Sunday, January 1, 2012

Next of Kin to the Wayward Wind



There's a crazy wind blowing around out there tonight, making the natives restless ... Buddy, mostly. Earlier he kept coming up to me with this stricken smile ('cause goldens rarely stop smiling), as if to say, "Please, make it stop, Ma." He wanted to go outside as it's his favorite place to be but the wind was whipping up the scent of something and he didn't like it. When he stuck his nose out I thought I heard the dim call of a coyote or two, so I suspect that's the cause of his reluctance. I finally put him in his crate and I think he prefers it; there's a more peaceful and protected feeling there. Hope he doesn't have to pee anymore tonight.

Early this morning, as we turned the page to a new chapter, I awoke with a call to sweep the kitchen floor. It has a sense of parable about it, doesn't it?  Rumi mentions it in at least one of his poems and Christ Jesus mentions it a time or two if I'm not mistaken. I would imagine it holds a place in many traditions, spiritual and otherwise. So, I swept out the old and, in doing so, prepared for the new ... whatever that turns out to be.

Not so new is this recording by the great Patsy Cline. Several folks recorded this song, but this is the one that helped raise me and I prefer it.  I pretty much prefer anything sung by Patsy. BTW: The photograph is one I took on the road to Valentine, Nebraska as I drove out west last year. I take its picture every chance I get. Talk about the potential for wind ... Anyway, without further ado, here's Patsy:



41 comments:

  1. I felt a wanting to clean,but did very little.After all the warm days that wind went right through me while out.It looked sunny and nice.

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  2. I love this picture and I love Patsy Cline. I was going to ask if it was your house until you said it is on the road to Valentine. This is a nice post Teresa.

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  3. Have a great new year and I love to hear Patsy sing.

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  4. I certainly share your love for Patsy Cline, and that song in particular!

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  5. It looks quite cold and windy out there, Teresa. Make sure that you and Buddy keep a little fire in your hearts!

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  6. Hi Teresa.I hope Buddy is Calm now?Here in Yorkshire they are forecasting 80mph Winds for tommorrow![I will close my eyes & think of Patsy:)......]OH!I love that song.It reminds me of my own childhood.......Although I remember the UK Frank Ifield version......although,Patsy's is better !!!!

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  7. I also love Patsy Cline. Thank you, Teresa. I get that antsy feeling when the wind blows, too. Even when I don't hear any coyotes in the distance. :-)

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  8. We started the New Year with very strong winds too and it's nice to hear Patsy's soothing song this morning.

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  9. STEVE, out on the prairie, It took a turn, that's for certain. Today, the wind is still blowing but not as strong as last night. buddy is out there as I write this, checking things out.



    RUBYE JACK! Love that moniker. No, my house is surrounded by trees of every kind, but there's something about those wide open spaces that also appeal to me and that house stole my heart many years ago on my first trip down that road. Tanks.



    MICHAEL, Do a little singing yourself now! Sing until you mean it! ;)


    MONTUCKY, Wasn't she the best? What a loss that was, but then, maybe it's why we still listen every chance we get.



    GEORGE, Buddy was out of the crate shortly after midnight and cozy at the side of my bed. This morning, I feel like my heart's on fire with love for the whole world. No exceptions. Well, maybe Eric Cantor. I'm still working on that one. I keep telling myself, everyone has their role to play. :)



    TONY, I'll have to check out Frank Ilfield. Frankie Laine did a version,too, along with several others, but Patsy is Patsy, and ain't she cool? Buddy is calm, hanging around outside, and happy to be there. Hang on to your hat!



    DJAN, Yeah, I wouldn't have fared well out on the lone prairie where the wind blows incessantly. I like to look at it, but wind unnerves me after a while. The coyotes are doing what the wolves did when I was a kid, coming around about every three days. They stay at a distance, and Buddy has a pretty good sniffer. :)



    WANDA, I Loved Wanda Jackson's music, too, when I was a kid. I think of her when I see your name. so glad you're here. She does a nice rendition of it, lending a mood to the night, and the morning.
    I trust yours is going well.

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  10. Patsy's music is as haunting as the image. I would say they are a perfect match.

    Happy New Year to you and Buddy.

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  11. I cleaned and also tossed some stuff. I filled a sack for Good Will. I seem to do this every year after the holidays. Windy in KC too, but Sophie still wanted her walk. The house pic is wonderful. It's full of character...but don't think I'd like to live there. Spoken like a true city gal...

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  12. Such an evocative, wonderful post. It so perfectly captures the feeling of a new year: fresh, and clean, with just a tiny touch of nostalgia around the edges.

    When I read your title, I was taken directly back to my childhood basement, where I would spend winter hours swinging on an old rope and plank swing my dad put up, and singing. One of my favorites was Wayward Wind, and I still know all the lyrics - although I learned it from Gogi Grant, and still prefer that version. Nothing wrong with Miss Patsy, though!

    As for that urge toward cleaning - I'll share with you an old proverb my grandmother particularly liked. "A new broom sweeps clean, but an old broom knows the corners."

    New broom or old, as long as we keep singing, we'll be fine!

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  13. Speaking of sweeping, we could certainly use a 'new broom' in politics right now.

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  14. Took me right back to the year I was 12 years old, when we listened to Patsy and The Westward Wind, it's funny how certain songs can do that. I could almost capture my Mum in the kitchen and see the 'wireless' all lit-up in its corner of the living room.
    It's been mighty windy over in the north of England recently too, my old school teacher Auntie used to say all the children would be particularly restless when the winds whipped-up. Our two cats don't like it at all and tend to bury themselves somewhere under a cover, so I'm understanding Buddy needing to make it stop.
    That old homestead looks really desolate, poor house with no-one to love it :(

    Hugs Jane x

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  15. ANNIE, They do seem to fit. I love that old house. Happy New Year to You!



    TM, "It's windy in Kansas City" sounds like an old country song, too. It's always good to get rid of stuff. Clear out the space, and make way for new energy to expand.



    SHOREACRES,Gogi did do a great version, too, but Patsy won the day. My broom is old, but the world feels brand new. Must have got those corners clean. :) Yes, sing, sing, sing!


    FEARGUTH, My impulse would be to hit them all over the head with it! Now I will go back to practicing the Four Agreements! :)



    JANE,, Good Morning, or is it late afternoon there? Songs can certainly call up some memories, and put us right back there.
    I show my love for that desolate house and landscape as often as possible. There's something sad about what was, the lives that place knew and are now all gone.

    Have a bee-oo-tiful day.

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  16. A perfect post, picture, and song for me just now. That wind is a-blowin' up a storm, or at least a few flake, here right now, making me want to stay sheltered here in the house. Stay warm, sip some more of that wine, and enjoy the rest of the day, Teresa.

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  17. The photo is wonderful. I live in Nebraska, so I have a particular feeling for photos like this.

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  18. Penny, I'm afraid I stayed up late last night and polished off what was left of that bottle from the night before. We have blue skies today and the wind has died down this afternoon. Just in time for our walk out back, but another evening of quiet and I'm glad to feel so snug. I like having a little snow. A little.



    CiCi, I love that drive between Murdo and Valentine, usually going all the way to North Platte in my trips out west before I stop for the night. I've taken many pictures in Valentine, even blogged about it last year. There's beauty everywhere. That old farmhouse captured my heart way back in the early 1990's.

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  19. I'm glad Buddy is back outside checking the world out now that the wind died down. ;) It was cold-gusty, that's for sure.

    I like Patsy Cline, too. She had a voice for ballads.

    I like the sweeping away the old. 2012, here we come!! :):)

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  20. Rita, He's been in and out all day, with a quick snooze here and there.

    Aiy-eee! It's gonna be a good one, I can tell.

    Stay warm. Yikes, it's getting cold out there.

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  21. I immediately thought of Gogi Grant, whose recording was played regularly on our local radio station. I didn't like her voice, but the song said, "Hey, there's something out there that you don't know about yet."

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  22. Love that pic.....Valentine, Nebraska....hugh.....Looks like it is pretty desolate and COLD!!

    (O:

    xo

    Jo

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  23. BLOG Nancy, I loved your summation of that song. That's what entranced me, too, as a child. Kinda like trains going somewhere....



    My Grama's Soul, That's such a nice name for a blog. I read about how it came to be... I love it.

    That house is desolate looking and feeling, but I see beauty there and it feels oddly comforting.

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  24. We were visiting my son this Christmas Eve, and on his request, we crated Doberwoman at the foot of our bed. But, home, I'm superstitious about crating our "3rd Unit". Our previous breeder of Dobermans was once burglarized while she slept. All four of her hounds were crated.

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  25. R.W. I appreciate that thought. I rarely crate Buddy. I leave the door open and he sometimes goes in there on his own accord to snooze. It's half-covered with a blanket and it's sort of his man cave. :) It's always next to my table where I work. He was only crated for awhile until we went to bed, then he was in the bdrm, as he always is, with me. Believe me, he never sleeps or gets too far from me. He's an excellent watchdog and is awake with every sound.

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  26. A lovely post, Teresa; It's such a long time since I heard Patsy Kline sing, and I used to love this song so much.

    Benno has been restless too, trembling with fear, actually, because people have been letting off fireworks over the beginning if the new year. I've been holding him close too.

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  27. Friko, Yes, we have to keep our sweeties close. :) Nice to hear from you.

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  28. I love wind when it's in my area, as that only happens a couple of times a month. But in the midwest, during our road trip last spring, it wore on me.

    Valentine! A romantic name, quite a place out there in one of the middle of nowheres. We drove through on our way to Gordon.

    I'm also doing some sweeping - and evaluating - and this is a good time of year to do it.

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  29. Hi Linda, I always identify it as near Valentine, but it's much closer to Murdo SD. Yes, the wind wears on me. A little goes a long way.

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  30. The photo of the western house feels like the frozen tundra of winter. It is a beautiful photograph. I have a huge golden and I know what you mean that they always have a smile on their face. Matches their great personality.Hopefully your sweeping out the new year will bring a better world to live in -- barbara

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  31. Thank you, Barbara. I've taken a photo of that house in all seasons but the summer, I believe. It does portray the vastness of that place. I'm glad to hear you also have a golden. They are such fine companions. A better world, yes.

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  32. Awesome post. Great song. I'm filled with nostalgia. My dad likes this song. I love the image of sweeping out the old to ready yourself for the new.
    Happy New Year!

    Play off the Page

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  33. Mary, Thank you. Sweeping is a great metaphor as well as a good thing to do now and then. :) I like to think it actually has contributed greatly to how expansive my world feels right now.

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  34. I love the idea of sweeping the old year out and beginning anew. I may go get my broom tomorrow morning and do some sweeping.
    Wonderful post and that photo is beautiful. I love the wide open space of it and I can feel the wind sweeping across the expanses of land.
    I love wind but it does spook animals. I think some winds talk to animals. We don't understand but they hear voices in it.
    Thanks for the Nancy Cline rendition. Great song.

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  35. farmlady, I have no doubt the wind has much to communicate and I like the idea of it talking to the animals.

    Thanks for reading and commenting.

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  36. I remember Gogi Grant's recording of this in 1956.

    Yes, Bear is actually that old. .

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    1. Gogi did have a great version of this song, but I'm such a big fan of Patsy, it swayed my choice. Thanks for reading and listening.

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  37. Wind.. the original traveling music.
    A lovely story, Teresa (as always :))

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    1. Hi, Ray. It's so good of you to read these older posts. It makes me happy they are still being enjoyed ... thank you so much for taking the time and for your sweet comment.

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  38. The older posts are a kind of cookie jar for me. I circle back every day or two, dip my hand in and enjoy. I am a fan, Teresa. :)

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    1. Well, it's a real treat for me to read your comments. :)

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