Music Monday: New Month, New Music

 It's May, y'all, and that can only mean one thing... THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST. To get in the proper mood, I watched the Eurovision Movie: the Story of Fire Saga and fell in love all over again. But the best part of my Europrep has come in the form of the soundtrack from that movie which includes this gloriousness: the Song Along. I was slapping the back of the sofa and shouting at the dogs, "Do you see that?? That was Loreena! LOOK IT'S JESSY MATADOR IS THAT JAMALA WITH THE LYRIC ABOUT WINNING THE WAR?" 

As you may have guessed, the dogs didn't answer nor care. But I do. Quick history: when I moved to the UK in 2009 I took my three greyhounds and my cat. One of my dogs died shortly after I got there, of osteosarcoma. The second one, her bonded pal and soulmate, left me, Daisy (greyhound number three) and the cat to mourn and cause my husband to wonder what he'd gotten into with his new American wife. He finally suggested that I should watch Eurovision because he thought it would cheer me up.

He was right. Eurovision is happy memories of doing a TIGHT 8 TO 10 on the train platform in Leeds. It is dancing with my workmates in the bookshop. It is searching for the BBC1 feed on the tiny telly in our hotel in Maison Lafitte on our belated honeymoon. I have missed watching it live since we've been back in the US and I'm again on the trail of a way to watch BBC1 with Graham Norton's commentary on the 22nd.

For now, enjoy the Song Along from the Eurovision Movie. It's everything that is fun and mad and glam about Eurovision, and it makes me smile (and get up and dance, but don't tell anyone).

Song Along Lyrics, including the performers in each section.

[Song 1: Cher – "Believe"]

[John Lundvik, Anna Obodescu, Both]

No matter how hard I try

You keep pushing me aside

And I can't break through

There's no talking to you

[Bilal Hassani]

It's so sad that you're leaving

It takes time to believe it

[Bilal Hassani & John Lundvik]

But after all is said and done

[Bilal Hassani, John Lundvik & Anna Odobescu]

You're gonna be the lonely one, oh

[Loreen & Jessy Matador]

Do you believe in life after love? (Sing with me, yeah)

I can feel something inside me say

I really don't think you're strong enough, no

[Song 2: Madonna – "Ray Of Light"]

[Loreen]

And I feel (And I feel) like I just got home

And I feel

[Loreen, Jessy Matador & Anna Odobescu]

Don't think you're strong enough, no

[Petra Nielsen, Anna Odobescu, Loreen & Jessy Matador]

And I feel (And I feel) like I just got home

[Petra Nielsen, Anna Odobescu, Loreen, Jessy Matador, Will Ferrell & John Lundvik]

And I feel

Quicker than a ray of light

Quicker than a ray of light

I really don't think you're strong enough, no

[Song 3: ABBA – "Waterloo"]

[Jamala]

Waterloo, I was defeated, you won the war

[Erik Mjönes]

My, my - at Waterloo, Napoleon did surrender

[Molly Sandén]

Oh, yeah - and I have met my destiny in quite a similar way

[Erik Mjönes & Molly Sandén]

The history book on the shelf

Is always repeating itself, woah

[Anna Odobescu, Loreen, Molly Sandén, Petra Nielsen, Jamala & Jessy Matador, Will Ferrell]

Waterloo, I was defeated and you won the war (You won the war)

Waterloo, promise to love you forevermore

[Song 4: Céline Dion – "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi"]

[Elina Nechayeva & Conchita Wurst]

Ne partez pas sans moi

La joie d'être libre

Vous qui cherchez une autre vie

Vous qui volez vers l'an deux mille

Ne partez pas sans moi

[Song 5: Black Eyed Peas – "I Gotta Feeling"]

[Netta, Will Ferrell, Molly Sandén, Erik Mjönes]

Tonight's gonna be a good night

That tonight's gonna be a good night

That tonight's gonna be a good night

A feelin' (Fill up my cup, mazel tov)

(Do you believe in life after love)

That tonight's gonna be a good night (Look at her dancing)

(Quicker than a ray of light)

(Just take it off)

[Netta, Loreen, Molly Sandén, Erik Mjönes]

That tonight's gonna be a good night (I can feel something inside me say)

That tonight's gonna be a good night (I really don't think you're strong enough, no)

A feelin' (Quicker than a ray of light)

That tonight's gonna be a good, good night (Do you believe in life after love?)

[Will Ferrell, All]

A good, good night

Just one more: Flashback Post - 22 Sept 2010

All this thinking about cats and Mills had me running through my archives and looking at things labeled thusly...and I found this marvelous ad that I'd forgotten about.  100 greyhounds in IKEA...what an idea.  :)

Happy Inside

Flashback Post...Miss you, Little Man.

I was at an event at the Greenville Humane Society last week and wandered into the PK room (The Mister works there and apparently that is jargon for the Puppy and Kitten room) and locked eyes with a beautiful little black/grey tabby boy who reached out from his cage just like Mills had done in the Spartanburg shelter so many years ago.  I purposefully rubbed his head and then my eye just so I'd remember why I can't have any more cats.  But that has gotten me thinking about my Little Man...and tomorrow will be a year to the day since he left me and Simon for the Bridge.  I'm still thinking about Alfonso, the green eyed devil in the PK room...but no one could replace my Mills.

Night Night, Little Man.

Miss you, Mee-uhls.  To.Absolute.Bits.

Night, night, Little Man.

Mills!, a photo by Nancy Dunne on Flickr.

"And when the stars fall
I will lie awake
You're my shooting star. "
-Michelle Branch

Mills Dunne
31 May 1998-30 October 2011

There and Back again...and again...

The Dunnes
Originally uploaded by Nancy Dunne

Well, it has been two weeks shy of two months since I've seen that handsome devil in the picture with me (taken in May 2010 in York). I was losing hope that I'd see him before Christmas. I was losing my mind. I was losing my grip on politeness and definitely losing my composure.

Today we found a cheap flight...and now my world has righted a bit. I will be back in the UK to visit from 16-31 August. Back with no car. Back on the buses and trains and in taxis. Back at Sainsbury's and ASDA and eating at Nando's. Back right next to Mr. Dunne, and you'll be hard pressed to pull me away from him, at least not for very long.

I can't wait. I can't wait for the English voices on the tannoy. I can't wait for Daisy to be curled up on me on the sofa and Mills to be purring in my hair as I go to sleep at night. My family is the most important thing to me in the world, and I can't wait for all of us to be on the same continent, even if it is only for two weeks.

Roll on August!

Happy Inside

Can you imagine if they released 100 greyhounds into an IKEA? There wouldn't be a meatball left in the store, I can assure you of that, and they'd find them all asleep on the Ektorp sofas.

(There's a ginger tabby that looks right at the camera at one point...looks SO much like my Mills...)

Master of All He Surveys...from the Countertop

Mills the Ginger Cat

Mills, mon Aristochat

Everybody wants to be a cat,
Because a cat's the only cat
Who knows where it's at.
Everybody's pickin' up on that feline beat,
'Cause everything else is obsolete.
-"Everybody wants to be a cat," The Aristocats, Disney

That cat is my hero this morning. After an overnight interpreting assignment that has left me useless and out sick from work today, I was awakened to the familiar sound of Mills chasing thin air as he does every morning. Only this morning it wasn't thin air. It was a mouse.

Sadly I was on the phone to Simon when I discovered what Mills had and therefore caused him some permanent hearing damage when I split the sound barrier squealing.

My little mouser first cornered his prey in the closet in my office, then herded it out to the sitting room as I got something to scoop it up in so that I could usher it outside. Mills chased it out from under the chair, and then kept it under the table until I could get it into a tupperware container. I then took it outside and flung it into the yard and that little buggar ran STRAIGHT BACK FOR THE STAIRS to come back in the front door. Thankfully it saw me standing there and ducked around into the bushes on the front of the house, then into the house via a vent on the front in the foundation. Hooray.

I couldn't just sit and watch Mills kill it though...don't get me wrong, I don't want mice in my house but there is something so evil about how cats kill their prey. And it made eye contact with me...that was all she wrote. Simon had encouraged me on the phone to save it, chuck it out the door to freedom rather than let Mills kill it, so that's what I did. And the intelligence I saw in those eyes (coupled with terror, of course) lead that little critter right back into the crawl space under my house. Again I say Hoo-Ray.

His adventure this morning has bolstered the opinion in Mills's mind that he is the alpha in this pack. As I was making my tea, he stood up on his hind legs to look (he seems to think that this simple posture will magically make him tall enough to see over the top of the counter) and the dogs came over to see what he was watching. I don't know what exactly happened next but Mills moved his head at them like "You want some of this?" and all three dogs BACKED UP. Too funny.

I gave my little man a saucer with a little milk in the bottom and scratched his ears before he took off on patrol again. Je t'aime, mon Aristochat. Je t'aime très beaucoup.

Franny and Zooey

Zooey in black, Franny in grey and Mills in the middle

Finally, they are together again. Be free kitty girl. Tell your brother I miss him.

What Dreams May Come...Again...and be TiVo'd

This week I moved further into the 21st century and got a TiVo. What I ever did before that I don't know...this is the easiest and fastest way to see what I want to see on television I've ever known. Of course, I'm sure I said the same thing about my first VCR...

My power apparently blinked off yesterday morning, a fact that doesn't really mean that much because it's a Saturday, but it did allow me to sleep in because the alarm didn't go off. While my fuzzy alarm clocks did whimper and nudge at various times, they didn't rouse me from sleep until almost 10am...something that NEVER happens in this house anymore.

I chose not to set my clock until just this morning. Well, let's be honest, I just didn't set it because my ADHD-wannabe mind was wrapped up in a zillion other things instead. Again, this morning, I slept until 9am, but this morning I had some disturbing dreams. I think my brain was trying to warn me that I needed to get up.

The first one took place in an airport I think. I might have being going to or returning from the UK. Either way, a young man that I've kind of been crushing on (can you tell I have friends that are teenagers?) was in the dream and suddenly he was with another woman. All I remember of that dream was walking along behind them and seeing them start holding hands. In retrospect, I realize that the woman looks a lot like his ex-wife...but in the dream I remember thinking she'd come out of nowhere and feeling kind of "Oh well" about the whole thing.

The second one took place at Sandy Paws, a greyhound gathering I attend in the spring. I knew the people I was staying with and had all my animals there, even my cat Mills. Someone had some greyhound puppies there, and Mills was playing with the puppies.

Suddenly these people came in, saying something about the puppies making noise, and gathered them all up into a duffel bag. It had mesh on the sides and I could see Mills in there with them, meowing, but the puppies barking and whining drowned out the meows. They took the back out the door and I hopped up to follow them. Once outside they took off at breakneck speed, dragging the bag on the ground! I chased them to some woods and caught up to them as they dumped the pups out, saying that here they wouldn't bother people with their noise. I scooped up Mills and then confronted one of the men. He made a comment to his friend about me being AR (anti-racing) and I got in his face to tell him he was wrong. He blew me off and walked away.

Bizarr-O. Both dreams had a common theme though...I was left alone, feeling like "I knew that was going to happen," and not being able to change anything to make myself happy. I think I need to get up on time tomorrow, and leave the drama to TiVo.

Why I Am Now Afraid of the Drawer in the Kitchen

So I'm doing some housework last week, right? I take the vacuum cleaner into the bedroom and head for my bathroom to see if there is a plug in there. I don't really use that bathroom because the toilet flushes only when it feels like it and I have the cat box in there, so I had no idea if there was a plug there or not. I open the door all the way (it stays cracked most of the time just so the cats can get in and out) and nearly jump out of my skin to find Mills sitting in the sink. His eyes and the top of his head were the only parts visible over the top of the sink, and his ears were plastered to the top of his head. By the time I'd run to get the camera he had disappeared.

Or so I thought...

Later that same day I finished washing and drying the dishes that were rapidly taking over the sink and was putting them away when I made a horrifying discovery. I opened the end bottom cabinet by the stove...the one that has access to the only drawer in the kitchen and can only be opened about 6 inches due to the required placement of said stove...and pulled the drawer out the 2 inches that it will come out before hitting the door. Without looking I reached into the drawer to put the pizza cutter in and something in the drawer swatted at my hand!

On the verge of simultaneously wetting my pants and bursting into hysterical laughter, I bent over and peered into the drawer. There sat Mills, his ears in the same position as they had been in the sink earlier, front paw poised and ready to strike. Little stinker.

Since then everything has come out of that drawer that doesn't need a coating of orange cat hair and I periodically just open it and reach in to give my little furry golem a scratch behind his flat ears.

For those who don't think he exists...

For those who don't think he exists...
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

Meet Mills, destroyer of cabinet doors, lurker of sinks and drawers, the Almighty 3am Meower...Pure Evil this cat is. That's my boy!

(please ignore the horrid curtain, it came with the house...)