FROM DULL AND GRAY TO SUNNY BLUE:))))))

THIS PHOTO NEEDS NO WORDS:)))))

It was the sound of rain on our steel roof that aroused me out of a light slumber sometime in the night and it was still raining when we woke this morning.  Better than snow I thought to myself.  And, how delightful when I pulled back our living room curtains to see most of our driveway reappearing through the ice and snow.  Yes, we still have over two months of snowy weather ahead of us but this January thaw certainly has been one big huge welcome break.

 HOW GREAT TO SEE OUR DRIVEWAY EMERGING FROM THE ICE AND SNOW

 AND HOW NICE TO WALK ON BARE GROUND AGAIN INSTEAD OF SNOW

Under gloomy rain-soaked skies, Pheebs and I ventured east on Bayfield River Road, turning around at the T-intersection and headed back towards home taking a few pics along the way.  

 THIS WAS OUR MORNING JEEP RIDE

 WITH ALL THE RAIN AND SNOW, WATER IS POOLING IN THE LANDS LOW SPOTS

 HARVESTED CORN STALKS ARE EMERGING FROM THEIR SNOW COVER

 AREA CREEKS ARE AGAIN FLOWING

At one point passing by a stand of trees, I thought I saw the Jeep's instrument panel light up and flicker.  It took me a couple seconds to realize that a lone ray of sunshine had passed through the trees and into the Jeep's window from behind and tumbled over my left shoulder to alight ever so softly on the Jeep's instrument panel.  What an enlightening feeling came over me at that moment.  Sometimes it can take a simple ray of sunshine to make one realize how truly depressed one has been.  Glancing back out my window I could see the cloud cover thinning and the landscape beginning to brighten toward the southeast.  

 A FAINT RAY OF SUNSHINE ALIGHTS ON THE JEEP'S INSTRUMENT PANEL

Shortly after arriving home, we were under clear blue sunny skies.  Yes Toto, sometimes clouds do have silver linings.  I wasn't long in grabbing my snow shovel and moving some slush around.  Anything to stay outside for a bit and feel the warm touches of the Sun.  Used my leaf rake to rake up a lot of birdseed husks under the feeders, and took a few sunny blue sky photos.  Oh, how I love the color blue in the daytime sky at times like this.  Later, with sunshine flooding through our sunroom windows, I relaxed in my recliner and contentedly watched the antics of our front yard birds and squirrels.

HOW WONDERFUL TO SEE SUNSHINE CASTING SHADOWS ACROSS OUR DRIVEWAY AGAIN

 AND THERE IS EVEN A PATCH OF SUNLIGHT ON DOGGIE'S NOSE

 SUNSHINE ON OUR STREET AGAIN

 NEIGHBORS OUT FOR A SUNNY MORNING WALK

By late afternoon skies had again clouded over but no matter, we had reached 41F today and The Sun, while it was here, had worked its healing magic upon me and left me with the promise that it would return to lift my spirits again in a few days:))))     

 STANDING IN OUR DRIVEWAY SOAKING UP THE BLUE

 LOVE THE LONG STRETCHING SHADOWS

 OH AND HOW GREAT TO SEE SUNLIT BREEN FOLIAGE AGAIN IN OUR FRONT YARD

Al's Music Box:)) All My Loving is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, from their second UK album 'With the Beatles' (1963). It was written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon-McCartney) and produced by George Martin. Though not officially released as a single in the United Kingdom or the United States, the song drew considerable radio airplay, prompting EMI to issue it as the title track of an EP.  The song was released as a single in Canada, where it became a number-one hit. The Canadian single was imported into the US in enough quantities to peak at number 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in April 1964.  According to journalist Bill Harry, McCartney thought of the lyrics whilst shaving: "I wrote 'All My Loving' like a piece of poetry and then, I think, I put a song to it later".  However, McCartney later told biographer Barry Miles that he wrote the lyrics while on a tour bus and after arriving at the venue he then wrote the music on a piano backstage.  He also said "It was the first song where I'd ever written the words first. I never wrote words first, it was always some kind of accompaniment. I've hardly ever done it since either."  McCartney originally envisioned it as a country & western song, and George Harrison added a Nashville-style guitar solo.  John Lennon's rhythm guitar playing, utilized back and forth strummed triplets similar to "Da Doo Ron Ron" by The Crystals, a song that was popular at the time, while McCartney plays a walking bass line.  In his 1980 Playboy interview, Lennon said, "It's a damn good piece of work and I play a pretty mean guitar in back." The Beatles recorded the song on 30 July 1963 in eleven takes with three overdubs.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  The shopkeeper was dismayed when a brand new business much like his own opened up next door and erected a huge sign which read BEST DEALS.  He was horrified when another competitor opened up on his right, and announced its arrival with an even larger sign, reading LOWEST PRICES.  The shopkeeper was panicked until he got an idea. He put the biggest sign of all over his own shop-it read…Main entrance.

- What do you get when you mix a Christmas tree and an iPad?  A pineapple.

- The next person that asks me for a pineapple juice, a cranberry juice and some lemonade with a slice of orange all in the same glass ... is gonna get a punch.

- Why was the pineapple all alone?  Because the banana split.

- A person was hit by a bus after he claimed pineapple goes with pizza.  Also, I lost my bus license today.

- I once put rum and pineapple into CERN’s particle accelerator.  Discovered the Piña Collider.

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