So we're entering Easter and everything is in renewal apart from me (laughs as typically typed that originally with reversed spelling!).
Anyway while out walking toward the news store earlier this week I noticed just how much the blossoms were out apart from the bluebells so I quickly took this picture on a patch of
community space where we leave.
Apart from white blossomed trees we have cherry coloured ones to all out and the frist of berries starting to make an appearance.
Too bad the daffodils died off!
Have a great Easter folks!
It's kinda funny how you remember not just when and where you first saw or heard something and for me many of what some people call oldies - music from the 1950's and early 1960's - is what I grew up hearing not when I was around as I hadn't been born then but on the radio as revived oldies.
Presented by people who grew up with them first hand, I often spent official day long vacation days listening to their shows as well as whenever I was ill as a child, listening to their stories and gaining at the same time an appreciation of the music that preceded the Beatles and Rolling Stones over in England.
To this end I've been collecting the ACE Records London American label series compilation cds of which this one is the latest instalment.
This instalment such hits as Little Town Flirt, Then He Kissed Me, Let's Turkey Trot, Be My Baby and I'll take You Home plus others that were bubbling under but none the less are fascinating to hear. The great beauty is this series is in strict chronological order so you hear them pretty much as folk did back then and their from the original UK masters used for the singles which were mono only.
The two previous instalments were 1962 and 1959.
The Surfaris
There was a fairly important surf group in that genres early 60's hayday who had a big hit with Wipe Out and Surfer Joe who hailed from Glendora, California but after the sounds peak in late 1963 issued a number of albums covering contemporary hits no doubt to stay on the label such as Hit City '64 & 65 that are out of print.
This album, It Ain't Me Babe was issued on Decca in the US in late 1965 and on UK Brunswick in early 1966 covering tracks made famous by the Stones, Byrds, We Five and many others in a mainly folk rock style.
I've had this album since at least 1976 enjoying the impeccable mono production by Gary Usher who did work with the Byrds amongst others.
So like me don't you think? I just adore check blouses being timeless and very practical for teaming up with anything, slacks, skirts or even the odd pinafore dress. This one is called the Denise, is made from pure cotton with rounded hemline for comfort and is available by mail order from James Meade who have a website.
I recently bought this short anime movie.Director Makoto Shinkai paints a breathtakingly vivid tableau of young love, desire, loss and hope. The movie begins with the lyrical image of cherry blossoms falling at five centimetres a second.
Told in three breathtaking chapters we follow the young dreamer Takaki through his life as cruel winters cold technology silence and finally adult obligations and responsibility converge to crush the delicate petals of true love. Finding beauty in everyday objects and moments Shinkai reveals he is a master of animation and haunting beautiful storytelling which is something I really appreciate in a movie.
In some respects it reminded me of Studio Ghilbi's Only Yesterday Fall in love for its beauty truth and innovation and thoughtfully reflective qualities.
Nope I haven't morphed into a dog dear readers -really I haven't although I think the spots on Dalmatians are really cool - but this entry is about something else.Yesterday I did my stint delivering newsletters in my community that help to keep people informed about what's going on around them and that. In the course of which I do encounter dogs, dogs in gardens, dogs just waiting behind the mail flap to bit your fingers off, dogs been taken for walks and so on,Well seemingly while I was doing my bit, a dog escaped from a second gate that the person who lost it said was so stiff nobody ever uses it and got the Police Community Support Officer involved who assumed that because the magazine in the mail slot was mine then it must of been me that having opened this gate and left it open!Little ol' me with paws that can hardly open parcels and struggles to hold a pen to write my very name can actually do this?Naw someone's got that wrong all right!I'm sorry this person's dog escaped, do hope it can be found but sometimes you have to accept the notion of risk -anyone calling at the house could of accidentally let it out and just maybe disused gates should be blocked off.
