Lost and Found: My Song

In the fall of 2005 our Plano friends and neighbors, Ray and Sandy,  invited us over for dinner.  It was a perfect October evening, we sat outside in their patio area and Ray burned some pinon wood in the chimenea. This was my first introduction to pinon wood and some other sensory delights ... The Oasis Smooth Jazz radio station 107.5 playing in the background and the pairing of L'Epayrie wine with their delicious chili. After that evening I became a fan of 107.5 and L'Epayrie ... said to be the house wine of Mansion on Turtle Creek.


For the following year I kept my radio dial on 107.5 and became a smooth jazz fan.  One particular haunting instrumental became a favorite. I would hear it often but somehow never was able to catch the tune's name. Not thinking it was an urgent matter, I had made a grave assumption.  One morning I turned the radio on and 107.5 was no more.  No warning at all, it had cruelly been replaced with some other type of music.  I posted a comment on the radio website along with others, expressing our displeasure with this move.


For at least five years I had been searching for this song.  I would play SIRIUS smooth jazz on the TV hoping to hear the song. I would try to find smooth jazz radio channels when we traveled, hoping to find it.  I won't even go into all the Google searches.  A couple of weeks ago, I couldn't sleep and was channel surfing on TV, once again I stayed on the smooth jazz station.  About two months ago I received an email from 107.5 announcing they were back on the air and could be found online. This was great news for me and I started listening to it.


After two months of steady listening while drawing at my table, I still had not heard "my song".  Songs would begin and I would think "they sounds like it a little" and even thought my mind was playing tricks on me.  Maybe after all that time I might not have remembered it correctly.  Day in and day out, I sat here drawing and listening and waiting.


A couple of weeks ago I sat down at my table after a little break.  On the 15th day of May, Tuesday at 1:56 PM  I finally heard "my song".  I write often about being emotional but I have to tell you, I had some emotions going on when I heard "my song".  After all that time!  The instant I had returned to my table, the song began from the beginning ... exactly at the beginning. Perfect timing.  OMGosh, the icing on the cake was a fantastic video of "my song" which I discovered shortly after hearing it again for the first time.


Just have to share some comments about this song. I was not alone in my emotions and feelings:




◙ upon locating the song after many years, one commenter shared you "can only imagine my joy".


◙ not from this world ... rare and perfect in any way.


◙ all time sexiest song ever


◙ searching for this song for 19 years, my life is complete


◙ love is no longer enough to explain how I feel about this song


◙ having heard this I can now die happy




There were many comments telling of trying to find this song anywhere from 1 year to 19 years.  The song was released in 1989 and was the theme song for the movie 'Lily Was Here".  It became a #1 hit for five weeks in the Netherlands and hit #11 in the U.S. market.


After sharing my excitement with my sister regarding finding "my song", the following was at my front door a few days later:

My sister Patti had left a CD with "my song" on it
outside my front door.

Thank you, Patti!

 May I introduce you to one of the most beautiful songs in the world, "Lily Was Here", performed here by Dave Stewart (Eurhythamics) and Candy Dulfer.  You should be able to click on "skip ad" at beginning.







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Today's Encounter with Thieves

An interesting old mug shot from the Jane Thompson
AKA Gordon by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museum

This morning I was in the garden department of a local "big box store".  I was wandering inside amongst the live plants and could hear and see two women outside through the thick foliage.  The thick plants were all that separated us when I heard one say to the other, "Won't-che git ye a yeller 'un."  I kinda smile a little to myself when I hear this dialect around here.  My smile soon turned to a grimace when I realized the woman were stealing plants!  Their car was pulled up next to the sidewalk and they were making a haul.  I realize sometimes you pre-pay such as when you get mulch, etc.  It seemed evident to me these two characters had not prepaid and had no intention of paying.  Imagine this in broad and bright Sunday morning sunlight!  I went inside the actual store building and mentioned to the garden department cashier what I had witnessed and she said no one had come through to pre-pay.  She summons another employee to go outside and check on the matter.

Meanwhile, I walk through the store and have to go to the front lobby.  I glanced outside and see the two thieves have driven down to another large plant display and are still loading it up.  I am not kidding when I tell you the trunk was open and the back seat was full of plants!  There was no sign of the garden department guy.  I reentered the store and repeated my story to a male greeter.  I go to get my cart and the greeter reenters the store but by this time the thieves had made their getaway. 

I am a little jittery after witnessing this stealing. The greeter told me last year the "shrinkage" (STOLEN GOODS) amounted to over $890,000 from that store alone.  He said the employees were rewarded with a pizza party for keeping the number lower than the previous year.  I was astonished!  He also shared that it was a hassle with the court dates and the employees having to take off from work to testify that it is easier to just let the shoplifters go. Sigh, sigh.

After shopping my plan was to put the cold items in the cooler, go to the gym and work out and then head home. I realized I had forgotten my card to swipe at the gym to open the door.  About five minutes later on my way home a car was exiting off the interstate, I was very aware that he looked as though he was not going to stop.  He did not stop and yield, he pulled right in front of me and then crossed over to the other lane!  I had heard on the radio a few days ago that more red lights are run on Memorial Day weekend than any other time of the year.

By this time I had experienced just too much of the world for one bright sunny morning.  I forgot about working out and decided to just stay home.  Surely I can escape some of the world's perils by just staying in my little world here at home ... alone with Clint, the birds, my art and books.

The Black Keys Lonely Boy Dancer Video

My sister posts music videos on Facebook and I admit I don't always look at them.  "Have you seen the dancer yet on the Black Keys' video?", she kept asking me.  After a few days I watched the video and was laughing, not at the dancer and "singer".  I was laughing as I was sitting here thinking of how well my sister knows me. I appreciate good dancing, as a matter of fact I can say that about several of my family members.  She knew I would love this video and she was right!  I wonder how many times I have watched it.  Apparently I am not alone, a few weeks ago the views were around thirteen and a half million.  Today as I type this, the views are at 14,105,000!  Not bad for an "accident".  Only the footage of Tuggle dancing was used as the Lonely Boy video, the rest of the video was not used for some "unknown reason".   If you only have mere seconds to spare on this video, at least watch from 2:24 and have the volume up!

The following info came from a MTV website:


The real Internet dancing sensation may very well be Derrick T. Tuggle, the 48-year-old actor/musician/part-time security guard currently setting the web ablaze with his smooth moves in the Black Keys' "Lonely Boy" video.




For the uninitiated, the clip stars Tuggle — and only Tuggle — as a herky-jerky dance machine who grooves to the Keys' new single while standing outside a motel room. Over the course of three-plus minutes, as the sleeves of his dress shirt become increasingly unrolled, he cycles through a series of rather amazing moves (and even mimics a few of the lyrics) before triumphantly thrusting his fist skyward as the song comes to a close. It is a decidedly odd, strangely compelling performance, and because of it, the "Lonely Boy" video — the first clip from the Keys' El Camino album — has racked up nearly 400,000 views in less than 24 hours.




In Tuggle's words:




"I was cast as an extra, and there were maybe six or seven other people who were supposedly going to be in the Black Keys video. ... I was the first one to perform in the video. It was a motel shot where the guys from the Black Keys come and give me the keys to their motel room," he said. "The director just sort of noticed me dancing and asked me, 'Can you perform?' I said, 'I can dance, anybody can dance".






The end result is most definitely crazy — not to mention rather incredible, considering Tuggle nailed the routine in a single take ("As an actor, you have to know your lines, you have to be ready, so I was," he explained.



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The Skeletal Remains

The skeletal remains of a prehistoric
Acrophyseter sea creature discovered in the Open Polar Sea.

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities. ~Theodore Geisel 

I confess I made up the story that goes with the top photo.  In reality it is another photo of light and shadows in our house.  Clint called my attention to the shadows cast on the wall from a tiny sliver of  evening sunlight as it peeked through the window treatment and illuminated a fern in the living room.

I cropped the original photo, sharpened it, did a little saturation on it, worked on the contrast, inverted the color and recropped it again.  Suddenly my demented mind saw the skeletal remains.

The "before" photo, the reality.

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I Didn't Want To Do It



Clint helping me off the Wild Eagle Winged Roller Coaster
Ride at Dollywood.





"The grandmother didn't want to go to Florida."  Never will I forget this first sentence of one of my favorite short stories, Flannery O'Conner's A Good Man is Hard to Find.  This grandmother's lament came to mind for me yesterday when for days Clint knew I didn't want to ride a roller coaster.  I am not talking about just any old run-of-the mill roller coaster, I am talking about the new Wild Eagle Winged Roller Coaster which debuted in March at Dollywood, the first winged roller coaster in America.  My husband Clint loves roller coasters!

The last roller coaster I rode about ten years ago, the New York, New
York coaster in Las Vegas.  Clint strongly "encouraged" me to ride
this one, too.

Drawing of the new Wild Eagle Winged Roller Coaster at Dollywood.

Thursday was the big day and I was excited and psyched up.  My how the mighty fall!  I had read about the inversions and the 4G force and the requirement that the ride was "appropriate for only the most healthy and physically able riders".  I walk two miles daily and rarely miss a day at the gym.  I figured for my age I was in good shape.  All I remember was totally losing it when the "drop" began and I blinked and never opened my eyes until the thing stopped. It was all I could do to keep breathing and stay alive!  I ended up with motion sickness and felt poorly for hours afterwards. I still wonder about the couple in line who appeared to be in at least their mid 70s and not in the best shape. Yes, I am glad I rode it and had the experience but there are times I need to remind myself, "Cindy, you are not twenty-one anymore, you are not twenty-one anymore ...



Anyone out there brave enough to go on a virtual Wild Eagle ride?







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All This in Forty Minutes

 All this spectacular beauty recently in my morning walk.  This had to be one of my most memorable walks. 

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Morning Gently Tiptoes

Through the blackest night, morning

gently tiptoes, feeling its way to dawn.

~Robert Brault~

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The Flower in the Crainned Wall

Flower in the Crannied Wall

I pluck you out of the crannies,

I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,

Little flower—but if I could understand

What you are, root and all, all in all,

I should know what God and man is.

~ Alfred Lord Tennyson ~

Two recent flowers I found in crannied "walls" during my morning walk near Atlanta.

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Supermoon 2012

This morning Clint yelled out that I'd better hurry to see the
the supermoon as it was going down.  I was in such a hurry, I lost one of my new
contact lens running to snap this picture. I caught the moon in the nick of time.

This was made at 6:30 am, EST.

Clint found my contact lens by using a flash light.
It was stuck to the wooden floor but was not harmed. ;~D

  


Friday we were sitting on our patio when I could not
believe my eyes when I saw the beautiful moon.
This was made before dark and I was pleased with the
photo especially since I was not using a DSLR camera.



This photo was made last night, it had a more golden glow
than the one I made Friday evening.






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Country Roads, Take Me Home

Take Me Home, Country Roads

Yesterday I headed out to a new walking trail/park near our house.  Clint had been walking there a couple of times.  We were on different schedules yesterday, I walked a little later and took my camera.  These photos were made during my walk.  John Denver's song, Take Me Home, Country Roads came to mind and how I always loved that song.  I was thinking of the scenes before me, the walking trail stretching before me looking like country roads. The country roads I had missed so badly when I lived in Texas.  So many scenes, scents, and sounds from yesterday had reminded me again how much I had missed Tennessee.

I continued to walk and snap pictures, all the while with John Denver's lyrics flowing through my head.  William P. Young had written about how we all have a "Great Sadness".  I could not help but think when I read this book my "great sadness" was being away from home ... Tennessee.





And driving down the road I get the feeling
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday.



All my memories, gathered 'round her ...



Miners' Lady, stranger to blue water ...



Life is old there, older than the trees ...




"East Tennessee", mountain mama ...

 

Misty taste of moonshine, teardrops in my eyes.



Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze ...



I hear her voice in the morning how she calls me.

Hot and tired after walking two miles, I got to the car and hurriedly turned on the air conditioning.  The radio started with the first word not quite audible but the following words I could plainly hear ... "...Mountain mama, take me home, country roads".  I could barely believe that "Country Roads, Take Me Home" was playing on the radio when I started the car.  I could not help but get a little emotional at that time, I had to sit there for a few minutes.  Author Squire D. Rushnell

writes of When God Winks.  I felt this moment was definitely a God wink for me.

The radio reminds me of my home far away. 

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