Christmas Cards …

Recently, I was saying to Rose that people
don’t send Christmas cards anymore.
So naturally we got a quite a few.
Not as many as we used to, but …
Of course, getting cards requires
that you send them as well.

I attended 3 Christmas feasts / dinners.
I know I put on a couple of pounds for sure.
Lucky me, lucky days.

Christmas.
It sweeps in so swiftly …
then like a snowflake …
It’s gone.

I try to cherish each moment
and count my Blessings.
There are many.

Into the New Year my friends …
I wish you well.

 

Star of Wonder …

Oh Holy Night / unknown

Oh Holy Night / Manheim Steamroller

Angels.
It’s not just fantasy.

It came upon a Midnight Clear / Piano Winterlude

“It came upon a midnight clear
That glorious song of old
From angels bending near the earth
To touch their harps of gold”

We Three Kings / Manheim Steamroller

“O star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright
Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to thy perfect light”

Christmas Meltdown …

Must be Santa / Raffi

Had my annual computer meltdown.
An annual event. Just like Christmas.
So I was ‘out of commission’ … for a bit.
And I was considering staying that way …

But it’s
CHRISTMAS!

And the only known benefit of getting old …
You get to be SANTA !

And I got all the gals to sit on my lap.

Love ya all.
Thanks for sticking around.

Christmas …
What we make it.

Thank You Ian Tyson …

Summer Wages”, by Canadian country artist Ian Tyson appears on his album “Cowboyography” The Western Writers of America voted it one of the Top 100 Western Songs of all time.

Love this version Ian.

Ian Tyson keeps on singing - Nanaimo News Bulletin


Ian Dawson Tyson CM AOE (born September 25, 1933) is a Canadian singer-songwriter who wrote a significant number of modern folk songs, including “Four Strong Winds” and “Someday Soon“, performed with partner Sylvia Tyson as the duo Ian & Sylvia.

Tyson was born to British immigrants in Victoria, and grew up in Duncan B.C.[1] A rodeo rider in his late teens and early twenties, he took up the guitar while recovering from an injury he sustained in a fall. He has named fellow Canadian country artist Wilf Carter as a musical influence.[2] He made his singing debut at the Heidelberg Café in Vancouver in 1956 and played with a rock and roll band, The Sensational Stripes. He graduated from the Vancouver School of Art in 1958.

Ian Tyson Discography:

973 Ol’ Eon 81
1978 One Jump Ahead of the Devil
1983 Old Corrals and Sagebrush
1984 Ian Tyson
1987 Cowboyography Platinum
1989 I Outgrew the Wagon 12 74 Gold
1991 And Stood There Amazed 16
1994 Eighteen Inches of Rain 9
1996 All the Good ‘Uns 21 Gold
1999 Lost Herd
2002 Live at Longview
2005 Songs from the Gravel Road
2008 Yellowhead to Yellowstone and Other Love Stories
2011 Songs from the Stone House
2012 Raven Singer
2013 All the Good ‘Uns Vol. 2
2015 Carnero Vaquero

Wikipedia Says: 

Tyson became a Member of the Order of Canada in October 1994 and was inducted into the Alberta Order of Excellence in 2006. In 2003, Tyson received a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award.

He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, with Sylvia, in 1992.

Ian Tyson was inducted into the Mariposa Hall of Fame, with Sylvia, in 2006

He was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989. (Sylvia Tyson was inducted in 2003.)

The song Four Strong Winds, written by Ian Tyson, was named as the greatest Canadian song of all time by the CBC-Radio program 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version in 2005.

An announcement in July 2019 stated that Ian Tyson and Sylvia Tyson would be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, individually, not as a duo. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation article stated that “the duo’s 1964’s hit, Four Strong Winds, has been deemed one of the most influential songs in Canadian history”. The report also referenced the song You Were on My Mind, written by Sylvia Tyson, as well as her four albums (1975–1980).

A lot of good times and a lot of good music Ian.
Thanks.


If Bromberg does your song that’s a real tip of the hat.

Christmas 2022

The Illustrated London News’s illustration of the Christmas Truce: “British and German Soldiers Arm-in-Arm Exchanging Headgear: A Christmas Truce between Opposing Trenches” The subcaption reads:
“Saxons and Anglo-Saxons fraternizing on the field of battle at the season of peace and goodwill: Officers and men from the German and British trenches meet and greet one another —
A German officer photographing a group of foes and friends.”

 

Out and About on a Winter Day …

Christmas shopping …

Doesn’t say anything about my Bowie knife …

All I want for Christmas is a Mini-Tank.

Impressive … but I’m just looking for a coffee.



We hoped he was doing that on purpose.


At the Park

Welcome … sorta.

A toasty fire … but fortunately
she has her gadget to play with.

???
Guess he didn’t see the signs?


Not a bad day at all.

The Old Way … Nicholas Cage / January 2023

The Old Way

“Revenge don’t care much for the law.”

Nick …that’s about the worst mustache I’ve ever seen.

Good. I’m tired of politics.


No reviews yet.

I do like a good Western yarn.
Unfortunately, even with Nick Cage,
I don’t get the feeling that The Old Way is Old Henry.

I’ll give it a watch, but …

 

 

 

 

 

Nicolas Cage … Cowboy ??

I like Nicolas Cage.
I’ve enjoyed a lot of his Movies.
Not all. But lots.
Even Ghost Rider.
And he’s made a lot of Movies over the years.
Never stops.
And just when you figure his career is
winding down (or over) …
he makes 10 more.
And you never really know what going to come out???
Crazy? or Good? Both?
Despite all (I’ll spare the gory celebrity details)
he’d still has enough Star Power
to Headline most projects.

And a couple of those recent projects have been Westerns:
Yahoo!

Let’s have a look.

Butcher’s Crossing 

Butcher’s Crossing is a 2022 Western shot in Montana.
Internet Movie Database (IMDB) says this:
“A frontier epic about an Ivy League drop-out as he travels to the Colorado wilderness, where he joins a team of buffalo hunters on a journey
that puts his life and sanity at risk.
Based on the highly acclaimed novel by John Williams.”

Internet Movie Database (IMDB) says “7 out of 10”
Rotten Tomatoes says 73%

TRAILER?:
Nope.
Only Nick Cage could put out a Movie that
has been already Premiered
at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)
and been favorably reviewed on
Internet Movie Data Base IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes …
BUT has NO Trailer!
I searched high and low and all I could discover was
that they working on it. So I can’t really give
you much of an idea what the Movie looks like.
Yet.
My gut feeling is that this will be a
pretty good and watchable Western.

Based on the Book:

WIKIPEDIA says:
Butcher’s Crossing
by John Williams

“Butcher’s Crossing
is a western novel by John Williams, originally published in 1960. The story follows William Andrews, a young Harvard student who leaves his life behind to explore the American West. The book begins and ends in the fictional frontier town of Butcher’s Crossing, Kansas, in the early 1870s, where Andrews joins a buffalo-hunting expedition. He and the people he meets along the way must confront and survive the brutal realities of nature in their attempts to get buffalo hides to sell. Along the way, Andrews contemplates his purpose in life with respect to nature, specifically through the influence of Ralph Waldo Emerson.”

So where to watch it?:
– Vudu.
– Netflix streaming.
– Amazon and amazon prime.
– Most popular streaming movies.
– Certified fresh movies.

Coming up … Nick’s other new Western

Christmas in the boarding house …

Christmas … ?

Scrooge: My favourite Charles Dickens character

I’ve had my Ups and Downs over years.
So have you.

Food banks hope to give Britain's 'hidden poor' a festive Christmas | Magazine, moving | News | UNISON NationalHundreds of true stories we could tell about the Downs.
The Ups are usually not so interesting.
Brother Bruce and I used to call this “Fasting or Feasting”.
And in our early years they could equal in parts.
I recall one time we when were flat broke.
We had our rent paid, but they had cut off our electricity.
Fortunately, we had a gas stove.
Unfortunately, all we had to cook was pancake batter.
You can’t imagine how many ways you can
creatively cook pancake batter.
Pancake soufflé anyone?

So … Christmas?
I recall one Christmas I was living in a boarding house
in the town of  Parksville on Vancouver Island.
There was about 5 of us living in that place.
We were all one notch from being on the street …
… though I had a car I could sleep in at least.
I remember I owed one of the guys for some money.
He asked to be paid in beer. No problem.
When Christmas came around most of us were alone.
I decided that wasn’t a good thing.
I went and spent whatever I had on a big Turkey
with all the fixins’.
And cooked it up in our communal kitchen.
Turkey and stuffing (English style)
with mashed potatoes and gravy, Cranberry Jelly,
a big baked yam, peas, and corn … ?
Booze? Can’t recall.
I set everything up on the kitchen table.
Then went around and knocked on everybody’s door …
Invited them to a Christmas dinner.
So there was about 6 of us there.
It wasn’t fancy, but I think they liked it.
This is one of my fondest Christmas memories.

Yet most of the time I don’t realize how good I’ve got it.

 

Blue Christmas

Dedicated to Blog Buddy, Don Ostertag and Family :
Don Ostertag Off Stage
https://donostertag.wordpress.com/

Blue Christmas / Doye O’Dell / 1948

Blue Christmas?

Most people think that this is an Elvis Presley song.
It’s not.
This song was first recorded by Doye O’Dell in 1948.
(Elvis was 13 at that time)
Elvis‘ was 22 when his version came out in 1957.
There were 8 recordings (Hits?) of Blue Christmas before his.

But now there are over 1000 recorded versions of Blue Christmas.
This not only makes it one of the most popular Christmas songs of all time,
but one the most popular modern SONGS of all time. Period.

WIKIPEDIA says:
Blue Christmas” is a Christmas song written by Billy Hayes and
Jay W. Johnson and most famously performed by Elvis Presley; it was first recorded by Doye O’Dell in 1948. It is a tale of unrequited love during the holidays and is a longstanding staple of Christmas music,
especially in the country genre.

“Country”? I’d say this is one of those
songs that ‘Crosses Over’.
Everything.

There are many nice versions of Blue Christmas, but most don’t really do
anything special with the song and very few match up to Elvis.
Here’s a couple that I like though.

OK folks … hope this isn’t too early for ya.

Doye O’Dell was the first artist to record this Christmas standard. Doye had a long recording history from the 1930s to the 1980s and was still performing into his 80s. Doye replaced Tim Spencer in some later Sons of the Pioneer recordings and movie and personal appearances. Doye also had parts in many other TV shows and movies. He had his own TV variety shows that ran for many years on KTLA in Los Angeles and was a household name in California. Doye’s records are sought-after collector’s items today.

Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, “1923”

1923

Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren

Yellowstone prequel set to ride …

8 PART MINI SERIES

December 18 on Paramount:

Official synopsis:

“1923 focuses on the Dutton family’s next two
generations as they struggle to survive historic drought,
lawlessness and prohibition, and an epidemic of cattle
theft; all battled beneath the cloud of Montana’s great
depression, which preceded the nation by almost a
decade.”

WOW!

Roger Miller … King of the Road

  Rose loves this song … 
so this Post is for her.

I always loved Roger Miller myself.
His effortless way and humor hid his genius.

One of MANY artists that died WAY too young.
Died at age 56 from lung cancer.

But judging from his songs I surely believe
he squeezed a lifetime worth of living into that time.
Hope that goes for the rest of us.

 

 

GST Scam Alert

My wife just got an email from these scammers.

“Scammers are targeting individuals by text message or email, claiming that the CRA is sending them a GST/HST tax refund or credit, and are requesting personal information to proceed.
How to recognize it: The fraudulent text message or email claims to be from the CRA. Scammers ask individuals to reply or click on a link to complete an attached application form by an urgent deadline to receive their refund or credit.”

Scam Infomation:
https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/corporate/security/protect-yourself-against-fraud/scam-alerts.html

You can check out most any scam going on by doing
a simple search on Google.

Stay well.

Winter 2022 … Game On …

In the video you can hear me puffing
because I had just come in from shovelings our sidewalks.

This was more a blizzard than a snowstorm – the difference being the wind – which was fairly strong – and causes snowdrifts and dangerous visibility problems if you are driving. The snow was also wet – not fluffy – which makes it heavy and hard to shovel or push around.
Rose said that they reported there was a car accident every 4 minutes.
That’s makes it one of those days that
you should just stay home if you can.
So we did.

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