Scattered Thoughts . . .

Whenever I think of autumn and traditions, I am reminded of fond memories of fallen leaves covering the ground, cool crisp air, playing touch football in the street and seasonal "Peanuts" episodes.  Naturally, "Peanuts" reminds me of Schroeder playing his favorite Beethoven pieces but there are two other songs from the "Peanuts" episodes which were written by Vince Guaraldi that always come to mind this time of year...  First is the show's theme which is called "Linus and Lucy". Most people refer to this piece as "The Charlie Brown Theme" but that is actually a different piece! The well-known "Peanuts"  theme is actually called "Linus and Lucy". Also, I am quickly reminded of another piece called "Getting Ready" so I'm sharing both of these recordings here in the same blog entry. So, in the spirit of autumn and halloween, here are two clips I recorded on piano back a number of years ago....

Back in 2001, Billy Joel published an album called "Fantasies and Delusions" which is a complete album of classical compositions rather than the pop, pop/rock, and ballads for which Billy Joel has always been known. This was a complete departure from his three decades of previously published music and, in my opinion, this "Fantasies and Delusions" album is perhaps his best.  If you've never listened to this album... search for it online... and listen. The album really is a beautiful album in the style of classical music of the Romantic period of the late 19th century. Admittedly, I'm not much of a fan of classical music, generally speaking, but I do occasionally enjoy some music of this Romantic period... Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Debussy, Schumann, etc... when the mood for something on the quiet side strikes me. Billy Joel's romantic style of classical music composition really is beautiful and I often find myself listening to this albu

Those whom have known me my entire life will probably be surprised by this but I haven't touched a piano in three years. Those whom have only known me in recent years will probably be surprised by the fact that they had no idea I ever was an accomplished pianist. The truth is that until three years ago, I had accomplished quite a bit as a pianist throughout my life but it was a rather quiet side of my life.  I've performed with many outstanding musicians. I've performed for quite a few dignitaries. I've won many awards. I've performed and competed in the classical music world. I've performed in rock bands. I've performed with the US Air Force. I've performed in concert bands, orchestras and marching bands. I've performed with Top-40 bands. I've performed jazz. I've performed at events, weddings and countless parties. I've performed with some amazing R&B groups. I've even performed with a few choral groups. To be honest, however,

We awoke this morning to a light, but crunchy, layer of snow covering everything. Our Christmassy weather has finally begun! Sheila and I are both feeling pretty good this morning so, in the spirit of our newfound Christmassy weather, we might take the grandkids out Christmas shopping this afternoon to see where their interests lie at age 4. This will give us a better idea of what to get them for Christmas this year (in addition to the usual staples of trains and dolls... which we've already purchased for this Christmas).  After shopping, we'll come home and I'll make a nice meatloaf dinner for Liza and the kids. Sheila hasn't eaten at all in a few days so hopefully she'll find something she can tolerate today because her stomach is grumbling for some food! I'm hoping for a really nice and pain-free day today...   EDIT:  We've been to Toys 'r Us with the kids this afternoon...  followed by some New York style pizza in South Burlington. Th

Last week, I wrote how Sheila and I have had a rough two months with some relatively 'normal' health stressors for us . What is 'normal' for us is not even close to what is normal for most. Even so, it was a rough couple of months with health nonsense. We had felt as though we were in thick woods for two months and then, suddenly, we emerged into a sunny, colorful meadow... That was a tremendous feeling of relief and very welcomed! Now, less than a week later, we are feeling as though our sunny meadow quickly was overcome by the surrounding forest and now we are a bit lost in a deeper, darker, danker forest.. devoid of sunlight... seeing only tree trunks in front of us blocking our view any farther than we can physically reach with our hands... not knowing which way to go. A few times each day we find ourselves hopeful that we'll find that colorful meadow again but our hopes are consistently and quickly dashed each time.  Suddenly, like during the past two mon

Late last night, my spine suddenly was on fire... I had difficulty getting up out of my chair... I had difficulty sleeping... rolling over was excruciating. Today is even worse. The pain has been absolutely brutal.  The pain is a searing, burning pain in the lower half of my spine... radiating to my hips, around my kidneys and through my groin... whenever I try to put any weight on my legs, my legs experience tremors and the pain instantly jumps to a big fat 10 on the 10 point pain scale.  There are times when I almost ended up on the floor because I could not stand on my feet without actually seeing stars due to the intense pain. Reaching out for the couch, the bed, a chair and the kitchen table helped me keep from being a heap on the floor. This has been an exceptionally bad day. Most times, despite my extensive spinal injuries, I get around just fine (with pain, but I get around just fine) but there are times when my spinal injuries are excruciatingly painful. During these pai

I put together another short video of our train trip this past weekend. I had previously shared a short video of all of us waiting for the train to arrive in Waterbury so now it is time for a short video shot on board our train.  I'm glad I have these clips but, to be honest, these are not my best work and even I find this particular video a bit boring. The problem is that I didn't really have a plan... I just turned the camera on and recorded video hoping that something interesting would happen. There are a few decent memorable moments but nothing riveting... so don't expect anything exciting... it is short though and there are a few memorable moments that I'm glad we had recorded.  At one point, you can see Conductor Adam giving the kids tickets... He had previously come over to us to let us know we would be crossing a river over a bridge soon and that we should look out for it. He explained to Lukey and Kenzie that the bridge was home to a well-known troll. He sa

The second of two used Canon lenses I had purchased arrived the other night and I had a chance to wander outside this morning to see how well it works on my Sony camera body.  Unfortunately, this second Canon lens is not nearly as fast at autofocusing as the first Canon lens I had purchased a few days ago so I'm a bit disappointed. I was hoping this lens would help resolve some of my longer telephoto woes but now I'm not so sure.  I'm definitely keeping that first lens that I played with the other day to use for landscapes, architecture, cityscapes, and maybe even some indoor wide angle photography. This telephoto lens... I don't know... I'm still undecided. The photos are contrasty and sharp which is quite impressive for such an inexpensive lens but the autofocus is so slow on my Sony camera body that I know it would be too slow for its intended purpose... wildlife photos. I don't need blazingly fast autofocus but I do need reasonably fast... acceptable..

As many readers already know, not only do I struggle with a debilitating and incurable illness but Sheila has had breast cancer and continues to deal with all sorts of things related to that. I don't often write about Sheila's journey through cancer on this blog but, today, it is worth mentioning here since she has (we have) had a rough couple of months.  Sheila has been what is referred to as "cancer free" for almost a decade but the lingering symptoms, constant appointments, tests, exams, and anxiously awaiting lab results... on pins and needles... never ends. Our past two months have been like this... yet again. As I've mentioned in previous blog entries, Sheila has lingering problems related to her cancer and cancer treatment as do virtually all cancer patients but some patients have it worse than others. Since a cancer patient will always be a high risk cancer patient because history has proven that those with cancer once are far more likely to develop new

Here is a short video of us waiting  for Amtrak's Vermonter  at the Waterbury train station before boarding for Lukey and Kenzie's first train trip... I will share another video and more photos soon...