Sunday, February 16, 2025

IT'S GOING TO MAKE SPRING THIS YEAR ALL THAT MUCH MORE SPECIAL

Another overnight snowfall found me on the end of my snow shovel again this morning.  The deep snow makes it difficult for the Squirrels and Bunnies to get around so I make it easier for them by keeping my paths clear.  And, our good neighbor Frank makes it easier for me every time he blows our driveway out.  If it wasn't for Frank I'd likely have 3 or 4 feet of snow in the driveway by now....and a worn-out snow shovel.  On Porter's Hill Line, I slipped up to Goderich and back on icy snow-covered roads but it was no problem for Subie's all-wheel-drive and last Fall's new tires.  Sure is a lot of snow piled up all over the place, but that's alright because it's just going to make Spring this year all that much more special when it eventually gets here. 

Al's Music Box:)) Love Is A Many Splendored Thing is a popular song sung by The Four Aces with music by Sammy Fain and lyrics by Paul Francis Webster.  The song appeared first in the movie Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing (1955), and it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1956.  From 1967 to 1973, it was also used as the theme song to Love is a Many Splendored Thing, the soap opera based on the movie.  Many versions of the song have been released. The best-selling version was recorded by The Four Aces, whose recording reached number two in the UK Singles Chart, and number one on both the Billboard and Cash Box charts in 1955.  The music was commissioned by 20th Century Fox for the movie Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing. The film producer Buddy Adler asked composer Sammy Fain and lyricist Paul Francis Webster to write a title song for the film.  The film was adapted from the book of the same name, so the songwriters wrote the song based on that title. However, it was then decided that the title of the film would be better if preceded by "Love Is", and Fain and Webster wrote a second song using that title. This second song with a new set of lyrics was then used as the title song, while the first song was discarded.  The song was initially used only as background music in the film, later the words were sung to make the song eligible for the Best Original Song category of the Academy Awards.  An orchestral version of "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" accompanies the title sequence of the film, while a vocal version performed by a chorus is played at the end. Before the film was released, Don Cornell and the Four Aces recorded the song which they released as singles.  Many major artists, including Nat King Cole, Eddie Fisher, and Doris Day, were first contacted to record the song, but they disliked it and refused to record it. However, they recorded the song after the version by the Four Aces became a hit.  Sammy Fain and Paul Paul Francis Webster won an Oscar for Best Original Song at the 28th Academy Awards, their second Oscar after winning the award for "Secret Love" in 1953. The background score for the film, composed and conducted by Alfred Newman, was built in parts around the melody of the song, and it also won an Oscar for Best Original Score for Newman.  This song is noted for its memorable lines: "In the morning mist, two lovers kissed, and the world stood still".  The song was covered by The Four Aces featuring Al Roberts backed by the Jack Pleis Orchestra and issued by Decca Records. The film studio 20th Century Fox was said to have subsidized an album of The Four Aces so that they may release it as a single to help promote the film. The song was released backed with "Shine On, Harvest Moon" in July 1955, and first reached No. 1 on the Best Sellers chart in October 1955.  It also became the first number one on Billboard's new Top 100 chart, released in November 1955.  It was ranked No. 8 on Billboard's 1955's Top Tune year-end chart.  The recording by The Four Aces is featured in the film Cookie (1989). It became a gold record.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A man lay spread out over three seats in the second row of a movie theater.  As he lay there breathing heavily, an usher came over and said, "That's very rude of you, sir, taking up three seats. Didn't you learn any manners! Where did you come from?"  The man looked up helplessly and said, "The balcony!"

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Census Taker: 'How many children do you have?'
Woman: 'Four.'
Census Taker: 'May I have their names, please?'
Woman: 'Eenie, Meenie, Minie and George.'
Census Taker: 'Okay, that's fine. But may I ask why you named your fourth child George?'
Woman: 'Because we didn't want any Moe.'

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A very traditional elderly woman was enjoying a good game of bridge with her girlfriends one evening. "Oh, no! I have to rush home and fix dinner for my husband! He's going to really ticked if it's not ready on time!" she exclaimed suddenly.  When she got home, she realized that she didn't have enough time to go to the supermarket, and all she had in the cupboard was a wilted lettuce leaf, an egg, and a can of cat food. In a panic, she opened the can of cat food, stirred in the egg, and garnished it with the lettuce leaf just as her husband pulled up.  She greeted her husband and then watched in horror as he sat down to his dinner. To her surprise, the husband really enjoyed his dinner. "Darling, this is the best dinner you have made for me in forty years of marriage. You can make this for me any old day."  Needless to say, every bridge night from then on, the woman made her husband the same dish. She told her bridge cronies about it and they were all horrified.  "You're going to kill him!" they exclaimed.  Two months later, her husband died.  The women were sitting around the table playing bridge when one of the cronies said, "You killed him! We told you that feeding him that cat food every week would do him in! How can you just sit there so calmly and play bridge knowing you murdered your husband?"  The wife stoically replied, "I didn't kill him. He fell off the mantel while he was cleaning himself."

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Al's Doggy World

MEANINGS::


Kelly's Corner
 KELLY ALWAYS CHECKED REAL ESTATE PRICES IN AREAS WE LIKED

MORNING WALK NORTH OF ELFRIDA ARIZONA
MORNING CHORES AT OUR RANCH SITTING JOB
Al's Art Gallery















Saturday, February 15, 2025

TOOK A FEW PICS ALONG THE WAY

With another winter storm upon us my mind today has yet again gone into blah winter mode and put a kybosh on my writing mood.  Early this afternoon Pheebs and I slipped into the Porter's Hill Wild Bird Seed Company for three twenty-pound bags of birdseed.  Took a few pics along the way and that was it for another day.........(sigh)

BAYFIELD'S SHORELINE RESTORATION CONTINUES
 ICE FISHING HUTS ON THE BAYFIELD RIVER
 BAYFIELD'S SNOWY MAIN STREET
 RESTORATION CONTINUES ON THE BADLY DAMAGED HISTORIC ALBION HOTEL
Al's Music Box:)) Singing The Blues" is a popular song composed by Melvin Endsley and published in 1956. The highest-charting version was by Guy Mitchell and the first recording of the song was by Marty Robbins.  Guy Mitchell's recording was released in October 1956 and spent ten weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard chart from 8 December 1956, to 2 February 1957.  An example of the U.S. recording is on Columbia, dated 1956, with the Ray Conniff Orchestra.  Mitchell's version was also No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for three (non-consecutive) weeks in early 1957, one of only four singles to rise to No. 1 on the chart on three separate occasions.  Mitchell's version prominently features whistling in the intro and solo sections.

FOLKS OUT WALKING ON A SNOWY WINTER DAY AND NOTICE THE LADY IS CARRYING A TIM HORTONS COFFEE
GROANER'S CORNER:(( During a performance for the high school talent show at the local theater, a hole was cracked in the stage floor. Subsequent acts managed to avoid the damaged area until little Freddy, juggling bowling pins, accidentally stepped through the hole up to his knee.  He apologized to the audience for his clumsiness. But a heckler in the back of the theater shouted:  "Don't worry, Freddy! It's just a stage you're going through!"

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Wife: Whatcha doing?
Me: Nothing.
Wife: You did that yesterday.
Me: I wasn't finished.

Q: What did the Dalmatian say after he ate his dog biscuits?
A: “Ahh, that really hit the spots.“

Q: When a dog has a fever, what’s the best thing to feed him?
A: Mustard—it’s the best thing for hot dogs.

Q: How can you tell the difference between a dog and a tree?
A: By their bark!

Did you hear about the dog who was fined for delivering puppies on the side of the road?
She was given a ticket for littering!
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A preacher, newly called to a small country town, needed to mail a letter. Passing a young boy on the street, the pastor asked where he could find the post office. After getting his answer, the minister thanked the boy and said, “If you’ll come to the community church this evening, you can hear me tell everyone how to get to heaven.” “I don’t know, sir,” the boy replied. “You don’t even know how to get to the post office!”
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A literature teacher is explaining the power of poems and stories. "Have you ever read something that made you cry?"  A student replied, "Yeah, my last report card."
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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

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Al's Art Gallery