AND, IT'S STILL RAINING

 COLD AND WET DAFFODILS LYING ON THE GROUND

It has been a very wet couple of days with rains beginning Wednesday evening.  And, it's still raining as I post this tonight.  Not much going on today.  Swung through Clinton this morning on my way to Exeter to make an eye check-up appointment for early May at Huron Optometric.  My last physio appointment at Russett Rehabilitation in Exeter went well and I was home shortly past noon and spent the afternoon in our sunroom reading.   

THIS ABOUT SUMS UP THE DAY

 IT WAS AN INSIDE DAY FOR PHEEBS TOO

Al's Music Box:)) California Dreamin' is a song written by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips in 1963 and first recorded by Barry McGuire.  The best-known version is by the Mamas & Papas, who sang backup on the original version and released it as a single in December 1965. The lyrics express the narrator's longing for the warmth of Los Angeles during a cold winter in New York City.  "California Dreamin'" became a signpost of the California sound heralding the arrival of the nascent counterculture era. The song was written while John Phillips and Michelle Phillips were living in New York City during a particularly cold winter, and the latter was missing sunny California. John would work on compositions late at night and brought Michelle the first verse one morning.  At the time, John and Michelle Phillips were members of the folk group the New Journeymen, which evolved into the Mamas and the Papas.  They earned their first record contract after being introduced to Lou Adler, the head of Dunhill Records by Barry Mcquire. In thanks to Adler, they sang the backing vocals to "California Dreamin'", with members of the session band The Wrecking Crew, on McGuire's album This Precious Time. Adler, impressed with the Mamas and the Papas, then had the lead vocal track re-recorded with Denny Doherty singing, but paired with the same instrumental and backing vocal tracks, and an alto flute solo by Bud Shank, reportedly improvised. The guitar introduction was performed by P.F. Sloan. McGuire's original vocal can be briefly heard on the left channel at the beginning of the record, having not been completely erased.  The single was released in late 1965 but was not an immediate breakthrough. After gaining little attention in Los Angeles, a radio station in Boston was the catalyst to break the song nationwide.  It was certified three times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in June 2023 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001.  In 2021, Rolling Stone placed the song at number 420 in its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.

 DRIVING THROUGH HENSALL ONTARIO THIS MORNING I SPOTTED THESE TWO GENTLEMEN  AND THEY DIDN'T SEEM TO BE BOTHERED BY THE COLD RAINY WEATHER AT ALL

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Two old men had been best friends for years, and they both live to their early 90's, when one of them suddenly falls deathly ill. His friend comes to visit him on his deathbed, and they're reminiscing about their long friendship, when the dying man's friend asks, "Listen, when you die, do me a favor. I want to know if there's baseball in heaven."  The dying man said, "We've been friends for years, this I'll do for you." And then he dies.  A couple days later, his surviving friend is sleeping when he hears his friend's voice. The voice says, "I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that there's baseball in heaven."  "What's the bad news?"  "You're pitching on Wednesday."  

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- Just remember: when you go to court, you are trusting your fate to twelve people that weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty!

"Hey Alexa, can you check my bank account and see what Apple product I can afford to buy...."Alexa: "Apple Juice."

- I’m trying to learn the alphabet but I can’t get past X.  I don’t know why.

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The Fourth of July was coming up, and the nursery school teacher took the opportunity to tell her class about patriotism. "We live in a great country," she said. "One of the things we should be happy about is that, in this country, we are all free."  One little boy came walking up to her from the back of the room. He stood with his hands on his hips and said, "I'm not free. I'm four."

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