Sunday, February 09, 2014

"Ladies and Gentlemen...The Beatles!"

Started today with a very big Brunch With the Beatles. In honor of this being the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' historic appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, they played audio from all four of their performances, as well as an interview between George and a Philadelphia radio DJ. (Local broadcasting trivia - the only rock station in Philly during the early 60s was WIP...which is still around today as a sports/talk station. You know them well if you're a football fan - they play the Eagles games.)

Had a long, pleasant chat with Mom during the second half of the show. We discussed my busy week last week and this week, my counseling appointment, and the new addition to my American Girl doll family. I loved the stories Mom told me about the Beatles/Ed Sullivan broadcast. Yes, she saw them. She was 8 years old at the time, and she absolutely fell in love with them. She used to play us Beatles music, along with solo albums from Paul McCartney and George Harrison, all the time when I was a kid. She said she danced happily along with the broadcast, encouraged by her mother Martha, who also loved music. (She said Grandma Martha was a big fan of 50s and early 60s rock like "Rockin' Robin.")

I also asked to wish my stepdad Bill a happy birthday. Mom said he was coming home from work, and not happy about it. He needs the fishing trip, but it sounds like the boat he works on broke down.

I ran the first disc of the Beatles' "Red" (Greatest Hits Vol. 1) album as I cleaned up from my Chocolate Chip-Pumpkin Pancakes breakfast. It was just cloudy when I headed to work. Most of the snow from the last round is gone. There's still quite a bit on the over-saturated ground, but the streets and sidewalks are generally fine.

Work didn't reflect the calm outside. It was crazy-busy all night. Sundays are usually busy anyway, even outside of football season. For many people, it's the only time of the week when they can do any grocery shopping. I was grateful when it slowed down enough by 5 for me to leave without a relief.

A soft, sparkling snow was falling gently as I headed out the door. I noticed that it was bouncing off my coat, rather than sticking or melting, and brushing off a lot easier than the last time we had snow. I had no problems sweeping it off the porch and steps either, even as it continued to pile up on the steps behind me.

I spent the next hour and a half or so in a nice, calming bath. It felt really nice to kick back and read some of the self-help books I've bought or been given lately, especially with the snow still falling gently outside. I didn't want to get out, but I had to have dinner sometime. My original thought for dinner was chili; when I realized it would take too long, I improvised a "chicken stir fry soup" from a bag of frozen Oriental vegetables, chicken stock, canned chicken, the leftover bean and vegetable soup, and soy sauce while listening to the second disc on the Billy Joel's Greatest Hits I & II set.

(Oh, and it was still snowing the last time I looked out there. Don't know if it still is at press time.)

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