Another Mucha puzzle in progress. It’s rather difficult but I love the challenge.
Don got sunburned on his arms while playing at the Farmer’s Market yesterday. It’s rather painful and we’re using aloe and he has been ordered by yours truly to take it easy today. I am also taking it easy because I did a little too much mowing. But everything is mowed and it looks lovely out there. I need to weed whack but I’ll hold off on that for a couple of days.
We’ve been rewatching Northern Exposure which – after years of petitions, etc. – is finally available for streaming on Amazon Prime. Oh my goodness, what a deep and mystical series it was, as well as funny, quirky, and heartwarming. I’m enjoying it even more this time around. It’s special to us because it figures in our story. Almost 30 years ago, on our second date, we went out to dinner for Chinese food and came back to my apartment with plans to watch Northern Exposure. It was a Monday, the theater day off. We sat together on the loveseat and, well, we got a little affectionate and didn’t end up seeing the entire episode. So, whatever episode that was, we promise that we’ll see it this time around.
Yesterday, I had an intense desire to talk to my parents. I miss them so much. My mom always had the radio on and she tended to listen to what would be called Easy Listening music – that, and standards from the 40s and 50s. Because of that, I know a lot of those pieces very well. Some of the stuff was what we would call ‘elevator music’ but much of it was lush and beautiful and I have a special fondness for it to this day. In fact, even more so as I get older. I miss the days when an instrumental piece could get play on the top 40 pop radio stations, along with The Beatles and The Beach Boys. That just doesn’t happen anymore. Over the years, I have heard certain pieces that take me right back to my mom and her radio and I’ve added them to my play list. Often, when I take a brief nap in the afternoon, I put in my ear buds and play one favorite on repeat. Lately, it’s been Stranger on the Shore by Acker Bilk. He solos on the clarinet and is accompanied by an orchestra and it’s just beautiful. Oh, how I wished my parents were here, that we were playing a board game in the early evening (like we used to at their home in Northern Michigan) and the radio was on and I could ask my dad what the name of a certain piece was and he would answer Lisbon Antigua by Nelson Riddle and I would think “They know everything about that era.”
It’s never easy, is it?
Stay safe.
Happy Monday.
