Saturday 9

 
Saturday 9: Indian Lake (1968)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, a family gets on a bus and heads off on vacation. Think about the last trip you took. Did you travel by car, bus, train, boat, or plane? I flew to/from Grand Rapids for Christmas with my niece and her family.

2) Once they get to Indian Lake, they swim, have a picnic and go canoeing. Are you looking forward to any of these activities this summer? None. Does that make me sound boring? 

3) "Indian Lake" became familiar to TV audiences because it was used in commercials for the Dodge Charger. In the 1960s, most households didn't have remote controls to enable viewers to mute or skip commercials. Today, we do. When a commercial comes on, do you watch or do you turn down the sound or, if possible, fast forward past it? I generally watch it. Since I was in advertising for decades. I figure it's my penance. Plus, I don't watch TV with the remote in my hands. Seems like a lot of work to locate it and figure out how to avoid the commercials. (My cousin Rose is passionate about muting or skipping commercials and never lets go of the remote, lest she hear a moment of an ad.)

4) The Cowsills were a family singing group who had four Top 10 hits between 1967 and 1969. The brothers were self taught musicians who enjoyed playing at church and school events. When their father, Bud Cowsill, became their manager, he insisted his wife Barbara and their youngest, Susan, join the band. He wanted the Cowsills to become "a latter-day Von Trapp family." Without looking it up, do you know who the Von Trapps were? The family that inspired The Sound of Music.

5) The Cowsills were the inspiration for the sitcom The Partridge Family. It ran for four seasons and the fictional Partridges had three Top 10 hits, were nominated for a Grammy and made David Cassidy a star. Are you familiar with The Partridge Family? Yes. The show was stupid but David Cassidy was dreamy. So were Donny and Bobby. Ah, the heart throbs of my pre-teen years!

I subscribed to Fave. $7/year of my own money!

6) The Cowsills starred in an advertising campaign for the American Dairy Association. On TV and in magazine ads they proclaimed that "Milk is the lift that lasts." Decades later, oldest brother Bill recalled that he seldom drank milk. How about you? Do you often drink milk? I drink a glass of chocolate milk every morning. My vitamins and meds go down easiest that way. 

7) While Bud Cowsill engineered the family band's success, he also contributed to their demise. The Cowsills were scheduled to appear 10 times on the influential Ed Sullivan Show, but were fired after the second because Bud was too confrontational backstage. He also had a reputation for being abrasive with record company executives and concert promoters, and this affected the the band's ability to find work. Do you have a hard time biting your tongue or controlling your temper? Not anymore. I reinvented myself when I started at the card shop in 2024. In my old job, I could run a tight ship and developed a reputation for getting what I wanted (that was my boss' version; I viewed it as having integrity and fighting for the best product possible). I am responsible for very little at this new job, so I'm approaching it differently. I'm all about the vibe, with my teammates and our customers. My new shift manager, Alejandra, called me a "gentle, sunny spirit." I cannot imagine any coworkers describing the 2020 vintage Gal that way. 

8) In 1968, when this song was popular, Leonard Bernstein released his award-winning recording of Mahler: Symphony No. 8. Do you enjoy classical music? No.

9) Random question – Here we are in March. If you made any New Year's resolutions, have you kept them? I promised myself I'd donate household goods and clothes once/month this year. As March ends, I've made 3 trips to the local resale shop and 1 to Goodwill, so I'm ahead. Let's hear it for The Gal!

Photo by Miguel Bruna on Unsplash

 

 

Boomerang emotions

Happy. Sad. That's been me this past week. 

First the happy. I spent a lovely afternoon with Elaine. We celebrated her birthday by exploring the Art Institute of Chicago – she keeps trying to civilize me – and then having a fancy lunch at Remington's, a new-to-her restaurant.

I had a good shift at the card shop. Emily, my new boss, wore a Cubs hoodie to the store in celebration of Opening Day. Obviously a bond was forged.

Then I got a pair of invitations. Laura, a Los Angeleno movie lover I met at last year's TCM Film Festival, wants to know when I'm arriving in town for this year's festival. She's having a breakfast that first day and hopes I can join her husband and their friends. The second is from Bob. He and Patty are locals who also attend the TCM Film Festival. He's retiring on April 3 and this weekend his wife is hosting an Open House in his honor. 

I miss my late friends Henry and John so very much. Every day. New people can't replace them, of course, but it makes me happy to know that there are opportunities out there for camaraderie. 

Now for the sad. My girlcat, Connie, is sick. As recently as Tuesday night, she was fine. I distinctly recall her racing around, leaping and playing, after her dinner and, frankly, her evening shit. Wednesday she was quiet, eating but not at all social. Thursday I had to convince her to eat. Today I can't get her to take food or water. She doesn't want to cuddle puddle with Roy Hobbs or get a tummy scratch from me. I suspect she's constipated. I'm worried that she could become dehydrated. So tomorrow morning we have the first appointment (8 AM) at the vet. Tonight is going to be a tough night. I am so worried about my little girl. She has never been healthy. When I first adopted her, she was recovering from malnutrition. She has a heart murmur. Now she's a senior citizen – 14 years old, the equivalent of 72 in human years – and things could go south quickly.

It's such a tight rope I walk with her. Connie is so shy with strangers, so frightened of leaving the house. Taking her to the vet causes her terror so I don't want to do it unless absolutely necessary. So I waited until I knew this wasn't some passing blip. I just hope I didn't wait too long.

I love my girlcat very much. 

Photo by Mirela Vasile on Unsplash