Getting Through Summer

I've had an upset in my life that requires that I take some time for myself. I won't be posting here for a while but will continue photos on my other blogs that are listed at the right. I will be photographing and am doing some very cre8ive things in the studio. I'm enjoying it and will come back here and possibly show you when I'm ready. Check out:

• Just Picture It
  
• An Island Walk
• Pictures and Pursuits
• Photos and Pursuits
• Keep The Coffee Coming
• The Guardian
• Play Time
• When Is Your Blue Hour?
• Nelly's Garden

I'll add more and swap some from time to time. I'm perfectly ok. My life is just going through some changes. Music? Of course. A Change is Gonna Come is a favorite of mine. I have many covers of the song but will feature it's creator, Sam Cooke. One of my favorites is this live Al Green cut. I so would love to see this man live. I've heard other cuts of his concerts and he has great audience rapport and is just so fine. This is a fine example .

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.

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.

Hoping For Rain

The weather person just announced that there is light rain falling in Charlottetown. Even though we're close by, our area has a little micro climate where we don't get rain when all around us does. The summer of 2000 we got zero rain from May till late August while the surrounding communities had normal rainfall. I really hope it rains today. We need it.

It's back to work in a couple of hours - the beginning of five long, hard shifts. It's so exhausting. I went to bed while it was still light out on my two days off. It would be nice to not have to work but I suppose everyone thinks that.

I went to visit a friend last week. Today's photo is of her new rooster. She has a hen who comes into the kitchen and eats cat food. It was too funny! I got some photos but they have to be straightened. That's the only altering I ever do and have to straighten horizons quite often. It seems I tilt my head when photographing.

Here are prayers for today: Rain by Nick Drake and Standing in the Rain by the Right Reverend Al Green.

A Change Will Come

I forgot to post yesterday, not being accustomed to blogging in the morning. I remembered after I got to work.

Last week my boss asked me what days I'd like off. I told her I'd like the sunny days. She gave me Tuesday and Wednesday instead. Yesterday the forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday was rain. She phoned and asked if it would be possible to change my days off to Thursday and Friday. I had just checked the long range forecast and those days were to be sunny. Of course I said yes! Imagine my surprise this morning (Tuesday) , when I woke to the sun is shining brightly. It's going to cloud over this afternoon and rain tomorrow. Right now though, it's beautiful. Yesterday it looked like it was clearing so I put sheets on the clothesline and went to work. It rained all afternoon. I do have faith that this weather will change, summer weather will arrive and I will enjoy it.

If you've been reading here for a time you know I collect certain songs that I love. Sam Cook's wonderful, wonderful, A Change is Gonna Come is one of them. You also know that a couple hundred of the songs were removed from my pages because I don't own the copyright to them. I'm slowly trying to replace the essential ones. I have twenty versions of A Change Is Gonna Come and one I really consider essential is the one by Sam Cook himself. Here are some others: Terence Trent D'Arby, a great live version by Al Green, one from the Queen of soul, Aretha Franklin, the American Idol audition by Taylor Hicks and added for today - the orchestra accompanied, essential Sam Cook and a neat version by Ben Sollee. It is reggae influenced and has a violin as a primary instrument.

Seasonal Changes

It is ten degrees (about fifty for the Americans) today and what a welcome change that is. The sun is shining brightly and if it wasn't for a northern breeze it would be even warmer. Bella, the fair weather cat, was the first out the door this morning followed by me, then Kenz.

I did a bit of gardening this afternoon but it exhausted me. I'm not quite sure how or why this is after surgery. Does healing take so much energy that a person is left spent very easily and quickly after normal chores? I'm trying not to push it but spring is here. I have gardening to do. The daffodils are a couple of inches high and will take off if it continues to warm....without my help.

I brought a chair onto the deck and sat a bit. It feels so good to have the sun on your face. Crows and ravens are building nests and fighting already over choice sticks and nesting places. The biggest raven in the neighbourhood was being scolded and harassed by three smaller fellows. I kept wondering just what it was that he had done.

This weather begs for today's musical selection. One of my favorite songs is Sam Cooke's, A Change is Going To Come. I have thirteen versions and there are many more out there. Of the six I had already uploaded, all are gone except for the one by Terence Trent D'Arby. Here's a couple more and I might as well start with the A's. This Al Green version is one of my favorites as Al is live, and in any live music I've heard of his, he always talks and sings to the audience. I'd love to see him on stage. I've been listening to Aretha all day so she's a perfect choice for the next version. God, what a voice!

Al Green Rocks

I'm working late afternoons and evenings this week so this will be my new blogging time for a bit.

My son who lives here in PEI had some business in Atlanta and is now on a much deserved vacation for a couple of weeks. I knew all of his plans but it didn't occur to me that he would be flying from the USA to Canada on September 11th. My sister-in-law told me he was nervous about it but hadn't told me. Suddenly I was really worried, almost panicy. The phone rang at that instant, less than two minutes after I was told about this and it was my son to tell me he was at my daughter's apartment in Calgary. Whew!!

I have a couple of versions of a great old song today. Love and Happiness was a big hit for Al Green in the early seventies. It's been copied by Marc Broussard, who has done covers of quite a few old soul songs. I wore out a few Al Green albums back in the seventies and still listen to him a lot, especially live cuts. He's now known as the Right Reverend Al Green. I always get a kick out of that.

It's Not the End Of Summer

I am at my most frustrated right now. You KNOW it has to have something to do with mowing. I have the mower deck moved/stuck again and my mower guy is elsewhere. I have the lawn a quarter mowed. Is there no end to the frustrations that can be caused by mowing?

I went back to bed this morning at about five-thirty and got up close to ten. That's the latest I've stayed in bed since I was seventeen. Of course the day has just zoomed by and I'm feeling groggy or something. It was a nice change though for a holiday as it makes it feel like a holiday.

I've been outdoors or out and about all day and haven't listened to music till now. I have my blogroll of music blogs that I listen to daily and I'm hearing some cuts I like right now. For something that I like that's not new, I have Al Green with the Gibb brother's lovely song, How Do You Mend A Broken Heart. No one does it better than Mr. Green. I also have a song that could be called appropriate for the day, the Black Eyed Peas with Labour Day. It was last Labour Day that they played on PEI, I believe - a real big deal.

Happy Ninety-Second Birthday

My friend and former neighbour, Billy is ninety-two today. I'd say he looks even better than he did a year ago when this photo was taken. He's looking down at my present, the usual bottle of whiskey I always give him for occasions. He drinks very responsibly so it's alright for him to have it in the nursing home. He's quite a character and we've been friends for twenty three years, not all of them smooth. He's perfectly lucid with an excellent memory which is great. His eighty-two year old roommate is beginning to have memory problems and Billy helps him out.

It is a tradition in the Maritimes to have a St. Paddy's Day storm and one is forecasted for this year. A Nor-easter with snow, ice pellets and freezing rain before all is said and done. Only bad part is it could prevent daughter time. With the sharing business, she is coming back tomorrow and if it's storming........

A couple of songs for Billy today. Ain't It Funny How Time Slips Away by Al Green and Lyle Lovett, as well as, Long As I'm Movin' by Ruth Brown kind of fit his situation.