I'd intended to post yesterday, but really just didn't feel up to it. I got out Sunday night and watched the Super Duper Bad Wolf Blood Moon Total Lunar Eclipse, but that is not what caused me to get sick. It's been coming on for a few days, now.
This post might be a bit long, but I want to get it all in, so just bear with me.
Now, about that eclipse, it was nice that it happened the night before a holiday, so I could stay up and watch it. It was cold as heck, though. I'd run out, look, then run back inside and warm up. About halfway through, I suddenly remembered, "Hey, I have some insulated coveralls!"
I got them out of the closet, and put them on. Those things are amazing! Even though there was frost on the ground, I stayed toasty warm. Except for my feet. Which might have been warmer if I'd put on my shoes. But I didn't. I just slipped my rubber boots on, which have no insulation whatsoever. Thus, frozen tootsies.
Cold feet aside, I watched until maximum totality was achieved. About halfway through, I suddenly remembered, "Hey, I have binoculars!" I ran inside and got them, and whoa! What a difference they made. I almost felt like I could reach out and touch the moon. And I saw Orion's nebula and a bunch of other stars.
I didn't stay up until the eclipse was completely over, though. Remember, I'm used to going to bed at 7:00, so staying up until after 11:00 was quite a stretch already. I slept in until nearly 7:00 the next morning, and woke up with my throat on fire and barely able to speak. Lots of chamomile tea with honey and lemon. I'm not sure of its medicinal properties, but it sure was soothing. Still, I didn't really feel like doing much, so I mostly watched TV.
I signed up for Acorn TV, which shows BBC shows. I already have BritBox, and you really need them both to get everything. But they're not expensive. The both of them together are less than $13 per month. And what did I end up watching? A documentary on King Arthur's Britain.
I told you I was a history nerd.
I did get another letter written and ready to mail.
To whom will this one go? Who knows? But, if I have your mailing address, it could be you! Speaking of, today I received a lovely letter from my friend Cyndye. I'd almost forgotten how fun this is-- sending and receiving snail mail. By the way, Cyndye is having some medical issues, which I won't go in to here, but if you've a mind, lift her up in prayer. I know she'd appreciate it.
Now, on to today's news.
Back when I was a child, my dad had gotten all these records -- vinyl for you millennials-- from The National Geographic Society. I loved listening to those, and had even made myself a mix tape from them. With my recent foray into sea chanties on YouTube, I began thinking about those albums. I asked my brother if he still had them, and alas they'd all gotten ruined in Hurricane Ike.
I lost a lot of my childhood to that storm.
But anyway, after talking to Scott, I began searching for them online. I couldn't find any uploads of them, except for one on YouTube. Undaunted, I checked Ebay. Lo and behold, nearly all of them are available there.
I quickly ordered my five favorites. Four of them arrived today.
As you might guess, this one is train and railroad songs.
This one is songs of the American Revolution.
This one is songs of the westward expansion, and has my all time favorite version of Wayfaring Stranger, that I've never found anywhere else.
This one, oh this one, was our Traditional Christmas Tree Decorating Album, and Dad's Traditional Fruitcake Baking Album.
Seriously, when I was in the Navy, he wrote me a letter telling me how his fruitcakes didn't turn out right because he couldn't find his traditional fruitcake baking tape. (He'd made cassette copies of all of them.) This was the traditional fruitcake baking tape album.
I've got one more still on the way. I'm going to try to eventually get the whole collection, but wanted to grab these, just in case they were no longer available later on. I guess my next investment will be a record player. I've been looking at some on Amazon that convert vinyl to MP3, so I can save them to my computer, and not wear out the records.
By the way, I was kind of concerned about records making it through our on again off again postal system, but they were very, very well packaged, and arrived unscathed.
The final thing that arrived today came not from Ebay, but Amazon.
I think this book maybe single handedly responsible for my life long love affair with snow. Well, that, and I so seldom see it. Living here in the deep South, you know. Even though they're predicting it for tomorrow. But we'll probably just get freezing rain.
As usual.
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