Weather report

It was raining when I started mowing my lawn yesterday. It stopped, and I completed the task, but the wet grass clumped up and clogged the mower deck. I hate it when that happens.

Today dawned clear and cool. The air was noticeably drier than it has been lately. We had a bit of wind and by this afternoon the grass was actually looking dried out. That was a big change in a short time. Tonight's low temp is forecast to be 57 degrees. It is August. What's up with that? Not that it's a problem - I am getting some work done. Is autumn arriving early this year?

This morning's sunrise:

A bowl I made this week:

That is a walnut bowl surmounting a red mulberry head with a quilted red maple base and an octagonal silver maple transition piece. This piece is the result of trying to tap into something other than conventional bowl design.

Two very different pieces of music.

Duane and Aretha.

Bluegrass

Marilyn's Diary

I miss my Uncle Herman.

When we living in Southern California I spent a lot of time at the beach.  I had to get out of the house since it was getting too weird. My little pervert cousin Eddie kept trying to steal my dirty underwear. Grandpa was always playing show tunes and hanging out with his Hollywood friends Charles Nelson Reilly and Wally Cox. Worst of all Aunt Lily was starting to get suspicious about how close I was getting with Uncle Herman. I tdecided to spend more time out of the house.

I met a whole new bunch of friends at the beach. There was Frankie and Annette but they were kind of strange. She wanted to talk about mice and he was a real greasy guinea who tried to get into my pants. I preferred to hang out with the more white bred types. I knew my  friend Gidget from High School so I hung out with her and her boyfriend Moondoggie. Now just because they were Protestants didn't mean they were boring. They loved surfing and singing and drinking. Most of all they loved music. We would go out all the time to bars and shows and other places to hear good music. We especially liked this one club that had a lot of blues and soul music. It had a real groovy crowd. There were college professors and poets and hippies. There was this one old Jew named Allen who kept buying Moondoggie drinks and rubbing his back. Then one night we had a revelation. There was a young soul singer with a great voice who left her heart on the stage. She was from Detroit. Her name was Aretha.

May you rest in peace, Aretha

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If reports are true...

… that Aretha is in grave condition then it is indeed a sad day for me. Here is one of my favorites from her vast oeuvre, recorded in 1972 and it still gives me chills.

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