Weather Channel Music

It's absolutely ridiculous how big a part Weather Channel playlist music plays in our lives. Or at least my life. Tim is far more sensible and practical.

I can hear a Weather Channel song from 1991 and instantly be transported back to the time when Tim and I were dating, going to concerts, enjoying picnics in hot summer weather and driving around Lansing and western Michigan.

I can hear another oldie and remember the view of the rolling cornfield across the road from our old house in Linden. Or remember shoveling snow in the middle of the night after a storm under the light of a cold full moon. All kinds of stuff like that.

So here's something even more ridiculous. I have a gazillion constructive things I could be doing right now (an edited selection: hauling cow manure to the garden beds; putting away laundry; writing thank you notes for birthday presents; posting pics from last weekend for Ellen; going to bed and getting some sleep) and I just spent over an hour fooling around going back to old playlists on TWC searching for tunes that made a particular impression. And I found them! And they were actually on iTunes this time (yes, this isn't the first time I've gone searching). And I downloaded them.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/zlnqg6

'Riders of the Ancient Winds' by Craig Chaquico and Russ Freeman reminds me of the eastern Upper Peninsula. I have no idea why. It's very rare I hear a song that reminds me of a place when I've never actually *heard* it while being in that place. But I'm sort of getting 'homesick' for it. That's where Whitefish Point is, Paradise, Tahquamenon Falls, and Muskellonge State Park are. All favorite places of ours. I think I'm going to take a road trip with a coworker/friend up there in 2 weeks for a quick rock-collecting trip. She wants to make garden art and I want to make lamps out of the fantastic beach rocks (the same kind we have in our basement bathroom vanity). Which reminds me of something else I ought to be doing right now, which is searching for cheap lodgings for one night in that area. But yay: Up North!!!

http://www.sendspace.com/file/k9qmjp

'Going the Distance' by Timothy Drury is one I've been trying to find for almost 2 years. I forgot what it sounded like, but I knew I would recognize it when I heard it. Finally, today, I did. I call it Valrhona's song, because it was playing right after we decided to keep her and we let her stay in the house for good. It was July of 2006, and it's a happy, sappy summery kind of song that reminds me of how her fur would flap like hair when she ran across the front lawn toward me when I'd shake some dry cat food in a dish.

Yep, pretty ridiculous.