A Friendly Musical Visit Every Day

My partner put in an offer on a condo in his hometown. Housing prices there are way cheaper than we're used to, but it means you're living in... well, I won't say where, but it wouldn't be my first choice. Anyway, a big part of the reason he wanted to move back to his hometown was so that he could spend more time with a friend he's known since they were babies. This friend is seriously ill. Moments after my partner put in the purchase offer, he got an email from the friend's wife. The friend has stopped eating and taking vital medications. He is likely to die in the coming days. If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and anecdotes, the easiest thing you can do is buy my books (most are for adults only!) or check them out from your local library.  Supporting my  AudioErotica  endeavour on  Patreon  would also help me hugely. I'm also an  Amazon Influencer,  so hopefully I can make a little pocket change when you buy stuff ...

Yesterday we listened to Stranger in Paradaise, today we listen to its precursor. I keep thinking of it as "Dance of the Killer Maidens," which is not at all what it's called, but that would be a great name, wouldn't it?  If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and anecdotes, the easiest thing you can do is buy my books (most are for adults only!) or check them out from your local library.  Supporting my  AudioErotica  endeavour on  Patreon  would also help me hugely. I'm also an  Amazon Influencer,  so hopefully I can make a little pocket change when you buy stuff by clicking through  my affiliate links . I also recommend subscribing to my newsletter. I generally e-mail subscribers with a weekly update, and I would LOVE to have you on the list.  Click here to sign up:  http://eepurl.com/R4b11 See you soon! Giselle

There's a fly in the house, and it follows me from room to room like a faithful pup.  Put me in mind of this song. If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and anecdotes, the easiest thing you can do is buy my books (most are for adults only!) or check them out from your local library.  Supporting my  AudioErotica  endeavour on  Patreon  would also help me hugely. I'm also an  Amazon Influencer,  so hopefully I can make a little pocket change when you buy stuff by clicking through  my affiliate links . I also recommend subscribing to my newsletter. I generally e-mail subscribers with a weekly update, and I would LOVE to have you on the list.  Click here to sign up:  http://eepurl.com/R4b11 See you soon! Giselle

You know I've got a soft spot for madrigals, but this is one I wasn't familiar with until I heard it on an old episode of Midsomer Murders. By the way, this madrigal is called "Fair Phyllis I Saw Sitting All Alone" and it's composed by John Farmer. It's not a song called "Fair Phyllis I Saw Sitting All Alone by John Farmer." If she were sitting by John Farmer, she wouldn't be alone, now, would she? If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and anecdotes, the easiest thing you can do is buy my books (most are for adults only!) or check them out from your local library.  Supporting my  AudioErotica  endeavour on  Patreon  would also help me hugely. I'm also an  Amazon Influencer,  so hopefully I can make a little pocket change when you buy stuff by clicking through  my affiliate links . I also recommend subscribing to my newsletter. I generally e-mail subscribers with a weekly update, and I would LOVE to have you ...

 I heard this piece on the radio the other night and it absolutely captured me. I'd never heard it before and I didn't know what it was. Then the radio host came on and referred to the piece in English as "I Want to Die" and I laughed on the inside. No wonder I like it so much. I think a lot of people with chronic illness (and chronic depression) probably get the drift. Pain is hard. If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and anecdotes, the easiest thing you can do is buy my books (most are for adults only!) or check them out from your local library.  Supporting my  AudioErotica  endeavour on  Patreon  would also help me hugely. I'm also an  Amazon Influencer,  so hopefully I can make a little pocket change when you buy stuff by clicking through  my affiliate links . I also recommend subscribing to my newsletter. I generally e-mail subscribers with a weekly update, and I would LOVE to have you on the list.  ...

Yesterday I told you a story about someone being awful to me.  Today I'm going to tell you a story about somebody being wonderful. The one story follows the other. They happened the same day. When I got back to my building after the incident I told you about yesterday, I was feeling pretty down on humanity. As I waited for the elevator, I met a young trans woman who had just moved in. She was so bubbly and bright that her mood instantly inspired me to feel a little more hopeful about life.  She helped me without being asked, because she could see that I was obviously a person who needed help. She did nice things in a totally natural way. That is a true talent. She was able to lend a hand in a way that made me feel elevated rather than belittled. Just totally casual about it, chatting away so as not to draw attention to the fact that she was assisting me.   I wanted to hug her and be her genderqueer mom and tell her she had renewed my faith in humankind, but that might h...

 Not sure why this story just popped into my head, but a guy I once worked with told me about a temp they'd had at a different company he'd worked for. This was an older woman. She'd been hired to come in for a week to do some filing or whatever, and that was the gig. She was not a permanent employee.  But she kept coming back. Like the cat who came back... the very next day. And the day after that. And on and on. She wasn't coming into the office to work, though. This woman would come into this workplace, head straight to the kitchen, and make herself "a cuppa." That's what she called her tea. Then she'd settle in at a desk that didn't belong to anybody, and turn on the computer.  This was back in the early days of the internet, when a lot of people still didn't have web access from home. That was the case with this woman. So she'd go on the internet, and she'd pull up recipes (cake recipes, mainly) and print them off. All day. Every d...

I do still own this CD. I bought it when it first came out (in 1999? Wow...) and I remember being so proud of it. When I had my best friend over for dinner at my first apartment, I played this album and she was like, "Ugh, turn it off! I HATE baroque music!" heh It came to mind the other week when I was isolating my diseased self at my apartment and my partner was three hours away at his house. He wrote me an email one evening to tell me the classical radio station we listen to had just played Karina Gauvin singing Where'er You Walk, and it brought him to tears. We've listened to Where'er You Walk here on more than one occasion, because it's a song that holds meaning for my partner. You can read why in this previous post: https://friendlymusicvisitor.blogspot.com/2020/05/songoftheday-whereer-you-walk-from.html If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and anecdotes, the easiest thing you can do is buy my books (most are for a...

As I mentioned yesterday, the most strenuous thing I've been able to do lately is watch cozy mysteries (or just listen to them, if my eyes were hurting too much).  For a while, now, I've been trying to figure out which Midsomer Murders episode taught me the very important lesson that detectives on mystery shows aren't allowed to make friends. All I could remember about the episode was that Barnaby (the original Barnaby) goes to some seaside town and befriends a guy who sells fish.  It took me quite some time, but I finally tracked down the episode: it was Season 9, Episode 4. Down Among the Dead Men .  At the start of the episode, Jones questions the murder victim's taste in music and holds up a couple CDs, one of which is Mario Lanza.  Barnaby replies, "Mario Lanza is very good." That made me laugh, because the classical music station my partner and I listen to often plays Mario Lanza and we both groan, then chuckle. My partner's late parents loved Mario ...

Covid made me want nothing more than to rewatch old cozy mysteries I've already seen a thousand times. That's probably because I couldn't make it through an entire episode of anything without falling asleep. So I rewatched Rosemary and Thyme, which I never tire of, despite having watched the entire series too many times to count.  Pam Ferris's character sings this song at the end of one episode. If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and anecdotes, the easiest thing you can do is buy my books (most are for adults only!) or check them out from your local library.  Supporting my  AudioErotica  endeavour on  Patreon  would also help me hugely. I'm also an  Amazon Influencer,  so hopefully I can make a little pocket change when you buy stuff by clicking through  my affiliate links . I also recommend subscribing to my newsletter. I generally e-mail subscribers with a weekly update, and I would LOVE to have you on the li...

I found out via social media that my fellow erotica author Victoria Blisse died this week. I'm not sure how many readers of my lil music blog here are also connoisseurs of fine smut, but anyone who's been around the erotic fiction community for some time has probably encountered Victoria, and knows what a kick-ass, lovely person she was.  Victoria Blisse used to organize an event called Smut by the Sea, and I'd ship Giselle merch over to her in England to give away, plus contributors' copies of erotic anthologies for her Erotic Tombola. That's how I learned what a Tombola was--we don't have them here in Canada. Along with Lucy Felthouse, Victoria was co-editor of a number of anthologies that featured my work (including one that was called Smut by the Sea, though I think it's off the market now). I had plenty of interaction with her back then, though not so much recently, and that makes me incredibly sad. She just kept growing into an even cooler person, and ...

I learned this song when I sang in a choir, as a preteen, and I've loved it ever since. It reminds me of what my own little brain does any time I'm supposed to take something seriously, be solemn or grave, or even just concentrate really hard. My mind can always find a squirrel to chase. The other week, I learned that my sister-in-law loves Winnie the Pooh. My partner does, also, so I shouldn't have been surprised, but her whole apartment is decked out in Pooh. Before I met my partner's sister, I thought for sure she was going to hate me. She's a church lady, and there are more than a thousand things about me a stereotypical church lady would love to hate: I'm queer, I'm genderqueer, I write sex for a living, I've done a lot of sketchy shit in my life. That's just for starters. But it turns out my sister-in-law is not a stereotypical church lady. She has welcomed me into the family with open arms. She's never been judgemental. She's never bee...

I asked my partner which Christmas carol first comes to mind, for him, and he said it was this one. His reason for loving it? It's got the best descant. Maybe I've mentioned this in previous years, but my partner loves descants. Not only does he love them, but they make him cry. Every time he hears one, he cries. It's the sweetest thing I've ever seen. I love that this man is moved to tears by music. There was a time, many years (decades) ago, when I could sing this descant. I can't anymore. In fact, I can't in an almost comedic way. If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and anecdotes, the easiest thing you can do is buy my books (most are for adults only!) or check them out from your local library.  Supporting my  AudioErotica  endeavour on  Patreon  would also help me hugely. I'm also an  Amazon Influencer,  so hopefully I can make a little pocket change when you buy stuff by clicking through  my affiliate links...

My partner and I were just watching Land Girls (I've seen it before, but it's much more melodramatic than I remember) and there was a great Billie Holiday song playing in the background of one scene. It wasn't this song. I don't know what song it was. I convinced myself I would remember the lyrics, even though I never remember anything. Sure enough, I don't remember even a single word. But this is a good song, so let's listen to it! If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and anecdotes, the easiest thing you can do is buy my books (most are for adults only!) or check them out from your local library.  Supporting my  AudioErotica  endeavour on  Patreon  would also help me hugely. I'm also an  Amazon Influencer,  so hopefully I can make a little pocket change when you buy stuff by clicking through  my affiliate links . I also recommend subscribing to my newsletter. I generally e-mail subscribers with a weekly update, an...

A couple years ago, my partner and I attended a Christmas choral service at a church near my house. We're not church people, but my partner loves singing Christmas carols--only, he won't do it unless there are enough people around to cover up his voice. He doesn't like his voice. This was a big fundraising event for a local food bank, and it was also recorded to be broadcast on TV Christmas night. I was at my mother's house for Christmas, and I told her my partner and I were going to be on TV.  This was the one and only time we'd be able to watch the performance. It wouldn't be on again. But my mother wanted to watch a rerun of a some stupid sitcom instead. So that's what we watched. If you were hoping for a warm and fuzzy Christmas story, this isn't it.  If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and anecdotes, the easiest thing you can do is buy my books (most are for adults only!) or check them out from your local ...

I could faint from the beauty of this voice. It makes me weak. Opera reminds me of all the big feeling I used to have that I don't seem to have anymore. I don't know if it's menopause, caregiving, or being chronically ill (or all of those things put together), but I often feel that forces that used to drive me (sex, love, jealousy, etc) aren't that relevant anymore. Elements of my emotional life that were so key to my decision-making for years are lost and gone and I don't even care.  I'm not saying I don't love my partner--I love him more than anyone else on the planet. But we spend so much time being ill and caring for one another that I wouldn't say it's that overblown, all-encompassing romance you see at the opera. It used to be, but it's not anymore. Maybe I'm supposed to say I miss being driven by sex and love and jealousy, but I don't think that's true. Those are all still elements of my life and my emotional makeup, but th...

I was perusing my partner's bookshelf last night when he asked me what I was looking for. "A book," I said. I wasn't looking for any book in particular, just something to read. Most of his collection is literary fiction, but I wasn't in the market for anything too heavy. He said, "What about Lorna Doone?" Lorna Doone is a book he mentions often. He and his brother loved it when they were children, so I thought it might be a suitable palate cleanser. I said sure, now was the perfect time to read it. He handed me the book. It was 600 pages. The font size was probably... I don't know... 4? Even with my reading glasses, I'm not sure I could make out what it said. And 600 pages is a lot of pages! I'm a slow reader. I was like, "You and your brother read this book when you were children?" "Well," he admitted, "we read the abridged edition." Find me an abridged edition and maybe I'll read that. In the mea...

I'm just about done proofreading my book "Sharing the Nanny." There's a character in this series ( The Boss and the Nanny ) named Mira, so, naturally, this song is stuck in my head. Not complaining, because I have such a nostalgic love of the piece. When I was a kid, I sang in a choir. Our accompanist was a Cape Bretoner, and she was the one who pushed for us to perform Song for the Mira. I'm pretty sure she knew the composer, Allister MacGillivray. It was practically written for her, as someone who'd moved away from home and experienced that deepseated longing to return to the place she'd grown up. Our choir actually did record this lovely piece, but that was long before the days of the internet, so it's not available anywhere online (trust me--I've checked!). If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and anecdotes, the easiest thing you can do is buy my books (most are for adults only!) or check them out from you...

While we were checking out my partner's new house, back when he bought it in 2021, I found a closet that seemed like it would be good to hide in. When I said so to my partner, he replied that he doubted we would be playing hide-and-seek. I told him I just like hiding sometimes and he got sad. He remembers my story of finding my mother hiding from my father in a closet when I was a child. I joined her and we hid there together for an entire afternoon. It's the only thing I remember ever doing, just the two of us, throughout my entire childhood. It upsets my partner when I hide because he thinks I'm hiding from him. I'm not. He is not an abusive man. He is very kind and caring.  I hide sometimes because my PTSD is triggered, and he always thinks it's his fault somehow. It's not. The last time I hid, I'd been lying on the bed watching stuff on YouTube when I realized I was hungry and cold and I hadn't moved for a while. All those feelings in my body took me...

Baritone Lucia Lucas probably has the best opera singer name in the world. When she took on the role of Don Giovanni at the Tulsa Opera, she was the first trans singer to do so--rather, she was the first trans singer to perform any leading role in the United States.  Today we're listening to her sing an aria from Verdi's Macbeth, an opera about which I know absolutely nothing. I didn't even know it existed until right now.  I'm going out on a limb, here, but I'm guessing it's based on that Shakespeare play? The one called Macbeth? If you're wondering how you can support me in bringing you songs and visits every day, the easiest thing you can do is tell your friends about the site. Tell anyone you know--particularly people who are isolated and enjoy music. Readers of adult fiction can also buy my books or check them out from your local library. Supporting my  AudioErotica  endeavour on  Patreon  would also help me hugely! I'm also an  Amazon Influence...