Robyn Hitchcock

Season for overdoses – Robyn Hitchcock

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“And as Nixon left the White House, you could hear people say, ‘They’ll never rehabilitate that mother – no way…'”

I have always been in love with the inexplicable wacky, wordy beauty of Robyn Hitchcock‘s musical creations. Overdosing on his whole discography these last weeks but tonight before bed it’s “1974”…

“The stench of rotting minds – but what else could you smell back then? You didn’t have to inhale too hard… you could smell the heads festering in the backyard…”

As the wind rages outside (again) and we near daylight (which I will sleep through), I will cling to the words, “Try to lead a middle aged life, well it’s either that or drop dead.”

“Sixteen calendars with nothing in the frame…” – I need a calendar!

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“Sixteen calendars with nothing in the frame
You said you’d pencil me in, but you don’t know my name.”
–Robyn Hitchcock “Sixteen Years”

In the old days, my former (boy)friend used to give me a new calendar every year as a Christmas gift. It started off when he made calendars for me – really the best, most personal gift I had or will ever receive(d). Later he sent other calendars, and then we stopped communicating.

I realized that he was the only one looking out for my calendar needs. Last year I lived (somehow) without a paper calendar for the first time in more than a decade. It was tough.

Now I am on the hunt for just the right calendar. At this point, though, any calendar would do. One helpful thing would be a calendar that includes the bloody week numbers on it. Sweden loves to refer to doing activities during week X, and I never know what week number it is.

 

“Nothing clings to you like laughter…” – Full list of 2013 holiday baking

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I started off today in the office exchanging messages on Facebook with a colleague who was on a bus – it was unintentionally stalker-like to see her progress as her public transport made its way to different parts of the city, and I could track her, thinking, “Oh, she must have stopped responding because she is walking up the path to the office now…”. In any case, our conversation started the day off on the right foot because it sparked laughter. And, as Robyn Hitchcock sings, “Nothing clings to you like laughter…“. Too true.

I also noted that the 24 kinds of baked goods that I brought to the office yesterday – the logistical nightmare that that was – has been reduced and fits nicely on two long tables instead of three. Progress!

Christmas 2013 spread - three full tables

Christmas 2013 spread – three full tables

The final list of stuff baked and brought along with links to recipes (where they exist – some I was making for the first time so will post in new posts in the coming days)…

COCONUT-MACADAMIA COOKIES

CHRISTMAS M&M COOKIES (I know this links to a white chocolate macadamia cookie recipe, but I have been using it for M&M cookies for a while – prefer it to the one I used to use. Just eliminate the macadamia and white chocolate and put M&Ms in instead!)

VANILLA ORANGE ALMOND BISCOTTI   

CRANBERRY PISTACHIO BISCOTTI

TART CHERRY & PINE NUT BISCOTTI      

GINGERBREAD

THUMBPRINTS (WALNUTS & CHERRY)  

RUSSIAN TEA CAKES (ALMOND)

SHORTBREAD                            

CHOCOLATE MINT COOKIES

SNICKERDOODLES                    

RASPBERRY OAT BARS

PEANUT BUTTER CUPS                  

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

OREO TRUFFLES           

MAPLE PECAN COOKIES

PUMPKIN PIE                             

RAFFAELLO CANDY CUPCAKES (ALMOND, COCONUT)

BROWN SUGAR CUPCAKES W/ MAPLE FROSTING AND CANDIED BACON

GUINNESS CUPCAKES W/ BAILEYS FROSTING

OREO CHOCOLATE COOKIES-AND-CREAM CUPCAKES

EGGNOG COOKIES                    

PUMPKIN DOUGHNUTS

HONEY ALMOND SHORTBREAD

Baking progress and other randomness

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My overly ambitious baking plan for the weekend seemed best suited as a long list of the recipes, printed out for ease of access – and it’s 21 pages long. I made some progress today but have barely made a dent in the list.

At the same time, I am trying to burn a bunch of CDs and get them ready to mail out as year-end music mixes. I sent out my normal Halloween mixes but had used an unfamiliar CD burner… so most of them only work on PCs. I always make MP3 mixes so they don’t work on older “standard” CD players in any case, but generally modern CD players, assuming people did not jump to iPods and the like, do play them (and of course if one skipped the MP3-compatible CD players, they can upload the MP3s to their computers and put songs they like on their MP3 player. Or they could use their DVD/Blu-Ray player or something). But yeah, I collected enough songs between September and now that I made a year-end mix to accompany the Halloween one (which I am adding to the year-end mix just so that everyone gets the chance to actually hear it if they want to). I HAVE TO – after all, when I saw this year’s Swedish holiday stamps, I was so madly in love and felt like everyone needed to see them, so I bought a truckload of them and must mail things.

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It’s my duty – mail things out that are not bills. It generally, I think, brightens someone’s day a little bit. Non-junk mail (sort of, anyway) and physical proof that someone genuinely thought of them and took the time to post something to them.

Suddenly addicted to Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3’s Goodnight Oslo album. I have been loving Hitchcock since I was a kid. On that night – goodnight Oslo and all the other places who might be reading this.

Cleansed of the past – 2005 in soundtrack form

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