Music Monday---Boat On The River

Although I don't swim very well and don't like being in water that is over my head, I find being near bodies of water to be relaxing. Whether it is a small stream, a river, a lake, or an ocean, the sights, sounds, and rhythms of water strike me as being very peaceful. I think that is just one of the reasons I have always liked this song.

Boat On The River--lyrics
(sung by Styx)
Take me back to my boat on the river
I need to go down, I need to come down
Take me back to my boat on the river
And I won't cry out any more
Time stands still as I gaze in her waters
She eases me down, touching me gently
With the waters that flow past my boat on the river
So I don't cry out anymore

Oh the river is wide
The river it touches my life like the waves on the sand
And all roads lead to tranquility base
Where the frown on my face disappears
Take me down to my boat on the river
And I won't cry out anymore

Oh the river is deep
The river it touches my life like the waves on the sand
And all roads lead to tranquility base
Where the frown on my face disappears
Take me down to my boat on the river
I need to go down, with you let me go down
Take me back to my boat on the river
And I won't cry out anymore
And I won' t cry out anymore
And I won't cry out anymore

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.

Mellow Yellow Monday---Forsythia Bushes

This photo of forsythia bushes, growing next to the fence around the tennis courts at the park, was taken last spring. It is still too early for them to be out yet this year.

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Smiley Sunday---Mission Trip Plans

3 Nails 2 Boards 1 Mission

My younger son who is 14 (soon to be 15) years old, spent most of yesterday at a workshop where he learned how to put up drywall. He did that because a week from today, he will be traveling to a place called Pass Christian, Mississippi.

Pass Christian, Mississippi is marked with a pink balloon with the letter "A" on it on the map below. The location of our home in Ohio is marked with a red star.

He is going to Mississippi with his youth group from church on a mission trip there. They are going to an area that was hit by hurricane Katrina in 2005 where homes are still, after all this time, in need of repair from damage done by that storm. He and the others he is going with will be spending an entire week, their spring break time off from school, to volunteer their services to those in need there as part of the hurricane relief team.

He is wearing the team T-shirt that was provided to him and the others in his group. This morning in church, our minister said a prayer for their group and commissioned them for the trip. He told the group and our congregation how proud he was of them for being willing to give up their spring break to do this work.

IMPACT
Who will go for us?
"Here I am, Send me!"
Isaiah 6:8
Mississippi Hurricane Relief

I have to say, I am proud of him and the others in the youth team joining this group too. He has definitely given me a reason to smile today.

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Getting Dressed

Gabcast! Dancing With Daisy #52 - Getting Dressed

Click the play button above to hear me read this poem.


Getting Dressed

Clad only in white bark,
the trembling tree of early spring
reaches its branches up in the air
in anticipation
of the transformation.

A small child,
full of innocence,
standing in white cotton underwear
with arms stretched high,

waiting

waiting

for her mother
to slip,
first a frilly white petticoat,
then the soft green and pink folds
of an Easter dress
over her head.

Shivering only slightly in the breeze,
the tree,
with eager head held high in delight,
smiles
as the dress;
made of white blossoms,
pink buds,
and green leaves,
slowly slips over its thin branch arms
and swirls down to the knees
of its trunk.

Now, properly clad
in spring finery,
the tree sways
and looks over its shoulder
with a flirty glance
admiring its reflection
in a nearby pond.

Let's Go To Jamaica

What do you think? Can you do this?



YIKES!! Watching that made my back hurt! Come on let's dance.
We don't have to go quite so low to have fun, I promise. Anybody want to go to Jamaica with me?

Fantasies can all come true.

Free Career Advice

Some of you may remember the "shredded tweet" incident from last week. Well, the bill has arrived for that service call from the plumbing, heating and cooling repair guy. (Click on the image to make it bigger if you need to.)

The repair man was here at my house for 15 to 20 minutes tops!!

My career advice of the day to anyone who is just starting out or perhaps starting over in choosing a career for themselves is to consider going into the plumbing, heating and cooling business. Apparently, there is much money to be had removing dead birds from the furnaces of people like me who know nothing about furnaces and such.

Hmmmph!! Suddenly another song has begun playing in my head.

OK, well maybe I'm not quite as upset as the lyrics in that song would portray, but YIKES! I agree that removing a dead bird from a furnace combustion fan was probably a rather unpleasant task, but at $240-$320 an hour give or take a dollar or two, I am thinking perhaps I should hang up my librarian's hat and become a furnace repair person.

Just to remove a dead bird? SHEESH! I would have done it for you for free!

Music In My Head

I heard this song this morning. It is one I really like and remember well from my childhood. So it is playing in my head today.

( Now it is probably going to be playing in yours too, so I hope it is one you enjoy!)

Music Monday---Dream A Little Dream

Dream A Little Dream of Me
sung by Louis Armstrong
(lyrics)

Stars shining bright above you
night breezes seem to whisper

I love you
Birds singin' in the sycamore tree

Dream a little dream of me.
Say "nighty night" and kiss me

just hold me tight and tell me

you'll miss me.
While I'm alone and blue as can be

Dream a little dream of me.

Stars fading
but I linger on
dear

still craving your kiss
I'm longing to linger til dawn
dear

Just saying this:

Sweet dreams til sun beams find you

sweet dreams that leave our worries behind you.
But in your dreams
whatever they be

dream a little dream of me.

Stars fading
but I linger on
dear

still craving your kiss.
I'm longing to linger til dawn
dear

just saying this:

Sweet dreams til sun beams find you

sweet dreams that leave our worries behind you.
But in your dreams
whatever they be

dream a little dream of me.

Yeah, dream a little dream of me.

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.

Mellow Yellow Monday---Here a Duck, There a Duck, Everywhere a Duck Duck

At the Jubilee, an annual summer street carnival in my town, a little girl chose a yellow rubber duck to see which prize she had won. Each duck had a number on the bottom of it which designated the winning prize. Happy Mellow Yellow Monday!

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Smiley Sunday---Sunny Walk in the Park

These are a few of the things that made me smile today.

lovebirds--a pair of mourning doves on the telephone wire

buds on the tree branches

crocuses in a neighbor's yard

buds peeking out on my daffodils

this black squirrel who chattered at me because he didn't like me taking his picture

a sea of pine cones that crunched under my feet

a bird's nest made out of bits of a plastic bag---trash thrown away by man and made into something useful by a bird

the sun was shining when I walked through the park today

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I Say It's All Right

My older son didn't qualify for the track meet in Atlanta this weekend, as he had hoped, which meant he had an unexpected weekend off. Since he had some free time, he invited his younger brother down to his campus dorm for a visit.

We drove my younger son down to the university and then we all ate pizza out before returning both boys back to the dorm. Here are my sons in the dorm room trying to "out-tall" each other (standing on tiptoes and stretching their heads up, each trying to prove that he is the taller one). They are both taller than I am, so I've already lost that race.

This pond is just across the street from my son's dormitory on campus there. I thought it looked pretty and snapped a picture of it as we left to come back home tonight.

According to my calendar, today was the first official day of spring. I think it is time for the Ohio Department of Transportation to take down this sign which we saw at a rest stop on our drive this afternoon.

After all, it is springtime now, and that means---- here comes the sun!!!

Blue and Yellow

I found some blue and yellow poking up through the brown leaves this morning.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's a beautiful day here today, and it is St. Patrick's Day. Both seem like good reasons to get up and dance to me. Appropriate for the day, here is Riverdance. Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!

Music Monday---I'm In The Mood To Be Desired

I'm easing into Monday this week. How about a little slow dancing.

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.

Mellow Yellow Monday--Gold Bond Stamps

I saw this Gold Bond stamps sign sitting next to the metal canisters with yellow lids at the antique market I visited a couple of weeks ago and thought it would make a good mellow yellow post.

Gold Bond stamps were part of a trading stamp incentive program similar to S&H Green stamps. Trading stamps are small paper coupons given to customers by merchants. These stamps have no value individually, but when a customer saves up a certain number of them, they can be exchanged with the trading stamp company for other merchandise.

According to Wikipedia, "The Carlson Companies were founded in 1938 as the Gold Bond Stamp Company by Curt Carlson, who used a $55 loan to start his venture.^[3] Founded during the Great Depression, Carlson used "Gold Bond Stamps", a consumer loyalty program based on trading stamps, to provided consumer incentive for grocery stores."

Although I don't remember anything about Gold Bond stamps, I do remember my mother saving the S&H Green stamps and pasting them into books when I was very young. Trading stamps remind me of a simpler, mellower time.

Happy mellow yellow Monday to you!

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Smiley Sunday---The Buzzards Are Back

Those who live in Hinckley, Ohio in the northeastern part of my state celebrated Buzzard Day today as they do every March. It is the day the buzzards traditionally return to Hinckley. Although we do not have a day set aside to celebrate it, the buzzards return here to my town too in mid-March or thereabouts every year.

I took some pictures, the best I could manage with my point and click camera in the park late this afternoon of the buzzards who have returned. There are a few of them here now, but more will return in the next few days. In years past, I have seen as many as 40 or 50 buzzards at a time roosting just in one of the big old trees in our park.

Seeing the buzzards made me smile today because they are a sure sign that it is time for Spring to return as well.

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Kaleidoscope of Twilight

It was warm enough for me to go for a walk through the park after work tonight. Well, it was warm enough as long as I wore my winter coat, hat, gloves, jeans, and a hooded sweatshirt, that is. Still, I walked outside. That was a good thing.

I felt like I was inside a kaleidoscope. With each turn in the road, the sunset and clouds shifted into different shapes and changing colors:

yellows,

purples,

pinks,

oranges,

reds.

I saw the buzzards in the trees too. They are back. Welcome signs of spring on giant wings. It was too dark to take a photo of them, but they were roosting in the tops of the tallest pine trees in the park. Every once in a while, I could hear their wings flop as they switched from one branch to another.

A Lesson in Furnace Repair

Last night, while I was working at the library, my husband came home from work and discovered that the heat wasn't on in our house. For some reason, the furnace had stopped working.

He called the furnace repair guy who said he could come out to the house right away to fix it or wait until this morning to come. Then he said it would be an extra $100 to come last night because it was after hours. Not seeing the sense in paying an extra $100, my husband asked him to come out this morning.

So we drank hot tea and layered on extra sweatshirts to keep away the chill that was gradually overtaking our house. (The temperature is still in the 20's outside here today.)

The repairman came bright and early this morning to see what the problem was. He discovered that a bird had made its way down through the chimney on our roof to the furnace. It had managed to land on or in the whirring fan of the furnace motor where it not only ended its life, but also effectively shut down our furnace.

This news brought two thoughts to my mind. First was, "Oh that poor little bird!" The second thought was, "EWWWWW!"

The repairman advised me that we should get a screen put on the chimney to prevent this from happening again and said he would send me a bill for his services.

This incident has left me with a poem to share with you.

Furnace Repair

If you find
that you have no heat,
you might want to check
for shredded tweet.

Glibby Gloop Gloopy?

The sunrise this morning was spectacular. Seemed like there had to be a big fire somewhere downtown to light up the sky that bright. Of course, there was no fire.

Seeing the sunrise put a song into my head, as so many things do. This is the song that has been rolling through my mind all day as a result. I always sing it as if the lyrics were "Good morning, sunshine," even though I know it is supposed to be starshine.

When I heard it as a kid, I guess it didn't make sense to me to be saying good morning to the stars because to me the stars were out in the night time not in the morning, so I always sang it as if I were saying good morning to the sun. I was a rebel, apparently, even at the age of ten when this song was new.

Good Morning Starshine

lyrics

Lyrics | Oliver - Good Morning Starshine lyrics

"Glibby gloop gloopy Nibby Nabby Noopy La La La Lo Lo
Sabba Sibby Sabba Nooby abba Nabba Le Le Lo Lo
Tooby ooby walla nooby abba nabba"???????

As songs go, the lyrics aren't exactly "stellar" are they? HA!

There have been a few signs of spring showing up here. A few brave daffodils have started poking their spears up through the dirt, checking the air temperature. They remind me of a kid at the beach sticking one toe in the water to see if it is warm enough to swim in.

Some of them have been nipped by the cold air and have turned yellow. It is only 24 degrees here and that was the high for today.

Some other kind of early flower is poking up in the bed too. This is not a daffodil, but I'm not sure what it is. I don't remember what was planted there.


Another sign of spring is that the local ice cream store has reopened for business for the season. This is a fairly new establishment. It was open last year, but I had never visited there. There is another one like this owned by this same person in a nearby town.

In front of the building and out back are some picnic tables, but it is much too cold to be sitting out there eating ice cream today.

This ice cream stand is between my house and the rehabilitation facility where my mother is, so after visiting her this morning, I stopped at the stand to pick up some lunch and bring it home. I thought I would give it a try since I had never been there before. I bought a creamed chicken sandwich and a flurry with Reese's peanut butter cups chopped in it. I took it back home to eat it there.

Max (the moocher) is waiting and hovering around my feet hoping I will consider sharing my chicken sandwich with him. (Yes, I gave him a couple of bites.)


There have been a couple of other signs of spring around. Although I didn't get a picture of it, I saw the first robin today, which in this area is an indication that warmer weather will be here soon.

Another, less welcome, sign of spring has also arrived. In the past week we have had several days of heavy rains which have caused quite a bit of flooding in the area. There are several roads closed and many fields under water in our county. It seems this happens every spring because first the snow melts, then we get rain on top of it, and the ground is still too frozen to absorb the water fast enough. We have had water in our basement the last couple of days which we have been battling with mops and towels and fans and so forth.

When my sons were small, they had this video on tape and we got in the habit of playing it every year when we had grown winter weary and were ready for spring to arrive. Although I have posted this here before, I think it is time to post it again. Jeepers Creepers! Time for spring, I say!