DL had our first 2023 sighting of a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak in the Patio Garden today.

PT in afternoon, #6.

DL had our first 2023 sighting of a male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird in the Patio Garden today.

Gordon Lightfoot passed away today, one of our real treasures as a song-writer.

My earliest memories of his songs were Sundown, and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.  Sundown is one of my favorite songs, ever.  The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald might be the greatest song ever written in my opinion.  Wonderful simple guitar melody, strong story telling with very memorable lines that describe not only the tale of the doomed ship but also philosophical situations.  And then, there is the mournful lead guitar that enters the song now and then.

    Does anyone know where the love of God goes

    When the waves turn the minutes to hours?

    

    And all that remains is the faces and the names

    Of the wives and the sons and the daughters

Or, the entire finale of verse's six and seven...

    Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings

    In the rooms of her ice-water mansion

    Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams

    The islands and bays are for sportsmen

    And farther below Lake Ontario

    Takes in what Lake Erie can send her

    And the iron boats go as the mariners all know

    With the gales of November remembered

    In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed

    In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral

    The church bell chimed till it rang twenty-nine times

    For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald

    The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down

    Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee

    Superior, they said, never gives up her dead

    When the gales of November come early

A quick read from Wikipedia informs us that Gordon Lightfoot has been referred to as Canada's greatest songwriter and his songs have been recorded by some of the world's most renowned musical artists. Lightfoot's biographer Nicholas Jennings said, "His name is synonymous with timeless songs about trains and shipwrecks, rivers and highways, lovers and loneliness."

Although I have listened often to Gordon Lightfoot, it may not have been enough and that is something I can remedy going forward.  I plan on it.

At the Mariners Church in Detroit the day after the songwriter died, on May 2nd 2023, at 3:00pm, the bell rang 30 times, 29 times for the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald plus one more for Gordon Lightfoot.

2.2-mile hike with K2 in Bloomfield at Farmington River Park. 

3.6-mile run / hike in Northwest Park between raindrops. 

Early Morning visit #5 to PT.

Drove to visit the folks, made taco's for us.

Picked up the Seagull Guitar on the way back home.

Also on this day in 2006, I completed a Metacomet Marathon with my dog Tippi;  it was just us.  

By 2005, most of my running turned toward exploring and mapping routes through the forest of Western Massachusetts and North Central Connecticut, with an emphasis on picking out ways to connect big tracks of land, and turn them into runs of marathon length.

This run began in Sunrise Park, Suffeld, Connecticut and flowed south through Penwood State Forest in Bloomfield and Simsbury, Connecticut.  

We spent 6:27:00 completing a little over 28-miles or so.  

This was my 31st marathon completed, and Tippi's 7th. 

Notes:  A great day;  started out 50 degrees at the 9:45 A.M. start time.  I believe it reached 70 degrees during the day, with most of it in the mid to upper 60’s.  Sunny and blue sky entire time, with a bit of a nice breeze every once and a while.

Tippi taking a look back off a ledge.

 

Late Afternoon visit #4 to PT.

Ratified Union Contract late evening (success).

Bands and Live Performances I've been a part of:

#4.

Somewhere between sophomore and junior years of high school, a group of friends formed Midnight Hollow.

Basically, the ABCD Band evolved a bit with a new drummer and guitarist-vocalist.

Our first performance was at a Youth Center Dance at the Junior High.

We played several sets, I can remember performing (a limited memory at this point but I recall we played close to thirty different songs):

Rockin' Me (Steve Miller)

Sweet Home Alabama, Needle and the Spoon & Free Bird (Lynyrd Skynyrd)

Jumpin' Jack Flash (Peter Frampton Version)

Help is on the Way (Little River Band)

Cinnamon Girl & Lotta Love (Neil Young)

Best of My Love & Lyin' Eyes (Eagles)

A few original compositions.

Visit #2 in 2023 for acupuncture at Healing Ways Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine.

"Non" Black Lizard / Vintage Crime #08 for 2023...

"The Up Down" written by Barry Gifford, published 2015.  

Cover Image

Full Day visit with my folks, including a nice lunch from Pedrins Dairy Bar.

 

Dropped my Seagull Guitar off to be "set-up" at the Luthiers in Easthampton on the return home.

Early Morning visit #3 to PT.

Followed up with a 5.6-mile run on the Shenipsit Trail into Tolland (mostly road, paved and dirt).

Early Evening drive to Gran-Val Scoop with DL.

Walk Lily once in  the evening, 1-mile. 

Bike to work this morning - coldish (30's).

Back to PT for the right ankle/heal/achilles (#2).