All Shook Up!

Wish this was a springtime photo and the black walnut was leafed out, but it's what I have. Our little humble abode. The view from the picture window in the living room is always beautiful. The other day I saw my very first Indigo Bunting! Have never even seen a bluebird around here. Then I discovered at the top of our triple-trunked White Birch are two holes, no doubt made by woodpeckers ... and I got the binoculars out and stared upwards forever trying to see the little flitting bird going in and out ... but it took a really long time to pinpoint that it was a chickadee ... one hole is really big and I do see several woodpeckers around, but I'm not sure if they would share living space that close together?

Today is the Full Moon ... wish I had an old Farmers Almanac to find its "name", like Strawberry Moon, Wolf Moon, (and I know it's not the Harvest Moon) but it has been an awesome sight out there shining brightly. It felt good to do some weeding in the flower beds over the weekend. The Muguet des Bois/Lily of the Valley smells heavenly and the lilacs, esp the French Hybrid dark blooms, smell blissful. I put some together in a small vase and about drove myself mad!

So many memories in this little home. I had a 40% off coupon at Borders for a CD and strangely enough bought one by Elvis--the Golden Hits of the 50s. Realized that was only the 2nd time I'd bought Elvis in 50 years! Yes! I was 6 years old when I gave my Dad three of my own $1's and had him buy these three 45 records for me on his way home from work:

All Shook Up by Elvis Presley

Lipstick on Your Collar by Connie Francis

and

The Battle of New Orleans by Johnny Horton.

All Shook Up, of course, is on this new CD of mine, as well as Hound Dog, the one my brother liked to sing when he was really little (he'd sing: "you ain't nuthin' but a hound dogga")

I remember 6 yrs ago when I was one of the Maid of Honors at his wedding, they had karoake at his wedding reception and, for the first time ever singing karoake, I got up and sang "All Shook Up" and dedicated it to my brother...I saw him immediately leave the bldg (Dana has left the bldg) with some buddies of his. Guess he couldn't take the nostalgia of it all. But I certainly knew the words to that song! ("my insides shakin' like a leaf on a tree!"--who knew it could relate to high anxiety later in life, eh?)

And as long as I'm into the nostalgia, I was telling Jeff this morning about my very first story I ever made up (that I can remember) and how every time, I'd go up to my Mom and whisper in her ear (and already she'd start laughing because she KNEW what it was going to be): "I wanna tell you a story!" Here is that story for the first time written down, folks. It is very short, so bear with me, OK?

"Once there was a man and the man had a dog...and the man took the dog for a walk.

The man said, 'What's your name?'

And the dog said, 'My name is Picklesucktoe!' "

and, of course, just as I would say the dog's name, I'd start laughing hysterically and so would Mama and this would go on for months. I think I was trying to make her laugh whenever I could. I tend to do that even now to friends ... and definitely to the doctors I work for (hey! they need it!) so I never went on to become a famous author, or a famous singer, or a famous anything, but I can still sing "All Shook Up" and still remember a story I made up when I was probably 3 or 4. I sleep in the room I first slept in when I was 11 days old. I sit here in the "Blue Room" typing this to "you" in the room I was probably conceived in.

Shit, man! Maybe I need to make some changes? Move far away or ... nah! That's not gonna happen. I sat out in the old McIntosh apple tree last weekend and smelled the blossoms' heady perfume and whistled at some tanagers ... sat at Dad's old picnic table we gave him for Father's Day--his last one--hey! that's the ticket! I'll paint the picnic table and we'll have a picnic soon! And I'll take the little boom box outside and blast away Elvis songs and do the twist out in the orchard! It'll be a blast from the past in the present! and what a gift that is to me!

Sending love out there from your

SisSTAR!

xoxo