The Day After Black Friday

I usually don't do anything on Black Friday. My family takes advantage of the sales but I hunker down with my odd and ends projects. This year, it was organizing the music I'd be playing with my friend Ken and next week's Toys for Tots event at the Portuguese Club in Chicopee. We compared song lists and then songs to make sure we were in sync on keys and whatnot. I think we're in good shape. FWIW - we'll be opening for the Brass Attack Of Springfield band. Opening is a bit strong in that we'll be playing during the events less busy times (just before dinner, for example). Anyway, that was my Black Friday activity for this year.

I did manage to actually buy a couple things. I needed a hand vac and opted for a corded Dirt Devil. I'd used a Dyson in our staircase but, apparently, it's only good for 15 minutes per charge. That wasn't enough and I had to use our large corded vacuum cleaner, which is awkward on stairs. So, the smaller one should do the job.

No Photographs For Thanksgiving

It's Black Friday as I write this. I have no need to go shopping so I'm just sitting around doing the normal stuff I do. I realized that, this year, I did not make a single photograph for Thanksgiving. Usually I'll at least shoot some food that's laid out in front of me. Nope. This year, I just ate it. Or I photograph the people who've come to visit. Nope. I just enjoyed myself and them. Maybe that's that Thanksgiving is about in the first place.

I'm thinking today may be more photographic. I hope so.

My Favorite Fall Leaves

I have been posting foliage photos in various places online and I notice that many have been taken in my own yard. I guess I'm lucky to have this. I suppose, though, that many can say the same and all it takes is to be aware as you go out and about. This time, as I was walking across the front of the house to retrieve an Amazon package, I looked down and saw the interesting patterns that the dead leaves created. The light was diffuse so I didn't have harsh shadows to worry about. It won't be long before these will be snow covered and yield even more photo ops.

TIK Intros

During the 2000's and early 2010's, Lee and I had a couple TV shows that we produced for Spencer Cable Access. This is back when we actually lived in Spencer. One was Bloomin' with the Bemis', a gardening show hosted by Bemis Farms Nursery featuring Ed and Tina Bemis. This was very successful and even got us an award from a New England wide cable TV conference.  The other was a cooking show, Time In The Kitchen (TIK) featuring Lee Danek, Pam Leck, and Sylvia Gruner.

After our move to Feeding Hills, we continued TIK but by then, Sylvia had moved away - too far to commute to continue with the show. Our own commute wasn't as bad and we spit doing shows between Pam's home in Spencer and our new home in Feeding Hills. But the number of shows dwindled and finally ended after a couple years.

One of the things that was quite pleasing, for me, was the opportunity to create some fun skits to be used as intros to the shows. We'd do them for Bloomin' as well as TIK. Lee mentioned recently that I should put the shows up on YouTube, which I interpreted as put the intros together into a new show and put that on YouTube. So, I did.

Later she said that was not what she'd requested. But, too late, I'd already done the intros show by then.

So, here's TIK Intros for your consideration...

Free Speech!!!

Actually, by "free speech" I mean I just learned that AWS (Amazon Web Services) has a free text-to-speech generation program called Polly. As I already have an AWS account for my cloud storage, I thought I'd give it a try. It actually worked nicely. The program starts off as free but I think you end up paying after 12 months. After that, I think there'll be a pay-as-you go kind of subscription. I don't have a lot of need for this so I don't think it would be prohibitively expensive. Also, there are many other similar programs so this could get interesting.

For now, I'm thinking of taking some of my older TIK ( Thyme In The Kitchen) videos, clipping out some of the funny intros that Lee, Pam, and Sylvia made, and putting a video together with just those. Lee's already asked me to put the TIK shows up into YouTube and I'll probably do that project next. There are a lot of these shows and it'll take some time to get them all loaded.

I think it's a good winter project.

I'm Getting Lazy As A Photographer

I find that, lately, I've been relying more and more on my iPhone for photography. Sometimes it's just an opportunity that comes along and I only have the smartphone to take advantage...

My New Protest - Too Much Lettuce

 Why is it that we always get too much lettuce in store bought sandwiches when we don't even ask for it? It doesn't have a strong flavor and, especially the shredded kind, falls out of the sandwich at every bite.

What's up with that?

I've made it a practice at, for example, Subway, to never ask for lettuce. I prefer spinach. Why? ...well, it's large and leafy and doesn't easily escape the bread boundaries. If they had leafy lettuce, I might give that a try. (Well, at Subway, I'd probably ask for both."

But otherwise, I make this a nation-wide appeal. Either only serve leafy lettuce, or don't default to lettuce at all. If someone wants this all over their shirt and laps while they eat, give it to them in a cup and they can just throw it into the air as they eat. It accomplishes the same thing. 

Remembering

I do videos for my cit/town, Agawam. For the past few years, I've done Memorial Days, 911 Remembrance Days, and Veterens Days. They each go through the same kind of program - flag ceremony, speech, bell ringing, and payers - and I try to get creative in how I record the events despite the seriousness of the day. I don't mean creative in a funny way. I mean creative in a respectfully different way.

This year, I was able to position myself almost perfectly for the key moments of the Veterans Day Ceremonies and that's only because I had to learn the hard way during the previous two times. Each one of these has been special and I often have come close to tears despite never having served. The way the vets go through the solemn moments, remembering and reflecting, is heartfelt.

Thank you, each and every one of you, for your sacrifice and service. 

Is The World Laughing At Us?

Unless there was a truly rigged election, the results from last week indicate a highly split voter population. In reading about or listening to the poll analyses, I have to wonder what's become of commons sense. On one side we have the conservatives who say they want things to go back to where they were. No one bothers to say what/where/when that is, but back to something. Then there are the progressives who say we can do better and somehow that's a bad thing? Better is bad? Hmm...maybe?

We have elected a man who I personally would never say was a good man. He has too many character flaw marks chalked up against him. So, does that mean that my side - the side that dislikes him - has marks, too? Are we just as bad when the other side complains about us? What do they see about us that we don't see? ...how will history view us?

NOTE: The image here was created by Haiper AI with the text input "vitriolic behavior of a world leader"...that's all it took to bring DJT into the frame.

And what about the rest of the world? What do other countries think? Are they just waiting for us to fall apart from the crush of our vitriolic nature. Are they laughing at the once, great, powerful nation that thinks it can dictate its rule everywhere...and now we will crumble?

We live in interesting times.

It's Been A Few Days

It's been a few days since my last post. We've had a presidential election in the meantime and I'm heartbroken that my side lost. I recall, being a New England Patriots fan during the first 20 years of the millennium, that I had many opportunities to feel the happiness of victory and the sadness of defeat. For us, during this time, the cycle between these extremes was short. The expression, "just wait until next year", seemed to match our reality. Pain would always lead to certain exuberance and we counted on it.

Not so much with elections. (And not so much with football now.)

I could certainly be lead to believe that some sort of cheating was occurring. As Bill Maher would often quip, "I know I can't prove it but I know it must be true." Or something like that.

Going back to the Reagan victory many years ago, if you lived through that, didn't you wonder how it was that the Iran Hostage Crisis was resolved right after Ronnie won? WTF? How did that happen. Was there a highly illegal, quid pro quo in there somewhere? I can't prove it, but...

Fast forward to Hanging Chads. WTF? How can the Supreme Court get involved in this? I've read an explanation recently justifying their actions, providing a rationale, but there's that feeling again...

There's Trump's ongoing "it's a rigged election" mantra; he brought it up all the time. I suspect it's his personal rationalization - something he desperately needs so as not to feel like a loser - it's a tool right out of the narcissists mental health toolbox. Did he and his team actually figure out rigging and...

...now, we have 2024. WTF?

Well, I can't say "wait until next year". I'm afraid for this country and how Trump will play the game, fully emboldened by his excessive _______. (Whatever you feel fits there: narcissism, stupidity, ego, lying, rigging.)

Some pundits are saying that the Democratic Party needs to re-evaluate itself...but would that really help? I think we need to accept it - and I know I can't prove it but I just know it's true - that the election really was rigged. Rigged by a convoluted system of billionaire's money, social network manipulations, religious interference, and a woefully under-informed voting public. That's the game the Democrats need to learn to play. Forget education the voters with facts. That's for losers. Overwhelm them with bullshit...and then wait until next year.

The Gap In My Posts

If you look at the dates of this Blog, you'll see a huge gap between 2013 and 2024. The reason it's there is because in the intervening years I was using Wordpress for my blog. I've kind of explained already why I'm back with Blogger, but I wanted to address the gap. Not many people (or anyone for that matter) follows my blog, and it's more of a historical thing for me. I can do a recap of the highlights...

2015 - I wrote about my songwriting, my mom's paintings website, my move to smaller and lighter cameras, and something about computer storage.

2016 - something about Adobe Slate and Topaz Impressions, then the Valley Photo Center, complaining about my Xfinity TB box, my first Mac Mini (which I bought for Lee), and something about Browsers.

I Got A Letter Asking Me To Appear In Newport, RI's Municipal Court

What? ...why did I get this "Court Appearance Date" letter from Newport, RI? I had to call right away to find out. It turns out, someone has/had a "moped" for which they could not prove insurance coverage. Apparently, this happened in early October.

Well, I don't have a moped and I wasn't anywhere near Newport. So, it's not me. On the other hand, I don't know what might happen if I don't go there, or at least try to find out what's going on. I did just that.

• I called the Court Administrator who provided some information (after looking up the "ticket number").
• The CA connected me with the Records Department.
• The RD connected me with the Traffic Department, but there was no answer
• So, I left a message.

After a couple days I called back and spoke with Dee at the Records Department. She said she'd try to get the officer who issued the ticket to call me to explain what's happening.

Inspiration - things to think about

Now that I'm switching back to Blogger, I thought I'd migrate a page from the old site that I thought was interesting...

Good Karma

This is what The Dalai Lama has to say for 2006. All it takes is a few seconds to read and think over. Do not keep this message. The mantra must leave your hands within 96 hours. You will get a very pleasant surprise. This is true for all, even if you are not superstitious, or of whatever religious belief/ Faith.

Instructions For Life

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R’s:
   • Respect for self,
   • Respect for others and
   • Responsibility for all your actions
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

The More Things Change...

Yes. The more things change the more they stay the same. And, here I am, back to one of my original blogs. This one comes from Google via their Blogger offering. I've done web pages manually and hosted static pages on AWS and Goggle's My Drive. I've done it using Drop Box way back. (I think they disabled that.) I'm pretty sure I started with Blogger way back when.

Of course, one of the top blog hosting sites is Wordpress and I still use it for many of my larger website efforts. But, it's designed for more complex sites and not so much for single pages and I find I need smaller sites as I get older (smaller dreams maybe?)...besides, it's always fun to change things up.

I have my rcdanek.us URL pointing to a simpler Google Sites page page where the design philosophy is similar to what Blogger offers, simplicity. The URL used to point to Wordpress and I find many people get confused at how to use Wordpress. I've stopped trying to convince anyone.

I'll probably change my mind next year. I dunno. I'm so wishy-washy. 😁

My Open Mic Update

I met Bill Martin last year. He had posted on Craig's List that he wanted to jam. I contacted him, we jammed, and have been doing open mic's in the recent months. Bill has a nice singing voice so he does most of the singing. I have a couple songs that I do. We tend to stick to three venues and try to stay active each week. In Westfield one evening, a reporter came in to do a story. It appeared in the Chicopee Herald and it was the photo of Bill that she chose for the article...

Sometimes at open mic's, you get help from other musicians. At Patti's 410, which has their open mic on Thursdays, we often have bass guitarist, Al, back us up...

...and, if there's a drummer handy, we get that kind of help, too.

Many times, though, if Bill's not available and I feel the courage to go solo, I will get up and do some original material. I heard, once, that your songs aren't good until you hit your 1000th. I'm so far from that many that I will likely be churning out crappy songs for some time. I do think, though, that they keep getting better, so I'm encouraged.

So, even though my ears still feel some discomfort when the music gets loud, I can tolerate the quieter acoustic sounds.

What's really been nice for me in the last year is that I've met some really nice folks in the open mic scene. We all keep showing up, encouraging one another, and listening and learning.

My Poor Ears

My band mates and I have parted ways. It's not because I wasn't having fun, it's because things got too loud, and my ears started to hurt. Really. During some of the practices (we hadn't played out as yet), I would feel pain. So, I had to quit. Now, I'm more acoustic. My friend, Bill, and I practice once a week and hit an open mic almost weekly. He has a good singing voice and I try. My song writing had gone into a funk for a while, but I wrote two new songs in the past few weeks so something is rekindling. As far as rock and amplified sound, I have to cool it. I can still play, but at very low volumes. Some of the open mics have a rock element and I have to watch what I'm doing. If I sit too close to the PA or stay too long, it's probably not going to help my ears. But I'm aware and so far so good. I also jam acoustically with my friend, Ken. He started the band effort in the first place and although I can't play his style for rock anymore, he's so good on guitar that jamming is awesome. So, all in all, I won't be a rock star. I may be a singer/songwriter of sorts...but I have to keep it mellow. And I have enough opportunity with friends and venues in Western Mass to make mellow just right for me.

Open Mic Experience

Here's a view of the open mic venue in Westfield, MA. It's held in an art gallery called the Gaslight Gallery one a month.

I had a chance to perform there last night and did four of my own songs plus an oldie, King Of The Road. Everyone sang along with that one. We ended the night by having all the musicians come up and do a couple songs jamboree style.

I used "technology" to display (for me) the words and chords of my songs. I had a Kindle with songs in Chordpro format. It should have worked flawlessly, but I'm still getting used to it...it wasn't perfect. I completely attribute my problems to pilot error. The small crowd didn't seem to mind as I made fun of myself. (I told them I was turning pages.)

I recently picked up a looper and I'm going to try to work that into some performances later on. I guess I will need to just practice this stuff. Hopefully, with more singing, my voice will get better, too.

I've actually done a couple of these open mics in another venue, Patty's 410 in Chicopee. I am having fun, though.

FYI - the photo is a pano shot I made with my new HTC One X phone. I like the phone as it has a larger screen than my old iPhone. It's also thinner and fits my pocket better. So far, it's a good upgrade choice I made (only cost me 99 cents). I'm going to see how well it records music at our next band practice.

Phyllis and the OGRB's

Here's an update on music, songwriting, jamming, and things in general.

I found a band. I didn't "found" it, in the sense that I laid the foundation stone. My band mate, Ken, did that. But he found me - I found him - all thanks to Craig's List. I've been quite happy ever since. I've got that feeling I had in high school when I was in my first band. We even hit that magic moment during certain jams. The music flows, independently, from each of us and magic happens. Not always. Just sometimes. But that's good.

So, there are six of us and, for sure, we're struggling with the normal human stuff that any group has to face. We do have a bunch of material we're testing out. We've each had to balance work (well, not me so much), home, family, and practice time. Our goal is to play out. I envision jamming with Sir Paul one day. Realistically, it's more like we'll play some open mics, pubs, bars, and just make good noise.

We don't have a band name, yet. I've started referring to "us" as Phyllis and the OGRB's. That's because, inside my head, OGRB means "Old Guy" and she ain't. But, for now, the rest of us are. I suppose we could say it means Olden Goldie Rock Band, but that's lame. Maybe Ostentatiously Gifted Rock Band? Yeah, that works, too.

Once we get a name, we can get a website, print business cards, get T-shirts, maybe have someone write a graphic novel about the superpowers we develop.

For now, I'm OK with Phyllis and the OGRB's. It's a placeholder.

Oh, and every once in a while, we sound OK. It's a work in progress.

FWIW - I still jam with Bill Martin. He and I like a softer sound. More folk, less rock. He's helped me tailor a couple of my original songs. He tends to make them shorter, fulfilling that "less is more" thing. It works, too. Thanks, Bill!!!

Songwriter?

My latest musical project involves having hooked up with a local musician. His name is Bill Martin. He's about my age and we have similar interests. We both enjoy acoustic guitars. He can actually sing whereas I sound like a cross between a frog and a cat whose tail has been stepped on.

The last time I had a collaboration was when my friend, Mark Lammi, got me to join his band, The 55's. We practice for about nine months and played once for a church picnic. Then, the band ended. Mark and I kept up our playing, one on one, and that eventually got me to start writing songs. I even did some in home studio recording because I wanted to remember what I had written without having to write a score.

I wrote about a dozen songs and put them on a CD I titled, "Really, I Can't Sing". I kept writing in fits and starts for the next couple years - lots of scribbles in my notebook. Then, I went through a long dry spell. Nothing came to mind. The magic was gone.

Well, along comes Bill and our weekly collaboration was enough to restart the musical creativity heart beat. I've since written a bunch of new material, the latest being a song I actually started and finished just this week. It's called "Outside Of Your Circle". That makes it my 32nd song since starting my writing in this century. (I wrote one song in high school with my friend, Rom, called "Say Girl". I remember one chord from it and one line. I think he may have the song somewhere and every time I ask for it, I don't get it. Oh, well. Maybe he lost it, too.)


So, what's the story with this late-in-life creativity? I don't know. My Mom had a similar spurt with her paintings. She was always creative in her life, but it really took hold it the last part of it. She painted about 150 oil paintings during that period, not to mention small, card stock doodles that you can still find for sale on the Internet.


Hmmm...maybe I should write a song about that. Late bloomers.

What a week...and I got Poison Ivy, too!

I went on two short trips in the past 10 or so days. The first was to New Jersey to visit my brother, Art. He had invited me to a folk festival at Appel Farm (spelling is correct) and I got to see some good acts. I was immediately drawn to Cheryl Wheeler's performance because I had seen her in Sturbridge years ago. I love the quality of her voice. She's funny and an terrific songwriter. Unfortunately, there were problems with the sound system and I think it affected her a bit. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed her music.

Later on in the afternoon, I got to hear Dawes and then the Tedeschi and Trucks Band. Both acts were top notch. I really like the songwriting of the Dawes band. One of their songs I have heard before, so I liked that because of familiarity. But all of the songs were good. Then, TTB started playing and all I can say is, WOW! The musicians were so good, and Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi sure could sing and play. I'm a fan for sure. FWIW, they won a Grammy for best blues album from 2010. Sweet.

Art drove me home a couple days after that so I could then lead a three day photo excursion up to Vermont. He and I and three other friends, Steve, Richie, and Bob, wanted to hang together for a while as photographers. So, we picked Vermont because they hadn't really explored it before. It was quite nice. For sure, Fall is the season to consider going there, but I felt this Springtime adventure could serve as recon. As it turns out, we got some really nice photos.

But, the big deal for me was that I must have gotten exposed to poison ivy - lots of it. The only place where I can think that this happened was at a covered bridge in Thetford, VT. I was the only one wearing shorts and I did lay on what I thought was just grass to get a closeup shot of something. I'm pretty sure my camera bag got some of the oils on it because I now have itchy areas on my neck, arms, leg. I think there was transfer going on because of how I carry the bag.

Live and learn.

I have posted my images along with a story about our trip on my Images by Casey website.