The sky is shrouded in thick clouds

It is a rather gloomy morning with no evidence of the massive storms and winds they promised yesterday.  I made some notes on writing topics Sunday but could not find the inspiration to compose them till now.  I really struggle to blog unless I am alone.  This photo is me in my favorite shirt at the Cranbrook Gardens before the arrival of our walking partners.  What a lovely place to wander around and smell the flowers and look at the statuary .  

Shannon loves country music mostly Alan Jackson and Patsy Cline.  She rocks back and forth to the beat and sings along where she can. After a lifetime of guitar bands and later jazz fusion, I took a liking to it as well mostly because I could sing along in the car.  I'm most fond of the sad, heartbreak tunes.  Most of us have suffered heartbreaks in our lives and I really connect with these.  Garth sing big numbers and sells lots of records but I like his quiet cowboy songs the best.  Conjuring up strumming the guitar in the moonlight with the cattle mooing in the distance is a pleasant image for me.  Growing up in the 59's I never missed an episode of Roy Rogers on Saturday afternoon. I am also intrigued by the instrumentation with crying pedal steel and dobroes,  Open your minds and ears, give it a listen.

We had traveling kids this weekend and I shuttled between their apartment to tend to dogs and cats.  Really sleeping with Apollo on the couch and cleaning up after Meatball (cat) was not difficult.  They both loved the company.  I splurged on mediocre pizza from Bucemi's, ate it all and regretted it; Why is it that foods you really enjoyed as a youngster now taste blah?  Is is faltering taste buds or has the quality lapsed?  Well this is another carryout joint I can remove from the list.  Also had to feed and tend to Simon our newest member. He was running around and climbing up his tower with great ease.  A sweet guy and a good pal for Andrew and his kids.

In my solitude, I continued rewatching A Handmaids Tale.  This somber and frightening story continues to rattle me and move me at the same time.  Now in the beginning of season 3.  This is truly a guilty pleasure of mine.  I revel in the darkness of the story and the courage of the women in the episodes.  Yvonne Strahovski (Serena Joy) stars in a new 6 episode series called Stateless on Netflix.  Set in an Immigration station in Australia,  its another stirring drama worth seeing.  We watched it in entirety yesterday.  

Having seen Beauty and the Beast countless times with Shannon, was interested in seeing the new biography of Howard Ashman on Disney plus.  He, along with Alan Menken wrote the music and songs for the film.  I loved seeing Jerry Ohrbach sing "Be our Guest" as it was recorded for the movie.  The sixty something Angela Lansbury was amazing in her part with all fhe vocal acrobatics.  The giant voice of Richard Hatch (Gaston) was attached to a not so big guy, which was shocking.  

We had a wonderful visit with Julie and Dave our former neighbors Friday night along with Marie and partner Janet that were our next door neighbors.  This partnership is relatively new and they are completely suited to each other, the look in their eyes is unmistakable.  It was a splendid evening of conversation going way past our bed times.  We'll do it again.

Getting ready to coffee with my two amigos.  

All for now

Stay safe 

 

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