In the absence of baking, I have a lot of thoughts and dreams about baking. Eventually I will return with the baked goods that have eluded all of us during the summer so far. Meanwhile I think a lot about the little things. The emptiness of the roadway when I drive into the office around 3 in the morning, watching the horizon, how the sky is light but the sun has not yet risen. I am surrounded for almost my entire 130-kilometer journey by unbelievably gorgeous nature. (This kind of empty-road, scenic drive makes me feel less ambivalent about paying road tolls!)

Driving in today I listened to the random collection of music I have put together so far for my Halloween 2011 mix (the mix is a constant work in progress). Many of its songs have already been featured here as the soundtracks du jour. Some are songs someone close to me recorded (so they are not out there to grab and post here, really – but I did think of him anyway. Suddenly, although it was not on any of my discs in the car, I thought of him and then Depeche Mode‘s “Behind the Wheel“. But thank you, EMI bastards, for making sure that that video content is “not available” in my country*. Maybe it will work for others).

But some of them come from previous mixes (both of the following come from Halloween 2010) and grab me in a new way:

“Home, I want to be home,
His eyes are bright, his head is clear
and he’s been waiting patiently
for me

His head is clear,
his eyes are bright
we’ll talk each other through the night
it’s not so long”

Standout soundtracks of the drive: Kathryn Calder – “If You Only Knew”

Or… simply for no reason at all… except that Reggie is brilliant!

Reggie Watts – “Fuck Shit Stack”

*Maybe this is a topic for another time and rant, but I am sick of content and services not being available due to geographic/licensing restrictions. I get it – people have a revenue model and in some cases are just greedy. Sometimes I would be happy to pay for services (but they either geographically restrict that, too, or they just make it too complicated or restrictive to pay!). Not naming names other than EMI above since the video content on YouTube was out of reach in Norway.