Exercising Ella

Yesterday the weather was beautiful and I took Big Ella out for a nice long drive.

Click to enlarge

I didn't really 'go' anywhere, I just drove around, and ended up at the beach.  Driving Big Ella is like a mood elevator for me.  Guaranteed smiles.

Commercial

Today I was involved in the filming of a commercial.

Not a commercial for a product, but rather for my real estate team.  Its a short commercial that will only be 30 seconds long, with 6 or 7 very short vignettes featuring team members with clients, and intro and closing shots of the entire team.

When considering which of our clients to invite to participate in this project, we took care to show diversity.  We had a 'senior' couple (my clients), a 'young' couple with a baby (also my clients), a gay couple, an inter-racial couple, a middle-aged white couple, and a middle-aged single woman.  I am pretty happy about that.

The actual filming went more smoothly than I anticipated.  Most of the vignettes were done in just 2 takes.  But who knows how long the editting and voice-over work will take.  I hope to post a link to the commercial when its done.

Beardy boy

Lovely lyrics

Here's another installment of my newest blog feature Lovely lyrics!  Thanks to Kevin for this song selection.

Love Song For A Vampire
performed by Annie Lennox

  Come into these arms again

And lay your body down
The rhythm of this trembling heart
Is beating like a drum

It beats for you - It bleeds for you
It knows not how it sounds
For it is the drum of drums
It is the song of songs...

Once I had the rarest rose
That ever deigned to bloom.
Cruel winter chilled the bud
And stole my flower too soon.

Oh loneliness - oh hopelessness
To search the ends of time
For there is in all the world
No greater love than mine.

Love, oh love, oh love...
Still falls the rain... (still falls the rain)
Love, oh love, oh, love...
Still falls the night...
Love, oh love, oh love...
Be mine forever.... (be mine forever)
Love, oh love, oh love....

Let me be the only one
To keep you from the cold
Now the floor of heaven's lain
With stars of brightest gold

They shine for you - they shine for you
They burn for all to see
Come into these arms again
And set this spirit free

Just because

Car show

On Sat Ron & James and Mike & Clark went with me and Spouse to the gay car club's annual car show.  I brought Big Ella, freshly washed just 2 days before.

There were lots and lots of fabulous flivvers!  Here are a few that stood out to me.  (Click to enlarge.)

Check out the license plate

Annual visit

Our long-time friends Mike & Clark and Ron & James came to visit today!

Each year they come for a long weekend visit, not to take advantage of some annual sale or to attend some special event, but just to hang out with us, catch up on each others' lives, eat, drink, and laugh.

Today they arrived shortly after lunch and shopped at our local outlet/factor stores while Spouse & I worked.  Then we all came together just after 5pm here at the house.  We talked, enjoyed cocktails, and had some good laughs on the screened porch, and now we're heading out for dinner.

I was able to schedule myself off work this weekend (although I will slip out Sat morning to show 1 house) so we can spend some time together.  Hello friends, and hello weekend!

Bath time

Today I gave Big Ella a bath in preparation for this weekend's car show.  Yep, she's a big lady so it took about an hour to wash and dry her, and about 45 minutes to scrub her white walls.

She looks great, huh??

This coming weekend is the Straight Eights Car Club's annual car show.

Beardy boy

Lovely lyrics

Here's another installment of Lovely lyrics!

Misty

performed by Johnny Mathis

Look at me
I'm as helpless as a kitten up a tree
And I feel like I'm clinging to a cloud
I can't understand
I get misty, just holding your hand

Walk my way
And a thousand violins begin to play
Or it might be the sound of your hello
That music I hear
I get misty the moment you're near

You can say that you're leading me on
But it's just what I want you to do
Don't you notice how hoplessly I'm lost
That's why I'm following you

On my own
Would I wander through this wonderland alone
Never knowing my right foot from my left
My hat from my glove
I'm too misty and too much in love
 
Look at me

Just because

Fri the 13th

Beardy boy

Remembering

Today is the 12th anniversary of 9-11-01, the day that changed America.  I still get chills when I recall the events of that day and my personal experience.
Many innocent people were killed in the World Trade Center attack, the Pentagon attack, and the hijacked airplane that crashed in PA.  Many more were killed trying to help them.  On this day we pause to remember those people: mothers, fathers, children, husbands, wives, partners, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and neighbors.

Just because

Suspicious activity

Scrambled eggs

Beardy boy

Lovely lyrics

Another installment of Lovely lyrics, spotlighting songs with beautiful, romantic, lovely lyrics!

The Nearness of You
performed by Accoustix

It's not the pale moon that excites me
That thrills and delights me, oh no
It's just the nearness of you

It isn't your sweet conversation
That brings this sensation, oh no
It's just the nearness of you

When you're in my arms
And I feel you so close to me
All my wildest dreams come true

I need no soft lights to enchant me
If you'll only grant me the right
To hold you ever so tight
And to feel in the night

The nearness of you

When you're in my arms
And I feel you so close to me
All my wildest dreams come true

I need no soft lights to enchant me
If you'll only grant me the right
To hold you ever so tight
And to feel in the night 

The nearness of you

Just because

Labor Day

Many people look at Labor Day as the end of summer, and this irritates me.

It may feel like the end of summer if you live in North Dakota or Toronto, but for most of the USA it is still summer-like weather.  Indeed, even the official calendar indicates that fall doesn't begin until Sept 22.

So can we PLEASE stop talking about how 'summer is over' just because its Labor Day???

Thank you, and enjoy your Labor Day festivities!