RECORD STORE TALES #1159: A Mighty Wind & A Million Vacations

As fall starts to take hold, I need to be mindful.   Mindful of dark thoughts and feelings.  And so, on Friday night when we departed for the lake, I focused.  The music must be bright, for it will be dark out soon.  We must keep the spirits up, for it is that time of year again.  By this time in 2022, I was already suffering from my seasonal disorder.  In 2024, I’m doing OK so far.

In preparation for Friday night’s episode of Grab A Stack of Rock (the first indoor show at the lake in a year), we played the soundtrack to A Mighty Wind in the car.  It has us singing and smiling along.  We followed that with Max Webster’s A Million Vacations.  The drive up was relatively uneventful.  We were almost killed at the St. Jacobs roundabout by a white minivan who turned left from the right lane, but hey, it’s all good.  I hit the brakes in time enough for the guy behind us not to rear-end my car.  Thanks a lot of for the sudden jump in stress, but we made it alive in one piece.  Along the way we spotted a cute cat in the bushes.  We even arrived by 7:00 pm, which meant I had an hour to prepare for the 8:00 pm show, including some daylight time.  The show went off without a hitch.  Non-stop laughs, love and deep analysis.  Just how I like it.

Saturday was a beautiful day, but we have different priorities in the fall compared to summer.  Instead of going out and buying the best meat and veggies, we have to start using up what’s left in the freezer.  I tried some experiments, but nothing was particularly successful.  We ate some frozen steaks that had been sitting around all year, but they were tough and lined with gristle.  I tried cooking some leftover corn in a pan with some onions and mushrooms, but the overall flavours didn’t mix well.  I was left with something that tasted like shepherd’s pie, which was not what I was aiming for.  The sweetness of the corn didn’t mix with the funkiness of mushrooms.  After a summer of so many food experiment successes, it was alright to have one failure in 2024.

Saturday night, a mighty wind began to blow.  We didn’t have too many storms in 2024, so this was more than welcome.  Strangely, it remained warm outside.  The rain came in spurts.  We never got properly drenched.  We just remained inside and enjoyed it.

We didn’t get as much done this weekend as we hoped.  We always plan for more than we have time to do, but we didn’t let any time go waste.  We made some great meals, had a nice fire outside, took the drone up, and Jen got to watch all her sports games.

On the way home, I began to feel that sadness creep in.  I fought it off with Van Halen and David Lee Roth:  5150, and Skyscraper.  5150 did not do the trick.  Skyscraper did.  With Dave as the cheerleader and nostalgia in the music, Roth kept my spirits upbeat.  It was the magical mixture.

Once home, I ordered an amazing deep dish pizza from a local place called Franklin’s.  It was my first deep dish pizza, with the cheese running so gooey and the sauce so tangy.  It wasn’t super deep, so next time I want to try something even bigger.  Either way, bucket list item checked off the list.

Was this our last trip to the lake in 2024?  We don’t know, but what I do know is that we did it right this time.