An oldie:
https://nananoyz5forme.com/2017/12/10/the-case-of-the-missing-mary-3/
Tag: blog
A Little Cat Music
In my never ending search for a good night’s sleep I’ve tried everything short of prescription drugs: Melatonin, teas to promote sleep, putting my phone away a couple of hours before bedtime, deep breathing exercises, and meditation. Nothing really works. Occasionally I’ll take a dose of a nighttime cold medicine, and sometimes that helps, but I don’t like doing it.
Often I’ll ask my Alexa to play relaxing music, but whoever programs such material must not understand that up tempo songs with abrupt changes in instrumentation do not foster relaxation. I’ll just about doze off only to have the mellow tones of a cello be replaced jarringly by a clang of cymbals. Note to Alexa–just because a piece is classical, doesn’t mean it’s soothing. I’m fairly sure nobody ever fell asleep to the strains of the Willam Tell Overture.
Finally, though, I believe I’ve found music that might do the trick. It happened quite by accident when on a whim I asked Alexa to play music for cats. I was trying to foster affection, or at least acceptance, between my two antagonistic felines. They both were hanging out in my bedroom, and I had the wild idea that perhaps music could help.
It was an instant hit, and now they expect me to play their music every morning. I’ll wander into the bedroom and find them snuggled into my bed with just a couple of cat lengths between them while a little cat music plays softly in the background. That’s a major improvement.
Last night Studly Doright was out of town. After going to bed I tossed and turned for an hour before wondering if the cat music could work for me, too. I asked Alexa to play it, and the underlying purring sounds set to low strings lulled me to sleep. Now, I woke up around 1 a.m., and again at 4, and had to repeat the process, but it seemed to work fairly well. This leads me to believe I might be a cat. Meow.
Here’s a sample from the album, Music for Cats by David Teie. It’s titled “Lolo’s Air.”
Peace, people.
Random Questions and Observations
- I finally saw Bohemian Rhapsody on Sunday afternoon. I’m still singing in my head.
- Some people should not be allowed to drive. Yep, dude in the black Beemer tailgating my new car, I’m talking to you. #%?!*#%
- I’m already tired of wrapping gifts, and I’m not even halfway done.
- How can two seemingly identical bras, in the same size, from the same shop, fit so differently? #BuyersRemorse #RightBoobSquashed #BreathingNotOptional
- Great football this past weekend. #HowAboutThemCowboys
- My Apple Watch is something of a bully. I’ll get up when I damned well please! Okay, now is good.
- I like bullet points.
- Sometimes so-called “relaxation” music is anything but. Listen, if you want me to relax, don’t put any sudden changes in the track.
- Bradley Cooper is hot.
- If you’re still reading, you’ll know I really had nothing much to say today. Thanks for hanging in there.
- I always wanted a tumbleweed Christmas tree.
- There aren’t any tumbleweeds in Florida, as far as I know.
- Jenna Bush Hagar seems like such a sweet young woman. #TodayShow
- When I die, will someone take my ashes on a cross country train ride?
- I’m not on the shortlist for Time magazine’s Person of the Year. Again.
- Did I mention how much I loved Bohemian Rhapsody? And bullet points?
What’s in Baltimore?
Last night was both a hit and a miss in the sleep department. I initially fell asleep quickly, but awakened approximately an hour later, eyes wide open, thoughts swirling like frantic snowflakes in a blizzard. I read a while until those flakes blanketed the ground of my mind and I was able to doze off again. I repeated the pattern to some extent all night long. Some sleep periods were longer, others shorter. I did dream, though, which is always a good sign.
In the one dream I can recall I had been working in some distant city and was trying to return home to Baltimore, Maryland, via train. I was so sleepy in the train station that I couldn’t stand in the ticket line without dozing off. When I finally managed to speak to a ticket agent I couldn’t remember my address in Baltimore, so she sent me to the back of the line until I could.
Now, I’ve been to Baltimore. I once worked for a company that was based there, and my initial two weeks with the company were spent in the suburb of Towson. But I live in Florida. I’m not sure why my brain thought I needed to go home to Baltimore.
I did finally get on the train in my dream, where I sat next to a man who’d been a social worker before retiring to paint landscapes. I told him I’d come “this close” to being a social worker–a blatant lie–but that I’d chosen a career as a teacher instead. I also told him I could paint. Another lie.
“It will all be clear when we get to Baltimore,” I told him solemnly, before waking up.
Since I have no plans to visit Baltimore any time soon, I suppose things will stay muddy. As usual.
Peace, people.
Wrapping
Amazon deliveries became a daily occurrence at Doright Manor last week. As boxes were placed on our front porch I’d place them on the floor in Studly Doright’s home office, a.k.a., “The Place Where Paperwork Goes to Languish.”
Today I decided to wade through the small mountain of boxes, open, and divide them according to their intended recipient, and then wrap them for placement beneath our little tree. As I type this I’m taking a well deserved break while sipping on my decaf coffee and surveying the stacks of unwrapped gifts grouped by person.
Some gifts were sent directly to family members from Amazon because we won’t get to see them this year. That’s kind of breaking my heart, but I’m trying to let it go. Some times I even succeed. Other times I just cry. It changes from moment to moment. So, I’m going to wrap the gifts I can and hope that helps.
Peace, people.
Snow Person Humor
Studly Doright and I live in the Florida panhandle where it seldom snows, and when it does we receive only a light dusting that disappears almost as soon as it hits the ground. We haven’t always lived here, though. For three years we lived in North Dakota, a place that sees more than its fair share of snow starting in October. And once the snow falls it’s there until early spring. So, while I love the thought of snow, I never want to live in a place that gets more than a few centimeters in a decade. I’m quite happy enjoying snow from afar.
Lately my Facebook feed has been inundated with snowman and woman humor. I figured that’s a good way to appreciate snow, right? All the cuteness without the cold.
Here are some of my favorites. Some of them really resonate.
Okay. I’ve had my fill of snow for the year. No fuss, no muss, and no shoveling.
Peace, People.
On Mom’s Birthday
I’ve published this before, but it always seems fitting for posting on December 7, the day of my mother’s birth. Give your mom and your dad a hug from you, and an extra one from me.
https://nananoyz5forme.com/2014/12/24/a-stocking-for-mom/
Two by Two
Today was a day of weird almost-twin sightings. I encountered the first pair early this morning. Sitting in the drive-through lane after ordering a latte at the Starbucks on Magnolia in Tallahassee I saw two men, corporate types, both wearing dark plaid suit jackets. The plaids were subdued, but as I observed the men walking side by side across the parking lot, the almost matching patterns caught my eye. I wondered if they’d called each other before dressing, so similar was their garb.
Then driving home from Tallahassee to Doright Manor I noted two dark haired young men, probably in their late teens or early twenties, sitting just off the side of the road. They appeared to be fishing, but with sticks for poles. And neither was wearing a shirt. Normally that wouldn’t be noteworthy, but it was only about 40°F outside. Brrrr. This time I wondered if they’d called each other to find out what they WEREN’T wearing.
(These are definitely not the shirtless guys I saw.)
Further down the road, between Midway and Quincy, I had to slow down to avoid hitting a pair of men crossing the road while wearing identical vests. Okay, so the vests were bright orange, and the men were part of a road crew. I’m pretty sure they just knew what the other one was wearing to work this morning. No phone call necessary.
Weird stuff, am I right? Wish I’d seen these guys. That would’ve been epic.
Peace, people.
When You Rhyme in Your Sleep
Such a poor rhymer,
A nickel and dimer,
A shell without primer,
Rusting away.
Throw out the words, son
Steer away from the bad pun
Avoid the over done
This ain’t child’s play
Can’t help but dream
In a metronomic scheme
Nothing’s easy as it seems
These visions never stay.
(Michael Cheval is the artist featured in this post.)
I woke up (at 2:37 a.m) with the first stanza rolling around in my head. I told myself if it stuck around, I’d write it down. Almost wish it hadn’t.
Peace, people.
Cold Enough
Huddled under cardboard,
Old Annie shivers.
Surrounded by layers of rags and bags,
Scavenged bits hoarded against the cold,
Shoved into cracks, or
Worn as a layered mantle
No room open for her tonight
No place to warm her tired bones
They say it’s not cold enough.
Twelve degrees.
The winds howl,
Sweeping down these city streets
Stirring up ghosts of every December
Those souls who couldn’t be saved
No place to warm their bones
No room opened for them
Someone said it’s not cold enough.
Praying for Eyebrowz 