Goodbye, Peter Tork! Heavy Rains & Flash Flooding Means Staying Home All Weekend
Yesterday boogieing with my friends on the dance floor I learned Monkees’ band member Peter Tork passed away. In 2009, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer causing his death while at a family friend’s home in Connecticut last Thursday.
Tork you may recall was depicted as the goofball of the bunch but I learned he did some songwriting and played a number of mewsic instruments. We rarely heard him sing on the show. Someone mentioned yesterday that he was an established folk singer before landing the TV gig. On his website, he has several albums on CD Baby. I am going to revisit that page to listen to his songs more closely.
In those Monkees’ fame days, my heart was beating for Davy Jones but I did notice, Peter. After all, I am a bit partial to drummers. 😉 Hint…DH played drums back in the day.
Billboard Magazine lists Peter Tork’s 10 Best Monkees Songs. If you’re a fan when time permits you may wish to check ’em out. Thank you for the laughs, the mewsic, and may you be at peace Peter!
The weekend brought a lot of heavy rain causing flash flooding and road closures in our city. We sat at home Saturday watching local coverage. It amazes me the things people will do to get from point A to point B without thought of the risks. A number of vehicles stalled in the flood waters. The thing is in any of those incidents things could’ve gone terribly wrong in nothing flat resulting in a fatality. I did accidentally learn yesterday that a west Knoxville man died after being submerged in the water early Sunday morning. but thankfully no lives were lost that I know. We stayed home since it was pointless and dangerous to be out. I found this clip which shot not far from where we live.
Saturday night we watched a fun old movie on Amazon Prime, Cactus Flower with Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman, and introducing Goldie Hawn.
Another film we watched for the first time…well, actually we started it a while back to never finish it so we started from the beginning is Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Pulp Fiction’. The language is a bit crude but we enjoyed the plot and it has a fabulous soundtrack!
I’ve mentioned it before but you may already know it Quentin is from Knoxville. He was born here. In fact, his birthday is next month (March 27th). He moved to LA with his mother went he was four years old but return for a brief time and attended 5th grade in South Clinton. What’s so cool is how Quentin works in his hometown roots into his film scripts as in his 1994 classic hit; once by Captain Koons (Christopher Walken) who tells a young Butch about his grandfather’s watch being bought in a little shop in Knoxville and another time by Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) in reference to meeting a contact in Knoxville, we watched over the weekend. I’m glad we finally got to see the whole thing and as I said we liked seeing it.
I finally reconciled to join the A to Z Challenge (2019 button in right side menu at top) in April on Friday. With that now on the table, don’t be surprised if some post scale backs occur between now and then. You know me with my need to get these posts (mostly my sketch work) done before April 1st and the good mews is I’ve drawn four illustrations so far!
Do I dare try a second week in a row at Eugenia’s Tuesday Chatter poem prompt (MARVEL)?
Little Miracle
@2019 Cathy Kennedy
I marvel at your innocence
your sweet perfume like incense
Staring…
Gaping…
Goggling…
I stare
Ooing…
Cooing…
soothing…
In a sing-song rhythm
Your eyes light up
All smiley face
Tiny giggles arise
Oh, my! I sigh
Applauding the moment
Astonishment
Wonder
I cry
I don’t need to tell you where I got my inspiration for my latest poet expression, do I? 😉 My little Angelina is at that sweet stage of giggling at everything you do. It’s just simply adorable!
I’m linking up taking a coffee break for some with Random Tuesday Thoughts with Stacy Uncorked and you’re invited to come with and let me remind you to visit again tomorrow for not-so Wordless Wednesday.
20 Comments
Stacy Uncorked
HAHAHA! That mug is awesome! And yes, I’m a rebel. 😉
My mom was a fan of the Monkees – sad about the passing of Peter Tork. Flash flooding is no joke – I’d stay home, too. Too dangerous! The teacher notes were hilarious!!! LOVE your little angel and awesome poem! 🙂
Cathy Kennedy
Stacy,
You are a rebel…that’s why I like you so much! 🙂 The Monkees were a blast from the past. I hate hearing about these old artists passing but that’s part of life. Thanks for visiting!
Birgit
You do have some serious flooding and I hope your home will not get damaged by this. I am not participating this year in the A to Z because my heart is just not in it but I will be visiting and enjoying your sketches. Your little grandbabe is very sweet and your poem captures the love you feel. I love the sillies and some of these kids are quite smart with their answers. I have not seen Cactus Flower yet but i love seeing Ingrid Bergman here and Goldie won an Oscar for her role here. I love Pulp Fiction despite the language which is typical Tarantino and i own the soundtrack which is great.
Cathy Kennedy
Birgit,
Thankfully, where we live we are purrfectly safe from any flood waters from last weekend. It’s the parts of town that generally are in a low area near creeks, rivers, or even ditches. The water has nowhere to go except into the streets or people’s yards. I was feeling a bit like my heart wasn’t into doing the A2Z Challenge, too. That’s why I felt like I was on a fence for the longest time with my decision but I knew I’d have regrets later if I didn’t, so the gentle prodding is what I need to get me going. Now, my enthusiasm is growing with each sketch I challenge myself to draw. I’m delighted you’ll stop in for visits. You’re the best! I read that Goldie won an Oscar for her role in “Cactus Flower’. She’s a furtastic actress. Do watch it when you get a chance. It’s quite good. I know Tarantino’s productions are full of potty mouth characters. It’s hard to overlook sometimes but we did enjoy the movie. We’ve seen a few other Tarantino movies but if my memory serves me correctly I think PF is laced with more bad language than the others. I did a quick check with Google and I found out we’ve seen quite a few of his films, some I didn’t even know that he worked on until now. Have a pAwesome day, my friend!
Hélène - Willow Poetry
Adorable baby, your poetry is perfection for such sweetheart. This was a wonderful write, sorry for the flooding though.
Cathy Kennedy
Thank you, Helene!
WP threw your comment into my ‘Spam’ folder and I am just now seeing it. Please accept my apologies. Thank you for visiting. I’m heading your way now. 😉
Hélène Vaillant - Willow Poetry
Bad, bad WP…
messymimi's meanderings
Awww! Your little angel is beautiful.
It’s sad about Peter Tork, he will be missed.
15andmeowing
Beautiful poem. Angelina is absolutely perfect. XO
Michael Todd
Your poem is adorable, Cathy… Thanks for the Peter Tork link. In many ways, he was the overlooked Monkees member.
Cathy Kennedy
Myke,
Thank you, my friend! Your poetry is always furtastic. I’m in awe of your talents at crafting poems. Maybe someday, I’ll be a tenth as good as you. 🙂 🤞
Debbie D.
Hi Cathy; Flooding is nasty and I hope things get better where you are, soon! I was sad about Peter Tork’s death too. The Monkees were a big part of my youth. Peter seemed like such a sweet, gentle man and was a much better musician than most people realized, thanks to his silly TV character. Your artistry is blooming, both with the image and the poem about your granddaughter. Beautiful! 🙂 Good luck with the A to Z Challenge! I’ll try and catch as many of your posts as possible, but won’t be particpating, myself. Daily blogging is too time-consuming and I find it stressful when I can’t keep up with responses, etc. It has always led to burnout for me, and that’s no fun, so…Anyway, I’m sure your sketches will all be fabulous!
Cathy Kennedy
Debbie,
Heavy rain that produces any amount of standing/gushing water on the streets makes me extremely nervous. I’m so thankful our home is elevated. The flash flooding in town occurred in the low areas often near a water source which doesn’t come as any surprise. This is one thing I try to keep in mind when looking for our new future residence but the weekend flooding showed me some parts of town that I need to pay close attention in to NOT pick places there. The Monkees were a big part of my childhood, too. I think that show was for most of our ages. I remember Peter being the silliest in the group but yeah I see that gentle quality in the man looking back. It always saddens me to read of celebrities addiction which he wasn’t immune, too.
Thank you for the kind words on this little verse. I just go with the inspiration. This is something I couldn’t do when my kids were small. It seemed my mind was pulled in a zillion directions none of which included creativity of this sort. Both of our daughters loved to write and the youngest loved both writing & drawing. Our son was more of a hands-on kid. He preferred building things and doodling some cool invention. I always marveled at their individual abilities and skillsets for their young ages.
I will need all the luck I can get with the A to Z Challenge. lol I totally understand why you’re bowing out. Trying to keep up with such an intense challenge for nearly 31-days straight can lead to burnout and think that’s been a lot of my problems since last April but honestly, I just can’t bring myself to step away for any length of time. You’re welcome to follow along as much as you’d like in April. I’m honored and touched by my loyal blog buds who support & encouragement my ventures. Have a wonderful day!
Sandee
I read the cup. I’m a rule breaker like you and proud of it.
Yes, sad about Peter Tork. I loved the Monkeys. Grew up with them.
Yikes on all that rain. We’ve had rain here, but not that much. Yikes. Stay in and safe.
Aw on the baby. She’s most beautiful.
Thank you for joining the Happy Tuesday Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Happy Tuesday, my friend. Love and hugs. ♥
Cathy Kennedy
Sandee,
I knew you’d read the next line! 🤣
The original Monkees are now down to two band members. I believe I read that the group still performs, so I need to look into that a bit more. I think both Mickey and Michael comprise the NEW Monkees but I’d imagine they have other members.
Thankfully, our immediate area is getting back to normal. I haven’t ventured out since the weekend to see any damages the flood waters caused. Watching the coverage on Saturday caused nightmare flashbacks from the 1977 flood in southern WV. That was super scary. We had to evacuate from our home seeking shelter at the little church I attend Sunday School in on top of a hill watching from afar the creek bed spill over its edge into the neighborhood below. Stupid me thought it was a good idea to wade through that muddy waters up to my hip to get back into our house to call DH (we were dating) to only learn the phone lines were down. I knew he’d be so worried about me from the safety of his mountain top home. It was the next day or the day after that he got on his bike and rode off the mountain (roads were washed out making car traffic impossible in places) to check on me. I was okay but I had gotten very sick. No doubt the mold and other seasonal allergens host in my weakened immune system.
It’s great having your visits always, my dear. Have a good week!
-Eugenia
Oh, what a sweet poem to go along with that adorable baby – yes, truly a miracle, Cathy! I hope your flooding has subsided and you’re safe. Here’s the link for your masterpiece – https://amanpan.com/2019/02/26/little-miracle-by-cathy-kennedy-february-25-2019/
Make it a great day!!
Cathy Kennedy
Eugenia,
I think things are okay around town but I haven’t heard any reports so I can’t say with complete certainty. The next couple of days’ forecast is warm, spring-like weather and then Sunday winter is going to hit us with a short, hard blast much of next week. I’m not looking forward to that at all, either. I have two doctor appointments and I hate being out in the cold. Thanks for sharing my poem on your blog. I’m heading your way to check it out.
-Eugenia
Mother nature is quite moody, you know. 🙂
Brian Frum
We were sad to hear about Peter Tork. Oh those kids were darn funny!
Cathy Kennedy
Brian,
Kids come up with the best things to say without trying. 🙂