It's a sunny, though chilly day at the farmette. Only 1C and frosty right now, and it's only going up to about 10C.
Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and grandmas out there. Hope you all get spoiled today with lots of love and attention - flowers and chocolates wouldn't go amiss, either!
A couple of days ago, my sister Sandy sent me a picture of the cover of a Party Mix B-52s album from the late 1970s. Her husband had hooked up the old turntable and she was cranking out the tunes to help her with her spring window cleaning.
I texted her back, saying that I have Rock Lobster and Love Shack on my walking playlists - and they always put a spring in my step.
The exchange got me thinking about music and about how songs are such a powerful memory trigger, so today, I'm going to take a musical jaunt down memory lane.
Whenever I hear Chrissie Hind and the Pretenders - especially Back on the Chain Gang - I'm on a bus travelling south from Bangkok to Ko Samui in 1990. I had just met Rob earlier that year, and my friend Karen Heiber and I had already booked our great adventure to India, Nepal and Thailand. It was on the last leg of that trip that I took out my trusty Sony Walkman and cranked up Chrissie. Amazing trip and incredible memories. Yes, this is a much more svelte - and blonde - me cavorting through the blue, blue ocean waters of Thailand.
Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk", makes me think of my friend Jane Still. The first time I heard it, we were on one of our many visits out to their place. When it came on, Jane could not help herself and started jigging up and down and flailing her arms around. Of course, I joined in. Now, I have it on two or three of my walking playlists, so I think of our great times together often.
Every time I hear Annie Lennox and the Eurythmics, I think of cleaning the house on Foster Avenue in Guelph, where we lived for 16 years - until 2012 when we moved to the farmette.
I'd crank up Broken Glass or Sweet Dreams and sweep, dust and polish my way around that lovely old home with a little bump and grind to make the jobs go faster.
Some songs weren't all that popular with certain mothers back in the day. Audrey could not stand the song Joy to the World - not the hymn, but the version that Three Dog Night sang that involved a bullfrog.
Every time it came on the radio - which was a LOT in the early 1970s - she'd stop her ears, stomp to the offending box and turn it off. The new-fangled music was just jangling noise to her. Kind of like how I feel about some of the modern music that's out and about now. Rob and I call it 'smelly cats' after Phoebe's anthem on Friends.
Mom's on my mind today, for obvious reasons. She could be cranky, but she was always loving, caring and completely adoring of her family and friends. Miss you ma.
Until next week.