At home, under the weather.
Speaking of weather, it's shaping up to be a catastrophe down here. A tropical system has parked itself over us and isn't moving. Areas to the east, west and north of me have received unbelievable amounts of rain and more is expected.
When it's all done, the prediction is that some areas would have received upwards of 30 inches (over 760 mm) of rain! And with this will come more flooding from overflowing rivers and streams.
Right here it's been okay so far, no flooding but steady light to moderate rain. However our area is still in the "danger zone" so we're not out of the woods yet by any means.
All I can do is sit tight. Will play some "rain music" - perhaps It's Raining by Irma Thomas.
Just got an alert - the police and others are searching for child washed away in flood waters.
 

P.S. Or maybe Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" would be more appropriate.

Anna

Oh my goodness.
Thank you.
Such beauty.

Wow, your name isn't "boring" but beautiful!
About "Em", it's after Auntie Em, Dorothy's aunt in The Wizard of Oz. it's just something my oldest niece started calling me as it was easier than "Aunt Elizabeth", then the rest started calling me that as well.

Pick up lines that don't work:

If this were a meat market, you'd be prime rib.

This one's so Over the Top that it might actually work!  
(At least he said prime rib and not rump roast haha)

No-la-Bee-Bee-ef - 5 syllables. E-li-za-beth - 4. Not much difference.

RR A1 you are hilarious! 😀

I prefer going by my name, or Liz, or Em (for Auntie Em, which my nieces/nephews call me)

"RR A1" - curious what your name is or what you'd like to be called?
Natasha, perhaps?
Or good old Olga?
Don't know any Russian female race car drivers, but as you seem to be the adventurous sort - how about Valentina (after the first woman Cosmonaut)?

Regards,
Elizabeth ("Nolabeebeef")

Courtesy of reddit...

The human soul weighs 1.2lbs...

I know because I've weighed myself before and after I walk into work.

 

I didn't get that joke at all. Seeing you laugh just now, john, after 5 days, you didn't either. undercover-m's attempt at joking failed. Ha! That or you're slowpoke.

I'm slowpoke. I'm sorry. Sometimes it takes me weeks to get a joke and, in some cases, years.   

RR A1, at least John K is sincere, not "laughing" until he thought about it a little. Some people laugh even if they don't understand or don't even think it's funny...

Pun (which perhaps should be in the Condiments thread), as per Richard Lederer:
Charlemagne mustered his Franks and set out to assault and pepper his enemies, but he couldn't ketchup.

Or the old standby: Buddhist to hot dog vendor: Make me one with everything.

Well, hope undercover-m's adventure was a good one!

We are in what are called the "dog days" of Summer. Guess it's called that because it's so hot that an outside dog, seeing a rabbit, cat, etc., will just think, "Whatever," and not bother with it.

Being a hot, sultry day I thought of "Summer Song," which Dave and wife Iola Brubeck composed, and was sung by Louis Armstrong.
In music, outside of the Classical realm,, there are only 2 composers whose compositions can move me to tears - Brian Wilson and Dave Brubeck.

Here's the song, Armstrong on vocals (his 115th birthday was a few days ago), accompanied by Brubeck. Perfect for front porch sitting, busy doin nothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXSoA5I1smg[url]]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXSoA5I1smghttp://

An underground bunker wouldn't work in my city due to flooding. Our water table is also very high here - no basements. That's why we have what's called the City of the Dead, above ground tombs, a number of which are quite ornate. Don't know how many other cities have cemeteries as tourist attractions other than those with military connections.

Some places on the Gulf Coast are trying raised concrete houses that can withstand the high winds. On the coast the main problem is storm surge, the wall of water that comes in with a hurricane. With Hurricane Katrina the surge got to a US mainland record of 30 feet (9.14 m) which wiped out all of the houses and businesses. Very depressing to drive along the coast when the highway reopened and see nothing but emptiness the whole way.
With the domed house it's hoped that the surge would come over it but not wash it away, There's one in Florida I believe that survived a surge from a much less strong storm a few years back.

Oh my...  Just got an alert on my phone. One of our local Jazz icons, clarinetist Pete Fountain, has passed away.  :-(

Yes it's been HOT. This July has been one of the hottest on record here.
Again, the 45 C was not the actual temperature but the "heat index" temperature (actual temperature was "only" 37 C). Don't know if your country uses this. But it's a measure of temperature plus humidity. Along with the heat here it's very humid, so this was considered to be in the dangerous category, that if you are working outside and don't get in the shade every once in a while and drink plenty of water you can get what is known as "heat stroke" which can kill you if not treated.
Sometimes when it gets super hot the sky will become dark and we'll have bad storms. This happened a couple of days ago - high winds, lots of rain, hail. We had a baby tornado hit just north of the French Quarter section of town, destroying or severely damaging 4-6 homes.

We're supposed to have real bad heat this weekend as well, then things will start to get "interesting" with a tropical system moving in probably east of here. A little nervous right now, as we're overdue for a tropical storm or hurricane. Think the last hurricane hit here in 2012 and caused lots of flooding outside of New Orleans as the storm didn't move for several days (the city itself didn't flood, but electrical power was out for a week in my neighborhood). Hated that storm. There were persistent 100-120 km winds for days, knocking over several small trees at the house, fortunately we were able to prop them back up with ropes and stakes and they survived. Not so with my herbs, The super heavy rains were too much for the sage plants, and killed 2/3 of my once beautiful huge Rosemary bush; that never recovered.

I got the Live from Fillmore East one.
Only listened to it once as the sound quality was poor. Had trouble hearing vocals.

Lol.
Even smelling it makes me want to start dry heaving.

Hahahaha.

Yes, blue cheese or ranch - Ycch !

Absolutely, Revolver is by far my favorite Beatles album, and holds up musically much better than Sgt Pepper which now sounds dated.

It's tough for me to pick a #1, but I'm going with Abbey Road.  

Especially since, IMO, A Hard Day's Night, Help, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Magical Mystery Tour (US LP), and Abbey Road are better albums.  

Abbey Road is second favorite (A Hard Day's Night close behind). What keeps it from being #1 is Maxwell's Silver Hammer which I despise.
Do definitely agree with your last sentence.

Absolutely, Revolver is by far my favorite Beatles album, and holds up musically much better than Sgt Pepper which now sounds dated.

Anna

The concert was great.
Went to the Soundcheck and heard Catch a Wave (Brian and Matt leads), and Hawaii (Al and Matt leads). Rehearsed Surfer Girl and Sail on Sailor, maybe something else. Then we had to leave, as members of the band stood in a circle practicing harmony for Sail on Sailor.
Then got something to eat and relaxed until the doors opened for the concert.
Brian was in good voice considering it was the 4th show in 4 nights in 4 different cities in 3 different states. However, there wasn't the stage banter that I heard from him at the last 2 shows attended.
After the show Blondie came out briefly. Al came out and stayed a good while, shaking lots of hands (including mine) and signing autographs.
A great night overall.

Oh, that's wonderful!
Its great that he found the beauty in this and other work songs that he set to choral music.
I find this kind of music, be it "call and response," "antiphonal singing," "litanies", to be mesmerizing.
Amazing how people coped in a creative way with repetitive tasks, that putting a specific rhythm to them made them easier and more tolerable (and occasionally almost enjoyable)

Laying down track for the railroad: "Who ran the Iron Horse/Who ran the Iron Horse" etc.

Very emotional day.

In the late morning caught a screening of the documentary, "Gleason," at our local megaplex. It's about local hero Steve Gleason, a former professional football player who was diagnosed with ALS in 2011.  Part of it was a video blog for his son, born after the diagnosis, so that he would see his Dad when he could still walk and talk. Gleason is able to "talk" now thanks to technology allowing his eyes to pick out letters on a keyboard. He also programmed it while he could still talk so that the computer voice sounds like his.
The documentary touches on many themes, father/son relationships, caregiver burnout, spousal burnout, spirituality, handicap advocacy, quality of life/end of life issues. It was very moving and inspirational.
For me, the impact on me is similar to how "Love and Mercy" affected me last June when I first saw that.
It's showing in a handful of US cities now and will be in wider release in a couple of weeks. Since Amazon Video was involved in the production it should be available for viewing there in the not too distant future.
The trailer for the movie can be found online, or at TeamGleason.org
Gleason's motto: "No White Flags" (in other words, no surrender)

In the afternoon, was in communication with a sister who's a volunteer with the Red Cross in Maryland and sent video and other info concerning horrific flooding in Ellicott City, Maryland, outside of Baltimore. The video of the raging torrent through the town was shocking.

In the evening saw an uplifting documentary, Singing Revolution, about Estonia and how singing helped keep the populace United in the face of Soviet and Nazi occupations. This was followed by another documentary about a huge singing festival there. I found out about composer Veljo Tormis and checked out some of his stuff online. Very impressed

There are four songs on this album that I don't care for at all:
  Misery
  Chains
  Love Me Do ( how on earth was that a #1 song?)
  Baby It's You

Actually didn't dislike the two voted off thus far; Taste of Honey was "meh," take it or leave it, and thought Boys was kind of fun actually, a fun rocker.

I vote Chains again.

That's another issue. I'm a registered Independent and as such was ineligible to vote in the primaries in Louisiana.

Can't in good conscience vote for either one of these.
I am so embarrassed for my country. Am sure that those in other countries are shaking their heads, wondering, out of all the millions of eligible voters 35 years of age and older in the US, is this the best they could come up with?!
 
Will look over the other parties on my state's ballot. Haven't seen a final ballot yet but what's on it so far are the two main parties, plus Green and Libertarian. In the past we've also had Constitution, Prohibition, 3 (!) Socialist parties plus a couple of others.
Family are telling me that I "have" to vote for one of the two main candidates.
I don't agree.
My state, Louisiana, is going for Trump. No way will it go for Clinton. So it's settled already here. Trump's getting all the electoral votes*. A vote for anyone else in essence won't count. So I might as well vote my conscience.

*The asinine system we have in place in our country but that my ultra-conservative friends love (probably because of the 2000 election results). In most states including my own, Trump could get 1,000,000 votes and Clinton 999,999, but with the winner take all aspect of the Electoral College, all the electoral votes would go to Trump.   

Why hadn't I known of this thread before?

I grew up surrounded by classical music. My parents both sang in a concert choir and my Dad was in the New Orleans Symphony Chorus as well.
In college I had a student subscription to hear the Symphony concerts. Heard all the Beethoven symphonies that year, also was the first time hearing Pachelbel's Canon.
While in the Symphony Chorus was able to sing Beethoven's Ninth under the direction of then wunderkind Leonard Slatkin, and later on Maxim Shostakovich conducted us in his father Dmitri's The Execution of Stepan Razin, a wild and wonderful piece with a surprising, macabre ending. I'll always treasure these experiences.

Have been attracted to classical music with Folk elements, so Grieg, Kodaly, Bartok, Vaughn Williams, Copland, Dvorak, and some Beethoven are favorites. Also a soft spot for French music of Debussy and Bizet.
And of course, our wonderful local composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk. My piano teacher was a big fan of his and had done a lot of research into his work when she was in college way back in the day.

Sung a bunch of Requiems over the years, my favorites being Faure and Durufle. Was just contrasting the two "In Paradisum" versions. Faure's version is so angelic and peaceful. Durufle's in contrast indicates a bit of unsettledness. As a Beach Boys fan I love unusual chords - that final chord in Durufle's version - wow! Positively slays me!

Am open to suggestions for further listening and will check out the suggestions given.

Mom wanted to eat cabbage. I usually don't fix cabbage this time of year (except for cole slaw), usually waiting for Oktoberfest season and beyond.
Anyway, I bought a small cabbage and fixed it tonight. This makes a "one pot" meal.
In a cast iron Dutch oven, sauté a fair amount of diced onions, two diced celery sticks, and 2 chopped carrots.
After a few minutes add small red potatoes (known as "new potatoes") which had been quartered.
Then a container of chicken stock.
Sliced Polish sausage (wanted Bratwurst but store didn't have it). But this sausage worked well, smoked but not particularly spicy (Mom has trouble with really spicy foods)
Finally, shredded cabbage is added. Let it come to a full boil then cover and reduce heat to medium/low. I let it cook for about 45 minutes.
Took care of some chores then relaxed and listened to, of course, "Vege-tables."
Then removed lid from pot, added 1/8 tsp of anise seed (could also use fennel seed). Turn heat up for a few minutes and stir everything making sure the essence of the anise seed permeates everything.
It was delicious as is. Could add pepper if desired, or more salt.
Other times of year might use apples, or add some cream. When I do those the fennel/anise seed isn't added.
I'll be eating cabbage leftovers for the next few days.

On Saturday hope to make blueberry jam with honey and lavender.

YES. That's it!

"Spasibo", RR1!

Hoping one of you fine people can help this old lady...

There was a song I would hear now and then back in the 60s. I hadn't heard it since then, until Brian's show on Saturday, where it was one of the songs on the pre-show tape. I'm obsessing about it simply because I haven't found out who sang that song, which is presently a constant earworm and as such is driving me batty. Would like to go back to having Beach Boys or Beatles classics playing in my mental jukebox.

The song is very simple. It mentions a bluebird. I can put the notes, simplifying the melody. If I put AAA that means the A note is 3 beats etc. A 'low' before letter indicates note below middle C.

Verse:
D C D C, D CC, D lowA lowB, D lowAA B / repeat

Chorus: no words, just bah bah bah etc

DDD, DD lowB DDD, D lowB D F# DDD, lowB D EEEE GGGG AAAAAAAA

Hope this makes sense, am not indicating eighth notes, dotted notes etc. also this is in my head, not having access to a keyboard.

Thanks in advance.