January Jot

I'm feeling a bit lazy today. Normally the TV isn't turned on till Oprah but I watched the US Presidential Inauguration today, startin at 11 am. Laying back on the couch for a couple of hours is not fun for me unless I have to. Reminds me too much of last winter where it hurt to move for four months and to lay on the couch all day was all I could do. I did go for a walk this morning and it was lovely. Our weather is to be very nice all week with snow on Friday. I'll have groceries, my car's mechanical repairs done by then and my aunt safely ensconced so I will be happy it held off.

Still no call from the body shop about my replacement fender. I may have a nice new rental car to take my aunt to see my dad. I thought all the work would be done by now. It takes 24 hours to get mechanical parts. It's two weeks now for the fender.

I read in Kat's Blog today that it is Leadbelly's birthday. She has two of his well-known songs up and I'll add two more. Good Morning Blues has been done by so many but this early rendition is really fabulous. He does a bit of talking blues in the beginning and explains 'havin' the blues'. I use another version by Dutch Mason on CD's quite often. The next song has also been recorded by dozens and dozens of folks, this generation (my kids) being most familiar with Kurt Cobain's. It is known by two names, In The Pines or Where Did You Sleep Last Night. Both fabulous songs are still standing the tests of time.

Putfile is not letting me in again today. I aready have some of these songs stored there to no avail so will put them up again. If I can access the others at another time, I will add the links.

We Made It

Oh, what a weekend! The fact that I had no time to post is one indication. I'm tired and to me, that's another. My company left this morning and it's in total agreement that a good time was had by all. We had a great party and dinner on Saturday night. I brought the kitchen table outside and we ate on the deck but another thunderstorm began so we moved back in. It was over fairly quickly so a couple of towels to dry the wet chairs and we moved out again. The only casualty was my stereo which must have shorted with the constant thunder and lightning. It is fried.....dead!

We visited a couple of friend's who have market flower gardens over the weekend because my sister loves flowers but it wasn't really a popular activity for my sister in law. We did the beach in the evening yesterday. Now I just have to catch up on sleep. A friend who is 33 told me the other day that he has a hard time partying because it takes him a few days to get over the lost sleep. He's 33!!!

For music, I have a couple more versions of an old standard blues song. I may have already put Leadbelly's up but since most of the music is gone it would no longer be there anyway. These songs are listed with different titles but they're the same song. I have other versions of it as well. Here's Leadbelly with Where Did You Sleep Last Night and Long John Baldry with Black Girl. The song is also known as The Pines and I have it up a few times under that title.

No Crow About It

Spring is in the air. A couple of warm days at this time of year can make a great difference in your mood. It feels hopeful and I love it, love it, love it. My walk today was delightful though I forgot my camera. I have daffodils just peeking through and the cats have spent most of the day outdoors. They love it too.

My daughter is coming home tomorrow. I'm pretty excited. I'm hoping my son will come home for the weekend too. I need hugs!

In the Pines is an old song from the 1870's. The Wikipedia entry for the song is pretty interesting, if you're into that sort of thing. If you're just interested in hearing the music go on over to Page Two where I've uploaded versions by Leadbelly and Dave Van Ronk. I've always loved this song. There was a huge art exhibit on the history of the song a few years ago at the Confederation Center of the Arts. It was very good with lots of old photos and handwritten lyrics etc. My friend who moved to Newfoundland in the fall does a great version of it.