Cooooold....

This is how I felt this weekend but especially today. My fifteen year old oil tank had to be replaced, as is the law on PEI. I canceled oil delivery months ago waiting for this fateful day. Somehow I knew it would be the weekend when I ran out of oil and so it was.

I had been painting ceilings for a couple of days and because I didn't want to put a painting hat on wet hair waited till Sunday morning to wash my hair. I turned the shower on, had a pee, which is exactly the right time required for the shower to become hot, and jumped into the shower head first. I got the shock of my life! If course with dirty hair you have no choice. You must go ahead... and wash your hair. With long hair, as I have, there is also no choice. You have to condition your hair. I would never get a brush or comb through otherwise.

I shivered through the task and I must say this was all very, very uncomfortably cold. There was not an ounce of warmth in the water. I must have ran out of oil on Saturday evening or very soon after midnight as there would have otherwise have been some heat left in the water system. I was shivering the rest of the morning till I got out of the house, into the car and off to a friend's for the day. I went to another friend's house for dinner and went to bed as soon as I got home.

Today was terribly cold in the house. Even with frost on the ground this morning it was warmer out of doors. I had to stay around all day because of the installation thus couldn't escape like yesterday. Thankfully it is all over with. The workers had everything finished at 11:30 and I got oil around 2:30. I spent a lot of time on the deck as it was so much warmer outside.

We have broken all records with the glorious weather we've been experiencing this month of November. In my fifty plus years, I can't remember better November weather. This cold weekend kind of hurt in that way. I just will try to remember that the cold was only inside my house. The long woods walk I took yesterday and the two wonderful walks earlier in the week I had are what the world really was like....all warmth and beauty. I've had meaningful gatherings this week too - four different dinners, two here and two at other friend's homes. A good week...

In honour of cold, I'm playing a favorite old-time country song. I grew up on Hank Williams and here is one of his best, Cold Cold Heart. Phil Campbell has a wonderful song too that will fit perfectly. Give a listen to Cold Engines.

March Madness

Music is definitely on my mind today. I heard an old Don Gibson song yesterday by M Ward and Lucinda Williams that I can't get out of my head. If I do manage to get it out of my head other country songs from that same late 60's era pop in and I'm stuck again. Lets have and old-time music party. When I say old time I mean only the song itself. There are modern covers which I love too. Perhaps if I listen to every one of these songs a couple of times over, they will make room for something new tomorrow. My mom would love this bunch of songs. Every one of them remind me of her.Ready?

• Oh, Lonesome Me - M Ward and Lucinda Williams
• I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - Johnny Cash and Nick Cave
• I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - Hank Williams
• Sea Of Heartbreak - Gray Sky Girls
• Sea of Heartbreak - Johnny Cash
• He'll Have to Go - Jim Reeves
• He'll Have to Go - Ry Cooder
• Walkin' After Midnight - Patsy Cline
• Crazy - Patsy Cline

I'm sure I have another version of Sea of Heartbreak but can't find it. I have another Oh Lonesome Me as well. On my walk today I was singing aloud walking down the road. Glad it's winter and car windows are up and I don't have neighbours.

There Is Always a Cliff, Sometimes Steep

The weather is really weird today. It was supposed to be fine and warm with a couple of centimeters of snow beginning to fall in late afternoon. I got up at 3:40 am. It has been flurrying ever since and now at 4:00 pm it has stopped and there are large blue sky patches. I planned on walking this afternoon but even at just below zero, it's windy and feels just too darned cold. The flurries would have been ok but wind, no. I didn't dance either. It's kind of a lazy day.

I collect songs, as you know and every now and then like to put up a few versions of the same song for your listening pleasure. Everyone brings something different to a cover. Some versions are better than the originals but some songs, no one will ever do as well as the writer. An example of that would be Joni's later version of Both Sides Now. It is a song written for an older woman, she said, and now that she's attained that status, it was perfection when she brought it out on the album of the same name. Sarah Vaughan supposedly became annoyed when Joni complemented Sarah's version many years ago, when she said that it was was written for an older woman. Sarah was somehow insulted by the comment.

Another example is the old classic, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry. I don't know anyone who can do it better than the original by Hank Williams. Here is Johnny Cash and Nick Cave that I had already uploaded and new today, a version by Southside Johnny and Little Stephen.