Trouble

I've heard from the Web Sheriff. I am to stop posting Van Morrison songs. I read about this on another blog but didn't think about it when I was matching music for the day's post on An Island Walk. Here is the comment/letter.

WEB SHERIFF
Protecting Your Rights on the Internet
Tel 44-(0)208-323 8013
Fax 44-(0)208-323 8080
websheriff@websheriff.com
www.websheriff.com

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Hi Cuidado / Christine,

On behalf of Exile Productions and Exile Publishing, we would kindly ask you not to post pirate copies of Van Morrison albums / tracks on your site.

We do appreciate that you are fans of / are promoting Van, but Exile would greatly appreciate your co-operation in removing your links to the pirate files in question.

For your readers’ info, up-to-the-minute info on Van’s latest album - Keep It Simple - and 2008 shows is, of course, available on www.vanmorrison.com and www.myspace.com/vanmorrison and, for a limited period, you can still see Van's exclusive BBC sessions at http://www.bbc.co.uk/musictv/vanmorrison/video/ . We’re also pleased to announce that an increasing archive of exclusive film footage of Van Morrison performances has now been made available for fans on Exile’s official YouTube channel at http://uk.youtube.com/user/OfficialExileFilms.

As you will appreciate, this e-mail is written on a without prejudice basis and, as such, all of our clients' accumulated, worldwide rights and remedies remain strictly reserved : please excuse this required formality.

With Thanks & Regards,

WEB SHERIFF

August 30, 2008 2:06 PM

I don't consider the music pirated when I own the album it comes from. What do you think?

I apologize for the infrequent posts. I am experiencing very strange sleep patterns and am not up at my usual 5:30. I am up at 4:00 am however but go back to bed for much needed sleep. I do the best I can. Even the photo blogs have been difficult. It has been raining all month - not great weather to be out with a camera.

Music today will not be Van Morrison. Actually it seems there won't be music from Putfile today. I'll try the method I used a few weeks ago when Putfile failed. Maybe they got a letter from the Web Sheriff too.

Here's a couple I wanted to post but are already up: Walkin' After Midnight and Working Sunday. Here's something new: Kenny White with How Long and Lizz Wright with Trouble.

Relaxing?

It is a beautiful sunny but very windy day. I am true to my word and have spent most of today in the sun. I had to get groceries and visit with a friend but that visit took place outside, a bonus.

I had a funny incident. I was following an empty gravel truck and suddenly the driver was making erratic signals. I wondered if something was wrong. He started to pull off the road so I was watching intently, being a careful driver. All at once he stops and jumps out of the cab, waving fiercely. I though something was wrong for sure, something serious. It was a friend who recognized my front license plate and thought he'd stop for a chat.

I had a friend come visit me out on the deck this afternoon and we shared a couple of drinks and solved all the problems in the world so the day is as close to perfection as can be. I offer and receive perfection quite often in my little life. A sunny day provided it today as that is what I wished for. The older I get, the less it takes somehow , to really enjoy the day. I appreciate how much more each day teaches.

Oh the music! I feel like Top of the World by Patty Griffin but you want something new. Great, actually! I went there to link it and it was one of the once removed so here it is again. I LOve this song!! I now get the opportunity to feature it again. I want to upload them all, Perfect White Girl, What You Are, Sooner Or Later...and so much more. These are all from the same album, Silver Bell. I've listened to her songs two nights in a row now getting this blog together. She's an incredible writer, Patty Griffin. There is so much to choose from. Really, check her out.

Those mentioned are all choices for new material. I have several of her best songs linked if you care to search the blog at the top left. Oh, to choose! I choose Perfect White Girl because it reminds me of a line I used this week, "I wasn't born a white girl".

I'm brown again!!!

Sunshine

Had a couple of great reunions with a few different sets of friends today and sat in the sun. I have similar plans for tomorrow. The sun is most important for choosing activitites. I keep saying to friends, "I wasn't born a white girl." I've always been tanned. It's in my email address. The lack of sun always affects me. I was depressed in Vancouver one May with it's constant rain. The sun is so vital!

Every week I've been wanting sun and got it in spades today. The temperature was a lot cooler though. After raging thunder storns last night, we got cool temperatures today. I chose being outside over housework so will be kept busy tonight.

Doing the "me time" is taking away from organizing things and I fear getting behind. I have to pay bills tomorrow and do those ritualistic parts of life that you do on your days off. I need groceries but I can't do that in the sun.

I'm only having one song today so that if you normally listen to two will just listen carefully to this amazing song. The lyrics of Refuge of the Road by Joni Mitchell are at first much like this day and time in many ways. Some of the same images are in play. Just listen to these lyrics for those who know my time. Everything but the crying is true. I am a refuge from the road - from the wheel of fortune, as the lyrics say.

To play only one song does seem extreme. Here's a second song to remember my morning. I had strange dreams then woke up at twenty minutes to ten, the latest hour in my life so far other than when I was a growing teen. Serena Ryder has Last Night I had the Strangest Dream. Will all my meetings with friend I hadn't talked to anyone about those.

Time For Music

Blueberry Field In Autumn

My favorite part of August is fresh blueberries. They are my very favorite fruit or berry. I have access to both wild and high-bush blueberries and am eating a box of high-bush per day. Yum, yum!

I hung some clothes on the line about an hour ago and my ankles got eaten badly by mosquitoes. I didn't feel the little pests at the time but they're itching mightily right now.

This has to be a short post. I still have much to do before work. There is time for music though. A friend was telling me how much he is enjoying a cd I made for him a while back. His favorits songs on it are Get Right With God by Lucinda Williams and Cumbia En Do Menor by Lito Barrientos Y Su Orchesta. A couple more from the cd, entitled Dancing Feet, are Fiesta En Mi Corozon and Yes We Can Can by the Pointer Sisters.

Mushroom Hunting

The beach will have to wait. There was a cold north wind all day and my beach which faces north would not have been the nicest place to be. I went instead, to the woods. In search of the mighty fine chanterelle mushroom. The hunt was very successful and I got a half grocery bag full. I walked two and a half km. in, making it a five km. walk. I sauntered and picked on my way in and walked very quickly on the way out, stopping only to take off my outerwear after the first fast km. My pack was heavier than usual as I was carrying raingear as I wasn't sure that it wouldn't rain.

Because of the rain the chanterelles have grown differently than in most years. They are very frilled. The photo, though it isn't the clearest, shows this quite well. The top usually flutes much more evenly and smoothly. They grew very close to the ground and are like are like curly chanterelles. They are going to be delicious tonight no matter the shape. I will keep a quantity fresh and freeze some tonight. I have to go start cleaning them which with their twisty condition is going to be more difficult than usual.

I've had two friends come by to visit so far and one I don't see often is about to drop in so if I get stopped (it's 5:06 now), I'll be back. This friend may share my supper that is to include chanterelles. You never know.

I have to play this. I don't know if I've mentioned this here or only in person. I have a favorite song most of the time. It usually stays in this position for a month or two. Right now it's The Company of Friends by Danny Schmidt. I think it's the most awesome song and I relate to it in a big way. Another of Danny's songs, Sad Song Walking deserves a play today in honour of my walk in the woods. There was nothing about sadness out there but I like this guy and his Company of Friends song may remain my favorite song for another six months. Have you played it yet? A livelier song by Danny Schmidt and that includes a nice harmony singer is Sunny Days. My sunny day will have to wait till tomorrow when I'm back to work but you can get a taste now.

Watery Days

I am having a different kind of dinner party tonight. I am bringing dinner to my colleagues at work. When my mother-in-law was alive, she always invited my sister-in-law and I to dinner when she made Orange Mackerel. No one else in our families liked the strong fish. I make it now and then and invite my sister-in-law but she can't come tonight as it is her son's birthday and she is having her family over for supper. I have five mackerel marinating and that's too many for just me so the perfect solution is to share with someone.

I have someone coming over for some flowers in the garden but we'll be out there in the rain. We've had thunder and some heavy showers this afternoon but the morning was nice. I so badly need some sun and am a little miffed that my days off are rainy and the others are to be fine. If it's not raining hard tomorrow I may walk on the beach anyway as I have a real need to get there sooner rather than later.

Today's music comes from The Avette Brothers. If It's The Beaches and Sea and the Rhythm are perfect songs for what's on my mind.

Excuses, Excuses

I feel a bit guilty about not keeping up with this blog after being so faithful with daily posts for so many years. I would if I could but I just can't. I now read only about a quarter of the blogs on my blogroll because I don't even have the time for that. My photos are in disarray, not being put in proper folders. In other words, this all adds up to I just don't have enough time to devote to the computer, as much as I would like to.

One more shift at work then two days off. We've had rain for two weeks. The sun came out yesterday and is still shining and would you believe it, it's going to rain tomorrow again. I have no commitments in town so really wanted to go to the beach or something nice like that. Oh well, the house could use a cleaning.

It's funny and wonderful that Al Green's sound is still the same as it was in the 70's. He is instantly recognizable. These songs are from his 2008 album, I Can't Stop. Here's the title song I Can't Stop and What More Do You Want From Me. The second song is really quite reminiscent of the 70's Al Green. Just realized I had this up last week but here it is again. I Can't Stop by Bettye LaVette is a favorite of mine and I'd be happy to play it every week. It's a different song than Al's; it just shares the same name.

Feeling Crushed

I'm already waiting for my day off. I have things to do, people to see..... With appointments in town on both days off, I feel I didn't get a day off. I've not really been to the beach yet. The above photo of my son was taken when we all went to the beach between rain showers when my other son and his family were here. We all had long sleeves and jackets - not my idea of a beach day. It's amazing that I live on this beautiful island surrounded by beaches and I rarely get to the beach in the summer. Is it possible I work to much.

Oren Lavie has an interesting sound with a full orchestra as back-up in his song, The Opposite Side of The Sea. I featured another of his songs, Her Morning Elegance here in May. I got a lot of response from that song on another blog, with a friend from Scotland rushing out to buy his album after hearing it. Thes second song today is a well covered Jimmy Cliff song Many Rivers to Cross. Oleta Adams does a great job with it. I had it up at one time by The Waterboys and really like their version too. Maybe I'll get it up again one day. I still haven't fixed the days the music was broken a couple of weeks ago.

Calling For the Sun

Today was root canal day -fun, fun, fun. Actually it wasn't that bad and I always have lots of laughs at my dentist's office. He treats his staff well and they all have a good time. Laughter is good medicine. I had a doctor's appointment too but the rest of the day I spent with a friend. We hung out, took a walk, went shopping for clothing (one of her favorite hobbies) and had a wonderful dinner.

My house didn't get a great cleaning this set of days off but the basics are done. I needed some me time. I'm not at all interested in clothing so I felt like I didn't have to do anything which was what I needed. I'd like to have done nothing in the sun but it appeared only in patches and the day was mostly cloudy. The rest of the week is supposed to be sunny of course. I may go out mornings before work and try to lose the pastiness. I look like an office worker this summer.

Here is some hot, sunny music. Putfile has put my pages back up. Let's see if the links will work. Here's Toro Mata by Peru Negro that I had up before. It works. Here's a new Toro Mata, by Lucila Campos uploaded today. Something else to create some heat is Cuba Que Linda by Willie Chirino.

Trying Something New

Give this a try:
Standing In the Rain - Al Green

I've just tried it and it works. I don't know for how long but I'm pleased as can be. It's free.

Buckets of Rain - Buckets of Bad News

Finally, a day off and a chance to update the blog and I have bad news. Putfile has taken down my music pages. If you click the links to the right, the pages have nothing on them. I am guessing that it is because I have uploaded copyrighted material. My question is, How does everyone else do it? I'd like any suggestions you may have to continue to have music included in my blogs. I'd prefer to have this service for free.

The links (other than those from the last couple of posts) still work but maybe they won't forever. They removed them all a couple of years ago so I guess they could do it again. I'm heartsick about this. I've worked hard to put all this music up. I was a thousand songs at one time and is now eight hundred and some.

I had an early morning appointment in town and the drive in showed the beginning of a beautiful day. I was wrong. It began to rain shortly after I returned home. It is going to rain again tomorrow when I have two appointments in town. What has happened to August? I haven't even been for a swim yet this summer. It rained the whole time my kids were here. My daughter told me that it si raining in Nova Scotia now too. That's where they all are this week. I now have my hopes set for next Tuesday and Wednesday to be hot summer beach days. I think I'm going to have a nap this afternoon. I have a big pot of meaty, black bean, vegetable soup simmering and have to spend no more time in the kitchen.

Lets try some links: Bob Dylan's Buckets of Rain and a version by Jimmy LaFave. I've always loved this song. Heck here's a version by Beth Orton and M Wardand a live country-sounding one from Neko Case.

Hold On

I must apoogize for the lack of posts and for this one being very short. I've had a busy, busy week and am cleaning up after it. I hope to return to normal soon.

I don't know what is happening with Putfile but have had no time to try to upload anything since the disasters of the last couple of posts.

Bear with me, please.

Click to Play:
Sunday Morning Coming Down - Johnny Cash
Working Sunday - Dorado
Dont Forget to Miss Me - Harry Manx

Guest Blogger

Hello everyone! This is Ocean and Dennis, Cuidado's daughter, and daughters boyfriend....We are just here from Calgary visiting mom for summer vacation..Mom feels bad because she is is very busy and tired from a long, yet wonderful week with her son and his family, and of course us. The week was full of good meals, good company, and lots of laughs. My cousin and her husband also came over, they have two little girls the same age as my niece and nephew so we had lots of tickle fights and band practices.

The weather hasn't been great since we have been here but we are hoping it starts to look up, we still have a second week left in Halifax so hopefully things will improve by then, but to tell the truth we are both just happy to be home and to be breathing the maritime air!!!!!!

Here is Dennis' pick for music, Filipino Box Spring Hog by Tom Waits. Hope y'all enjoy it!!

Fun Times

Update: I wrote this a couple of hours ago when Blogger was having problems. Putfile is having problems too. I am having no problems. My niece and her family arrived. We have eaten a delicious meal and the house is filled with people of all ages ans laughter is what I am hearing the most. I think there is some tickling going on.

I wish I could share some photos of the sweetest little grandkids of the world but I only have photos of the backs of heads or flying hair. My camera is very slow and the kids are very fast - not a good combination. They are off visiting a relative recovering from a motorcycle accident and I am waiting for my niece's family and cooking.

One major drawback of the visit so far has been the weather. It has been pouring rain since they arrived. I'm sure we must have broken records for rainfall in a 24 hour period for each of the first 48 hours they were here. It stopped for a while this morning so we went out to kick a soccer ball through wet grass and had races around the house. Young kids have to burn off some energy and we, as adults, must make every opportunity available for that.

A little break... My daughter, her boyfriend and other son arrived but they're off again for a bit. Soon enough, the house will be a beehive of activity with four kids four years and under, a whole bunch of lively young adults, and a sleepy me.

I've been dancing and singing with my two year old granddaughter. Supposedly these are her favorite activities and they are mine too so we've been having a great time. Here's one we liked - I Can't Stop by Bettye LaVette. I've mentioned before how much I love Gotan Project. Their funky world beat tangos are dance music for me so here are a couple more that I'm adding to the music pages: Cite Tango and Notas.

My daughter and her boyfriend are requesting more homemade cd's to take back to Alberta so I will happily comply with that request. It's a favorite mother job of mine. Maybe I'll make my two year old granddaughter a dance cd too.