songbird's crazy world

  May 11th  Kentucky Derby has long been hosted this month since 1875. This event has a long history of  traditions . Use some of the traditions or gallop with the ponies in your own direction sharing your song inspired picks this week. I live 14 miles from Belmont Park, home of the third leg of the Triple Crown. (The race will be in Saratoga this year, they’re renovating Belmont.) But I did visit Kentucky a few years ago, on a business trip to Lexington.  I had some free time, so I visited the Horse Park . I took a lot of photos  of the  horses.  So when you ask me about the Derby … First thing that came to mind. And then there’s this How about something from Broadway? And country music  And some video I shot The  Horse Park  was fun.

 Mildly amused to learn the Hicksville Public Library has two events today, a lecture by a local historian about Billy Joel’s life in Hicksville,  and a performance by a Billy Joel tribute band,

Like My Mother Does Welcome to  Saturday: 9 . What we've committed to our readers is that we will post  9  questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme! Saturday 9: Like My Mother Does (2011) Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it  here . 1) In this song, Lauren Alaina tells us she knows she's beautiful and strong because she sees herself as her mother does. Who in your life consistently sees the best in you? Drew.    2) She sings that her mother is her "rock." In this context, what do you think that means?    It means her mother will support her, that she can always rely on her mother    3) When Lauren performed this song...

 Shadow investigating Drew’s costumes Flashback to Duchess’s younger, more adventurous days. Shadow chose an interesting spot  And one of my favorites 

 Clouds over the ballpark  #skywatchfriday

 I stayed away from this park for a few weeks because of some … unsavory activities.  But it’s really a great park, and very safe. So, a walk.  Two laps around the lake.  And three ducks.

 So I saw the doctor who prescribes Wegovy, and he is pleased with my progress. I solved the problem with my other prescription.  The doctor sent it to the wrong pharmacy — there are two CVS stores in Hicksville — but at least I have my medication. And now I’ve got an issue with my orthopedist. Nothing too serious but I do need to follow up. Annoyed with my dentist. One of the reasons I chose this practice is that they had an office just five minutes from my house.  They just announced they’re closing that office, and now I’ll need to drive about. 35 minutes to their other office.  Sigh. Dinner last night … Drew wasn’t home, it was just me.  I bought a package of heat-and-serve chicken with fajita vegetables.  Not bad, but … The package said “four servings”.  Really?  More like two small servings, it would not have been enough for me and Drew, even with the yellow rice I added as a side. I’m hoping the pad Thai is better … I think this weekend I’m...

 So yesterday Drew and I grabbed some breakfast at  Thomas’s Ham & Eggery .  It’s a Long Island staple since 1946, one of the best breakfasts in the area.  And something interesting happened … one of Drew’s former students was sitting at the next table.  The young man graduated from high school 10 years ago.  He went to trade school and became a mechanic.  And he credits his teachers, including Drew, for making him realize that the real world isn’t like school and he had to be serious about his future.  It’s always nice to get positive feedback! I had a wonderful cheese omelette, home fries and Canadian bacon.  Way too much food on my plate, I brought half of it home to reheat for the next day’s breakfast. Funny how they used to say eggs were bad for you (cholesterol) but now they’re considered a healthy source of protein.  I’m trying to get more protein in my diet. Afterwards I took a walk in the neighborhood.   Couldn’t really...

Barry Manilow has been ill lately.  He had to cancel and reschedule all of his concert appearances.Another  artist showing his age.   I am a fanilow. Yes, I like Barry Manilow, and yes,  I've actually seen Barry Manilow perform live, once at Radio City, and then at his one-man show on Broadway. So today I am presenting some of my favorite Manilow songs. His first big hit, "Mandy", was actually a cover of a Scott English tune; English called the song "Brandy", but Manilow changed the name to avoid confusion with a song by The Looking Glass. And then there was "Could It Be Magic".  He'll often sing this one and "Mandy" as a medley. He paints quite a romantic picture: Then there was his "Very Strange Medley", songs he wrote or performed that you probably didn't know were his: Who writes the songs? Her name was Lola 

 I’m loving Gary Burghoff as Charlie Brown … We are baseball fans.  We root for the hapless New York Mets.   Fortunately we also root for the Long Island Ducks, who play in the independent Atlantic League. And so last night we ventured to the ballpark in Central Islip for our first Ducks game of the season. It was 54° at game time.  Jeans and jackets weather. Coffee during the 5th inning. The Ducks played the Lexington Legends.  And Trevor Bauer was the starting pitcher for the Ducks! To quote Wikipedia: “Trevor Andrew Bauer  (born January 17, 1991) is an American professional  baseball pitcher  for the  Long Island Ducks  of the  Atlantic League of Professional Baseball . He has previously played in  Major League Baseball  (MLB) for the  Arizona Diamondbacks ,  Cleveland Indians ,  Cincinnati Reds , and  Los Angeles Dodgers . Bauer has also played in  Nippon Professional Baseball  (NPB) for t...

Someone accepted my invitation to build a nest. My azaleas are in bloom Unfortunately so are the dandelions  My neighbor has a weird sense of humor Yes, that’s the skeleton they put up for Halloween. Saw this on Instagram Yes, the McMansions are under attack. And we still have lots of traffic in the sky. We went to Food Truck Friday … the one at the church, not the one at the VFW.  Yeah, there’s a story …the woman who organized the event at the church had a falling out with the pastor, so she organized a competing event less than half a mile away.   So we drove over to the church.  They had about a dozen food trucks, selling everything from Jamaican to Greek to Cuban to dessert items.  They also had a couple of flea market vendors selling jewelry and crafts. There was a bounce house for the kids, and two singers entertained the crowd.  We ordered our meal from the  Cousins Maine  lobster truck.  I had lobster bisque and shrimp tacos.  Dr...