Music to my ears

I watched two programs on the biography channel tonight - one was about Freddy Mercury of Queen and the other was about Mama Cass Elliot. Now you would think that at my age I would be familiar with both of these entities, but that is not the case. So I spent some time tonight downloading some of their music to my MP3 player. Don't know quite how I did it, but I succeeded.

I learned that Freddy Mercury was enamored by the voice of an opera star (Montserrat) and that the last album he made before he died was with this person. It was called Barcelona. It was very good and quite the thing for a rock and roller to collaborate with an opera diva to make some beautiful music.

I always liked the Mamas and Papas (the group Cass was in for awhile) but I was not aware that she did so much on her own. She was likened to a modern day Kate Smith in her day. Very true - a voice that was and is very easy to listen to. So here I sit typing and listening to my MP3. I am slowly but surely joining the 21st century technologically speaking. I will never be a expert I am sure, but will at least I will be able to add and delete music from the MP3, post on my blog and hopefully master my site on facebook which is proving to be very interesting. It is going to take awhile to master this one.

An exciting way to spend a Saturday night right? It is for me. Now it is time to go for the night. Take care my lovelies and enjoy the music of your life.......

Not so sunny Saturday

It is 12:45 p.m. on Saturday afternoon and I have been on the computer for almost two hours already. Between making plans to take a trip to Pennsylvania so that Terry and I can attend an upcoming Hudak family reunion, reading my e-mails and now posting on my blog I have been fairly productive in that time period. I really should be thinking about going outside and doing some much needed yard work. It just keeps raining and the weeds etc. just keep coming. I do believe that I am waging in a losing battle.

I thought about blogging in the middle of the night one day last week - I woke up in my recliner in the middle of the night (which reminded me of daddy) and wanting to stay up getting something accomplished (which reminded me of mama). Mama was a night owl-type person, as everyone knew. She liked doing her housework etc. in the middle of the night because she could get done without being interrupted.

She would get us up in the a.m. (after sleeping a couple of hours at most), make us breakfast and then go back to bed to sleep. Heaven help the person who called the house before noon. Family and friends learned over the years that this was a big "no no" and patiently waited until the afternoon to call. In later years she established an "in and/or out box" system by the back door so that typing work for the church could be dropped off or picked up without bothering her. That's my mom.

It is funny how certain things happening trigger memories. Not a day goes by that I don't think of my parents or my grandma Sievert - they all played a big role in how I have lived my life for 60 plus years. They taught me to love God and family and to live as moral a life as possible. I am not an avid churchgoer, but I do try to live my life according to the Ten Commandments and the "do unto others" rule. They have worked pretty well for me.

Well the sun is attempting to shine through the clouds and my stomach is telling me that I need to satisfy the empty pit that it is. Hunger has a way of cutting things short.

Footloose and Fancy Free

Hip hip hooray!!!!!! I am free of "das boot" and once again can rejoin the regular world. That thing had a hobbling effect and kept me from moving around easily. I guess it did it's job.

I am once again free to work in my yard. There has been quite a bit of rain in the past weeks and the weeds have taken full advantage of the situation. They are going to be fun to try and pull out, but it needs to be done desperately. I fully admit that if it were not for weeds and very small varieties of wild flowers that my lawn would not be green. Grass has very little to do in my yard. One advantage is that when everyone else's yard is turning brown from heat and lack of rain later in the summer, mine is green and growing. However, weeds in with my flowers cannot be tolerated. They choke them and don't allow them to bloom and I do like my flowers to be visible and vibrant.

I went to lunch with a bunch of friends from the job yesterday and had a chance to catch up with their lives and how their families are doing. I also learned about the going away party for another friend that has transferred to Columbus, Ohio (their gain is our loss big time). I will be going to there on Thursday afternoon. He is a good agent and they will miss him. He was responsible for some serious wins against corrupt politicians in the area. One thing that happens when you work public corruption-type cases is that you become very jaded and have very little faith in any politician. There are good ones out there, just very few and far between.

Well, I have to go - take care my family. Keep up the good works and treasure the little ones.....

Meet Eddie

Meet Eddie Hanson, my surrogate grandson so to speak. The only "grandson" that I will ever have. He is 11 years old, in the fifth grade (about to graduate 6th in a few weeks) and the one that keeps life interesting around here. Never a dull moment as far as he is concerned.

He is an avid video game player - both hand held and on the computer. He reads a lot and has been since he was five when he was reading books that adults would read. He is quite intelligent and if he applied himself all the time he could go far; however, he is a typical boy and sometimes fun can get in the way. Fun can also get him into trouble at times because he would rather have fun than do his chores, but then I guess that is the way that it is with most kids his age.

He is also involved in karate - one step below the first level of black belt. He has moved up the ranks quickly and with much ease. He has the advantage of being very agile (oh to be young again).

He has a knack for making friends with girls rather than boys. The twins that used to live next door still keep in touch on a regular basis and one of them even considers herself to be Eddie's girlfriend. His newest friend is his skateboard buddy Alexis who is also 11 and lives up the street. Alexis is a nice little gal - she visited with me yesterday while she was waiting for Eddie to come back from running an errand with his mother.

I have the feeling that he is going to be the envy of many a guy because of all of his gal pals.

Sunsets

this picture of the marvelous sunset at the top of my blog as of this date (5/27/09) was taken soon after I left Loyalton after one of my visits to Daddy. I could not pass up the opportunity to stop and make sure that I saved that moment in time. It is something that my dad would have done. He was a great one for stopping and smelling the roses as the saying goes. He appreciated the grand and glorious vistas that God created for our viewing pleasure. Every time that I look at it so many wonderful memories and thoughts flood through my mind.

It is grey and gloomy today - but not anywhere near what I would call cool (in the 80s and very humid). It has even rained a few drops here and there. Not really conducive to bright and cheery thoughts - hence the trip to my blog to revel in my glorious sunset.

A friend from work is retiring as of tomorrow (5/28) and I took her out to lunch today to welcome her to retirement. She is going to do just fine. She has a noble plan for her immediate future and that is to help battered and abused women get a grip on their lives and to let them know that they are not alone in this world. This gal as survived two abusive relationships and finally realized that she tends to gravitate towards abusers and is doing something about it. She is going to use her experiences as an example to others and hopefully help them start new and safer lives. I admire her very much and wish her much success in her endeavors.

Time to move on - get my foot back in "das boot" (only one more week to go - hopefully) and get it propped up.