Day 7 - 60 -- Quadrennial

Leap Day assists with keeping the calendar in alignment with the earth's journeys around the sun. Every four years this occurs to help keep our days and  years on track. in previous centuries, Leap Day had been declared a day when women could propose marriage to a man rather than the other way around. This is said to have begun in Ireland. Laws even existed stating that men had to pay a fine should they refuse the proposal. The fine could be money or in some countries it consisted of giving 12 pairs of gloves to t he woman who had asked the question. Rumour has it that these gloves served to hide her embarrassment at not having an engagement ring on her hand. While such strict gender roles have softened a bit in some regions, it seems difficult to understand that there may have been a need for such traditions.

The selection for today plays on the name of the day and the traditional role reversal. Enjoy!

Jump Right In -- Zac Brown Band

Day 7 - 59 -- Seasonal Changes Arrive

This morning, ice greeted me as I left the house. The porch had a very thin layer of ice left over from the freezing rain overnight. Parts of the walk to the street involved grass and mud footing, but the majority required a slow penguin walk. Once to the sidewalk, things were clear for the walk into campus. When I got home this evening, salting the remaining icy bits took precedence. I'm hoping that some will melt over the next couple of days, though more snow is forecast for the weeekend and much of next week. Not oodles all at once, mind you, but enough snow to be measurable and moved.

Throughout the day, the sky changed every few minutes. One minute there would be snow and overcast sky and then in just a couple of minutes blue sky with next to no clouds. Major winds blew the cloudy parts across the sky and moved any falling precipitation sideways. Very little accumulated, but there were moments of near white outs when snow fell briefly. By evening that calmed considerably. It truly feels like spring even with storms. The feel of the wind, smell of the air and fluctuating temps signal a seasonal change. Meteorological spring occurs this weekend -- March 1, while astronomical spring falls on the 19th of March. So -- it seems change is afoot.

A song about the changes of spring seemed apropos today.  Lyrics of the one chosen, note the hope heralded by spring changes. It encourages us to look around, see differences and understand our place in the larger change process.The singer did an amazing job with this one. Enjoy!

Season suite: Spring -- John Denver

Day 7 - 58 -- Need Time Expansion

The day has been filled with working to catch up and meet deadlines looming ominously. One report was sent off a day ahead of time <smile>. Practice for a seminar presentation occurred throughout the day -- I present that tomorrow. Edits for a submission needed for next week continue and I feel quite behind in edits for two other writing projects. I hope to get to one of these tomorrow afternoon.

Feeling behind schedule or worse yet, that I am holding up the schedules of others brings stress. There are only so many hours in a day and much as the Beatles would like us to believe, there are not eight days in a week. Having extra hours magically appear would be useful at times like these.  Either extra time or house elves that could help with some work to free up time for the writing work. Yes, I am retired, and chose to work a couple of days a week on research projects. There will be times when deadlines overlap for multiple projects. There will be times when I am away for holiday or health reasons. Such situations will require me to spend more than the usual time allotted to project work. I must remind myself of this regularly. Otherwise, I find that I am stressing about the household and personal projects that I want to spend more time with -- not being kind to myself, but expecting that I can be some type of superhero or magical creature and get it all done. <smile>

Lyrics from the song for today make me wonder what a little extra time would bring. Would I get more done, take more down time, or make projects expand to fit the time? In all likelihood, I would get about the same amount of work done <smile>. Enjoy!

Eight Days a Week -- The Beatles

Day 7 - 57 -- Repairs, and Replicas

Yesterday went well. The first phase of dental repair occurred this afternoon. Chips were repaired as was the broken tooth. It looks OK, but doesn't feel quite like it should. With a bit more polishing things may feel a bait better. Chewing is working better than it has since the injury. So the replicas are not quite as the original -- yet.

The evening brought the night class I'm taking. This week we covered 1966 in the life of the Beatles. The instructor noted that it would have been George Harrison's 77th birthday today. A limited number of Fender stratocasters were released for sale. These are careful reproductions of the day-glo paint job Harrison gave his strat -- often referred to as Rocky. These sell for $25,000USD. Previously the company had made reproductions of his rosewood telecaster.

In class we examined the songs from Revolver. This album showed the growing independence of the group members, developing and recording songs without the full group being present. To honour Harrison's birthday, I've chosen one by Harrison, that showcases his growing interest in traditional Indian music. Enjoy!

Love you to -- The Beatles (George Harrison)

Day 7 - 56 -- Mardi Gras

Laissez le bons temps rouler! Today is Mardi gras. I made these great vegetable pancakes for supper -- flour, milk, egg with grated potato, sweet potato, onion and mushrooms. Cranberry chutney accompanied these -- yum.

This day takes me back to my two visits to New Orleans. As a city that runs on unique food and music traditions, it is no wonder that I feel drawn to the place <smile>. Food styles of cajun, creole and European, Caribbean and indigenous peoples combine to form something so very amazing. Red beans and rice are a favourite and while I've mastered the dry roux without burning it, I don't make gumbo as often as I should. I did get it to the colour of a copper penny, though, the last time. <smile>. I had the most amazing alligator andouille sausage last time I was there. along with callas, gumbo, red fish, catfish, and so many other delights.

Music fills the air no matter where you are in the Quarter and into the Garden District. Every corner has a different sound. Today I narrowed the huge number of potential songs down to two. The first is by a Jersey girl )currently 62 <smile>) who can do a mean zydco beat.  The second is from a New Orleanian. He organized re-homing musicians who lost everything in the flooding after Katrina and Rita. The Musician's Village is located in the lower ninth ward -- all very brightly coloured houses. I had purchased a t-shirt to support the musicians relief fund on my first visit there and was pleased to see this community rebuilding. The t-shirt has a print of Fats Domino's piano -- the keyboard after it was destroyed in the flood. I was drawn to that since that is how my piano died, but in a very different location. Enjoy! 

  Down at the Twist and Shout  -- Mary Chapin Carpenter

Something you got -- Harry Connick, Jr.

Day 7 - 55 -- Relaxing Outdoor Activities

The day began with feeble sunshine through cloud cover. Nearer to noon, the sun became more visible as the cloud thinned. By early afternoon, the sun was blindingly bright.I enjoyed all of these stages of sunshine while outside today. I walked to campus in the early morning and then out to the optometrist to pick up contacts before noon. After lunch, I headed out to an appointment downtown. When I arrived home by mid-afternoon, the icy bits were melting in places. Temperatures felt very spring like. I spent some time encouraging the melting ice to move along elsewhere.

I listened to music most of the time while walking and shoveling today. It helps me to gather my thoughts and feel a bit calmer when things seem a tad overwhelming. Today was a great day for this. The weather brought many smiles and walking helped with deeper breathing. All of this helped me to manage the stress of a pile of items on the desk that need to be addressed this week. <smile>

Today marks 45 years since the release of an album -- the sixth by this band and their first double album. The song chosen for today was on this album, not an earlier one with the same title. <smile> Enjoy!

Houses of the Holy -- Led Zeppelin (from album Physical Graffiti)

Day 7 - 54 -- Staying close

Dan Rather's post today got me thinking about staying in touch when geographically separated. I'm building on his ideas here. Staying connected in such situations can be challenging, especially with flaky technology connections or loss of battery power. On more recent trips overseas, I've checked in with folks back home while traveling. With earlier trips, I had to rely on leaving an itinerary and sending the occasional post card. At that time, even telephone calls became a major production. Often hotels did not allow direct dial to an operator back home. I recall sitting in a small windowless room with a counter, chair, and an ancient metal phone, while trying to make the local operator understand the number I was trying to call. I shared this room with an enormous beetle who seemed as lost as I was. After many failed attempts, we gave up. the operator never did reach a north american operator. Access to wifi in a hotel room has made the process of updating people at home much easier -- as long as the signal held and was strong enough to send the messages.

I've found it comforting at times to know what people are doing throughout their days. Imagining them at work or doing errands can make me feel a bit closer. Luckily current electronic platforms can help with sharing our daily plans with others, which facilitates knowing where they are at specific times during the day -- not stalker-ish, just a feeling of closeness when not really close at all. <smile>

The song suggested by Dan Rather in his post is shared here today, and it is the version he stated was his favourite. Lyrics relate to a serviceman away during WWII when global communication was much less agile. Even now when traveling in parts of the world with sporadic or non-existent access to the internet, the solution noted in the lyrics might help people feel closer together. Enjoy!

Each night at nine -- Willie Nelson