A Needed Break

I'd love to show how excited I am to be getting off the Island and somewhere new with a photo of a big smile on my face but a shadow of jumping for joy will have to do. Yee Haw! I so love to travel but don't have the means for a lot of it so love it when I get a chance. My job isn't very hard. I'm responsible for driving and walking the dog and said I will do the cooking. The dog and cooking I will enjoy but will grin and bear the driving.

While I am gone, you can fight amongst yourselves. LOL There are lots of songs to listen to on the music pages and you can go back in the archives to peruse photos from other times "in the tiny life on PEI". There is so much to look at on the internet. It's a marvel! I'm amazed, really, that people actually stop by here. I'd like to revamp and do a few things here when I get back but I do have a glass commission to take care of first.

I think I need to leave some extra songs. Some of you will not go back into the archives or onto the music pages so for fast clickers here's a few:

• Go Now - Bessie Banks
• Dont Forget to Miss Me -Harry Manx
• Hit The Road Jack - Mo'Horizon
• Greyhound Bus - Oh Susannah
• On The Road Again - Katie Melua
• On My Way - Mavis Staples
• Can't Help But Wonder - Tom Paxton
• You Ain't Goin Nowhere - The Byrds
• Car Wheels On a Gravel Road - Lucinda Williams
• 500 Miles - Peter, Paul and Mary
• Long Ride Home - Patty Griffin
• Try Your Wings - Blossom Dearie

I'll still be reading blogs and on line but until I'm back I won't be posting. See you before Christmas!

Happy Trails

Two more sleeps and I'll be in the air. Everything but my toothbrush and medication is packed and I'm raring to go. The cats know I'm leaving. They always do. I find one of them in my bag every time I go upstairs. The bag in a guest room, on a bed with things all around it and both cats have taken to sleeping in there in the daytime. We will miss each other, my kitties and I, but they will gets of love from my son who will be home soon.

I will miss music too. I play music all the time but most people don't. I questioned my aunt about it over the year and found out they rarely play music. If they do, it's country. I may bring a cd or two along with the cd of photos I made for her. I have to design a window I have a commission for and music is necessary for me when any cre8ive tasks are at hand.

I grew up with country music. It has always been my parents choice and I love a lot of it too. I'm not very familiar with modern country but the old country of Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Johnny Cash and all those, I am very familiar with. I Fall To Pieces by Patsy Cline was a favorite of my mothers. We'd all be singing that at the top of our lungs, accompanying the 33 1/2 record. My brother and I made up a game called I Fall To Pieces and we'd sing it while we played. I've got a great version of the song by Aaron Neville and Trisha Yearwood. My mom would have loved it. I actually may have played it to her years ago as I had the cassette it is from, Country-Soul. Song number two is Border Line from the lovely David Francey who I've seen in concert quite a few times.

Winter's Entrance

What a day! It was a snowy landscape this morning but I thought the day would be a nice one with a bit of shoveling in the sun and go on as usual. Then the power went out - twice. I have not had a shower. This is a very rare occasion and I'm not exactly happy about it. The wind came up about 9:30 and from then on it was a very windy day that definitely was not conducive to going out. A nasty day! I shoveled the deck mid-afternoon but had to warp the door to get it open this morning. Nasty! Winter has arrived. I'm going to ignore it all I can and try not to complain about it here.

The birds and cats are marvels. We, all three, were out on the deck together and it was wonderful. All living as we should. We all talked (chirped, meowed, maybe) and got along as pleasantly as could be with snow all around us. I provided seeds. The cats stayed out longer than I did and have been napping since. I love how it all works out.

One of my favorite songwriters of the past few years has been Brandi Carlile. I've been singing her praises since here. Her song The Story is still one of my all-time favorite songs. She is a wonder! Today I have her song, Hiding My Heart. I so love this woman's music and hope you do to. Brooke Miller is a girl I've known since she was young. Her mom is a friend of mine. She's married, a step-mother and living off-island now but I love her albums. Here is World On a Whim for today and Country From the Domecar as a bonus. A simple Google search brings all this.

Talking It Away

We missed PEI's first taste of winter two nights ago, but tonight - the snow is coming. I wanted it to hold off until the airplane I boarded was heading south; four more sleeps! My daughter, a snow lover, was very excited last week when she was getting her first taste. I told her that I find it hard to believe that she came forth from my loins. Did none of me rub off on her?

I just want to escape it. Every year, the same thing. I complain about it and complain about it . "If only I didn't have to drive", I say over and over. All the while that I'm complaining, I do what I have to to live safely in winter's culture. Today I got my snow tires on. I have my kit in the trunk for emergencies. The shovel is on the deck. I haven't resorted to socks yet. That is the last gong for me. The three week escape I'm heading for will be precious to me in the respect that I will miss three weeks of driving in snow. Ha! What am I thinking? I trade it for three weeks of driving in a couple hundreds percent increased traffic on roads I'm completely unfamiliar with!

White Snow by Ben Weaver is perfect for today. Might as well keep it real. I hate winter but accept that I live in it's throes. I don't think it's forecast to be this extreme but Snowed In by Joel Plaskett will add to the Maritime tradition that if you talk enough about it - blow lots of hot air - a storm won't come. We'll see if it works.

Winterlude

I'm late today but for the best of reasons - I got a phone call from one of my oldest and dearest friends that I'd been waiting for for a couple of months. She had moved far, far away in August and I'd been waiting for a call announcing that all was well. I've received that call now and feel a lot more relaxed. It was like one of my kids was missing. Just this week I had been complaining to a friend that my friend hadn't called yet and it was the first time we had been out of touch since '72. That's a long time.

Western PEI was completely shut down today because of 20 cm. of snow overnight. Some homes are still without power. Hundreds of cars were stranded overnight on the Cobequid Pass, a highway in Nova Scotia that should never have been built, but that's beside the point. Here in the eastern end of the island, we got no snow at all. Lucky buggers weren't we?

My list of things to attend to before traveling is getting shorter. The list of instructions to my son is getting longer. Makes sense to me.

Today I have some easy, pleasy, lovely songs for listening to with both your ears and heart. Yes, your ears and your heart are needed for these songs. The ears will love the intro. It's Johnette Napolitano with When I'm Gone. You'll then move seamlessly to Peter Case's song, Ain't Gonna Worry No More. I give my daughter weekly talks about worrying and this says it better than I can. The two songs sound great together.

The internet or my connection to it is very slow tonight. Actually, it seems there may be a Google problem. Can't add a photo at the moment. Will try again in a bit.

Free To Be

I don't have to cook dinner tonight and for that I'm thankful. A night off stove duty is just what the doctor ordered. I feel like I have no responsibilities today, no chores that have to be done NOW or any important matter to attend to. It almost feels like the first day that I've been completely free to do what I wanted or felt like at the moment. Kat talks about retirement sometimes and I feel like she enjoys these type of days quite often. Someday....

I painted off and on for a couple of hours but today was dark and raining and it was a bit difficult. I paint only in natural light and when it's really dark and overcast it's too much of an eyestrain. Using the vacuum cleaner doesn't require such extreme visual concentration so I did a bit of that too. Dancing and Oprah were on my list of doing what I wanted, as well as some packing and organization. I made a trip out to the post office and boy the weather has changed; I had to wear a jacket. It has cooled considerably and has rained lightly most of the day.

Today I have a song for the dark and dreary of rain and one for the sunshine dancing brings me. Eleni Mandell has this lovely number, It's Raining and for the dance, It Don't Mean a Thing by Club Des Belugas is fabulous. I love this band. Their song, Skip to the Bip, was one of the songs danced to on So You Think You Can Dance Canada a couple of weeks ago.

November Nonsense

I got a letter from Google and have asked them to send me in plain English what they are asking me to do. It is so full of legalese that I don't know what it is saying. They took a specific post away for copyright infringement. Since they took it away, I can't view it so don't know what specifically on it was unsatisfactory. I've replied as such to them but they haven't replied back to me.

I'm having my sister in law for dinner tonight. My son is away so I'm back to eating fish instead of meat. Her husband doesn't like the smell of fish cooking at their house (the same as his nephew, my son) so we get together for fish meals when one of them is away. I've cooked homemade baked beans - just took them out of the oven - and home made fish cakes made from salt cod. It's a tradition Maritime meal. Chow Chow, a type of pickle, is served with them and we have that and lots of other homemade pickles to choose from. Yum!

I'm packing up this piece of stained glass to take to my aunt. I had made it twenty years ago for my grandmother. It was returned to me when she was taken to a nursing home. My aunt and grandmother were very close so I'm passing it on. A lot of people I know are traveling at the moment. I have two different friends going to Vancouver on Thursday, most likely on the same plane. They don't know each other.

Rosie Thomas and Rosemary Clooney are bringing the music today. I'll let you guess which one is which. Here's Much Farther to Go and Any Place I Hang My Hat is Home. I am still experiencing difficulties from Putfile and am using the alternate method. I'm no longer going to mention this. Whatever host brings you the song, is ok with me. Putfile dosn't allow uploads and the alternate does so some people are happier.

Letters From the Past

I'm having a very nice day today. I had a To Do list but didn't follow it. Instead I did what I wanted at each given moment. I got lots done, just not what I had planned. There's always tomorrow, eh?

I wrote my grandson a letter. He didn't know what a letter was so I told him I'd send him one. Can you imagine? Any of us over fifty certainly knows what letter writing is about because letters were vital parts of communication in our past. Emails have taken over but they're quite different. I have saved years of correspondence and went through it all one weekend probably 10 years ago when a friend wanted to explore some old books I had. While he was rummaging through the books I was holding and remembering all those letters. I moved to Toronto from Massachusetts at one point and have awesome letters from friends, and groups of friends; sometimes big sheets of paper laid out during parties that were later mailed to me. It's possible my grandson will never get another friendly letter, only business letters. Amazing to comprehend sometimes.

Today's music is for Tom Waits fans. Here's Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis and Telephone Call From Istanbul. I was tempted to play some dance songs but these songs go better with letter writing. I had my dance early today - before I even got dressed and dance music has been in my head all day.

In Waves

I had an unexpected visitor this afternoon so am a bit late with posting. I was quite happy to welcome a visitor. I'd been cleaning most of the day and it was nice to have the break. We visited for a while, then played a game of scrabble. She brought me two boxes of ibuprofen that she bought at a drugstore in the US for 88 cents a box. It was an error at the drugstore so she bought 6 boxes. I plan on stocking up on some items if I can get some good deals when I'm in the US but will probably spend most of my money at the Body and Bath Store.

My son is probably just leaving this beach bar in Mexico right now, on his way to get something to eat before tonight's partying begins. Oh, to be in my twenties again (with what I know now). I remember them well but can't live at that pace at all anymore. I partied in this Mexican town when I was in my twenties too. I didn't need sleep then. My upcoming vacation will be much different and I'm ok with that.

I figured out a way to keep Windows Media Player on the task bar which also kept the last played playlist without saving. Only trouble is that when I came in now to do this, it is nowhere in sight. I went through the steps I went to to get this and the command is checked but it is not here on my desktop. I should stop publicly complaining about this but it's the first time I've had to reformat a computer. It's all a bit difficult to me. Ask me if I do windows......and I have another interpretation.

Today's music is what impressed me today while playing some of the cd's I've made. First, City of Night by Pink Martini. I really like this band.

Just had a phone call that made me lose my train of thought about the music. Am I talking about an age-related thing again? Song....something quick... I remember. One of the cd's I played today was called Citified and it had New York by Luke Doucet.

My son is "hoping to make it to New York" as the lyrics say. He has his ticket so as long as he leaves Mexico on time he'll spend four nights there. He will be doing different things than I do. I talked to a friend today who also just returned from a trip to New York with her husband and she didn't do the things that I'd do either.

My vacation can't come fast enough. I'm starting to get itchy feet.

November Flocking

I've been watching the usual November flocks of blackbirds. They're gathering in preparation for flying south. It occurred to me today that that is exactly what is going on around this house. My son is going to Mexico and I'm flying to Florida. We're just like those gathering birds, clearing up loose ends, and making plans, in our own separate ways. I'm leaving after he returns so there is some continuity in the house, but we've both been very busy beavers, getting things organized for our journeys. I've been filling and have finally mailed Christmas boxes. My computer break has gone far in getting this done in a faster manner.

I have the latest version of Windows Media Player and am having a heck of a time finding my way around. I had kept the old version 9 forever but it can't be downloaded on XP anymore. It's a sad day. My son thinks I should be accepting these upgrades when they come out but I tend to hang onto the familiar. I didn't upgrade to Firefox 3 either, until now.

We have two songs today by woman singer-songwriters who are very similar in that they beautifully paint a picture with their words. These songs are lovely vocal stories. First Azure Ray with November; this is a duo not a single woman and Kim Richey, with Mexico. Both are worth a listen.

Balance

Balance - what we all want to achieve in running our lives. I think spending less time on the computer may be helping me successfully reach this end. Especially this laptop computer of my son's. We're not working well together. Putfile is somehow involved too as it works one minute, not the next. It seems such a hassle to come on line, I think I may stay off till mine is back from the shop. Missing the music, as usual and I miss sending it out there - to you.

Checking In

They say these things come in three. Lets hope not! My repairman just left with broken dishwasher parts - the same repairman who was here last week to repair my furnace. My computer is in the shop for the second time, this time to probably be reformatted, and I take my car into the shop on Thursday for a problem it is having but is as yet undetermined. I need a bigger bank account.

My son loaned this laptop to a colleague for the week so I've not been online since my last post here. I miss my online friends. I looked at a few blogs this morning but don't have my bookmarks to point me to the ones I usually visit. I went to only ones I link to. I hope I pick up my computer and that all will be back to normal soon.

Sunshine and Shadows

I've spent the last couple of hours in the woods with my friend Kayla. She's pictured above, greeting some of her neighbours. She is surrounded by pasture and has a great relationship with it's habitant cattle. The border collie in her makes her feel protective of us all so she's lovely to take into the woods. She goes exploring by going an average of forty feet off-path, into the woods and underbrush, and back out onto the path, no matter how far we travel. A call of her name brings her right back to the road. Our way was very steep and in a few places it was quite rugged. We also explored some woods that I wasn't familiar with. It was a dead end of a kilometer long road.

We've had spectacular temperatures. I hiked in jeans and tank top today with my sweater tied around me. It's a bonus for November, quite Indian Summer-like. It is supposed to rain for a couple of days now so I'll be back to dancing again. Here's a couple of songs I'll be dancing to: Whenever I Say Your Name by Mary J Blige and featuring Sting and to slow down, Hold On by Los Lobos. Try it, you might like it. It's best to do it alone and don't dance like you would in public. I do a combination of dancing movements and dancing- aerobic movements. No, you wouldn't do this on a dance floor. CD's are eighty minutes and that's a lot of exercise. It's a sweaty, fun, pleasurable workout that uses up some of that energy (food or nervous).

My computer may be going back to the shop. It's not working at all well so I think it may be necessary. Also, Putfile seems to not be working again so , the alternate method is again in effect.
It's taking me forever to get anywhere it seems, so I hope I can get that music up. If not today, asap. Some very weird things are happening so I am not going to go any further. Pages that say they are Google or Wikipedia are taking me to other places - places to shop and look at celebrities. Sorry folks.

Ghosts

I've earned a rest so am going for an early post today . I've been working like a fiend and have most of my outside chores finished. Enough for today anyway. I can finish up tomorrow. I need a bit of help with some heavy lifting too. It's lovely outside at fifteen degrees but the sun didn't come out as forecast. Maybe tomorrow.

The birds finally showed up at the feeders so I had some retraining to do with the cats. They've been conditioned not to bother birds but required a bit of a refresher. I think they'll be fine. I hope so anyway because they're outside together now.

My daughter's best friend is coming for supper tonight. She was almost part of the family at one time and has had many a meal here but not for a while. My daughter has always been surrounded by an entourage and with her gone, I've been missing having the young people around.

I recently discovered Denison Witmer and his new album entitled COVERS. Is There a Ghost, a Band of Horses' cover, reminds me of the ghost of all the young people's voices that once filled this house. It's amazing all the changes and stages a household goes through. This simple quiet version of I Can't Make You Love Me is nice too.

Back to Bug You

I'm back, my friends. I got the call after six that my computer was fixed. It is fixed but different. My whole Webshots desktop that I've had for thirteen or fourteen years is gone. It was mostly photos of Mexico. I loved it. Photos collected over a long period of time. Last time this happened my StumbleUpon disappeared. I'm not skilled enough to deal with computer problems so must accept these losses, I guess. I have other changes too that I'll have to figure out along the way.

I can add a photo today. I had a couple hundred on the camera to load into the files. I had a ton from autumn walks; lots of coloured leaf shots. The leaves are mostly gone now but I'm happy I took my camera on some awesome walks in the last couple of weeks. The leaf season was over quickly as it was so windy. My new earbuds have really helped walking in the wind. I'm listening to music rather than the sounds of nature on some walks but at the same time don't get earaches from the wind. Fair trade.

I've missed my computer for music in more ways than I mentioned yesterday. My son's spare laptop didn't have a nice screen with correct colours and vision or very good speakers. I didn't comment on any photo blogs as the photos looked unhealthy and unrecognizable. Music to me must first sound good so I chose not to play much of the music on music blogs because of the poor speakers. I listened to lots on my stereo but certainly missed music online.

Since I Laid My Burden Down by Mississippi John Hurt is here today to say something about how I've been feeling since the end of work. In one word - Great! It seems Putfile may be down at the moment. It was ok this morning. I'll use the alternate method. Another song from old blues songs file that would fit today is Walkin' Blues by Muddy Waters.

The next two days are supposed to be sunny and warm. I have a ton of yard work to do and these are the two days I'm planning to get it all finished. Depending on how it's going depends on when I'll be here next. If I'm persuaded to go walking rather than gardening.......

Computer Update

Here's an update on the computer woes. My computer is still a patient. Though this virus problem doesn't apply she is still under warranty and I took her to her place of purchase out of habit. Staff problems and general apathy in regard to that staff doing their job have become apparent. They informed me on Thursday that they'd had no internet for a certain amount of days but that they 'might see about it today'. I'm not sure what they need the internet for in repairing my computer in the first place.

I am missing my online life but am finding more time in my real life. I have completely cleaned and reorganized my two room (not adjoining) studio space and am painting again. I am ready to switch to glass at a moment's notice. I am planning to sketch some windows while I am away and have retained the commission this winter that I had to drop last winter because of injury etc. A busy beaver as usual. I'm not sure if I've said here that I'm going to Florida in a few weeks for three weeks. I'm busy with some organization regarding that. I arrive home only a week befor Christmas and that's makes gift sending a bit difficult so am dealing with it now. An organizational nightmare for someone who wants to be in the country painting , not shopping ot arranging things to come together for Christmas, almost two months away.

It is still windy. It's been a very windy autumn. I think last year or the year before was windy like this. I am walking when I can but have generally been dancing for my fitness. I have fun with myself and am happy for all the cd's I've made.

My son has music on his laptop so perhaps I could give you one of his tunes. I'm sure I could find some Bob Dylan or something suitable. Darn! Sadly, this computer is dressed in Vista and the newest version of the music player so I would have to do too much fiddling to get everything to work....let alone remember my Putfile information. So, when I get the old girl back, I'll get back to music and photos.

I am certainly missing the selection of music I have on my computer. I have a million cd's but when I want to hear a certain song, it's not available. I am also missing my bookmarks a lot. Looking up specific weather tools like the currrent radar or something simple like that that I do regularly is now a multi-page adventure.

If I can figure out the way to get my many windows I need to stay visible, I'll add some music later.