Dave Younge Playlist

Clara and I got to pay tribute to a great music lover last night. Here's the appropriately eclectic Dave Younge Playlist. Dave always celebrated diversity and it shows in his musical tastes. We tried to honor that spirit and connect with all sorts of people with these songs. Enjoy. 

PS: Thanks to Trivia Mafia  and the 331 Club for the DJ gig.

Grateful Dead – Scarlet Begonias
Steely Dan – Rikki Don't Lose That Number
Fela Kuti – Viva Nigeria
John Coltrane Quartet – It's Easy To Remember
Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar On Me
XTC – Hold Me My Daddy
Los Angeles Burning – Sinatra
Malkit Singh – Jind Mahi
The Neville Brothers – Fire On The Bayou
The Clash – Rock the Casbah
Celia Cruz – La Negra Tiene Tumbao
Tukka Yoot – Tukka Yoot's Riddim
Grateful Dead – Ripple
Heart – Magic Man
Bonnie Raitt – Love Sneakin' Up On You
Crash Test Dummies – The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead
Pink Floyd – Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2
Erin McKeown – Slung Lo
Miles Davis – Milestones
Sting – Fields Of Gold
Timbuk 3 – Facts About Cats
Laurie Berkner – The Cat Came Back
Talking Heads – Once In A Lifetime
Stevie Wonder – Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing
The English Beat – Save It For Later
Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Pump It Up
Sun Ra – Distant Stars
Fleetwood Mac – You Make Loving Fun
Blondie – One Way Or Another
Vince Guaraldi Trio – Thanksgiving Theme
Dar Williams – Christians and Pagans
Herbie Hancock – Mega Mix (Rockit, Autodrive, Future Shock, TFS, Rough, & Chameleon)
Bob Marley & The Wailers – Satisfy My Soul - Beats Antique Remix

XIII

This is one of my father's favorite poems. He will gladly recite it for you if you ask.

   
When I Was One And Twenty
by A.E. Housman from Shropshire Lad

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
'Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your heart away;
Give pearls away and rubies
But keep your fancy free.'
But I was one-and-twenty,
No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
'The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
'Tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue.'
And I am two-and-twenty,
And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

Mankato Girls

“Betsy was so full of joy that she had to be alone. She went upstairs to her bedroom and sat down on Uncle Keith's trunk. Behind Tacy's house the sun had set. A wind had sprung up and the trees, their color dimmed, moved under a brooding sky. All the stories she had told Tacy and Tib seemed to be dancing in those trees, along with all the stories she planned to write some day and all the stories she would read at the library. Good stories. Great stories." --Maud Hart Lovelace, Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown

Almond Cookies

One of the best recipes I have straight from GG's* kitchen:

Here's the (slightly different) version I worked out before these recipe cards were found:

1 cup butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 cups flour

1/4 lb ground almonds (I buy whole unsalted almonds and grind them in the blender to the consistency of coarse sand)

pinch salt
capful of vanilla

Just mix everything together (a pastry cutter or potato masher works well). Form the dough into "logs" (about the same size and shape as a store-bought tube of cookie dough), wrap tightly, and chill overnight.  Slice (1/4"?) and bake at 350 for 10ish minutes - roll in powered sugar when they've cooled a bit but are still slightly warm.
 
*Grandma Gert's

Time For Bed

Too tired to really blog tonight, so I'll just post the rather unlikely song my mother would sing to us at bedtime.

The perfect lullaby, really.

My Childhood Is For Sale On Esty

It's amazing how much of my past can be found on the Internet considering the fact that almost half my life was spent before the Internet went viral. Here was today's reminder that your memories are just a Google away.

A friend was worried about me in the cold snap in Minnesota and suggested I get a lovely knit hat. Here are a couple he found--which I agree are quite fetching.

Their 70's retro look made brought to mind the only knit hat I can honestly say really stands out in my mind. My mother had a winter hat that my siblings and I hated. It was deeply embarrassing to be seen with her when she was wearing it. I thought my friend would appreciate it, but I didn't have a picture. So, I Google "hand knit brown hat with sequins" (yes, my mother wore a hand-knit brown hat with sequins--BIG sequins!) which got me an image that came very close:

Next, I tried "brown knit hat with paillettes". See? Watching every episode of Project Runway paid off, I learned the word "paillette". Admittedly, I had to scroll down, but there it was in all its hideous glory: