Black Velvet

 Black Velvet

Welcome to Saturday 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme! 

Saturday 9: Black Velvet (1989)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

 

Want to see other's posts?  or maybe you'd like to join in?  Go here

1) This song was chosen because yesterday was Black Friday, the traditional day of sales. Have you begun your Christmas shopping? 

Nope. The last thing we bought on black Friday was a refrigerator that hubby left at 5 am to snag.  This was about ten years ago, if memory serves.

2)  Was there an adult beverage served with your Thanksgiving feast?
  Hubby had Wine, and I had a glass of  homemade Limeade. 

 
3) Did any pets enjoy scraps from your Thanksgiving table? 

Wolfie got a little bit of yam and some chicken.

4) Are there any Thanksgiving leftovers in your refrigerator right now?  Yes, home made cranberry, and some pumpkin pie. 

5) Football is a popular Thanksgiving weekend pastime. Will you be watching any games over the next few days? If yes, which team(s) are you rooting for? Nope. We don't watch them now but we do still watch the Rose Bowl game.  If UCLA is playing, I'll be rooting for them. That's "my" team. ;o) 

6) This week's song is by Canadian Alannah Myles. She was born Alannah Byles (with a B), but changed her name to differentiate herself from her father. He was influential in Canadian broadcasting and she didn't want to be accused of riding his coattails. Have you ever received a professional leg up from a relative?

Sadly, I have no wealthy or famous relatives who could be bothered, though two of them -Mother's Aunties- did promise her they would pay for my college if I worked hard, which I did. They didn't. They completely wrote Mother, and her children, off.  

7) In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. Instead of pumpkin pie, Canadians traditionally enjoy butter tarts for dessert. What dessert was on your Thanksgiving menu? Pumpkin pie. Yum.  Butter Tarts sound very nice,too.

8) "Black Velvet" is a tribute to Elvis. Songwriter Christopher Ward said he was inspired by a trip to Memphis, long after Elvis' death, where he spoke to The King's fans and was touched by how much they still loved their favorite singer. Who is your favorite singer?
Male? It will always and ever be, Peri Como.  I like Italian baritones.  Favorite female pop singer is most probably Mariah Carey. But there are scads of female singers I love to listen to.

 

9) Share a memory from Thanksgiving 2020.

We were under complete lock down at that time so DH says that it was "unmemorable" Lol!

 

Thank you Sam! 

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

 

 

 

 

Three on Thursday

 Happy Birthday 🎁🎉 to the Birthday Boy!

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it. 

Happy Shopping on Black Friday.  And, please, guys and gals, don't punch someone out for asking for proof of vaccination.  

Wordless Wednesday

 

Stormy Day freeway snap on the way home last year.

Tuesday Blues. Behold, Dost Thou see this as a "A Day in the Life of..." sort of post?

TUESDAY BLUES! On a Monday.... This will print on a Monday, but it's really for Tuesday when I will not have the energy to do anything but read dime novels and drink tea.  I'd eat chocolate but that leads to chocolate GUILT and who needs that?  *the HUGE ROAR ENSUES of folks on the entire west coast raising their hands.* 

From Happy Tuesday Memes

 A life time of Hobbies, some commercially viable that combined with a love of sewing everything from dresses to underwear, has left me with WAY  TOO MUCH STUFF!

So, HERE is an article that I thought might help me figure out what needs to go out the door, and how it can have a new life, i.e. One not under my roof. 

This is why I'll be spending less time on Social Media and more time reclaiming a life that makes some sense.

This is one of the more presentable "Swartz Piles".

 

Pre-Pandemic Machine knitting yarn bust

That would be the last time anything but trash went out the door. I'm done with the trash, now that hard parts.

 

Messages from Beyond the grave.. I was trolling the photos and found this. I'd misplaced it.

Sad Times and a Angel's intervention

"And now for something completely different." Old Laugh-in Line
 

Bloom from the begone asparagus fern.

 

I lost my Gardening Ooomph when this shade garden was demolished 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading this far.  Oh SNAP!  Time for a snack!  

 

Take TWO!  They're small..ish. 😘

Monday Music: Bob Dylan, Subterranean Homesick Blues

Saturday 9... Somewhere (1983)

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9
questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love to answer the questions, however, and here is today's questions!

Saturday 9: Somewhere (1983)

 

To my readers: Sorry to be toying with underlining and such. I'm trying to figure out what's best.  And thanks to Sam for this meme.  Please go HERE  for the Linkie to other blog owners' posts.

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Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

 
1) This song is from the hit musical West Side Story. It has just been remade by Steven Speilberg. Are you interested in seeing the 2021 version? Not really.  I've seen part of it, and I really like the original with Rita Moreno and Natalie Wood.

2) Growing up, Crazy Sam thought this song was called, "A Place for Us." Tell us about a song whose title or lyrics you got wrong or misheard. I'm with Sam.  I thought this was called "A Place for Us", too.  There are at least three other songs that I call something other than the title.  Hmmm.... there's, "Evergreen', and one by a country western singer that always makes me cry. "In the Arms of an Angel" .. I think I may have called it something else. I'm just no longer sure.

 

3) Barbra Streisand sings of longing for "time to spare, time to learn and time to care." The holidays are often too busy for many of us. With Thanksgiving almost upon us, do you wish you had more time?

 Not really. So far as I know, there is nothing planned for (or to be done) again this year in the way of getting together.  Right now I'm in the mood (and in the groove), for a quiet Holiday Season.

 
4) Early in her career, Barbra was pressured to have her nose fixed. She stubbornly refused, and did rather well anyway. Tell us about a time you resisted pressure.  Thanks to God, she didn't yield to that suggestion.  It had a very good chance of changing her beautiful voice because of the structure of the face and sinus's.  She she is beautiful as she is.

I've resisted pressure in this way: someone wanted me to lie.  I can't remember who they were, or where it was. I remember only that this person, a woman my age or older, wanted me to lie on some form I was filling out. I just went on filling it out like I did not even hear her speaking.  In my lifetime, I've done a lot of volunteer work, and it might have been in that period.

 

5) In the late 1960s she briefly dated Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, father of current PM Justin Trudeau. Obviously Barbra knew what became of Pierre and his family without having to look them up. Without the advantage of Google, do you know where one of your former loves is in 2021? Loves?  No.  Crushes, yes.  He is a football player who went on to play, and to coach, on an NFL team.  I went to high school with him and we were in the same year. I had a HUGE crush on him.

 
6) One of Barbra's hit movies is The Way We Were, a love story about hopelessly mismatched lovers. Streisand always wanted to do a sequel and worked with a screenwriter on a treatment. Her costar, Robert Redford, refused. He simply was not interested in revisiting his character. Is there a movie series that you especially enjoy? Movies series? Only one?  Let's see.... there is, "Men in Black", "Aliens", 'Die Hard", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Ocean's", "Star Wars", "Indiana Jones", Lord of the Rings", "James Bond", "The Hobbit", and "How to Train Your Dragon".  But I can't pick just one.

 
7) Barbra met her husband, James Brolin, at a dinner thrown by friends. They hit it off immediately, but he had to leave the next day to begin a movie in Ireland, so they began their romance over the phone. Do you enjoy long phone calls? Would you prefer video calls (Zoom)? Yes, I love long phone calls, but not doing Zoom calls.  Anyone who calls me doesn't need to see me. lol 

8) On July 1, 1998, two years to the day after their first meeting, Barbra and Brolin married. It used to be that brides were advised against wearing white for their second wedding, but Barbra ignored that, wearing a white beaded gown. Do you believe brides should still avoid white the second time around? Not at all! It's their day, and they can jolly well dress in any color and in any outfit as long as it doesn't offend the priest, pastor, minister, etc, or doesn't make the bridegroom's mother faint. 

9) Random question: Is anyone on your bad side this morning? No. I don't generally put people there... But, I do suspect I'm on some peoples' "bad side".  But, be that as it may, I'm OK, and I will just live my life as gently and kindly as I can. I've had a lot of practice living through the unlivable.  Someone's "bad side" is survivable.   

And, Thanks again, Gal, for this fun meme...  
 

 

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

 

UPDATED: New Link...

From the New York Times comes an article about the crisis of the Covid19’s impact on the Healthcare workers in the US.  THE LINK. Scroll down to, “Inside the First Wave” link. 

A new LINK to another article in ATLANTIC MAGAZINE.

 It’s worth the time to read it.  If it doesn’t work I will try to mend it.  It’s a wonderful, thorough and well written collaboration by journalists from the New York Times. 

My neighbor’s daughter was a healthcare worker who caught the disease from patients.  She survived but it was a long pitched battle. 

Three on Thursday: Old Saws

Some day soon, I want to really zero in on the concept.  For now, It's going to be "Stream of Consciousness", Jack Kerouac style, and so, I'm sorry fellow Three Thursdays posters. 

And away we  gooo:

1. "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." 

They are creatures of habit.  Now, this also applies to old typists!  This "old dog" is trying to learn to type without hitting the the space bar with her thumb.  Both my thumbs are now screaming at me from knitting and typing.

2. "In for a penny. In for a pound."

Oh yes, be sure to ALWAYS jump into any new endeavor with both feet. Just don't think!

3. "If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck."  

Hoh hoh! Did you know that geese and ducks can form hybrids?  Me, either.. So if it walks like a duck but it honks like a goose, watch out, it's going to be VERY TERRITORIAL. 

 This last one is true, though the answer is tricky.  Goose/Duck matings that may occur, but the eggs are never fertile.

A Page Full of Anecdotal info 

I was raised on a farm where the geese and the ducks were friendly to each other but not that friendly! 

"Hey, Hooman!! Don't even ASK!"

 

Without You (1972)

Without You (1972)

Unfamiliar with this week's song. Hear it here.

1) Nilsson sings that he can't forget this evening. Did anything happen this evening (or last night, if you're answering during the day) that you expect you'll recall for a long time? 

 Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Readers, if you would like to play along, or see other offerings go HERE

1) Nilsson sings that he can't forget this evening. Did anything happen this evening (or last night, if you're answering during the day) that you expect you'll recall for a long time? 

It’s been Dullsville here.  So, no.  And believe you me, that is a great blessing. 

2) In the 1960s, he worked in a very "un-rock-star" job: computer programmer in a bank. Looking over your career, have you more often worked in or out of an office setting?  

Out. Totally out. All the jobs I had never involved an Office.

3) He fibbed to get the job, telling the bank he'd graduated from high school when in reality, he was a drop out. Have you ever fudged a fact on your resume? 

I’ve never submitted a resumé. 

4) The bank found out the truth but was so pleased with Nilsson's personality and performance they kept him on. Tell us about a friend or loved one's misbehavior that you have overlooked.

 I’m a mom. I overlooked a lot of misbehavior.  It’s sort of a “thing” with moms. 

 If you don't then they hate you, but then they hate you anyway, but that's just the truth of having a teenager.  I've lived through four of them.  Nice kids, very hard working, and solidly filled with compassion, but, it's the those darn teenage hormones. 

The Australian Aboriginals send them (the boys anyway) on a "walk about" for a year when they are 16.  I think it would be nice to have that for ours.  But then we don't have that sort of empty space. 

Aboriginals may have a lot of poisonous things out there in Australia, but very few humans in the Outback before the whites came.  The 16 year olds were pretty safe and got to grow up - they were  Forced to, more like. 

5) Before finding success as a singer, Nilsson was a songwriter. He composed "Cuddly Toy," recorded by the Monkees. Do you have a favorite Monkees song?  

Yes, this one.  And a couple of others but I really like this one..

 

6) In 1976 Nilsson married Una O'Keeffe. They met in a New York restaurant, where she was a waitress. He asked her about her accent -- she was from Dublin -- and a romance ensued. While the waitress and the rock star seemed like an unlikely couple, they remained together until his death in 1994 and had six children. Do you know how your parents (or grandparents) met? 

Yes, my parents met at the L.A. Law Library where they were both clerk typists and the Old Man was in Uni at USC, in pre-law.

My grandparents on my mother’s side met when she sang and he played the guitar at some hill folk shindigs. I don't know how my paternal grands met. I do know that my gentle, sweet little grandmother most likely had a marriage arranged for her by her parents, as it was, back in the day. 
 
7) Nilsson was a night owl and found he felt most creative late at night, right before he fell asleep. When are you at your best: morning, noon or night?  

I’m at my best (which isn’t saying much) all day. However, I'm learning a lot when I read 'til very late at night, 'til one or two am.  I’ve  never needed more than 6 hours,tops, to function well. 

8) In 1972, the year "Without You" was a hit, Alice Clark Browne made history as the first African American aerialist to perform with Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey Circus. Did you ever attend the circus?  

Only as a little kid. 4 and 5 years old, in Ohio,  it gave me the most memorable dream I’ve ever had.  Iridescent reindeer, and women acrobats dressed in iridescent costumes, performed for me in the dream.. the best dream I’ve ever had.

9) Random question -- Think about last week. Would you prefer this week to be more exciting, or more boring?  So much depends on the definition of “Exciting”, doesn’t it?  Positive excitement in the form of getting to see my kids, yes, but the other sort does not bear thinking about. 

More dull?  Nah.  That’s just as unwelcome. If you really think about it, fence sitting on these questions could be a whole new hobby! 

Three on Thursday: Live like a Lunatic

....since you only have one life to live... if you are lucky that is. I'm treating this like it's for S'paining the odd nature of a societal reject. Society rejected me and I just turned up my nose and sailed on by...

𑃱. I had a spate of  deeply weird feelings a few days ago. I think it's what I'm reading, or maybe because it's getting really, REAAALLY close to the end for Wolfie and I'm sad? I've been sad for so darn long that only really rank, ironic humor can make me laugh.  Oh wait, that's always made me laugh. Who am I kidding?!

꯱.  Tomorrow these two procrastinating hands are going to cast on another set of short fingered gloves.  Well, the hands were resting up from Thumbitus, a newly named medical term for trigger thumbs, or aching to be trigger thumbs.  It's not in the medical books yet, but the AMA doesn't really care that much about knitters.  I've done my research so you can trust me on this.

𑁩. If I come back here, I'll be screaming when I'm born, and the first thing I am going to do when I start walking and talking is to demand to have a pony.

That's all folks!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Red Squirrel Leaps Onto Feeder And Surprises Crow In Ontario – Nov. 4, 2021

Sometimes you feel like a nut, and sometimes you don't!

Saturday 9: All I Have to Do Is Dream (1958)

 

 

All I Have to Do Is Dream
Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!
 
 
 

Saturday 9: All I Have to Do Is Dream (1958)

 
Unfamiliar with this week's song. Hear it here.

1) Did you dream last night?  Yes, but I don't usually remember my dreams anymore.

2) In this song, The Everly Brothers dream of kissing "lips of wine." Do you prefer red or white wine? I prefer red to be dry, and white if it's sweet.

3) In 1975, Rolling Stone ranked Phil and Don #1 on their list of the greatest duos of all time. Name another musical twosome. The Carpenters are a duo that was, to me, one of the greats.

4) Mike Love has acknowledged the influence The Everly Brothers had on The Beach Boys' harmonies. What's your favorite Beach Boys song? My favorite is hard to pick, because I think everything they did was noteworthy.  But since I must pick, I choose, "Wouldn't It Be Nice".  Now I shall try to add it to the post.....

If this doesn't work, I will have to fix it later...  You Tube and I don't always play well together....

5) The pressure of touring took its toll on the Everly Brothers' personal relationship, and those stresses spilled onto the stage. They once had a fight in front their audience that ended with Phil smashing his guitar and storming off. Have you ever busted something in anger?  Since I HATE cleaning up broken china or glassware, and I haven't EVER been mad enough to attack any of my stringed instruments, the answer to this is No.
 
6) One of Don's friends was author/storyteller Garrison Keillor and that's how the Everly Brothers came to perform on Keillor's radio program, A Prairie Home Companion. Do you often listen to the radio or to podcasts? No, but I used to listen to Casey Kasem faithfully every week.  That is, until I didn't like the music anymore. I do like to listen to YouTube music videos.
 
7) The brothers chose to live in different cities and held opposite views on politics. Don said, "Everything is different about us, except when we sing." Do you have siblings? If so, are you more alike or different?  I have a brother and a sister.  We are all very different. None of us live in the same city but my sister is pretty close (seven) miles away. We keep in touch by phone calls every week, and visit when we can.

8) In 1958, the year this song was a hit, Americans were doing the Cuban dance, the cha-cha-cha. Do you ever dance or sing when you're home alone? I used to dance and sing all the time. But not anymore. I danced so much that one of my kids drew a picture in Kindergarten, and when she was asked who it was, she said that's a mother named L dancing.
 
9) Random question -- Do you believe we each get one true love? If we are lucky, we do.  Sometimes it doesn't work out,and we don't find that person in time. I've seen it happen and it's sad. But I know I have lived with, and been in love with, my soul mate since we were young.

Thank you Sam!  

Readers, go HERE to see the other posts.

 
Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!
 

Three on Thursday...

 1. The sky, it ain't falling but it's really getting close out there.  Yes, I have read the Washington Post long article .. EEEEEE 😟

2. Got the Booster Shot today. Hope you all do, too, if you’re of a mind to do it.

3. We got Wolfie a new and more comfortable bed.  He isn't so sure about it though. Doesn't smell right, I reckon.

Wordless Wednesday..