ELLA AND I SLIP OUT FOR A PHOTO CRUISE THIS MORNING

 WEDNESDAY MORNING AT OUR HOUSE

Tuesday evening's fast-moving thunderstorm left us with overcast skies this morning and a chance of more rain.  Pheebs took Kelly and Ella for a walk around our Park and when they got back, Ella and I hopped into the Subaru and headed out to see if we could find a few photos.  And, Ella had her own camera too.  

KELLY, ELLA, AND PHEEBS HEAD OUT FOR A MORNING WALK

 AND HERE GOES ELLA AND I IN THE SUBARU FOR A PHOTO CRUISE

SAW THIS LADY PAINTING ON BAYFIELD'S BEACH

 ON BAYFIELD'S MAIN STREET I STOPPED TO EXPLAIN TO ELLA ABOUT LOOKING FOR THINGS IN NATURE TO FRAM A PHOTO WITH

 IN THIS PHOTO I TALKED ABOUT 'PHOTOS OF OPPORTUNITY'

 IN THIS ONE I POINTED OUT THE COLORS

 ON THE WAY HOME WE STOPPED AT THE ASHWOOD WHERE HER MOM AND DAD WERE

 'HEY ELLA' - 'HEY DAD'

Ella has an artsy side to her and I had noticed that when they were here last week so that gave me an idea.  I have a number of older cameras here and one of those cameras was a Canon PowerShot A720 IS. I checked it out a few days ago to make sure it was working okay (last used in 2007) and it was, so I gave that Canon camera to Ella Tuesday evening.  She excitedly busied herself right away taking photos of Pheebs snoozing on the floor.

 NOT THE BEST PHOTO BUT YOU CAN SEE HOW EXCITED ELLA IS WITH HER CANON CAMERA

     YUP, STILL EXCITED

 HER FIRST PHOTOS WERE OF PHEEBS

It was 7 a.m. and I was the first one up followed closely by Pheebs, Kelly, and Ella minutes later.  Another day was underway and it was off to a quiet start.  As I sat here with my Asus Vivobook on my lap I thought how very different things are now compared to years ago.  To my front left sat Ella on our couch with her IPad on her lap and to my right front sat Kelly with her Acer on her lap.  Soft music in the background and all three of us lost in our own separate technical worlds of varying interests.  Something didn't seem quite right about all that but yet I was content in the moment.  It seems an odd world we live in nowadays compared to the world I once grew up in.  I tried to think back to when I was Ella's 11-year-old age but drew a blank.  I can only imagine what toys I might have had and been playing with at the time.  Would my Mom and Step-Dad have been up yet, would my Uncle be awake, and would my Grandpa be stirring?? Gee, had I been writing a blog in those days I could maybe have looked back to find all those answers.  But alas, the word blog wouldn't even be thought of until over six decades later.

 BREAKFAST AT OUR HOUSE THIS MORNING

ELLA WITH HER IPAD

 

 HERE'S ELLA AND I LISTENING TO THE BAND 'TEARS FOR FEARS' ON YOUTUBE SINGING ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITE SONGS....'EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD'

 AFTER TAKING THE PHOTOS OF ELLA ABOVE, SHE QUICKLY TURNED HER CAMERA ON ME

 SHE TOLD ME TO SAY 'CHEESE' SO HERE I AM SAYING 'CHEESE' WITH MY MOUTH CLOSED

  I GOT HER BACK WITH TWO MORE PHOTOS

It turned out to be a hot and humid afternoon. (it later cooled down considerably)  Rebecca, Ricardo, and Ella decided to head into Bayfield and browse around some shops. Kelly decided to go along but drove separately in the Subaru in case she felt like coming home sooner.  I asked her if she wanted me to come along but she thought she would be alright.  It wasn't too long before she was home again and feeling sick.  After a much-needed rest this afternoon, she felt better.  Below are a few photos Ella took on our photo tour this morning.

Rebecca and Ricardo brought Ella over late in the afternoon and then headed out for supper.  Kelly and I weren't keen on going out so Ella, Kelly, and I settled for a Pizza which I had picked up in Bayfield earlier.  Ella spent the night at our house again:)) 

 KELLY AND ELLA AT THE DYNASSSTYLE RESALE LOUNGE IN BAYFIELD THIS AFTERNOON

Al's Music Box:)) Reelin' In The Years is a song by American rock band Steely Dan, released as the second single from their 1972 debut album, Can't Buy a Thrill.  The song was written by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker and features Fagen on vocals. In 2009, Rolling Stone described the track as "a prime early example of what would become Steely Dan's trademark vibe, marrying a sardonic kiss-off to an ex to a bouncy shuffle groove, and adding on some white-hot guitar dazzlement courtesy of Elliott Randall to bring the whole thing home."  The guitar solo on the original recorded version, by session player Elliott Randall, was recorded in one take.  It has reportedly been rated by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page as his favorite solo of all time.  In 2016 the solo was ranked the 40th best guitar solo of all time by the readers of Guitar World magazine.  The four-channel quadraphonic mix of the recording has extra lead guitar fills not heard in the more common two-channel stereo version.  On its release in 1973, Billboard said: "Easy sounding guitar solos lead into an easy sounding piano break which supports the voices extolling about culling life's experiences from tears to time." Cash Box called it a "winner highlighted by some expert guitar playing."  In March 2005, Q magazine placed the recording at No. 95 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Three engineers and three accountants are traveling by train to a conference. At the station, the three accountants each buy tickets and watch as the three engineers buy only a single ticket.  "How are three people going to travel on only one ticket?" asks an accountant.  "Watch and you'll see," answers an engineer.  They all board the train. The accountants take their respective seats but all three engineers cram into a restroom and close the door behind them. Shortly after the train has departed, the conductor comes around to collect tickets. He knocks on the restroom door and says, "Ticket, please."  The door opens just a crack and a single arm emerges with a ticket in hand. The conductor takes it and moves on.  The accountants saw this and agreed it was quite a clever idea. So after the conference, the accountants decide to copy the engineers on the return trip and save some money (being clever with money, and all that). When they get to the station, they buy a single ticket for the return trip. To their astonishment, the engineers don't buy a ticket at all.  "How are you going to travel without a ticket?" says one perplexed accountant.  "Watch and you'll see," answers an engineer.  When they board the train the three accountants cram into a restroom and the three engineers cram into another one nearby. The train departs. Shortly afterward, one of the engineers leaves his restroom and walks over to the restroom where the accountants are hiding. He knocks on the door and says, Ticket, please."

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- Health inspector: "I'm afraid you have too many roaches in here."

Restaurant owner: "How many am I allowed?"

- Did you hear about the old man whose birthday one year lasted only one minute?
It was his sixty-second birthday.

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ELLA ROLLED IN ABOUT 2:30 THIS AFTERNOON:))

With a prescription to drop off and one to pick up, Pheebs and I were soon on our way to Goderich's Walmart Pharmacy under cloudy skies.  I was glad we had a cloud cover, otherwise the already heavy humidity would have been worse.

 BEANS ARE RIPENING

 LOOKS LIKE THIS FARMER HAS HIMSELF A DUSTY JOB THIS MORNING

 YUP HE SURE DOES

 THERE HE GOES AGAIN

 THIS YELLOWING BEANFIELD STRETCHES TO THE HORIZON

We stopped for gas, and coffee to go at McD's followed by a drive down to the harbor and beach areas.  From there it was a quick stop at Walmart and we were on our way home with another quick stop at Richard and Gayles along the way.

 A BIG SHIP DEAD AHEAD

THE FINNBORG IN HARBOR THIS MORNING TAKING ON A LOAD OF GRAIN AT THE GODERICH GRAIN TERMINAL

 'HEY I HEARD YOU USED MY TOOTHBRUSH THIS MORNING'!!!!

 MEN ALWAYS SEEM TO FIND A SHOVEL TO LEAN ON

 THE ALGOMA BUFFALO AT THE GODERICH SALT MINE ALMOST STERN TO STERN WITH THE FINNBORG

 NEW BENCHES IN THE DOG WALKING AREA AT ROTARY COVE

 A QUIET BEACH THIS MORNING

 A FEW FOLKS IN THE WATER AT ST. CHRISTOPHERS BEACH WITH THE LAKE FREIGHTER ALGOMA BUFFALO IN THE BACKGROUND

Kelly's daughter Rebecca along with husband Ricardo and daughter Ella rolled in about 2:30 this afternoon.  They will be here for a couple of nights.  Rebecca and Ricardo will be staying at The Ashwood only about a mile up the road from us and Ella will be spending tonight here with Kelly and I, and The Pheebs.  Later in the afternoon Rebecca, Ricardo, and Ella headed over to the Ashwood to check in, picked up some fish and chips at Out Of The Blue and were back at 6 p.m. bringing supper.  

Al's Music Corner:)) Year Of The Cat by Al Stewart is a narrative song written in the second person whose protagonist, a tourist, is visiting an exotic market when a mysterious silk-clad woman appears and takes him away for a gauzy romantic adventure. On waking the next day beside her, the tourist notes that his tour bus has left without him, and decides to stay where he is for the time being.  Stewart's "girlfriend left a book of Vietnamese astrology open at the page for the Year of the Cat.  In the Vietnamese zodiac, the Cat is one of the twelve signs.  Stewart was obsessed with Bob Dylan's 'of' songs — 'Masters of War', Chimes of Freedom', and presumably in 1975, 'Simple Twist of Fate' — believing that the preposition made them sound 'portentous'. When he watched Casablanca on television, an opening couplet came to him: “In a morning from a Bogart movie, in a country where they turn back time/ You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre contemplating a crime…” The song began as "Foot of the Stage", a song written by Stewart in 1966.  It was the melody for this never-recorded song to which Stewart set the lyrics of "Year of the Cat" in 1975. Pianist Peter Wood was given a co-writing credit on the song. Stewart explained Wood's involvement in the creation of "Year of the Cat" during a concert in Edmonds, Washington in November 2017. He recalled that he was opening for Linda Ronstadt during a 1975 tour of the United States and receiving a decidedly mixed reaction from audiences when he noticed the pianist (presumably Wood) using a catchy chord progression during soundchecks. Stewart asked if he could add words to the notes, but the pianist said no. Stewart then incorporated the notes into the melodic line of "The Year of the Cat" anyway.  The track is noted for its lengthy instrumental sections—over four minutes of the 6:40 album version is instrumental, including a long, melodic series of solos that encompass cello, violin, piano, acoustic guitar, distorted electric guitar, synthesizer and saxophone. Tim Renwick plays both the acoustic lead and electric lead and George Ford plays bass. Alan Parsons had Phil Kenzie add the alto saxophone part of the song—and by doing so transformed the original folk concept into the jazz-influenced ballad that put Al Stewart onto the charts.  According to Stewart on an episode of 'In the Studio with Redbeard' (which devoted an episode to the making of the Year of the Cat album), Phil Kenzie was watching a movie and didn't want to be bothered with going to do session work; but as a favour to Alan Parsons he went to Abbey Road, and the sax solos were recorded in one or two takes, after which Kenzie left the studio to go back home and watch the rest of his movie. Stewart also told Redbeard that he didn't like the sax solos at first but grew to like them.   

NO IT'S NOT REAL:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( The woman applying for a job in a Florida lemon grove seemed way too qualified for the job.  Look Miss," said the foreman, "have you any actual experience in picking lemons?"  "Well, as a matter of fact, yes!" she replied. "I've been divorced three times."

- I just sold my homing pigeon on Ebay for the 22nd time.

I once spent ten years marooned on a tropical shore...I lived on nothing but coconuts and seafood. I fashioned sandals out of leaves, a hut out of grass and sticks, and I kept myself healthy with wild plants.  One day I was scouring the beach for copper wire to build a radio I was working on, and I came across a small white spheroid about 2" in diameter that I had difficulty biting.  The mystery was solved when a man stepped out of the trees and said, "That's mine." Astonished,  I asked him, "Where did you come from?"  He said, "From the golf resort just the other side of those trees."

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I KNOW SO BECAUSE THE CRICKETS TOLD ME SO

Another pleasant late August morning and oh how I love the calmness in the air as summer's hot sweltering days thankfully are beginning to show signs of sliding off into the past. (except for this afternoon's brutal humidity) The mystique of Autumn's colorful days are just around the corner and I know so because the Crickets told me so.  Pheebs and I did half of our half-mile walk this morning and she was glad to get back to the car for a doggy treat that she knows always awaits her.  We dusted up a few country roads and were soon home again just as the air's humidity became too oppressive.  As it turned out, it was also too hot and humid for an afternoon walk......Tomorrow, we have company coming:))  

THESE ARE BUSY LATE AUGUST DAYS FOR AREA FARMERS

 A TRACTOR TOWING A HAY RAKE THAT RAKES UP THE NEWLY MOWN GRASS INTO A HIGHER PILE MAKING IT EASIER FOR A BALING MACHINE TO SWEEP THE GRASS UP INSIDE IT AND TURN THE LOOSE HAY INTO BALES

 LOOKS LIKE THIS FELLA HAS A HANDFUL OF BINDER TWINE

 I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT TOWED YELLOW MACHINE DOES

 I THINK IT'S SAFE TO CALL THIS CORN GROWING IN A BEANFIELD.....A CORNY BEANFIELD

  BEANFIELD LEAVES ARE BEGINNING TO TURN YELLOW

Al's Music Box:)) Along The Navajo Trail by the Sons Of The Pioneers is a country song, written by Dick Charles, Larry Markes, and Eddie DeLange in 1945, and first recorded by Dinah Shore in May of 1945.  It was the title song of the 1945 Roy Rogers film Along the Navajo Trail. It was also used in the 1945 film 'Don't Fence Me In' when it was sung by Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers.  Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

A LONE AND VERY SAD LITTLE SUNFLOWER IN A FIELD OF BEANS

GROANER'S CORNER:(( - One minute you are young and cool, maybe even a little dangerous, and the next minute you are reading Amazon reviews about birdseed.

- I just found out the neighborhood had a meeting about the crazy person on our block.  It's weird how they didn't invite me.

  

- The way my eyesight is these day don't ever assume I saw you.

- You see, people don't want to hear your opinion.  They want to hear their opinion coming out of your mouth.

- If you wait long enough to cook dinner, everyone will eat cereal.  Follow me for more recipes.

 

- One day I was born.  Then everything bothered me.  And that brings me up to date.

- Imagine my tension between wanting to clean out my closet and the possibility that one day 3 years from now I might want to wear the shirt I hate that's never seen the light of day.

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I DO BELIEVE WE WILL NEVER HAVE A GENERATION LIKE IT AGAIN

I think if today had gone any slower it would have been moving backwards.  But that's alright because Sundays are kinda like that and that's okay with me.  Sunny and warm this morning as Pheebs and I slipped out to our country road walking spot.  We landed some boots and paws on the road but it was a short walk.  I could tell Pheebs was tired but we did enjoy seeing the butterflies, the wildflowers, and the big blue sunny sky all the while being serenaded by a chorus of hidden Crickets on both sides of the road.   From our walking spot, we continued along a few quiet gravel roads soaking up the peaceful rural scenery before heading home.

PHEEBS HEADS BACK TO THE CAR

With humidity building, I didn't even bother with anything outside and contented myself with reading.  I started a new book a few days ago called, The Last Escaper.  I've again gone back to the Second World War for a true real-life experience by author and and former RAF pilot, Peter Tunstall.  I so much enjoy these types of stories from an era that spawned what has been called the Greatest Generation.  After so many years of reading books from this period in time, I am in total agreement about the Greatest Generation and I do believe we will never have another generation like it again. 

Although energetically busy this morning, Kelly had to rest up this afternoon to regain the strength she had used up earlier. 

Al's Music Box:)) Saturday In The Park is a song written by Robert Lamm and recorded by the group Chicago for their 1972 album Chicago V.  It was very successful upon release, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and became the band's highest-charting single at the time, helping lift the album to No. 1.  Billboard ranked it as the number 76th song for 1972.  The single was certified Gold by the RIAA, selling over 1,000,000 units in the U.S. alone.  According to fellow Chicago member Walter Parazaider, Lamm was inspired to write the song during the recording of Chicago 111 in New York City on Saturday, July 4, 1970:  Robert came back to the hotel from Central Park very excited after seeing the steel drum players, singers, dancers, and jugglers. I said, 'Man, it's time to put music to this!  However, Lamm recalls the story differently, as he told Billboard magazine:  It was written as I was looking at footage from a film I shot in Central Park, over a couple of years, back in the early ‘70s. I shot this film and somewhere down the line I edited it into some kind of a narrative, and as I watched the film I jotted down some ideas based on what I was seeing and had experienced. And it was really kind of that peace and love thing that happened in Central Park and in many parks all over the world, perhaps on a Saturday, where people just relax and enjoy each other’s presence, and the activities we observe and the feelings we get from feeling a part of a day like that.  Record World called it "a medium-paced rocker with an appropriately summery feel" and with "crisp, tight instrumental arrangements".

GROANER'S CORNER:(( El Nino storms are affecting trade with Asian countries. A freighter bound for Long Beach Calif. with a cargo of yo-yos got caught in a particularly violent storm. It sank 65 times.

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Magic Johnson signed a deal with Starbucks to open new coffee shops in inner-city neighborhoods. Just what the poor needed - a good $3 cup of coffee.

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- A husband and wife are in church. The preacher notices that the husband has fallen asleep and says to the wife, “Wake your husband up!” The wife answers, “You're the one who made him fall asleep, you wake him up!”

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A lonely frog, desperate for any form of company telephoned the Psychic Hotline to find out what his future has in store.  His Personal Psychic Advisor advises him, “You are going to meet a beautiful young girl who will want to know everything about you.”  The frog is thrilled and says, “This is great! Where will I meet her, at work, at a party?”……………”No” says the psychic, “in a Biology class.”

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