I offer this song as a blessing to everyone for the Winter/Summer Solstice and to wish you all a happy, restful, and healthy Christmas and New Year. Thank you for all your wonderful posts, comments and friendship this year and always.
My posts have been very sparse of late, and will continue to be for some time to come, but I have kept up with reading your posts and responding as often as I can.
Instead of sending Christmas cards this year, I am contributing to Alzheimer’s Society: UK’s leading charity for dementia care and research, offering a support line (0333 150 3456), local groups, and funding research for all dementia types.
My donation will be based on the number of cards I would have sent, plus the number of responses to this post. To ensure that I am not made bankrupt by AI bots I will set a maximum limit!
On 23 April Nina wrote her poem, Unsung Heroes, and commented as follows:
*I felt really emotional writing this. Sometimes, Napowrimo feels like a mental excavation and it gets overwhelming when you try and write as authentically as you can. Is it just me? Anyway, it’s a really rough write that needs editing but like a lot of my writes this month, I’ve posted them as is.
“I think this is an amazing piece of writing Nina which reads perfectly and powerfully. I would like to record it as a Spoken Word if I may, and repost it? I particularly like “Death too lurks everywhere as if with a daily quota to tick but sometimes someone’s soul will say not today, Death. Not today.”
Nina said OK, so here it is
Unsung Heroes
So many of them walk among us.
Death too lurks everywhere as if with a daily quota to tick but sometimes someone’s soul will say not today, Death. Not today.
The paramedic who does CPR just in time. The woman who pulls you out of the way of a bus. The lifeguard who drags you out of the current. The allies, the valiant, acting on instinct.
Those who can talk you back from the brink as you stand on a precipice not knowing how you got there.
The deep-sea divers in Thailand some years ago who saved that group of thirteen and braved the flooded cave, the valour, the strength, the resolve it took. I cannot fathom such heroism.
Someone says the odds are slim but courage says let us try, let us try we have to, because we must.
And it’s true that fortune favours the brave for something on high steps in and says I’ll help you.
The firefighters, the soldiers, the freedom fighters performing feats of grit and mettle looking death square in the eye. They signed up for it but how hard it must be to keep your cool in the face of jeopardy and know that one false move means you would perish too.
That is some steel will, right there – Timing, it’s all about timing, isn’t it? One second too late and then –
And of course the good, good parents doing their best every day, all their days the single mothers, the lone fathers guardians, keepers, teachers, carers cos that’s where it all begins with those who keep a watchful eye and do their part to plant the good, good seeds.
Tonight is Burns Night and I’m sharing a rare picture of a Haggis in flight. They are very timid beasts so we are privileged to see her.
Today it seems appropriate that we should look at the Scottish bagpipe, and also honour Rabbie Burns, so I’ve borrowed Neil Clark of Falkirk Piping to introduce, and play, Ye Banks And Braes O’ Bonnie Doon.
Just look how well used that volume of Burns is. You do not see that so often nowadays.
Isn’t his Scots brogue lovely!
Neil was a piper in The Scots Guards and now has his own Falkirk piping tuition school. Neil decided to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support after his army friend died of cancer. He ran 12 marathons in 12 months, and made the touching gesture of piping a 5km stretch during his final run on Thursday, March 22 2018.
It used to be amazing
but now it’s Amazon
The Christmas lights are blazing
but the magic’s mostly gone
The World’s become so greedy
it’s everyone for self
we oft forget the needy
and leave them on the shelf
We eat ‘til we are bursting
whilst others have no food
and some are even thirsting
our values seem quite skewed
So, next year, help the have nots
just see what you can do
because there’s lots and lots and lots
less fortunate than you!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, even those who do not celebrate. I am thankful for all those who give their time and/or money to help those less fortunate than themselves, not seeking acknowledgment or reward. May the whole world be more tolerant and more understanding of the needs of so many who cannot, for whatever reason, help themselves.
Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs. This week the prompt is Elevator Music.
If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.
Now, I have a big problem with this week’s prompt.We do not have elevators in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and I understand that Elevator Music does not have lyrics.Furthermore, Elevator Music is deemed to have ceased to exist with effect from 2009 when Muzac filed for bankruptcy, however they were rescued by Mood Media in 2011, although they ceased trading as Muzac in 2013.
We do have Lifts in the UK but most of our buildings have so few floors that it is hardly worth listening to just a few bars of indeterminate music.Instead, we…
Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs. This week, from his options of Give /Get /Take /Receive /Send I’ve chosen to link to the word TAKE.
If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.
I imagine you’ve all heard of Phil Collins, the drummer, and backing vocals singer, for the rock band Genesis, who rather reluctantly took over as lead singer when Peter Gabriel left the band in August 1975.
The rest, as they say, is history. He had tremendous success as the lead singer, went on to have a very successful solo career, and also formed the Phil Collins Big Band. Despite his popular success he was often slated by the critics and even dubbed “The most hated man in rock” by the Daily Telegraph.
I guess he is, in British terms, a Marmite star. You either love him, or hate him. I happen to love him!
I am sharing with you the song Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) This version is linked to the film Against all Odds directed by Taylor Hackford and starring Rachel Ward, Jeff Bridges, James Woods, Alex Karras and Jane Greer.
There is a second version below, performed at Live Aid in 1985. He had a rather hectic schedule that day, performing at both the London, and Philadelphia concerts!
Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)
How can I just let you walk away Just let you leave without a trace? When I stand here taking every breath with you, ooh ooh You’re the only one who really knew me at all
How can you just walk away from me When all I can do is watch you leave? ‘Cause we’ve shared the laughter and the pain And even shared the tears You’re the only one who really knew me at all
So take a look at me now Well there’s just an empty space And there’s nothing left here to remind me Just the memory of your face Ooh, take a look at me now Well there’s just an empty space And you coming back to me is against the odds And that’s what I’ve got to face
I wish I could just make you turn around Turn around and see me cry There’s so much I need to say to you So many reasons why You’re the only one who really knew me at all
So take a look at me now Well there’s just an empty space And there’s nothing left here to remind me Just the memory of your face
Now Take a look at me now ‘Cause that’s just an empty space But to wait for you is all I can do And that’s what I’ve got to face
Take a good look at me now ‘Cause I’ll still be standing here And you coming back to me is against all odds It’s the chance I’ve got to take Take a look at me now
On 13th July 1985, Collins took part in the Live Aid concerts, a continuation of the fundraising effort started by Band Aid. Collins was the only performer to appear at the London concert at Wembley Stadium, and the U.S. concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia on the same day. After he performed “Against All Odds” and “In the Air Tonight” and sang alongside Sting, Collins travelled to Philadelphia via Concorde to perform his solo material, play drums for Clapton, and drum with Plant and Jimmy Page for a Led Zeppelin reunion.
Broadcast across the world via one of the largest satellite link-ups of all time, the concerts were seen by around 40% of the global population.
In this video you will see a rare bum note in his playing, and he was accused of not rehearsing properly for the American end of his busy day. I think he can be excused for that!
For Paddy, and all those unsung heroes who are the salt of the earth, thanks to Colleen for introducing some of them to us.
We approached an Irish monument. I’m always excited to see the world as it used to be, or relics of it and use my imagination to create how I think it was. It was late in the day and only stragglers wandered about. As I stepped through the gates I could see an elderly man […]
Time again for Helen’s great challenge to come up with a Song Lyric Sunday memory for the theme of “first”. You can hear all the fabulous entries by clicking above.
I’ve recently taken the drastic step of clearing out all of my DVD’s and, dare I say it, my VINYLS!!!!!!!!!
I gave them all to my favourite charity shop and I hope that, not only do they raise a tidy sum for the charity but, they give lots of pleasure to many people. My, were they heavy!
I still have lots of music on reel to reel tapes, and on cassettes. I never had 8 track, or mini disc. I will, eventually dispose of those too.
All my memories of vinyl and dvd’s are now in my iTunes library, so for this week I searched there. This is what I came up with!
Now I don’t know about you, but, I always found the Bee Gees to be an unpleasant group to look at. I found them rather ugly. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe it’s a man thing. Maybe I’m talking rubbish. They were, however, superb singers, and their harmonies were sublime.
Anyway, to spare my eyes, at least, I have chosen a recording that doesn’t show them at all. It does, however, include the lyrics. I hope you enjoy it.
Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs. This week, from his options of Give /Get /Take /Receive /Send I’ve chosen to link to the word TAKE.
Time again for Helen’s great challenge to come up with a Song Lyric Sunday memory for the theme of 
Peter's pondering 
