59 and Counting....Down

You can't always get what you want...

But sometimes, you get what you need.

Mostly, you get what you get.

And if you're lucky, it's kismet.

Tomorrow I turn 60. (Yeah, the Stones wrote those first two lines, so sue me.)

Jim had to go on a business trip, and Chris was going to be here today but wrenched her back and couldn't come out, so I'm growing old on my own. Which would have happened anyway...and the best laid plans...and blah blah blah. They both feel awful about this, but it's okay. Really.

If you don't believe me, put on the CDs listed below, really listen to them, and you'll get it. Well, you can't get mine yet...unless you ask me. I'll be happy to send you one. I'll get my songs on here soon. My CD is very short — 3 songs; 4 tracks (2 versions of "Mama, What Do You Wish?). A demo, i.e., songs for sale.

So I have a sage smudge stick lit to cleanse my soul; I'm polishing off a bottle of Mouton Cadet (red, of course)(oops, it's suddenly gone!); and I loaded our 5-disc CD player with this assortment:

"Truth" (Jeff Beck, with Rod Stewart singing the best fucking version of "Old Man River" known to man — or river; the boy has a voice, no matter what else you think of him. GET THIS ALBUM; it's fantastic.)

"I Knew Her When" (Marsha Kearns, Greatest Lyric Hits Vol. 1/3)

"Nashville Rebel" (Waylon Jennings, Disc 2 of a boxed set)

"After Hours" (Raul Malo; one of the best voices alive today; I LOVE him; buy this CD)

John Lennon Boxed Anthology, CD 1 ('nuff said; one of the best musicians ever in life, forever and ever so there)

I share a birthdate with John Lennon...and his son Sean. I love that. John was always my favorite Beatle, and for many more reasons than that. Not going there right now.

Music is heaven, and everyone of every age knows that. There's just so much of it, who can keep up with it all? We get locked into the music we grew up with, which makes it a surprising treasure when we hear something new we like. What chance does a 60-year-old broad have to write a song that someone will sing and make great? Chances are every chance and no chance. Ain't that 50/50? Good enough for me!

Anyway, I ran out of wine, so I drove out to get another bottle. After all, Jim will be back tomorrow night and want some heh heh. It was magic! The Book Cliffs had lit up pink earlier, but when I hit the road and could see the Monument, the sky was alive and joyful.

Sometimes the light shines on one landform or the other, leaving the others in shadow. But not tonight. The October evening fall light blessed everything equally. As the light slowly faded, the Monument became an Eagles album cover picture, and the Book Cliffs and Grand Mesa were stunningly and beautifully alight at the same time. I damn near got whiplash looking back and forth.

Then I saw weird blinking blue/yellow lights ahead and thought, as I slowed down and concentrated on the road instead of the sky..."What the fuck is that?" Of course, my next thought was: cops. Hey, I haven't lost it. At least it wasn't in my rearview mirror. It was a motorcycle cop who had pulled over SOMEONE ELSE BUT ME!!! Yay!

Do you think some young cop would have believed the smell on me was a smudge stick and not pot? I think not. But, although I have smoked pot, I don't like it. Never have. I don't like to smoke anything. I lit a cigarette once to use as a punk to light firecrackers, but I've never smoked a cigarette. Unless you count decades of breathing secondhand smoke...which, unfortunately, does count. There are better, funner things I fondly remember, having been cut off for decades. I now live for flashbacks. I mean that in the most innocent way. ;-)

I digress...and often will. I like to digress. Tangents are good. The road not taken, except in your mind, is often the best way to go. And I have to get up and dance around the kitchen quite frequently, which diverts my attention.

I know I'm rambling, but what the fuck? I'm turning 60 YEARS OLD TOMORROW! Do you know what that means? So humor me or log off.

Oooh, wait just 3.25 minutes. Waylon's singing "Amanda," and I must waltz. Mike Metheny's gorgeous jazz instrumental "Manitowoc" always does the same thing to me. The girl's gotta dance!

Okay, I'm back.

Anyway, this afternoon 3 huge buck mule deer came into our back pasture...6-point antlers. That's big for mule deer. Then later 2 younger bucks, one who has been here since birth. How do I know? He lost one antler as a baby, and now that one antler is a bit withered, but he has a new big one on the other side! I'm so proud.

The 2 young deer wandered through our south pasture to the west, and I went out onto our front porch with the smudge stick and wafted the smoke on me as I watched the deer move off slowly. They watched me and weren't worried at all. For some reason, I thought of the movies "Deer Hunter" and "The Queen." They were magnificent.

And then they safely crossed the road and moved on. Isn't that just what we all wish for?