February 23rd, 2017
Moran !! (“Good Morning to you all ” in Saterland Frisian spoken in NW Germany.)
I hope everyone is adjusting nicely to the new UJT Update release date and had a very nice Presidents Day off.
Loosing weight is difficult task for someone who found gaining weight so easy to do. I am making progress, I know because I am measuring everything. So far so good!
I am just finishing, “Raylan” by Elmore Leonard which was his last novel before he passed away in 2013. Its very strange because he wrote it based upon the TV show, “Justified” staring Timothy Oliphant as Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens which was created from Mr. Leonard’s short story, “Fire in the Hole”. If you like Timothy Oliphant, you will like the show and this book because he made Raylan Givens believable, admirable while still flawed and vulnerable.
This week I learned some stuff:
• Tires. I lost the little slip of paper with the tire sizes scribbled on it and went back out to the car in the daylight to capture the information (the searches using car model information resulted in difference sizes than on the car!!). It also gave me another opportunity to look at the tires again and I am still good. I double checked and the tread still passes.
Website Update
• A new Vocabulary Quiz!!
• This week I also added the lyrics for The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” for your sing-a-long this week.
Writing and Painting Update:
• I messed up, overslept and didn’t make my watercolor class last week, again.
Weird-Stuff-O-Meter:
• President’s Day or Presidents’ Day or Presidents Day are all popular misnomers for the day we celebrate George Washington’s birthday. George Washington was born on February 11th, 1731 on the Julian Calendar which British Empire replaced with the Gregorian Calendar in the president’s lifetime (which added 11 days and one year to his actual birthday), so most Elementary schools teach that George was born on February 22nd. However, we don’t celebrate it then because in 1971, congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act which moved it to the 3rd Monday in February whatever that date might be. So Happy 284th or 285th Birthday George – only nine days later this year!!!
• We had a doozy of a storm this week. We had lots of wind and rain. There was more rain in one hour this week than since before they were recording that metric. We had some flooding in our family room and a little bit in the garage where the water had risen and been blown under the doors. Mother Nature does not fool around!
• Writing a Living Trust is a fairly straight forward endeavor if you are very young and going to live for ever or if you are doing it for some one you have no feelings for. Doing it for your family in the “autumn” of your life can be an exhausting and very emotional confirmation of your own demise. Who will you benefit when you can do no more good deeds? Who will you burden with decision making that no one would every wish to make? Why this one or way and not that person or way? Heated words were said. Trust was questioned. Then in the end, going over the last details in the lawyer’s office it became calm and was done. It is a milestone that I am glad to have in the rearview because it was not trivial to do and it was important to have done. If you have a family and property, you need to have a living trust. Do it today.
Music Update:
This week’s UJT Radio selections are a nice mix for you across time, genres, space and media (plugged in some of the original vinyl:):
• The Beatles – Dear Prudence – This is one my favorite cuts from “The White Album”. This one was written by John but Paul got credited as well. During their time visiting India, Mia Farrow’s sister Prudence was learning about meditation with them but took it far more stridently than the boys. John was asked to try to get Prudence out of her cottage more and he wrote this song to get her to come out. Its a beautiful song with lovely simple lyrics. I hope that you enjoy it as well.
• Blitzen Trapper – Thirsty Man – These boys from Oregon keep impressing me. They remind me of what a Bob Dylan/Grateful Dead jam might have been like. This one just kind of grabbed me the first time I heard it. It even includes this spacey guitar and organ battle fought well. This one is a deep cut from their album, “VII”.
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience – House Burning Down – From the Vinyl!!!! This one is from his 1968, Electric Ladyland album. Electric Ladyland is one of my favorite all time records. Jimi just kicked out the jams and let his freak flag fly and the result is a one of a kind listening experience.
• Cat Stevens – Where Do the Children Play – From the Vinyl!!!! This guy really blew up all over my teens. He asked some good questions even then. He discovered Islam, changed his name and quietly went somewhere else like stepping off a cliff. I always admired his courage of conviction to walk away from all that but I realized he was never about all the fame and stuff. He was about finding out, Where will the children play when we have paved it all over.
• Zephyr – High Flying Bird – From the Vinyl!!!! A blast from the past! This was a little bar band out of Boulder Colorado, that featured some really beautiful players – Candy Givens and Tommy Bolin both of which have pased.
• k.d. lang – The Mind of Love – One of the prettiest voices you will ever hear. Canada has a habit of putting out some great ones… Joni Mitchell, Anne Muray, Celine Dion, Sarah McLaughlin and so on… but to me, Katherine Lang has always been special. Her take on her music is so clearly individual. This one is a deep cut from her, “Ingénue” album released in 1992. It is refreshing for the soul.
• Pink Floyd — Brain Damage – …The lunatic is in the hall.. from, “Dark Side of the Moon”, another of my favorite all time records! Alan Parsons produced this classic. I LOVE the lyrics and the background singers really make it work.
• Bruce Springsteen – The Fuse – This one is from, “The Rising” released in 2002. This deep cut should remind us all that at the very bottom core of his soul, Bruce is a poet speaking to the world about what he has learned.
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!
James
Under the Jacaranda Tree URL: http://www.jfmccann.com