Have Yourself a Merry Music Monday

I hope that all of you that read the Lettuce have a wonderful holiday. I will be back with more Music Mondays and other ramblings after New Year. Please be safe, keep your loved ones close, and if you pray, pray for peace. Our world needs it...a million dreams worth.

Music Monday: A Wink from my Dad

In case you were wondering, I've gone to Whamhalla. I lost on Saturday at the end of a Newcastle United game, when the person running the tannoy decided to play "Last Christmas" in the stadium and for once, Peacock didn't shut off access to the program early. Ah well, if I have to go out coasting on a 3-0 win for my Magpies, that's okay.

I thought about putting up Last Christmas as this week's Music Monday, but that would be Mary Jane levels of Petty and I'm just not there...yet. Instead, I want to share a story I shared on social media yesterday about what I've started calling "winks" from the universe. These have happened at important times during my chemo treatment, and I imagine that they will continue through the rest of this journey:

Got a wink from my Daddy when I sat down to rest and "She's Got a Way" by Billy Joel came on? ✅️He told me once that this song was on the radio in the car when he got pulled over for speeding on the way to the hospital because I was being born. Apparently they went early, Mom stayed and he went back to get things, and I guess was flying back to the hospital in his Corvair. So it was "my" song from then on.

I looked it up and while that song did indeed debut in November of 1971 like I did, I doubt he would have remembered what was on the radio that day. But he heard it a lot when I was new, and that might have made it my song too. My Daddy was magic like that.

Music Monday: Before you go...

Hey, so I'm still safe from Whamaggedon as of this morning. You? I'm also up to my ears in Getting Things Done for the DayJob™ so I'm going to leave you with this pretty little song that speaks to me of my current WIP (not to be confused with the Orana novel Edit In Progress that is sadly ongoing) and of the two MCs that seem to orbit each other at the moment without being physically together. Cryptic enough? I'm also coming off a very happy Critmas celebration with my DnD group yesterday, followed by trees taking out my power for a few hours so...normal levels of insanity around here. Lewis Capaldi, do your magic! (Lyrics in video.)

Music Monday: Just Say No to Whamageddon...

Don't worry, I'm not one of those players who will send you to Whamhalla on purpose, just because I can. Because I can't. Not from here anyway.

Not familiar with Whamageddon? In a nutshell, it is a game that is played from 1-24 December (the end of the day on the 24th). Kind of like a live-action advent calendar, if you will, but with no chocolates or tiny bottles of liquor. For more information and the rules, you can visit Whamageddon here. It's very competitive among those that play - and those that don't. For instance, my office mate (back in the before times, when we were all going to the office every day) didn't play but knew what it was, so when we were all gathered in our lobby for a holiday lunch and playing holiday music on someone's phone, she suddenly shouted at me, "Nancy, RUN!" So I did. No questions asked, I just ran. Turned out that the original "Last Christmas" had come on someone's phone.

So I'm going to give you some Christmas music this month that won't make you run, hopefully. Well, this first one might, but only if you're a soft chuff who forgot the chip pan on the hob. This song was in the running for Christmas Number One in the UK a few years back and is a good warning for what not to do after those late-night holiday do stumbles home.

Chip Pan

by Everly Pregnant Brothers

It were half past eleven,

I got in from t’pub,

I were feelin’ hungry,

Feelin’ hungry. 

In went into t’kitchen,

To cook up some grub.

I went and forgot it,

Like a soft chuff.

Ohhhh! Me chip pan’s on fire.

Should’ve had a pizza,

Or had a kebab.

I couldn’t be bothered.

I thought I were clever.

Now me ‘ouse is on fire,

And I’m out in t’street,

I’m in me pyjamas.

In pyjamas.

Ohhhh! Me chip pan’s on fire.

Noooo! Me chip pan’s on fire.

So if it’s half past eleven,

And you get in from t’pub.

You’re feelin’ ‘ungry,

A little peckish.

And you get into t’kitchen,

To cook up some grub.

Don’t go and forget it,

Like I did.

Noooo! Me chip pan’s on fire.

Noooo! Me chip pan’s on fire.

Noooo! Me chip pan’s on fire.

Noooo! Me chip pan’s on fire.

Dial 999.

Emergency. Which service do you require?

Music Monday: Thanksgiving Leftovers for Birthday Dinner

The title is part of a joke that used to go around my house on my birthday, which sometimes fell on actual American Thanksgiving Day. "What do you want for your birthday meal, Nancy? Ah, well, we're having turkey." I should have made the switch to vegetarian sooner.

Also, I guess, it's my birthday. Hooray. I mean, it is my birthday, but things like baldness and chemo have stolen some of today's joy. But not my niece, Joy. She is still pretty dang awesome.

Anyway!

Last night, as I was driving back from having a late lunch/early dinner with my sister and her family to celebrate my birthday, I got stuck in traffic. I mean, GENIUS move, traveling anywhere further than the postbox on the Sunday after a holiday, but it is what it is. This was 4mph for many miles of traffic, the kind where you think you've made progress only to find it took almost an hour to go 15 miles - and you have less than a quarter of a tank of gas. But as I sat there on the highway surrounded by trucks, I heard this song and knew it was today's Music Monday.

It speaks to a current WIP that will get more attention after Nano is over. Picture two vampires, whose long lives keep intersecting due to a shared destiny, sitting in comfy chairs by a fire sharing a nice bottle of red wine and telling stories about their time apart from each other - when they suddenly realize WHY they keep finding each other. That's what kept me from losing my mind in the car...Connor and Lark, I'm coming for you soon - get ready!

Fix Youby Coldplay, Cody Fry
When you try your best, but you don't succeedWhen you get what you want, but not what you needWhen you feel so tired, but you can't sleepStuck in reverseWhen the tears come streaming down your faceWhen you lose something you can't replaceWhen you love someone, but it goes to wasteCould it be worse?Lights will guide you homeAnd ignite your bonesAnd I will try to fix youTo fix youHigh up above or down belowWhen you're too in love to let it goBut if you never try, you'll never knowJust what you're worthLights will guide you homeAnd ignite your bonesAnd I will try to fix youTears stream down your faceWhen you lose something you cannot replaceTears stream down your face, and ITears stream down your faceI promise you I will learn from my mistakesTears stream down your face, and ILights will guide you homeAnd ignite your bonesI will try to fix you

Music Monday: There's an Uprising

Another Saturday spent playing Dungeons and Dragons. My teenage heart is happy. The word for the day is... SHILLELAGH! ✊

(Original by Muse - Cover by Damned Anthem, lyrics included in the cover are below:)

They will not force us

They will stop degrading us

They will not control us

We will be victorious

They will not force us

They will stop degrading us

They will not control us

We will be victorious

They will not control us

We will be victorious

Victorious

Music Monday: One Big Wolfhound Love

Ciaragh is still on my mind - last night I went to shut the basement door after Bryn and Willow came inside and I swear, I could feel her out there on the patio, lying on the cool tiles and looking up at me like, "five more minutes, please?" I don't regret the decision we made, but I do so miss her - our Ciaragh had one big love for all of her humans and pack mates. So this is for her...and for me. Lest I forget...

One Big Love

by Patty Griffin

Let's take a ride to the seaside

We can go out swimming in the high tide

Just wear your shorts and your long hair

Don't forget the lawn chair

Everybody's gone to the movies

Everybody's gone and its groovy

They went to the one about the big war

I didn't, I'd seen it before

I guess I'm taking my chances

Giving up the ring throwing in the gloves

I guess I'm taking my chances

Trading in my things

A couple wings on a little white dove

And one big love, one big love

Everybody do like a Monkey

If you want to go on and be funky

No need to talk like a hero

Talk a walk count down to zero

No sense defending your honor

Just go on and kiss him if you wanna

Everything before is gone or is going somewhere

I guess I'm taking my chances

Giving up the ring throwing in the gloves

I guess I'm taking my chances

Trading in my things for a couple wings on a

Little white dove

And one big love one big love

I don't know where we are

And I don't care

And now we're out of gas

And riding on air

And one big love, one big love

Stages of Love

I'm going to talk about grief today, and not just because we just lost that gorgeous face there yesterday afternoon to a very aggressive lymphoma. 

It's been a wild ride, these past few years. We lost my father in 2018, my mother in 2019, the world from 2020 to 2022, and now I've lost my youngest wolfhound, my Ciaragh. So much loss. So much hurt. How do we keep going?

Grief is funny. Not funny ha-ha or funny hmmm, but funny insidious and cantankerous and never, ever satisfied. I've heard all the little adages about grief being love you have that you can't give anymore because the object has passed...love that builds up to where it spills out your eyes and down your cheeks... And while those are valid, they don't strike home as much as grief being the flip side of gratitude or maybe even just a level of gratitude.

If I wasn't grateful that I was Hoyt and Martha's daughter, I wouldn't have noticed that they passed out of my mortal life. They wouldn't still be a part of near daily conversation. I wouldn't have thought of them when I saw a cardinal in a tree looking at me as we arrived back home without our Ciaragh.

If I wasn't grateful for the friends I have, the life I had before, the interactions and bus rides to campus and all the thousands of little things that made my life my own prior to 2020, I wouldn't have grieved the loss of the same for going on three years now. I'm an introvert and the pandemic lockdowns and social distancing should have been my time to shine -- and it was, to some extent -- but it was also painfully lonely in other ways. 

If I wasn't grateful that my dear friend Heather rang us to see if we could foster a 14-month-old Irish Wolfhound who needed re-homing through no fault of her own, I wouldn't be missing the wide-eyed, fuzzy head in that photo.

I've said a few times over the past 24 hours that this is just part of having a dog in your life, and it is even more so when the dog is a giant breed with a short life span. But it's more than that. It's learning to open your heart again and again, even though it is only cobbled together from past hurts. As another friend said, it is learning to "hold them with open hands" because you know what is coming.

It is tempting to close off to everything -- friends, experiences, love, laughter -- but that isn't the right choice. If you don't love, you don't grieve. It's the love and the gratitude that makes the pain worth it.

If you are in that dark place with all the grief, I am with you. When you can, turn some of the pain to gratitude. It will help, I promise.

Music Monday: Mean

All I will say about this is that taking the step to remove toxicity from your life/work/heart is always a good idea, and if you are slow about it or give those voices more chances than they deserve that is all part of your own growth, so don't let anyone tell you that you deserve that stuff. You don't. (lyrics in video, thank you Taylor Swift.)

Multiverse was a blast, and was so much fun that I apparently forgot to do a NEW Music Monday. Sorry about that. But Sister Moon is speaking to me in terms of the WIP for NaNoWriMo so you got it twice. This time I was thinking about Moonlighting because it was just released on streaming and I made sure to watch my two favorite episodes...one of which featured the song below during a dream sequence. Good, fantastic stuff.

The lyrics are below because this one doesn't have captioning but it does have Sting, so I think that's... no it isn't really a good trade, but it has Sting. Enjoy. This time next week I will be well into my 2k words a day, so I'm going to just lean in to the vibe this song creates.

Big Man on Mulberry Streetby Billy Joel
Why can't I lay low?Why can't I say what I mean?Why don't I stay home?And get myself into some boring routineWhy can't I calm down?Why is it always a fight?I can't get unwoundWhy do I throw myself into the night?
I'm on the outsideI don't fit into the grooveNow I ain't a bad guySo tell me what am I trying to proveWhy can't I cool out?Why don't I button my lip?Why do I lash out?Why is it I always shoot from the hip?
I cruise from Houston to Canal StreetA misfit and a rebelI see the winos talking to themselvesAnd I can understand
Why is it every time I go outI always seem to get in trouble?I guess I made an impression on somebodyNorth of Hester and south of Grand
And so in my small wayI'm a big man on Mulberry StreetI don't mean all dayOnly at night when I'm light on my feetWhat else have I gotThat I'd be trying to hide?Maybe a blind spotI haven't seen from the sensitive side
But you know in my own heartI'm a big man on Mulberry StreetI play the whole partI leave a big tip with every receiptI'm so romanticI'm such a passionate manSometimes I panicWhat if nobody finds out who I am?

Music Monday: Sister Moon

Well, last weekend was Multiverse and I don't know about you, but I need an easy Monday. This song, with it's snippet of Shakespeare in the middle, is just like a soothing nap on a sofa with a quilt and maybe a hot cup of tea. And...well, Sting. Enjoy.

Sister Moonby Sting
Sister Moon, will be my guideIn your blue, blue shadows, I would hideAll good people, asleep tonightI'm all by myself, in your silver lightI would gaze at your face the whole night throughI'd go out of my mind, but for youI'd go out of my mind, but for youLying in a mother's armsThe primal root of a woman's charmsI'm a stranger to the sunMy eyes are too weakHow cold is a heartWhen it's warmth that he seeks?You watch every night, you don't care what I doI'd go out of my mind, but for youI'd go out of my mind, but for youMy mistress's eyes are nothing like the sunMy hunger for her explains everything I've doneTo howl at the moon the whole night throughAnd they really don't care if I doI'd go out of my mind, but for youSister Moon

Music Monday: Keep on, Carry on...

Before you ask, no, I have not seen the series finale of Supernatural. Much like I tried to do with Star Trek: Voyager, I am choosing to believe that the boys are still traveling around, spreading salt circles and listening to great music through Baby's speakers. I have a problem with change and endings, okay?

Anyway, this song came on my radar awhile ago, but my writing partner heard it and came up with an entire scene in his head for the WIP we are working on currently...so I am posting it today, for him and all of you that can see movies in your heads (I'm lucky if I can get a limited run series to pop into my mind's eye at one time). You are the writers I want to be when I grow up, so...carry on.

(Lyrics in the video)

Music Monday, Almost on Tuesday

My sister has done the bulk of the work concerning the last years of our parents' lives, sorting through their estates, and making sure that everything ends up where it needs to be. She said that as she was closing out the last of their estate, she heard a song on the radio that made her think of him...and I totally get it. Everything is so negative in the world these days...we need a ray of light now and then to remember who we are and why we are here.

Nanowrimo starts next month and I'm hoping to carry a spark of this light with me. The world is a dark place for so many right now, y'all. Let's all be a ray of light. Let's feel like we just got home. Onward and upward. (lyrics in the captions)

Music Monday: Sister Moon

Well, what else am I going to do for the first Monday in October? This is from my playlist for a WIP that I'm working on with a writing partner, and it is one of my long time favorites. It just speaks to me of autumn and spooky season and love that can survive anything... "I'd go out of my mind but for you..."

Sister Moonby Sting
Sister Moon, will be my guideIn your blue, blue shadows, I would hideAll good people, asleep tonightI'm all by myself, in your silver lightI would gaze at your face the whole night throughI'd go out of my mind, but for youI'd go out of my mind, but for youLying in a mother's armsThe primal root of a woman's charmsI'm a stranger to the sunMy eyes are too weakHow cold is a heartWhen it's warmth that he seeks?You watch every night, you don't care what I doI'd go out of my mind, but for youI'd go out of my mind, but for youMy mistress's eyes are nothing like the sunMy hunger for her explains everything I've doneTo howl at the moon the whole night throughAnd they really don't care if I doI'd go out of my mind, but for you

Music Monday: Of Time and Bottles

This week starts a new round of infusion treatment for me and a new round of uncertainty. In that vein (see what I did there?), this song is speaking to me, because I'm not a real fan of being unprepared by design. I need to know what's coming, but you can't, of course. So when I was listening to this song as a part of my Nanowrimo 23 prep, the line "But there never seems to be enough time/ To do the things you want to do once you find them" really struck me. The first round of treatment I focused only on the treatment. I planned my life around it. And to some extent, you have to do that...but I haven't written anything since July's Camp Nano save my Very Short Stories on the bird app. That has to change. That will change. There is enough of me to do both. Let's do this. Hand me that bottle.

(lyrics on screen)