Random

This morning on IG the algorithm showed me a random reel of a symphony and choral song and I looked it up on YouTube. It’s called Waloyo Yamoni and talks about letting it rain and rejoicing and it made me cry; it’s so joyful and the voices are so beautiful. I think the title means Overcome the Wind.  Anyway, that’s a great start to the new year, for sure. I need more wonderful music in my life.

I’ve also been coming across the idea that January shouldn’t be a time of new beginnings. It’s still deep in winter and darkness and we should still be embracing the slowness, especially after the busy Christmas season. Renewal is for spring. I absolutely love this idea.I don’t want to be all busy and suddenly decide to exercise just because the calendar changed over. That never works for me anyway. I prefer a more constant flow to life, a steady climb instead of jumping off a cliff.  

So yes, I’m still celebrating the darkness and coziness of winter. I had my tree and other decorations down on the 27th, but I left out candles, my little box with glowing fireplace, and even the snow globe depicting a winter scene. We’ve had rain for the last 24 hours and it’s been so nice. Yesterday, I made chili in the slow cooker and baked some cornbread to go with it.I still want to eat a lot of soup. I welcomed the new year by sitting in my library reading and being generally lazy.

Since I’m trying to read books I already own, I decided this was the year to actually read the entire Narnia series. I’ve had the full series on my shelf for close to 20 years now. I’ve only ever read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe when I was a kid. I finished that one and Prince Caspian yesterday. I’m surprised by how short they actually are. I shouldn’t have any issues finishing the rest of them, although I don’t want that to be the only thing I read in January so I’ll mix it up a bit.

Duran Duran Concert

I went to the Duran Duran: Future Past concert tonight in Salt Lake City. I had SO! MUCH! FUN!!

I heard about it on the radio a couple months ago and just knew I had to go. Duran Duran is one of the bands of my childhood. This is a silly memory but my cousin always wanted to play house and I didn’t really care for baby dolls so I always told her that we could play house as long as we were married to members of Duran Duran. Ha ha ha. I still have their greatest hits CD and guess what’s going to be playing for days to come. 

Anyway, I heard about it and checked with my concert loving friend and she couldn’t make that date so I checked with my theater loving friend and she said yes. We have a season pass to the theater but both of us have decided we need to watch for fun concerts now as well. 

The opening acts were Bastille and Nile Rogers and Chic. We got there and found our seats in time to hear like the last Bastille song and the only one I knew. I truly have no idea who Nile Rogers and Chic are and didn’t recognize their music, except that Nile Rogers wrote a ton of songs that I do know and they sang a bunch of different stuff so it was pretty fun. 

Then it was finally time for Duran Duran a little after 9 pm. They started with Wild Boys and ended the encore with Rio. In between they played all my favorites with about 4 songs I didn’t really know. It was fantastic. Simon can still sing and John Taylor is still on the guitar. Nick Rhodes still on the keyboard. Roger Taylor was on drums. 

It was a seriously good time.

My Favorite Things, Fall 2018

Now that fall is officially here, and it’s almost October, I’m thinking of my favorite things, both old and new, that I’m ready for.

Music:

One of my favorite pieces of classical music is Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens. Nothing says October to me like this piece. I’m pretty sure there is an old cartoon of skeletons dancing to this music somewhere and I can totally see it. (There is. I found it on youtube – it’s from the 80’s.) I also love The Village soundtrack around this time of year. It’s beautiful and haunting.

Perfume:

I am loving James by Rosie Jane. It’s supposed to be inspired by fall and I believe it. The scent is fig and gardenia, but I get a lot of fig when I wear it and to me it just screams jumping into a pile leaves.

As it gets a little colder, I have some more chocolate fragrances to play around with, including my favorite: Guerlain’s Elixir Charnel Gourmand Coquin. I don’t know why, but I like them best in Fall/Winter.

Books:

A few years ago I started reading books specifically for Halloween and I think it’s a fun tradition to continue. I have Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White on my list for sure.  I finished The Moonstone a few months ago and I really liked it so TWiW is a must read. I’m also debating on 2 other classics: Dracula or A Picture of Dorian Gray. Of course, I’ve got a bunch of mysteries of all sorts sitting on my bookshelves and I have an urge to throw in a little paranormal romance to round things off.  

Movies:

October is a great month for old horror movies too. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Birds (1963), The Bat (1959), and multiple other Vincent Price movies will all be watched.

Podcasts:

And of course, I will get out and walk a lot more now that it is cooling down. Walking means I listen to podcasts. I need to catch up on a few of my favorites: By the Book for comedy, Women Who Travel and Extra Pack of Peanuts for travel, Stuff you Missed in History Class, and You Must Remember This for random history, along with a few book podcasts.

It looks like it will be a busy October. I’ve still got work, friends and family, and theater to do also. I can’t wait.

Tis the Season

Christmas hasn’t exactly felt like Christmas the past couple years, between my parents selling their house and moving somewhere smaller and my dad dying. Change is inevitable so I’m not saying Christmas isn’t a good time, it’s just been different. In my opinion one reason (besides the 2 I’ve already mentioned) has been that my mom gave the piano to my sister when they moved and Christmas had always been filled with music on the piano. Not great music, mind you because we are not the greatest pianists, but music all the same. Over Thanksgiving I asked my sister if her old keyboard could travel and we set it up at mom’s house. It was fun. Not only did we get to play our Sleigh Ride duet, the kids had a blast playing around with the sounds and dancing around. My niece made her bring it back last night to family dinner and we played it again. Livi is learning the piano and we’ve been practicing a duet. It’s kind of amazing what music can do to the human spirit, not only at Christmas time but all times.

We had our first snow of the season in the valley last night and I got up early for spin class. It was so beautiful this morning. It was still dark with just the street lights and porch lights and most of the snow hadn’t been driven in. It was totally worth getting up for, even if I hadn’t been headed to the gym. I’m still loving spin. I think I’m slowly adjusting to the seat. My butt still gets sore but seems to be getting over it a little quicker than before. Good thing, because I’m not ready to quit at all.

Nice Spring Weekend

Last Friday I attended the funeral of my uncle. I didn’t know him very well, but he did give me my first real job. The summer after I graduated from high school my mom got him to hire me to work at his fruit stand on Highway 89. I spent the summer selling (mostly) locally grown fruits and vegetables to people who stopped along Utah’s famous “Fruit Way”. I don’t know if it’s that famous but a lot of people still buy fruit along the side of the road during the summer.

Man, I was young. I was ready to go to college and grow up and get on with life. I still remember some of the songs that played on the radio that summer. The station was set to country music, which up to that time I had not listed to. It’s funny how I can look back at parts of my life and recall a soundtrack to go along with the memories. Or how a certain song will come on the radio and I can vividly remember driving in my car in a totally different time and place and remember singing along to that exact song.  

Anyway, going to the funeral just reminded me of that summer. I haven’t really thought about it in a long time.  After the funeral my parents and sisters and the nephew not old enough for school went for ice cream. The weather was finally absolutely gorgeous this whole weekend. I did a bunch of spring cleaning and still managed to get outside a little bit to enjoy the sunshine.

In the mood

Well, I can tell winter is definitely coming. It rained most of the night and into the morning. I love the rain and will never complain about that. But it was so dark driving to work this morning. It seems like it happened overnight. I was in Tuscaloosa, AL for work last week so maybe it was more gradual than I realize but it seems like yesterday it was light and today it wasn’t.

I really do love this time of year, though. I carved a pumpkin on Sunday and tonight will roast the seeds. The grocery stores are getting their pomegranates in stock and hot chocolate is going on sale. I feel like I need to get everything ready to hibernate through the winter.

Maybe it’s because Halloween is in a couple days, but I’m in the mood for dark music and gothic books. I’m reading Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart and loving it. I want to re-read some of my other gothic favorites when I’m finished. I’m listening to The Village soundtrack. It was composed by James Newton Howard and is one of my all-time favorite soundtracks. I thought it was perfect for the movie, but really, it’s just perfect. It’s absolutely haunting and breathtaking.  Another soundtrack I’ve been listening to and that I think is great for this time of year is the soundtrack to Snow White and the Huntsman. I did not like the movie, but do really like the music. And I just looked it up and am not surprised to find it was also composed by James Newton Howard.

Pink Martini

I finally got to see Pink Martini (www.pinkmartini.com) in concert last night. It was awesome!!! They played at Red Butte Gardens in SLC. It was a perfect venue and a perfect night. The weather was warm while we were waiting in line before the gates opened but once we got seated, there was a little breeze and when the sun went down, it was nice and cool. Once we found a place to sit, we unpacked our dinner and my sister made us non-alcoholic pink martini's to drink. Outdoor concerts are a lot of fun.

I don't know how long I've loved Pink Martini's music. I think my sister introduced me to them and I have 5 of their cd's. I definitely have my favorite songs, but they have so many good ones. It's just feel-good stuff and I can't help but sing along or move to the beat when they sing in a language I don't understand.

It was a great night and I will look forward to next time they come to SLC. Once is just not enough.