Bits and pieces

Happy Friday, everyone!

No specific theme or subject for today's post.  Just a hodgepodge of stuff that's accumulated since my last, more introspective post.

Over the last couple of days I had some lengthy day trips for work.  I have satellite radio, downloaded podcasts and an audiobook I haven't started, but sometimes I like to dip into my personal music library (which lives on my phone) to listen to some music that continues to make me happy.  Wednesday I was on my way home from Knoxville, Tennessee, in and out of rain, and decided to listen to an old album by the singer-songwriter J.D. Souther.  John David is probably best known for co-writing many of the Eagles' hit songs, including "New Kid in Town," "Best of My Love," "Heartache Tonight" and many others he wrote on his own that were recorded by singers such as Linda Ronstadt and on his own solo records.

The album I decided to listen to is called "Natural History," and it's a collection of stripped down musical arrangements of some of the songs I mentioned.  I always thought that J.D. had the purest voice this side of Roy Orbison (whom I also listened to recently) and those spare arrangements really showed off his vocal skills.  Yesterday I finished that album (interrupted Wednesday by a Reds game on radio once I got into range to receive it) and then moved on to J.D.'s first hit album, "You're Only Lonely," whose title song was a minor hit and remains one of my favorite songs ever.  That album moved through multiple genres, including a honky-tonk number called "The Moon Just Turned Blue."  Really good stuff.

Not long ago, my wife and I were looking for some different things to watch so I went upstairs to a spare bedroom closet and retrieved about a dozen disks that we had kept but did not re-buy digitally.  Over a week or so we watched a number of movies we have always liked, such as the Harrison-Ford-as-Jack-Ryan action pictures "Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger," as well as "The Fugitive" and "Air Force One."  We also watched the first two of Daniel Craig's outings as James Bond, Agent 007, which we have watched many times but not recently.  And two from Russell Crowe, his Oscar-winning role in "Gladiator," and another for which he was nominated for an Oscar, the sea-faring adventure "Master and Commander:  The End of the World," which is entertaining, well acted and beautifully photographed.  

Found out this week that two of our grandchildren (among the three who live close by) are trading rooms.  Fascinating to hear all of the plans they've each made.  Younger grandson is moving downstairs and youngest granddaughter is taking his upstairs bedroom.  Glad I'm not in the middle of that process!

I finished this week not having traveled overnight for the past two work week.  That ends next week, will have two night away each of the next two weeks.  It's a living, I suppose.

That's all I got.  Have a good weekend!

 

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