Saturday Night Soup for the Soul (18)

he year of mourning is drawing to a close for me. Last night was the one year anniversary of the final medical mistakes that were heaped upon my poor mother. I spent that Friday night in ER until four AM and drove home, crying so hard, that it is a wonder that I made it safely. I spoke out load that terrible night to my two cats saying over and over “they killed Grandma”. Such a sad tragedy, and at such a lovely time of the year. My mother’s last spring on earth, her last glimpse of blue sky, her last site of small birds, the last blossoms she gazed upon, falling delicately from tree branches like snow. Her final two weeks on earth began one year ago from tonight. Click on the pictures above taken at Vantage Washington, to see them in bag-ass format. They show Vantage, Washington, where the mighty Columbia became an apocalyptic flood to end all floods. Repeating this flood the past several ice ages, the flood drained in a mere two weeks time a volume of water equivalent to Lake Michigan. This past week I drove to her place of birth, and spread some of her ashes – on her parent’s grave, and on the grave of her first husband – not my father, but the father of my late sister. Arguably, I might even be named after him. My brother, three years my senior, shares my father's name. Her father's father was also named Wilhelm, so the name may have entered her mind from that direction. Here are more pictures I took on the night I arrived in Spokane, and the next morning. Next week I will have more from my extended road trip and of my stop and go vacation. Remember when you were young How the hero was never hung Always got away Remember how the man Used to leave you empty handed Always, always let you down If you ever change your mind About leaving it all behind Remember, remember, today Don't you worry'bout what you've done Don't feel sorry'bout the way it's gone Remember when you were small How people seemed so tall Always had their way Remember your ma and pa Just wishing for movie stardom Always, always playing a part If you ever feel so sad And the whole world is driving you mad Remember, remember today And don't feel sorry 'bout the way it's gone And don't you worry 'bout what you've done No, no, remember, remember The fifth of November 1. Remember is a tough-love song from John Lennon's first post Beatles Plastic Ono Band LP. I loved this the first time I heard it many years ago. It is a "don't look back" piece of music driven by the tight coupling of John's piano and Ringo's drum beat. BTW: the fifth of November that the closing lyrics refers to is the celebration (ond for others, the failure) of the attempt by a group of Catholic conspirators, led by one Robert Catesby, and including Guy Fawkes, to blow up the Houses of Parliament in Westminster on the evening of 5 November 1605. The conspirators were executed. The line "Penny for the Guy" also appears in T.S. Elliot's masterpiece "The Hollow Men". John loved T. S. Elliot, whose work heavily influenced John's 1967 masterpiece “A Day In the Life” (see “The Waste Land”). APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm, covering Earth in forgetful snow, feeding A little life with dried tubers. 2. The River Suite is a stunning work by Duke Ellington, written at the end of his life in 1971, when he in the sixth decade of his career. The work is composed of a series of pieces, each that represents a different stage of river on its journey to the sea. Since so much of my trip was dominated by rivers, both gentle, and apocalyptic, it seems appropriate to include some of the pieces. The pieces I have selected for Soup this week are: The Spring The Meander The Lake The Falls The Whirlpool The Neo-Hip-Hot Kiddies Communities There will be a few more next week. All of this makes it's way into this week's soup. You can get your 31.2 Mb bowl of Saturday Night by clicking the jukebox.