I know nothing of Emily Dickinson

But while watching a comedian on Netflix this evening I heard him recite the following poem:

I dwell in Possibility 

I dwell in Possibility –

A fairer House than Prose –

More numerous of Windows –

Superior – for Doors –

Of Chambers as the Cedars –

Impregnable of eye –

And for an everlasting Roof

The Gambrels of the Sky –

Of Visitors – the fairest –

For Occupation – This –

The spreading wide my narrow Hands

To gather Paradise –

The show is entitled "The Bill Murray Stories" and I recommend it. I'll try avoid spoilers, but it is more about philosophy, living and being than comedy. He read that poem to some workers who were working on a poetry place - I have no idea what that place is, but it was being built and Bill showed up and read that poem to them while they were on break. Mr. Murray leads an interesting life. He took the lessons he learned studying improv and applied them to his life. That made me reflect that perhaps that's what life is - we are all doing improv, some days we hit our marks and carry it off, some days we miss our mark and are carried off, but the show does go on.

We have had some very pleasant weather but since winter will be back soon I have been being productive while I can. First up, a walnut bowl:

The wood for that one came from a tree that blew over here in town due to a microburst in the year 2000. I sawed the tree up and that wood has been drying ever since. Now is the time to make something out of it. That is thing one.

Next, a bowl I turned out of a piece of SpectraPly I was given recently. I hear it is very colorful:

Here is what the chip pile looked like:

It got so cold today I burned all that, plus a bunch of other scrap. It was briefly tolerable out in the yard.

Yesterday afternoon I set about finishing this bowl:

I rough turned it nearly 2 years ago to the day. The wood is red maple with some ambrosia going on. It is a live edge bowl, that is, the bark is still on it. Stop by sometime and I will explain how that is done.

That tree, and another similar one were given to me by a nice woman who lives over in the big city. I gave her two bowls from those trees - she will keep one and leave the other with the house when she sells it. She lives in a house that was part of a historic homestead (read plantation) with a name you would recognize from the news. Anyway, she is a lovely woman who was lookin' out for ol' 60.

Here is the sunrise the other day:

I almost missed it - the sun is rising earlier every day and I was tired, wanted to sleep in, but peeked out the window and then hustled out to snap that picture. No telling what it looked like a bit earlier, but I will say this - in another minute or two it was gone. The sun had moved and the light had gone off that lower cloud. Sometimes they stick around, other days, bam, you snooze you lose.

I never met Bill Murray, but I did meet Charlie Musselwhite.

The Three D's

While walking in the rain and reflecting on the past year it occurred to me that three women who have stopped commenting and posting here all have handles that begin with "d" - deborah, Darcy and DBQ. I hope the new year finds them well and happy and if any of you read this shout out, all I can say is "Hey!" Oh, and stop by and write something.

This is our first non-overcast sunrise of 2019. It's about danged ol' time.

Rossini, of course.

It is official!

We did indeed get our average total annual snowfall in one storm, which, if it means it doesn't snow again until next winter that is okay by me. I know it doesn't mean that, but what are you going to do, eh?

We had a nice sunrise this morning, which is nice.

Here is my cousin Carson when he replaced Booker T in the MGs.

Sunrise

Some Bach to go with the picture.

Did someone say coal train?

In preparation for my cousin's wedding down in Mississippi I have been doing some research on our family history. We were from eastern Kentucky, not western, so we weren't coal miners. But I do like the way John Prine expressed the sense of loss associated with strip mining. I have seen it. It's not good.

But I am here now, we had a glorious sunrise this morning - the clouds have parted and even now I can see a bit of blue sky.

Sure, it's been done, but I still like this song.

Oh yeah, that fiddle playin' reminded me - I have encountered another busker on a fairly regular basis - he plays violin, passably well, I give him some money now and then, then I request something like "Play 'Meditation' from Thais by Jules Massenet" and that son of a gun cranks it right out. That's some damn fine buskin' right there. Then I offer him more money if he won't play Ashokan Farewell, lest I go all John Belushi on his violin. Not that I would, mind you, I am not a violent man, but everyone has his breaking point, and for me it is hearing that maudlin piece of **** one more time.

Another sunrise

Yay!

Needs moar Bach.

Today's pictures

Many subjects, many pictures. I will try to limit how many I post.

First up, sunrise - looks ominous:

My leopard lilies (Lilium pardalinum) are starting to bloom. My attempts to propagate them over the winter failed. I have the same number of plants I had last year, so maybe this year I will do some research on how best to produce more of them.

And while walking one of my dogs this afternoon and saw a turkey tail fungus:

A storm moved through this evening, I looked out the window and saw a rainbow. It is a double rainbow but the outer one is very faint.

Then we had a groovy sunset. 

That's is all.

Is there a doctor in the house?

July 4/2

I have been trying to find a good bit of music to post on the theme of the idea of the concept of using the letters in Bach's last name to write a motif in a piece of music. I hear some things that sound like B-A-C-H, but research fails to match up with what I am hearing.

Some background - in German music notation they have an "H". That is what we call "B". They call B-flat "B". Confusing, nein? The good news is that allows composers, including Johan Sebastian himself to write music using his last name for four of the notes. Totally excellent. Except it sounds weird. So it would go something like this - start with b, our B-flat, go down a half tone to A, up a third to C, then down a half tone to B. Excellent plan, now all we have to tune up are our ears. When I hear that sequence of interval in a symphonic work I think "Bach" even if it starts on a different note. I should get a grant to do more research.

More on the German system of notation.

Here is a short piece with the letters BACH highlighted in the middle.

B-A-C-H

I swear I have heard better, but I'll keep listening and report back at a future date.

Speaking of date, today is July 2nd and we got another sunrise:

This musical selection is not Bach based, and I have posted it before but I wanted to get cookin' early on this beautiful, hot, sunny July morning - start cookin' guys!

Look out Memphis - I might show up.

Sunrise

We got another one - yay!

A now blast from the past - it has it all going on - Hammond B3 with Lesley tone cabinet, guitar solo, thumpin' bass, congas, maracas, more cowbell than is necessary and a blistering, if short, drum solo played by Michael Shrieve, who, you might notice, uses a traditional grip. 

Santana is not Santa Ana.

Another Sunrise

Some mornings one awakens before one might wish to be awake, but today there was a beautiful sunrise as a reward for being awake and walking around:

(Click to enlarge)

Some wake up music.

And now to work!

June!

It is June the first and we got another sunrise. I like it!

Sure, I have posted this one before, but it is a good one.

My Day in Pictures

First there was a sunrise:

We went for a short walk:

Then it got cloudy:

(The sky said "Hey, whachu lookin' at?)

 We got a minuscule amount of rain - far less than we need:

Then the storm blew over:

Then we got a sunset that was photo-worthy:

All the while I was making pieces parts and gittin' 'er done. All in all, a good day.

Seems topical.

Sunrise

We are in for a bit of rain today so we have some clouds:

But here's the strange thing - two years ago I dropped my phone and the panorama feature in the camera stopped working. Also, when I rotated the phone to take a picture the resulting picture didn't have an anchor - I had to rotate the picture in an editor to get the horizon back to being horizontal. However, this morning as I was out taking pictures of the sunrise I noticed that the photos would rotate automatically when I went to send them to my email account. That's odd, thought I, so I tried the panorama feature - it's back! What the hey?

I did drop the phone the other day, but phones aren't Laurel and Hardy movies - you don't get a blow to the electronic brain, change drastically, then, as the result of a second blow, return to "normal". Yet that's what seems to have occurred. Very odd. I think I will ask some of my friends still in the integrated circuit business just what might have occurred. Seems fishy, but I will take it. Today's picture is in fact a panorama picture. Stunning, isn't it? Ha! Solid state accelerometers are not self healing, so I attribute the fix to supernatural forces.

Her father was a far better musician than she is.

Variation on a theme by Gil Evans? Miles Davis? Does anyone know?

The first cut on Miles Davis' album "Kind of Blue" was a tune called "So What". Did Gil Evans write it or just the intro? Did Mile Davis write it? Here is one take on that.

Miles Davis.

Then along came James Brown, and he recorded this: Cold Sweat.

Pee Wee Ellis wrote it and gave credit to his source material. Words about the music.

You can open two windows at once and play them simultaneously. Just for fun, you know.

Weather conditions have not been optimal for dramatic sunrises lately so this is one from last month. Nevertheless I am thankful to be here regardless of how picturesque the sunrise is.

Sunrise

(Click to enlarge)

Got to see another one - for that I am grateful.

Virgil Thomson - American composer.

Some days nature makes you feel as if you are in a Chagall painting

Sunset.

It's a family tradition.

Sunrise

We had a prolonged drought that produced too few clouds to make a photogenic sunrise. Then we had a week of overcast - too many clouds to even see if the sun rose.

Today - some clouds, some sun, and a few pictures. Here is one:

It's always good to be here for yet another sunrise, just sayin'.

A house divided...

But first, this morning's sunrise:

 Then, not a half an hour later someone had scribbled all over it:

But that's not what I am here to talk about.

Sunrise

Contrail to popular opinion that is just burned jet fuel.

Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane...

Happy New Year!

My first sunrise photo of 2018:

I opened the door to let my old dog out - he took one sniff of that 12 degree air, looked up at me as if to say "WTF, Pappy?", but went outside anyway. He's a good dog.

Anyway, I hope all you Lemmings had a great evening and that your morning is not too painful.

Heavy metal thunder... to soothe one's headache.