"Dear Santa..."

I've Been Remiss...

I always wrote  

you letters when I was a kid...

... asking for toys and such...

but I don't think I ever took time to thank you

for the great presents you always left under our trees...

My Childhood Perception of Santa...

You need to know something...

I STILL have the Mr. Magoo car you 

brought me so many years ago...

Mr. Magoo and his car...

I have no idea how many Christmases ago...

I honestly don't recall asking you for this, 

but you KNEW I loved Mr. Magoo...

Maybe you WERE always watching!!!

... and you also knew that I LOVED

Yogi Bear!!!!!

Yogi Bear from many Christmases Ago...

You remembered that my brother, Tom, 

loved Huckleberry Hound Dog... 

and you brought one for him...

He still has it as well... 

Huckleberry Hound Dog

From WAY back,

I remember that you brought

a train for me... that looked 

JUST like this one below!

Toy Train

This isn't the one you brought to me, 

but I do still have pieces of it.

Robelyn @  Red.Neck Chic found this train for me...

Each Christmas, these take a special
place underneath my Christmas Tree...

I guess I am hoping that they still have some
of that Magical Christmas left in them...

A couple of years ago, my brother

asked me to make something for him

for his front yard...

He wanted a Snoopy on top of his dog house

for a Christmas decoration...

... so I made one for him... 

I used a sheet of 4x8 plywood... drew the image...

then cut it out and painted it.

This thing is about 7' tall...

I long for the Christmases that you made 

SO special, Mom and Dad, Santa...

You always knew what we liked...

You always did everything to make Christmas

so special for all of us...

I will remember those days 

for the rest of my Life...

I miss you Mom and Dad...

especially at this time of Year...

~Jim~

Merry Christmas...

~shoes~

"Hooters..."

Now that I have your attention...

I heard quite a ruckus coming from my back porch this morning... I look out to see Blue Jays and Mockingbirds EVERYWHERE!!!

... and then I see this shape in one of my berry bushes...

HOLY COW!!!!

It seems that it is an Eastern Screech Owl...

You can read more about them HERE...   

Top to bottom, the owl can't be any more than 7 inches in length...

It seems that they are seldom seen during the day... so it makes me wonder if there is a pair nesting around here...

Also, most of the images that I can find of these birds have smaller tufts... so I am wondering if the erect tuft is due to agitation by the Jays or if it's designed to make the bird look bigger than it is... which would also be a defensive stance.

How cool!!

~shoes~

"Funerals..."

I thought it to be odd when my former students started 

getting married and having children...

Then I thought it to be strange when I learned there was a student enrolled that was the child of a former student...

Today, I attended a funeral for the husband of a former student...

This was really different...

She was so grief~stricken...

I don't "do" Death well...

Maybe in an attempt to alleviate my own anxiety,

I turned to a friend that was seated next to me

 and commented that I wanted my funeral 

to be held in a Mexican Restaurant...

As the guest of Honor, I want to be cremated and have my ashes placed in a decorative urn...

... and maybe for shiznits and giggles, a very decorative sombrero could be placed atop the urn!!

... and then funeral ... er... party favors could be stuffed into Piñatas…

... and then a mariachi band that would play my mostest favoritest Mariachi song...

My favorite Mezkin place here used to have musicians on Thursday night... these guys could play ANYTHING!!!!!

They seemed to expect that I was going to have them play 'Black Magic Woman' and 'The Wall"... you haven't lived until you have heard 'The Wall' performed mariachi~style...

There would be plenty of margaritas... for everyone!!!

That sounds pretty cool to me!!!

... and what would a party be without strippers?!?!?!?!

What a funeral...

Too bad I won't be able to experience it...

...As I said... I don't "do" Death well...

~shoes~

"You're Only Lonely..."

Part II

James Taylor and J. D. Souther...

I wrote last about J.D. Souther and his wonderful compositions... I guess I was so fixated on his work with Glenn Frey and the Eagles that I totally forgot this gem!!!!



I found an older blog post by someone that describes it much better than I can. HERE  is a link to his description.     

He has a new recording out... 'Natural History'... it would be tantamount to what one would call one's greatest hits...

"How Long"

'Natural History'

J. D. Souther

AUGH!!!!!!!!!

So stripped down and so beautiful!!

There is an interview where he said he wanted this album to sound like it would if you happened to come by his house and catch  him playing while sitting on his sofa...

What a voice...

"Best Of My Love"

'Natural History'

J. D. Souther

Still such an outrageous voice...

~shoes~

"Rock And Roll..."

'When you're only lonely...'

J.D. Souther

A younger fellow...

I'm a frustrated musician... I've told you that before.  Ever since that first night when I saw The BeaTles on 'The Ed Sullivan Show,' I was hooked on guitars and music.  I loved the song writing abilities of John Lennon and Paul McCartney... after a while, I got to where I could tell who wrote what parts of a song... and eventually, they each would write their own song for the band, but due to the agreement between them, each song still carried 'Lennon/McCartney' as the writers.

Are you familiar with a fellow by the name of John David Souther?  He is quite an accomplished song writer... if you don't know who he is, you have certainly heard his music before.  To me, he is one of those distinctive writers that just leaves his mark on his songs.

J.D. and Jackson Browne

This is one of his songs that he wrote and recorded... that actually got some air play on the radio back in the days.

"You're Only Lonely"

What a great song that is!!!

He was born in Detroit, and lived in Amarillo, TX where he was greatly influenced by Roy Orbison... I can hear a bit of Roy in his work.  In the late '60s, he moved to Los Angeles where he became friends and roommates with Glenn Frey. Another musician by the name of Jackson Browne lived in the same complex.  Souther and Frey had several musical collaborations... duos.. bands and such.

Some of J.D. Souther's great collaborations led to such songs as this one...

'New Kid In Town...'

"... they will never forget you until somebody 

new comes around..."

There is something about the chord structures.. something about the harmonies... and the tempo... that just told me when I first heard it that J.D. Souther had a hand in this song.

J.D. and his once-upon-a-time girlfriend,

Linda Ronstadt

He also helped to write 'Best of My Love,' 'Heartache Tonight,' and 'Victim of Love.'

He also contributed to this song...

'How Long'

This song, 'How Long,' was actually written back in the early 70's, and they played it but never recorded it until recently.  There is a great video of The Eagles playing this song back in 1973... you can find it HERE.

I can hear something he wrote... and just know it was him.

The Eagles had asked J.D. Souther to join the band... they even knew that he "fit,"  but he refused, citing that he didn't want to tour.

J.D.

Somewhere along the way,

we just get old...

Have I told you all how much I love music?

~shoes~

"A Thanksgiving..."

MOMENT!!!!!

WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!?!

or...

"I bet my thanksgiving was more bizarre than yours..."

This 'Bingo' card could easily be used to grade what a Thanksgiving with my family would normally be like... especially the "Someone Cries" block at the top.  There is an old saying in our family that it just isn't the holidays until someone cries.

I wound up traveling to spend Thanksgiving Day with my son, ~BoyShoes~...  despite the fact that I had started the week prior trying to get things planned, organized... so everyone would know where everyone else was going to be on Thursday, the fact of the matter is that  it still wound up being Thursday before all plans were settled.

Our plans were to visit several restaurants in Oxford... where he lives. Several were planning to have massive quantities of food for employees and friends of employees.  My son calls to tell me that he is heading on towards the restaurant where we will meet.... I get there just about the time my son is walking up... and he has a young lady with him.  He always has women with him... he is a babe magnet... it's astounding.

Anyway... me meet up... introductions are made... and she is reluctant to enter this one particular restaurant.  When I asked her why, she responded with 'the fellow who owns this place was trying to talk me into going home with him last night...'

M'kay... 

She goes in with us... and there is tension between her and the owner for most of the time that we are there... she tells me how uncomfortable he makes her...  she says that she has tried to tell him that she went to her own home alone the previous night... slept in her own bed...  

I'm still not too sure why this is a topic of conversation...

Oh... the food was great... delicious... wonderful...

We eventually head out to another restaurant... for more food... and to watch the Ole Miss/ Miss State football game... Ole Miss is located in Oxford, and the game was being played at State...

So we are eating more... watching the football game... ~BoyShoes~ disappears... just walks off. So his female friend and I are eating... and she says to me...

out of nowhere... out of the clear blue sky... nowhere, mind you...

"I spent the night last night with a fuck buddy..."

Never being one to be lost for words, my comment was something along the line of... "Did you have a good time?"  I mean, I would guess that if one is going to be carnally involved with another, it should be fun... no??

She goes on to tell me how cheap she felt later when she was going home... and again, not being one that is lost for words, I make some comment about the 'walk of shame'...


The she tells me that when she woke up that morning, she was alone... that he was sleeping on the sofa... and that made her feel even more used...

and I'm still thinking...

"WWWHHHHAAAATTTT!?!?!?!?!?"

She asked me how she should interpret that... and I said something along the lines of maybe your snoring was keeping him awake... and then I offered up the possibility that once he was finished, he wanted to sleep... I wasn't being ugly, necessarily...


So... later... I was thinking....  Why was she telling me all of the stuff that she told me today?  She seemed to be into ~BoyShoes~...  and I would think that if I were meeting someone's parent, I would try to make a good impression... not start talking about impromptu hook-ups...

While thinking back through the time line, she told me that the owner of this one restaurant was wanting her to spend the night with him... then she said she spent the night at her place... and then she tells me she spends the night with a fuckbuddy... her words, not mine.

Bizarre.... insanely bizarre... stupidly bizarre...

I mentioned none of this to ~BoyShoes~... not sure how I would broach the topic... I would greatly appreciate anyone's thoughts... ideas... or input on what happened...

~shoes~