with the following statement:

I never, ever, fell out of love with Nettl, nor did my feelings for her ever diminish in the slightest degree. Health issues took control of my body and brain, but never my heart and mind.

There. Now I can go on.

Over the past couple of weeks I've fallen so completely head-over-heels again that it's like when we first met 10 years ago. All I can attribute this to is the new meds I'm on. I'm not saying that this reborn love is drug-induced, what I'm saying is that when your thyroid stops working and actually starts working against you (Hashimoto's Thyroiditis is an auto-immune disease) as mine did about six years ago, feelings, especially those triggered by hormones, fly away like ashes in the wind.

It has been hell for both of us.

Suddenly, I'm all gooshy inside again, whistling, sighing to "our songs", and thinking about her all the damned, fuckity-doo-dah day. I thought I was just old or something, that I'd had my turn, but now I'm old and sorry about that, codger. Like a miracle, I feel 26 again, I'm wildly in love and full of achy goodness. This woman quite literally saved my life. I truly cannot imagine who, where, or what I'd be if she hadn't pulled me out of the quicksand I was in. I owe her everything.

Hey, all you young people out there: don't ever believe that love and passion are only for the young. It's for all of us, and it only gets better! I've been where you are and, trust me, you ain't seen nothin' yet!

Cramped Space

The only real issue that I have with this house is that our bedroom is too damned small. It's only about 10x10, and we have a queen-sized bed, two bed tables, a chest-of-drawers, and this postage stamp sized desk. The desk is crammed into a corner, where one's back is right up against the bed's footboard. This is especially hard to deal with because the desk chair is really uncomfortable when used for any real length of time. Our good chair wouldn't fit in the space, so we have to use a smaller, less ergonomic one. Plus, we gave Joel the nice desk and we had to use this little piece o' crap. It's claustrophobic to say the least. Especially when you consider that over the past five years we've gotten used to a bedroom that was larger than some apartment's I've had--a room with its own dedicated office area.

The real trouble is that, with my laptop, I've gotten used to sitting in my wingback, on the sofa, or on the bed, places that are more accommodating to my backside. Now that I have to use the desktop, I'm really experiencing the pain of "monkey butt". But I can't gripe because I can at least look forward to getting the laptop fixed. Poor Nettl has nothing to look forward to. I'm trying to think of how I could reposition this desk to make it feel less cramped, but I'm coming up with nothing.

This is the office area in our other bedroom:

This is our office area now:

Yeah, I know the chair is hideous, but it's the only one we have that will fit in that space and has at least a little padding. Meantime, I at least have enough work to keep me busy into October and my laptop will be going to the hospital this week. Thank the Force for warranties!

Have a great beginning of the week!

P.S. Has anyone else noticed that Blogger has been acting a little wonky the past few days? At first, I thought it was my laptop, but it's on this computer as well.

Sunday Coffee with Henry #1

"I do think that many writers have what you call a demonic nature. They are always in trouble, you know, and not only while they're writing or because they're writing, but in every aspect of their lives, with marriage, love, business, money, everything. It's all tied together, all part and parcel of the same thing. It's an aspect of the creative personality. Not all creative personalities are this way, but some are." - Henry Miller

I Missed 'Talk Like a Pirate Day'!

ARRR! Avast, me Matey, yo-ho!

On another note, I went all day without going online, and lived to blog about it! To tell the truth, it never even occurred to me to logon, I was having such a great time cleaning, baking a cake, and putting some flowers in pots on the front porch.

So maybe being without my laptop for a couple of weeks will be good for me? Arrrrr!!!

And Then There Was...

One of the reasons I don't "believe" in suicide (don't worry, I've never been a suicidal person) is because just when things seem their very darkest, another morning dawns and it all turns around. The worst day turns into the best day and I'm back singing, "A Shine on Your Shoes" again. Such was my last couple of days. From bleak and utter despair I was lifted out into the contentment that I've gotten used to since we moved into the cottage. I know that I shouldn't let things get me down, but hey, I'm a musician and a writer... I'm thenthative that way...

One of my clients, a professor in the music department at the university, called me around noon, asking if I could meet him in his office at 3:30. No problem. I spent about an hour and a half with him, discussing four web jobs while the chamber orchestra rehearsed next door. It was squeak-fart music, but it was live.  And if felt good being back in music professor's dark, tweedy office. While he was on the phone, I sat, looking around me. Books, music scores, baton cases... it took me back to the years I spent with Frank. Not a bad little stroll down Memory Lane, and one that will pay!

Farewell Henry & Mary

Thank you for all you have given me through the years.

Henry Gibson
(1935-2009)

Mary Travers
(1936-2009)

Taking a Day Off

I'm staying in bed today, napping, writing, reading. Yesterday was one of the most stressful days I've experienced in a long time and it unleashed Thryoidzilla. I'm working to get him back in the cage and I should be back tomorrow.

15 Things I'm Learning During Our Financial Crisis

1.   How to make 4 large ice tea bags stretch to make several gallons of iced tea.
2.  That vegetable oil works just as well as olive oil, and when the vegetable oil is gone, I can always use butter or margarine.
3.  How to cut meat into bite-sized pieces so that a stew/soup doesn't look so meager.
4.  That bread from the Wonder Bread day-old store is just as good as what is on the supermarket shelf. And it's half the price!
5.  That soda isn't a necessity.
6.  That Americans eat too damned much.
7.  That making a glass of iced tea, juice, or soda last an hour is better than gulping it down, only to pour another.
8.  That a sliver of soap, a dab of toothpaste and a dollop of shampoo can go a long way.
9.  That you don't need to fill up both dispensers in the dishwasher.
10. That less detergent works better than the amount given on the box.
11. How to make a meal for four adults for less than $10.
12. That my parents and grandparents knew a lot about making things stretch, due to surviving the Great Depression.
13. That I admire them more now that we're going through it.
14. That friends need each other and that none of us is an island.
15. That when we're back on our feet and out of this mess, I will be wiser, less wasteful, more grateful, and will help people in need whether they're friends, family, both, or neither.

Patrick Mozart? Wolfgang Swayze?

Many years ago--wow, when? 1989?--a friend gave me this revamped 1920s lamp that she thought looked like Mozart. People were aways giving me things like that in those days. Back then, it had an ugly, white, modern shade on it and "Mozart" was painted in the original pastel blues and whites that had faded over time. It wasn't very pretty, but it meant the world to me.

Through the years it has been painted a number of ways, in bold jewel tones, in life-like colors, and then my ex (when we were still together) tried to bronze it, which made it look like a weird Remmington. More recently--say, in the early 2000s--Nettl and I decided to gild the little guy with antique gold, and thus he has remained.

It was at that time that she commented that from a certain angle, he looked like Patrick Swayze. Upon closer inspection I had to agree. Since then, he has been lovingly called our "Patrick Swayze lamp".

You will be missed, Patrick, but you will live on in our family. Many condolences and good thoughts are sent from us to your family and friends.

Review: Ringo

Last night I finished reading the book about Ringo Starr. I hesitate to give the name of the author because last time I posted a not-so-favorable review I was attacked by the author that was so vitriolic and hysterical, I was left to believe that she was unstable.

Anyway, the author of the book on Ringo has written many Rock 'n Roll biopics, which I'm sure are good -- I just have a hard time reading run-on sentences that make up entire paragraphs (I'm not exaggerating). I also have a hard time with writers who use vocabulary in a pretentious manner. Still, I learned a few things and was able to set a dateline to things I already knew about Ringo and my generation of rockers.

I may read the book again one day and if I do, I'll add more to this review. Bit right now, it just doesn't seem worth the exertion.

Oh, Behave!

Yesterday, I only got three BSoDs. But then, I wasn't on my laptop very much. Still, I learned long ago that computers have rhythms just like we do. Something will quit working, then it starts to feel guilty and goes back to running smoothly for a while. Next thing you know, it's down again. So it goes. Hopefully, the laptop will behave for a while now. I'm beginning to wonder if it has something to do with the power outlet. It's suddenly loose and wobbly. Well, as I wrote in an earlier comment, it's under warranty until February and the nearest repair place is only 233 miles away.

I spent most of Sunday reading, which felt pretty nice although the author really ticks me off (see sidebar "Currently reading...") with his love of long, comma-ridden sentences and his missused (and over used) em dashes. Not to mention his general lack of musical terms that's only spotlighted by his thinking he knows so damned much. All he had to do was keep a pocket music dictionary on his desk... He also plays with metaphor until it's irritating.

Micah rolled in sometime around sundown. It's good to have him home! Not only that, but he has brought us back into the 21st century by carting home a microwave. Every other house we've lived in had one built in and I'd forgotten what a pain it is to heat up leftovers on the stove. He also brought an electric can opener, a must now that we're becoming decrepit and our hands can't make the manual ones work. He's currently in the garage with his morning coffee and life is right again.

I dreamed it snowed last night and I was really happy. It's still too soon for that, but maybe it means that we'll get an early snow this year. But now I'm talking weather and I haven't even had enough coffee for that.

Smile! It's a new week!

C'est Fini!

I wish I had taken a picture of the garage right after we moved everything over from the other house five weeks ago. I'm not kidding, it was floor-to-ceiling boxes, furniture, and household crap. Thankfully, we have a huge garage.

Knowing it was going to take us a while to unpack everything, Micah made it easier for us to find stuff by forging a path that wended through everything, rather like those paths you see in scrapyards.

Joel and I have been working on it for a couple of weekends and yesterday we finished the job. We are now officially moved in. Everything has found its place, both in the house and the garage. We're fortunate to have a huge garage attic with pull-down steps. Without that feature, we'd never be able to park in the garage. Now, both cars can fit.

After breaking down the boxes we made a run to the recycling center where we dumped them, as well as some plastic patio chairs that were old and unusable. Then we dropped a couple of things off at the Goodwill donation center. There's still a stack of things that didn't sell at last weekend's yard sale, but this week I'll be going through it to sort the Goodwill stuff from the stuff that will be donated to the Battered Women's center. A huge box of shoes went to a group that collects things for the homeless. It feels good to recycle things like this, instead of adding more crap to the landfill.

Micah comes home this afternoon -- he has been sorely missed! It will be good to have him out in the garage at nights, working in his shop; I won't feel so alone here at night. I'll also be able to make full pots of coffee again, which taste better than half-pots. Of course, I know that's he's exhausted. He had to clean out his father's 10-room Victorian house, which he's selling so that he can move to England. Bless his heart, it had to have been very difficult, both physically and emotionally. Well, tomorrow evening I'm making him a traditional home-cooked dinner of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, biscuits, gravy, and corn on the cob.

Merisi will be happy to read that today I have no plans whatsoever. My mental To-Do list has been tossed out, every item marked out.

And now to get busy doing more nothing... Have a great Sunday!

Putting Out Fires

Yesterday was one of those days. Nettl tells me that Mercury is retrograde, but I don't know how much of that stuff I believe. Besides, that's another entry altogether.

The first thing I do every morning is take a whiz. It wasn't always like that, but that too is another entry. I was immediately faced with having to take the lid off of the toilet tank, reach down into the water and reattach the chain that pulls up the little flapperdoodle-weird. Hell, my eyes weren't even open yet and I hadn't even had time to make the coffee. (A little warning: I do morning action verbs much worse than I hear them.) So I fixed the chain. I made the coffee, and while that was brewing I made the bed. Then I fired up my laptop to check my blog, email, and Facebook.

BIGOLDHAIRYEFFINBLUESCREENOFDEATH!!!

In the past six weeks I've gotten used to seeing them. I get one about every 15 minutes on some days, and on others I get only three or four. With the way yesterday began, I knew that I was in for a rough one. I waited for the computer to reboot and I logged in again. I won't go into all of the details, but by noon I was already wanting to shove this laptop up Toshibasan's ass.

So it went. I spent hours online trying to find a solution (as I have every day for a month and a half). There's forum after forum full of people who are having the very same problem, but all of the replies from the computer gurus are way over my head. Can't one of them just talk to us like the noobs we are? Look, not all of us sit in our parents' basement all day playing video games and putting together scratch-built computers. Just tell me what to do in layman's terms, damn it. If you say I need to upgrade my BIOS, please translate that into humanese!

Interlude

Meanwhile, the Dell (a warhorse of a machine that I entrust with my most precious data) has been having problems shutting down and would take 5 or 10 minutes. I decided to look into it. Fortunately, that went swimmingly and it now shuts down pronto like it did when it was new. Man, I love that computer.

End of Interlude

The rest of the day was spent in BSoD* hell on the laptop. I downloaded Memtest86, but it wouldn't install. I downloaded another version and had the same result. I then downloaded the Windows Debugging Tools, but couldn't make any sense of it. Finally, around 10:00 at night, I figured it out and discovered that my video driver needs to be updated. Great! But how do I know what to download? What if I get the wrong one? I'd been thinking that this was the problem, and I admit that I'm relieved it's not a memory issue.

I'm not even going to go into how many times Firefox 3 crashed on me until I solved that issue, or how many times my Windows Desktop Manager crashed, or even that the battery in my mouse died.

At 11:00 I decided to give it a rest and change the litter box. We were out of litter, so I got in the car and drove to Hell*Mart and got some. When I walked back in the door, Nettl told me that the toilet was running again. Thankfully, she fixed it while I was changing the litter box. Then a lightbulb blew, so I changed it. I'm sitting here now, saving at the end of every sentence in case I crash again. So far, so good.

Today begins another weekend in the garage; we should be able to park in it by 2012.

_______________________
* Blue Screen of Death

Sweetwater

Who remembers this band from the late Sixties? Man, I do! I  l-o-v-e-d  this album and played it until it was nothing but scratches and skips. I first encountered them when they played at the Oxnard Civic Auditorium in 1968 or 1969, I can't remember. The next day I went out and bought the album.

Sweetwater was best known as the first group scheduled to play at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, although they eventually were the fifth act to go on. Due to problems within the band, Richie Havens became the first performer. Oh well, he was great too.

Sweetwater pioneered the psychedelic rock/classical fusion style that was popularized by Jefferson Airplane and regarded as the archetypal "Sixties Sound". They often toured with The Doors and were also one of the opening acts for Eric Burdon & The Animals in 1968.

The original members of the band were Nancy Nevins (lead vocals), August Burns (cello), Albert Moore (flute/backing vocals), Alan Malarowitz (drums), Elpidio Cobian (conga drums), Alex Del Zoppo (keyboards) and Fred Herrera (bass).

Three days after Sweetwater performed on The Red Skelton Show, singer Nancy Nevins was badly injured in a car accident, which stopped the progress of the band. Nancy experienced brain damage for a number of years following the collision as well as permanent damage to one of her vocal cords. The group reunited for Woodstock '94 in 1994.

Here is the line-up of songs on this album. My favorite was In a Rainbow.

• Motherless Child
• Here We Go Again
• For Pete's Sake
• Come Take a Walk
• What's Wrong
• In a Rainbow
• My Crystal Spider
• Rondeau
• Two Worlds
• Through an Old Storybook
• Why Oh Why
  

You can hear the songs at Amazon.

Friends in High Places

Ville and I entertain the Prez! (You can too...)

Hat tip to Emma Alvarez.

This Template Has Some Serious Issues

Have you ever seen a beautiful piece of embroidery, then turned it over and the back is full of messy knots and loops? This template is like that. I will be trying out a new one today because I can't seem to iron out the issues with the sidebar and the comments page. I don't even want a comments page, come to think of it. This is the first time I've been stumped by a template. I read and comprehend code pretty well, even Blogger code, and even those that are written in other languages, but this one is another story. I'm keeping the same look, basically, but just not so complex.


UPDATE 5:12pm:
This one seems to work fine. Not as tech-geeky, but similar. The only issue I'm having now is with the Quick Edit pencil. I tried all the usual coding tricks and nothing makes it appear for me. No big deal.

The Beatles on 09.09.09

Hell yes I want the box set of digitally remastered Beatles albums that was released today. 17 disks! Their complete catalog! And everyone says they sound incredible. As a Beatle peatle since the band first hit the music scene and, as someone who was at Dodger Stadium in August 1966 to see them in person, I think I deserve this set, in fact. But these days, $260 is two weeks of groceries. It doesn't even help that Amazon has the set for $179.

Damn. Just damn.

Taking a Musical Whiz

Raschala is an Austrian town with a population of 348, whose main claim to fame is that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart once stopped there to pee by the side of the road. They are now organizing a music and drinking festival to celebrate the momentous event.

They even had a plaque put on the stone where the composer is said to have relieved himself. So many visitors have turned up to visit the Mozart Pinkelstein (Mozart pee stone) that the local board of tourism has figured out how to bring some revenues into the town while, at the same time, celebrating Mozart's alleged visit.

"It is well known that Mozart made his brief stopover here and left his mark which has now been permanently marked with our memorial. Local people always remarked on the fact that there was so little to do here even Mozart only stopped long enough to take a pee before carrying on with his journey to Prague. As far as we can tell he drove through our town in 1787 and asked the horse-carriage driver to stop so he could take a leak. But we ask visitors not to relieve themselves on our monument - we would like to show a little bit more respect for the great man." (Professor Helmut Leierer)

Oddly, the professor sang a different song to the Kurier:

"I was sitting with some friends at a tavern one night in 1976. We were quite drunk already and started to philosophise about who might have passed Raschala in the past centuries. I claimed Mozart drove through our town on his way to Prague in 1787 and asked the horse-carriage driver to stop to take a leak," he added laughing.

No wonder I like Austria. All we have is "George Washington slept here".

This Explains a Lot

According to a study that was published in the NY Times a while back, sleep patterns change with age, anxiety levels, and many other factors. Normally, younger people have more concentrated periods of deep sleep, while older people have more periods of REM sleep.

Damn.

Impromptu

Last night, as we sat in the living room, Ville, Heather and Lashell dropped by bearing wine. After giving the tour of the new digs, we went out onto the porch and had a GREAT time. The only downside was that Nettl couldn't stay outside due to the cigarette smoke, but she laid on the couch where she could still feel like part of the fun. Also, she still wasn't feeling well and she ended up falling asleep.

A little later, Ville and Heather walked down to the local Shell station for some munchies. I gave them my camera (which is now stuffed with all kinds of weird images) and they took this picture. Cute! It was a really fun evening -- the perfect spur-of-the-moment kind of thing that I love.

Today is our potluck BBQ -- there's going to be a house (and yard) full -- to which everyone's bringing food and drink. I'm sure there will be many more laughs and love.

Still Life with Saturday Evening

Happy, with a family day and the evening sun behind me. Hope you're all having a wonderful holiday weekend too!

Up in the Middle of the Night

Well, here I am awake. Usually, I haven't gone to bed yet, but this morning it's because we all went to bed at 10:30.

Ten -effin' - thirty!

After two days of intensive work around the house, I was exhausted and couldn't stay awake, although we were have a great time on the porch. Lauren was really tired as well and Nettl didn't feel good, so we all turned in. I think Joel was the only one who stayed up. Nettl woke up around two, and then I woke up. We sat here talking a while, then I decided I was up for the day.

"We'll take naps this afternoon," Nettl said.

So it looks like I'll be up for the yard sale after all. See? This is what you get when I go to bed like a real person -- you still get entries in the middle of the night.

A Full Weekend

This afternoon, Lauren will be coming home from OU to spend the holiday weekend with us, but because we presently don't have a guest room, she'll be bunking on the couch. She'll be here the entire weekend, all the way into Monday, which is the actual holiday.

Tomorrow we'll be having a big garage sale to get rid of all the stuff we either no longer need or want, or simply can't fit into the cottage. There's everything from a TV to chotchkies, dishes to bicycles. Nettl says that it will start at 8:00 am, but I doubt I'll be conscious that early. If any of my Stillwater readers want to buy some stuff, come on over!

On Sunday we'll be grilling, and we've invited Heather and her boyfriend, Bryan, as well as Allen, who's bringing a dessert -- his specialty.

I know that Nettl is looking forward to spending some time with her girls and I'm looking forward to hearing all the giggling and bantering. I'm also looking forward to sitting on the front porch in the evenings with my family.

Have yourselves a fun and safe Labor Day weekend!

Front Porch Observations

Although there are flashes of lightening in the southeastern sky, the nearly full moon in Aquarius (it will enter Pisces on the actual full moon tomorrow) sits very close to Jupiter in the south. As I sit here at the table on the porch, sipping my wine, I see a small cloud that looks exactly like a sperm whale. It floats between the two lights in the sky as if it is swimming between two islands in a purple sea.

Down the street a couple of students also sit on their porch, talking quietly as distant thunder rolls, hushing the crickets, frogs and cicadas. Once it's over, the choir goes back to its singing. Occasionally, a car drives past, but they're used to that and continue the chirping, croaking and buzzing.

Our wind chimes hum in the breeze and the cat scouts from the ledges that surround the porch. The trees sound like an ocean as the breeze makes the familiar crescendo that reports an incoming storm. Thunder, another flash of lightening, and more clouds pass over the moon's face. In the distance a dog barks.

Welcome to my new template for autumn and winter. I'm still ironing out some issues with the sidebar.

Shrimp, Google and BSsoD

Many years ago, when Joel was only about 8 or 9, we went into a pet shop at the Esplanade mall on Highway 101 in Oxnard. In the aquarium section, Joel saw some Ghost Shrimp and he made a comment that they looked like they had backaches. Thus the name, "Backache Shrimp" stuck. Today I feel like a Backache Shrimp after unloading, organizing, alphabetizing and shelving all of my books yesterday. It wasn't really all that that hurt me, it was the getting up and down on the floor. Funny. Over the weekend I must have climbed the attic ladder 30 times and I never felt a thing, but doing those books did. Getting older is a trip. I took a long, hot soak in our freestanding tub last night. What a luxury!

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What's up with Google Image Search? No matter what page number I click, the only pictures that show up are those on the first page.

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I've been getting a BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) for the past two weeks. Actually, I've been getting two or three of them. The latest tells me that there's a system_service_exception, which tells me nothing, really. It happens randomly with no warning and it reboots my computer. It only happens two or three times a day and doesn't keep me from logging on. I've been all over the web researching it and it looks like it's pretty common with Vista. Many people have said that my video drivers need to be updated, but when I check them I'm told they're just fine. Some people say it could be a RAM issue, but most people just don't know. If any one knows anything, please tell me!

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Today, I'm doing nothing but napping lying here on the couch. Wish we had our cable hooked up; I really miss TV! That's it for today... Tomorrow I'll be back getting the house ready for Lauren's long weekend here.

Sixties Faces: Bob Dylan

Let's forget for a moment that I consider Bob Dylan to be one of America's greatest poets. Ever. Let's forget, too, that I've been a huge fan of his music since I first heard him in 1964. Today, in this, my second installment of "Sixties Faces", I want to pay tribute to his physical appearance.

There's something about Bob Dylan's looks--as well as the way he carries himself--that has always epitomized what I consider to be the height of COOL.

Do you remember how radical his hair looked to the world back in the sixties? It caused as much commotion as the Beatles' had. Then, there was his diminutive, fragile build and the way he dressed, not to mention those cool, blue eyes, large, yet sculpted nose, and the way he sang through his teeth. Almost a grimace, really. And Dylan had some long fingernails that gave him a Dracula-like, menacing look.

Although I've never been a smoker, I thought Dylan gave smoking some good press. Man, I would have taken up the habit if I could have looked as cool as he did with a cigarette in his mouth!

Dylan made me fall in love with black sunglasses (or as we called them back then, "shades"). I still own a pair like this. I probably always will.

My favorite Dylan songs (in no particular order):
* Like a Rolling Stone
* Positively 4th Street
* Don't Think Twice, it's Alright
* Sad-Eyed Lady of the Low Lands
* My Back Pages
* She Belongs to Me
* Bob Dylan's Dream
* Tangled Up in Blue
* Spanish Harlem Incident
* Masters of War
* With God On Our Side
* Ballad in Plain D
* Just Like a Woman