Musings: A Beautiful Forest

Hello all. Hope everyone had a good week, and is having a good weekend. 

We're expecting more snow tomorrow here in Boston - not a lot by local standards (3-5"/7.5-12.5 cm), but we had a storm earlier in the week that dumped over 16 inches in the town where I live, part of a trend of above-average snowfall so far this winter. One of the few positive things about working from home continuously since last March is not having to deal with commuting in bad weather. Small blessings, and so on.

As mentioned in my posts from last weekend, I'm determined to write much more often this year. One of the ways I'm going to encourage myself to follow through on that is to say up front what I want to actually write about. I'm generally a pretty determined person when I set a goal for myself, but I can get derailed when my depression flares up. When that happens, just getting through the day is an achievement.

That being said, I already mentioned the first thing I want to write about in my last post: my GCS (Gender Confirmation Surgery), which I had in Septembr 2017 with Dr. Brassard in Montreal. I'd planned to write this a long time ago, but, well, see above. So, that is first on the agenda.

After that are two topics - projects, really, given their size and complexity - are things I've had in mind for some time - since I started this blog in the first case, and in the past year for the second. So, this is just a brief post to get myself on the record, with witnesses (virtually speaking) for those times when I need to push myself.

For more, follow along below the jump. :c)

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(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Boots

Hello, all. Hope your holiday season has been a pleasant one. 

As I mentioned in my last post, this isn't my favorite time of year, as is the case for many of us. Last year was particularly difficult; I was dealing with a nastier-than-usual bout of depression, for reasons that still escape me. Fortunately, this year, while still not great, has at least been tolerable. That said, I'm glad it's nearly over for another year.

We had crazy weather here the past two days. We received well over two inches of precipitation, all told. I say "precipitation" because it ran the gamut, changing literally from minute to minute at some points. We had snow, sleet, ice, freezing rain, and (mostly/fortunately) plain old rain. Oh, and gale force winds (of course).

At one point last evening we were simultaneously experiencing sleet, hail, and - wait for it - thunder and lightning. That was a first, even for New England. We received over an inch of sleet in less than an hour; luckily it switched back over to a drenching rain, which washed nearly all of it away.

In spite of the less-than-hospitable conditions, my feet stayed dry and toasty as I made my way around - the result of a fortuitous, spur-of-the moment purchase I made while visiting my friends A and B up in Canada back in early November, as noted in a previous post:

They're almost cute enough to make winter worthwhile. Almost. :c) That being said, they also enable me to share one of Elvis Costello's most beloved songs, so there's that as well:

I'll end with two songs I play every New Year's Eve and pass along their sentiments to all of you good folk. First up - Big Country, recorded live at Barrowlands in Glasgow on December 31, 1983:

I'm not expecting to grow flowers in the desert

But I can live and breathe and see the sun in wintertime

In a big country, dreams stay with you

Like a lover's voice across a mountainside

Stay alive

And another hopeful song from the same show - "Wonderland":

And finally, Pearl Jam's ragged-but-right version of "Better Things," from The Kinks:

Really glad I found this tonight - one of of my favorite bands covering another of my favorite bands!

So, here's wishing all of you the bluest skies and the very best of choruses in 2020. And I hope tomorrow we all find better things. Happy New Year, everyone!

Bear With Me

So, I was visiting my friends A and B north of the border recently and made a new acquaintance:

He's the strong, silent type, as you can see. ;c)

And yes, that *is* snow on the ground, believe it or not. They received about a foot while I was up there, which was unusual even by Canadian standards. It was also bitterly cold during my entire visit, far more than usual for early-mid November. Fortunately I purchased the nifty red snow boots in the photo while I was up there, and wow, did they come in handy! (They're also really cute, which is a lovely bonus!)

In spite of the less-than-hospitable weather, I can't wait to visit the Great White North again - see you next spring (if not sooner)!

***

A few ursine-related tracks for your listening pleasure. First up, Grizzly Bear's "Yet Again," from their excellent 2012 album Shields:

Second we have one from a band *called* The Bears, featuring the amazing guitar work of Adrian Belew, who is best known as a long-standing member of King Crimson and for his work with Talking Heads (Remain In Light), David Bowie (Lodger), and Frank Zappa, to name just a few. This is "Fear Is Never Boring," from their self-titled 1987 debut.

This next one has absolutely nothing to do with bears, but it's such a cute song I wanted to include it anyway. The song is "Oh Daddy," from his 1989 album Mr. Music Head. The charming video features Adrian with his absolutely adorable daughter Audie (who introduces the song in this clip). Enjoy this one! :c)

The final song is "If She Knew What She Wants," written by Jules Shear of Jules & The Polar Bears and covered magnificently by The Bangles on their 1986 album Different Light. Check out these live harmonies!

Incidentally, he also wrote "All Through The Night," which Cyndi Lauper included on her debut album She's So Unusual.

Ciao 'til next time! :c)

These Days

Hello all. Apologies for the extended absence. It's been a crazy busy few months - a crazy busy 6-8 months, really - at work. Things should quiet down now (she said hopefully). This upcoming weekend should, fingers, crossed, be the first weekend I haven't had to work (excepting when I was on vacation) in nearly that entire time.  As I said, crazy busy.

We've had one of the strangest winters and springs that I can recall. Believe it or not, the months of March and April were both colder - significantly colder - than February. The week of the 15th was typical of this atypical stretch. When I woke up on Tuesday morning the 16th, it was barely 40°F/4°C. It actually snowed in parts of New Hampshire and Maine. 

The next day, Wednesday the 17th, the high temperature was - believe it or not - 95°F (35°C). It was the first day of a three-day heatwave, with temperatures each day well above 90 temperatures.

To give you an idea of how big these extremes have been, I went from my winter coat and gloves on Tuesday to this on Wednesday:

Talk about wardrobe whiplash... Things became more seasonable last week, but it's still cooler than normal (I was sitting outdoors as I wrote this, but had to come inside because I was shivering). And tomorrow is looking even chillier, with yet more rain. On the bright side, we're no longer in drought conditions here in New England, as we have been for the past few years. Definitely a good thing, that.

All that being said, I'm hopeful that I can soon retire the coat and gloves, cute though they may be, and finally break out the sundresses at long last. Fingers crossed.  

Anyway, I promise to try to write more often. I know I've said that before, but hopefully this time I'll have enough time/energy to follow through. Quite a bit has been going on, and will be going on, so I'm hoping I can write about some of it here. Watch this space. Have a good week, everyone. :c)

***

I was originally going to post several songs from what is my favorite album so far this year, The Sadies' Northern Passages, but with the untimely passing of Gregg Allman this weekend I've decided to include a few personal favorites from his amazing career. 

First up is "Melissa," one of his most tender songs, with the Allman Brothers:

Next up is a ripping live version of my favorite Allman Brothers song, "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed." 

I saw them play a jaw-dropping version of this during their headlining set on the second day of the 2007 Newport Folk Festival. The interplay between them is breathtaking.

And to bring this post to a close, here is his moving rendition of Jackon Browne's "These Days," from 1973's Laid Back, his debut solo album.

Jackson Browne recorded it on his For Everyman album, also from 1973, although he actually wrote it in 1965, when he was 15(!).  A number of other artists have covered it over the years (Annie Clark, a/k/a St. Vincent, does a particularly affecting version), but for my money Allman's version is definitive. RIP, Gregg...

Mid-Winter Musings

 

Hello all. Hope this finds you well. It's been quite a while between posts, so please follow along below the fold for what I've been up to the past month-plus.

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Winter Wonderland - For Real!

 

Hello, and Happy Pre-Christmas Eve, everyone. Hope you have all finished your holiday shopping, and been good girls and boys. (I plead the Fifth, personally.)

I've been dressing in seasonal colors the past few days, starting with a green dress on Wednesday and a white blouse and red maxi-skirt yesterday. Today I went with my red blazer, above. (If you look closely you can spot the green scrunchie holding up my ponytail too.)

This is just a brief post about my adventures last weekend, and not the second of the promised pair of posts mentioned recently. I hope to finish that one tomorrow, lest I further tempt fate with Santa. Read on below the fold for all of the details. :-p

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The You-Know-Who Is Back

Well hello there, everyone.

So... where have you all been?

Just kidding. :c) It's nice to be back.

So much has happened the past two months - far too much for a single post. 

So... I will start small. And upbeat. :c)

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50 Words for Snow

They were predicting all week that this would be a monster storm, and they were right.

There were 26 inches total before it finally ended early this afternoon.

I spent over five hours shoveling, no easy task with an ankle and wrist determined not to cooperate. But they did, thankfully.

And nearly 15 months of HRT have clearly reduced what little upper body strength I had pre-transition to near microscopic levels.

But in spite of the bitter cold, the wind gusts that threatened to toss me into the nearest snowbank from time to time, and the bone-deep tiredness that set in after the fourth hour or so, I was in a good frame of mind overall.

That was not always the case during past winters.

Not by a long shot.

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