WE HAD COMPANY TODAY FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN

A welcome overnight weather front brought in much cooler air under cloudy skies this morning.  With a stiff breeze blowing I think our wind chill factor was in the upper 50sF.  Energized by the cooler air, Pheebs and I headed into Bayfield for a drive-around and then off to the cemetery for a walk-about.  How nice to be surrounded by energizing cool air again instead of that energy-draining miserable heat and humidity.  

A COOL CLOUDY MORNING AT BAYFIELD'S BEACH

 LOOKS LIKE A LITTLE BEACH GOER HAS GONE HOME WITHOUT ONE OF HER SHOES

 COULD THAT BE A HURON COUNTY HARBOR SEAL ON A SURFBOARD OUT THERE

'HMMMMM'

 'WHOA' THAT'S NO HARBOR SEAL!!

 I THOUGHT THIS AN ODD LOOKING LITTLE BOAT TIED UP AT THE NORTH SIDE PIER

 LOOKS LIKE A KAFLOOBERATION OF FISHING BOATS

THE MONDAY MORNING COFFEE KLATCH ON BAYFIELD'S MAIN STREET

OUR PARKING SPOT AT THE BAYFIELD CEMETERY

 PHEEBS AND I WALKED AROUND A LARGE FIELD ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE CEMETERY

 PHEEBS KEEPS A CLOSE EYE ON ME AS I STEP OUT OF THE CAR TO TAKE A FEW PICS OF SOME CONE FLOWERS

Home from our walk I hauled out my swede saw and cut down a Sumac tree growing at the corner of our metal shed.  I had been waiting for a cooler day to do this and today was that day.  On a whim while walking past our backyard firepit I decided to whip up a campfire.  I hadn't had a campfire since way back last year sometime and I think today's cooler air just lent itself to a campfire.  With our leaf blower, I blew fallen leaves, etc. off the front deck and porch.  Followed that up with my weed whacker chasing some weeds around and it was about this time that our company from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean arrived.

 MY ONLY BACKYARD CAMPFIRE THIS YEAR

It had been a year since we last saw Kelly's daughter Rebecca, Ricardo, and (little) Ella.  Except little Ella isn't so little anymore.  She's as tall as I am now and I've no doubt she will break through the 6' mark.  And she's only 11.  They are home from Spain for the month of August and actually Kelly had seen them a couple weeks ago when they dropped into London's University Hospital to see her.  I was the one who hadn't seen them for a year.  I have a bunch of teddy bears (many readers will remember Spencer) on my bed and Ella wasn't long in getting the whole gang out to the living room.  For a mid-afternoon lunch, Ricardo and I slipped into Bayfield and brought back a load of Subs from Bayfield's Subway.  It was a great visit and how nice to get caught up with them.  They will be heading back to Spain in a couple weeks. 

 ELLA

 RICARDO ORDERS UP SOME SUBS

 THE GIRLS DOING SOME KIBBITZING

 KELLY AND HER YOUNGEST DAUGHTER REBECCA

 KELLYS BEEN WORKING ON A JEAN JACKET FOR ELLA

A Blast From Our Past:)) Back in August of 2011 I wrote a post called, If You Are Deciding On Buying An RV.....Beware Of The 'WOW' Factor  (I may have posted this one before) I am the kind of person who is very susceptible to the WOW factor in buying anything so it's a subject I know something about.  Keep in mind when you read this that I wrote it 13 years ago and we have gone through 5 more RV's since then.  One Class A, 3 Class C's, and a Class B Van.   

 RICARDO DEMONSTRATES ONE OF KELLY'S HAND GRIPSTER THINGS

 KELLY USES THIS GRIPSTER DEVICE TO STRENGTHEN HER GRIP

 THIS IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF HOW TALL ELLA HAS BECOME

 BYE GUYS, MAYBE SEE YOU NEXT WEEK:))

Al's Music Box:)) Spanish Harlem is a song recorded by Ben E. King in 1960 for Atco Records. It was written by Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector and produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. "Spanish Harlem" peaked at number 15 on Billboard's rhythm and blues and number 10 in pop music charts. The song was ranked number 358 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time.".  Leiber credited Stoller with the arrangement in a 1968 interview; similarly, Leiber said in a 2009 radio interview with Leiber and Stoller on the Bob Edwards Weekend talk show that Stoller had written the key instrumental introduction to the record, although he was not credited. Stoller remarks in the team's autobiography Hound Dog that he had created this "fill" while doing a piano accompaniment when the song was presented to Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records, with Spector playing guitar and Leiber doing the vocal. "Since then, I've never heard the song played without that musical figure."  The song was arranged by Stan Applebaum, featuring Spanish guitar, marimba, drum beats, soprano saxophone, strings, and a male chorus.  The riff to the song was originally conceived by Spector and his then-girlfriend Beverly Ross. She was apparently shocked to discover the same riff a few months later in the version sung by King.Ben E. King's "Spanish Harlem"   was originally released as the B-side to "First Taste of Love".  "Spanish Harlem" was King's first hit away from The Drifters, a group that he had led for several years. King's version was not a hit in the United Kingdom.  The song was re-released in 1987, after "Stand By Me" made number 1.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Here are a few ways of describing some people you may know...............

A few clowns short of a circus.

A few fries short of a Happy Meal.

An experiment in Artificial Stupidity.

A few beers short of a six-pack.

Dumber than a box of hair.

A few peas short of a casserole.

Doesn't have all her cornflakes in one box.

The wheel's spinning, but the hamster's dead.

One Fruit Loop shy of a full bowl.

One taco short of a combination plate.

A few feathers short of a whole duck.

All foam, no beer.

Body by Fisher, brains by Mattel.

Couldn't pour water out of a boot with instructions on the heel.

He fell out of the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down.

An intellect rivaled only by garden tools.

As smart as bait.

Chimney's clogged.

Doesn't have all his dogs on one leash.

Doesn't know much but leads the league in nostril hair.

Elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor.

Forgot to pay his brain bill.

Her sewing machine's out of thread.

His antenna doesn't pick up all the channels.

His belt doesn't go through all the loops.

If he had another brain, it would be lonely.

Missing a few buttons on his remote control.

No grain in the silo.

Proof that evolution CAN go in reverse.

Receiver is off the hook.

Several nuts short of a full pouch.

Skylight leaks a little.

Slinky's kinked.

Surfing in Nebraska.

Too much yardage between the goal posts.

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

The lights are on, but nobody's home.

24 cents short of a quarter.

-------------------------------------
This is how my week goes. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, FridaySaturdaySunday.

-------------------------------

A gentleman entered a busy florist shop that displayed a large sign that read "Say It With Flowers."  "Wrap up one rose," he told the florist.  "Only one?" the florist asked.
"Just one," the customer replied. "I'm a man of few words."

---------------------------------

=============================

BUT, THAT'S NOT UNUSUAL FOR A SUNDAY

 MOODY SKIES OVER LAKE HURON'S CLEAR AQUA COLORED WATERS THIS MORNING

Sunshine, dark clouds, rain, and more sunshine was the order of the morning as Pheebs and I headed off to Goderich to pick up a prescription at Walmart's Pharmacy.  Topped up the gas tank, coffee to go at McDs, and down around the harbor and beach area we went.  One last stop at Walmart and we were on our way home with front windows down and the Moonroof partly open enjoying the morning's cool breezes all the way.

 GODERICH'S ROTARY COVE

 GODERICH'S OUTER HARBOR BREAKWALLS

 'OH-OH IS THAT A SMALL WAVE COMING'

 YUP IT WAS

 SOMETIMES IN PHOTOS, IT'S JUST THE SOFT PASTEL COLORS THAT CATCH MY EYE

 PROBABLY CITY FOLKS HAPPY TO BE OUT OF THE CITY AND STANDING ALONG THE WINDY FRESH AIR SHORES OF LAKE HURON ON A FINE SUNDAY MORNING

PARKED BESIDE THE LAKEFRONT BEACH STREET STATION RESTAURANT

The new Michelin tires are working out just fine.  They go round and round and round just like they are supposed to.  No bumping or wallowing. Smooooth.  It is so reassuring to know one has a good set of tires under one.  The thought occurred to me this morning that this may very well be the last set of tires we will ever have to buy.  Of course, I've said that about a number of things these past few years and have found out it is not always the case.

 ON OUR WAY TO GODERICH THIS MORNING UNDER SOMETIMES RAINY SKIES

 EVEN THESE SUNFLOWERS HAVE THEIR SAD LITTLE FACES TURNED DOWN UNDER THE CLOUDY SKIES

Another quiet afternoon.  Kelly spent a lot of time resting and I did about the same.  I couldn't seem to drum up any interest or energy to do anything else.  But, that's not unusual for a Sunday.  It's something deeply ingrained from childhood where Sundays around the home were spent that way on every seventh day of the week.  Of course, between those earlier days and these days, there were a lot of active and exciting Sundays but nowadays not so much anymore.  And, so it was today.................

Al's Music Box:)) It's All In The Game is a pop song whose most successful version was recorded by Tommy Edwards in 1958. Carl Sigman composed the lyrics in 1951 to a wordless 1911 composition titled "Melody in A Major", written by Charles G. Dawes, who was later Vice President of the United States under Calvin Coolidge. It is the only No. 1 single in the U.S. to have been co-written by a U.S. Vice President or a Nobel Peace Prize laureate (Dawes was both).  Dawes, a Chicago bank president and amateur pianist and flautist, composed the tune in 1911 in a single sitting at his lakeshore home in Evanston. He played it for a friend, the violinist Francis MacMacmillen, who took Dawes's sheet music to a publisher. Dawes, known for his federal appointments and a United States Senate candidacy, was surprised to find a portrait of himself in a State Street shop window with copies of the tune for sale. Dawes quipped, "I know that I will be the target of my punster friends. They will say that if all the notes in my bank are as bad as my musical ones, they are not worth the paper they were written on."  The tune, often dubbed "Dawes's Melody", followed him into politics, and he grew to detest hearing it wherever he appeared. It was a favorite of violinist Fritz Kreisler, who used it as his closing number, and in the 1940s it was picked up by musicians such as Tommy Dorsey.  In the summer of 1951, songwriter Carl Sigman had an idea for a song, and Dawes's "Melody" struck him as suitable for his sentimental lyrics. Dawes had died in April of that year. Dinah Shore, Sammy Kaye, and Carmen Cavallaro recorded it that year, but the first release was by Tommy Edwards in August.  Edwards's version reached No. 18 on the Billboard Records Most Played by Disk Jockeys survey dated September 15, 1951.  The range of the melody would have been "difficult to sing", so required rearranging.  A jazz arrangement was recorded by Louis Armstrong (vocals) and arranger Gordon Jenkins, with "some of Armstrong's most honey-tinged singing". In 1956, Jenkins would produce a version with Nat King Cole along the same lines.  In 1958, Edwards had only one session left on his MGM contract. Stereophonic sound recording was becoming viable and it was decided to cut a stereo version of "It's All in the Game" with a rock and roll arrangement. The single was released in July and became a hit, reaching number one for six weeks beginning September 29, 1958, making Edwards the first African-American to chart at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It would also be the last song to hit number one on the R&B Best Seller list. In November, the song hit No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. The single helped Edwards revive his career for another two years.   Edwards' song was ranked at No. 47 on the 2018 list of "The Hot 100's All-Time Top 600 Songs".

GROANER'S CORNER:(( How many elephants can you fit into a Mini Cooper? Two in the front. Two in the back. How can you tell if there are 8 elephants in the church? Easy, there are two Mini Coopers in the parking lot.

------------------------------------

Johnny’s Father asked for the password to our Wi-Fi. “It’s taped under the modem,” I told him.
After three failed attempts to log on, he asked, “Am I spelling this right?  T-A-P-E-D-U-N-D-E-R-T-H-E-M-O-D-E-M

-------------------------------------

- When two wrestlers join forces it is called a tag team, aka a clobberation.

------------------------------------

A drunk was walking down the sidewalk with a limp. A man coming in the opposite direction noticed that he only had one shoe on. The man said to the drunk, "Hey buddy, what's the matter, lose a shoe"? The drunk replied, "Nah, found one".

----------------------------------

===================================

BECAUSE OF FAULTY MEMORIES BEING THE NORM NOW

With rumbles of thunder coming in over Lake Huron, the sky opened up this morning shortly after 8 a.m. and began dumping torrents of rain upon us.  I knew that there would be no outdoor Plowing Match festivities today.  Oh, and of course our power had to wink out for a few seconds so here I go resetting all the clocks and timers again.  

 THIS WAS THE ONLY VEHICLE LEFT THIS MORNING FROM THE HURON COUNTY PLOWING MATCH

Pheebs and I drove over to Richard and Gayle's place whereupon Richard and I were able to get caught up on all the recent and distant happenings we have interests in.  This Thursday would have been our usual country road coffee tour but due to medical appointments and a hospital procedure for Richard on Tuesday, we weren't sure we'd make it out for coffee later in the week.  At this age and stage of the game, it's important to keep in touch because with faulty memories being the norm now, either one of us at any time could forget where the other one even lives.

 THE REMAINING PHOTOS ARE CATCH-UP PICS FROM PREVIOUS DAYS

 OUR PARK'S LOG PILES

 PARK OWNER ADAM IS BUSY WITH THE TREE-CUTTING CLEAN-UP

 THE PARK'S FIBER OPTIC INSTALLATION CONTINOUS

Home again and with a 93% humidity factor in the air, my day was spent inside again.  Called Aunt Jean Friday night and she continues to grow stronger.  So much so that she has been out in her Toyota this past week mixing it up with fellow Sarasota Florida drivers.  Her appetite has returned and she has been enjoying her nightly dish of ice cream once again.  

 A LOT OF QUEEN ANNE'S LACE GROWING IN THIS FARMER'S BEAN CROP

 THIS FARMER'S RV HOBBY CONTINOUS TO GROW

I THINK THAT MIGHT BE A HAY BALER UP AHEAD

Kelly is still finding her biggest problem is weakness.  She is finding it difficult to regain her lost strength and her weight has been slipping.  She hopes to get some blood work done in Goderich on Monday or Tuesday.  Maybe those tests will shed some light on something.  

 THOSE CORN STALKS ARE ABOUT SEVEN FEET TALL

 A FARMER'S SMALL POND

Al's Music Box:)) Ticket To Ride is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon-McCartney. Issued as a single in April 1965, it became the Beatles' seventh consecutive number 1 hit in the United Kingdom and their third consecutive number 1 hit (and eighth in total) in the United States, and similarly topped national charts in Canada, Australia and Ireland. The song was included on their 1965 album 'Help' Recorded at EMI Studios in London in February that year, the track marked a progression in the Beatles' work through the incorporation of drone and harder-sounding instrumentation relative to their previous releases. Among music critics, Ian MacDonald describes the song as "psychologically deeper than anything the Beatles had recorded before" and "extraordinary for its time".  "Ticket to Ride" appears in a sequence in the Beatles' second feature film, Help, directed by Richard Lester. Live performances by the band were included in the Beatles at Shea Stadium concert film, on the live album documenting their concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, and on the 1996 Anthology 2 box set. In 1969.  In 1965, Lennon claimed that the song was "three-quarters mine and Paul [McCartney] changed it a bit. He said let's alter the tune."  However, speaking in 1980, Lennon said that McCartney's contribution was limited to "the way Ringo Starr played the drums" on the recording.  In his 1997 authorized biography, Paul McCartney contradicts this, providing an account more similar to Lennon's 1965 assessment: "we sat down and wrote it together … give him 60 percent of it … we sat down together and worked on that for a full three-hour songwriting session." Lennon said the song's closing section was one of his "favourite bits" in the song.  He also claimed that "Ticket to Ride" was the first heavy metal record ever made.  According to MacDonald, the track's heavy sound may have been influenced by Lennon and George Harrison's first encounter with LSD, the precise date for which varies among Beatles biographers.    While the lyrics describe a girl "riding out of the life of the narrator", the inspiration of the title phrase is unclear, as is the meaning of the song.  McCartney said the title referred to "a /British Railways ticket to the town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight", and Lennon said it described cards indicating a clean bill of health carried by Hamburg prostitutes in the 1960s.  The Beatles played in Hamburg early in their musical career, and a "ride" was British slang for having sex.  Gaby Whitehill and Andrew Trendall of Gigwise have interpreted the song to be about a woman leaving her boyfriend to become a prostitute.

 THANK  YOU FOR KELLY'S CARD MARY:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Jose and Carlos are panhandlers who panhandle in different areas of town.  Carlos panhandles just as long as Jose but only collects $2-3 every day.  Jose brings home a suitcase FULL of $10 bills every day, drives a Mercedes, lives in a mortgage-free house and has a lot of money to spend.  One day, Carlos asked Jose: “I work just as long and hard as you do, but how do you bring home a suitcase full of $10 bills every day?”  “Look at your sign, what does it say?” replies Jose.  Carlos’ sign reads: “I have no work, a wife, and six kids to support.”  Jose says: “no wonder you only get $2-3.”  ‘Carlos says: “So what does your sign say then?”  Jose shows Carlos his sign – it reads: “I only need another $10 to move back to Mexico

--------------------------------

People say that there is no difference between ‘finished’ and ‘complete’. I say there is...
Marry the right person, and you’re COMPLETE.
Marry the wrong person, and you’re FINISHED.

- Diet Day 1:: 'I have removed all the bad food from the house.  It was delicious.

-----------------------------------------

- If Yoko Ono married Sonny Bono, she'd be Yoko Ono Bono.

- If Dolly Parton married Salvador Dali, she'd be Dolly Dali.

- If Ella Fitzgerald married Darth Vader, she'd be Ella Vader.

- If Oprah Winfrey married Depak Chopra, she'd be Oprah Chopra.

- If Sondra Locke married Elliott Ness, then divorced him to marry Herman Munster, she'd become Sondra Locke Ness Munster.

- If Bea Arthur married Sting, she'd be Bea Sting.

- If Snoop Doggy Dogg married Winnie the Pooh, he'd be Snoop DoggyDogg Pooh.- G. 

- If Jack married Andy Capp, then married Jack Paar, then moved on to Stephen King, he'd be Jack Handy Capp Paar King.

- If Woody Allen married Natalie Wood, divorced her and married Gregory Peck, divorced him and married Ben Hur, he'd be Woody Wood Peck Hur.

-----------------------------------------

===================================