This is Glenn's Blog
Since I had the good fortune to be born in the month of January, it seems that I am a Capricorn. I was reading my horoscope today and was surprised to learn that some good fortune is supposed to be coming my way. Imagine that!!
It turns out that Dolly Parton was born on the same day as I. At least I have some good company in that category. Some other famous Capricorns are David Bowie, Nicholas Cage, and Jimmy Page.
One thing I love to do is to get out on the water in a boat. I like to fish, but I don’t necessarily have to. Just being on the water and seeing the sunlight on the waves as we make our way down the river is a joy to me. Being with the family is another aspect I like. The kids enjoy the outdoors and I like the fact that I am helping them learn to appreciate Mother Nature.
I would like to get a bigger boat sometime in the future, but for now I am happy with the one I have. It’s never left me stranded and that’s something that I like. I hope we can spend many hours on the water this year.
I love how big our country is. I went on a trip recently and discovered that you can drive for hours on end at 80 miles per hour and still not be even close to our destination. This happened to me when I went to see a friend who lives in Mississippi. His name is john and we went to college together. It was good to see him and his family.
John had just bought a new home and was just starting to get it the way he wanted it. The first thing I noticed was that he didn’t have a security alarm. I talked to him about this and told him that it would be worth the investment to have some peace of mind. Knowing that his family was safe is of great importance. We found a home security tupelo company that could provide the services he needed.
Another aspect of his new home was that it would be very expensive for him to have cable service installed. We did some research and discovered a site called LocalTV-Satellite.com that made our decision easy. John could have his choice of the many programs options they had. I am sure that John is enjoying his new home and his family is too. As for me, I am facing a long ride home!
Last night we caught the movie, E.T. on one of the cable channels. I cannot believe it has been 30 years since that movie came out. It was really strange to see little Drew Barrymore in that movie as a little 4 year old girl!
I remember when that movie came out. Everyone was so excited about the story of a little boy finding an alien and making friends with it, that it was friendly and meant us no harm. I hope that if we ever do have visitors from space arrive here, that their first contact with us humans is with a little boy like the one in the E. T. movie.
Most of the time when I think of the flute, I think of Native American music. Those are songs that are haunting and very spiritual, usually accompanied by drums and chanting.
This morning I was poking around YouTube and came across two songs, by accident, that featured the flute Celine Dion’s theme song from “Titanic,” and a song by Celtic Woman called, “Scarborough Fair.” The odd thing is that I don’t remember the flute from the first version I ever heard of that song, by Simon and Garfunkel.
So I clicked over to the Simon and Garfunkel version and listened to that one. Their version features acoustic guitar and harpsichord – not the flute.Until the very end – and then there is a flute or possibly clarinet? I can’t really tell and I listened to it twice. Anybody know which wind instrument is featured on the Simon and Garfunkel version of Scarborough Fair?
That put me in the mindset for some old folk rock and I listened to some other Simona nd Gafnkel songs for about 30 minutes, then I had to get out of the house and head off to work.
Feeling a little down and grumpy, so I went on Youtube and started listening to old songs. Some of them are vaguely familiar and some I’ve never heard before. It started with a Celine Dion song from back in 1990 and somehow morphed into a duet by Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn – and I don’t even like country music much. The duet is called “You’re the Reason Out Kids Are Ugly.” It’s a really funny noveltys ong from the 1970’s that I am sure my parents listened to and got a good laugh from the lyrics.
That’s part of the fun of Youtube – you never know where your listening buffet will take you.
The neighbor came by this morning to warn me about this weekend. They are having a kids birthday party and the place will be noisy and busy with a couple dozen kids running and screaming across the yards. I remember how it as last year, and can’t believe its already been year since that birthday party.
There is just something about 20 eight and nine year olds running around that gives me a headache just thinking about it. That is way too much energy and noise for me. But for a lot of people, throwing kids birthday parties is like a competitive sport. They hire Party and Event Rentals companies to handle all the details for their kid and the friends, and then the parents don’t have to do much but run the video recorder and chit chat with the other parents who come to the party.
The smart ones hire out the Food Catering, the entertainment and the clean up. The parties in my neighborhood have come a long way since the days when I was a kid and thought that a couple hours in the mall arcade with unlimited tokens was the ultimate party. Nowadays they have
Bounce House Rentals, clowns, face painters, carnival games and all kinds of entertainment options. Its good to be a kid.
This morning I kicked myself for being so stupid. I totally missed the Kentucky Derby yesterday. I got busy outside and forgot about the time. I was cutting the grass and started hacking away at the shrubbery and I pulled up some morning glory vines that were taking over the whole side of the garage. The next thing I knew, it was time for dinner, so I washed up and drove down to KFC and picked up some chicken.
Never even turned on the TV yesterday until the 11:00 news came on and I fell asleep before the sports report. It didn’t even come to mind until I picked up the Sunday paper and read about it in the paper. Duh!
We’ve hit 80 degrees a couple of times already, so I’m starting to think SUMMER. As much as I like the beach, sometimes you don’t want to deal with the parking issues, the long hike, and the sand in your shoes just to get some swimming. There are plenty of days when I would really like to get home from work, throw on my swim trunks and jump in a swimming pool.
Our neighborhood does not have a community pool – one of the drawbacks of living in a house instead of an apartment. So, we’ve been looking at above ground swimming pools to fit in a corner of our backyard. Both of our neighbors have installed high privacy fences, so all we would have to do is put up a fence cross the back – for safety.
I know the neighbors would want to get to be better friends if they thought we would invite them over for a swim in our backyard pool. And we could have some righteous pool parties on Friday nights, with the barbecue grill smoking and some ice cold beverages. Maybe even some string lights around the edges and a couple of outdoor speakers for good music. It’s starting to sound like a really good plan to me.
While visiting on Easter, I found a copy of the book, Crazy Heart, on the bookshelf in my brother’s room. I asked if I could borrow it and he said to take it and pass it on.
I watched the movie with the same title when it came out last year. I thought the movie was outstanding and Jeff Bridges made the main character totally believable.I know a little about the music business, as my dad was a musician and we always had a house full of band members, singers and other entertainers.
It will be hard to read the book without picturing Jeff Bridges as the main character. But maybe that’s a good thing. I think it helps to vividly picture the characters while you read.
So far the book seems to be following the movie pretty closely. I just got into it last night for a couple of chapters. I plan to read the book and then re-watch the movie to compare the two.