The Dig Tree

Hi all......

So it's nearly 2011 & I've spent most of the last week listening to Tom Petty's 'Live Anthology' 4 cd set - not every day, but it hasn't been out of the cd player much this past week !!  Well good it is as well - give it a listen, you won't be disappointed folks !!  I'm just playing disc 4.... 'Have Love Will Travel' - give it a listen !!

Ok, so Christmas has come & gone.... a "merry" one it was as well.   The guys seemed happy with their pressies, no 'big' ones this year, just a bunch of silly little ones..... well, car seat covers for ME & an iPod thingy for J amongst other things.  Me, I got the usual - socks etc etc.  Not to worry, just happy to see my family having a good day !!

So today is Thursday (I think).... B has just gone into town, ME has just come home from town, J is upstairs & me - well, I've got the fire lit, the music turned down to deafening.... kind of hog heaven really !! There isn't much in the plan for this week... just a quiet one.  Might pop into town tomorrow, I need to get some ink for the printer, before ME goes back to Uni (in case she has to do a assignment).... + we're going to need some food I guess !!

We've been invited to a 'New Year's Party' tomorrow night, but won't be going - even if my health was better, I would still prefer to spend it quietly with B & the guys home here... tho' I expect ME will be out someplace !!

Last year, I made the decision to read The Book Of Mormon all the ways thru' - this year... well, I'm not sure what 'task' to set myself !?!  I'm set on playing a shed load of old tapes - to check them out... I know sort of what is on them, but..... there are about 150-200 of them... so I want to check them out !!  I've got nearly all of my tapes listed (by number) - so at the moment I've got about 30 of them lined up, in order, ready to play..... it will probably take all year to work thru' them - could be fun !!

I'm thinking about trying to list completely all the cds.  I've tried before - without luck - so I might have another go...... trouble is, I get new ones nearly every week - so it's hard to keep up with it all !!  It's a task, so I might give it another go !!

This past year I've read quite a few books - mostly centred around Australia... Ned Kelly & Burke & Wills.  B bought me a new copy of 'The Dig Tree' & I re-read that one over.  It's a very good, well written book & I would recommend it to anyone.  My only, real, sadness with the book is that the author, Sarah Murgatroyd, died the year it came out.  I would love to have been able to tell her, somehow, how much I enjoyed her work - maybe one day.... oh well.

I must away, read 'The Dig Tree' & listen to Tom Petty & Gov't Mule 'live'. Do that & I'll die a happy man !!

Bye Bye

You can go crazy !!

Hail & greetings to you peeps out there !!

It's been a 'bad' week..... I just can't seem to shake this bug I've had now for what seems like an eternity !!  Oh well - could be worse.......

Yesterday we attended a friends funeral.  As most of the world knows, the weather here has been pretty bad - lots of snow - over the past week or so...... with that in mind, we made as much an effort as we could, in order to be there.  We wanted to make sure he had friends with him at the end of his earthly life.

As it turned out people I thought would be there, didn't show up & others - well, like us, who had a long ways to travel (given the weather) were there !!  There were some people who could of been there, but decided not to go - one of which we saw Christmas shopping !!  Oh well - life goes on - you can go crazy thinking about things......

I've spend most of this week, either in bed asleep or wishing I was in bed asleep !!  We went to Church on Sunday, but that was about it until yesterday.  After the service, we went into Taunton & tried to do some shopping for Christmas - it was chaos !!

Trying to get thru' the crowds was bad enough - but the snow on the pavements was crazy  !!  Since having my new wheelchair, I've been able to push myself around, but I would of needed snow chains to get about yesterday....... in the end B had to push me thru' the worst bits !!

The shops were worse - especially HMV..... come on guys, put some thought into your shop lay out. Wheelchairs are bigger, wider & everything else you can think of that goes with it !!  It was made worse by some guy who decided it was easier for me to go backwards 10 feet, to go around some displays, rather than him moving to one side, to let me thru' !!  B was fuming, me - well maybe one day HE'LL need a chair to get around in - then he'll know what it feels like to have jerks like him stuck in the way !!  I wouldn't mind, but he had room to move & I did ask him to excuse me, so I could get by !!

Talking of B - she & J have gone on a trip to visit her Auntie & Dad..... to drop off some Christmas pressies !  I think she is kind of hoping her Dad won't be home - things are a bit 'tense' between them at the moment over his lady friend !!  There going to be gone most of the day I guess - so with ME out working today, I'm here on my own with the 3 cats & 1 hamster !!  which means, I'll be heading back to bed in a short while !!

The music of the moment is Tom Petty's 'Live Anthology' 4 CD set - I picked it up yesterday from the library & it's well good.  I'm guessing it's about 4 hours long, so plenty to listen to - if it's any good, I'll order up a copy from somewhere after the Christmas break !!  I've got plenty of time to listen to it........

Also on the music front.... we were talking to one of the Elders at Church on Sunday.  He's from Finland & his face 'lit up' when I said I like Nightwish & Korpiklaani !!  He said he had never heard of anyone out side of Finland who liked them - well......... he has now !!

Also - music wise - I had a copy of  the 'A Knights Tale' sound track come this week.  I've been waiting a long time to find it & ME found it on Amazon..... bargain !!

Must away..... Merry Christmas !!

Bye Bye

Jethro Tull

Greetings Worlds & Any Other Life Forms......

Well, the winter is back - it is pouring down outside, absolutely hissing it down !!  Never mind - I'm indoors, listening to Jethro Tull.... the doors are shut, the fire is lit & I'm going nowhere !!  Why not ?  Because it's cold out there folks, that's why !!

OK, as mentioned, the music of the moment is Jethro Tull.  It's a Cd transfer of the Carnegie Hall DVD that came with the 'Stand Up' set recently re-released.  For those new to these pages, I do this a lot.... transfer the s/ts of DVDs to Cd - it means I can play just the music, rather than switching the TV on & all that has to go with it !!  It may not be 100% legal, but it's for my own ears & I'm not making any money out of it, sooooo !

As for my family.... B is out for lunch with the ladies of the Church - probably wanting to know what is behind our recent absences.  ME is out at Uni placement - she only has one more day to go & then it's her Xmas break. I'm sat here & J is upstairs - his big news at the moment is he has a kind of job !!

He has managed to get a place at the college where he & ME attended right out of school.  It's a voluntary thing, a kind of work experience & he's well happy with it, as he's helping his ex-tutor with the current classes that did his course while he was there !!  Hopefully it might land him a payed job, but time will tell !!

I think it's 9 days to Christmas.... so we must do some shopping at some point.  I'm used to doing it last thing, sort of Xmas Eve !  It was the only day I used to be able to get to the shops & have money to spend at the same time..... things haven't change much.  Sure I have more time now, but there are days I don't feel like going out, so in many ways it's situation normal !!  Tho' B might pick up a Christmas tree on the way home today - the car will be quite empty, so she'll have the space !!  Ho ho ho !!!

Oh, I did buy her a DAB radio yesterday - she has wanted one for years, so while we were getting some foodstuffs last night, I shot off down another section & collected one for her !!  She already has it set up in the kitchen & it seems pretty good - could use a little bass, but........

We still have time to go out & pick things up - so it's not too late to see whats about, so to speak !!  I think it's late night shopping in Taunton tonight, so if the weather holds, we might go for that - we'll see.  For now... back to Jethro Tull.

Bye Bye

Feelings...... Mork !!

Hello Worlds - hope you're keeping warm ?

Well - it's a Sunday & for the second week in a row, we've missed Church..... for this I expect to go to hell, well - at least in the eyes of some of our congregation !!  Least it'll be warm there + I understand, from all I've been told over the years, that heavy metal is played 24 hours a day..... sounds a bit like this place !!

No really !!  The last time we went, I stood up & gave my Testimony - I actually finished reading The Book of Mormon in front of the people I call 'friends'..... only to be moaned at for the way I did it !!  I've probably said all this before, so read a previous posting. 

So last week, even tho' I wasn't well enough to attend, I really did not feel like I wanted to go...... I'm probably an 'evil' person for thinking that - but !!  Today is our Conference in Bristol & I'm certainly not well enough for that trip - I couldn't handle a 10 mile trip, let alone a 100 mile outing !!  Oh well, we'll see what happens next week..... time will tell !

OK, at the moment it's quite a nice day..... there is a bit of mist out over the sea, but here the sun is out.  Our car is still covered in ice, so it must of been cold last night - well, I know it was cold last night.  I was up & about until 2.45 this morning & I cold feel the temperature dropping on my walk-abouts !!  Last night was not a good one for me - the sooner I get the 2 operations out the way, the happier I'll feel !!

I'm seeing my GP at some point this week, so I'll see if he can find out what is going on.  For those new to these words - I had 2 operations in August as a prelim to a 3rd, much bigger, operation...... well, that was August & since then I've heard nothing, other than I'm waiting on 'funding'.  IF anyone says that our new government are not hitting the front line NHS - well............  Never mind, I would much rather wait & let someone who needs it have my 'funding' - I'm going to die anyways (at some point) - but, it would make my life a little easier !!  Enough moaning.........

The music of the moment is The Animals 'Greatest Hits' - an old album that came out back in the late 60's.  It's quite good, tho' I'm not 100% sure many of these tunes were 'hits'.  As for the family....... J is upstairs & the ladies of the house are out shopping - well, that is to say ME is shopping, B has just been dragged along for the ride !!  I expect B would of rather gone to Church - she hates shopping with a vengeance !!

As for my extended family, my brother, who told me exactly where I could go a couple of years back, has sent us a Christmas card WITH my name on it........ par for the course.  The number of times he has told me to go to hell & he no longer has a brother etc etc only to try & get back on friendly terms a while later !!

Never mind, I consider myself a Christian & - as such - kind of forgiving.... besides, he's the one who told me where to go - I have nothing to be sorry for.  Well, not in my eyes, to my way of thinking......

As for C - my son from my first marriage.... we have sent him another Christmas card - to the last address we had for him (in Canada) - whether he gets in touch is out of my hands.  It's been about 18 months since my last contact with him, so - as with my brother - it's up to him. 

Family or not, I'm toooooooo old & ugly to worry about other people...... I have my family here, I love them dearly & that means more to me than any other relative who thinks 'ill' of me !!  Life goes on.........

The music of the moment is now an early Allman thing called 'Allmanjoys - The Early Allmans' or something like that - it came out in 1973 & this is the first time I've played it in years........ I've decided to work thru' all my old albums A-Z.  Most of them are on tape, but it's going to be fun & should give me something to listen to over the coming year - or 2 !!

I must away....

Bye Bye

Foggy !!

Well hello again Worlds !!

Greetings from the fog bound southwest of England - land of hope & glory & what have you.... today, not so much glory, but a little bit of hope the fog might lift.

It feels a little warmer outside today - hence, I guess the fog - but we lit the fire this morning, to take the chill off a bit..... 'tis nice & warm here now.

Anyhoo - not much happening today.  Deep Space 9 is on the goggle box, the Allman Brothers are on the CD player & I've got a bit of a bug.... keep taking the 'lem-sips', but can't seem to shift it, oh well !!

Bye Bye