Noted in November - 2018 - #SLS and those wedding photos

It's been a week since I posted and if you remember, that was a quick post as we were on our way to a wedding:

We clean up pretty good don't we?  We are so matching!  My nails match his shirt, his tie matches my dress, you'd think we do that kind of thing all the time, right?  Probably won't wear those clothes again for 5 years - LOL.  It was a very interesting wedding and we had a good time.  It was the FIRST time I've ever had the waiters came around with blankets for the guests since it was so cold in this venue.  I actually wore my coat almost the whole time but I took it off so we could have this picture taken.   

Then came Thanksgiving.  We started it off by playing a game of Monopoly.  FIRST time we've done that as a complete family.

 The family photo.

Followed by a trip to the movies.  We saw Bohemian Rhapsody.  I really liked it.  Even my 95-year-old mom came with us.  I forgot to tell my husband I was taking a picture - :)   

We have gone to the movies on Christmas before but the is the FIRST time we've been on Thanksgiving.  There were only a few other people in the theater, as you can see from the empty seats.  Then again, it was 10:30 PM on Thanksgiving night so maybe people were out shopping those black Friday sales.  Our son came too but he was out getting something and when he came back it was time for the movie to start so I couldn't get his picture.  

Yesterday I participated in a Holiday Boutique, selling my cards and mini-albums and things.  

I was a vendor at this event last year for the FIRST time but it was in a different location.  I was much happier with this spot.  It seemed that we got more shoppers.  I made enough money to cover the cost of renting the spot and a profit on top of that.  FIRST time I have gotten a special order during a sales event too.  I sold a lot of my cards and things but there is plenty left in the Etsy shop if you need some Christmas cards or decorations.  You should check it out!   

I missed the Full Frost Moon on Friday because it was raining and too cloudy.  Fortunately we have a three day window to make our intentions and so I caught it last night.  Still cloudy but you can see her.    

All of which leads to our Song Lyric Sunday prompt, "First."  Thanks, Helen.

I was going to use the song, "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" but someone else has used that.  We are going to see Fleetwood Mac tonight, FIRST time without Lindsey Buckingham, who wrote the words to this song:

Monday Morning

Fleetwood Mac

Monday morning you sure look fine
Friday I got travelin' on my mind
First you love me and then you fade away
I can't go on believin' this way
I got nothing but love for you
Tell me what you really want to do
First you love me, then you get on down the line
But I don't mind, I don't mind, yeah

I'll be there if you want me to
No one else that could ever do
Got to get some peace in my mind

Monday morning you sure look fine
Friday I got travelin' on my mind
First you love me and then you say it's wrong
You know I can't go on believing for long

But you know it's true
You only want me when I get over you
First you love me, then you get on down the line
But I don't mind, no, I don't mind, yeah

I'll be there if you want me to
No one else that could ever do
Got to get some peace in my mind

But you know it's true
You know you only want me when I get over you
First you love me, then you get on down the line
But I don't mind, no, I don't mind, yeah

I'll be there if you want me to
No one else that could ever do
Got to get some peace in my mind

Songwriters: Lindsey Buckingham

Monday Morning lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

It is interesting that I checked the setlist for this tour as I always do and they are performing this song.  I guess he can't stop them from performing it without him just like he performed some of "their" songs when he does his solo tour, and Stevie Nicks sings some Fleetwood songs when she does her solo stuff.  Must have been written into their contracts.  Anyway, here is the YouTube version:

Question for you all who participate in this song sharing fest, when you grab a link from YouTube to share, do you take from the artist/official clip or do you take from other people?  I am always afraid that if I don't use the official clip I'm violating someone's rights.  The scrapbook pages I made  from one of the times we saw Fleetwood, this time was without Christine McVie. 

I hope I can get some better pictures this time.  Don't forget to visit some of the other players in the Song Lyric game.  Happy Sunday everyone! 

Noted in November - 2018 #SLS Listen

In a bit of a hurry today as we are getting ready to go to a wedding that is a 1-1/2 hour drive away.  It is a bit of a swanky wedding in that the invitation specified "semi-formal" attire.  I haven't dressed in "semi-formal" attire for quite some time and in fact "had" to go out and get a new dress and shoes.  Hubs had to get a suit since he didn't really have the proper garb either.  Pictures later for sure...gotta get my money's worth!

Anyway, the Song Lyric Sunday prompt for today is "Listen."  Thanks, Helen.  I actually found this a bit difficult since all the songs that came to mind had been used.  Finally found something thanks to Willie Nelson, someone I don't normally listen to but this is one of his songs that I really like.

A Song for You

Willie Nelson, Ray Charles, ...

Well I've been a lot places in my life and time
I've sung a lot of songs and I've made some bad rhymes
I acted out my life in stages
With ten thousand people watching
Now we're alone and I am singing my song for you

And I know your image of me is what I hope to be
I've treated you unkindly but darling can't you see
There's no one more important to me
So darling can't you please see through me
'Cause we're alone now and I'm singin' my song for you

Well you taught me precious secrets of a truth, withholdin' nothin'
You came out in front but I was hiding
And now I'm so much better and if my words don't come together
Just listen to the melody for my love's in there hiding

And I love you in a place where there's no space or time
I love you for my life, you are a friend of mine
And when my life is over, remember when we were together
We were alone and I was singin' my song for you

Well you taught me precious secrets of a truth, withholdin' nothin'
You came out in front but I was hiding
And now I'm so much better and if my words don't come together
Listen to the melody for my love is in there hiding

And I love you in a place where there's no space or time
I've loved you for my life, you are a friend of mine
And when my life is over, remember when we were together
We were alone and I was singin' my song for you
We were alone and I was singin' my song for you

Songwriters: Hans Bouwens

A Song for You lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

I think that is kind of a good song for a wedding day, don't you?

I picked this clip because it is from the movie "Honeysuckle Rose" which is where I first heard the song.  It was a good movie and if you haven't seen it you should give it a shot.

I know sometimes his voice gets very low but it's fun to watch Dyan Cannon's expression.  Willie Nelson's character cheated on her with Amy Irving and this is his way of saying he's sorry.  I think she forgives him.  What do you think?

Noted in November - 2018

I had to run some errands today which meant I had to go outside in the haze.  I know posted a picture of the orange sun a few days ago but the quality of the air around here has gotten much worse.  We are experiencing the effects from the fires that rage hundreds of miles from us.  I've read books and watched movies about the futuristic happenings after atomic wars and the sun looked like something out of one of those stories today. 

I mean, the colors are spectacular and if it didn't signal something really bad it would be lovely to look at.  However, the air quality indicators tell us that things are not normal.  I live in the purple area just south of San Francisco.

The legend tells us that we are in the "Very Unhealthy" area.

At 4:24 PM today the AQI (Air Quality Index) was 235.  Considering that "Good" is between 0 and 50, I'd say we have a problem.  If it gets up another 15 points we will be in the Hazardous zone.

We could certainly use some rain or snow to put out the fires and clean up the air.  Schools are closing and people are walking around with masks on.  Fortunately we have food in the house and I did my errands today so I can stay home, at least until Sunday when I have a wedding to go to.  Unfortunately the wedding is still in the "Unhealthy" red area to the north of us.

Anybody got some snow they can spare?  Extra gas mask?  Cross your fingers for us.   

Noted in November - 2018 Police Action

Just in case you were wondering why I would pay so much attention to the lady in the car from yesterday's post, today's events should clarify things.

See these flashing lights?

This is nearing the end of the police action that took place down at the corner of our block this afternoon.  Apparently a stolen vehicle car chase ended with the boys in blue capturing the suspect, but not before our neighbor got his car clipped by the speeding car as he turned the corner.  Fortunately, no injuries.  

By the time I went to get my camera to document it, a few of the police cars had already left the scene.  There had been about five or six vehicles there with their flashing red, yellow and blue lights.  It was actually kinda pretty.  

Anyway, you can see that I kind of had a reason to pay some attention to the mystery woman yesterday.  You just never know!

Noted in November - 2018 - The mystery of the woman in the car.

We live in a smallish town close to the San Francisco airport and down the street from a Toyota repair facility.  Parking on our street can occasionally get to be problematic.  We are fortunate in that we have a long driveway and can easily fit three cars in it.  We have three cars in our family but it is a pain to have to go and jockey the cars around so primarily we use the one parking spot in front of our house and then two cars in the driveway.  Here is a picture from when we were having the siding put on.  You can see the garage is way in the back and my car is at the edge of our walkway.  Two cars could fit in front of mine. 

There have been times when the Toyota employees were parking in front of our house all day, occasionally there have been cars left on our block by people who are traveling.  They leave the car and get an Uber to the airport so they don't have to pay for airport parking.  There have even been times when a stolen car was left abandoned.  Since my husband is retired, he keeps his eye on the neighborhood and if he sees a car that he doesn't recognize and that doesn't move for a few days he will call the police.   

Since we like to have the front spot available, when whoever is parked there leaves (usually my husband's truck is the one on the street parking), we will go and put another one of our vehicles there to save the spot.  It may sound silly but if you are coming home and not able to find parking in front of your own house it is frustrating.

Today my husband left to do some work with a friend and I didn't think about it so I didn't move my car to the street.  I went to throw the trash out and just as I was going back inside a woman pulled up and parked in front of our house.  I watched to see if she was going to visit one of the neighbors because I didn't recognize the car or the driver.  That's where the mystery starts.  

She got out of her car with a duffle bag and opened the trunk.  She proceeded to empty the bag, putting her things in the trunk.  This took about five minutes.  Then she closed the trunk and took the empty duffle bag and opened the back door where I could see a laundry basket which she moved to the other side of the seat.  Then it looked like she was refilling the duffle bag from whatever was in the laundry basket.  This took another 10 or 15 minutes.  I went and stood on my front porch but she didn't notice me or turn around at all.  I emptied another one of our garbage cans and put a new mat on the front porch.  She never looked at me.  When she was done with the rearranging, she put some more stuff in the trunk and neatly put a plastic cover over it.  

Then she went and sat in the passenger side of the car, scrolled through her phone and started going through her mail (or that's what it looked like to me).  She got a phone call and at that point (it was about a half an hour so far) I decided that I would do the dishes - from the kitchen sink I could still keep an eye on the car.  

Finally, about 45 minutes in total, she got out of the passenger side, went around to the driver's side and drove away.  

What do you think of that?  Would you park in front of someone's house and clean out your car, read your mail and chat on the phone?  If that happened in front of your house would you go out and ask her what she was doing?  I have pulled over in front of someone's house to answer a phone call in the days before I got a car with hands free talking but I would never think of rearranging my trunk there.  Maybe she was homeless and living out of her car?  If she had just done her laundry, why didn't she rearrange things in the parking lot at the laundromat?  Love to hear your thoughts! 

Noted in November - 2018 - Song Lyric Sunday - Soul

Helen's theme for today's Song Lyric Sunday is "Soul."

My pick is "Lady Soul" by the Temptations.

Lady Soul

The Temptations

Oh
Oh wo oh wo oh wo oh wo
Oh wo oh wo oh wo oh wo
Oh wo oh wo oh wo oh wo
My lady soul

Lying here beside you
Close as we can be
I know what this leads to
I know what you need, yeah

I'm ready to surrender, my love
Lay it all in your hands
Give you my forever
Everything I am

'Cause you are my, my, my, my lady soul
You warm my heart
When I grow cold
Oh you are my, my, my, my lady soul
You are my life
You make me whole
Oh wo oh wo oh wo oh wo
Oh wo oh wo oh wo oh wo
My lady soul

I feel it in your heartbeat
Hear it in your crys
This is where our hearts meet
I see it in your eyes

I've waited for this moment, my love
It's a dream come alive
Heaven must have sent me
An angel of the night

'Cause you are my, my, my, my lady soul
You warm my heart
When I grow cold
'Cause you are my, you're my, you're my, my lady soul
You're my, my lady soul, you're my lady soul
You are my life
You make me whole

I always knew we'd end up together
Right from the very start
And I believe we'll make it forever
It's written right here in my heart

Oh yeah, ay, ho
You're my, you're my, my lady soul
You warm my heart
When I grow cold
Oh you are my, my, my, my lady soul
You are my life
You make me whole
Oh wo oh wo oh wo oh wo
Oh wo oh wo oh wo oh wo
My lady soul, hoo
My, my
My, my
You're my, you're my (my, my) my lady soul
Oh wo oh wo oh wo oh wo (my, my)
Oh wo oh wo oh wo oh wo (my, my)
My, my, my, my, my, my, my
My lady soul

Lady Soul lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

My favorite part of the song is:

"I always knew we'd end up together
right from the very start
and I believe we'll make it forever
It's written right here in my heart."

cos I'm just a sappy romantic and this is the kind of thing that makes me think of my husband.

I've seen the Temptations a couple of times.  The first time was about 100 years ago (well maybe in the mid-'70's) and I saw them at the Circle Star theater.  That was such a fun venue because the stage turned so every seat was a good one (except when their back was to you - LOL).  They claimed that none of the over 3,000 seats was more than 50 feet from the stage.  The stage made a complete turn every eight minutes.  Some of the performers didn't like it though because they said the moving stage gave them motion sickness.   

We saw the Temptations again last year at the Mountain Winery.  Only one of the originals (Otis Williams) was still performing but they sounded and looked great anyway.

All movements still in sync and they did perform "Lady Soul" that night.  We were side stage and a little farther back than we usually sit but it was still a fun night.  The Four Tops were there as well so we had a full night of Motown soul.  We had our friend, Mike, with us and it was his first experience at the Mountain Winery.  He's a big Motown lover. 

Have a listen:

Make sure to stop by the other participants in the SLS hit parade.  Happy singing Sunday to you.

Noted in November - 2018 #SoCS Mean

Linda G. Hill is inviting us to share our Stream of Consciousness this Saturday with the word "Mean(s)".

I don't think I'm particularly a mean person.  My family would say that I am insensitive to animals and they would be correct but I'm not mean to animals, I just don't care about them. 

Even when someone is mean to me...well, I can't really remember the last time anyone was mean to me because I don't hang out with people who are like that. 

I don't even think I could drive a mean bargain because generally I'm a softie. 

Sometimes I wonder why I am doing this blogging thing.  I mean is anyone even reading it?  Then I think, "I don't care, I'm doing it for the fun of it" and if someone reads my blog maybe they'll find some meaning to it. 

For example:  This is what the sun looked like yesterday except the whole thing was bright orange like it is around the rim. 

Same sun, different camera:

No filters or special effects, just max zoom.  It looks like this because of all the fires that are devastating our state.  The closest fire is over 100 miles away and still our air is filled with smoke and there is ash on our cars.  A whole town (Paradise, California) was wiped out.  Sadly a couple of our friends lost their homes.  I can imagine what they are going through but my imagination is probably not anywhere close to what it really means to them.  Sending my thoughts and prayers to all those affected by these devastations.   

Noted in November - 2018 Escapist Coloring Club

Linda G. Hill shares the Escapist Coloring Club at the beginning of the month and I've missed posting the last few months but I have been coloring!  My family got me a lot of coloring books a couple of years ago for Christmas and I finally pulled one out to work on while watching TV. 

Some pages are not so complicated,

but some have a lot of detail. 

I chose this two page spread to start with.  

I finished it the other night and I think it came out pretty good.  I'm sorry about the color I chose for Alice's shoes because they really blend in with the brick walk but oh well.

Thanks, Linda, for encouraging us to get our coloring juices flowing.  Have you been coloring lately?

Noted in November - 2018 - #SLS Can't Take My Eyes Off You

There are SO many songs out there that go with this week's theme from Helen, Take/Taken that I really had a hard time deciding.  Finally I went with one that gives me chills every time I hear it.

Frankie Valli - Can't Take My Eyes Off You

Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You

Frankie Valli

You're just too good to be true
I can't take my eyes off you
You'd be like heaven to touch
I wanna hold you so much
At long last love has arrived
And I thank God I'm alive
You're just too good to be true
Can't take my eyes off you

Pardon the way that I stare
There's nothing else to compare
The sight of you leaves me weak
There are no words left to speak
But if you feel like I feel
Please let me know that is real
You're just too good to be true
I can't take my eyes off you

I love you baby
And if it's quite all right
I need you baby
To warm the lonely nights
I love you baby
Trust in me when I say

Oh pretty baby
Don't bring me down I pray
Oh pretty baby
Now that I've found you stay
And let me love you, baby
Let me love you

You're just too good to be true
I can't take my eyes off you
You'd be like heaven to touch
I wanna hold you so much
At long last love has arrived
And I thank God I'm alive
You're just too good to be true
Can't take my eyes off You

I love you baby
And if it's quite all right
I need you baby
To warm the lonely nights
I love you baby
Trust in me when I say

Oh pretty baby
Don't bring me down I pray
Oh pretty baby
Now that I've found you stay
Oh pretty baby
Trust in me when I say

Songwriters: Bob Crewe / Robert Gaudio

Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

We've seen the movie/play "The Jersey Boys" several times and actually got a chance to see Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons in person when they played at Sonoma State the year our daughter was a freshman.  The music was great but we were disappointed that no pictures were allowed and that no standing was allowed!  How can you listen to good music like that and not stand?  We've never been to another show at the college music center because of that.  Of course the original "Seasons" are no longer there but the group he has together now still sound great.  I want to see him again when he comes to the Mountain Winery because I'll be able to get some better pictures and get up and dance!

He still looks really good for his age too (which of course you can't tell from my pictures - LOL).  Here's the video:

I seem to remember from the play that Frankie wanted to sing with an orchestra behind him and when he went out on his own Robert Gaudio and Bob Crewe wrote this song for him.  It is one of his biggest hits.  As I said, gives me chills every time I hear it, especially when the orchestra comes in strong.  If you haven't seen Jersey Boys, I highly recommend that too.  I never knew Joe Pesci had a hand in their story.

Please be sure to visit some of the other Song Lyric Sunday participants.  Can't believe all the different directions these prompts take us!  Happy Sunday!

Noted in November - 2018

I almost blogged the 31 things in 31 days but I missed by 4.  To be fair, I had two days of shopping fun with my daughter and then a catastrophic event that consumed 2 days.  Then I needed one day to decompress from the stress.  The recap of these events goes as follows:

#28 - Drink:  I don't drink alcohol often so when someone says drink I think of my morning coffee and warm water with lemon.  Special occasions are different, such as when my husband and I went to Oregon earlier this year.  That deserved a pre-flight mimosa for me and bloody Mary for him.

When I went out to dinner the other night with my girls they were having a happy hour special with drinks for $1 at Applebee's so I had to try one of their spooky specials.  It was basically fruit punch with some rum and a "brain" gummy floating in it.  I'll have more to say on that experience in another post.  

#29 - Smell:  My favorite smell is vanilla.  I also think there is nothing like the smell of fresh baked donuts or cinnamon rolls, or bread or the smell of a good steak cooked on a barbecue or berry pie, and lemon, I like the smell of lemon.  Think all my smells are associated with food?  Pretty much - LOL.  I am really not fond of smells like lavender or jasmine.  They are too perfumey for me.  I like fresh and clean scents.  

#30 - 3:35 PM.  Here is where we get to the stressful incident.  On the 30th at 3:35 PM I was in a state of anguish because I had done a really stupid thing on Saturday and upgraded my Mac software to the newest version, Mojave, but I forgot to check its compatibility with my other necessary work software, Olympus DSS.  I went through this scenario once before when Mac took the Rosetta compatibility away and I didn't upgrade then until I knew it was safe for all my programs, so I should have been smart enough to double check before upgrading but it has been a while so I forgot.  

Since I hadn't done any work Saturday or Sunday because I went shopping with my daughter (which I shouldn't do because it resulted in a new cellphone for her, my husband and I and then new curtains for the kitchen!), I didn't realize that they wouldn't play together until Monday.  I couldn't open the program I needed so I went to the Olympus website and it said right on the front page - Not Compatible With Mojave, Do Not Upgrade :(   Of course I Googled all the "fixes" for the problem and spent Monday backing up my photos and other important documents onto my laptop and into the Cloud.  Fortunately I had not done the upgrade to my laptop so I was able to do my work from there but I can't do my work on that all the time.  I had to uninstall the Mojave upgrade.  

I am not afraid to try things but I am really not computer savvy when it comes to the programming aspect and when the "fixes" started talking about going to the terminal and typing in commands I was out of my league.  One "simple" fix was to reboot from my back up disk which fortunately I had.  It showed that the most recent backup was September (so there obviously was an issue with the backup drive too) but at least that was before the Mojave incident and since I had been able to move my files to my laptop I was okay with going back to September.  I tried doing the reboot thing but it kept starting back up with Mojave.  Finally I was able to talk to my son whose roommate is a computer genius and after I established with them that I had tried everything I could by myself, his roommate promised to come over when he got off work to see what he could do.  There were a few tense moments and my computer was reluctant to cooperate at first but finally Steve triumphed and there was a reboot in progress.  By the end of the night I could see that it was starting up again in the correct program, High Sierra, and that I would be able to piece things back together.  

#31 - Joy  How fitting that the last of my 31 words is joy because that is exactly what I felt when I was able to get back into my work programs and even though I had to put in some passwords again on a few of my sites, at least I know that everything will be okay.  I will not make that rookie mistake again!        

So, Noted in November begins with these last few bits of October.  Tomorrow we'll start fresh...thank goodness!