THREE BLUE OBJECTS MOVING FAST THROUGH THE NIGHT SKY

It was 10:25 when I slipped out the door last night, hopped into Subie, put the front windows down, slid the moonroof back, turned up my ambient music, and headed out into the countryside to do a little stargazing.  It's the same spot I always go and I wasn't there five minutes standing beside the car with my 7x50 binoculars when I saw something moving swiftly through the dark night sky.  I had spotted the flashing lights of an airplane overhead heading west and while looking at it (without binoculars) I saw a faint movement in the stars.  Figured it was a satellite so hoisted up my binoculars and locked onto it.  Remember me saying about a month ago of seeing a 'blue object' in the night sky??  Well, this one was blue as well and moving fast.  It doesn't appear blue to the naked eye but as soon as you get binoculars on it the color blue becomes very apparent compared to the white stars in the background.  It came into view from the northwest and was heading into the southeast.  I watched it for about 10 seconds and then realized it was on the same flight path and in the same area of the sky as the one I saw a month ago.  Then, about a minute later I saw a second 'blue' object traveling in the same direction as the first one and in the same area of the sky.  Upon seeing this second one I now had a clue as to what they might be.  About 30 seconds later I saw another one.  Same trajectory, same fast speed, and same blue color.  My guess is that they were 'Starlink' satellites.  There are over 6,000 of them orbiting the Earth now.  Anyway, it was really neat to see them and so nice to be out under a starry night sky again.  I would like to live in a house with a big glass dome for a roof and tip back in my recliner every night, stare at the heavens, and let my mind take me on wondrous travels through the stars to faraway stars, planets, and glowing Galaxies. 

Al's Music Box:)) Blackbird is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album 'The Beatles' also known as the White Album. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon-McCartney and performed as a solo piece by McCartney. When discussing the song, McCartney said that the lyrics were inspired by hearing the call of a blackbird.  McCartney explained on 'Chaos and Creation' at Abbey Road that the guitar accompaniment for "Blackbird" was inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach's Bouree in E minor, a well-known lute piece, often played on the classical guitar. As teenagers, he and George Harrison tried to learn Bourrée as a "show off" piece. The Bourrée is distinguished by melody and bass notes played simultaneously on the upper and lower strings. McCartney said that he adapted a segment of the Bourrée (reharmonised into the original's relative major key of G) as the opening of "Blackbird", and carried the musical idea throughout the song. The first three notes of the song, which then transitioned into the opening guitar riff, were inspired by Bach.  The first night his future wife Linda Eastman stayed at his home, McCartney played "Blackbird" for the fans camped outside his house.  Since composing "Blackbird" in 1968, McCartney has given various statements regarding both his inspiration for the song and its meaning. He has said that he was inspired by hearing the call of a blackbird one morning when the Beatles were studying Transcendental Meditation in Rishikesh, India, and also writing it in Scotland as a response to the Little Rock Nine incident and the overall Civil Rights movement, wanting to write a song dedicated to people who had been affected by discrimination.  In May 2002, following a show in Dallas Texas, McCartney discussed the song with KCRW DJ Chris Douridas, saying:  I had been doing some [poetry readings] in the last year or so because I've got a poetry book out called Blackbird Singing, and when I would read "Blackbird", I would always try and think of some explanation to tell the people … So, I was doing explanations, and I actually just remembered why I'd written "Blackbird", you know, that I'd been, I was in Scotland playing on my guitar, and I remembered this whole idea of "you were only waiting for this moment to arise" was about, you know, the black people's struggle in the southern states, and I was using the symbolism of a blackbird. It's not really about a blackbird whose wings are broken, you know, it's a bit more symbolic.  In 2018, McCartney further elaborated on the song's meaning, explaining that "blackbird" should be interpreted as "black girl", in the context of the civil rights troubles in the southern 1960s US.  His stepmother, Angie McCartney, has claimed that McCartney wrote it for her elderly mother, Edith Stopforth, who was staying at Jim McCartney's house while recovering from a long illness. Angie recalled that McCartney visited the house and sat at Edith's bedside, where Edith told him that she would listen to a bird singing at night.  Although McCartney has been consistent in the meaning, there are still varied interpretations – as a nature song, a message in support of the Black Power movement, or a love song. Writing in the 1990s, Ian MacDonald noted the theory that "Blackbird" was intended as "a metaphor for the black civil rights struggle", but pointed to the composition's romantic qualities, arguing that the early-morning bird song "translates … into a succinct metaphor for awakening on a deeper level". However, during an informal rehearsal at EMI Studios on 22 November 1968, before he and Donovan took part in a Mary Hopkin recording session, McCartney played "Blackbird", telling Donovan that he wrote it after having "read something in the paper about the riots" and that he meant the black "bird" to symbolize a black woman.  The song was recorded on 11 June 1968 at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London, with George Martin as the producer and Geoff Emerich as the audio engineer. It is a solo performance with McCartney playing a Martin D-28 acoustic guitar. The track includes recordings of a male common blackbird singing in the background.  Apart from the blackbird, only three sounds were recorded: McCartney's voice, his guitar, and a tapping that keeps time on the left channel. This tapping "has been incorrectly identified as a metronome in the past", according to engineer Geoff Emerick, who says it is actually the sound of Paul tapping his foot. McCartney also said the same in The Beatles' Anthology documentary. Emerick recalls [Paul's foot taps, presumably] as being mic'd up separately. Footage included in the bonus content on disc two of the 2009 remaster of the album shows McCartney tapping both his feet alternately while performing the song.  

GROANER'S CORNER:(( An amateur golfer goes into the pro shop and looks around frowning.  Finally, the pro asks him what he wants. "I can't find any green golf balls," the golfer complains.  The pro looks all over the shop, and through all the catalogs, and finally calls the manufacturers and determines that sure enough, there are no green golf balls.  As the golfer walks out the door in disgust, the pro asks him, "Before you go, could you tell me why you want green golf balls?"  "Well obviously, because they would be so much easier to find in the sand traps!"

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Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

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A pastor was opening his mail one morning and one envelope had only a single sheet of paper with a single word printed on it: “FOOL!” The following Sunday the priest announced, “I have known many people who have written letters and forgotten to sign their name. But this week I received a letter from someone who signed his name and had forgotten to write a letter.”

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COOLER WEATHER

Al's Music Box:)) Tainted Love by Soft Cell is a song composed by Ed Cobb, formerly of the American group the Four Preps, which was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964.  In 1981 the song attained worldwide fame after being covered and reworked by British synth-pop duo 'Soft Cell'.  Buoyed by the then-dominant new wave sound of the time, 'Tainted Love' became a major hit in the US during the Second British Invasion, with the song spending a then-record-breaking 43 weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( The businessman dragged himself home and barely made it to his chair before he dropped exhausted.  His sympathetic wife was right there with a tall cool drink and a comforting word. "My, you look tired," she said. "You must have had a hard day today.  What happened to make you so exhausted?"  "It was terrible," her husband said. "The computer broke down and all of us had to do our own thinking."

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A SHEEPS KIND OF DAY

Al's Music Box:)) Marrakesh Express is a song written by Graham Nash and performed by the band Crosby, Stills and Nash. (CSN). It was first released in May 1969 on the self-titled album, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and released on a 45-RPM single in July of the same year, with another CSN song, "Helplessly Hoping", as its backing side.  "Marrakesh Express" was written during Nash's final years as a member of the English rock band the Hollies, of which he was a member from its formation in 1962 till 1968. The band rejected the song as not commercial enough, but it found a home with Nash's new band Crosby, Stills, and Nash.    Nash recalled his inspiration for the song occurring during a Moroccan vacation he took in 1966. On the trip, Nash traveled by train from Casablanca to Marrakesh. He began the journey in First Class, surrounded by people he found to be uninteresting—as he described it, they were all "ladies with blue hair." He decided the compartment was "completely boring," so left his seat to explore the other train carriages, and was fascinated by what he saw.  The song mentions "ducks and pigs and chickens," which he saw on the train, and recalled the ride by commenting: "It's literally the song as it is—what happened to me.  The instrumentation of the song seeks to embody Nash's lyrics through an Eastern vibe and a "buoyant" flow carried by Jim Gordon's drumming, to resemble a train ride. Stephen Stills was responsible for much of the creative musicianship, adding a distinctive, unique-sounding riff played on two overdubbed electric guitars.  He also added Hammond B3 organ, piano and bass. The song was rounded out by Nash's acoustic guitar, and the group's trademark three-part vocal harmony on the choruses.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( If Noah Built an Ark in 2024...........

And lo, in the year 2011, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now living in the United States, and said:
"Once again, the earth has become wicked and over-populated, and I see the end of all flesh before me."
"Build another Ark and save two of every living thing along with a few good humans."
He gave Noah the blueprints, saying, "You have 6 months to build the ark before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights."
Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard, but there was no ark.
"Noah! I'm about to start the rain! Where is the ark?"
"Forgive me, Lord," begged Noah, "but things have changed."
"I needed a building permit."
"I've been arguing with the inspector about the need for a sprinkler system."
"My neighbors claim that I've violated the neighborhood zoning laws by building the ark in my yard and exceeding the height limitations. We had to go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision."
"Then the Department of Transportation demanded a bond be posted for the future costs of moving power lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the passage for the ark's move to the sea. I told them that the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear nothing of it."
"Getting the wood was another problem. There's a ban on cutting local trees in order to save the spotted owl."
"I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed the wood to save the owls, but no go!"
"When I started gathering the animals, an animal rights group sued me. They insisted that I was confining wild animals against their will. They argued the accommodations were too restrictive, and it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in a confined space."
"Then the EPA ruled that I couldn't build the ark until they'd conducted an environmental impact study on your proposed flood."
"I'm still trying to resolve a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on how many minorities I'm supposed to hire for my building crew."
"Immigration and Naturalization are checking the green-card status of most of the people who want to work."
"The trades unions say I can't use my sons. They insist I have to hire only Union workers with ark-building experience.
"To make matters worse, the IRS seized all my assets, claiming I'm trying to leave the country illegally with endangered species."
"So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10 years for me to finish this Ark."
Suddenly, the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow stretched across the sky.
Noah looked up in wonder and asked, "You mean you're not going to destroy the world?"
"No," said the Lord. "The government beat me to it."

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I FINISHED 'THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA'

I finished my latest book by author TJ Klune entitled The House In The Cerulean Sea.  I decided on this book after stumbling across another book a few months earlier called, Under The Whispering Door by the same author.  TJ Klune writes with mystery, magic, mayhem, reality, and myth.  He's definitely off-center and enjoyably so.  However, not everyone's cup of tea I suspect. In this second TJ Klune book I found myself stumbling with the story and it took me a bit to warm up to it but once I did, and just like the main character Linus Baker himself, I was soon drawn into the depths of this shadowy story by its rather bizarre and seemingly impossible characters.  Lucy (who thinks his father is the Devil) Tahlia (a Gnome) Sal, (who transforms into a Pomeranian when threatened) Chauncey (nobody knows what he is) Phee (a forest Sprite) Zoe, also a Forest Sprite, Theodore, a Wyvern, and Arthur Parnassus himself who is a man of mystery and many hidden secrets.....and something else.  It's a thought-provoking read as long as you have an open mind and a great imagination.  I, thankfully have both which make Klune's books work for me.  Underneath, the book does carry a heavy meaning, and there are lessons to be learned for those of you who can accept them.  TJ Klune's sequel to this book is entitled, Somewhere Beyond The Sea and will be available online September 10th.  I'm looking forward to what I suspect will be the continuing wild and whimsical tales of thought-provoking truer-than-life myth, rather bizarre magical realities, continuing fantasies, and Klunes own way of looking at our society through his own colorful characters.

Al's Music Box:)) In My Room is a song written by Brian Wilson and Gary Usher for the Beach Boys. It was released on their 1963 album Surfer Girl. It was also released as the B-side of the "Be True to Your School" single. The single peaked at number 23 in the U.S. (the A-side peaked at number 6, for a two-sided top-40) and was eventually inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. "In My Room" was ranked number 212 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.  Gary Usher explained that  "In My Room" found us taking our craft a little more seriously. Brian and I came back to the house one night after playing 'over-the-line' (a baseball game). I played bass and Brian was on organ. The song was written in an hour ... Brian's melody all the way. The sensitivity ... the concept meant a lot to him. When we finished, it was late, after our midnight curfew. In fact, Murry [the Wilson brothers' father] came in a couple of times and wanted me to leave. Anyway, we got Audree [the Wilson brothers' mother], who was putting her hair up before bed, and we played it for her. She said, "That's the most beautiful song you've ever written." Murry said, "Not bad, Usher, not bad," which was the nicest thing he ever said to me.  Gary Usher (who co-wrote the song with Brian Wilson) further describes that "Brian was always saying that his room was his whole world." Brian seconds this opinion: "I had a room, and I thought of it as my kingdom. And I wrote that song, very definitely, that you're not afraid when you're in your room. It's absolutely true."  In 1990, Brian wrote, I also enjoyed producing "In My Room". There is a story behind this song. When Dennis, Carl and I lived in Hawthorne as kids, we all slept in the same room. One night I sang the song "Ivory Tower" to them and they liked it. Then a couple of weeks later, I proceeded to teach them both how to sing the harmony parts to it. It took them a little while, but they finally learned it. We then sang this song night after night. It brought peace to us. When we recorded "In My Room", there was just Dennis, Carl and me on the first verse ... and we sounded just like we did in our bedroom all those nights. This story has more meaning than ever since Dennis' death.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  You might be a redneck if......

- You need one more hole punched in your card to get a freebie at the House of Tattoos.
- You need an estimate from your barber before you get a haircut.
- The biggest fashion risk you take is which pair of scruffy overalls you'll wear to the 4-H Fair.
- You have flowers planted in a bathroom appliance in your front yard.
- Your wife weighs more than your refrigerator.
-You move your refrigerator and the grass underneath it has turned yellow.
- You mow your lawn and find a car dating back to the late forties.
- You can spit sideways without unclenching your teeth.
- Going to the bathroom in the middle of the night involves putting on shoes and a jacket, grabbing a flashlight, your shotgun, and box of shells.

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- It's scary when you start making the same noises as your coffee maker.

- My memory's not as sharp as it used to be.
Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.

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A guy had been feeling down for so long that he finally decided to seek the aid of a psychiatrist.  He went there, lay on the couch, spilled his guts, then waited for the profound wisdom of the psychiatrist to make him feel better.  The psychiatrist asked him a few questions, took some notes then sat thinking in silence for a few minutes with a puzzled look on his face.  Suddenly, he looked up with an expression of delight and said, "Um, I think your problem is low self-esteem. It is very common among losers."

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AFTERNOONS ARE STILL TOO HOT FOR WALKS AROUND THE POND

A FOGGY MORNING IN BAYFIELD 

With our 68F morning temps, we had a touch of fog in the air and especially along the coastline.  The cooler air felt nice on the skin but the Sun felt about hot enough to bore a hole through steel.  

 HEADING INTO MISTY BAYFIELD

 A CROW AT THE BEACH

BEACHCOMBING

 LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE IS PLANNING TO HAVE A BONFIRE ON THE BEACH 

 SAILBOATS IN THE MIST

 'UMMM I WONDER WHERE ALL THESE ROPES AND STRINGS AND STUFF GO'

Needing a walk, I thought of the tall shady pine trees in the Bayfield Cemetery and after a swing down around the harbor and main street that is where we headed.  Walking was pleasantly doable in the shade as long as I avoided the sunny spots.  Afternoons are still too hot for walking so Pheebs and I haven't been over around the Park's pond for a while.

 MIST HANGING IN THE AIR ALONG BAYFIELD'S MAIN STREET

 IT'S ALWAYS QUIET AND PEACEFUL HERE IN THE CEMETERY

From the cemetery, it was straight home whereupon I took a stroll around outside with my hand clippers and snipped back more encroaching overgrowth.  With so many Sumacs exploding out of the ground this year, it keeps me busy.  If we were to go away for four months we would never be able to find our house upon return because of all the Sumac trees that would have sprung up.  I like Sumac trees but in moderation.

Ellen's Groove:)) A fellow bass player's challenge.... Slap Bass. 

 MORE OF ELLEN'S ART WORK

Al's Music Box:)) Jailhouse Rock is a rock and roll song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley for the film of the same name. It was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.  The song was released as a 45 rpm single on September 24, 1957, as the first single from the film's soundtrack. It reached the top of the charts in the U.S. and the top 10 in several other countries. The song has been recognized by the Grammy Hall of Fame, the American Film Institute, and others.  Some of the characters named in the song are real people. Shifty Henry was a well-known Los Angeles musician, not a criminal. The Purple Gang was a real mob. "Sad Sack" was a U.S. Army nickname in World War II for a loser, which was also the name of a popular comic strip and comic book character.  According to Rolling Stone, Leiber and Stoller's "theme song for Presley's third movie was decidedly silly, the kind of tongue-in-cheek goof they had come up with for The Coasters. Presley, however, sang it as straight rock & roll, overlooking the jokes in the lyrics (like the suggestion of gay romance when inmate Number 47 tells Number 3, 'You're the cutest jailbird I ever did see') and then introducing Scotty Moore's guitar solo with a cry so intense that the take almost collapses." Gender studies scholars cite the song for "its famous reference to homoerotics behind bars," while music critic Garry Mulholland writes, "'Jailhouse Rock' was always a queer lyric, in both senses." Douglas Brode writes of the filmed production number that it's "amazing that the sequence passed by the censors".

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Not too long ago a scientist tried to clone himself.  However, his clone was very obnoxious and lewd, while the scientist was well-received and respected. Finally fed up with his experiment gone wrong, he threw his clone off the roof of the laboratory; killingthe clone.He was arrested by the local police for... making an obscene clone fall.

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Q: What do you get if you put 20 ducks in a box?
A: A box of Quakers.

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Where was the toothbrush invented?
Mississippi.  If it would have been invented anywhere else, it would have been called a teeth brush.

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Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, but when they lit a fire in the craft it sank-proving once and for all that you can't have your kayak and heat it, too.

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You look familiar, did I see you in the zoo parade ?  No, I think you may have seen me at the zoo, I was the one who was feeding you peanuts.

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COOLER AIR BUT THE SUN'S STILL HOT AND THE HUMIDITY IS STILL HEAVY

A temporary, but very welcome break from the heat and humidity with a reduced daytime temperature of 73F.  Almost makes me want to put on my winter longjohns.  The first day of summer occurred this afternoon at 4:21 in our area.   

Richard's turn to drive this morning so he picked me up at 9:30 and we headed off to grab our coffee and muffins at McDonalds' in Goderich.  Our wanderings took us northeast of Goderich.  A few drops of rain along the way but nothing serious. 

 PARENTING IN GRACKLELAND

Despite the cooler temps, the Sun still felt like a burning poker and the humidity remained heavy in the afternoon air.  Kelly headed off to Goderich to run some errands while Pheebs and I stayed home in the cool and comfortable confines of our house:))

Al's Music Box:)) This Boy is a song by the English rock band The Beatles, written by John Lennon. (credited to Lennon-McCartney)  It was released in November 1963 as the B-side of the band's Parlophone single, "I Want To Hold Your Hand". In the United States, it was issued in January 1964 on Meet the Beatles! which was Capitol Records reconfigured version of the 'With the Beatles' album. The Beatles performed the song live on 16 February 1964 for their second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. An instrumental easy listening arrangement by George Martin 'A Hard Day's Night', re-titled "Ringo's Theme. 'This Boy' was featured in the film and the United Artists soundtrack album.  The track's composition was Lennon's attempt to write a tune in the style of Motown star Smokey Robinson and specifically his song "I've Been Good to You", which has similar circular doo-wop chord changes, melody and arrangement.Paul McCartney cites the Teddy Bears1958 hit "To Know Him Is to Love Him" also as being influential. Lennon, McCartney, and George Harrison joined in singing an intricate three-part close harmony in the verses and refrain, and a similar technique is employed in later Beatles songs, notably "Yes It Is" and "Because".  The Beatles recorded "This Boy" on 17 October 1963, the same day they recorded "I Want To Hold Your Hand", the group's first fan club Christmas single, and a version of "You Really Got A Hold On Me".  They recorded fifteen takes of "This Boy" followed by two overdubs. The song was recorded with a rounded ending, although it was faded out during a mixing session on 21 October. Two takes were joined to make the final master, with the edit between the middle eight and the final verse.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( - Hello! Pizza Hut??

- No sir it's Google's Pizza.
- So it's a wrong number? Sorry
- No sir, Google bought Pizza Hut.
- OK. Take my order please.
- Well sir, do you want the usual?
- The usual? Do you know me?
- According to our caller ID data sheet, in the last 12 times, you ordered pizza with cheeses, sausage, and thick crust.
- OK! that's it ...
- May I suggest to you this time you try ricotta, and arugula with dry tomato.?
- What? I hate vegetables.
- Your cholesterol is not good, sir.
- How do you know that?
- We crossed the number of your fixed line with your name, through the subscribers guide.  We have the results of your blood tests for the last 7 years.

- Okay, but I do not want this pizza!, I already take medicine.
-Excuse me, but you have not taken the medicine regularly, from our commercial database, 4 months ago, you only purchased one box with 30 cholesterol tablets at Drugsale Network.
- I bought more from another drugstore.
- It's not showing on your credit card statement.  I paid in cash
- But you did not withdraw that much cash according to your bank statement
- I have another source of cash
- This is not showing as per your last Tax form unless you bought them from an undeclared income source.
-WHAT THE HELL?
- I'm sorry, sir, we use such information only with the intention of helping you.
- Enough! I'm sick of Google, Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp. I'm going to an Island without internet, cable, and TV, where there is no cell phone line and no one to watch me or spy on me

 - I understand sir but you need to renew your passport first as it expired 5 weeks ago..........

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Why Dogs Are Better Than Kids::

- It doesn't take 45 minutes to get a dog ready to go outside in the winter.
- Dogs cannot lie.
- Dogs never resist nap time.
- You don't need to get extra phone lines for a dog.
- Dogs don't pester you about getting a kid.
- Dogs don't care if the peas have been touched - - Dogs are housebroken by the time they are 12 weeks old.
- Your dog is not embarrassed if you sing in public.
- Average cost of sending a dog to school: $42
- Average cost of sending a kid: $303,000

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