Love Grows/Music Is Forever

 

Before this old computer crashes, let me try to type a post as quickly as I possibly can...

Well, hey there! How are y'all doing? Have you watched any of the Winter Olympics? There have been some very special moments, I think.  Since I have to go to bed early it means I am finding out results days after everyone else but that's been okay for me, I still enjoy what I have seen.  All those snowy pictures from the Olympics have made me very feel very cold though! And remember when I told you in a post recently about the possibility of getting snowy weather? It never came and for that, I am grateful! Just as soon as see it on TV!  Besides NOT seeing the Olympics, what have I been doing?  Nothing very exciting but you know me, I am always thinking of music and background of songs! On Instagram and TIKTOK there is a song that is really making the rounds. When I first heard those opening chords, I knew exactly what song it was....

There, did you recognize it? (I hope you were able to see the video). Some songs don't age as well as others but this one...I think it still sounds very good today!  Oh dear! I just went back to read this post after I posted it and it WILL NOT SHOW THE VIDEO!!  You should see it

here! (Hopefully).

It is "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" by Edison Lighthouse from 1970.  The lead singer is Tony Burrows (a Brit, of course, my posts don't always have to have a Brit involved, it just works out that way!) He was contacted in January of 2022 to inform him that this song had gone viral, he was astonished to learn of its popularity. I have read that it has been used on reels on these social platforms more than 2 billion times! Is that correct? Isn't that something? And what is quite interesting to me is that this same singer had three other songs on the charts at the same time in the first week of January of 1970! The other three are as follows: "United We Stand", "My Baby Loves Loving" and "Gimme Dat Ding".  Oh, that last one is quite funny, he is singing a duet where Tony Burrows sings in a low, gravelly voice and the other singer sings in a high tenor.  Calling themselves "The Pipkins", the other singer is Roger Greenaway, who is also a famous songwriter!  (He wrote "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress", "I'd Like To Teach the World To Sing" and many others.)  "Gimme Dat Ding" came from a children's musical and the song is meant to represent a piano and a metronome.  

The first video from 1970 which I hope you were able to view from the link I gave you, has the band performing in front of a large building with columns.  

After seeing it, I believe I recognized that same building in a Poirot episode from the early 1990's that I saw on TV.  It was called the Arnholt Bank but it is the Four Seasons Hotel at Ten Trinity Square in the City of London.  You can see the columns if you click just here.  (Scroll down but enjoy the lovely views of the inside as you go!)   Before it was bought as a luxury hotel, it was the London Port Authority. If you have been to London and visited the Tower of London, you have been very close to this building!  Now....after I have told you all that, it is possible that I could be totally wrong and the building that you see in the video is NOT that same building, but it looks very much like it to me!

Look at this fantastic display of books by Agatha Christie at the bookstore "Waterstones" which is on Gower Street in Bloomsbury.

(Notice that I have mentioned Gower Street on the post that I have listed on the right of this blog.  Bloomsbury is our stomping ground whenever Richard and I are in London! Not that we have been there lately but still, it is dear and fairly familiar to me.) 

Hope you are all doing well and still using your little grey cells, mes amis! 

P.S. I am not certain if the singer in the video really is Tony Burrows but he certainly is the singer on the record that I know and remember. 

Stand Up Comedy/Stand Down Problems

 "I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy the rest of your life."   Rita Rudner

"I cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food". W.C. Fields

"You should always get eight hours of beauty sleep.  Nine if you're ugly.  Betty White  

Do y'all like comedians as much as I do?  It is so nice to have a nice laugh, to feel your whole body just shake with merriment!  It seems we keep losing so many of the people who make us laugh. Just after we lost Betty White, Bob Saget suddenly passed away and then, Louie Anderson!  I watched some videos on YouTube for all three of these comedians and they were very funny but I was really searching for a particular video of Louie Anderson. No idea what year or where he was but it was after one of his stand- up routines, he sat down at the edge of the stage and told the audience that he loved them. He said, "We're people, just people".  Now, I'm not telling it in the right way but it was moving, truly it was.  After he died, I read many accounts of Louie Anderson's sweet nature. That leads me into the reason for the title of this post.  There are exceptions to every rule, but most comedians have lived through a rough childhood. (Go ahead, research the background of comedians, you'll see what I mean.) They have used laughter and kindness to overcome their troubles.  On my January calendar I have a quote that says, " If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it". 

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Just a few photos from January!  Hope you are all keeping well wherever you are in the world!  

Stained glass from the Monastery, here in Rockdale County, Georgia.  (The monks made all the stained glass.  They built the church also, from concrete!)

Sunrise from front of our house!

Male Cardinal on our back fence. Through a screen window. (Just as he began to take off.) 

We see cardinals every day!

Mr. Cardinal through a glass door NOT a screen!

Gluten free pancakes? With lemon & sugar or strawberry preserves? (No maple syrup here!) Richard just has butter on his!

Hey! Don't you want to add to the ONE BILLION views for Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun"?  Sure you do!  She is not only a great singer but a fantastic SONGWRITER and great humanitarian.   This song is from 1983 and still sounds just as good today.

Wintry Weather?

 The wintry weather is making me wary...

For several days now we have been warned that we might get snow or freezing rain.  This might not seem a very big deal to people who live in colder areas of the country or the world but in Georgia, it is a worry.

Power lines with ice will cause you to lose your power (therefore, NO heat!) and ice laden trees can crash down upon the roads making them impassable. Not to mention how dangerous the ice can be upon the roads themselves! Folks here only know one speed...FAST! So, you have to be very careful if there is any bad weather. It is a very fine line...it is possible that all the snow/ice could be just north of us and could miss us.  I am looking out the window now, it is very grey and getting colder by the minute.  I will have to let you know what happens....  As I said, wintry weather is making me wary.  (Am I the only one that thinks of Elmer Fudd when someone uses a lot of "w's"?  "You wascal-ly wabbit!)

After my last post where I told you I felt sad with the death of Sidney Poitier, I didn't mention that I also felt sadness with the passing of Betty White and then, I heard that Ronnie Spector and Bob Saget had also died. Oh, my. Everyone has such great things to say about all of them, just as they did about Sidney Poitier.  It is something that I just can't help but notice.  Doesn't matter to me how much money you have or how many people know you, just how nice you are. That's it.

Richard and I did manage to go on a hike today! We met with some friends and walked in a local park. So nice to see friends! I'm showing you a photo of myself from 2017 though, I was wearing the same jacket and scarf today! HA! I wear the same things forever!

The song for this post has to be "Be My Baby" and since I am Georgia Girl With An English Heart, you know the video is from Jools Holland Hootenanny, I think it was 2017. (Jools Holland, I hope you know who he is!)

Take care and watch out for ice/snow!  You know I will!

To Sir With Love

 

Belated Happy New Year to you all! Goodness me, I am always late with things these days....

Today, I heard that Sidney Poitier had passed away at the age of 94. Since I am Georgia Girl With An English Heart, you know that the 1967 film "To Sir With Love" is a movie that is special for me since it is set in an inner city school in England. (I really have been crazy about British stuff even as a kid!)  As I am typing this to you, I am listening to the news on BBC and they are speaking of his life and his films. I realize that I have seen all of his movies and enjoyed every one.    

We have had such rainy, grey days lately I wanted to share some days from November with you.  The leaves were lovely and the skies were much bluer!

Christmas 2021- Buffalo Plaid and Gnomes!

 

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas, my friends!

Anybody else notice that for Christmas this year it seems that buffalo plaid and gnomes are simply everywhere! I told you in my last post that we bought a new Christmas tree this year but then, I needed a tree skirt to go around it.  After looking at the prices of tree skirts, the buffalo plaid blanket that my son gave me last year for Christmas suddenly became my new tree skirt!  Buffalo plaid, it is not only used in decor but is on pajamas, shirts, jackets...why, it's everywhere! Yet, why it is called buffalo plaid and where did it come from? You know there must be a story behind it!

If you remember, I have written a post about "plaid" and "tartan." In America, we say "plaid" but in the UK, it is called "tartan".  Of course, you should know that the tartan is from Scotland.  Therefore, when those from Scotland came to America, they brought their tartan cloths with them, made into blankets.  The Gaelic word for blanket is "pladjer" and the Native Americans, turned that into "plaid".

Okay then, the man we should thank for the Buffalo Plaid is a Scottish man named Jock McClusky, who was a descendant of "Rob Roy" MacGregor.  (Click on that link to learn more about him.)   Jock McClusky settled in Montana in the late 1800's and he was unusual at that time due to his fair dealings with the Native Americans.  He was most respected by many different tribes.  Jock McClusky would barter with them for buffalo pelts, offering things in exchange but the most coveted by the Native Americans were the blankets, especially with the red and black pattern.  (The Native Americans most appreciated the deep red, considering it to give the owner special powers.  And Jock McClusky, didn't tell them any different!)  There, doesn't that just give you a warm, fuzzy feeling for Christmas! The story of how the native people were treated here in America is very often a very sad thing but I think the story of the buffalo plaid is a good one and so now, when you see this familiar red and black pattern, you will smile and think, oh, that's nice to see, especially at this time of year.

"Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown.... that is a book that I read years ago and I highly recommend it.  OH, and one more..."Indian Givers: How Native Americans Transformed The World" by Jack Weatherford.  If you read one or both of these books, you will thank me!

Gnomes? Why are they so popular this year? I have no idea! Trends always amuse me!  I have read that gnomes are supposed to bring you luck and let's face it, after 2020 and 2021, we can use all the good luck we can get, right?  

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Last year, I heard this hymn "The Shepherd's Carol" for the first time.  It was from Nine Lessons and Carols from King's College, Cambridge.  I loved it so much.  I have it here for you.

The Shepherd's Carol by Bob Chillcott

 

We stood on the hills, Lady,

Our day's work done, watching the frosted meadows

that winter had won.

The evening was calm, Lady,

The air so still.

Silence more lovely than music

folded the hill.

There was a star, Lady

shone in the night.

Larger than Venus it was

And bright, so bright

Oh, a voice from the sky, Lady

It seemed to us then

Telling of God being born 

in the world of men.

And so we have come, Lady,

our day's work done.

Our Love, our hopes, ourselves

We give to your son.

                    Merry Christmas to you all.  Peace and Joy! 

White or Bright?

 

Our Christmas tree! Do you like it with white lights or with colored lights? I only have to push a button and it will go from one to the other! (I can push another button and they will flash from white to colored but I don't like flashing lights on a Christmas tree, so that's not going to happen!) My ornaments on this tree are mostly snowflakes and stars and some little crocheted circles that I made myself along with some things that my son made as a child. (Can you spot "Joseph's Coat of Many Colors" along with "Jacob's ladder"?)  Now, the crocheted circles are ones that I made this year. I was going to try to make little round ornaments, but I really didn't have much time, so I thought I would just crochet just enough and leave the back "open" so to speak. (After all, you only see the front!) Here's the thing though, when I turned my little white crocheted circles around, they looked very much like TOILET BOWLS! HA!) It made me laugh!  

Here is the circle ornament on the tree...

And here is me an old lady turning it around for you...

Now, I am sure you must be saying, "Why don't you just keep going and close it up and then it wouldn't be like a toilet bowl?" Well, I suppose I could but then, it wouldn't be funny, would it? I think I like looking at it, all sweet and round from the front and then, I turn it around and it looks like a gleaming white toilet!  I am easily amused!

Okay then, tell me if you like the white lights or the colored lights?

 Richard prefers the colored and I like the white. When I am home first, I turn on the colored lights for him.  When he is home first, the turns the white lights on for me! Honestly, I like them both but the white is just very calming to me with all the white crocheted pieces on the tree....

Stay tuned, my next post will JUST as fascinating, I promise! LOL!!!

These three little trees are real ones on our front steps. They look really good when it is very dark.  Hey! Kinda like me! HA HA!

And just to let you know that I am still noticing things in nature...on my way home from work today, I looked up in the sky and saw a black vulture flying over and his (her?) wings were perfectly in front of the moon. A black vulture has wings with white tips and that bright white was the same white as the moon... See, I enjoy color but a very bright white is beautiful too.

December "Purple Snowflakes"

 

December! It's time for me to show you the song that they have this year for the December films on TCM.  The song that they have used is "Purple Snowflakes".  You will never guess who wrote it! You don't have to guess, you know I will tell you!  It is by Marvin Gaye! There, isn't that a funny thing for me to learn after I have been going on and on about Motown? It was not only sung by Marvin Gaye but he wrote the song as well!

Here is the video from TCM. (TCM- Turner Classic Movies.)

Of course, the lyric that comes to my mind is from the wonderful song "Have A Holly Jolly Christmas" sung by Burl Ives..."I don't know if there'll be snow but have a cup of cheer".  We sometimes have snow here in Georgia but honestly, I would just as soon see it in photos or hear about it in a song!

Anyway, "Purple Snowflakes" is such a lovely song, don't you think so too?  Marvin Gaye is one of those that we lost at a young age, just 44 years old.  Still, I am grateful for all the songs that he left with us.

Hope you are all doing well during this month of December!

Our backyard in Feb. 2014!