Bloggin' On: Praeteritorum Meminisse Non and Other Musings for January 24, 2020

I took this photo of the man-made East Wind Lake during one of my daily walks around my former neighborhood in June of 2014. (Photo Credit: Alex Diaz-Granados - own work)

Hello, Constant Reader, and welcome once again to Bloggin' On, the no-reviews, no-politics zone of A Certain Point of View where I talk about what I am up to and things that are on my mind. Think of it, if you will, as a blog-within-a-blog that lets you get to know me a little better.

Right now it's past noon in my corner of Florida; the temperature outside is 75℉ (24℃) under partly sunny skies, which is comfortably nice for the season. The high temperature for the area is expected to reach 76℉ (24℃); the low tonight will be 56℉ (14℃), and no rain is expected to fall in our area, either.

I had planned to write a review of John Denver: Rocky Mountain High - Live in Japan, but even though the DVD arrived yesterday afternoon, I have not watched it. When I went to bed last night, I promised myself that I'd do that in the morning, then write about the DVD after I finished. But apparently, my heart is not in it; I keep on finding other things to do, all of them trivial and time-consuming, not to mention non-productive.

I suppose that the events of the past decade, starting with the onset of my mother's final illnesses and culminating with a cross-Florida move and having to adjust to living with a new family (and all the pros and cons that come with that), are catching up with me. The last five years, especially, have been a shock to the system: I've lost my mother, my townhouse, my old neighborhood, and everything I knew, and even though I'm not unhappy where I am, I sometimes do wish things had worked out the way my mother intended rather than the way they actually did.

My mom has been on my mind as of late; my mind is flooded with memories of the past, especially the sadder ones from 2010-2015. I'll be doing something - writing, listening to music, gaming on my PC, or watching a movie - and all of a sudden I'll hear a faint call of "Alex! Alex!" inside my head, and it's a call in Mom's voice. More specifically, it'll be Mom in her scared-to-be-alone voice, one that I was all-too-familiar with during her last few weeks of life. I heard it way too many times in the wee hours of the morning when she would cry out to me from her small bedroom on the first floor of our townhouse and wake me up from a thin and restless sleep. It doesn't happen every day (or night), but when it does, it is an unpleasant experience - fear and loneliness are not emotions you want your parents to feel, not if you love them, at any rate.

So, yes, I've been remembering the past, even though I am trying to focus on the here-and-now while keeping as busy as possible.

I still plan on watching that John Denver DVD this afternoon, although I seriously doubt that I'll review it right away.

© 2009 Eagle Rock Entertainment

This is my second John Denver-in-concert DVD, and even though it was released several years after Sony Music Video's John Denver: The Wildlife Concert, it was filmed 15 years earlier during Denver's 1981 tour of Japan and other Asian nations. It includes most of Denver's familiar hits from the 1970s (Annie's Song, Country Roads, Fly Away, and Sunshine are listed on the DVD package's reverse cover, but it'll be interesting to compare and contrast Denver's performance there with the 1996 Wildlife Concert's.  

As I said earlier, I might watch the new DVD later, but I will write the review either tomorrow or Sunday.

Oh, yes. I almost forgot. Juan texted yesterday to tell me he's already editing our movie, which now has the working title of Ronnie and the Two Nimrods. He didn't really go into detail, but he did send me a YouTube video of a banjo player-instructor and her (partial) cover of Take Me Home, Country Roads, which is one of Juan's selections for the score. He didn't say (and I didn't think about asking him about it) if he's going to use that song in addition to a cover of America the Beautiful or as a substitute. What I do know is that I didn't suggest it, even though I am on what I'd call a John Denver "phase."

 (The video above is not the one Juan sent me via text; I just wanted to show the basic musical idea he has in mind for the musical style he is looking for.)

Well, Dear Friend, I guess I'll close for now. It's been two hours since I started writing this post, and I am running out of news to share. So, until next time, I'll catch you on the sunny side of things.