Raige Creations

Lavender, one of my favorite scents and it's color one of my favorites too. I tried the lavender diffuser for relaxation, the lavender soap before bed to sleep more soundly. It obviously didn't work on me, as I had to (finally) see my doc about my new and exciting anxiety and loss of the ability to sleep soundly. Nights had been keeping me up. Still, all that lavender and his suggested medication was not quite enough. However, the past couple weeks I have finally let myself relax. Turns out removing yourself from a toxic environment and exploring another path that seems so much better for me is the trick. It has been challenging, yes. But challenging in an exciting and positive way. And in the evenings I have been relaxing, finally. One evening, sitting just listening to music, I was in such a relaxed state. I was in that in-between state of awake and sleep. It had been a long time since I just relaxed, enjoyed chilling to music. So relaxed, dozing off. Then I heard this song. ...

Well, it seems the best laid plans of mice and men  are in play here. We are weathering a storm just 2 days days before a planned trip to a wonderful mountain retreat for a wedding. A wedding we CANNOT MISS - it is our daughters wedding!  Despite my huge effort to travel BEFORE the storm (see above - daughter's wedding I CANNOT MISS), an argument with the poor airline customer service rep, and hours on the phone, we are stuck here with a storm,  now named IAN , I had just finally convinced the airline to waive the change fees and fare difference exorbitant price, as at the time there were no warnings yet, it was all for nothings as just then we found out the last seat was taken. No more empty seats before the storm was due to arrive. At some point, between closing hurricane shutters and filling water vessels, hubby shared this gem of a song with me. Hurricane Gilbert hit Jamaica in 1988. I don't mean clipped, I mean went across the entire country from one end to the oth...

Writing has been difficult for me lately. The words just do not come easily, or if they do they are a jumbling mess of rambling on. And not good rambling. So to ease back in I thought a Music Monday would be a nice, easy effort. Well, turns out that wasn't as easy as I thought.  Let the rambling begin! Can you believe this is only the 2nd blog I have done in 2022? I have had lots of stress, work is ridiculously busy and there was an incident that has been quite stressful to deal with. I do hope to write more about that soon. But the words to write about that are not pleasant words, and what I have to share about that I (finally) realize is precisely why I am struggling with writing.  What happened to me made me more reserved, questioning every action I did. I realize now the effect this incident has had on me, and the effect it had on my writing.  Now that I realize what has been the cause of my writing difficulties, I can begin to work through it and get back to writing....

Wow, I hadn't heard this song in YEARS! And here it was...but modern, heavy, cool! We watched Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw - our Saturday night 'date' movie. I wasn't real excited to watch it, but when it started with this song, my mood changed. Was this that song I used to LOVE? Wait, it IS Time in a Bottle , but ROCKIN'!! Okay, this could be a good movie then, if they picked that song , my warped thinking was (it was almost midnight....) And I actually enjoyed the movie, even though it was a completely predicable ridiculous action movie, it was entertaining.  This version, the cover of this oldie but goodie, it was not bad! The song is one of the few songs I learned to play with few mistakes (mostly) on the piano. I have a music box that plays this song. I love this song, and have since the 1970's. I always loved the original Jim Croce song. Yes, it is one of those AM Radio songs I heard playing in the kitchen when I was young. But this cover w...

Coming on to the light of day We got many moons that are deep at play So I keep an eye on the shadow smile To see what it has to say Mood of today. Poetic groovy-ness. This Chili Peppers groove hits just right some days. Today is one of those days. A nice holiday Monday, with vacation days the rest of the week. Plenty of time to just listen to music and groove. This song is full of groove. In fact, I was just craving the groove, and didn't even pay attention to the words until today. I didn't even know it was called Dark Necessities ( good lyrics I found out, just now, today).  Just wanted the groove , man.  (An added bonus, I had fun browsing for tickets thinking how fun it would be to go to a Chili Peppers concert ! ) I do hope you get some groove time, whether to just flow with the dark necessities or something a little lighter and necessary, or even unnecessary and just for fun. I don't know what you would prefer this Monday, so choose yourself. Just be sure to add ...

Surprisingly, this song had the distinct effect of making my day...well....lovely.  I was driving to work one day last week, in heavy traffic. I have mentioned before , perhaps a few times , how bad traffic is. A normal 20 minute drive takes me 40 or 45 minutes during rush hours. I was getting more and more irritated, going 4 miles per hour, then 12, then 4, then stop. Oh, and excuse me I was leaving space between vehicles, not saying please cut me off.  Geeze. And then this song came on. Well, it was just a lovely song really. So mellow. It has quite a nice message too. I mean how sweet the lyrics are! Just lovely. By the time I got to work, it actually WAS a lovely day. No the traffic didn't get better. My mood did. I was noticeably in a better mood, humming along this quite , well frankly quite repetitive, song.  After so many lovely days you just start having a lovely day! Just goes to show you, we can change our moods and perspectives. Sometimes all it takes is...

 A little positive thinking for this Monday. Here we are staring at only a few full work weeks until that cozy holiday, Christmas, coming up. One we hope we can at least see a small group of family or friends.  I am honestly tired of thinking about yesterday, and each day, these days. Though each day does bring a little bit more hope, I am struggling through the todays lately. I have had enough of this stress. Yes 2020 has tested all our strengths, revealed our weaknesses. We have many of each. Just when I think a today may be alright, the day 'explodes' with something that has happened, some news, and I am stressed again.  Tomorrow is all we have to look forward to. It will soon be here, we sure hope. And tomorrow will be better, it has to be. If each day can get a little better, we may just be ok. Here's hoping it WILL be better than before. There is so much potential in tomorrow. We can open our eyes, and see things in a different way. I like having this song in my h...

 Back to work this morning, after a lovely, slow, relaxing yet a tad productive break from work. I so enjoyed the slower pace, the reading , the writing. I even am planning to submit some photos for a show, I am a bit nervous about that.  But today, I feel a little bit off today. Having to get back to the daily grind and to some unpleasant things in progress at work.  A friend said she was feeling a little off last week. She had this song on repeat. Good choice, I say, when this is part of the lyrics:  I don't really wanna try today. I love getting suggestions for music, and ones that fit my mood tend to end up here, at Music Monday. And yup, this one fits for a Monday back to work from vacation. It fits for the mood at any given time during this crazy year, pandemic, life. And sometimes music just helps us through, helps us focus on something else, gives us a little mental strength. Perhaps have a Five Finger Death Punch album ( click here ) playing while you get...

 Aimlessly scrolling this morning, while I enjoy my coffee, I came across this: I sang it to hubby, and yup, he said bang bang . No finger guns though. Perhaps he wasn't the finer gun type. But me? Well.... Now -  I am the warrior ...well I am the warrior...and heart to heart you'll win...if you survive..... Finger guns and all. I am right there, back in 1984, with my besties...back then we didn't call each other that. We called each other sisters, BFFs perhaps. We were a group of 8, then 10. The Great 8 Plus 2 . Inseparable in those crazy years, gathering at one of our houses (whosever parents were out of town, preferably, but not necessarily. We could cause a bit of trouble with or without parents around).  I even had the half a head of short hair, half a head of longer hair, hair cut - oh so 80's style. One of my friends cut my hair in this "hip" style, and cut part of my ear along with it! I am missing a little bit of my left ear. We were definitely shooti...

It is never a bad way to end the weekend, watching The Big Lebowski . That we did, for the I don't know how many-eth time. We have seen it a lot. (Plus a little Monty Python , always a good time for that really.) But now back to work from my completely do nothing vacation, well staycation really. Honestly, I did a little more than nothing, but not much. I hardly cooked, didn't go anywhere but the grocery store, did minimal laundry (that still needs to be folded). I sat on the couch most of the time. I successfully lounged and read several kindle fun books. So this is a nice way to ease in to tackeling my work emails, a nice tune from Bob Dylan . (website here if you want to get lost in Bob ) Besides hubby requested it, and it is kinda nice to hear him sing along, even if he is immitating Bob, he is a bit better than Bob. But, if I have to play it again, and read him the lyrics, having heard him say one too many times 'What is that he said there?' , I may ...

Yup. Hooked on this song apparently. I heard it on the radio driving in to town the other day. I cranked up the volume, and sang along as loud as I could. And then over the weekend it came up in conversation...can't remember that conversation now but I got to hear it again. And there it has been in my head, stuck. Every time I hear it, I want to sing it, and sing it loud. I like sing along songs, particularly since singing is good for you . Plus, both sing and dance are on this great list of advice for living. What a GREAT feeling that was in the car, though! There is something so liberating about singing alone in the car while your driving. I hadn't let loose like that since, well at least since before the lockdown . And honestly, I didn't let loose much before that because traffic was so bad people sitting in cars right next to me would have seen me blaring out the song and doing a little dance sitting behind the steering wheel and that would have just been we...

Carry on. What we must do. It is hard, these days, but in the end, we must carry on. A popular WWII slogan the English came up with back in 1939. Much unknown then, it's resugence took the world by storm in the 2000's. The original was  Keep Calm and Carry on . The original displayed at Barter Books Many  Keep Calm and.... slogans  are out there. So, so many variations; some are funny, some are motivating, and they all have Keep Calm to start, because that is actually very good advice in so many situations. This song is a fun song, (yes I know, the name of the band too , but it really is an uplifting fun song), it lifts the sprits. Mine anyways.   Cause we are We are shining stars We are invincible We are who we are On our darkest day When we're miles away So we'll come We will find our way home A good reminder to keep that one foot moving forward, carrying on. We are who we are, after all. We must remember to Keep Calm a...

Another Monday, another week of what the heck will happen this week? source And we are just floating around waiting for the next WFT moment. I say, it is time to enjoy some Modest Mouse then and we can all float on together. Alright, already, we'll all float on, alright Don't worry, even if things end up a bit too heavy We'll all float on Alright, already I kind of love that the video has the band in a little puppet show, moving around with magnets. Being controlled by someone. Read into that what you will, I sure we could draw some real life parallels. And then there are the sheep. All singing along, as we float along. Perhaps another real life parallel can be found here. But I won't be drawing or finding any parallels today, it is Monday after all. Asked about the song in an interview with The A.V. Club , Isaac Brock , the lead vocalist and guitarist for the band, said that he consciously intended to write something that felt more po...

A wonderful memory that came back to me, thanks to my sister. Our Dad playing this song throughout our childhood, a memory of his from his teenage and young man years. Our dad was a musician, among other things . His mother a piano and organ teacher, back when jobs for the wives and mothers were unusual unless in times of economic need. Which was the case back during the Great Depression, when my father was a teenager. She taught him the skills, and he was a very decent pianist and organist. She taught us too, when we were little. Though I never practiced like I should have, and it was evident during my lessons. I think I was 5 years old or so. No surprise there that practicing was never long enough or serious enough. There were too many other things to keep me occupied when I was that age, like the fish tank that was right near the piano. Hard to stay focused on boring scales when little fish-ies were so much more interesting. But this song was a favorite of our dad. He pl...

A very special installment of Music Monday. In these unusual times, special installments are to be expected. I am now working remotely and therefore have 2 extra hours in my day that I am not sitting in traffic. (You may just see more blogs from me) These times are unusual, our lives have suddenly changed. For one thing, I have noticed that we all are more aware of what is gong on in our bodies. And other people's bodies. Every little pain, every time we go up the stairs and have a little trouble breathing, every cough, every time someone near us coughs. We start asking the questions at the slightest tickle in our throats: Am I just hot or do I have a fever? Has anyone else taken their temperature a million times each day?  (asking for a friend....) Did that person REALLY just sneeze on me???  Do I have the COVID Virus? Many more I know, but let's get to the music! Brilliant, right? As with most Barenaked Ladies songs, the tune gets stuck on your head. ...

As I head off to work today..... A few staff home self isolating, some have to stay home with their kids because school is closed, gotta work on getting staff access to work from home, notify public about our limited services, etc, etc, etc, etc. Did I mention last week also included a massive dump fire that halted traffic for an afternoon spewing toxic smoke across the island? Yeah, there was that last week too. We can do this, it can't get much worse...either that or it will get worse before it gets better....either way....the show must go on.... Happy Monday.

Yes, we did it. We got  a pup. Or should I say toddler. He is a doggy toddler. We named him Biko. He is a rescue doggy, and it has been quite the journey so far. I keep reminding myself of The 3's - 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months .  It has proven to be true and helpful to remember the stages. We are approaching the 3 months soon, so of course I had to do a Music Monday with the inspiration song, even though I mentioned on FB that because he chewed my laptop charger, a sock of mine, a bra of mine, hubby's earbuds, my running shoes, and now countless toy ducks in less than 10 minutes, he didn't deserve mention. But here I am, dedicating a blog to the loving and quite gentle, though energetic, coconut loving, Boxer-Pit-Something else mix, Biko. Named after a Youtube music listening session and going through a long list of names. We thought Biko was a good fit. He is a rescue, and was abused, and had a skin irritation. We took him in when others just couldn't. Biko roll...

Boy, did I jam. For the past week I have knocked out gobs of jam. I have even had days where I made 2 batches in one day! (which is a lot harder than it sounds, especially when you are making at least a batch a day.) With still plenty of mangoes to do more. It is why I haven't blogged much lately. I have been too busy cutting mangoes and measuring sugar and squeezing limes and mixing, and mixing, and, mixing, and mixing. Jam. And plenty more to make more. And of course I made some juice too, so jamming and juicing. So it should be no surprise if asked what I have been up to, well, JAMMING mon. Thus, there is no other song that has been going through my head. I found this video that also has the Spanish lyrics, which  me encanta ! (Have I mentioned I want to learn Spanish? I do. But that is another story. ) Cupboard Full of Jam.  Ooh, yeah! All right! We're jammin' I wanna jam it with you We're jammin', jammin' And I ...

It has been very hard for me to blog lately. I have started writing, thinking it would be therapeutic, but then it just hurt too much. It started really with a big life change, a sudden instability, uncertainty in my life. About 3 weeks ago. Then, a random terrible thing about 2 weeks ago. (A garbage truck smashed into a parked vehicle of ours in front of our house. Cue fighting with insurance company, about the worst thing to have to do.) Then a certain uncertainty. My life was truly upended. I was raw, hurting, lost. I just could not bear even writing about it. About anything. Then hubby showed me the news. Last week it was the environment. Las Vegas and the  grasshopper swarm , Greenland's Ice sheet melting . Biblical levels of scary shit. My nerves were fragile. I really could not bear writing. Then,  the shootings . Last week, California was terrible. Last Saturday, El Paso was horrific, I was glued to the TV in shock. I even sent my kids each a messag...

I asked for suggestions, and a great cousin of hubby's said she was listening to  Led Zeppelin  yesterday. This request led to an evening of the band for me and hubby last night, and nearly all day streaming the band at work, until I found one that spoke to me, that fit. This one does, more or less . But seriously, so many good songs to choose from. So many! So many that brought back memories of my brother . He was the one who first introduced me to this band. Through his closed bedroom door. He was a musician, a true connoisseur of good rock music. So many hubby had stories about. He knows stories of the band members, and he introduced me to The Song Remains The Same movie . If you have a couple hours, check it out! It is worth it, I believe. The concert was at Madison Square Gardens, this video a part of it. They put on a great show, excellent musicians. And, story from hubby, Robert Plant didn't even realize he was rubbing his fingers through most of the concer...