The good morning, good night thread

[Robert Essig]

Duke Ellington, you say.  I just bought  louis Armstrong tape to listen to in the car.  It's live, very well recorded, and I cannot stop listening to it.  I used to name my fish after musicians.  One of them was named Count Basie.  The only fish left may or may not be Mozart (I always had a hard time keeping track of their names).  When this one drops, I'm done with fish (unless they're in a taco shell).

[delboy]

Saw Jupiter through the telescope for the first time last night. Quite an awesome experience - could see four of her moons, too. Though there's not any detail (yet... although I can feel some more eye-piece purchases coming on!) it's a strange thing to be looking at a planet and moons so far away, almost spiritual or meditation-like in the way that it's not so much what you can see more what it means. Hot on the heels of the news that an old colleague whom I worked with for many years and used to spend hours discussing horror books with never came round from a routine operation yesterday... it really does make you consider the big picture. We are all nothing but stardust really.

Derek

[Ed]

Sorry to hear about your workmate, Del. As you say, it makes you stop and think. My accountant went out to get the milk from his doorstep and never came back. His wife found him slumped face down on the threshold. It must be chilling to call out to a loved one and wait for a reply, then go looking to see why they don't answer and find them dead. No build-up, no warning, no goodbyes.

Staring into the cosmos brings home just how small and insignificant we are in the scheme of things. In some ways I find it comforting, in others I find it terrifying. Mostly I just find it awe inspiring. Must see if I can pick up a decent second hand telescope

[QBall]

I am interested in all things JAZZ, having listened for almost eighty years.
First swing piece I ever heard (my introduction) was In The Mood at a fairground at age eight (1938).
I ran across a fine rendition on youtube of a piece entitled. Blues For Stephanie.
Have a listen to some fine big band blues.

[Caz]

Bit of a weird one this. Just recently when I log into the cafe the screen whites out for a couple of seconds then I'm back to the home page. It never used to happen and it's possible that the update I downloaded for my Firefox theme is the cause. I'm not sure though, so I thought I'd mention it.

It's in the dark heart of winter when I look to the night sky. Freezing cold night, not a cloud in sight and a sky full of stars, not much beats that. I always look for the plough, I think that's what it's call. Amazing stuff.

[Ed]

Not to pass the buck Caz, but it sounds like it could be your browser -- I recently had loads of fun and games when I updated Opera. Nothing seemed to work right, then a couple days later they brought out a patch for the update and all was well again. I'll check all the forum settings when I get a chance, though, just to be on the safe side 

[Rev. Austin]

I did another kid's party today - twenty of 'em!!!  All aged between 3 and 6.  I started work at 9:30 and didn't get my lunch until 3   mental! but tremndous fun!  I think I might have an early night with a good book  

edit: ooo actually...a lady at work gave me a book today called This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti.  Just looked at the publishing credits...it's Good News Bible horror!  No surprise there - my friend's a born-again Christian.  Hmm wonder who'll win at the end of the book, the angels or demons?  this friend also gives me regular newsletters about the end of the world and is a little concerned demons will get to me through my writing.  She really likes my Johnny Cave stories though, so she's not totally mental 

[Ed]

See, I'd love to be that bonkers. Everything's so clear cut for them. They deal in absolutes, whereas the rest of us seem to muddle through ten levels of uncertainty.

[Robert Essig]

See, I'd love to be that bonkers. Everything's so clear cut for them. They deal in absolutes, whereas the rest of us seem to muddle through ten levels of uncertainty.

Hahaha!  That's true.  Thing is, without my wandering uncertain mind I don't think I would be a very good writer.  It seems like it would be boring to live life based on absolutes.

[Ed]

Absolutely at least the likes of us always have that 'what if?' factor to keep us entertained.

Beautiful day here in San Baronto. It's hot, but there's also a strong breeze, so it's just perfect for me. I'm sitting in a shaded area outside our apartment. The kids are splashing around in the pool to one side of me with a French kid, whose older sister (12 ish -- same sort of age as my eldest) is posing under the poolside shower, tossing her long aubern hair, for his benefit, I'm sure. My nipper is sitting in the shollow end, agog, in awe of her. Poor bugger.

We're on top of a big hill here, with a winding road up to the top and down the other side, with full hairpin bends here and there. It's much loved by cyclists, who perpetually pedal past our place, going one way or the other. I could almost fool myself into thinking it was the same people all the time. They're all dressed in similar lycra costumes and the bikes all look the same to me. Cn't help thinking Geoff and Del would love it here. It would be my idea of torture, TBH. It's about a five or six mile climb, with no flat bits, so it's fine going down (the bikes often overtake the cars doing upwards of 50 km/h), but probably an hour's hard labour going the other way.

I've attached a pic of where I'm sitting...

[delph_ambi]

That's nice.

*delph seethes quietly in grey and windy Co Durham*

[Rev. Austin]

Yeah very nice.  I had a view of a derelict nightclub today  thankfully, it's being demolished soon, so then I'll have a lovely view of...the local council offices.  Hmm time to save up for a holiday methinks 

[Ed]

Seriously pissed off at the thought of having to go home tomorrow. We'll be up at stupid 'o' clock tomorrow morning, rushing around like headless chickens, and by the time we've finally reached home at the other end of the journey we'll be so pissed off, stressed out and knackered we'll be needing another holiday to get over this one.

It never ceases to amaze me how ignorant people can be, though. I've had three clients ring me while I was here, starting their blurb with, "I know you're on holiday, but..." They might as well finish that sentence with, "...I don't give a fuck about your needs at this point in time because mine are much more important than yours."

The guy I've left in charge of my affairs while I'm here has rung me twice, and has volunteered me for work on Wednesday. WTF? I was hoping to stay away until Monday, or at the very least, Thursday. But no, everything's always urgently needed by the client. C'mon, you have to come panic with the rest of us. We don't want to hear that you told us this would happen if we didn't pull our finger out months ago. Don't want to hear that you gave us two months notice you would be away for these two weeks so that we could work around you. No, we just want you to hop-to and get shit sorted. Pull another sparkling miracle from your anus and get us out of the fubar nonsense bullshit fuckup we've been working ourselves towards through an ongoing policy of crisis management for the past six months and beyond.

Okay -- rant over. Now, where's that beer I was sinking rather than lug back or leave for the maid...?

[Ed]

Home now Work tomorrow Kids got us up at 3AM this morning Told them to go back to bed until 5, but didn't get any more sleep. Can't stop yawning. Must sleep. Must sssslllleeeeeeepppp

[Geoff_N]

Great view of your hols view, Ed. Sorry you had to return. The last two weeks were spent cycling to South Wales and back interrupted a bit by attending the UK Authors Away week in Carmarthenshire. It rained on my 6 days of cycling every day but one but I still enjoyed it. Photos on http://geoffnelder.wordpress.com/

Geoff