I had this book in my “favorites” on the Hoopla app for a while. The title intrigued me. I “favorite” a book I want to read and when it is time for a new read, I search there. After finishing my prior books I clicked on the book to read it, but it kept giving me an error. After a few weeks, I typed the title back into the search bar and found it again. This time it had a different cover and it loaded without any trouble.
I remember when it loaded thinking, “Well, after all this, I hope it is good!” I am happy to say that it was a good read, but I had some trouble reading it. Before I get into that, here is the Goodreads synopsis:
A mystery she can’t remember. A friend she can’t forget.
I kept your secret Lucy. I’ve kept it for more than sixty years . . .
It is 1951, and at number six Sycamore Street fifteen-year-old Edie Green is lonely. Living alone with her eccentric mother – who conducts seances for the local Ludthorpe community – she is desperate for something to shake her from her dull, isolated life.
When the popular, pretty Lucy Theddle befriends Edie, she thinks all her troubles are over. But Lucy has a secret, one Edie is not certain she should keep . . .
Then Lucy goes missing.
2018. Edie is eighty-four and still living in Ludthorpe. When one day she glimpses Lucy Theddle, still looking the same as she did at fifteen, her family write it off as one of her many mix ups. There’s a lot Edie gets confused about these days. A lot she finds difficult to remember. But what she does know is this: she must find out what happened to Lucy, all those years ago . . .
I enjoyed this book a lot. I mentioned early that I had trouble reading it. This was not because it was difficult to understand or follow. The main character, Edie, is forgetful. She is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s or dementia. This is where it got to me, and I suppose it was in a good way.
My grandmother had dementia. In the early stages, she would repeat a lot of things. She would have to stop mid-sentence because she couldn’t come up with the right words. She’d forget ingredients when cooking meals. I can still remember us having dinner at her house one day. She told us she thought she was “getting that Alzheimer’s.” My grandma deteriorated pretty quickly and eventually had to go to a nursing home for care.
The thing about this book was that you are getting the story told by Edie. She acknowledges that she is having trouble remembering thing. She relays the frustration involved in that. She is well aware of those “episodes” where she can’t remember something. She also remembers how it felt to come out of them. She deals with them the best that she can.
When she sees her friend from all those years ago, little things jog her memory. She knows that she went missing. She struggles to put the pieces together to get the whole story. She knows that her memory is fading and she needs to know what happened. Thus begins her quest to find answers.
As I listened to Edie throughout this book, I couldn’t help but compare her to my grandma. I wondered if her thoughts were the same thoughts that Edie was having. The struggle that Edie feels as she tries to remember was painful and sad to hear. It truly made me understand how terrible it must have been for her.
That being said, it was a good read. I wasn’t able to figure out the ending, and Critchley does a good job bringing it all together. My only beef with the story itself was that I wanted to know a bit more about what happened next. But that’s just my opinion.
Thanksgiving is just around the corner. My Facebook feed is full of friends posting their 30 Days of Thanks. Everyday they post something they are thankful for. Personally, I believe we can find something to be thankful for every day of the year.
I was transferring pictures from one hard drive to another this week and found a picture of Ella. She’s probably nine months old here.
That turkey hat was something I bought to wear when we hosted Thanksgiving. I remember putting it on her and snapping this picture. She has always been the perfect photo subject. She always seemed to know how to pose.
It is so hard to believe that she was ever this small. I love the rolled pants! That Gobble shirt/onesie was one of 3 or 4 that all had some sort of Thanksgiving phrase on it. Sam was always good about getting “holiday themed” outfits.
When I looked at this picture, I laughed because of the baby gate surrounding the Christmas tree. With the new kitty, we’ll need something like that to keep her away from the tree … And out of it!
Sam has already said that there will be no ornaments on the tree this year. There are too many important ornaments that might break. Instead, I have been instructed to go out and buy “a crap ton” (her words) of LED lights for it.
I’m sure my weekend will be filled with holiday decorating. Especially since she usually is in full blown Christmas mode on November 1st!
I woke up yesterday morning to exactly what I expected in regard to social media. One side gloating and the other angry. Honestly, if the outcome had been different, it would have been the same way, just the other way around. It was the same here on WordPress, and because of that, I promise that this will be the last mention of politics on my blog for a very long time! Besides, I have other things to write about.
Bagging It Up
This past weekend, the weather was nice. So I decided that it was the perfect day to rearrange the garage. Every Spring and Fall I do this. I make sure that whatever seasonal machine I need is close to the door (snow blower or lawn mower). In the fall, I also put the lawn furniture and barbeque in the garage, so I need to make room for them, too.
I pulled everything out of the garage and began to go through some of the boxes that were in there. I condensed things from one box to another and rearranged them on the shelf. Then I moved some of the other things closer to the wall to make room for everything else. There were some bags of clothes that I was supposed to take to Goodwill and forgot about, and the mice got to them, so I wound up throwing them away.
As someone who likes to keep things, mostly for sentimental reasons, I admit it was nice to throw a bunch of the stuff away. There was so much cardboard in there, I couldn’t wait to get rid of it. I found a place for my toolboxes that will be much easier to access, and hung a bunch of tools up on the walls.
Once this was done (three hours later), I decided to start bagging leaves. I had gone out and bought bags and was finally able to start getting them up. I must have looked like a fool, as I was using my snow shovel as a “dustpan” for the leaves! It fits perfectly in the top of the leaf bags and makes it a little less messier.
15 bags later, my back was screaming at me to stop. I had really hoped that I could get it all done, but I was done. As I counted the bags, I thought, “Well, I have got to have most of it all bagged up!”
Uh, no. The above piles are just two of the 7 that are still around the front and back yards. Maybe this weekend I can finish?
I Was a Lions Fan Before It Was Cool
As a fan of the Detroit Lions, I have to admit that it is nice to have a team worth talking about! We’ve waited so long for this. Dan Campbell has really got our team doing well. When it came time to play the Packers last weekend, there was plenty of talk about how the Lions would lose on the road.
They came out and played some great football. The games are a lot of fun to watch because I never know what they are going to pull out of their helmets! When St. Brown scored a TD last weekend, I saw the “headstand” he did in the end zone and chuckled. Then I saw the photos online and I thought, “THAT is a fantastic picture!”
During the broadcast, they cut to a Lions fan who was wearing a cheese grater hat. For those who don’t know, the Packer fans are often called Cheese Heads and wear Cheese hats. I love this guy for wearing this and going viral on the internet! He had no idea until after the game, obviously, because he posted this:
Kudos Mr. Bodine! Kudos!
The Lions are 7-1 and I am enjoying the season! I am enjoying it so much, I asked AI to make me a Detroit Lion:
HOLY MACKERAL! I look fantastic!! I’m skinny, muscular, and handsome as ever! Put me in, coach! (Whoops, wrong sport.)
Make Yourself at Home
Sunday night, I got the kids to bed early. The school break was over and it was back into our routine Monday morning. Everyone decided to crash in our bed that night. I guess I woke up about midnight and as I changed positions in bed, I had to laugh. Andrew was next to me, Ella was in Sam’s spot and smack dab in the middle of them was our kitten, Bitsy!
She looks like she is very comfortable! No wonder I was falling out of bed!
Welcome back to The Music of My Life, where I feature ten songs from each year of my life. In most cases, the ten songs I choose will be ones I like personally (unless I explain otherwise). The songs will be selected from Billboard’s Year-end Hot 100 Chart, Acclaimed Music, and will all be released in the featured year.
In 1995 a new form of media was invented – The DVD. 1995 was also the year I hit the quarter century mark, turning 25.
30 years ago this month, in 1994, my partner, Rob, and I lost our jobs at Honey Radio. We searched for other radio work, but no one was looking for a morning team. I kept searching and eventually found some part time radio work. I also ventured out and began to host Karaoke at a few places every now and then.
My full time gig was working in the mail room at EDS. I spent a lot of time in the car and listened to a lot of radio. Many of these songs accompanied me on my deliveries.
After seven years of touring and three previous albums, Blues Traveler finally broke through with the song Run-Around. John Popper had a crush on the band’s original bass player Felicia Lewis. She was actually classically trained as a violinist. She was just playing bass for fun.
Guitar player Chan Kinchla says that Felicia was a great student and eventually became a doctor. “Her calling was medicine, not music” . When Bobby Sheehan was ready to take over on bass, Felicia stepped aside. Kinchla says, “It’s a very amicable situation. John always had kind of a crush on her, but they were friends, as well. So that song’s from that whole affair. They’re still very close. It’s just an unrequited love song.”
The song won a Grammy for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal in 1995.
John Hopper could really blow the harp! His harmonica stuff is just fantastic. It is hard to to hear this one and not feel happy. I often found myself having to set the cruise control, as this one often made me want to drive fast.
If you are a fan of the Wizard of Oz, you’ll appreciate the nod to the classic film in the video.
Run-Around
Until researching for this blog, I had no idea the story behind the next song. I Believe was a top ten record for Blessid Union of Souls. The song is about the power of love and the belief that it can impact life for the better. It is a powerful message.
The song came about because of the end of a relationship. Eliot Sloan recalls writing this song after his girlfriend’s father coerced her into breaking up with him. Many sources say that it was because of his race. Her dad went as far as threatening to cut off her college tuition, if she didn’t leave him.
They did break up, but she obviously meant a lot to him. He placed a message in the liner notes of the Home album. It says, “Lisa, give me a call sometime just to say hello, my number is still the same.”
Sloan says, “I always tell people, and it’s the truth, ‘I Believe’ was written in the middle of the night at about three in the morning. I always used to live in downtown Cincinnati, a really cool spiral staircase up to my bedroom, which kind of ended up as my studio. I kept a piano there that my mother got me when I was nine. In the middle of the night I was hearing the melody and I thought, ‘this is pretty.’ I just had to get up and play it.”
That piano line is really beautiful, and I love the way it intermingles with the strings. I love the message, too:
‘Cause I believe, that love is the answer I believe, love will find the way
I Believe
There are many stories about how Better Than Ezra came up with their name. As far as I can tell, they’ve never really said. The one that I love is that they were playing at some event that featured many bands. The story goes that they followed a band called Ezra, and when asked what their name was they said, “Better Than Ezra.” I hope that is the real story, because I think that is hilarious!
We just heard I Believe about a break up. Better Than Ezra’s, Good, looks at a break up in a different way. As a matter of fact, I tend to look at my past break ups like this.
BTE’s Kevin Griffin wrote the song. In an interview with songfacts.com he said:
“I wanted to talk about the positive things that come from the end of a relationship. There’s always the hurt feelings and everyone’s guarded and it can be traumatic, but when the dust settles, it was about looking at the good things – no pun intended – that you got from that relationship. How did you grow? What did you learn emotionally? And to experience some stuff. And in this case it was just kind of reflecting on how this person changed.“
That isn’t always easy to do. I have to remind myself, for example, that while things with my ex-wife weren’t great, I have two amazing sons from that relationship.
As much as I heard this song, I find it hard to believe that it only reached #30 on the charts.
Good
A new Beatles song in 1995?! How can that even happen!? John Lennon had been dead for 15 years by then. Believe it or not, you can thank Yoko Ono for it. Yoko agreed to release a demo tape of John’s to the other Beatles the day after he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1994 the three remaining Beatles recorded around his demo track to complete the song Free As a Bird. It was released as a single in 1995. Before their breakup, The Beatles won just four Grammy Awards. They picked up three more in 1997 when “Free As A Bird” won for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal and Best Music Video, Short Form.
It was Jeff Lynne of ELO who would produce the single. He The Daily Mail that of all the songs he’s produced, “Free as a Bird” is the one he’s most proud of. “I just had to improvise and come up with a few things to make it work,” Lynne recalled. “I did it late at night, 3 a.m. in the studio, just me and the engineer, because I didn’t want to do it in front of Paul and George. But I came in the next day and Paul gave me a hug and he said, ‘You’ve done it, well done!'”
My first records were Beatles songs. So it was so neat to hear all four of them together again for the first time in years!
Free As A Bird
Next is another song that I heard a lot while driving. It stood out for a few reasons. First, it was uptempo. I seem to remember a lot of ballads being played at the time. Driving while tired, uptempo is always good!
Second, it was short. It was very rare to have any song be under 3 and a half minutes on the radio. Many of them were 4 and 5 minutes. This one clocks in at just under 2 and a half minutes.
Finally, it reminds me of Run-Around by Blues Traveler. Ok, maybe it was Blues Traveler that reminds me of this one. I really don’t know.
The first time I saw the video, I laughed out loud. In it the guys from Del Amitri are being wheeled about in strollers by beautiful women. The band members’ heads were superimposed (badly) on the babies to create the effect.
Roll To Me
When I worked at W4 Country in Detroit, they used to host a huge summer festival. It was downtown in Hart Plaza and all kinds of country artists came to play. It was called the Downtown Hoedown. At this time in my career, I had really never done a lot of backstage stuff.
Looking back now, I could kick myself. So many of the singers were just walking around backstage and in the area that was reserved for our staff. I took my ex wife with me and we were just sitting at a table drinking water. This guy walked by with a cowboy hat on and he looked familiar. I couldn’t place him to save my life.
As he walked by, he nodded and said hello to us. I didn’t know if it was an artist, a manager, a roadie, or someone else. We said hello and he continued walking. What was weird was that as he approached us, he kind of slowed down like he expected us to start chatting him up. I know now that this was David Lee Murphy.
Dust on the Bottle was a big hit for him, but it almost didn’t make his album. He tells the story:
“I had the idea for that song, but I hadn’t ever done anything with it. I just remember being at my house the second day [of recording]. We started recording on Monday, and Tuesday morning, I was drinking coffee at my kitchen table. I started playing the opening chords on my guitar for ‘Dust on the Bottle.’ It just came out of nowhere. The song just fell out in like 15 minutes.
I called Tony Brown, who was producing my record, and I told him, ‘Man, I just wrote this new song!'” Murphy continued. “We had all the songs picked out already for the album. He told me to bring it in and play it for him that day. When he heard the song, he said, ‘Man, we’ve got to cut this.’ So we cut it, and what’s on the record is the first take of the song. A lot of the vocals on it were the first time I sang it. It was really a special song, and it still is to this day.”
Dust On The Bottle
I will apologize for the next song right now. I had to include it because it was such a big song when I was DJing. In the US, the Macarena was the biggest dance craze of the 1990s. It was played at weddings, office parties, cruise ships, and just about anywhere there was dancing. Like the earlier dance craze, the “Electric Slide,” it was easy to learn and was done in a group. This made it perfect for Americans who lacked rhythm. It would spawn other dance crazes in the years ahead.
The song was one that had many “mixes.” The meaning of the song changes depending on what mix you are listening to. In the original version, Macarena is upset because her boyfriend, Vitorino, has joined the army. She retaliates by going out on the town and carousing with other men. In the Bayside Boys mix, Macarena gets mad at her boyfriend and goes out to shake it while he’s out of town. In this version, she seems to be more promiscuous. The Bayside Boys also made it a first-person account, with the lyrics being the voice of Macarena.
Macarena
I never cared for the song that much, however two years later, there was a country mix. It sounded ridiculous. I went out and bought one of those hillbilly hats with the feather on it and a corn cob pipe. I would get out and dance with it on. It only made it more silly.
The next song was one that got played a lot on the radio with dedications to someone who passed away. It was played at weddings in remembrance of a loved one, too. When my mom passed away, this was another of those songs that made me think of her.
Mariah Carey wrote One Sweet Day with Boyz II Men. She said she wrote a song that was identical to a song Boyz II Men had written, so they combined the two.
Mariah was in the middle of writing the poignant ballad with her longtime collaborator Walter Afanasieff when she had the idea to bring in the R&B group.“I just thought the chorus was crying out for the vocals that they do,” she recalled in a 1999 interview. “We contacted them, we went through all the channels, this and that, and we finally got together, sang them the song and Nate had written a song that was basically identical to my song in the theme and melodically – he could actually sing it over my song and it was really bizarro, it was like fate, so we put the two songs together and came up with ‘One Sweet Day.'”
This was #1 on the US Billboard charts for 16 weeks! That is longer than any other song up to that time. It held that record until 2019 when Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road was #1 for 17 weeks.
One Sweet Day
Despite being a 1995 release, Give Me One Reason was a song that Tracy Chapman had been performing since 1988. She also performed it on a 1989 episode of Saturday Night Live.
The song would wind up on her fourth studio album, New Beginnings in 1995. In 2005, she said “This is autobiographical,” before performing the song. “I left it on someone’s answering machine, and it worked. I wrote it late one night hanging out with my dog, a mini dachshund.”
The song would be her first hit since 1988’s Fast Car. The charts had changed a bit in 1995. Songfacts.com explains: The mid-’90s were a tougher time for female singer-songwriters with stories to tell, but Melissa Etheridge, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow and Jewel all got their piece of the pie even as the airwaves were dominated by R&B and dance singers, mostly guys. “Give Me One Reason” fell into this bucket, skewing to an older audience averse to hip-hop and modern rock.
I love this song because of the bluesy feel to it. That opening guitar lick and her voice are just so good!
Gimme One Reason
My final pick for 1995 comes from a gang member. Yes, you read that right. Lead singer Pauly Fuemana was a gang member in Auckland, New Zealand before achieving pop immortality with this song. He received his musical training in a New Zealand juvenile prison.
How Bizarre by OMC reached #1 in eight different countries, the first of which was New Zealand in early 1996. Others include Australia, Canada, and the US (on the Mainstream Top 40 chart). What is Bizarre is that it never entered the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Why? It was released as a radio-only promo single. Therefore it was ineligible to chart on the Hot 100 according to rules in place at the time.
According to songfacts.com: OMC stands for Otara Millionaires Club, after the neighborhood in Auckland where Fuemana grew up. It’s a somewhat fanciful name, as the Auckland suburb of Otara is a ghetto/slum.
This was another one of those songs I would hear driving at work. Many of the drivers would come in to the mail room and if something unexpected happened they’d say “How Bizarre!” Some of my ex wife’s sisters would also say this a lot, but usually they’d say, “How Bizzaaaah.”
The song has a fun sound to it and it brings back some great memories.
How Bizarre
So that’s all for 1995. Did I miss one of your favorites? Let me know in the comments.
Next week, we move forward to 1996. My list includes movie music, a cover song or two, a couple artists I have had the chance to hang out with, and a few I’d like to hang out with. It also includes a song that was given to me by a girlfriend to express how she felt about us. Was it good or bad? Tune in next week!
Today we feature Leonard Franklin Sly’s music on Tune Tuesday. Who, you ask? Well, perhaps you remember him as “The King of the Cowboys,” Roy Rogers. He was born on this day in 1911.
He was one of the founders of the country western group, The Sons of the Pioneers. He would go on to become one of the most popular cowboys in America!
Wiki says, “He appeared in almost 90 motion pictures, as well as numerous episodes of his self-titled radio program that lasted for nine years. Between 1951 and 1957, he hosted the Roy Rogers Show on TV with his wife Dale Evans, horse Trigger, and dog Bullet. “
Randy’s write up reminded me of a 1991 song that Roy had with Clint Black. It was called “Hold On Partner.”
I had totally forgotten about it. I do remember playing it off of a vinyl 45 when I lived on the west side of the state. It had to be cool for Roy to be on the radio again. It’s a shame that the song never cracked the Top 40. It topped out at #42.
The video for the song is shot in black and white and is fun to watch.
Bonus track:
Roy and the Sons of the Pioneers had a song on the Smokey and the Bandit II soundtrack. It was called, “Ride Concrete Cowboy, Ride.”
I posted this on Facebook earlier today. I guess I was a bit miffed at a few things over the last couple days. So here is my opinionated post.
(Warning. Political rant ahead)
I try to avoid political posts. I do. However, tonight, I am asking you to be sure to get out and vote tomorrow, and I have some random thoughts to share.
I live from paycheck to paycheck. I work 40 hours a week. If I have to miss a day, I have to use PTO hours to fill the check. One big unexpected expense can throw us into a financial tailspin.
This is not just me. It is a majority of Americans! I do not need celebrities who have million dollar bank accounts telling me who I should vote for! This irks me so much. Shut up, you have no idea what is best for me or anyone else for that matter. You vote for who is best for you and let me decide for myself who is best for me, ok?
It makes me sick to think of the good that could be done and the people who could be helped by the billions of dollars used for campaigning. Instead, it is used to buy time for candidates spewing empty promises and trash talking each other. It is disgusting.
I have seen tons of posts today about how “Tomorrow” it will be all over. Speaking of the ads, texts and phone calls I am guessing. The truth is it isn’t over.
No matter what the outcome, one side will accuse the other side of something. There will be all kinds of legal mumbo jumbo being tossed around, people protesting outcomes, and probably violence. Throughout the “winner’s” term, the others will continue to make accusations of tampering, fraud, and God knows what else.
Lincoln said, “A house divided cannot stand.” That phrase is actually located in three of the four gospel accounts (Matt, Mark, Luke). It is a huge truth. Look at us, people! We are destroying ourselves from the inside. Division, hatred, violence….it’s insane. Other countries have got to be looking at us waiting for the country to implode.
I digress. Listen, my friend, you have every right to vote for who YOU want to. Do your research, know who your candidate is. Don’t be influenced by rich celebrities who are living in a home ten times the size of yours with no financial worry.
Vote for what is best for you. Vote for what’s best for your family. Vote because you enjoy the freedom to do so. Don’t be bullied into voting against your values or your beliefs. Vote because if you don’t – you have no right to complain about the outcome. You have a say – make it known. Vote!
And remember, who you vote for is no one’s business but yours! If you don’t vote for my candidate, that’s ok. You have volition. You have the right to make your own decisions. I don’t have to agree with you or vice versa. That’s one of those things the country was founded on, and one of the things that makes it so great – everyone has their own thoughts, beliefs, and choice of candidate.
Take pride and cast your vote tomorrow! Whatever the outcome, you did your part.
The Karate Kid is no longer a kid! Ralph Macchio, who played Daniel in the 1984 film, turns 63 today! The movie and it’s two sequels certainly helped Macchio gain star status.
He went on to appear in the 1986 film Crossroads and appeared on Broadway opposite Robert Deniro. I loved him in the 1992 film My Cousin Vinny with Joe Pesci. He also had roles in Entourage, How I Met Your Mother and Ugly Betty. In 2018 he reprised his role as Daniel in the YouTube series Cobra Kai.
Whenever I think of the Karate Kid, I always think of the cheesy Joe Esposito song, “You’re The Best.” The song it plays over a long, dialogue-free scene where Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence win their matches in the big karate tournament on their way to a showdown in the finals. The song itself was included on the movie’s soundtrack but wasn’t released as a single.
Songfacts says, “With negligible radio play and no music video, the song lay dormant until the turn of the millennium, when waves of nostalgia – and the internet – pushed it to the fore. It became a cultural touchstone, used in various movies, TV shows and commercials to represent the indomitable – if slightly hokey – spirit of the ’80s.”
The song almost debuted in another film. The music for the song was composed by Bill Conti, who did the score for The Karate Kid. The lyrics were written by Allee Willis (who contributed to Earth, Wind and Fire’s “September” and the theme song to the show Friends). Bill Conti wrote “Gonna Fly Now” for the Rocky soundtrack. It was used again in the sequel. However, for Rock III, Sylvester Stallone wanted something different. Conti and Willis wrote “You’re The Best” for that film, but Stallone rejected it, going with “Eye of the Tiger” instead.
You’re the Best found it’s way to the Karate Kid film because, according to singer Joe Esposito, director John Avildsen loved it!
This is another book that was suggested to me by my wife. Local Woman Missing was a good read. This is the first book by Mary Kubica I have read. If her others are as good as this, I will have to add them to my list.
Here is the Goodreads synopsis:
People don’t just disappear without a trace….
Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold.
Now, 11 years later, Delilah shockingly returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they’ll find….
In this smart and chilling thriller, master of suspense and New York Times best-selling author Mary Kubica takes domestic secrets to a whole new level, showing that some people will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.
This was really one of those books I couldn’t stop reading, well, listening to. The audio book was very well done. It is read from the point of view of four main characters. One of them is one of the missing women.
The book bounces back and forth between the present and the events of 11 years prior. As the two time lines move forward, little by little, things come together. I found myself wondering how some of the characters played into the story . Also, what role they may have played in the disappearances of the woman/women.
The ending is one I should have seen coming, but never did. I loved that it stumped me! Definitely worth a read!
It was on this day in 2003 that one of the funniest TV comedies of all time first aired. I am talking about Arrested Development. This continues to be one of the few shows that makes me laugh out loud. I have seen the first three seasons more times than I can count, but the laughs remain.
Back in 2022, I was invited to participate in a TV Show Draft. It was run like a fantasy sport draft with each participant choosing a show one by one. The show was one of my picks and I wrote at length about it. Rather than rehashing all of that here, I will share the link for you.
As I mention in the 2022 blog, the show is considered a “cult classic.” Fans of the show appreciate a good running gag, dysfunctional family humor, distinct personalities of each character, and laughing out loud.
Maybe I need to go back and watch the latter seasons, because it has been some time. Maybe I will find them better than I did after the first watch. Either way, the three core seasons that aired on Fox remain as fresh and funny as they did in 2003.
Every once in a while my kids will do something that just amazes me. That happened last night on Halloween.
I took the day off so I could be with the kids yesterday. However, I wound up going to work for a few hours. I need to bank a few extra hours for upcoming stuff. My daughter decided that she wanted to come to work with me. She was welcomed by a big box of donuts in the break room!
After I sorted through things to get my coworkers ready for the night, we drove home. We had about an hour before it was time to trick or treat, so we all enjoyed dinner together.
The temperatures were not too cold, unlike the last couple years. It was windy, which made it feel chillier than it was. As you know, the kids have been on the mend, so we made sure to dress them warm.
My wife is all about matching. This year, we “coupled” based on their costumes. Andrew was a fireman. Naturally, the fireman had to have a Dalmatian dog. Mommy was happy to help.
Ella was Wonder Woman, and needed someone to help her fight off the candy stealing criminals. I was happy to step in as “Bat-Dad!”
This year we opted not to take the wagon with us, so that meant we were all walking. We got one half of our street done and made our way to the next one over. About halfway down, Ella decided that she wanted to go home. We completely understood, and it was decided that Andrew and I would keep going.
A few minutes later, my phone rang. I had told the folks at work to call if they had any questions about the night. It wasn’t work. It was Sam.
“You locked the door.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“You have the key!”
“Uh, yeah, I do.”
So Andrew and I walked back home to let them in the house. When we got back home, he said he wanted to stay home. I was surprised. I thought for sure he’d want to go back out, but he didn’t.
We had a big bowl of candy from past trunk or treats. Sam thought it would be a good idea to pass it out to the kids walking. So we went on the porch and passed out candy. They kids LOVED being able to give candy to the kids. Now here is the unexpected twist…
As we were getting to the bottom of the candy bowl, we said we’d have to go inside. The kids both grabbed their candy buckets and dumped them into the bowl. We asked if they were sure they wanted to do that, and they said they were.
Every time someone walked up to our house, they’d run over to them and hand them sweets. The joy and excitement on their faces and those who were receiving the candy was worth it. When we finally ran out of candy and went inside, we asked they why they gave away their candy. Ella said, “I like sharing.”
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 