Moments At The 2016 Chicago Blues Festival...

I like my music's volume high enough to not hear you...

Just look at his face. Arvid could not wait to get going to the festival.  He said to me,

"this weekend no one can get hold of me.  I'm not turning my phone on."  And he had a big smile 

on his face.  The man is happiest when he hears the Blues, and Friday did not disappoint.

Said Arvid, "dear music I will never be able to thank you enough for being there for me."

As always I love being outdoors.  I may not always sit still, but I'm having a good time. 

 I enjoy watching everyone and capturing moments.  Makes me happy.  Very happy.

People of all ages were there.  Old, young, infants.  You name it they were there.  

Some came on bicycles, wheelchairs, strollers and of course many like us just walked.

The first day was HOT!  Just about everyone wore a hat.  Unfortunately, 

I have too much hair and no hats really stay put on my head.

Saturday on the other hand was even hotter.  Neither Arvid nor I felt we wanted to go out and
 sit in the heat, even for the Blues.  As you know we live in Florida, and we rarely go out
 in the heat.  So on this day we stayed home with Sniff Sniff and listened to the music from
 our balcony.  Was a treat and best of all we were in the shade, yet heard everything.

I took the above pictures from our balcony.  Not too shabby after all.  We like it.

Yesterday the temperatures dipped into the 60's F, of course we were cold, but more
so Arvid.   As you can see he had to borrow my scarf for the remainder of the evening.
 After that it was good.  We moved around a bit and at some point we had a
 little sunshine which help quite a lot in warming us up.

As far as Arvid and I are concerned there is no place better than Chicago.
In the summertime  The Blues Festival has the best place to call home.  Chicago.
The views from each stage is just breathtaking.  Arvid and I are just fortunate to
 be living in the center of all the amazingness that is Chicago.

In the mist of all of this, tragedy surrounds us.  As the world now knows, Orlando,
Florida an American-born man who's pledged allegiance to ISIS gunned down 50 people
 early Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando.  The deadliest mass shooting in the
United States and the nations worst terror attack since 9/11 according to authorities.


Life sure is put into perspective,  There are hundreds of families mourning the loss of loved
 ones.  Tears that will forever be a part of their lives.  It makes one really appreciate what
 we have and who we have in our lives.  To all, what are you grateful for today?

Good morning all.  Remember to never let the things you want make you forget the
 things you have.  I also remind myself of that quite often these days.
If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.  As we express our gratitude,
 we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them...

~Nadiya~

Just A Song....

There was one thing my daddy wouldn't tolerate in any shape, form or fashion, and that was being unkind or rude to somebody. That was just very important to my folks. And as it turns out, that was a legacy that he left me that money can't buy, is how to be able to treat people...

All it took was a song.
As I was listening to music online I came across a song that my dad played for us every Sunday without fail when we were kids.  My parents love music and my dad had many favorite songs, but the one song that always comes to mind is a song by Jim Reeves.

Distant Drums

Every time I hear this song I picture my dad on a Sunday morning blasting the music as we slept in.  By sleeping in I mean 8am on a Sunday.  If we did not get out of bed my dad would come up to our bedrooms and "check" to see if we were awake.  We were.

He would hug us and shower us with kisses and he always told us we were his princesses and how much he loves us.  To this day he still does.  He never misses an opportunity to tell us how much we are loved.  I have used this quote many times and I will never get tired of saying it, "Any man can be a Father but it takes someone special to be a dad"  This quote was made for my dad.  He is one of the nicest persons I know, and not just because he's my dad. If I can be just half as kind, considerate, thoughtful, honest,patient, loving, rational and so much more as my dad, then I am happy.

Daddy when I think of you, I smile.  I remember when I was a little girl I never left your side.  You took me everywhere you went.  You held on to my hand and you never let go. I have a good memory and in them I see you always smiling at us.  I love yo daddy.

The father of a daughter is nothing but a high-class hostage. A father turns a stony face to his sons, berates them, shakes his an tlers, paws the ground, snorts, runs them off into the underbrush, but when his daughter puts her arm over his shoulder and says, "Daddy, I need to ask you something," he is a pat of butter in a hot frying pan...

~Nadiya~