Casino

Let’s talk about music. But first, let’s talk about something else. I had some busy weeks lately with lot’s of meetings, getting a COVID booster and flu shot, a medical check up, a minor medical issue with Jimi (no worries)… But we’re all doing well.

I had to join my best friend for a meeting with a notary. My friend who owned a publicity agency retired this month and decided to shut down his company. I’ve been a shareholder of the company for many years so I was needed to sign a lot of documents. Afterwards, we went to a local restaurant and had a celebration with delicious pancakes and wine. Later that evening while we were having coffee at his home, my friend showed up with a big box and he said ‘Take it… for services rendered.’ I immediately recognised my favourite dream guitar by the size of the box. What a big surprise!

I’ve been a Beatles fan as long as I can remember. My older sister and brother bought all their albums and I grew up with their music. Last year I watched the Peter Jackson documentary series The Beatles: Get Back 3 times. Get Back received critical acclaim for its coverage of the group’s creative process but I was intrigued by John Lennon’s Epiphone Casino guitar. I immediately started a search to find one but it was almost impossible because this guitar was suddenly hipper and more successful than ever before. After 6 months I gave up the search but my friend kept searching secretly and found one in mint condition on the second hand market. This is the most beautiful gift ever!

Maybe the most iconic image of Lennon’s Casino, and perhaps of Lennon himself, is from The Beatles’ legendary rooftop concert on their Apple Corps office building in London. This was also to be the last public performance of The Beatles.
Jimi took a look at the box but decided that the Casino guitar was more interesting.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

It’s There!

No Jimi, I’m afraid I can’t believe you… Spring isn’t just around the corner. It’s still far, far away, to my great regret. Dark and cold days lie still ahead of us. The weather forecast predicts snow. Yes, snow! The horror… the horror!

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Sunday Evening Somewhere in Outer Space

Slow Sunday. As the search for alien life heats up, Jimi’s still looking for signals from alien cats in outer space. Unfortunately with no luck. Maybe alien cats are taking a break from their everyday life and folding space during the week.

Meanwhile I’m waiting to get my Star Trek transporter device back from the repair shop. I bought it some time ago on eBay, but it never worked. It looks like they conned me or is this a conspiracy from the alien cats?

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding. 

Hail to the Sleeper!

What an unparalleled viewing experience! I love to watch movies. I love to watch movies in the best possible circumstances. That’s why I stopped going to the theatres and installed a very good home cinema system. So goodbye to the distracting noises of nasty people around me.

Last night I watched ‘Black Hawk Down’, a 2001 war film directed by Ridley Scott, in UHD 4K Dolby Atmos. What a superior way to watch a movie. I was very impressed and didn’t lose focus for a second. But cats look at this in a completely different way…

Mr. Bowie didn’t like watching movies with me. He always disappeared after a few minutes and went to the studio or bedroom upstairs. Jimi prefers to keep me company and sit out the movie. Well, kinda…

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding. 

Fallen Astronaut

Man in Space. Once a famous FBI agent, Dale Cooper, told me following wise words, “I’m going to let you in on a little secret: Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t plan it, don’t wait for it, just let it happen. It could be a new shirt in a men’s store, a cat nap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee.” I love getting advice from a spiritual seeker, an amateur philosopher, a loyal friend and a lover of coffee. So every day I’m giving myself a present, like an extra espresso or a chocolate cookie. Last week I was lucky to find and buy a beautiful numbered sculpture inside a blue acrylic block called ‘Fallen Astronaut’. Do I have to tell you I’m very happy with this gift? Jimi was more interested in the box but finally disappointed to find no ‘Cat in Space’ sculpture…

Fallen Astronaut is a 8.9 cm aluminium sculpture created by the Belgian painter and printmaker Paul Van Hoeydonck. It is a small stylised figure, meant to depict an astronaut in a spacesuit, intended to commemorate the astronauts and cosmonauts who have died in the advancement of space exploration. It was commissioned and placed on the Moon by the crew of Apollo 15 at Hadley Rille on August 1, 1971, next to a plaque listing the 14 men known who died. The statue lies horizontal on the ground among several footprints. The crew kept the memorial’s existence a secret until after completion of their mission. 

In January 2019, Van Hoeydonck and Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot Al Worden announced the sale of a limited edition replica inside a blue acrylic block, as Van Hoeydonck originally intended, which would have allowed the statue to be placed upright on the Moon to “symbolize humanity rising” via space travel. NASA had rejected the acrylic enclosure’s inclusion on the flight as a fire hazard. A smaller number of enlarged sculptures are also to be sold. (From Wikipedia)

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

One Fine Day

Letting the days go by. It’s been a while since a wrote a post. I’m still busy with getting everything about my Dad’s passing officially in order. I was shocked to see all those papers required by the government. But it seems I’m almost at the end of an unpleasant task.

Last week I had one, no, a few fine days. I watched the latest Spike Lee film, David Byrne’s American Utopia, a concert film from a critically acclaimed Broadway performance. The film includes several songs from Talking Heads and David Byrne’s solo career. David Byrne is joined by 11 musicians, singers and dancers from around the globe. I also enjoyed the brief monologues from David Byrne when he addresses various sociopolitical topics from police brutality, immigration and climate change. After watching a few songs you want to jump up, dance and sing with the musicians on your TV. This concert film makes me feel good, every time. David Byrne’s American Utopia calls on all of us to think, connect and dance. The musical masterpiece is thought provoking and gives us exactly what we need today. Something to celebrate life.

And you may ask yourself, “Where is that beautiful cat?” Well, Jimi’s doing fine and enjoys his walks in the garden. Last year he always seemed to be anxious outside. But recently, it seems he got used to the environment. And I love the moments in the morning, when he jumps up the table and asks to play with him.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Just When I Thought…

“Just when I thought I was out (of the winter), they pull me back in!” – Michael Corleone

First snow of the winter. More snow coming. Just when I thought spring’s around the corner, I woke up in winter…

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Ice Ice Jimi

Looking for ice cream. A cat making eye contact can mean anything from “You don’t exist to me” to “I want food, human!”. What is the most intelligent way of responding to a cat who won’t stop giving you the mean Clint ‘Dirty Harry’ Eastwood stare? What is the best way to look confident and relaxed? Saying “no” is one thing, but getting the cat to listen is another. Just give your cat what he wants… and join him for ice cream. Even if it’s a dark and winter day.

I feel the ice cream move under my paws
I feel the sky tumbling down
I feel my heart start to trembling
Whenever ice cream’s around

“I Feel the Earth Move” – Carole King

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Show Me the…

Show Me the Money! No, but show me the comments, please! It seems a lot of your comments don’t show up in the blog. It looks like they vanished into thin air. The WP Spam folder is empty. I get notifications in the Mail app on my iMac and I can find some comments in the WP My Home section. I reported this issue to WP but I’m still waiting for an answer. My apologies for this inconvenience.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Update from WP: The comment issue has been fixed. Unfortunately, any comments made from April 21st at 9AM UTC, until today at 2PM UTC will not ever reappear.

Extra update: WP fixed the problem thoroughly, all the missing comments are published.

Any Way the Wind Blows

I’m very lucky. There are a lot of intersections in my neighbourhood where you can switch from one trail to another. I do this on a regular base so I can go from one beautiful spot to another. I love to walk in areas where there are rivers, canals, lakes…

 A few days ago I followed a trail on the Albert Canal. It passes an industrial area with big petrochemical plants. On the left side of the photograph you can see the new bridge. I wrote a post about it some time ago. Thank goodness you can also find a lot of windmills. But I switched very quickly to another trail and got back in the nature.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

To Catch a Thief

Wireless home door window burglar alarm DIY safety security alarm system. To prove his innocence after a spate of candy thefts, a young cat must catch a burglar. Or some pesky sparrows and blackbirds.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Three Shades of Grey

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

The Pop-up Cat

Come out, come out, wherever you are and meet the cat. Mr. Bowie loves to play hide-and-seek under the protection covers and blankets used by the painters. It looks like he enjoys their presence in the house, although he doesn’t like the sound of a sanding machine and a drilling machine. If all goes well, the painters will finish their work next week.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Mr. B’s M.O.

Good night, and good luck. Now winter is just around the corner, I prefer to snuggle under a duvet and hibernate until spring rolls around. But I’m not the only one… Mr. Bowie stayed out of my bedroom in the summer. His modus operandi for catching z’s changed since he noticed there’s a duvet on my bed. A few minutes after I spread the duvet evenly over the bed, Mr. Bowie decided it was time to check it out… Sleep well, my love.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Pretzels

“These pretzels are making me thirsty.” This is one of the first popular lines to emerge from the sitcom Seinfeld. The New York Post listed the “pretzels” line as one of “Seinfeld’s 25 greatest contributions to the English language.” Seinfeld is my favourite sitcom in television history.Temperatures will drop below 30 degrees Celsius next Wednesday. Hooray! It’s about time… This heat is making me thirsty and leaving me longing for ice cream.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Sunday Snowday

Snow! The horror… the horror! This morning, a cold snap resulted in several disruptions on the roads and rail way networks in this part of the world. I had to drive through the snow to see if my Dad was alright. We had lunch together and watched Bear Grylls on tv. I picked up some good advice to get back home safe.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bowie’s wondering what the white stuff is doing in his garden. And why he has to stay inside…

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

BEAF

Kicking off the summer. So glad I got tickets for the concert of Jóhann Jóhannsson at the Bozar Electronic Arts Festival in Brussels, September 2017. Jóhann Jóhannsson is an Icelandic composer, well-known for writing music for a wide array of media including theatre, dance, TV and films like ’Sicario’, ‘Arrival’ and ‘Blade Runner 2049’. Also performing live on the BEAF festival: William Basinski, an avant-garde composer based in NYC and Phew, a Japanese singer working in the areas of jazz avant-garde and experimental music. I’m looking forward to attending this festival!

Meanwhile Mr. Bowie has declared himself “very comfortable on the table”. He’s enjoying life and wonders how long it normally takes to get served…

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Oh Spring…

Snow began falling last Saturday and Sunday. Just when I thought I was out (of the cold), they pull me back in! Having a few emergency supplies on-hand can save you a lot of discomfort and trouble when a winter storm hits. You should have enough supplies, especially coffee and chocolate, to survive without leaving your house for a few days. Oh spring, I long for you…

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Yellow Submarine

Breaking news! Upgrading my studio monitors already had a serious impact. An English rock band, formed in Liverpool, arrived in my studio today. I was very happy about the way in which the agreement with the band came about. However, I was a bit amazed when they arrived in a weird and wonderful vehicle.

Thank goodness I got by with a little help from my friend and famous studio technician, Mr. Bowie. And our friends are all on board and the band begins to play… It’s easy. All you need is love.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Changing Colours

The world is changed. Wish I had a time machine. Wish I could distort the fabric of space and time.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

We Cool?

Breaking records. The mercury hit 32.1 degrees Celsius, making it the hottest 13th September ever recorded in this part of the world.

Hey, Mr. Bowie, “We cool?” “Sure, we’re cool, human!”

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Is It Safe?

Safety check. Ensuring that the garden area is safe after the gardeners team left requires careful planning and monitoring. Materials such as sand and wood chips are soft enough to fall asleep. Provide some shade, cool water and treats in the play space, and an espresso machine for the human. Keep children and other little creatures safe indoors.

Thank goodness forecasters say summer is here to stay!

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

PS: The catnip plants are in a safe place.

Plain Water

Are you serious? You invite your friends over to party and this is all I get? Water… plain water? After the stress and the traumatic event of last week?

Hold your horses, Mr. Bowie, don’t give me that Clint Eastwood look! A recent study shows that drinking more plain water can help you avoid excess calories and control your weight.

Enjoy this beautiful day, my friends, wherever you are. Peace, love and understanding.

Strong

Use the Force, Mr. Bowie. The Force is strong in this room. Human, obey me! Join me for a nap…

The Dark Side

So human, you have accepted the truth? I am your master. You underestimate the power of the Dark Side. If you will not give me treats, then you will meet your destiny.