Ah, mildly envious, as I've not yet made it to the UK, despite the vast majority of my heritage hailing from there, primarily Scottish, Irish, and English, though I'm pretty sure that there has to be Welsh in there somewhere lol!

Music has long been my healing balm. As it is for many; one of the best therapies for Alzheimer's and dementia patients is music, because even people who no longer recognize their families can often recall old childhood songs, and it is wonderful to see the transformation in their faces from their joy in that recognition.

I read a comment by a gentleman on a video, I think it was yesterday, saying that the best thing about having our new administration is that he has his wife back, because she's back to listening to music in the mornings, rather than worriedly listening to the news in fear of the next daily scandal or atrocity.

I was fortunate to be introduced to Nick Drake when I first visited my dad in Florida in 1982 - the son of a friend of his knew that he had good sound equipment, and asked if I'd be willing to make him cassette copies of the three-LP "Fruit Tree" box set he'd purchased some years back, since he no longer had a phonograph.

I was hooked immediately, made a copy for myself as well, and played them constantly until I could find a copy of the box set for myself, which I've since bought twice; first the original three-LP box set, and then the later enhanced CD version, including a fourth CD of his alternate takes and home recordings, some of which are golden.

I got my sister hooked on him as well, and have turned on a number of others to his music. I was a huge Cat Stevens/Yusuf fan back in the day, and taking nothing away from him, as he is a great songwriter and performer in his own right, a part of me thinks that Drake succeeded in capturing something that Stevens was always striving for; but, although he came close, he a-l-m-o-s-t but never quite reached it.

Of course, they were both born in 1948, grew up in the greater London area, and had many of the same influences, musical and otherwise, so it's not surprising that certain of their songs are a bit reminiscent of one another, though each was and remained entirely original.

I really wish I could have seen Drake perform live. I was fortunate to see Stevens on his final American tour, his 1976 Majikat tour, at the Forum in L.A., so that was a wonderful experience.

As for the news, I almost never watch it any more, as Marek and I individually got rid of cable TV in 2006, shortly before we met, and neither one of us wants it in our home.

I do check out headlines on my phone, usually in the morning but occasionally throughout the day, but if I know it's going to be an awful story, I usually don't go there. I'm an empath, and I feel no need to put myself through that. Enough is enough.

I've been one of many working toward getting steel jaw leghold traps outlawed since the 70s, I have ALWAYS been strongly opposed to denning, and I think anyone who shoots ANY animals from a moving plane is among the lowest forms of life; right up there with the Hive account@sshole eastern tourists who shot American bison by the thousands from passing trains, and damned near obliterated the entire species, not to mention the hundreds of Native American tribes who depended upon them for sustenance through the winter.

Overall, however, I've been taking more of a break from the news. By necessity. During the last abysmal administration I almost forgot how to sleep. Not good.

The one best thing about the Biden administration, for me, is that I no longer feel the need to stay glued to the news just in cast our president pisses some world leader enough to start a nuclear holocaust.

Grandpa Joe is just what the doctor ordered . . . it is SO very nice to have adults in the White House once again, not to mention a president who actually cares about people, isn't just in it for a fast buck, and wants to make our nation - and our world - a much better place for us ALL.

And his first address to Congress was a breath of fresh air . . . stuttering and all, it was one of the clearest and most cogent speeches we've had out of the White House in a good long while, and with the GQP evidently intent upon self-imploding, I think that bodes well for our nation and world as a whole.

Such a refreshing change from the ever-fearmongering right.

Life is wonderful, and is getting better, better, and BETTER!!!