A fight for the CO Boy's musical soul

Well, maybe not his musical soul, but something close to it-:).

The CO Boy takes guitar lessons and his reference for guitar is The Roping Dummy and the western music he plays.  So he has learned to sing and accompany himself on "The Old Chisholm Trail," and "Don't Fence Me In" is next.

BUT he has recently been listening to my ipod which has selections from the late 70's and early 80's.  He loves it, and in particular, he's a big fan of Hall & Oates, just like his mama!  He likes this one song called, "Wait for Me."  Now for die hard fans, the song is a favorite but the average listener wouldn't probably remember the song.  Here's Mr. Hall doing a live version which is actually better than the pop version.

And then we have "Don't Fence Me In," as sung by Roy Rogers.  It IS a Cole Porter tune, so can't argue with that.  AND Trigger is quite the amazing equine.  But I dunno....

So the battle is on!

This is the voice, or why Arlene just wants to be Blossom Dearie

I love music.  Everybody knows that.  And I listen to a variety of styles.  But I always go back to certain types of artists and I'm in one of those periods right now.

This morning I was on youtube (can't you just spend way too much time on that site??) and watched this video of Blossom Dearie.  She is older in this video but still has the same voice I love and plays the piano with such magic.  Her song selections are always a treat to hear.  Side Note:  After I watched this video, the CO Boy woke up and we had to watch "Unpack your Adjectives", the old Schoolhouse Rock video in which Blossom's voice is featured.  See.  Everyone loves Blossom.  Here she is with Billy Taylor.  The lyrics to this song make me laugh.

Then fast forward to about a decade ago when I found Stacy Kent.  Her phrasing is so deceptively simple...and gorgeous.  Her song selections are wonderful and her recent LP is in French with some French standards as well as some current compositions.  But one standard that makes it into my all-time Top 10 is "You Are There", written by Dave Frishberg.  She has a wonderful recording of this song.  Unfortunately no video, but you MUST listen to the song below.  Just close your eyes and listen to her the beautiful song. Interestingly enough, Blossom recorded this song but I can't find a video of it either.

And then there's the jazz that is more tinged with Brazilian rhythms.  I love Gretchen Parloto.  She is so free in her singing but yet she knows exactly where she is.  She's singing "Flor de Lis," in this video.

Fast forward to just today and I stumbled upon Jules Day.  She and the Roping Dummy are FB friends.  They have a lot of mutual jazz musician friends from the Los Angeles days.  Her songs are original compositions, and for the most part I like them very much.  She looks like Diana Krall just a bit, but not nearly as annoying with an almost-dead delay in vocal delivery (sorry, DK - you're a fab pianist, but listening to you sing brings out such anxiety as I wait for you to get the words out).  Jules is a blend of jazz, pop and bossa.  I'm diggin' it.

So I'm just gonna samba my way upstairs for the night and sing softly like these ladies, albeit not as beautifully.

National Clean Up Your Room Day

Berenstain Bears

Today is the day, people!

Who knew there was a National Clean Up Your Room Day? 

This could be cause for a celebration (read: task) at our house tonight.

Snoopy is Real

At least to me he is.  He's always been real.  And now the CO Boy is sharing in my laughter of the beagle's antics.  He'd seen the holiday shows, but he'd never seen, "Snoopy Come Home," which is my favorite.  So I rented it and he and I have laughed until we hurt.

Because of the CO Boy's interest in the canine, I printed out some snoopy pictures with the idea that he could draw them during our Peaceful Time (as he calls our nights in bed when we draw).  He loved it.  But to back track a bit:  Last week he was frustrated because he couldn't draw the airplane the way he wanted to.  What he was doing was drawing it from an overhead view but he was looking at it from a side view.  We had a whole discussion about drawing what you see and how the mind wants to impose what it knows on to the page, but you must draw what you see to make it look as you would like.  Well he did it and was so happy with himself.  So when he drew his Snoopy and Woodstock picture I was quite impressed. 

He was going to draw it for his Tia Bel, but he liked it so much he couldn't part with it.  So we're working on a piece that might be suitable to send to Tia Bel.

I just love how he gets so engrossed in drawing and really seems to enjoy it.  As I've said before, he's a lot like his dad, but there's a little bit of me in him too.  That would be the Pajama Days and Peaceful Time-:).

The Dress Was Lovely...

But this little girl wore her tiara like nobody's business!

Now, everyone, don't be jealous that we can't all look as fetching-:). 

Didn't wake up to watch the event, but my Roping Dummy brought up my coffee and the laptop this morning and said, "Here's the dress."  He knew that was what I really wanted to see.  And the tiara.  Now the tiara was absolutely perfect.  It belonged to the late dowager queen and was from the 30's.  So understated.  So fab.  Her dress wasn't bad either.  Very Princess Grace of her.

But I think back to when Diana was married to Charles and how technology has just changed the whole viewing aspect.  I remember being at my sister's home in San Diego at the time and getting up at some ridiculous hour to watch the wedding.  But that was really the only way to see the dress, etc, immediately.  Now we wake up, go online, and bam there it is.

Now can we all please get back to work????-:)

The Cecils

"Mickey" by Cecil Aldin

"Pup with Indigestion" by Cecil Aldin

"Mona & Harrison Williams - Palm Palm Springs" by Cecil Beaton

"Dorothy Hirshon" by Cecil Beaton

Sharing two of my favorite artists with you:  Cecil Aldin and Cecil Beaton.

I've posted Cecil Aldin's work before.  He was famous for his drawings/paintings of animals, usually dogs but also he did a lot of work for hunters (as in fox hunting).  His animals are always so animated and I just want to hug them.

Cecil Beaton is probably best known as a photographer.  He photographed everyone from Queen Elizabeth as a young woman to Babe Paley and other socialites of his day.  He was also a set designer for films.  My Fair Lady with Audrey Hepburn is one of his films.  But I like his drawings and paintings the best.  His painting style is now considered fashion illustration.  I don't care what you call it, but I like it.

Thanks for the feedback on the Lego Room.  I'll keep you posted.  If I have the courage, I'll take the "before" picture and post it along side the "after" picture.  But I'm working up the courage to share the disaster area online.

Revamping the Lego Room

Do you like this room?

from Houzz

We have three bedrooms in our home.  The third one is supposed to be my office, but it has been taken over by any number of items a family member wants to make dissappear but perhaps not throw away.  As a result, I can barely walk through this room without tripping.  The CO Boy has dumped a bunch of Legos in the room along with a Hot Wheels race track.  He goes into the room to play with them and now he refers to the room as the Lego Room.  sigh....

I'm working up the courage and fortitude to clean out this room and reclaim it for my office/writing/art space. You know how they talk about Man Caves for guys?  Well this will be my Girl Cubby, as I could never be happy in a cave, but I could be happy in a small space of my own such as "the cupboard underneath the stairs" ala Harry Potter.  I don't need a lot of room.  In fact I LIKE small spaces and always have. 

So now I'm looking at images to inspire my Girl Cubby.  It needs to be cozy for certain.  I like to write on my laptop on the bed with pillows behind me or on the couch with pillows.  So a bed or daybed is a must.  No writing desk but need a place to put computer things such as printer, scanner, etc.

The room has a beautiful big window and faces South so you get lots of sun.  A good thing for me.  Still undecided about color.  Pink?   French Blue?  What?

So look at these photos and tell me what you think?  What makes a room feel cozy and make you not want to leave it?

Again with Room #1 - There are many things I like about this room.  Bookshelves, pillows, even the wallpaper.

Room 2 - I like the day bed and the vibrant color.  Wavering on the color though.  Not quite warm enough.

image from Houzz


Room 3 - The color obviously makes me happy.  Again with the bed.  Is this too orderly for my creative, messy mind?

image from Houzz

Room 4 - Again with the color.  This has more of an office feel to it.  I like the giant bulletin board which is framed and I like how the work area is facing the window.  But not very cozy, huh?  Efficient, but not so cozy.

image from Houzz

Room 5 - This is Kim's office from Daisy Cottage.  She loves red and yellow and black.  It's inviting.

image from Houzz

So what do you think?  Which one do you like and why?  What makes a room cozy, but not so cozy that you fall asleep and don't do any work (a problem that could definitely arise!)

Off to work at the tea room now...

PS:  It was 80 degrees yesterday and we are expecting snow this afternoon. Sigh...again.