AT THIS TIME OF YEAR WE'LL TAKE IT

Amazingly, we had another fiery sunrise and the thermometer was already trying to push itself above the freezing mark.  Although not a clear blue sky like yesterday, the sun did its best to make its presence known through the scattered cloud cover.  Pheebs and I slipped out around a few country roads, took a few pics, and headed home.  Not as good a melting day as yesterday but at this time of year we'll take it.  A drive down to Grand Bend and back this afternoon rounded out the day.   

 'OK, SO OUR BREAKFAST NOW COMES IN A NET??'  'SO HOW'S THAT GONNA WORK!!'

"STOP WORRYING ABOUT IT LADIES'

 A VERY CREATIVE BIRDHOUSE HIGH ATOP AN OLD TREE STUMP

 TO ME THIS LOOKED LIKE A VERY ILL-THOUGHT-OUT AND DANGEROUS IDEA!!

Al's Music Box:)) Wonderful World is a song by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. Released on April 14, 1960, by Keen Records, it had been recorded during an impromptu session the previous year in March 1959, at Sam Cooke's last recording session at Keen. He signed with RCA in 1960 and "Wonderful World", then unreleased, was issued as a single in competition. The song was mainly composed by songwriting team Lou Adler and Herb Alpert, but Cooke revised the lyrics to mention the subject of education more.  "Wonderful World" ended up doing substantially better on the charts than several of his early RCA singles, becoming his biggest hit single since "You Send Me" (1957). The song peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit number two on Billboard's Hot R&B Sides chart.  Lou Adler and Herb Alpert composed the song with the theme that neither knowledge nor education can dictate feelings, but that love "could make the world a wonderful place".  Adler did not take the song very seriously but Cooke appeared to be taken with it. "He’d say, ‘What about that song, you know?’ And then he'd start on it again," recalled Adler.  Cooke wanted to steer the song toward the subject of schooling, revised the song and decided to cut it at a recording session on March 2, 1959, five days after completing his Billie Holiday tribute album, Tribute to the Lady. The writing credit for the song was put under Cooke's wife's maiden name, Barbara Campbell.  Campbell was also listed on the record labels for two other Cooke hits: "Only Sixteen" and "Everbody Loves to Cha Cha Cha".  The session's main goal was to record three songs Cooke had composed. There was no arranger or orchestra and the personnel consisted of Cooke, guitarist Cliff White, bassist Adolphus Alsbrook, teenage drummer Ronnie Selico and a quartet of singers that Cooke biographer Peter Guralnick believes may have been the Pilgrim Travelers – J.W. Alexander, Lou Rawls, and George McCurn (nicknamed Oopie).  There is no known footage of Cooke performing the song, even though, in ABKCO1986, president Allen Klein offered a $10,000 reward for anyone obtaining such footage.  Cooke signed to RCA Victor in 1960 but his first two singles on the major label – "Teenage Sonata" and "You Understand Me" – failed to register on the charts.  Meanwhile, John Siamas, co-founder of Keen Records, discovered the "demo" recording of "Wonderful World" among unreleased Cooke recordings.  Keen released "Wonderful World" in competition with RCA's issue of "You Understand Me" in the same week.  "Wonderful World" quickly became Cooke's best-performing single.  Billboard reviewed the single upon its release, giving it four stars and writing, "Moderate rocker gets a smooth belt from Sam Cooke in his usual, salable style."

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said, "Someone may steal from it at night." So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.  Then Congress said, "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?" So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies.  Then Congress said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?" So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people. One to do the studies and one to write the reports.  Then Congress said, "How are these people going to get paid?" So they created the following positions, a time keeper, and a payroll officer,then hired two people.  Then Congress said, "Who will be accountable for all of these people?" So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, an Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.  Then Congress said, "We have had this operating for one year and we are $18,000 over budget. We must cut back overall cost."  So they laid off the night watchman.

- I'm beginning to think my five-year-old grandson is a genius...I can't tell his paintings from that of Picasso!

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At the airport for a business trip, I settled down to wait for the boarding announcement at Gate 35. Then I heard the voice on the public address system saying, "We apologize for the inconvenience, but Delta Flight 570 will board from Gate 41."
So my family picked up our luggage and carried it over to Gate 41. Not ten minutes later the public address voice told us that Flight 570 would in fact be boarding from Gate 35.  So, again, we gathered our carry-on luggage and returned to the original gate. Just as we were settling down, the public address voice spoke again: "Thank you for participating in Delta's physical fitness program.

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Kelly's Corner

 KELLY AT THE OLD BORREGO SPRINGS LIBRARY WITH HER LAPTOP COMPUTER

 BOONDOCKING SOUTH OF CONGRESS, ARIZONA

 SOMEWHERE ON A MORNING WALK

Al's Art Gallery

A FRIEND FINALLY CONVINCED ME GET MYSELF A DECENT PAIR OF PRESCRIPTION GLASSES

 THERE WERE A FEW PEOPLE BESIDES MYSELF AT BAYFIELD'S PIONEER PARK TO WATCH THE SUNSET TONIGHT

With the price of eyeglasses way over the Moon I've been wearing drug store glasses for the past half dozen years.  At over $600 a pop years ago I knew they would probably be a whole lot more nowadays.  The last two pairs of glasses I needed were obtained in Goderich and Clinton but a long-time friend of mine in Stratford 'finally' convinced me to try out both Hakims Optical and Lens Crafters in London.  My friend drove up from Stratford and today, in the Subaru, we drove to London.  Both those optical places were located in and around the Masonville Mall in London's north end.  It's an area I'm familiar with near University Hospital so I know very well where things are located.  The Hakim place turned out to be an eye test center and only open on certain days so that left us with Lens Crafters inside the spacious indoor Masonville Mall.  It had been years since I was last in that mall.  We found Lens Crafters on the second level and walking in there I felt like a fish out of water not knowing where to even start.  I was sure glad I had someone with me because I think I am beginning to mentally feel my years sometimes.  I found it confusing with so many glasses and frames and I especially had trouble understanding the East Indian lady we were talking too.  Why can't we have clear ENGLISH SPEAKING retail people!!!!  Anyway, my friend seemed to understand her better than I did and I somehow muddled my way through the confusion and ordered myself up a new pair of glasses which I will pick up in a couple of weeks.  And no, you do not want to know what I had to pay for them....or was that the new underwear sale I saw where they had a great deal on men's underwear........three pairs for the price of six!!  Following the Lens Crafters ordeal we grabbed a couple Hortons coffee at the main floor food court and browsed some stores.  Well, my friend browsed the stores, I didn't.  I'm not a good browser.  From there it was out of the Mall and across the road to three more stores a short distance away.  Winners, Farm Boy, and Dollorama.  Luckily, I didn't have to go into any of them and waited in the Subaru with my Kindle reader.  From there, on this beautiful Spring-like day with clear blue skies and signs of melting snow everywhere, it was finally back to Bayfield we went.

HEADING INTO THE NORTH END OF LONDON EARLY THIS AFTERNOON

IN THE MASONVILLE MALL PARKING LOT I WAS SO OVERJOYED TO SEE SNOW MELTING I JUST HAD TO TAKE A PICTURE OF IT

 I WAS HAPPY TO HAVE SOMEONE WITH ME TODAY TO HELP ME THROUGH THE MUDDLEMENT OF CHOOSING NEW FRAMES FOR MY NEW PRESCRIPTION GLASSES

 I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED BIG INDOOR SHOPPING MALLS BECAUSE OF ALL THE ARCHITECTURE AND COZY STORE COLORS

MASONVILLE IS A DOUBLE-DECKER MALL

 NOT EXACTLY A MEN'S STORE BY THE LOOKS OF IT

 WHILE MY FRIEND WENT BROWSING AT THE HUDSON BAY STORE I SAT OUTSIDE AT A TABLE DRINKING MY COFFEE....THOUGHT I'D TRY A SELFIE BUT GOT 'PHOTO BOMBED' BY THIS GUY!!

 TRIED ANOTHER ONE FOR PERSPECTIVE BUT I LOOKED KIND OF DORKY

 TRIED A THIRD ONE TO SHOW THE MALL'S SKYLIGHT

 HEY AND THIS MALL EVEN HAS MOVING STEPS

 SITTING OUTSIDE A 'WINNERS' STORE  CONTENTEDLY READING MY KINDLE

 IT WAS SO SPRINGLIKE TODAY I EVEN HAD SUBIE'S SUNROOF OPEN AND MY DRIVER'S WINDOW DOWN WHILE READING IN THE PARKING LOT WAITING FOR MY FRIEND TO DO SOME SHOPPING.  I'M NOT MUCH OF A SHOPPER

With today's clear blue skies and a smattering of clouds on the western horizon out over Lake Huron, it was shaping up to be a nice sunset. And it didn't disappoint.  Despite the snow in Pioneer Park, I was surprised to see other people out to watch the sunset as well.

 HEADING FOR BAYFIELD'S PIONEER PARK TO CATCH THE DAY'S SUNSET

Al's Music Box:)) Allegheny Moon is a popular song written by Al Hoffman and Dick Manning and published in 1956.  The song is best known in a 1956 recording by Patti Page. This recording was released by Mercury Records with the flip side being The Strangest Romance. It first reached the Billboard magazine charts on June 16, 1956. On the Disk Jockey chart, it peaked at number 2; on the Best Seller chart, at number 5; on the Juke Box chart, at number 2; on the composite chart of the top 100 songs, it reached number 2. The song was also a hit in Australia peaking at number 3.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Ben went on a safari with his wife and mother-in-law. One evening, while still deep in the jungle, the Mrs. awoke to find her mother gone. Rushing to her husband, she insisted on them both trying to find her mother.  Ben picked up his rifle, took a swig of whiskey, and started to look for her. In a clearing not far from the camp, they came upon a chilling sight: the mother-in-law was backed up against a thick, impenetrable bush, and a large male lion stood facing her.  The wife said, "What are we going to do?"  "Nothing," said Ben, "The lion got himself into this mess, let him get himself out of it."

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Earl and Bubba are quietly sitting in a boat fishing, chewing tobacco and drinking beer when suddenly Bubba says, "Think I'm gonna divorce the wife... she ain't spoke to me in over 2 months."Earl spits overboard, takes a long, slow sip of beer and says,  "Better think it over... women like that are hard to find."

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What did the Yogi say when he walked into the Zen Pizza Parlor?  "Make me one with everything."  When the Yogi got the pizza, he gave the proprietor a $20 bill. The proprietor pocketed the bill. The Yogi said "Don't I get change?"  The proprietor said, "Change must come from within."

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A zookeeper is ordering new animals. As he fills out the forms, he types “two mongeese”. That doesn’t look quite right, so he tries two mongoose, and then two mongooses.
Giving up, he types, “One mongoose, and while you’re at it, send another one.”

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An elementary school teacher decides to poll the class on the difficulty of last night’s homework assignment:  How many people were able to complete the assignment without parents' help?  About 25% of the class raises their hands. How many people we able to complete the assignment with the help of a parent? About 70% of the class raises their hand. The teacher still noticed about 5% of the class did not raise their hands.  She then calls out, "How many people had to help a parent complete your assignment?

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Kelly's Corner

 MORNING HIKE NEAR BLAIR VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

 GETTING A CACTUS THORN OUT OF PHEEBS PAW

 kELLY AND THE LITTLE MOTORMOUSE STOP TO HAVE A LOOK AT A DESERT LILY NEAR BORREGO SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA

Al's Art Gallery