My Favorite Lyrics

As a music lover my first attraction to a song is the melody. I have to like the music to get any further into a song. The lyrics come next. Not long after, but second to the music. If the music offends my ears I can't listen to the most amazing lyrics. I have had heated discussions with other music people about this. It usually ends up with an "agree to disagree" settlement.

There are certainly cases where this changes. Some songs are "growers". They take several [or many] listens to get me too like them. A few even become favorites... now of course I can't give you any examples... too many songs "out there" to remember.

Although the music is what attracts me, what keeps me is the lyrics. I love when a song really grabs me...touchs me somehow. Below I have listed some of my favorite lines. I have included links should you want to have a listen. [lines in italics are my favorite]

This is the song that prompted this post.
The Origin of Love [from Hedwig and the Angry Inch]

You had a way so familiar,
But I could not recognize,
Cause you had blood on your face;
I had blood in my eyes.
But I could swear by your expression
That the pain down in your soul
Was the same as the one down in mine.
That's the pain,
Cuts a straight line
Down through the heart;
We called it love.

Strong; Robbie Williams
 
You think that I'm strong you're wrong

You're wrong
I'll sing my song my song my song

Life's too short to be afraid
So take a pill to numb the pain
You don't have to take the blame

The Importance of Being Idle; Oasis

But I don't mind

As long as there's a bed beneath the stars that shine
I'll be fine, if you give me a minute, a man's got a limit,
I can't get a life if my heart's not in it, he-heah

Undiscovered; James Morrison

You think that I want to run and hide

That I keep it all locked up inside but I just want you to find me

I'm not lost; not lost, just undiscovered
And when we're alone we are all the same as each other

 So Much to Say; Dave Matthews Band.

I find sometimes it's easy to be myself

Sometimes I find it's better to be somebody else
......
Open up my head and let me out little baby

Everything Is Different Now; Don Henley

I dropped down and I called out to heaven
“Send me someone to love.”
And heaven shot back, “You get the love that you allow.”


That's a start. Maybe I'll make this a multi-piece blog, there are so many great lyrics.
 
What are your favorite lyrics?

picture source

Foto Finish Friday

Who knew gardening was so "dangerous".  While I have been enjoying my  renewed interest in horticulture I had forgotten the perils. It is a good work out so I have had some aches and pains, especially the knee. Most of the damage however has been plant related, go figure.

I don't even know how or when this happened. We were trimming back some large evergreen bushes when I noticed the blood. My legs were also scratched up and I didn't notice those until I was showering and my skin was stinging.

This is worse than it looks. My arm is scabby, oozing and itching like mad crazy.  It is poison ivy. It is the scurge of my garden and flourishes in the woods around my house. It is growing in a patch of pachysadra I was transplanting. It is driving me mad. I have bits on my other arm and a few small patches on my face... Joy.

How was your week? What is your scurge?

Happy Birthday !!!

Happy 17th Birthday to my baby girl.

I love your individuality. I love your creativity. I love your stubbornness.

I love you!!

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Thinking outside the box

My husband can be pretty ingenious when he wants to be. We can have only beans, celery and bread and he would come up with something delicious to eat for dinner. He is a stickler for keeping foods fresh, certainly smart with the price of food. Crackers and cereal are usually poured into storage bags to keep them crisp. When not available he comes up with another plan......

My daughter's duct tape....but he isn't fussy the color. 

An Amazing night with Adam Levine and Pat Monahan

click on any picture to enlarge

Maroon 5

I have been really lucky to have seen a lot of great concerts over the years. As of yet none of them have been terrible. Some better than others of course but no big disappointments. I have been let down by some opening bands but they aren't the real draw anyway. There have been exceptions. I saw Rob Thomas and the opening bands were supposed to be One Republic and Carolina Liar, but due to a change in date they weren't able to make it...major disappointment. The first time I saw Train, they were touring with Butch Walker but for some reason he didn't open for them at the casino.

Saturday night my daughters and I went to see Maroon 5 and Train. The opening act was scheduled to be Gavin DeGraw. Three great artists, but alas Gavin had to cancel. Apparently he was beat up and then hit by a cab... ok, good enough excuse. Via twitter we heard it was going to be some girl we had never heard of, and then reading that Matt Nathanson was touring with them later in the tour and had played with them earlier in the week we were hoping to enjoy his music. But no, the opener was PJ Morton. He was, as he claimed, keyboardist and back up singer for Maroon 5. His band was good and his covers of Stevie Wonder were nice, but I would have preferred Matt or Gavin. Such is life.......

Maroon 5

Maroon 5 and Train, however, were amazingly good. What opener disappoint? Maroon 5 played first and opened with a bang playing Moves Like Jagger. It's a great song and we loved it. They jumped right into the next song, and didn't stop through 13 songs. Adam Levine, the lead singer and sometimes guitarist is energetic and great live. His band really knows how to rock a song. They weren't just a pop band but a real rock band. Who knew, their albums are no indication they could rock so well... A great surprise. These are the best parts of concerts. To see a band you love and then get so pleasantly surprised they are even better.

Maroon 5

The biggest cheers of the night were at the end of the Train song Save Me San Francisco. On the big screen, behind the band, they included pictures of Boston.

 

Train

We have seen Train before and again we were not disappointed. He did a few covers, which were great but admittedly would have preferred more of their music. Train is another band that really knows how to kick it up a notch. They are not just a pop band either. [not that pop bands aren't great, I love pop]. The band rocked through 12 songs starting with Parachute and ending with Drops of Jupiter and This Isn't Goodbye. Pat Monihan, the lead singer, is very engaging with the crowd. He brought girls on stage to sing with him and even walked through the crowd when he sang, Marry Me.

Train

Two great bands in one night, we couldn't have asked for a better night, including great weather and great company. The girls were even suggesting it was the best concert yet.... I can't disagree it was amazing.... I hope for continued good luck as we have several concerts lined up this year. My next being Within Temptation.

The red links are to videos... check them out.

Happy listening, what was your favorite concert?

Foto Finish Friday

If you have been reading my blog lately you know I have cleaning up around my yard. Enjoy some of my before and after pictures.

Before

The dreaded landscape cloth rears it's ugly head.

After

I love the plants growing in all the nooks and crannies. I didn't plant the ferns, they just appeared and spread.

It is hard to see the change but it is very evident in person. I want to put some annuals in to give it more color and some bulbs for spring color. Also adding mulch to cover the paper, anyone want to help? Beers!

 

I love these little sunflowers I planted by the back deck.

Have a great week and stop to smell the flowers

Wordless Wednesdy-My Motto

I am sure most of you know the saying "Keep Calm and Carry On"?  It has an interesting back ground so take a minute and click on the link.

I came across a cool bumper sticker at my favorite store, Newbury Comics, and have decided to make it my motto. It probably always has been but I didn't realize it until I saw the sticker. It now happily resides on the bumper of my car along side the "Mom's Rock" bumper sticker also purchased at Newbury Comics.

Ok so maybe this was a little bit more than wordless, but you understand.

Have a great Wednesday!

Justifiable Homicide Tuesday.

As usual my gripe today isn't earth shattering or even homicidal, but it is something that really bothers me..... Who is it that designs the cup holders in cars? Personally I think cup holders are a major safety feature in a car. I would hate to manage driving and holding my coffee at the same time. I drive an automatic for the very reason it is less distracting than a standard. I need as few distractions as possible.

In the "old days" built in cup holders did not exist in cars. Now the more the merrier in my opinion, in fact they are built into baby strollers these days. [not when I had babies] Vans even have square holders for juice boxes! There were certainly ways to get around the fact there was no place to put your coffee, several options were available in the stores.....

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This option was fine, but you had to be careful when "rolling" the window up and down.

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This fancy option fits over the transmission and was handy but my shift was always in the way.

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I kinda like this option too. According to the site ["White Trash Repairs"] it is called a "Red neck cup holder". I wonder if it works with heels.

Why am I complaining? My new car of course has cup holders, two in the front between the seats and one in each door. There are some in the back seat as well, although I'm not sure how many since I rarely sit "back there". The ones in the front between the seats however are amazingly poorly designed. [see I did have a point] They are recessed and are perfect if all you drink is water or soda, but for take out coffee cups they are stupid. I buy medium sized and the lids are just wide enough and the cup just short enough that it gets caught. I have even had the lid pulled off before only to be left with most of the coffee in the bottom of the well.

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See how deep the wells are. Of course it looks good in the picture since they are using a reuseable cup. I guess I could invest in one [in fact I own a couple] but then it gets taken inside to be washed and never seems to get back in the car again. [like the reuseable grocery bags I bought] My husbands car, a Mazda 3, is even worse. The design is similar but seems to catch the lid even easier.

Anyone know an automobile engineer I can send my gripe too?

What's bothering you today?





Foto Finish Friday

The new welcome sign on the front of my house.



Have a great weekend everyone..

Glass Art 101-Easy Fun

In my last post I showed you some of my gardening skillz. [stop laughing] Well the clean up continues and I will post more pictures another day. Today's post is about my mad glass sculpting skillz. In the last post, which I assume  you have all read I explain how my sister's glass art inspired me and I showed a picture of my youngest awesome glass creation.

Youngest daughters sculpture [my dad made the chair]

 

Yesterday afternoon was the nicest day we have had this summer, full stop, and we finished the clean up in front of the house and after lunch spent the afternoon on the deck making more sculptures. It is very simple, just collect old pieces of glass in different shapes, sizes and colors. I went to Good Will and found some cool vases and plates for around a dollar apiece. We found a lot of glass cheap at The Christmas Tree Shop and at The Dollar Tree. Ideally it would be fun to shop yard sales and thrift shops like my sister but we wanted to accumulate fast so we could get started. I will save what we don't use and start collecting as I go from now on. I have saved the plate from my dead microwave [makes a great base].

My sister recommended Amazing Goop to use as glue and so far it has worked a charm. Goo Gone is also a must for removing the price tag... goo.

The pictures below are pretty self expanatory. There is no exact process, just keep trying things until you like what you have, then start gluing. We set the pieces aside, far from the cats to dry for a good 24  hours.

 The glass collection

 Trying different arrangements

 We used some clear, colored glass stones for effect

 Oldest daughter concentrating on her piece

 Love the little one

The final project

Just call me Alan Titchmarsh

Alan Titchmarsh used to have a show called Ground Force I would watch on BBC America. It was a garden makeover show where he and his regular crew would re-do someone's garden in two days. It would be a surprise for someone the family had nominated. The show was funny and interesting.

My similarity to Alan Titchmarsh ends there. He had a show, I watched it.

Gardening has been a family past time for generations. My parents, brilliant gardeners, passed the gene to my sisters and I. My two older sisters have amazing gardens, mine leaves something to be desired. I had fairly nice gardens, I thought they were awesome, at my first house. This house has been more of a challenge. I started out full swing but the plants didn't seem to like it so much. The soil has a lot of clay and some dopey previous owner put ground cloth down to control weeds and even cutting through it stunted the plants. The front yard is sloped and hard to garden. I seem to be always chasing a runaway wheel barrow or watering can.

I got discouraged, gained a dodgy knee and discovered the internet. The garden has thus suffered over the last 8-10 years. Periodically I would attempt to revamp a part with the help of my mother but the weeds would take over the following spring. I am fond of the "over grown" look with lots of crowding and a busy look, but weeds doing the crowding doesn't count. Although my mother defines a weed "as a plant growing where you don't want it" I haven't found any weeds I want to keep, and technically a rose could be a weed.

A couple of months ago I bought some plants from the local garden club and if I don't get them in the ground soon they will die. Some are currently on life support, but  I am hoping for the best. Last weekend I visited my parents and sister in New Hampshire. I got a tour of my folks new garden shed and garden. I also got a tour of my sisters garden. Yes both are extensive enough for tours. My sister had these neat glass sculptures in one of her flower beds. They are made from discarded plates, glasses, vases, you name it, collected from thrift shops and yard sales. Inspired we decided to make some ourselves. Below you can see our first, designed and put together by the youngest. We have collected enough glass for some more [as these things look better in groups]. The oldest and I will be crafting ours soon.

Enjoy some before and after pictures of the front of the house. It still isn't finished [since every good garden is always a work in progress]

Before!!

After!!

 Glass sculpture #1

We got some cool rocks and "stuff" at the Christmas Tree Shop

The boots are my dad's. They have been outside for years and have a great layer of patina and moss

Yes I know the walk needs some work too. It will come. :)