Hard to believe

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Happy birthday to Andrea McArdle, the ultimate Annie:


Hard to believe Annie is old enough to be a granny—although I don't believe she is one. She is indeed old enough, though, as she's older than I am, and I'm a grandma twice over.

Hard to believe on both counts, to be honest.

Today's question:

Tomorrow, tomorrow...what are your plans for tomorrow?

Rock Dog

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Several years ago, my sister gave Jim and me a singing stuffed dog for Christmas. It was a "Sports Fan" dog, which was fitting because at the time, Jim and I were spending many a weekend driving seven hours—each way—to cheer on Andrea as she played "keeper" for her college soccer team.

The dog was a funky gag gift that brought smiles, but it didn't get much play. Until Bubby came along.

Despite my removal of the flag that could stab one's eye out, Bubby loves the singing canine. He named it Rock Dog because this is what it does:

Every time Bubby visits Gramma's, he plays with Rock Dog. Over and over and over and over.

I've actually hidden Rock Dog a time or two, when the rockin' gets to be gratin' on Gramma's nerves. I always pull him back out again, though, as Bubby so enjoys it.

One day during Bubby's recent visit—as he played Rock Dog for the 60 billionth time that morning—PawDad decided to play for Bubby the real song that was his beloved Rock Dog's claim to fame. PawDad pulled out our Queen collection and rocked Bubby and the rest of us with the better, longer, louder version of We Will Rock You.

After several repetitions—the last few featuring PawDad on air guitar and Bubby on air drums—PawDad played another Queen song of his choosing. Then Megan made a request for Somebody to Love. Next, I requested Bicycle Race. Then, of course, we moved on to Fat Bottom Girls followed by Bohemian Rhapsody.

Bubby patiently waited for his turn to make a request. When he saw an opening, he boldly went for it. Standing in front of his music-playing PawDad, Bubby earnestly called out: "Do you have Itsy Bitsy Spider?"

Which, of course, brought the house down. In giggles. And which, of course, brought Bubby down. Not because of the giggles but because PawDad didn't have his requested song.

Slightly disappointed in PawDad's sorry music collection, Bubby left the boring old folk to rock the stereo without him and took Rock Dog by the hand. He plopped down on the living room floor, pressed "Start" on the plaything's paw, and returned to clapping and stomping along with his beloved Rock Dog. Over and over and over.

Today's question:

What song(s) do you remember playing over and over and over?

The Saturday Post: Tree tunes edition

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It's fall, which means trees and leaves and such are on the minds of many. Very few, though, consider the trees in quite the same fashion as Diego Stocco.

As the composer/sound designer says on his YouTube page, "In the garden of my house there's a tree with lots of randomly grown twigs. It looks odd and nice at the same time. One day I asked myself if I could create a piece of music with it."

Here is his answer:

Thank you to Brianna for introducing me to this interesting fella. You can learn more about him on his website.

Happy Saturday!

The Saturday Post: REM edition

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After 30 years together, REM called it quits this past week.

I wanted to share with you today my favorite song by them. But as I searched for a video of my favorite, I found so many that are my "favorite."

So I narrowed it down to three that resonate most with me...today, at least.

 

 And, of course, this one...

 

Today's fill-in-the-blank:

The band breakup that saddened me most was ___________.

The Saturday Post: Playing For Change Day edition

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Today is the inaugural Playing For Change Day in which, as the organization's site says, "musicians are taking to the streets and stages in their communities to raise funds and awareness for Playing For Change Foundation, a non-profit organization that is bringing music education programs to children around the world."

Inspiration from the ever-awesome Playing For Change:

Make music, make a change...even if only in your home, your heart.

Happy Saturday!