Not Right Now

Just heard a Miranda Lambert cover of this song ... what's the point?
Eh. It was a bit too perky for my tastes.

Today I'd like to poke around in neighborhood shops for the holiday displays and events, but I really should not spend money. I have been spending like I actually have money rather than credit card debt. I've bought some really great things in the past month though! And I am wearing/using them a lot!

Let's see, what have I been spending money I don't have on:


Paperback edition of Moby-Dick in Pictures by Matt Kish.

And a pretty, simple, silver necklace on a long silver chain that goes with everything; a blue and green cuff bracelet that does not go with everything but has a nice burst of colors I like;a green backpack like bag made of recycled bottles that replaced my falling apart backpack that I was always worried I would lose my keys out of; a cool black purse made out of tire rubber that is the perfect size to carry a magazine.

Not really the hoard that someone who is trying to pay off her debt should have! And drinks and dinners and going to movies and storytelling events is not what I should be doing either. And last night I sat around contemplating how I should get an iPad and even looked at how I could use Pages to work with Word documents for work. The spirit of Consumer Holiday has obviously hit me.

December

I'm feeling strangely excited about a fresh new month.
I'm happy to leave November behind me, just as I was happy to October in the past. With that track record, and knowing I'm not nearly healed yet, I shouldn't expect to feel in any way different about December when January 1 rolls around, but I'm hopeful.

My first thought this morning was December!
And then I thought about this song: I love the Gillian Welch vocals.



Then, of course, I had to listen to PJ Harvey Down by the Water too and then had to listen to all my versions of:


That video, with CSNY singing poolside to a bunch of muddy hippies, really made me smile.

Happy December to me!

I was not in love with The Crane Wife even though everyone and their sister kept telling me I must be. I am loving The King is Dead though and not just because of the Neil Young-est harmonica. I do have a soft spot for early REM so I'm sure that plays a part. Gillian Welch is a favorite too.

Not Right Now

Every good Michigander knows that at the end of the "Toledo War" Michigan ceded its claim to the Toledo strip in exchange for the Upper Peninsula. At the time, Ohio thought it got the good part of the bargain but even in terms of chili (Lafayette Coney Dogs vs. Tony Packo's Hungarian Chili) we made out like bandits.

Listening to the Low Anthem's To Ohio the other day though, I have to admit that in the battle of great songs that name drop the state, Ohio kicks Michigan butt. If Neil Young was the only one ever to write a song about Ohio, they'd win the war.

As far as poetic flow, it's hard to beat "Ohio." It's short; it begins and ends with "O." But Ohio has good geography going for it too: Midwestern with a touch of the South. Which brings me to my other favorite Ohio song, Gillian Welch 's Look at Miss Ohio. A friend bought me Soul Journey not long after it came out because he loved it and thought I would too. He was right, especially that song.