Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! May your holidays be filled with love, health and happiness... wine and chocolate are good too! ;) 

Here is my absolute favourite Christmas song... from my heart to yours xox

Cool Canadian Music

This post is in honour of Gord Downie, who was the lead singer of the band Tragically Hip. He passed away last night at age 53. If you live in Canada, Tragically Hip songs probably made up a good part of your "life soundtrack". I first discovered them while driving across Canada. I think I picked up their tape (yes, tape.... cassette tape) at some Northern Ontario roadside gas station/store/hotel/bathroom. Every time I hear their music, I see the landscape passing by and a feeling of Canadian pride in my heart.

RIP Gord Downie...  you made some pretty cool music.

Les cactus

Hello all! :)

This week has been a rough one. Not a terrible, catastrophic one but a sneaky-creep-up-on-you crappy kind of week. It started with a bad listening morning courtesy of the boys, a rejected paper, a frustrating colleague, Oliver being sick, a bigger-than-expected bill, Oliver not listening to his teacher and, then- thankfully- Friday (although, we had another blizzard! Please, someone tell Mother Nature that it is Spring!). You know those kinds of weeks ;)
Anyway, all week long, I had this song stuck in my head. Actually, the more that I think about it, the more appropriate it was. A little bit like my soundtrack.. Here is is... Thank you to Jacques Dutronc ;)

A shout out to my friend, Gabrielle: yes, I actually had a Jacques Dutronc song stuck in my head.... haha!

Happy Friday to you all and may it be a non-cactus weekend ;)

Selective memory ;)

I have to admit that, over the past 5 or 6 years, my memory has taken a serious trip into the terrible department. I don't know if it is fatigue or age or number of kids or I am at my limit of multi-tasking (Andreas thinks it is chemical) but please don't ask me what I just had for breakfast ;) The other day, I completely blanked out trying to remember Oliver's birthday (was it May 15, 2010 or May 10 or... crap!) and forgetting my children's names is a daily event (hey, you! works too). I like to think that this aspect of my brain function is charming and quirky....by the way, who are you again? The only time where I blow this concept out of the water is when we get together with our close friends, the W family (father W, mother W and their 4 kids: our PEI collaborators), and play our regular wine drinking game called: Name That 1980's Tune.
We never planned this game... it just happened. One day, Andreas showed the W's a music app that played different styles of music. Considering that we all grew up in the 1980's (well... at least the father W and I did.... mother W is younger/more into 1990's music and I guess that there was no music in Sweden because Andreas hasn't heard of anything!), this decade is the natural choice ;) Anyway, it is scary how many one hit wonders I remember. Father W and I get really into it. I almost feel bad for the others.... We get pretty intense, competitive and yell 1980's group names across the table ;) Yes, I actually got Scritti Politti on one occasion ;) Scary! At least, one part of my memory is still working and it IS usually the short term that is the first to go....

Wishing you all a happy Monday xox

PS: this post is dedicated to mother W... because we never let her yell out 1990's tunes ;)

Purple rain

It has been quite the crappy year for music... so many deaths... and two of my absolute favourites- David Bowie and Prince- in a 4 month period :( 

Purple Rain came out as I was becoming a teenager in 1984. There was something about the music that made you almost stop breathing. It defined my musical tastes at this time and led me to R&B, soul and jazz. You couldn't get any better than a Prince guitar solo and the music spoke to my young teenage heart (and now my middle age mother heart). Prince was both cool and hot at the same time. Although I believed that the music couldn't get any better.... it did... over and over.... Prince, my first musical crush, RIP....

David, I apologize for not having dedicated a blog post in your honour. I meant to... but the words never made it to the blog page....

Because life just wasn't noisy enough before ;)

Alexander chose to play trumpet for his school music class. I had suggested flute but he didn't take my request ;) Andreas gave him the idea of trumpet so I totally blame him. At least, he can actually get a noise that almost resembles trumpet out of it... problem is that, apparently, louder is better ;)

Happy Saturday evening! I plan on spending mine with a good pair of earplugs ;)

Cool music... another edition...

It is another crazy weekend and I am definitely outnumbered by boys with man-colds ;) Here is a cool tune by Kygo.... Have a good one!

More cool music...

I heard this song "Ta Mig Tillbaka"(by Darin) a lot on the radio when I was in Sweden (in English: Take Me Back). It reminds me of driving in Smaaland, with the windows down and the sun shining. Definitely a nice memory! I will be back later with a real post.... getting back into the "routine" has been more chaotic than I had thought.... ;)

More cool music...

In my last post, I confessed to my "Broen" addiction. Part of it is due to the cool opening music... Here it is.... hope you enjoy!

Couldn't start 2015 without....

.... a bit of ABBA..... Happy New Year!

Cool music....

This is Linnea Henriksson - Lyckligare nu- cool Swedish tune.... :)

One of my best buys ever!

Before I go on about this favourite buy of mine, I just want to say that this is not a sponsored post. I am writing about it because I really like it!

When I signed my contract for my present job, I bought myself a Tivoli Audio Internet Radio as a "congrats" present (link to Canadian site but Tivoli is international). I had been eyeing it for a long time because, honestly, I am fascinated with travel and different cultures. Since I can't afford to just take off on an airplane, in my head, this is the next best thing ;) Want a bit of Italian opera? Just search in the Italian stations.... Want some German groove music? Voila.... you got it! How about some UK talk radio.... there it is! Swedish radio? Let's visit Gothenburg.... Denmark? Copenhagen P4! Tivoli has a great search list from stations across all continents and I love to visit them all :) Nothing like hearing REAL tango music from Argentina or African beats from Kenya!

The radio is small, minimal looking and comes in a variety of colours. I have had mine now for almost 3 years and it has been a constant companion in my kitchen :) I got the basic internet radio and have not been disappointed in the least. It is seriously one of the best purchases that I have ever made!

Cool music for a warm night

I heard this song on the radio. It has been a long time since I last heard it! So cool... I am a big fan of Serge Gainsbourg so here it is..... enjoy!

Another cool song!

Thought I would add this.... it is an oldie but a goodie. The band is Bran Van 3000 and from Montreal!

Cool song... good night!

This is another favourite song lately... Kent (La Belle Epoque)...

Good night!