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Thursday, May 2, 2013
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
The Best Oldies Songs Take Me Back...
Certain things remind me of other things. Today those reminders are songs. Songs take me to places in my memory that I don't visit very often. Sometimes, the Best Oldies Songs are super reminders of what was going on in my life when the songs first came out.
Every time I hear "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" by Pat Benatar, I think of my sister in law Linda. She loved records she could sing to. I have a memory of waiting for her one morning about 25 years ago. She was doing her hair and she had the Pat Benatar record playing rather loud. Over her hair dryer and the music, I could her her singing "Hit me with your best shot! Fire Awaaaaaay!" She dried and brushed and sang, entertaining herself while doing her hair. Linda had really thick, curly, hard to wrangle hair. It took some time and effort to get it under control so Linda could get on with her day. One side of an LP later, Linda was ready to go.
At work we listen to oldies radio and "Anyway You Want It" by Journey never fails to remind me of Rodney Dangerfield crying "Let's Party!" on the golf course. For me Caddyshack is one of the classic screwball comedies. I watch it every time I find it on tv, commercials or not. I was about 18 when Caddyshack came out and my boyfriend worked at a local golf course. In the evenings, with a couple of friends, we would go out to the back nine and hit a few balls and sneak a few beers. We always had a boom box with us and cranked the tunes. I could identify with Rodney parting down on the fairway.
When I was a child, we lived in a small house with a floor furnace. On the cold winter mornings, mother would rise, turn up the heat and then switch on the radio.Her favorite was an AM news station out of Boston. BZ radio played the Best Oldies Songs songs and some new ones, reported news and traffic and entertained us while we warmed up standing over the floor furnace and got ready for school.
I love hearing old songs that remind me of stuff that I may not otherwise think of.
Every time I hear "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" by Pat Benatar, I think of my sister in law Linda. She loved records she could sing to. I have a memory of waiting for her one morning about 25 years ago. She was doing her hair and she had the Pat Benatar record playing rather loud. Over her hair dryer and the music, I could her her singing "Hit me with your best shot! Fire Awaaaaaay!" She dried and brushed and sang, entertaining herself while doing her hair. Linda had really thick, curly, hard to wrangle hair. It took some time and effort to get it under control so Linda could get on with her day. One side of an LP later, Linda was ready to go.
At work we listen to oldies radio and "Anyway You Want It" by Journey never fails to remind me of Rodney Dangerfield crying "Let's Party!" on the golf course. For me Caddyshack is one of the classic screwball comedies. I watch it every time I find it on tv, commercials or not. I was about 18 when Caddyshack came out and my boyfriend worked at a local golf course. In the evenings, with a couple of friends, we would go out to the back nine and hit a few balls and sneak a few beers. We always had a boom box with us and cranked the tunes. I could identify with Rodney parting down on the fairway.
When I was a child, we lived in a small house with a floor furnace. On the cold winter mornings, mother would rise, turn up the heat and then switch on the radio.Her favorite was an AM news station out of Boston. BZ radio played the Best Oldies Songs songs and some new ones, reported news and traffic and entertained us while we warmed up standing over the floor furnace and got ready for school.
I love hearing old songs that remind me of stuff that I may not otherwise think of.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Home Is What Your Building Material Is...Try Durisol
Maybelle and Rip are in Europe and have sent along some pictures of where they've been hanging out. They've been to cities and towns all over eastern Europe. After studying the pictures, it looks to me like there are some pretty cool building styles. It made me wonder just what folks build homes from in different parts of the world and if we use the same building materials here. I investigated a little and found for the most part, people in developed countries use mostly the same building materials. But I did learn an interesting thing: one can build a house with anything from mud to Insulating concrete forms.
Of course, through the ages, people build what they need with what they can gather. Things like mud and brick, sod and thatch, straw bale houses and wood frame construction were all born from necessity. And each one of those things was an improvement or modification of the last and pretty good for keeping people warm, dry and safe. Unless of course they just burrowed into the side of hills and became hobbits. But even for burrow diggers, hobbits were very technologically advanced. They lived in beauty and comfort and weren't afraid to share.
These days everyone is trying to be green and live in homes that will use less energy and withstand more damage from earthquakes, hurricanes and the like. That's the whole reason people initially built houses in the first place isn't it? We've gone from burrowing hillsides to homes made from insulating concrete forms that are really strong, energy efficient, cost effective beautiful and offer the level of comfort any hobbit would be glad to entertain in.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Everybody Likes Cats, Right?
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| Eugene sleeping in a drawer... |
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| Gene waking up from a nap... |
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| Gene wondering what to do with the rest of his day. |
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| Stanley learning to address envelopes. |
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| Stanley failing at addressing envelopes... |
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| Penny, Nelle and Baby Philip sharing nap time. |
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| Tiny cat, found in a shrub, Pilgrim Hill Rd. |
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| Tiny cat, still tiny. |
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| Nora, tiny as ever, weighs all of 5 pounds. |
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