Hey...

Remember when I lived here?

Me, too.

More Childish Childhood Memories

Remember LPs?  Records?

I know all of you do.


When I was a kid, I used to listen to records all the time.  My parents' and my "own" (I didn't buy them , and many of them were a part of the household before I even came along, but as my sibs were all muuch older [or so it seemed at the time] than me, the records were mine).  So at a young age I was well-versed in The Sons of the Pioneers, Harry Belafonte, Bing Crosby -- and lots of the Walt Disney records.

Which brings us to tonight's memory:

Kipling's Just So Stories, read by the inimitable Sterling Holloway (who was also the voice of Pooh Bear).

Can't you just hear him saying "the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River"?

Memory Lane

I remember reading, when I was a wee lad, a book about a steam shovel that dug a hole it couldn't get out of. Now, when I say remember, I really mean I have vague recollections, so I couldn't recall any more of the story (and I know that the memories were from over 4 decades ago). Every once in a while I would recall these snippets, but couldn't ever remember more.

Just now, I had a thought of it and -- finally -- used Teh Google to see if I could find it.

Anyone else remember this book?



Here's the Wikilink for the book.

And the first page of the story:



And a funny re-reading of the story (which shows the illustrations from the book):

Don't Hear This Much Anymore

Reading this post by Zymurgian over at Pygalgia's place, about the use of recordings of train horns at railroad crossings (because the real thing is, apparently, too much for the neighbors to bear) reminded me of a couple things.

This:

Tweetsie Railroad (located just outside of Blowing Rock, NC)

which I used to love hearing when I lived in Boone (and the wind was blowing in the right direction),


This All Things Considered piece from 2005 about recordings of train whistles (and photos),

And visiting my (maternal) grandmother in West Virginia. Her house was next to the railroad and the trains whistle sound is an integral part of my memories of my Grandmother.

"Christmas-time Is Here"

First things first, I'm feeling much better today. Still a bit stuffed up, but definitely "on the mend" as they say.

So, about this Christmas thing.... I've been looking here and there, and I've finally completed the Christmas Special Quartet. The four TV specials that always "made" Christmas when we were growing up. They are, of course:

• "A Charlie Brown Christmas" -- this was always the number one must see of the year.
• "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" -- remember, Bumbles bounce!
• "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" -- the Boris Karloff-voiced cartoon, not that dumb movie.
• "Frosty the Snowman" -- this one is sort of border, cause the animation was, IMO, crappy.
  

I found and was able to download copies of all four of these, and they will soon be on a Christmas Special DVD. Since the girls have (mostly) been growing up here in Costa Rica, I don't know how familiar they are with them, but I'm sure we'll all have a good time watching them together.

Here's the opening of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" for your viewing (and memory) pleasure:

Night Sounds

So, for those paying attention, you will recall that I lived in the Asheville, NC area before I moved down here to Costa Rica to be with Jen. I lived there for ten years, and before that I lived in Boone, NC and before that... well, I lived my whole life in the mountains of North Carolina.

Along about the beginning of August every year, the katydids come out. You hear them every night from then until first frost, when they burrow underground to hibernate. When I was living in the Secret Lair outside of Asheville, I was in the woods, and the katydids were all around me. At times they were so loud that I couldn't hear the music on my stereo, or would have to turn the TV up all the way to hear the movie (or whatever).

I guess I lived with the sound of the katydids for so long that it is now an ingrained part of me, because when I go to bed at night now -- when it's all quiet -- I hear this (not recorded by me, but my a YouTuber in Western NC):




And there are no katydids around here. But I still hear them.

It's nice.

(also, to get the full effect of what it sounded like around the Secret Lair this time of year, crank the sound all the way up)

Anál Nathrach, Orth’ Bháis ’s Bethad, Do Chél Dénmha

Via Brian (over at Incertus), I find out that Bryan Singer wants to remake Excalibur, and, as Brian points out, this is part of the continuing trend to attempt to strike gold a second time. All Hollywood seems totally enamored with remakes, and they rarely even approach the quality of the originals.

Anyway, whilst reading through the comments on the post Brian links, I saw this:

My dad took me to see [Excalibur] AND 'Conan the Barbarian'--my first two R-rated movies--when I was like nine years old. Now I can't have sex without having a sword in the room.

and laughed my ass off.

On a related(ish) note, myself and three friends spent a couple of days in the library at NC State one weekend long ago, trying to find the translation of the quote I used for a post title. It's the "charm of making" that Merlin uses in the movie. We weren't very successful, as I recall, probably because none of us knew Gaelic (Welsh?) from Maori.

Also that title reads (roughly) "aNAL NATHrak, ooth vas BETHud, do kyel deeeYENvey" in case any of you aren't familiar with the movie in question.