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Post by Cornflake on May 14, 2023 7:31:47 GMT -5
Good morning, sleepyheads. Happy Mothers Day. There may be some mothers here. It's in the high 60s at the moment and will peak in the 90s. This afternoon we'll have all three offspring and one daughter's fiance here to honor my wife. Enjoy the day.
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Post by howard lee on May 14, 2023 7:33:44 GMT -5
Things are looking up. Have a happy day.
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Post by millring on May 14, 2023 7:56:58 GMT -5
I had to look up the dates to see if I was anywhere near right. I was pretty close. It was the summer of '68 or '69. That means I was about to turn 12 or 13. It was either the year of "The Summer Brothers Smothers Show" or it was the summer of the "Glen Campbell GoodTime Hour". Unusually (for the Bauman family, anyway) we actually had a Television by then. When dad was alive we had two kinds of TV -- none, and ones that didn't work... ...AND we were allowed to watch the summer replacement show for the Smothers Brothers comedy show -- even though we were never allowed to watch the actual Smother Brothers show. I remember this because I really loved Glen Campbell's music back then. In my defense (and I'm feeling the need for one), treacly abominations like "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Country Boy (You've Got Your Feet In LA...)" were still years in the future. In 1968-69 Glen Campbell meant "Gentle On My Mind", "By The Time I Get To Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman" and other such greats that have more than stood the test of time. Anyway, there we sat watching the show and Glen came on singing another song I used to love..."Dreams Of The Everyday Housewife" As I remember it, I turned to mom and said, "I love this song". I'm not sure why I said anything except for the fact that, unlike many teens in that era -- an era that actually coined the phrase "generation gap" -- though mom didn't share my love of contemporary pop music, two things were true: 1. She did like good music -- good songs. She didn't reject music simply because it was current. No, she didn't like much of what was produced in the 60s, but from time to time she would give a nod to a good song. 2. I liked most of mom's favorite music (except opera  ). Unlike most kids my age who rejected the music of their parents, I actually loved it. I loved the big band records -- Dorsey, Miller, Goodman, etc -- that mom had around the house. And I love Broadway musicals of the time. So, I suppose, that's why I would have turned to mom with a tacit question in my observation "I like this (do you?)" And I was really quite surprised by her response. I guess I should say, I wasn't surprised that she might not like a song I liked. What I was surprised at was that she so VEHEMENTLY didn't like it. She said, "That song has exactly the wrong perspective on life." Now, I was thinking this whole thing out from a boy's point of view. I was seeing a male singer's expression of self-abasement while praising his wife's self-abnegation. I was seeing a husband's humility at not being capable of giving a wonderful wife the life he thought she deserved. But mom would have none of it. "First, she didn't give up "the good life". The things she "gave up" as described in the song are not "the good life". Family life is "the good life", she said. "The things the song says she "gave up" are material ... not what matters in this life. The life of the actual everyday housewife is the very life of value and meaning. The very." Well, I couldn't really dismiss my initial perspective. I'm a guy who to some extent sort of lived out the song. As a fellow who chose to make a living by my creativity and wits, I unintentionally gave Dar a much harder life than she deserved. I'm a guy. I guess I'll always be hampered by that missing stem of a Y chromosome. Besides, I was always going to love the song. I was addicted to maj7th chords at a very early age. And to this day, I've never gotten over them. But now, given the distance of time, and the 20/20 perspective it affords, I've got to say that the IMPLICATIONS of mom's point of view TOTALLY flew over my head at the time. The implications of mom's point of view are mind-blowing. That is, mom believed that the "dreams of the everyday housewife" are fulfilled in being what she was -- not in wanting or wishing or lamenting the passing or unattainability of some romantic "other life". It was in the satisfaction and fulfillment achieved in who she already was. And here's the mind-blowing part: This woman, left behind by a man who left her with very few material prospects for hers and her family's future, her father a disinterested, disengaged, and unsympathetic retiree living a life of ease and disconnect from his distance in Florida, and her with 4 kids still at home to care for... This woman who had to take a bookkeeping job so that she could maintain the roles of BOTH provider AND caregiver... ...rather than feeling a sympathy for Glen Campbell's poor everyday housewife who gave up the good life... ...STILL somehow saw herself living "the good life". The very good life. And even in those toughest of circumstances -- that night in 1969 -- her having been widowed but 2 years before.... as we sat watching that TV show, having just eaten the dinner she fixed that evening, in the house she kept clean, wearing clothes she both paid for and laundered... ...and her sitting with us watching the TV show (but you just know she had to be contemplating that she would be getting up again at 5 AM to fix our school lunches before she went off to work yet another Monday)... ...and yet she saw herself living the good life. And she wouldn't budge from the position. She believed it. She lived it. As a son, I'm amazed. What she was really telling me was that, to her, even I was worth it. And her life showed it. |
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Post by Marty on May 14, 2023 8:29:11 GMT -5
Good morning 50F-67F raining The girls say they'll be here by 10:00 to make brunch, we'll see. I' have been making progress on the bandsaw. I haven't oiled the bearings in that thing in 20 years so while I'm setting it up again might as well do that too. Just might get it done before the girls get here. Happy Mothers Day you Mothers.  Somebody had to do it. |
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Tamarack
Administrator
Ancient Citizen
Posts: 9,390
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Post by Tamarack on May 14, 2023 8:35:13 GMT -5
Sunny, cooler day predicted.
Off to church followed by a brief nap before granddaughters descend. Our Mothers Day gift to our DIL is a couple of hours of child-free time. Chinese take-out for a sumptuous feast to honor the Mother Of My Children and Mothers of My Grandchildren.
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Post by John B on May 14, 2023 8:48:16 GMT -5
Happy Mother's Day to Jan and Katherine, the only two mothers I know have frequented this forum on occasion.
John, that is an amazing post.
Not much on the agenda today except to call Mom and coerce the kids into helping build some outdoor umbrellas and stands. Then dinner out at a hibachi grill.
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Post by billhammond on May 14, 2023 9:24:08 GMT -5
Howdy, what was supposed to be a sunny day is gonna get a late start, looks like. Oh, well, I had nothing outdoorsy planned anyhoo, just a Trader Joe's run and a stop at Target, I guess, for a new computer mouse. I was SHOCKED, I tell you, that my neighborhood Ace hardware store doesn't carry them -- the senior floor sales guy looked mildly disgusted when I asked.
The Indycar race on the Indy road course yesterday was a barn-burner. Today's motorsport indulgence will be an IMSA event from Laguna Seca, such a great track.
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on May 14, 2023 9:39:00 GMT -5
Up, coffee and Wordle. Going to be hot here today. Ran the sprinklers on the lawn and flower beds for the first time this morning. Looks like everything worked as it should. Turned on the AC yesterday. That too seems to be working. So for now, all is in order.
Had a nice moms day brunch with the family yesterday at Nita’s sisters place in Wilsonville. So far, my seasonal allergies have not kicked in, so we could enjoy alfresco dining. But any day now, and benidryl will be my friend.
Mike
Wordle 694 3/6
🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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Post by paleo on May 14, 2023 9:45:49 GMT -5
Good morning on a gray, chilly, miserably looking day here. The forecasters keep predicting rain and then pushing the timing of it out.
Nothing exciting planned for today, originally the weather looked good for grilling steak this afternoon, now the forecast looks like I'll be cooking them in the air fryer.
I need to get a couple songs ready for Todd's open mic next Friday. I have to stay away from songs that Todd might play, like, Almost Heaven, Best Virginia.
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Post by billhammond on May 14, 2023 9:51:21 GMT -5
I have to stay away from songs that Todd might play, like, Almost Heaven, Best Virginia. I think Todd sings it as Worst Virginia, doesn't he?  |
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Post by drlj on May 14, 2023 9:54:54 GMT -5
Dreary looking out there. Good day for some music.
Enjoy it.
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Post by John B on May 14, 2023 10:14:47 GMT -5
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Post by paleo on May 14, 2023 10:55:24 GMT -5
I have to stay away from songs that Todd might play, like, Almost Heaven, Best Virginia. I think Todd sings it as Worst Virginia, doesn't he? We'll have wait and see, but I might be banned from the open mic after my comment! |
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Post by martinfever on May 14, 2023 11:39:13 GMT -5
Almost Heaven, West Virginia is a wonderful opening line, IMO.
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Post by Rob Hanesworth on May 14, 2023 11:44:08 GMT -5
I never knew my Mother. She left before I was born.
(Okay, that might not be true.)
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Post by billhammond on May 14, 2023 11:54:11 GMT -5
Rodney D: "I tell ya, I was an ugly kid, ugly baby -- when I was born, the doctor slapped my mother!"
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Post by dradtke on May 14, 2023 12:17:20 GMT -5
The Chicago kids were here last week, so today is recovery day.
2-1/2 year old Max was "helping" me put a bike rack on my daughter's car, and while we were working she called me "Dad." Max corrected her, "That's Grandpa."
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Post by concertinagirl on May 14, 2023 12:34:20 GMT -5
Happy Mother's Day to Jan and Katherine, the only two mothers I know have frequented this forum on occasion. John, that is an amazing post. Not much on the agenda today except to call Mom and coerce the kids into helping build some outdoor umbrellas and stands. Then dinner out at a hibachi grill. Thank you, John. I am having a lovely Mother's Day weekend. |
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Post by david on May 14, 2023 15:47:40 GMT -5
A windy 88 F here and will get warmer yet.
I thought I had posted this a.m. right after Mike, but I guess I did not hit "send." Anyway, great post, John. I bet your wife has similar thoughts as your mother does.
Happy Mothers' Day to Jan and all the other moms out there.
Office work is done, or at least reduced. We will be off to see the grandbaby soon.
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Post by TKennedy on May 14, 2023 16:25:38 GMT -5
I had a good one. No one loves ya like your Mom.  |
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). Unlike most kids my age who rejected the music of their parents, I actually loved it. I loved the big band records -- Dorsey, Miller, Goodman, etc -- that mom had around the house. And I love Broadway musicals of the time.
