Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Fearless Rabbit #WordlessWednesday

 Last Wednesday I was admiring flowers in my front and side yards.  

 I turned around and there was a rabbit.

The rabbit was so close to me and it didn’t even run away when I locked eyes with it.

Here is our photo shoot. 

Finally I had to chase it out of my yard.  I've had rabbit damage before.  

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.




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Monday, July 28, 2025

Five for Music #MusicMovesMe

It's Monday, and it's time for music.

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Today I am joining up with other Music Moves Me bloggers (and you can join us at the linky above). We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video, please! Otherwise, your post link may be labeled "No Music" or even removed.  We have occasional theme weeks, but you are welcome to ignore the theme and use music of your chice.  Why not join us?  You don't have to sing, or play an instrument.  All music lovers are welcome.

Our head host is Xmas Dolly, and our co-hosts are Cathy from Curious as a Cathy, joined by the knowledgeable Stacy of Stacy Uncorked and, last but not least, me.

This week's theme is "Song about get-a-ways to chillaxing or anything that makes you think of summer fun" but I am going to blog about something different this week.

In the past 10 days or so, our world lost a number of music greats, and actors.  So it is time for another induction into Rock and Roll Heaven.

The first three are inductions into Rock and Roll Heaven.  The others show the musical sides of a couple of other performers we lost in the past week.

First up: George Kooymans, guitarist and co-founder of Golden Earring, died July 23 at the age of 77.  The cause of death was complications of ALS, a horrific disease that took the lives of a late friend's father and brother.  He had been diagnosed with ALS in 2020.

The surviving members of the band, which had broken up several years ago after a run of nearly 50 years,  plan to play a benefit concert in January of 2026 with proceeds going to ALS research.

For my tribute I picked Radar Love, written by Kooymans, which is perhaps one of the best driving songs there is.  Maybe, in a way, this fits today's theme.  

Next, there is Ozzy Osbourne, who died July 22 possibly (because this is still being investigated) from complications of Parkinson's.  He was 76.  I decided to feature a clip from his final concert, July 5, 2025.  Here is Mr. Crowley.  

Jazz musician Chuck Mangione, age 84, died in his sleep in his hometown of Rochester, New York, which is about a two hour 30 minute drive from where I live.  He never forgot his home city and is greatly mourned in the area.  Here is the full version of his 1977 hit song Feels So Good. 

Next - Hulk Hogan. Hulk Hogan? The sometimes controversial wrestler who died July 24 from cardiac arrest at age 71?  Well, for music, yes.  For a time he wrestled in Japan, where he was nicknamed "Ichiban" (number one). He wrote and performed a song called Ichiban from 1983. 

Finally, actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner, perhaps best known as the character Theo Huxtable" on the Cosby Show died from drowning July 20 at age 54.  Warner was multi-talented, also being a poet and a musician.  Here he is, ironically at a 2024 tribute concert, playing bass guitar on the song Joy and Pain.

And that is another sad wrap.

Join me again next week, when I hope not to be reporting on the induction of anyone else into Rock and Roll Heaven. 

 

Sunday, July 27, 2025

Chair Shadow and Crickets #ShadowshotSunday

On the day before I took this shadow picture, I also heard the first crickets of the year:  July 23.

I thought it was my imagination, but the chorus is quite obvious now.  

Summer, unofficially, has ended. The first crickets of 2025 have sung.  Fall has arrived, no matter what the heat is saying.

Wednesday joins this list of first hearing dates of crickets I've accumulated during my years of blogging.  Each date has a link to that year's post.

July 29, 2009
July 22, 2010
July 30, 2011 
then, there were two dates in 2012, perhaps due to an early spring
May 21, 2012
July 25, 2012 
apparently no post for 2013 but we were undergoing a caregiving crisis, as I recall, and that might have been why.
August 3, 2014
July 28, 2015 
July 24, 2016 
July 31, 2018 

So, what does this pattern of dates mean?  Not much, perhaps. But it is a way to track the weather - and nature.

As I blogged in 2022:

We all are called by Nature in some way.  The trees know when to drop their leaves and sprout new leaves in spring.  The migrating birds of our area know (although climate change is messing up these signals, sadly, especially in spring) when to leave for their true homes..

Now, I hear the call of the crickets.  It may make me sad to know summer is fleeting, but it's all the more reason to live each day in the moment.

Maybe I'll even be able to take a cricket picture one day. For now, chair shadows will have to do. 

Joining Lisa at This and That:  A Blog (note the change of venue) for her #ShadowshotSunday. 

Friday, July 25, 2025

Ideal Skies #SkywatchFriday

Pictures taken July 10 in the vicinity of a former hospital that was called Ideal hospital.  The campus lives on as a nursing home and senior apartments. 

Clouds within clouds.
Part of one of the buildings.  

March of the clouds.  Right now, clouds are welcome as we encounter another heat wave.

Joining Yogi and other skywatchers for #SkywatchFriday. 


 


Wednesday, July 23, 2025

The 1901 Train Wreck #WordlessWednesday

 Rocker Ozzy Osbourne passed away yesterday, as we continue to lose the musicians of our younger years.

His song "Crazy Train" reminded me of this historical marker on the Vestal Rail Trail, where my spouse and I spent many hours walking for exercise. 

Not a Crazy Train but a Tragic Train Wreck (taken in 2018)

We've passed this marker many times, one that tells the story of a 1901 train wreck that took place here on Saturday, June 8, 1901 around 9:45 pm. 


Here is the Ozzy Osbourne song, which is not about this train wreck. 


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Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday. 

(I'll feature a tribute to Ozzy next Monday on my Music Moves Me post). 

Monday, July 21, 2025

Connie Francis RIP #MusicMovesMe

It's Monday, and it's time, once again, for music.


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Today I am joining up with other Music Moves Me bloggers (and you can join us at the linky above). We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video, please! Otherwise, your post link may be labeled "No Music" or even removed.  We have occasional theme weeks, but you are welcome to ignore the theme and use music of your chice.  Why not join us?  You don't have to sing, or play an instrument.  All music lovers are welcome.

Our head host is Xmas Dolly, and our co-hosts are Cathy from Curious as a Cathy, joined by the knowledgeable Stacy of Stacy Uncorked and, last but not least, me.

This week's theme is "You Pick", and, once again, it is time to induct a great into Rock and Roll Heaven.  Today's inductee is a woman who had become so popular in the past year or so, thanks to Tik Tok, that she was thinking of coming out of retirement.  Alas, it was not to be.

Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero, better known to us as Connie Francis, entered Rock and Roll Heaven on July 17.  She was 87 and this multi-hit artist and actor became the first female artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart.  She sang in nine languages, and was fluent in at least four (English, Spanish, Yiddish, and Italian).  Yet, she never made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Francis endured many tragedies in life.  The following video (no music) needs a trigger alert for its content in various categories, but is well worth listening to.

Later in life, partially due to her personal and family tragedies, Francis became an advocate for mental health and survivors of violent crimes. 

Here's the song that brought a new generation to her.  Pretty Little Baby is a song from 1923 that Connie originally covered in 1960. 


 Where the Boys Are.


Here's an example of her singing in Italian. You can chose to hear Al Di La in either English or Italian. 

A 1958 performance of Who's Sorry Now. 

Finally, a song co-written by Neil Sedaka and later recorded by him - Stupid Cupid.

And that's another sad wrap.

Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me. 

Sunday, July 20, 2025

Saturday Shadows #ShadowshotSunday

Taken yesterday. 

Street shadow.

Front yard flowers.

Along the house. 

Yellow daylily.

Joining Lisa at Lisa's Garden Adventures for #ShadowshotSunday.