Don't Worry ( #BOTB Results )

Anxiety weighs down the heart,  but a kind word cheers it up.    

Proverbs 12:25 New International Version (NIV)

Pondering the Colorado River in Austin Texas

Pandemic Days

        There's so much for people to worry about these days that it's difficult to know where to start.  Maybe it's best to start by not worrying.  Jesus said not to worry (Matthew 6:25-34) and if you don't take any stock in what Jesus had to say then just use common sense.  How are you going to make things better by worrying? 

          If you find yourself consumed by worry then maybe you need to take some action to take your mind off of that worry.  After all, worry is essentially an act of selfishness if no action is taken to find ways to remedy that which is worrying you.  Worry is wasted effort which culminates in no positive result.  If all you do is worry then you aren't working towards personal wellness and your worry can become more contagious than the worst disease.

         Would you rather be spreading the negative energy of worry or the positive energy of hope, concern for others, and the mindset that things will get better? 

        Sometimes children know best.  Here's a story that my daughter Ada Z shared recently about my dear granddaughter, Grace, who is seven years old:

My daughter, Grace, had a dream the other night. She said,
“We were sitting around the campfire as a family and God came down to sit with us. He started singing a song about the world. Then he ate a marshmallow. Everything is going to be ok”

I asked her how she knew that it was God. She said, “It was definitely God”.

The smile that she had on her face and the twinkle in her eye gave me so much hope and it has truly gotten me through the last few days.

         Thank you for that sweet story, Ada, and bless the wisdom of my granddaughter, Gracie.  She put into words with elegant simplicity the advice I've been trying to live by over the past decade or so.  Eat marshmallows and sing happy songs.  Everything will turn out just fine--or at least the way it's supposed to work out.

Battle of the Bands Results

My Martyr Battle

         My most recent Battle saw "Joan of Arc" by Jennifer Warnes go up against "The Martyr" by prog rock group Wally.  As some of you might have guessed, my favorite was the song by Wally.   However either of the albums that these songs came from are big favorites of mine.  The voting ran close at the beginning of the race, but then Wally broke out ahead to capture the win.

   Final Vote Tally

Jennifer Warnes     5 votes

Wally                       9 votes

Next Battle on Wednesday April 1st

        This is going to be a big day in blogging since this will also be the start of Blogging from A to Z April Challenge for 2020.   So far nearly 300 blogs are signed up to the official list, but many more will be participating through social media sites like Facebook.  If you're basically locked down for the current pandemic then why not join us in A to Z.  This seems like the year to do it.

       And wait!  There's more!   April 1st will also be the posting date for Insecure Writer's Support Group.  So it's gonna be a whopper of a blogging day.  I've pulled all these together in one post in previous years so I guess I can do it again.

        Please be well.  And don't be afraid.

Cowboy Dreams (#BOTB)

        John Wayne would probably not make it in today's entertainment world.  Like so many other screen legends, Wayne has become a relic of the past.  Too bad.  We could use more heroic heroes.  

This was part of my late step-father's John Wayne memorabilia collection.
 Maybe I should have kept that collection, but selling it all on eBay
wasn't a terrible idea either.

Childhood Fantasies

         We'd play lots of made up fantasy games when I was a kid.  Cowboys and Indians was a favorite.  I don't know that many kids pretend to be cowboys and Indians these days.  It might be considered culturally insensitive, too violent,  or something like that.  If kids do play fantasy role games now, maybe they pretend to be activists or lawyers.   Hopefully kids still have fun and stretch their imaginations, but I'm happy that I grew up in the time I did.  You could literally be anyone you wanted to be in your dreams and not be shamed for doing so.  But it was also a time of better morality in many ways.

         For me, the concept of cowboys takes me back to those childhood fantasies.   Today's Battle of the Bands song uses cowboy imagery in a metaphorical way:  A man in love seeing himself as a sort of romantic cowboy hero.   America and the world still has a certain fanciful image of cowboy life so I think that makes the romantic cowboy metaphor work.  See what you think...

Battle of the Bands

     Battle of the Bands is the blogging event started by Far Away Series and now hosted by StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands.   This event happens each month on the 15th and on some blogs there is also a Battle on the 1st of the month.  My blog is one of those with a second Battle on the 1st of the month.   The premise is simple:  Listen to the songs presented below and then in the comments vote for your favorite and tell us why you liked it.  Then visit the links listed near the bottom of this post for more Battle action.


Cowboy Dreams

         This song was written by Prefab Sprout's Paddy  McAloon for the 1994 BBC television series Crocodile Shoes.    Prefab Sprout has been one of my favorite pop/rock groups since I first discovered them back in the eighties.  In my opinion Paddy McAloon is one of the best of modern era songwriters.   Please don't vote on the original, but if you want to hear how Prefab Sprout does the song then you can click this link.  They released their version in 2001.  This is a lovely version with a nice video--please don't vote for it as much as you might be tempted to do.

       The current Battle looks at two other version of the song.   See which you enjoy the most...

Jimmy Nail   "Cowboy Dreams"  (1994)

          Jimmy Nail was the star of the BBC series Crocodile Shoes.  Here is his version from that show. 
       




Nigel Livingstone  "Cowboy Dreams"  (2016)

       In my brief search I didn't find much about this artist.   He appears to be from Ireland and mostly plays in pubs and such, though he does have several YouTube videos.  Nigel kicks up the tempo on his version..





Time to Vote!

        Okay pardner, time to saddle up and vote for your favorite version of the two that I've presented here.  Which song version do you like best? You don't have to know about music to have an opinion since it all comes down to your own personal taste.

         Please vote on your favorite by letting us know your choice in the comment section and tell us why you prefer the version you chose. Then after you've finished here, please visit the other blogs listed below who may or may not be participating this time around. And if you've put up your own BOTB contest let us know that as well so we can vote on yours.


Here are some other places where you might find BOTB posts:

 StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands

  'MIKE'S RAMBLINGS'

'Curious as a Cathy'

Sound of One Hand Typing

Angel's Bark  

Debbie Doglady's Den

Jingle, Jangle, Jungle 

Cherdo on the Flipside 


Winner of this Battle Announced on Friday June 22nd

        I'll be visiting family in Florida about this time so I hope I can get these results up in a timely manner.  Then I'll be in Jersey for several days so I'll likely have limited internet time during my trip.  Please bear with me.  I'll try to make some blog rounds, but I can't guarantee much.

         Hope you have a great summer!

          Did you play cowboys and Indians when you were a kid?     Do kids today still play cowboys and Indians?  Do you think playing this fantasy game is culturally insensitive or politically incorrect or something like that?

Dreams or Reality

           Was it a dream or was it real?   Have you ever woken and in a hazy half-wakeful state wondered if what you experienced  was real?  As the sleep state wears off and consciousness gradually returns to the dreamer,  sometimes this question is pondered for a moment or even longer.  As years pass by we may retain vivid memories of things that may never have even really happened.  Likewise we may supress the memories of things that did happen to the extent they become dreamlike or pushed into the realms of forgetfulness.  Was it the real life or was it just fantasy?

           Last Friday I recounted a childhood dream about finding a baby skeleton.  I told how when I awoke I checked to see if the baby skeleton was where I had put it in the dream.  When I realized it was only a dream, I was disappointed, but the memory of the vivid dream remained with me.  This week I am offering a guessing game for you.

          To follow are four childhood memories that I have that seem very vivid to me.  One I know is real, one is definitely a dream, and the other two I seem to remember as real but I don't know for sure.  I'll leave it to you to guess which is which.

THE BIG TREEHOUSE

     It was 1957 and I was in the first grade. Beside the school I attended,  Garfield Elementary School in Cleveland, Ohio, there was a wooded area.  One day I was exploring the woods with one of my young friends--Jimmy Wolfe as I recall-- and we came upon a very large house that was built above the ground in the trees.  It was an actual dwelling that was mounted into several trees.  It was painted a very glossy tree leaf green, had a screened in porch, and had a wooden staircase leading up to the house.  Jimmy and I immediately left when we realized we were in someone else's yard.

THE LIGHTNING STORM

      There had been a huge thuderstorm with a great deal of lightning.  I do not remember the actual storm occurring, but only the aftermath.  I went outside in the front yard.  The air felt clean and fresh and everything seemed new.  People were walking by on the sidewalk that passed in front of our house.  I was surprised to find large jagged shards of lightning pieces in the front yard.  I gathered them up.  They were smooth and solid as though they were made of glass.

THE HAUNTED HOUSE

       My sister Joy and I were going to downtown Cleveland with my mother.  It was 1955 and since my mother did not have a car to drive we had to take the bus.  We had to walk a few blocks from our house on West 143rd Street to the mainline where there was a bus stop.  As we waited on the bench a chilling breeze swooshed over me and with it a smell.  I looked across the street to what I had seen before but always tried to avoid seeing.  It was a large old abandoned house that I always referred to as the haunted house.  The unpainted wood was now weathered gray and a odor that made me think of foreboding history, mustiness, and perhaps even death exuded from the building. I was glad when the bus came and took us away from that frightening place. At the next stop two nuns boarded the bus.  Not knowing what a nun was I thought they were ghosts.

A CONFUSION OF WORDS

       It was very dark that night in the backseat of my parents car.  I was probably about 4 or 5 years old.  We were coming or going, I don't remember.  I only remember that I felt scared. My parents were talking in low tones, probably thinking I was asleep.  I heard them say something about a "tornado" and my fear increased.  But then I remembered them having also mentioned a city called "Toledo" in times past.  Since Toledo was near Cleveland, where we lived at that time, we would sometimes go there.  I then thought perhaps we were going to or passing near Toledo.   But my fear returned as I looked out into the darkness beyond the car window.  I was certain that they were talking about a tornado.  In the darkness, I could see the cornfields with the cornstalks leaning in the wind.

     So which was in the real life?  Which was just a fantasy?  Which two are questionable memories of a child's mind?

       Or what about you?  Do you have a particular childhood dream that stands out in your memory?  Do you seem to remember something that you are sure happened but nobody else can confirm?  Do you remember much from your childhood at all?