White Daisies

I'm not familiar with Rocky Votolato.

So I'm not sure I can vouch for his music as a whole.

...But I could listen to this song all day.



Oh wait. I just did.


♥

Charity

Nat, volume 2

Good news on the Nathaniel front.

After thinking about it a while, I poked around my vinyl collection yesterday and found this little gem. I completely forgot I had it!

The greatest hits! Volume one AND two.

Ooooo-da-lolie!

Not only does it have all the songs I mentioned last time, but some more of my favorites... The Very Thought of You, For Sentimental Reasons, When I Fall in Love, and Stardust. The latter is one of his best, in my opinion. In it, I am transported to a garden at twilight and told the bittersweet story of love lost and it's endless haunting. I can barely listen to that one without being effected. Forget about when it plays in the "Sleepless in Seattle" soundtrack! Pass the kleenex!

Anyway, not only can I stop googling him like a psycho, but I also get to enjoy the vinyl version with all its patina and character. 

Snap crackle pop.

8/23/11 Update: Oh hello. Last week I discovered grooveshark.com. Wait a minute. You mean I can search by artist, and listen to full tracks as many times as I want... for FREE? Sign me up!
Oh... you say there is no sign up? Even better! :0)

I still listen to pandora when I want a bit of variety, but I if I have something specific I want to listen to, grooveshark is the place. Check it out here.

Over and out.

Wee folk in the garden

I know. It's been awhile.

I've been in one of those weird funky transitional thought-provoking places in my life lately. When you find yourself in a place like this, things tend to get discussed into the ground, so I would rather not talk about it, if you don't mind. Let's take a break from that and talk about some slightly more superficial but much funner things.

Like this. I just found this website, They Draw and Cook via The Pioneer Woman.
It's a fun little place where people share their favorite recipes, which they have also illustrated! I love browsing through the little works of art.

This particular example is by Lindsay Schmitt

I haven't wasted nearly as many hours there as I would like to yet. But it holds promise. The recipes don't look too bad either. I suppose no one is interested in spending an hour or two in devoted doodling or watercolor to anything like... chicken nuggets. You would probably have to like the meal quite a bit.

After our Saturday coffee this morning, I decided to do a little window shopping. So the family and I headed to a home decor type place for which I had received a gift card for my birthday... about three months ago. Usually, I am bent toward being frugal, and usually, I would save my gift card until I actually needed or wanted something in particular. But I decided to do it a little differently this time, and have a little shopping spree, with nothing particular in mind. I ended up coming home with a tea strainer, a colander in the color of robin-egg-blue, a bar of dark chocolate, some decaf earl grey from Twinings, and a wind chime. I looked in my grab bag as we left the store and laughed at the... variety of items. Just some treats for me, I guess you'd call it.

Update on Fred. Mainly for your amusement.

He produced one gloriously delicious, deep red, organic tom-mah-to, which accounted for about 1/6 of a greek salad one night for dinner. I was kind of excited to finally eat of his fruits, and kind of apprehensive, since I hadn't seen any other fruits eager to burst forth. Surely I wouldn't have to wait three months between tomatoes - that wasn't gonna work for me.

Within a week or so, this little guy showed up.  Notice anything out of the ordinary?

Well, besides the fact that he is about 1 cm wide, how about the fact that he's already turning red? :) So much for this one. Apparently he doesn't have ambitions much higher than being a small something stuck between my teeth. God forbid I should drop him on the floor, I would loose him completely.

Also disheartening is the fact there are no other little fruits to speak of. Nothing. The branches are otherwise barren and slowly falling off to die.

...So much for patio gardening! I give up. Again!

Although I confess to eyeballing the herb seeds at the store this morning. If you remember, my theory with Fred was that he was already an adolescent, and I hoped he would last longer because of that. Maybe my new approach should be to find a plant with a life cycle already so small, there is no way I could shorten it.

_________________________________________________

In a completely unrelated note, I found myself humming Nat King Cole's "Too Young" last night. I was enjoying it so much in my mind, I decided to find it online. All I found was this cheesy video, which I just listened to. A couple times.

Well, how can you only have one song's worth of Nat King Cole? I ended up searching Autumn Leaves and of course, Nature Boy. That song. That song makes me want to cry. It gives me goosepimples. I really love that one.

I've also been kind of enjoying the Indie Singer-Songwriter Channel of pandora.com lately. It's cool to listen to new music mixed in with some familiar tunes. And the Indie stuff is, in general, alot prettier than the tripe that makes it on the radio lately. Although I must note that Joel says grooveshark.com is a better player. I'll have to look into it.

I guess it might be time to invest in some new music. And some seeds.

...maybe Nature Boy can give me gardening advice.

A cuppa java

Does anyone in the world (besides me) know that old song:
I love coffee, I love tea, I love the java jive and it loves me...
Coffee and tea and the java and me.
A cuppa cuppa cuppa cuppa cup.

Funny lyrics, I know. I've been singing them to myself the past few days. You probably think I'm a little crazy at this point. I grew up on AMC. So part of my soul is from the 40s. Maybe that explains it. ;)

Anyway... on a slightly related note:

My sweet husband wanted to surprise me last month. So he contacted my friend Linda, who is an artist currently living in PA. (Here is her website!) He asked her about the possibility of procuring one of her pieces and she said very kindly - I'll send something right over!

A few days later, a box arrived in the mail and inside was the most wonderful ceramic mug I think I've ever seen.

So whimsical and unique! I didn't want to drink out of it at first. Such a special thing - I was afraid of getting it dirty. But, I knew it was meant to be functional, and it would be ashame if it wasn't used. So eventually I got up the courage, and now I use it every day. It's My Cup.

The pattern is very cool. Kind of ...scaly. Knowing Linda it probably has something to do with intestinal villi. I like the fact that it's half glazed and not. That gives it more depth. I like the small handle. Surprisingly light in the hand. Very cool. I dig it. I think what I like most about it is how it reminds me of my friend... and I'm so honored she would share her art with me. Thanks Lopez!

 ...Oh look. I found it. Time for another little latte. :)

Media Monday: Harry Nilsson

"The Point" is an animated movie made in the 70s. But it made a small comeback during the late 80s when I was a young impressionable girl. It's a really great story about a boy named Oblio, who is different then everyone else in his village, and gets banned to the Pointless Forest where he looks for the Point of it all. He ends up meeting several interesting characters in the forest who offer him their perspective on life... and what the point might be. Come to think of it, it seems pretty philosophical for a kid's movie. And it was a little psychedelic too. Haha. Maybe it wasn't exactly a kids' movie. But a good movie nonetheless and a great soundtrack.

So it was here, as a 7 or 8 year old girl, that I was introduced to the music of Harry Nilsson. His folksy voice and catchy tunes really got a hold of me. He died in 1994, and shortly after his death, the movie You've Got Mail featured 2 or 3 of his songs in their soundtrack. Watching the movie in my teens, I was reminded of him again, and came to love his music. He had an amazing vocal range, and he often did his own harmonies, which helps keep them really tight. Some of his albums are a little more... hardcore. I think there was a time he was experimenting with some heavy drugs and his music really turned to crap later in life. So... I usually pick and choose which songs I listen too. This is definitely a situation where buying songs separately, rather than albums would be better (in my opinion).

Sample here (The Puppy Song, Everybody's Talkin, Me and My Arrow)

Media Monday: Nick Drake

I don't remember the first time I heard Nick Drake's haunting voice. Maybe it was watching Serendipity or Garden State. Maybe it was in a mall or in the background of some mod-feeling tech commercial on TV. But somewhere along the way, I took notice. I probably googled the lyrics just to find out his name. His voice had so much depth and character. He draws you in with his melancholy songs in minor key. I got lost in the sound of his smooth smoky voice. It's perfect rainy day stuff... you know what I mean. A few months ago, I found myself watching a documentary about his life, A Skin Too Few. I think it was during the movie that I realized what a tragic life he led, and how it tragically ended. Unfortunately, Nick never got to enjoy his success. It's almost completely posthumous. But that almost adds to the depth of his sad songs. He didn't have time to release much music, but that makes each song more of a gem. Sample here: (Northern Sky, Day is Done, Time has told Me, One of these Things)

Media Monday: Swell Season

Well it's Tuesday again. Must be time for another Media Monday. Haha.

I first heard Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova sing their beautiful song "Falling Slowly" while watching the Oscars a couple of years ago. The song was so haunting I remember stopping whatever I was doing to just listen. And thinking, "Wow, these kids are good." Later that night they won an Academy Award for Best Original Song! Well, I'm pretty sure we added the movie ~ Once ~ to our Netflix que almost immediately. It's a cute movie, but the soundtrack is what's really entertaining. I think they actually made the movie around the soundtrack! Anyway... these days the couple have joined forces with Glen's old band The Frames and the accumulation equals The Swell Season. We saw them in concert last year in Oakland, which was terribly exciting. They are very charming and gifted people. Very down-to-earth. Being partly Irish doesn't hurt either. =0)

You can sample their current CD on their website, but don't miss sampling the soundtrack of Once (Falling Slowly, Lies, When Your Mind's Made Up).
Cheers.

Inauguration of Awesomeness

OK. It's time for my first installment of a little something I like to call

*Media Monday*

I know what you're thinking - "Charity - How can you start something called Media Monday today. It's a Tuesday."

Well, I was gonna start it yesterday, but the epiphany came to me a little late in the day. I usually can only guarantee same-day service on epiphanies if they happen in the morning... and I don't want to wait til next week... because I'm too excited.

Back to the matter at hand.

Media Monday was originally gonna be Music Monday, a place where I took the opportunity to share with you some of my favorite albums or songs, usually by little-known up and coming or indie bands. Mostly because mainstream just gives me a headache and I like to share art - even the musical kind.

But then I thought - I like movies too. What if one Monday, I'm all like "Man, I wish it was called Movie Monday instead of Music Monday, so I could share this awesome flic I just saw."

That is how Media Monday was born. The best of both worlds...

Anyhoo. If you're my FB friend, you've already got this link from me. But I just really heart this music and kinda want to share it with the entire world.

Always been a Zooey Deschanel fan. Have you seen Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy yet? DOH. I'll have to save that for another week. ;)

Anyway... I bring you:

She&Him 

You can sample some somgs here