i have always loved Phoebe Snow’s music.  She was an extraordinary woman, who pretty much gave up her professional life as a musician to care for her daughter.  This song has been running through my head all day, so I though that maybe if I posted it, I would stop singing it.  But if I don’t, well, it’s a great song.  I can totally relate to the lyrics.  Hope you enjoy it.

I’m getting ready for my girlfriends/writers group to come over. It will be a fun afternoon for sure. Then I’ll head to St. Pete to Dan’s. I listen to music while I clean, and set up. Right now I’m listening to Van Morrison’s “So Quiet In Here.” He sings “This must be what paradise is like” and I’m thinking yeah, this must be. Good friends, a wonderful man, incomparable weather now, in the 80’s, dry, clear skies and balmy breezes. This must be what paradise is like, for sure. Life is amazing, how it can turn out.

So, because I’m pressed for time, a little, I thought I’d just put up a link to the song, and hope you all enjoy it, and that your Sunday is filled with love and friends. Love and light to all.

I am up well before the sun today. Woke up at 4 AM or thereabouts, and got out of bed an hour later when I realized I was just AWAKE. Not still tired, or sleepy, just awake. Not too much on my mind, but bits and pieces of things.

My allergies are the immediate cause of me being awake writing a blog at 5:30 am. It rained the other day, and they were gone for a good 24-36 hours. No sneezing, no swollen sinuses, no runny nose, no itching. Then they came back with a vengeance once things dried out and the wind started blowing. It’s been beautiful but windy here since the rain. Blowing lots of pollen around. I am guessing the allergies will last longer here. There’s a longer blooming season, and it’s all stuff my body has never been exposed to before. So…I guess there is a trade-off for living in paradise.

I met a really nice man yesterday. Unplanned, we spent the afternoon together down on the waterfront. Walking, talking, stopping for a drink, and a bite to eat. It was lovely. I so needed that, especially after the last two weeks and all the literal craziness.

One of my old co-workers has been texting me the last couple of days. It’s been nice to catch up with him. His wife is a good friend of mine too, though obviously I don’t know her quite as well as him, since I worked with him for 12 years every day. I know her well enough to know I think she is awesome though! She has stage 4 lung cancer, though you would never know it to look at her. She is beautiful. It’s metastasized into her brain now, but they seem to be holding it at bay right now. No new growths on her last CT scan. She has fought this for 5 years now, valiantly. They have a boat, and he knows what an avid boater I was and would be if I had access to a boat!

My lawn has needed cutting, and I have procrastinated getting gas for my mower and seeing if it will start. I’ve not started it since I moved here. So, I called the guy who was mowing it for me since I bought it and when I wasn’t here, and through the fall to come do it. He did. I didn’t think that he’d even do the back yard, because there’s no grass. Just some stuff poking up through all the banyan leaves, but not grass. However, he trimmed it all back there, and when he did he cut the wires to two of my solar powered strings of light on the tree. GRRRR. I had to order replacement strings yesterday. They don’t cost much, but it’s a pain to put them up and take them down. So irritated. I don’t think he saw them though, they are thin wires but the little solar battery packs are stuck in the ground, and I don’t know how he could have missed those. If I have him come back, I’ll tell him though, please not to do the backyard!

I just watched a figure skating performance by French skaters Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres on FB. I think it is the most beautiful pairs skating I’ve ever seen. It was flawless, breathtaking. It was done to “Sounds of Silence”. If you have a chance, look it up. Probably on Youtube, or maybe it can be found searching their names on FB. I can’t copy the URL because it’s a FB URL. It was posted by Ice Skating World.

I see the Russians hacked the French election. They are passive-aggressively trying to take over the world again. I bet Vlad beats his shoe on the table when he’s alone.

I read a British satire about how the country will pretend the queen is dead, and that they are in mourning when tRump visits there so no one has to meet with him. And then will be miraculously healed when he leaves. LOL. I do have the link to that if you want to read it. It’s not too long, but it is funny!

http://newsthump.com/2017/05/04/queen-to-pretend-to-be-dead-until-donald-trump-has-gone/

My sister texted me that she was buying tickets to an Improv for next Saturday night and she was getting me one too, and wanted me to come over to her place next weekend. Which is awesome, because it’s Mother’s Day, and both of us are nowhere near our kids. That should be a lot of fun!

My son is moving today and tomorrow into his first apartment. He’s pretty excited, and very ready to do this. He’s got a roommate who is a friend from CT, so they know each other well, and have planned things out well. I’m super happy for him, and looking forward to going out to visit him!

My ex has not tried to reach me since his release from the hospital. I am so glad. Hope that’s a trend that lasts forever. Idk if he’s tried to reach my son or not. He’s blocked on both our phones. I don’t think my son even checks to see if there are blocked voice mails, because he never listens to a voice mail anyway, lol. If he doesn’t answer the phone, I just text hm.

I’m tempted to go to the beach today, but I also have a feeling I’ll be taking a nap this afternoon, because I’m up so early. But then again, I could just go to our town beach for like an hour and sit in the sun. Soak up some vitamin D. The wind seems to have died, and it’s going to be in the low 80’s. Perfect beach day.

I guess that’s all the bits and pieces for now. Stream of consciousness this morning. It’s so quiet in here. Makes me think of the Van Morrison song “So Quiet in Here.” (“This must be what paradise is like, so quiet in here…..so quiet in here.” Think I’ll put the song up. Love and light, all.

The absurdities in today’s news. Mind you, most of my news comes from social media because it’s just where I get most of my news.  Sometimes I catch the evening news, but rarely.

1. From the NY Times. Jehovah’s Witnesses are declared extremists and banned in Russia. Now, yeah they irritate me too, knocking at my door and leaving me those little pamplets. But political and/or violent they are not, absolutely. Russia sees them the same as ISIS. WTF. Yep, it’s those dangerous pamphlets, you know, trying to tell you how to be a good person.
2. tRump promised his wall and promised Mexico would pay for it. Now….he wants money, BILLIONS, set aside for it or he wants to shut down the government. It’s so absurd. Instead of, idk, feeding the hungry, or tax breaks for the middle class. He’ll shut down the government over hisi stupid absurd wall.
3. From the Guardian. In Ireland, a “charitable” Catholic organization called The Sisters of Charity was investigated in 2009, at a cost to Irish taxpayers of 82 million euros. (I don’t have the symbol for euros, or don’t know where to find it anyway.) The investigation uncovered decades of horrible abuse of children in it’s care. They never apologized. They have not paid even half the money they promised to redress the victims. Now, they will be given ownership of the brand new state of the art, taxpayer funded, National Maternity Hospital in Ireland. It boggles the mind that somehow this is ok with anybody. Let alone people in positions to make these decisions.
4. From Vanity Fair. Dow Chemical donated $1million to tRump, and asked him to ignore a pesticide study that shows that many of their mainstay chemicals are dangerous to 1800 “critically threatened or endangered species.” This is aside from the fact that the chemicals are originally derived from a nerve gas developed by Nazi Germany. And, the CEO is a close advisor to Cheetoman, so how much do we bet on Cheetoman ignoring it?

This is just a smattering of what’s nuts in the news. Not just here, but worldwide. This is why I rarely watch or even read news. When I do, it’s so absurd I can’t really comprehend it’s reality. It rolls around in my head, trying to find a soft place to land so my head doesn’t explode. It’s particularly ridiculous when I haven’t slept well, because in that case, I just want to glide into my morning. Now I’m going to need to take a long walk down by the water to just find my equilibrium again.

This world is becoming such a crazy place. When I was young, and protesting the Viet Nam war, I guess I thought that by the time I was of retirement age, all the problems of the world would be fixed. I mean, we had 40 years….. But no, the problems are worse than ever. There is one song, an old protest song by David Crosby that keeps running through my head after reading this stuff. That song is “What Are Their Names?” I’m gonna go have a listen, and then, retreat back to my little bubble where the only absurdities are created by me, trying to live a peaceful life. You know, chasing grasshoppers off my plants with a hose. Tripping and falling on a singing crystal bowl. You know, stuff like that. Absurd, but absurd that I can deal with.

Love and light all.

So glad to have eliminated so much chaos from my life!  Love this song….it absolutely expresses my mood.  Utter delight.

I just love this song.  So here it is, with the lyrics.  Always was my favorite color.  Enjoy.

This is part 2, because a long time ago I put up their “I’d Rather Be a Blind Girl” by Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa which still gets views once in awhile.  And by the way, he is not blind as I thought he was.  He just wears sunglasses alot.

Anyway, I told my friend, trE from A Cornered Gurl ( https://simplesoulsister.com/ ) that I would put up this link to a very “sexified” (her word, lol, but a very useful one!) blues song by Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa.  It’s called Close to My Fire.  They are amazing.

Yes, I stayed off FB all day. Wasn’t even tempted. I’ve learned to just stay away from things that cause me agita. Or pain. Or angst. FB gave me all of those things. I’m familiar with being triggered. Not sure I’ll go back on tomorrow. Not sure I’m ready.

I got a back and neck massage. My neck and back are better, not good yet. I have a terry cloth wrap that has inserts that are bags filled with buckwheat and lavender. You heat the bags in the microwave, and then insert them back in the wrap and wrap it around your neck. It’s lovely. It’s wrapped around my neck.

When I got done, I drove straight to the waterfront and took about a mile and a half walk. It was so warm, and clear and sunny. Tuesdays there is a fresh market in the center of town. Lots of handmade goods, home grown veggies, cheese. Tons of vendors. And now that we are “in season” lots of tourists.

When I got home my friend who sings, mostly blues and jazz came over for a few minutes. We ran to Dollar General for her to get some dog food. I was playing Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa on the car stereo through my phone. My friend was trying to think of some new music she could arrange for the house band to play at open mic night. She had not heard the Beth Hart song, Tell Her You’re Mine, before. I played another she didn’t know, this one with Bonamassa, I’ll Take Care of You. She got very excited at the prospect of singing one of them at open mic night. She’s such a fabulous blues singer, and these are in her range. Especially the second one. It is such a good song, and I’m of the mind to put it up here tonight for your listening enjoyment.  The guitar riff by Bonamassa at the end is amazing.  Love and light everyone.