February 28th, 2019

“Jó reggelt (kívánok)” Wishing all a fine “Good Morning” n Bemba (Chibemba), a Bantu language spoken in Zambia, Congo and Tanzania. .

Well its tax time again. This year I had to upgrade my Mac to be able to run Turbo tax. My old Mac Mini was having its 10th anniversary and had moved out of support. So now I have this big iMac and living large ..But I still have to do my taxes 🙁 Doing the taxes is not all that rough any more but the gathering off all the data and forms .. yuck!

This week I learned some stuff:

• Today we hit a NATIONAL DAY Bonanza!!! It is National Chocolate Souffle Day, National Tooth Fairy Day, National Floral Design Day and everyones (or at least mine) favorite National Sleeping Public Day!! OHhhh Yeeaaahhhh!! Now we are talking celebration 🙂

Website Update:
• Last week for the New Vocabulary Quiz.
• 2nd week for the “New” UJT Music Trivia Quiz.
• I had forgotten to add my, “All Things Italian Red Sauce” even though I had written up years ago. I also added a new recipe, “ Mostly Fresh Vegetable Soup” this week. It was disgustingly healthy as well as tasty.

Writing, Ceramics and Painting Update:
• I am starting to half sheet paintings that should keep me out of trouble for awhile… I also worked on my ceramic Flamingo…I got a lot of him glazed but managed to break his head and his foot in the process.
• Grandpa Stories is still not re-published.

Weird-Stuff-O-Meter:

• Peter Tork, really the only true musician in The Monkees died this week at age 77. Even though they were the creation of greedy TV morals, I actually always liked The Monkees. Mike Nesmith did write and produce a couple of their songs in the beginning but none of their hits were written by any of the band members. They had success with a couple of Neil Diamond songs.

Music Update:

A lot of cool covers in this batch:)

Go to this week’s UJT Radio program.

• The Blue Stones — Magic — I discovered these folks this week and there is something compelling for me in their music. This one comes from their album, “Black Holes” released in 2018. Check them out!
• Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young — PreRoad Downs — This comes from their iconic live album, “Four Way Street”. I like it mostly because it feels like rehearsal .. not as polished as the studio versions.
• John Mayer — I’m On Fire — A great cover of Springsteens song. This one comes from his Battle Studies album, released in 2009.
• Stephen Stills and Judy Collins – Another great cover, this one is an old Rod Stewart song. I particularly like Stephens very subtle guitar work on this one. This comes from their 2017 release, “Everybody Knows”.
• Al Kooper and Stephen Stills — Season of the Witch — This is from an amazing record called Super Sessions. I think it is the best cover of this old Donovan song especially given that the whole record was recorded pretty much in one take over 2 days.
• Bruce Cockburn – Last Night of the World – I have yet to hear a song by this guy that didn’t impress me one way or another. This one comes from his, “Anything, Anytime, Anywhere” album.
• Quicksilver Messenger Service — What About Me? — This song kind of goes to my Weird-Stuff-O-Meter point about what should we do now? Now that we know about “us”. Our leaders want to solve the non problem of corporate profitability while we are enjoying the largest homeless population since the great depression. So yeah.. maybe it is time for change.

That’s it… Do the best you can;  Laugh every chance you get;  And always remember …  The best is yet to come! 

As always, thank you for being my friend!